Nina's POV Four years later. My hands ran across the gown I had on, simple yet elegant as I inhaled deeply. I didn't know why I felt this way, but I could tell that something was wrong,a feeling which I wasn't supposed to have but I couldn't help it. Today was going to be the day I got wedded to Brian, CEO of a goods conglomerate, which my mother had hooked me up with. I knew that I wasn't in love, that Ryan still occupied a decent part of my mind but I just couldn't help it. It was a way of putting up a strong front. We had been wrecked from within and someone else had been giving out information, classified ones to our opponents. Goods which we were supposed to launch before others knew about them, got out and everyone knew about it before we could even launch it. All effort to get the scoundrel was to no avail and the stocks were falling off and something to hold a strong front was needed. I wasn't in love with Brian, in fact he knew that and I knew that all he did wa
Ryan's POV Breathless, that was how I felt when I saw Nina. Gosh, she was always one to take my breath away but here and now, in that dress, she was doing that all over again and it just didn't feel right. After trying so hard to get the bargain off my neck, I had finally done that and I had searched all over for her. Spent so much to get her to my side. Everything was futile until I saw the news that her mother was handing over her company to her. I knew her mother wasn't in support of our relationship but I never knew her mother was this wealthy. That she was the owner of the company, I didn't relent, I just couldn't. I didn't care about her mother's wealth or what she thought her mother would do, all I cared about was her. Her love and making sure that she came back to me with our kids. Richard hadn't talked to me in years, I knew that my actions warranted it but staying all alone, without him or anyone else by my side was like torture. Pure one. I still handled his com
Nina’s POVI knew that I should have trusted my guts, that when I kept having that twisted one that something was going to happen, I should have taken extra precautions instead of letting things go the way they had. I couldn't describe how I had felt when I had first seen Ryan, I think I had been shocked, but it had escalated to rage which had intensely run fully into anger and all I wanted to do was make sure that he paid for all that he had done. The kids, the kids were one of the reasons I felt so unsettled, his eyes kept going toward them. I knew that Reina had told me he had found out that I was pregnant from the crumbled notes I had left close to the bin, but this was taking it too far. “ What do you think you are doing here? Spilling out trash from the nonsense you call a mouth!” I demanded an answer. If he was offended by my hand that had smashed his face, he didn't say it. All that he did was stand like he had been spellbound, his eyes roaming around until they were on me
Ryan's POV My hands swept through the table, every single thing on it hitting the damn floor while I tried to think.It wasn't clear to me why but seeing her leaning against Brian's hands had sparked off something within me that I knew I couldn't contain. I could feel the rage spilling through while I tried to come up with something to get her back. The bell rang, and my secretary walked in, a poker look on his face. “Yes?” I asked. I had changed every single stuff on my floor a few months back after finally getting a way out of the bargain. Every single woman has repulsed me and although it has taken Dezreel a lot before she had agreed to let me go, including the death of her father, she had succumbed to it later on, but not without letting me know that she was going to rain hell on me. Hell on me? I had scoffed. No one else can except I gave the person the right to. Oddly, I had everything now, power, money, and even fame and I still felt hollow, still felt withdrawn like I had
Nina's POV My attention was drawn to the ruckus as I advanced closer to its source. I knew that work had to go on, even though I had a failed marriage, but this certainly wasn't what I had expected, it was even going to make it worse than I had expected.Summoning the strength in me, I strutted down to the room it was emanating from, my heart slamming so hard that I thought it was false. “ What are you doing here!” I asked, aggrieved already. Couldn't he at least act properly? Like the matured person he had always been? Ryan stood, dressed in a peach suit, mockery leaving my lips, who exactly wears a peach suit, but I couldn't help but admire him in it. He looked…he looked … I tried to find the right word for it, but it just couldn't come together, but he felt right. His presence made it even better than anyone else that I had seen. “ Oh, you are finally here. I was asking to see you, and they told me I couldn't, so I had to. I apologize for the noise, I couldn't help it” “ Get
Nina's POV Something ignited in my head while I tried to think about what he had said, a merger wasn't right. A merger would give both equal power, but on the inside, it might not be what I was thinking. Flipping my head to the side, I stared hard and long at him, he could see that I was having doubts, he was quaking underneath the table, so I knew, but still, I couldn't bring myself to ask what exactly brought up that thought in him. “ No,” I answered. His brows kissed, like he hadn't been expecting my answer. “ No?” “ A merger isn't something I want to do to my company, it has not been in my mind, and it is never going to be” I answered defiantly. A chuckle rocked off his throat, smoothening his shoulder, which had been tight-knit.“ Even when the company’s stocks keep depleting? Come on, you know that is the only feasible thing, and you should think about it”If thinking about it was what he wanted, I was certainly not going to do so. It sounded like he had a motive, which wa
Ryan's POV I left the office with a smile tugged at the edge of my lips. She had even tried to stare at me. I had seen it, she was having conflicted feelings, like she wanted me to say that I was there for her and, also, that I wasn't. How could she think in such a way? I swirled around in the chair, my eyes sparking as I tried to come up with something, why couldn't she just say something? Say what exactly she wanted? The amount and all? I would be ready to make sure they get that money for her. A win-win for her in these.A gentle tap on the door, yanked me from my daydreaming so forcefully that I left a grunt at it. “ Yes, come in” My secretary had a pile of files in his arms, and I was about to order him to take them away when he said. “ These came for you, a man brought them in and instructed that I hand it over to you” I pocketed the little child in me that screamed to make sure it was what I had ordered that was here. The dirty life of Brian spread all apart for me to dis
Nina's POV “He is a match” the doctor's words drizzled in me, while I plopped on the seat, Reina's hands on my shoulder, squeezing on it. “ She will be fine. She will be fine” she kept repeating as I leaned against her arms, shedding tears in them until I could breathe properly again. My eyes went to Ryan who had stomped into the laboratory with the doctor, probably changing into an outfit that would be easier. “ Thank you” I threw a gaze at her. Gratitude laced my voice. “ Thank you for everything, for staying through it all. She didn't say anything else even when I knew that she had dozens of words to say, words that would trickle out of her lips, but she nodded anyway. I was grateful for her gift, being here was one. She could have chosen to be in her office, working right now, but she had stayed by my side. She sat beside me, my hands clasped with hers. “It is what I should do. Help you whenever I can”I bobbed at her words, waiting for what the doctor was going to say as s
Nina's POV My hands squeezed around Reina as as we waited for the judge's verdict, my heart slammed so hard as she made a point on how he had committed murder, and had burnt an orphanage killing kids as well. Everyone had watched the video and it had been brutal. So brutal that I had shut my eyes through it all. “ Brian is sentenced to death by shooting for mass murder, and it should be carried out immediately” she snapped the pen she held into two. He stood up, eyes bloodshot as he glared at the judge. My heart spiked as I recalled what he had done the last time, thinking of how he might make a repeat of the same thing, it was going to be heart-wrenching. “ You won't be able to kill me. You won't be able to, what makes you any different from me? You do the same thing as I do, and you are still alive, you can't!” My eyes brimmed with tears in them, as Ryan punched a hand up in the air, his eyes were on me as he mouthed out. “ We did it” I knew he was also trying to tell me abou
Ryan's POV My eyes slithered into red when I saw him pinning her against the wall. “ Fuck” I cursed, pushing against the chair in my way before shoving the door open. It came open in a crank and shoving him away from her, I threw a punch into his face. He collided against the wall, before aiming one at me. He threw one on my face, which I returned before we were pulled away. “ I will make sure you live the rest of your life behind bars” I yelled at him, venomously. Even if it was going to take my last breath, I was going to make that happen. Nina stood at the far edge, a hand around her neck as she took in gasps of air, pulling off the jacket I had on, I threw it over her before guiding her out. I made sure we were safe in the car before zooming off. I didn't know what I was going to know if he had hurt her more than this, maybe send his body rolling, I would have made him regret every single thing about his life. I might have ended up punching him to death, the rage in me st
Nina's POVMy heart sledged against my rib cage while I watched Ryan navigate his way as he drove down. I thought of how Brian was in cuffs, how all of those girls were going to be served justice soon, even my secretary and I couldn't have been happier. The thought of her stabbing him even when he had shot her still sent shivers down my spine. I didn't understand why she had done that, I wouldn't have known until she had told me that I was the first person who had treated her in such a way. My hands moved on my gown, tapping on it repeatedly when a hand clasped around it, trying to get me to stare at him. “ I am fine, just focus and drive” “ You are agitated, are you fine?” “ I am” I answered, my voice betraying my words. He swerved off course, slamming the brakes before peering at me. “ I am not a fool, fluffy bear, what is in your mind?” He questioned again. I chewed on my lips, gazing at him before the words came out. “ I just think he should have been found earlier, I m
Nina's POV “I am fine” I tried to shrug his hands off. He was being a worrywart. “You don't have to come with me’’ I tried to get him off my back. I mean we were in the penthouse together, and although the kids weren't here, I knew they were okay. I was fine as well, but Ryan wasn't so sure of that, seeing how he was constantly on my heels. “Really? It is the same spot, it isn't that far from the stairs” I glanced up, directing his gaze to the spiral step. He shook his head, nor listening to me. “You can't understand how I felt when I saw you being bonded into the car, I had never felt so helpless, I mean, in the courtroom everyone knew me as the best, but there, I couldn't do anything” he confessed. My heart stilled while I watched him. “I know that I shouldn't think about that, but I was already doing so. I thought about what would happen if he used you as one of his trophies. I was already thinking of how to make him pay, but inwardly, I hope that you would be fine, for me,
Nina's POV When I had felt the needle prick my skin, I couldn't move an inch, no matter how hard I tried to, it was impossible for me to. I had pleaded, bawled my eyes even before I lost consciousness. When I was awake, I found out I was lying on the ground, not tied up, but I was lying down on skulls, and sharp bones which jabbed into me. I had tried to stand up, but a closer gaze at where I was had me wobbling, a scream had left my throat at what I was seeing while I had stumbled backwards. I hadn't known this, knew that he had this. He had always lived a spotless life, at least that's what my mother and I had known, we hadn't known about this, hadn't thought that he was capable of decapitating humans, of storing humans, of killing them, making trophies out of them. We hadn't known how much of a psychopath he was, that he had a habit of collecting trophies, human ones. Chills had run down my spine, countless times that I had forgotten to breathe. When I had finally pushed o
Ryan's POVI kept muttering out words which were incoherent even to myself while Nina was in my arms. I tried to get up, tried to think, I knew that she needed to be out of here, that we both had to be out of here, but my knees were stamped to the ground. A hand grasped my shoulders, jolting me up. “You have to leave, get her to the hospital” I flickered my gaze around, a string of curses leaving my lips as I did so. I searched around, for his gait, to see him with cuffs clicked on his wrist, but he was nowhere to be found, I threw the thought that told me he had fled away, that couldn't have happened. “Brian, where is he?” I questioned Richard, whose face gave an answer I didn't want to believe. A cackle left my lips, reverberating across the room. “You can't let him go, the kids, our kids, Reina, they are there, he might hurt them” He shook his head at me, peering once more in my arms. “Get out of here, let me handle the rest”I forced myself up, nodding at him before I tra
Ryan's POV A dip, that was what I had felt when I had pushed the door open, and she wasn't in there. I had tried to convince myself that she would be in the room, she would be in the bathroom, she might have taken a walk, but I knew that wasn't it. My third senses didn't just agree with what I thought it was, so I had pleaded with Richard to get access to the CCTV, and he had. “ She is heading towards the back door, I am going to give an order for all doors to be locked right away, get her back man”His words would have sounded right if I hadn't chased down like a mad man, and watched as she was yanked into a car, a midnight black sports car. I had raced down, sprinted down the stairs with both hands on my hips as I took in gaps of air. I chewed on my lips, until I could feel the crimson taste, the coppery taste sluicing through my senses. I heaved, before punching into the wall as I slipped into my car, chasing after them. I was going to be a fool to let him take her away from
Nina's POVI felt like a mess, the only thing that no one else wanted to associate with, I didn't want to think about what exactly Brian would be thinking, I didn't want to know why I hadn't even thought about the fact that he had such tendencies, was I ever in love with him? No, so why was I unable to see it? I hated it, with each fiber in me when people were in such an uncomfortable place because of me. I could sense it, the hesitation, the hurt that filled Reina's eyes. I was the cause of all that. I always made things happen, and when they did, they always hurt everyone around me. I chewed on my lips before breaking off my thoughts. “ You aren't the cause of anything” Ryan cupped my face as he whispered at me. I tried to believe that I wasn't, it was going to mean a lot, but I couldn't do so. I always did this, I had done this to mum, and it hadn't been funny. “It is fine, I want to go home” she insisted. Home wasn't going to be the little white bungalow that Ryan had built
Ryan's POVThere was no way I would have known what exactly she was thinking, now that I was thinking about it, she had always kept her emotions cladded. So tight that I couldn't see through. Why would she ever think that? Why was she going to think that she would ever wreck my life? Even if she did, she would do so in a good way. She was the only thing that sparkled in my life, so what exactly had she been thinking? Was she really going to act as if she didn't know? That she didn't have a clue of how much she meant to me? What she actually meant to me? How I will raze everywhere down if it meant me being with her again? “ My fluffy bear” I flicked the tears off her cheek. “ Why would you ever think that? Why would you ever think that you wreck anything?”The tears ran down her cheek, while I patted her back, letting her lean on my shoulders. “ You will never be a wreck to me, you mean the whole world to me, don't you know how whole you make me feel? You made me love, you made m