Rebecca’s POVMy eyes pour out in a meow of confusion. No matter how I thought about Micah’s statement, I did not come to understand it even when the words seemed to be so straightforward.“What do you mean?” I asked him as I placed my hands on his knees.He looked at me. His eyes had become so watery. However, it was at this moment my chef came back into the living room to bring him his juice.I knew he wouldn’t like to be seen in the way he was. So, before my chef walked halfway into the living room, I raised my hands up.She understood the silent order and returned back into the kitchen. Just then, Micah opened up to me.“I owe money, and they are after my life,” he said.Still, I didn’t understand where he was coming from. What did he mean by he owed money and they were after his life?The way Natasha spoke of him to me, he seemed like a person who wouldn’t encounter dangerous people in all of his life. He should be living a cool and peaceful life.“Who are they? And how did you st
Gabriel’s POVGomelo burst into an episode of laughter suddenly, and I wondered what happened.It was as though he realized that the number of inmates behind Luke was far more than the number of inmates behind him.So when they fought, there was a high chance Luke was going to win. It didn’t matter if Gomelo’s men had weapons or not.“You win. But I will keep an eye on him!” Gomelo said after his episode of wicked laughter.“He is far too sweet to ignore,” he added, then winked at me as he waved with both hands to his men.“Let’s go, guys,” he said.When he winked at me, my heart sank. I didn’t need anyone to tell me what he meant by I was far too sweet to ignore.He r*ped me the other day, and certainly, I was an inmate who had never done anal sex before.My anus was still tight, and this sensation he felt while he did it was far too enjoyable for him. But would I say the same for me?My fucking ass bled, and he thought I would allow him to fucking do that to me again?Before my thou
Gabriel’s POV“Gabriel Moretti.” I stammered, reminded her of whom I was.“Oh!” she sounded. And then, immediately, the call went dead.I opened my eyes. Not like I was entirely shocked by this, but it was evident that she was indifferent about me now.If it were the Rebecca that I knew, even if she couldn’t help, you’d see her putting in the effort, trying to help you out, bringing suggestions on what you could do to get out of the fatal situation. But that she ended the call at the mention of my name?She had sabotaged anything that had to do with me. I was her past, and her past I would always be. I did not matter anymore.My heart raced. I glanced at Luke, but the look on his face was not something I wanted to mess with.He knew the one I called hung up on me. He was already boiling. He knew there was no way I was going to pay him anything. I was doomed. I knew he was going to collect the money in another way.I dialed Rebecca’s number again. I didn’t want to see the bad and uglie
Gabriel’s POVI quickly rolled aside. Seeing the speed and the strength Luke rolled into the swing he was coming down with his arm, I knew if the sharpened spoon should mistakenly touch me, then I’d be damned. It was going to sink into my skin like a knife, and it was going to be very fatal.As I rolled to the side. “Where you running, loser!” Luke yelled. He moved on his knees towards me, his face rigid. He looked like there was nothing that was going to stop him from using the spoon on me.On the other hand, his crew were laughing hysterically now. They enjoyed how I was running from Luke and how he chased me.When I reached the wall, I was right beside the latrine. This particular one was full of shit as it was not flushed.The breath stunk, yet, it did not matter at this moment. What mattered was Luke holding a weapon to use against me.“He is going to kill me. And there’d be nothing that will happen right after that,” I thought as I remembered Dr. Rosemary’s words again.This was
Rebecca’s POV Micah left with so much joy in his eyes, and I was glad about it. I watched as he climbed his bike and rode off from my gate. When I could no longer see the traces of him on my street, I turned and was going back inside when I saw Natasha’s car up ahead.Seeing Natasha’s car, I knew she was coming to my mansion. Hence, at the moment she drove through the gate, my bodyguards bowed to her in humble respect, knowing who she was to me.When we both got into the house,“I know I am the one who referred Micah to you. But I think he is no longer whom I thought he was,” Natasha sounded, her tone serious.We both sat down, and my curiosity grew inside me like a tree.Why did she say that all of a sudden?“Why do you think so?” I asked her.“Because you said he is just eating all the way at the restaurant and all of that...”“Oh!” I interrupted Natasha. With this, I realized I had not really updated Natasha since Micah and I left the restaurant. Everything she knew was that he ate
Rebecca’s POV“No! Are you silly?!” Natasha nagged on the phone.“Okay! This is where it ends. You are going to call him back right now, and you will tell him that you are done!”“If you won’t, I swear I will!” she nagged.I knew Natasha was someone who was always true to her words. If she said she was going to do something, she was going to do it. Micah’s behavior irritated her that much that I had to see this side of her.“It was a red flag,” she had calmly said before she nagged. But before, I kind of made excuses for him. She needed to put more action into her voice and let me know I was making a mistake.Deep down inside of me, I knew this too. But there was another part that didn’t want to write it off just like that. I mean, we only just started, right? I shouldn’t judge him like that too early, right?“Okay,” I said on the phone to Natasha.“I know what to do about this,” I said again, and then we ended the call.I wanted to give myself adequate time to think. So, I didn’t cal
Gabriel’s POV“AH!” I screamed heavily in the pit cell. Something large in the water had cut my feet and entered into my body.It moved like a worm in my body. The more it crept in my body, the more I felt the pain.“AHH!” I screamed loudly. It crept upwards. I saw its sign on my leg now. Then on my stomach side. It crept more upwards until it eventually came out of my ear.And like I guessed right, this was a large worm with no sign of the head or its tail. It was as long as a baby snake, and it stuck in my ear opening like it was getting some fresh air and was going to return inside when it was done.My heart raced. The pain I experienced when it crept in my body was so torturing. I couldn’t allow this to happen again.Hence, I shook my head rapidly, bent it sideways, and turned the ear of which it was downwards.I just wanted it to fall off, but it felt like it glued itself there. No amount of pressure from me, no amount of shaking my head, got it off me.It stayed like that for th
Gabriel’s POVWith the voice of the man in the hat, I knew instantly that they were the one who propelled the red light in the room. They were the one who made the room so hot that it burnt my skin.“Please!” I screamed.The torturing was too much. My skin was already turning red, my inner flesh was already showing. I was being grilled alive.“Please. I will strip!” I pleaded again.“Do you say you will strip, Mr. Moretti?” the man in the hat asked.“Yes! Yes! Yes, I will!!!” I screamed my response.And just like that, I saw how he pressed a button on the desk. Instantly, the light in the room changed to normal. And my skin was not burning any longer.I needed not to hear their instruction again. I darted my hand to my jumpsuit buttons and began to loosen them.In the blink of an eye, I loosened all buttons and stripped right in front of the glass wall.“Toss the jumpsuit to the side, Mr. Moretti,” the man in the hat ordered, and with this, I obeyed humbly.As I tossed the jumpsuit to
Cassian’s POV Immediately our lips touched, and that I saw her lean back like we had done something we shouldn’t out of the blue, out of the emotions that poured out of our discussion, I felt a wave of uncertainty. “I am sorry,” I quickly said. I didn’t want to lose her. Even when I wanted to pursue a relationship with her, I wanted it to start up slowly, making sure she fully accepted me before I properly asked her out so that I wouldn’t receive the same "No" of an answer I got back in college. “It’s okay,” she said the instant I apologized. Then I saw her hold my hands again. She looked at my lips and leaned slowly closer. “The truth is,” she whispered as she was coming closer, “We would have been a perfect match,” she said in a whisper. Hence, she kissed me right on the lips. This was like a prayer answered for me. It was like I had just hit a jackpot. And how could the most beautiful woman on earth kiss me and I wouldn’t kiss her in return? I kissed her back, burying my han
Rebecca’s POV Cassian just asked me the question that sent me back to my past. The question rang a bell. I didn’t know why it did, but it did anyway.Could it be because the question was asked by someone whom I rejected because of this very Gabriel?It shot me to the day we had our wedding—how we read our vows and promised each other never to be separated until death did us part.This same question shot me to our wedding night—how we had made love and kissed each other until morning.The memories clung to me, but I forced myself back to the present. I blinked, shaking off the thoughts.“I don’t want to talk about it, please,” I said to him, and I saw the way he nodded his head gently.He looked as if he understood where my pain was coming from, as if he could relate so well—so well that it meant he had also gone through the same fate.I felt somehow that I rejected him an explanation for his harmless question, especially because he understood it just as much as I wanted to avoid it.
Cassian’s POV I walked into the classroom in the hope of teaching my newly admitted student and going back out of there just the way I have always done in the past. Lecturing was fun, yeah right? But at the same time, it was tiring. And most tiring when you have to teach three classes in a day.I heaved out a sigh as I walked through the class entrance door. Then I lifted my head, gazing to the front of the class, the podium, and all of the students' heads. As I was moving my gaze back onto my feet, my eyes stopped as they landed on this particular lady’s head, or should I say hair? The hair color, the crispness to which the head stood on the neck, the way the gentle, beautiful fingers touched gently on her cheeks like the beautiful princess of Persia—it all reminded me of one lady. Rebecca.Back in college, she was everything I wanted to be with. And why this? Her gentle voice when she talked, her beautiful, attractive physique, the way her waist moved when she walked like she was t
Rebecca’s POVCassian was a man I met back in college. He was the top boy whom all the ladies on campus wanted back then—except me, because, of course, I was with Gabriel. He was fucking handsome, and girls flocked around him every now and then, wanting to be his girl. But how ironic—he didn’t want any of them. He only wanted me.We weren’t in the same department back then, but that didn’t stop him. He would come from his department, which was the Department of Project Management, just to watch us and stare at me from a distance. It was something I noticed often, but I never truly acknowledged it until he finally expressed his feelings for me.Back then, I loved Gabriel too much to even consider anyone else. When Cassian confessed, I told him I was with someone else and that it couldn’t work between us. And being a man who valued his self-respect, he backed off. He stopped talking to me ever since, merely waving from afar anytime we crossed paths.At first, I felt offended by his sudd
Rebecca’s POVIt’s been three months since Micah’s sentencing, yet the knowledge still feels fresh, as if the verdict was just announced yesterday. Michel has also been struggling with PTSD. Anytime she is in the kitchen and hears one of the male employees enter—whether to pick something up or deliver a message—she immediately tenses. Her first reaction is always to grab a knife, pointing it instinctively at whoever stands before her.No one blames her. We all understand that healing takes time. According to the doctor, this is the moment when she needs the most support, and I’m determined to be there for her every step of the way.Despite everything, life moves forward. This morning, I decided to arrive at my first lecture early, feeling a sense of renewal as I embarked on this next chapter.A month ago, I applied to further my studies. I realized that returning to school would not only help me heal but also increase my value. In a world dominated by men, I understood that as one of
Micah’s POVWhen Attorney Langford was asked if he had evidence to support his claims, my heart raced even further.Attorney Langford was actually making a lot of sense, enough to prompt the judge into giving me a lesser punishment. But now that she had asked for evidence? I knew Attorney Langford was all mouth and no proof, yet he should have known that words alone wouldn’t work in court—especially not in the Supreme Court of Mandena.I turned to look at Attorney Langford. At the mention of providing evidence, sweat broke out on his forehead. He was clearly trapped. Across from him, Attorney David smirked, and when I passed my gaze toward Rebecca, she smirked too. But she wasn’t even looking at me.It was evident that Attorney Langford had walked straight into a dead end on this case.“Huh… humm…” he stammered, attempting to form a response regarding the evidence.Right there, I dropped my gaze to the floor inside the dock. My hands were trembling now. I could practically see myself
Judge Hilar’s POV“Who is representing the defendant?” Judge Lisa asked as she took her seat. Just then, the courtroom door barged open, and Attorney Victor Langford stepped in.Every attorney in the city knew who Langford was. He was an opportunist attorney, the kind who seized cases others wouldn’t touch. No one hired him because they believed he was too young and inexperienced to handle or win any case. So, he made himself available for any defendant who had no legal representation.If he won, he would demand his payment later. But unfortunately, he was a lawyer who kept proving the public right. He had never won a case since he was called to the bar.My heart froze the moment I saw him enter the courtroom. If by “defendant” attorney, it meant he was the one who would represent me too, then Micah and I were doomed. My pulse quickened at the thought.“My name is Victor Langford, representing the defendant.” I watched as Langford rose to his feet and bowed to the judge, introducing
**Micah’s POV** It didn’t matter how long I waited for the head of the community service to arrive so that I could complete my service for the day and ensure I wouldn’t land in trouble with the government—he never came. Hours passed, yet there was no sign of him. Frustration gnawed at me, but knowing full well that I couldn’t leave the house, I stayed put and waited until the next morning, hoping for clarity. Morning arrived faster than I had anticipated, the sun barely peeking over the horizon when a sudden, resounding knock echoed through my home. My heart froze. The forceful banging sent a chill down my spine, instantly reminding me of the letter I had received the day before. Yesterday had been the 18th. Today was the 19th—the day I was supposed to appear before the Supreme Court of Manderin. My pulse quickened as my mind scrambled for a solution. **"How do I..."****BAM! BAM! BAM!** Another heavy knock jolted me out of my thoughts. Without wasting another second, I rushed to
Micah’s POVThe moment I stepped out of the office, the court officials grabbed me immediately, escorting me straight to the van before tossing me inside.Just as they were about to close the door, I caught sight of Judge Hilar stepping out of his office. He stood by the entrance, his gaze locked onto mine. His eyes were red and swollen as if he had been crying before coming outside.Even as the police vehicle took off, my eyes remained fixed on him until his figure faded into the distance.His words still haunted me, echoing in my mind as if he were standing right next to me, speaking them all over again.Two hours later, we arrived at my home—the same home I had abandoned when I left to be with Rebecca. The officers dragged me out of the van and led me inside. Without hesitation, they fastened a device to my leg, and the moment it snapped into place, a sharp beeping sound filled the air.I knew exactly what this device was. I had seen it in movies countless times—a tracking monitor