Richard's POVI stood by the side, as I listened for the tapping of her legs on the checkered marble tiles. Jackson had left earlier, to make preparations. I could just about guess that, he looked so happy as he skidded away, like he had won the lottery. He would have enough time to do whatever he had in mind, but that doesn't involve him taking her away from me. I was going to make sure of that. “ Reina” I stepped out of the shadows, wrapping my hands around her wrist. Startling her in the process. “ I never meant to” I quickly apologized, taking in how she had flinched as though she was irritated by my touch. I gnashed my teeth. At a loss at what to do, but still, I ambled further. “ Don't! Richard! Don't!” Her fingers were pointed at me, letting me know that I wasn't supposed to come any closer. I sighed deeply, rattled by how she looked so serious, and I didn't know what to do. “Reina, please, you have to understand”She let out a chuckle before snapping back, as though sh
Richard's POVI stood still, not taking another step. Reina was leaning against the wall. In a protective stance against me, wait, why was it against me? I swallowed, gazing around just to make sure that I wasn't thinking wrong, but that was what was happening. “Reina….it is me. Richard, I mean, your Richard, “ I tried to ascertain if it was just a pretense or something was wrong. “ Who are you?” She threw the same question at me again. I was stunned. What exactly was happening here? I needed an explanation, but I knew that no one would be able to give me that. I stood upright, taking feebled steps toward her before halting. “ It is me, Richard. The father of your kids and…”“Richard…?” She whispered at me, placing an emphasis on the R. I leaned closer, with expectations rising so high that I hoped she would get a clue of what was happening, but it didn't seem possible. “ I don't know you.” She shook her head to the side. “Reina…” I had to make sure that what she had just sa
Reina's POV“Are you sure that you are okay?” Nina asked again, as she sat beside me on the couch, handing me a cup of tea.Flashing a smile at her, one that, I hoped, would be convincing enough, I nodded. I held the cup of tea to it, rather too firmly, wondering for a while if anything would be wrong with it, but I shook my head. She wouldn't hurt me. Nina wouldn't. “ Why don't you have a taste of it?” I pushed it towards her, nudging at her to have a taste when she pushed it back. “ Why?” She looked uneasy, and I didn't know what to think. Was this laced? Maybe? Was that the reason for her reaction? “ It has your drugs in it, you know I am not supposed to take that, right? So why are you pushing that at me?” she questioned. I wasn't satisfied with her explanations. “A sip wouldn't hurt you, it haven't before” She shrugged, taking a seat far away from me. “ I hope this isn't laced with anything? I don't know, your reaction is unexpected, and I don't know what to make out of it”,
Reina's POV“Richard?” She turned to me, holding the knife so tight that I couldn't throw my gaze away from it. “ He is someone you shouldn't worry about,” she answered. “ Why shouldn't I bother about him?” I needed to know. I needed to know what exactly they were hiding from me and why they were doing so. “Reina, you wouldn't get it, but it is best you stay away from him, gosh, he doesn't deserve you. He will keep hurting you, and he is so comfortable doing so, so why are you thinking about that?” I didn't know what to believe. I couldn't recall a thing, and it felt there was something not right. “ How bad?” “ Reina” she placed the knife on the chopping board. “ You have Jackson now, so you shouldn't bother yourself about him, gosh, I don't understand why you are still getting flashes of him, why don't you get the part that he hurt you?” “ Was it that bad?” I mean, she would rather not say a word about it, so I assumed that it must be that bad. “ It was messy, your self-esteem
Richard's POV “ This can't be happening” my fingers grazed the decorated font all about it. It was really happening. I might have seen it as a joke but now, this is happening.Dropping on the chair just beside me. I stared around, Ryan was staring back at me. As though he was letting me know that he was here still. “ Are you sure that this is real?” I probed, staring straight at the ceiling. I was broken. I never knew that she meant this much to me. When she smiled, my whole world lit up and now, I didn't know how to feel anymore. I was numb not feeling anything. “Richard.. you have to take this in like a man, be strong” I erupted into chuckles. Tiny ones that rocked the room. “Be strong?” I questioned to which he nodded. “Why? Why do I have to be strong? Why should I be the one who loses her? Why should I let her go when I was the first one who she always wanted?” He shook his head, showing that he was silent just like I was and he couldn't say a word. “ What are you going
Reina's POV Richard. I had almost whispered out of my mouth when my eyes met with his. His eyes spoke volumes, which I knew that he wanted to utter. “ Reina,” he called again. This time a little louder than he had earlier. I love the way my name has rolled off his mouth. Just like perfection would have. I gave myself a pinch in my palm, sharp enough to jolt me out of any reverie I was having and back to reality. “ Have we met before? Aside from the crazy show you put on the day I was about to leave the hospital?” I asked. It has taken a lot for me to say that. The look in his eyes that spoke of how betrayed he felt pricked my soul. “ No, not at all” he gave way for me to walk through, but instead I stood still. Listening to his footsteps until they had faded away. When I was sure that he had gone, and he wouldn't take note, I flicked my head around. My eyes met his. Electricity jolted through me before I looked away. He was going to be the end of me. “Mother” I had a smile on my
Reina's POV “ Gosh Reina….” “ Mother” I whispered as I tried to sit upright, but she held me back. Stopping me from doing so. “ What happened to you? I was worried, I mean your secretary called and said you slumped, and you were rushed down here and. …”“ Take a chill pill, mother,” I said to her. My voice almost came out in a whisper. I tried to recall what exactly had landed me here, but no matter how hard I attempted to. I just couldn't. “ I am fine, mother,” I answered her. “ Jackson said otherwise”“ Jackson?” My brain was muddled as I tried to get in, who exactly was that. “ What are you saying? Jackson, your fiancé, he was here, and he said that'' I threw my head back. “ I have a fiancé?” She looked disappointed. “ Don't tell me you have forgotten that? Jackson, your childhood friend? Does that ring any bells at all?” “ Yes, I am engaged to him?” My eyes moved to my finger which had a ring on it, I didn't know what to feel as it felt surreal. The door was pulled open,
Richard's POVNever would I have thought that I was going to end up hidden in the bathroom away from glaring eyes, but now the glaring eyes had to be Jackson. I placed my ears against the door, trying so hard to listen to what was being said. “Why do you look so unbalanced? You shouldn't, you know”.Reina must be trying hard so that he wouldn't know that I am here. I was speechless, for someone who doesn't remember a thing about me. She was persistent, in trying to hide me away from him. “ Why are you here?” she questioned, and I couldn't help but figure out that her lips would have been culled when she asked that, and maybe she was fidgeting. “ I have to check your vital, I had recalled that I didn't do that when I was walking away, and so I had to come back” She let out throaty laughter. “ It is fine. I am okay, you don't have to do that” I could tell that she was anxious and Jackson, being who he was, was surely going to be suspicious. “ You know that you really don't have a c
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