JESSICAWithout anyone telling me, I already know that it is Veronica who leaked the news of our wedding to the press. It just makes sense, after all, she’s the only stranger who was present at the wedding, and as foolish as I was, I had told her that Charles and I were going on a honeymoon, along with our daughter. I have forgotten just how talkative she can be, otherwise, I wouldn’t have told her about it. One call to her proves me correct.“Veronica, did you tell anyone about the wedding?” I asked her, unable to mask the anger in my voice.“Of course not! But of course, my husband knew about it. There’s no way that I would travel and leave the kids with him without telling him where I’m going. You need not worry, though. He definitely won’t tell anyone about it. You know Leo is the quiet type. Oh … and I took some videos, which you knew very well that I took, because you saw me taking them, and even posed for them. I wanted to upload the videos to my story, but I remembered that yo
CHARLOTTEOutraged is an understatement for the emotion which I’m feeling right now. I have a brother, and not just a brother at that, but a twin, who shared the same womb as me at the same time, but apparently, I mean nothing to him, which is a damn shame.I’ve been hiding like a common criminal all these while, meanwhile, he is busy gallivanting about with that irritating vermin called Jessica. I really should have offed that woman while I had the chance. No doubt she’s laughing at me and having a swell time owing to the fact that she has my dear brother in the palm of her hand.I’m not surprised, though. Since we were young, Charles has always been a puppet with no balls. He has always been annoying to me, but now more than ever, his stupidity is a thorn in my flesh. Still, I love him in my own way even though I’m sure that most people won’t believe that.He no doubt thinks that I was trying to kill him that day when I shot at him, but I was only trying to teach him a lesson. Trust
What was this condition, I hear you ask? Well, the condition was that Sebastian had to enter into a contract marriage with a woman of Mr. James’s choice for a year and six months at least. That has to be the most ridiculous thing that anyone has heard, but instead of scoffing at such a ridiculous offer, Sebastian grabbed it with both hands.Enter, Carol. At first, Carol’s bubblier, livelier, and more beautiful younger sister, Victoria, (I had her killed, because Jessica befriended her, so she knew about me) was the bride who was hand-picked by Mr. James for his dear Sebastian. Donald, their father, and Mr. James had been friends back in the day. Apparently, the old fool felt that with Victoria’s beauty and liveliness, she will be able to bring Sebastian out of his funk.Little did he bargain for the fact that Carol would manage to talk her younger sister out of marrying a total stranger, which is what Sebastian was to both girls. The result of this was that Victoria absconded on the v
I had gotten under Carol’s skin, and become her friend, even though it was clear that she did not like me a lot. Who needed her to like me, anyway? I just needed to use her to do what needed to be done, after which she could go hang for all I care.As I said earlier, Carol proved to be the most foolish and accommodating person that I have ever met in my entire life, so much so that till today, I wonder what Sebastian saw in her, with all his intelligence. Maybe it was her big boobs. Intelligent men too fall for big boobs.Anyway, that’s by the way. Once I befriended Carol, I began to pry into her private life. She was very willing to talk, since she had no friends she could talk to, and she was already in love with Sebastian, who showed no signs of reciprocating her feelings. By this time, I had released Jessica, and during an ‘operation,’ one of my goons had shot at and injured her, instead of killing her, so she was in a coma in the hospital.Carol was worried about whether Sebastia
"Okay." Carol conceded, glaring at me, but I did not even bother to glance her way. Instead, I was looking around the spacious living room with its tasteful decorations and all the expensive artifacts that graced its walls. Before long, the maid was back to tell us that Mr. James was awake and had instructed that we be allowed to come to see him immediately. The maid then left us to go upstairs by ourselves, since Carol knew the way. She led the way slowly, and I followed her behind, my heart pounding for reasons best known to it. "Take note that he is a very sick man. Please, do not strain him too much." Carol cautioned. "You keep saying that, but I still don't know what you mean. Do you think that I'm going to make him run a marathon, or make him do hard labor, or what?" "No, but you kind of talk a lot, no offense. I talk a lot too, but that’s according to Sebastian, though. Besides, you are sometimes rude. I respect Mr. James a lot, and so I would not like it if you were disre
"Yes, she did. She went to attend one of her niece's weddings. If not for my ill health, I would have also gone to the wedding." Mr. James replied Carol."Oh okay. When will she be back?""She was going to come back today ... as soon as the wedding is over. She doesn't like to be away from me for too long, and neither do I like her being away. It's always been like that. However, I asked her to wait till tomorrow to do that. There's no point in her hurrying back. She should be able to spend some time with other people and not just with me in this death room." Mr. James said, chuckling weakly. Soon, he set his plate of food aside, having eaten only a minute fraction of it."Oh, don't bother yourself about that. The maid always piles up food on my plate, despite knowing I can't eat much. She probably hopes that doing so would force me to eat." He explained when he saw Carol glance at the uneaten food."It's quite a nice house that you have over here, Mr. James," I told him, after almost
I should probably run away from this place and go into hiding immediately. That seemed to be the best option right now. Who knew, Jessica could very well be giving the police information at that moment and implicating me. Never in my life had I been to prison before, and I definitely had no plans of going there now, all because the idiots that I had assigned a job to, could not carry out the job well. I should have ended Jessica myself when I had the chance. I suddenly became aware that Carol was saying something, so I paused my train of thought."Wait. I wasn't listening. What did you say?" I asked her."Oh. I wasn't talking to you. I was only telling Mr. James that you and I had plans of visiting Jessica tomorrow, but that we can as well go today so that we can help him deliver his flowers. I want to get her flowers, as well as some other things that she might need, now that she has woken up.""Oh, ok. That's good. Here, take this money and get her some flowers for me too." I told C
"I told you to stop yelling. The headache is getting worse. Help me get to the bed so I can lie down. I'm too tired to sit." He told me. I glared at him, not moving an inch, and leaving him no choice but to stay put."You'll sit there and you'll answer all the questions I have. I want to know about the will. Do I and my brother have anything?""Please lower your voice. No one should hear about any of this. You and your brother will be settled outside the will. My wife can't know about it.""My wife can't know about it," I repeated mockingly, sneering at him. “It was because of this same wife that you abandoned us, wasn't it?""I never abandoned you guys...""Bloody liar! Don't lie to me! My mom told me all about it. Do you think I can’t remember that horrible day? The day you paid my mom off? I was there and I remember every single moment of it. I remember how my mom lay awake crying every night after that for weeks. Do you know what that does to a girl? It tears her apart, that's wha
JESSICASix months later, it still feels like a dream that it's finally over. But life is finally getting back to normal, or at least it’s finally getting back to what I think normal should be, and it’s blissful. I can go out any time I want, go wherever I want, and do whatever I feel like doing without having to watch my back.I have my loving family, both my immediate and extended ones. By extended, I mean Sebastian and his family, along with Mrs. James, of course. They’re the only family that I’d ever want or need. My brother, who had been estranged from me for a very long time, despite all my efforts to reach out to him over the years, finally reached out to me three days after the whole Charlotte saga.He’s a stranger to me now though, and I don’t consider him family, although once, I worshipped the ground on which he walked. He had literally raised me up until my teenage years when he disappeared without a single word. Now that I know the reason why he disappeared, I'm glad he d
“I don’t want either of us to get hurt, Charlotte. If I try to grab the gun, one of us will surely get hurt, or wind up dead. You still have enough time to run if you don’t want the police to catch you.” Charles tells his sister after about two minutes or so of them going back and forth.The pain in my knee is beginning to be unbearable, but I struggle with all that is in me to swing my legs as silently as possible from the bed. My legs feel rubbery, as though they belong to someone else, but I know that it is now or never. If I fail, Ava might not grow up with her father, mother, or both of them.Although every muscle in my body is in protest, I struggle to move silently, and I’m almost all the way to where Charlotte is when all hell breaks loose. She’s backing me, while Charles is facing me, so he obviously sees me trying to move to where they are, but he pretends not to and continues to engage Charlotte.However, she must have noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, or maybe
"You’re joking, right? I mean, how is that even possible.” Charles asks in bewilderment. From his expression, and the tone of his voice, it is clear that he thinks that his sister is batshit crazy, which she obviously is. As for me, I remain silent, not even daring to breathe too loudly, so that Charlotte would not be reminded of my existence.What she is saying is pretty wild to me too. I mean, I haven’t seen or spoken or heard from my brother in well over a decade, and neither do I have any desire to speak to or hear from him, so I don’t know why someone would want to harm me just because of him.“I wish I was joking, because if I were, then my daughter and her father would still be alive, and maybe, just maybe I would have someone to love me too because it’s clear that you don’t give two hoots about me.”“Well, you make it hard to care about you, considering the fact that you go about killing innocent people for no reason other than the fun of it. Wait! What’s this bit about a daug
“What the fuck?! You’re not supposed to be here. How did you get here so fast?” Charlotte asks him, her composure cracking for once. She immediately dives for the gun which she had discarded earlier, and points it at Charles. There’s no need for her to be worried about me, because I’m in no condition to do anything other than lay on the mattress on which she placed me. Charles is not armed, and neither had I thought that he would be, because where on earth would he get a gun in a foreign country? But then, I had expected him to at least come with help, and not just charge in alone, although come to think of it, I should be thankful that he showed up when he did, else, Charlotte might have amputated my leg by now. “I drove like a maniac and no doubt, broke all the laws there are about driving too fast in this country, but I had to get here, considering the fact that you’re hell-bent on obliterating my family.” “How did you find this place?” “By sheer luck, and technology too, plus I
"Get on the bed? Wh … why?”“Don’t ask me questions. Just do as I say.”“What are you going to use all those tools for?” I ask her, backing away as she inches closer. I’m not prepared for the loud bang of a gunshot from the gun in her hand. I don’t hear the sound of the bullet whizzing past me, but I feel it, and my heart jumps into my throat. It takes everything in me not to turn and run out of that building, but I manage to stand my ground.“Next time, you won’t be so lucky. Now, get on the table. If you think you’re stalling long enough for help to arrive, you have another thing coming. You’re never going to be found, and there’s no reception here, so just do as I say and this is going to be a fast, painless experience.” Charlotte orders.Looking at her, one would be forgiven to think that she’s a socialite or a very respectable banker, with her well-pressed clothes and perfect hair, not the mentally deranged criminal that she really is. Still, there’s no way I’m getting into that
"Okay, I don’t want any problems. Please give me my daughter, and we can forget that this ever happened, while you go back into hiding or something. Look, I forgive you for all that you did to me.” I tell Charlotte, my voice wavering so badly, but there is nothing that I can do about it, or about anything.“Ava, isn’t it? She’s a very beautiful baby. She takes after my mother’s side in the looks aspect. My mother was a very beautiful woman, although I can’t say the same about my birth father.”“Yes. She looks just like you and Charles when you were babies. I saw your family pictures.”“You did?” Charlotte asks, sounding genuinely surprised.“Yes. Charles showed me.”“Cool, cool.” She says, still rocking Ava as slowly as though she has all the time in the world. To say I’m confused is an understatement, but I’m starting to relax a teeny tiny fraction.“Please give me Ava, and we’ll both be on our way,” I tell her, wondering what the meaning of all this is. She doesn't seem to be in a h
The road is rough and bumpy, but I’ve turned on all the lights of the car to illuminate my way. Charlotte isn’t making it hard for me to follow her at all, which makes me believe what Charles has said, that she’s leading me into a trap. Anyway, trap or not, I can’t just leave my infant daughter at her mercy, so I have no choice but to follow her.Soon, she branches off into a bushy part, which makes driving even more difficult than it had been when we were still on the gravelly part. It is difficult to follow her closely here, considering that the car I’m driving isn’t made for rough terrains, while the one she’s driving is, and after a while, I lose her, but it is easy to follow her, because of the tracks that her car makes in the bush.My phone keeps ringing all the while I’m chasing Charlotte through the woods. I know this because its lights keep coming on, lighting the dark interior of the car with each call. Finally, I decide to answer it, knowing that it’s Charles who’s calling.
JESSICABy the time I gather my wits about me and rush up the staircase, taking them three at a time, so I can get my phone, I can no longer hear the sound of the car in which Charlotte is getting away with my baby. I speed-dial Charle’s number and rush down the car, grabbing the key to the spare car that we had rented.I send a silent prayer of thanks above that Charles had had the foresight to rent two cars, even though I had kicked against it, saying why would we need two cars, as I felt that it would only bring us unwanted attention. Now, though, I’m grateful for the availability of the car, because I don’t know how I would have gone after Charlotte without it.Charles picks up the phone on the first ring, just as I’m rushing down the stairs in my robe and slippers. There is no time to change into more suitable clothes as my daughter’s life is at stake.“Hel…” Charles begins to say, but I cut him off desperately.“She’s here! Oh, Charles, she’s here, and she has killed the nanny a
CHARLOTTEI’ve barely gotten to where I parked my getaway car when I hear the unmistakable voice of Jessica screaming out Eric’s name in a panic. She has no doubt discovered the lifeless body of her nanny and the fact that her daughter is missing, which means that very soon, she’ll take the bait and follow after me in a bid to recover her daughter.“Sorry, honey. Eric’s body is preparing to stiffen somewhere out there, so he can’t hear you.” I say, laughing gaily to myself. Once everywhere is silent again, I start the car and rev it loudly so that she can hear it and give pursuit.Luckily enough, Charles isn’t around, as the men who were spying on the cabin this evening informed me. Eric had told us that Jessica and Charles were supposed to go to dinner, so the men had been watching the cabin to alert me to when they’ll leave, only for Jessica to stay behind.This was actually better for my plans, as it gave me the chance to lure Jessica alone. Getting into the cabin had been very eas