As Mike checked his phone, he shared a look with Steve, and they both smiled. It was time to go home. Mike made a call to get a new car before they went home.Amelia couldn’t hide her anxiety after waking up and she didn’t see Mike by her side. He had just gotten hurt, and she knew he might be on one of his dangerous missions. If only he could tell her about it; he keeps trying to protect her.She stood beside the door and called him numerous times, but he wasn’t picking up, which only scared her more. Her mother had tried peeling her away from the door, but it was useless.When Amelia heard a car moving into the mansion, she ran out with Anne hot on her leg. She was super excited until she saw it was a different car, and her legs faltered on the way. The car stopped directly in front of the main mansion, and Sharon came out before Mike’s aunt.Guilt filled her as she watched his uncle come out of the car. Ever since she had gotten her mother out of the hospital, she hadn’t gone back
Florence had displayed different emotions with her eyeballs within those few minutes, and at last, she settled for fake tears as she gripped the edge of his table, “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t know much about him. He barely says important thing in front of me.”Mike narrowed his eyes at her, barely moved by her tears, “Seems you just decided your job isn’t precious to you. I’ll ask the HR to type your…”“No sir,” she screamed. Mike raised a brow at her. “I’m ready to talk.”And she did.She split every little thing she knew about Alfred; most she had gathered illegally, maybe hoping to threaten him when they had a misunderstanding. Anyway, it would work well for Mike without putting much effort into finding things about Alfred.After she had split her gust out, he dismissed her and called the H.R. to fire her. Someone who could be so greedy was of no benefit to the company; she could easily tell others their company secrets to gather favors for herself.Glad from all he had gathered f
The news spread faster than Mike had expected, and his wife’s phone had continued to ring non-stop since the announcement. It was mostly from her foster family. He was certain there would be more calls from the company, but there was no finding out because he had forbidden them from reaching out to him. If they couldn’t handle those calls, they don’t deserve to be paid the amount they were. The families were spread out in the main mansion, all seated on the couch listening to the news. Every station talked about the sudden appearance of ‘Anne’ and the ownership of D&D, which suddenly brought back the hidden fraud cases. No one could get closer to the Afonso’s mansion, so they were perfectly at ease at home. Mike held Amelia’s phone, thinking she would be tempted to pick it up if the call was too much. If there were something Mike would thank the journalist for, it was their speed of linking up gossip. In a short time, they were able to figure out about Amelia’s identity and link her
The whole room was silent as everyone anticipated the next word out of the newscaster’s mouth. In front of the newscaster, in the left corner of the television was an old picture with five young men and women, with some children sitting on the floor in front of them in a chain. It was easy enough to tell the relationship of the children with the adult. They looked so good while the children looked like they could barely stand without falling. They looked malnourished. The headline was the most captivating; Child Trafficking exposed.They had exposed the names of everyone involved in the trafficking and declared them wanted. Apart from those in the pictures, the journalists were able to fish out more people backing them up behind the scenes. It was a bigger syndicate than Mike expected. It might be one of the reasons; that it was easier for Alfred to cover up the death of his parents.The picture made it easier for Mike’s man to find out a lot about Alfred and to get more vital infor
Epilogue Amelia had slept all through the trip; being pregnant only makes her wants to sleep all the time. By the time she felt a little nudge by her side they were somewhere far from home. She could barely pinpoint exactly where Mike had taken them to, but the bright sun and the beach side felt strangely familiar. The air was different too. More natural and makes her lean more into him. She felt like she had seen this numerous time, but it also felt like she hadn’t seen it before. Mike assisted her from the car, and it all hit her like a wave. She had the picture of this in her room for a long time. She had sigh looking at him and thinking it there was heaven, this would be it. It seemed so out of reach then like she could never get here no matter how much she tried, but here she was with her husband. She jumped on Mike. “Are you serious?”He nodded, “Of course, I am serious. I bought this place for you.”Her heartbeat raced. It was a different thing visiting the place she had
Her footsteps moved slowly on the tiles, while she moved her head in every direction to make sure no one was following her. It was normal in her house to be exempted whenever they were having any important discussions, but this time around she was going to listen to everything they had to say. She was part of the family, so she had the right to know what was going on in the family.The family sitting room was silent at first and she thought she had the wrong room, but then, she heard her step-sister's voice, which was so loud that anyone would have thought she had swallowed a speaker."Why will she be getting married before me? I don't like that."Getting married. Who? As far as Amelia knew, there were only two young ladies in the house, her and her sister, and she had no betrothed, yet someone in their house was getting married. She pinned her ears to the door to listen to them better. Her stepmother's cold voice was what she heard next. "How many times do I have to tell you that
"You are drinking too many bottles," Steve, Mike's best friend said. As he had expected from Mike, he ignored him and picked up another bottle on the table, gulping the content in it like it was going to save his life. Steve sighed. Mike had never had a good relationship with his parent, but he had never tried losing himself in bottles. Whatever they had called to tell him about must had truly hurt him. "I thought you only wanted to take a few bottles, but you are almost drinking the bar dry."Steve had lost count of the bottles on the table. What was he supposed to do with Mike?Mike slurred, "I need to forget the fact they said that, and the only way is this." He picked another bottle and rested on the chair.Steve was more confused than he was. What did they say that he needed to forget? He picked up the one bottle he had been zipping since and tried asking Mike the same question, but when he lifted his head up, he was already sleeping with his head swinging in a different direc
Amelia typed, 'how to run away from home' on google. It was getting more difficult to pretend she had no idea about the arranged marriage. It was in the way her step-sister looked at her and smile all of a sudden, Her stepmother also came back from shopping the other day and brought clothes for Amelia. It had never happened before, she was always the one to request things before she was given them, and she had to request twice or thrice before she actually bought them for her. But she was the one to buy this for her, and it wasn't any clothes. It was all designers; the type Ava wore. Amelia had placed them carefully in her cupboard afraid to wear them because to her it seem it was a confirmation that she was agreeing to the marriage. Her father was indifferent to it, to him, Amelia was a mistake and nothing more than that.It took a while for the result to pop up on her phone. She sat up with her jotter carefully placed in front of her. She started jotting down everything she saw onl
Epilogue Amelia had slept all through the trip; being pregnant only makes her wants to sleep all the time. By the time she felt a little nudge by her side they were somewhere far from home. She could barely pinpoint exactly where Mike had taken them to, but the bright sun and the beach side felt strangely familiar. The air was different too. More natural and makes her lean more into him. She felt like she had seen this numerous time, but it also felt like she hadn’t seen it before. Mike assisted her from the car, and it all hit her like a wave. She had the picture of this in her room for a long time. She had sigh looking at him and thinking it there was heaven, this would be it. It seemed so out of reach then like she could never get here no matter how much she tried, but here she was with her husband. She jumped on Mike. “Are you serious?”He nodded, “Of course, I am serious. I bought this place for you.”Her heartbeat raced. It was a different thing visiting the place she had
The whole room was silent as everyone anticipated the next word out of the newscaster’s mouth. In front of the newscaster, in the left corner of the television was an old picture with five young men and women, with some children sitting on the floor in front of them in a chain. It was easy enough to tell the relationship of the children with the adult. They looked so good while the children looked like they could barely stand without falling. They looked malnourished. The headline was the most captivating; Child Trafficking exposed.They had exposed the names of everyone involved in the trafficking and declared them wanted. Apart from those in the pictures, the journalists were able to fish out more people backing them up behind the scenes. It was a bigger syndicate than Mike expected. It might be one of the reasons; that it was easier for Alfred to cover up the death of his parents.The picture made it easier for Mike’s man to find out a lot about Alfred and to get more vital infor
The news spread faster than Mike had expected, and his wife’s phone had continued to ring non-stop since the announcement. It was mostly from her foster family. He was certain there would be more calls from the company, but there was no finding out because he had forbidden them from reaching out to him. If they couldn’t handle those calls, they don’t deserve to be paid the amount they were. The families were spread out in the main mansion, all seated on the couch listening to the news. Every station talked about the sudden appearance of ‘Anne’ and the ownership of D&D, which suddenly brought back the hidden fraud cases. No one could get closer to the Afonso’s mansion, so they were perfectly at ease at home. Mike held Amelia’s phone, thinking she would be tempted to pick it up if the call was too much. If there were something Mike would thank the journalist for, it was their speed of linking up gossip. In a short time, they were able to figure out about Amelia’s identity and link her
Florence had displayed different emotions with her eyeballs within those few minutes, and at last, she settled for fake tears as she gripped the edge of his table, “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t know much about him. He barely says important thing in front of me.”Mike narrowed his eyes at her, barely moved by her tears, “Seems you just decided your job isn’t precious to you. I’ll ask the HR to type your…”“No sir,” she screamed. Mike raised a brow at her. “I’m ready to talk.”And she did.She split every little thing she knew about Alfred; most she had gathered illegally, maybe hoping to threaten him when they had a misunderstanding. Anyway, it would work well for Mike without putting much effort into finding things about Alfred.After she had split her gust out, he dismissed her and called the H.R. to fire her. Someone who could be so greedy was of no benefit to the company; she could easily tell others their company secrets to gather favors for herself.Glad from all he had gathered f
As Mike checked his phone, he shared a look with Steve, and they both smiled. It was time to go home. Mike made a call to get a new car before they went home.Amelia couldn’t hide her anxiety after waking up and she didn’t see Mike by her side. He had just gotten hurt, and she knew he might be on one of his dangerous missions. If only he could tell her about it; he keeps trying to protect her.She stood beside the door and called him numerous times, but he wasn’t picking up, which only scared her more. Her mother had tried peeling her away from the door, but it was useless.When Amelia heard a car moving into the mansion, she ran out with Anne hot on her leg. She was super excited until she saw it was a different car, and her legs faltered on the way. The car stopped directly in front of the main mansion, and Sharon came out before Mike’s aunt.Guilt filled her as she watched his uncle come out of the car. Ever since she had gotten her mother out of the hospital, she hadn’t gone back
Mike woke earlier than the previous day, and although his hand hurt like crazy, he unbound the bandage and tried some hand exercises he had seen online last night.Amelia was sound asleep, which was the best. He knew she suspected things, which was one of the reasons he needed to act faster. Thankfully, her foster father had fallen into his trap after his short visit to his house, and the accident was somehow a blessing in disguise. To them, he was in a serious accident. They thought he was still unconscious. He had made sure that the hospital said that if anyone called to ask of a Michael Afonso apart from his wife.It made it easier for him to carry out his operations without them suspecting him. He dressed quietly and called Steve to join him.During their previous investigation, they found out that most of the children would be shipped out of the orphanage today because they already suspected Mike was up to something. Now, it was up to him to save the children, and recuperating
The sound of the ambulance and the continuous shouting matched Amelia’s heartbeat. Sharon ran beside her, trying to calm her down, but Amelia pushed through every person and thing until she got to the hospital reception.The disadvantage of her speed was that she couldn’t say a word as she tried to catch her breath. Thankfully, Sharon was quick to ask the receptionist, “Michael Afonso.”The nurse nodded and started typing on her laptop; by then, Amelia had regained her breath, “Where’s my husband?” she screamed, gaining the attention of others in the hospital. Sharon ran beside her, trying to calm her down when another nurse walked up to them. She spoke with Sharon for a while before leading them towards the V.I.P. section of the hospital.As soon as she saw Steve outside the ward, Amelia rushed towards the room, ignoring Steve at the door. Sharon stopped to talk with Steve,Mike lay on the bed with a bandaged arm, but he seemed alright.Amelia ran towards him and started touching ev
When Mike woke up the next morning, Amelia was fast asleep. He moved out of the bed as silently as he could, trying to avoid waking her up. She looked so lovely asleep, so he planted a kiss on her forehead. Her forehead wrinkled, and he almost beat himself for waking her up until she sighed, turned, and went back to sleep. Mike let out a breath of relief.He knew Amelia was already suspicious of whatever was happening, but he didn’t want her to wake up before he left. He did everything as silently as possible before exiting the room.The moment the door closed, Amelia opened her eyes and jumped out of the bed as quickly as she could with her baby bump. She picked the first dress she saw and wore it quickly. She waited to listen to Mike’s car sound before she ran to the nearest car to follow him.She didn’t think about anything as she jumped in the car and drove after him. Hiding from someone while following them was easier in a movie, but to her, it seemed Mike knew she was following
Amelia paced in the room with her phone in her hands. She kept trying to call Mike, but he wasn’t picking up her call. “I told you to sit down. I’m sure Mike’s fine. He might be driving.” Anne tried to reassure her.She shook her head, “You don’t get it, mum. Mike did all he could to prove he’s worthy to led company. Can you imagine how he might feel knowing he had been dismissed as the C.E.O.”If it weren’t for Anne, she would have been on the way to the company now, but her mother blocked the way, preventing her from going out, which resulted in her calling Mike multiple times. But Mike wasn’t picking up her call.“He must be very devastated right now, Mum. As his wife, I should be beside him in times like this. I should be where he is.”Anne closed the gap between them, stopping her from pacing around the room. “Fine, Amelia. If you want to see him that badly, I can drive you to the company.”For a second, she thought it was a great idea but suddenly shook her head. “No, mum. Hav