Whatever help, Sam was expecting of getting from Elaine didn't work. At first, Elaine wasn't believing him and then she didn't seem to be caring about Cannon.Sam tried to let her know about Hunter and Haiden Kings but either Elaine was totally clueless about the mafia or she really didn't want to be bothered.Sam didn't expect Elaine to be this unaffected not at least when he mentioned there was a possibility of Cannon's life would be in danger.He got back to the penthouse, determined to accompany Cannon in the meeting no matter what.Sam didn't let Cannon get out of his sight as he accompanied him to the office and other meetings. Cannon didn't mind him but after lunchtime, he tried to leave Sam behind and went alone but Sam wordlessly stared at him.His silent refusal to obey Cannon worked at last and Cannon forwarded for the meeting with Sam and his security team.Somewhere in his guts he knew nothing good would happen. But then it had been this way for a long time.After Elaine
It was late in the afternoon. Elaine was discussing something with her team members. And when the discussion came to an end, the team members walked to their respective works, Zarah and Mack were still with Elaine when Mack poked Zarah and spoke up in a teasing tone, "Hey, what happened? You seemed to be dumped by someone." Though Zarah knew Mack didn't mean to hurt her but she was hurt because it was the truth by her heart. She wasn’t dumped but she felt that way and she was jealous of her. Mack stood up as well when his phone rang but turned to Zarah before leaving, "Hey, listen. I didn’t want to hurt you, okay? I was just joking. I am sorry." Zarah forced a smile and nodded at him. When Mack was out of their sight, Elaine turned to her, "Zarah, what happened? You indeed seem to be lost in deep thought." Zarah got closer to Elaine, "You know I was thinking about Mr. Henderson." Elaine stared at Zarah not getting what to say. This wasn’t something she expected to hear from her a
The sound of Cannon's heavy breathing faded away and Sam's screaming voice filled the air as he called Cannon's name and it paused Elaine in her place, her phone slipping out of her hold.That time the conversation with Sam from last night buzzed in her mind. He wasn't lying or wrong about the mafia people. Cannon was really in danger. She knew it there and then.We happened to have moments in our life. Some of them are cross-road moments. That moment changes everything through the convergence of destiny and choice.When we must need to decide whether to go in the same direction or change the course.Elaine could feel that moment had appeared in front of her last night and she chose to remain persistent in her direction. She had the chance to stop Cannon. But she didn't. She jolted out of her thoughts after a few minutes and picked up her phone from the ground. The call was cut off by then.She called Cannon again and held it on her ear with a shaky hand. She just wanted Cannon to p
Sam sat on the bench beside Elaine and held her gently as he spoke up, "Elaine."Elaine spoke up before Sam could say anything, "No, it can’t be the truth."Sam shook Elaine gently, "Listen to me. The operation was a success. The doctors have made some progress with him. They made it to stop bleeding."Pausing for a moment, Sam added, "He is heavily sedated and they are moving him to the ICU now. So, they can monitor him closely over the next one or two days."Elaine seemed to be visibly somewhat relaxed hearing him. The thought that scared her to death was gone. Sam continued, "The doctor said one person can meet him at one time. You want to go first?"Elaine shook her head. Confused why Sam wasn't getting angry with her. But whatever be the reason for his still cool behavior, she wasn't ready to face Cannon now, not at least when she was drowning deep with her guilt.Sam left her there as he walked to the cabin. Pushing the door open, he entered and walked to Cannon. Hurt and angry
Elaine was scared to death when Cassandra shared the truth of Ryan getting missing. Hina and she were out with Ryan but then suddenly, they were nowhere.She got even more panicked when Sam's words got ringing in her ears. He had said about assigning some people to follow her and Ryan. Then what about them? She was immediately out of her apartment to talk to Derek who had taken her here from Cannon's place.Though she found him there but the other car that was around her place since Cannon was shot, didn't get into her sight.Derek was also confused about that. Just when he was about to call Jace, one of the people who was supposed to be here, Elaine reached him, "Derek, Ryan isn't at home. Where is he?"The words made Derek worried and the only thing that was crossing his mind, he didn't utter that to Elaine.He called Jace instead of imagining scary things. But seeing him taking eternity to answer his call, Elaine rummaged through her bag and took out her phone with shaky hands."Do
Elaine took Ryan to the room where Cannon was in without bothering others' protest. He wasn't looking as dreadful as he did when she first saw him in the hospital. There was machine beeping by his bedside but his face and body wasn't mangled as before.As soon as Ryan came face to face with Cannon, he turned to Elaine. His face flashed confusion. Elaine smiled at him as she sat on the chair by the bedside with Ryan in her arms, "Here he is, baby. Call him.""But he is sleeping." Ryan whispered. Whenever he tried to wake Cassandra up from her sleep, Elaine never let him do that. Then?"It's okay. He has slept enough. You can call him now." Elaine uttered as she turned to Cannon."Friend?" Ryan reluctantly uttered.Elaine corrected him softly, "He is not your friend, Ryan.""But he said he is." Ryan said. Elaine could feel Ryan liked the idea pretty much of being friends with Cannon. She added softly, "He is your Dad.""Dad?" Ryan asked Elaine as he visibly seemed to be confused. He had
Elaine was in middle of the meeting when Sam called her. For a moment she thought of ignoring it but then the probable reason behind his call crossed her mind and she answered the call immediately, "Is he awake now?""He is." Sam barely uttered the words before Elaine spoke up, "I will be there soon.""Okay." Sam cut off the line with a smile and walked back to Cannon. Elaine rose on her feet, "Mack, you handle it. I have to go."The people at the meeting exchanged confused glances and Mack who was briefing the project requirement stopped as he spoke up, "Elaine, you can't leave at the middle of the meeting. Watson won't be happy with it.""I will deal with him later but I have to go now. I am sorry." the people kept staring at Elaine confusedly as she walked out of the room. She was always sincere in her job. But for a few days she didn't seem to be like before. They didn’t have any clue but they could feel something was wrong. Zarah voiced out finally, "Who was Elaine talking abou
Cannon never saw it coming to this point and couldn't be more relieved that Elaine and Ryan were in the penthouse within his sight. Otherwise he would have been hell worried given his condition, he wouldn't be able to get out of bed let alone reach them.When his little son kept laughing, running and jumping all around the penthouse, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't go after him. He would have gladly endured the pain and played with him but he was forced to do otherwise.Sam, Elaine, Hina, Mary, someone of them was always near and his standing on foot was forbidden. And they made it for a week.His parents also seemed to be enjoying their time with Ryan. As much as his relationship was bad with them, Cannon didn't say much about their being totally different people with Ryan. He kept silent, letting Ryan have all happiness in his life and feeling happy with it.Though it wasn't necessary, a checkup was conducted on him again after one week for Cannon in bed. And only when the res
Two Years LaterThe rays of sun flickered through the curtains, warmth glided over her skin, drawing Elaine out of sleep land. She squinted her eyes to block the sun from directly hitting her irises. Grunting, she turned over, her hand searching for Cannon, keeping eyes still shut.Knitting her brows, she opened her eyes only to the other half of the bed to be empty.Confused as she sat up. Where did he go this early in the morning! Elaine thought for a moment only to remember Cannon was out of town for a meeting.Well, he would be back today. Elaine thought to herself as she pulled herself out of the warmth of the comforter. She took a glance at the time which was seven past thirty in the morning already.I slept this long! Groaning, she was about to rush to see if Ryan was awake but then she had to make her way to the washroom first as a sudden and intense urge to throw up rose up to her throat.Leaning over the toilet, she cleared her stomach of the remaining of the last night's di
Though Cannon planned just to drop Elaine and Ryan at home and leave for the office from there itself, Ryan asked him to lift him in his arms and took him to his nursery first. Smiling at him, Cannon did as he was asked but they stopped at the entrance as Ryan called aloud, "Uncle Aiden?"Following his gaze, Cannon and Elaine found Aiden sitting in the living room. Aiden smiled seeing Ryan as he stood up but his smile faded away when he caught the sight of Elaine staring at him.Ryan said to Cannon to settle him down and as soon as he was down, he ran to Aiden. Getting near, he spoke up, "You came to meet me?"Aiden nodded at him with a little bit of smile but his eyes were all teary at the words of Ryan. It was clear from his voice he was happy with him though Aiden couldn’t get why.He was never that fond of children that much but something in Ryan was compelling him to feel otherwise. Getting the similar gesture from Ryan wasn't something, he was expecting though. Ryan held his ha
Hina held it within until she couldn't anymore. She kept the fork down and spoke up, trying to look all normal, "I am done. Elaine, I should head back to the boutique now. You don't need to go back, go home from here."She took a glance at Sam who didn't seem to care anyway and was keeping himself busy with his food. Before Elaine could say something, Hina was already walking away.Ryan would have shouted if he wasn't busy with his ice cream.Cannon frowned, "What happened to her all of a sudden?"Elaine also seemed to be equally confused and turned to Sam. Before she could throw any question to Sam, his phone rang off. Taking the call, Sam answered in a calm voice, "Okay. We are on our way." and then turned to Cannon, "We have a meeting in an hour."Cannon nodded at him and they finished their lunch. Paying the bill as Cannon walked ahead with Ryan in his arms, Elaine turned to Sam, "Sam, what's going on?"Sam turned to her being confused but one look at her and Sam knew what she was
Keeping Elaine's head gently on the pillow, careful not to disturb her sleep, Cannon stared at her peacefully sleeping face for a while and then kissed her forehead.With a blissful smile, Cannon got down from the bed and pulled the comforter properly on her.After getting freshen up, he walked out of his room. His gaze caught the sight of Hina and Cassandra downstairs. Thinking Ryan was still sleeping, he made his way to the guest room to check on him.As he thought, Ryan was still sleeping, flat on his stomach, his one hand was tightly holding the plush toy. Just when he tried to tuck his leg under the blanket, Ryan stirred in his sleep and opened his eyes widely.He turned and when his eyes fell on Cannon, he smiled at him, "Dad?"Cannon smiled as well as he answered, "Good morning, baby."Ryan just smiled at him and the next thing, his eyes searched for his Mom all around the room but not finding her beside his bed like always, his smile faded away. He again turned to Cannon, "Mom
It was getting late at night but Elaine and Cannon were all awake holding each other quite tightly. Both of them knew if they really got to have some sleep, it would have been a peaceful sleep of their life like never before but sleep remained far away from their eyes no matter how tired they were after spending a hectic day. When Elaine felt there was no sleep tonight and Cannon wasn't going to say anything either, she thought of asking the question that terrified her that time. She wasn't sure if she would like his response, she had to clarify it. She uttered in a lower voice, "Cannon?" Cannon replied softly, "Hmm?" "Did yo..you really take me as Evana that night?" Elaine hesitantly voiced out as she got mentally preparing herself for his answer. It didn't take much time for Cannon to understand what Elaine was talking about but he was confused about how did Evana get into their conversation! Cannon uttered honestly, "I was drugged, Elaine. I still couldn't remember tha
The house was full of life with Ryan running around, laughing, breaking things and all. Too much for his excitement, Cannon made his nursery in one of the room there, like it was in his penthouse.He wanted to build it by himself like before but Elaine didn't let him to do it seeing his struggle to set the screw properly. In between, he took one hit of the hammer on his hand and the next thing, he was pulled away from all of it.Elaine said in a calm tone, "Get healed first. You can make him things later." leaving no place for him to say otherwise.Giving it a thought, Cannon along with Elaine took Ryan out and let him choose his crib, rocking chair, lights and so many of moon and star things as per his demands.Mary was there at Cannon's place for almost all the time. She would have started living there with them if it wasn't for Aiden.After planning the accident of Cannon years back, his all evil works got exposed to Ethan. And the next thing Ethan removed Aiden from his business a
Elaine was trying to talk to Damien but getting the reason behind it, he was trying to postpone their talk though he knew it was inevitable. He had no right to hold onto Elaine.She was never his after all and she made it very clear from the beginning of their story. She thought him as her friend only and that's where he stood with her. Still, he hoped to create a room for him in her heart.It took Elaine three days to complete the project work, she was handling now and as soon as the news of her leaving the job got out, some colleagues threw several questions at her.All she said was that she was leaving the town and going back to her family forever. She caught Damien looking at her thoughtfully though he was playing invisible whenever she was trying to reach him.As she walked to him now, he didn't leave from there right away like he was doing to avoid her for the all day till now.Just when she reached him, Damien spoke up, "Let's get dinner together tonight. You, Ryan and me.""Bu
In the penthouse, all of them were gathered in the living room with their eyes at the entrance, restless as they waited for Cannon to make an appearance there.Ryan was asking about his dad every few minutes as he didn't find Cannon in bed like he was seeing since he had been here."Dad is out for some work, baby. He will be home soon, okay?"Though he nodded, still he kept doing the same thing for times going to everyone. When Cannon made it to be back home, it was just noon. Just a glance of him and then everyone got relaxed and let out a breath in relief. With a smile, Cannon reached them but before he could say something, Ryan hugged his leg as he squealed in joy, "Dad."Cannon bent down a little and took him in his arms, "Yes, baby."Everyone stared at them with a smile as Ryan kept saying something. Cannon figured out some words from his long rant and that much was enough for him to understand what was Ryan asking from him.He wanted to go to the park and Cannon happily agreed
As soon as Cannon entered the study, Ethan spoke up, "What are you thinking of doing? Have you gone crazy?" "I am doing exactly what my duty is." Cannon stood firmly, "I am not going to go back on my words." Getting Cannon's determination in his words, Ethan offered, "Okay. Let me handle it then." "No need. I will do what I am supposed to do. You don't have to worry." Completing his say, Cannon was about to leave but Ethan stopped him, "Cannon, it's about that bas.. I mean crazy Kings. Anything can happen." Cannon gave him a side glance, "So? Are you worrying for me right now?" not believing his father was finally worrying for him now only after he had survived death for the second time. Really! "Cannon, please." Ethan tried to make him understand but he didn't give him the chance, "It's okay. I can manage it." and left the study and walked to his room, somewhat angry at Sam. Why did he have to talk to Ethan about all this? He could feel if Hunter was behind the bars now, it