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
Reina's POVIt was taking everything within me to sit up tight and plead with him not to come back. I knew already that what I had felt for him was different. So different that I wanted it to go on. When his hands had held mine, I knew I wasn't the only one who had felt that. How attracted I was to him. I listened, with my ears placed against the door, for his footsteps as it faded before walking back to the bed. It was going to be another sleepless night where I wouldn't get to see him. Somehow, the man who had called himself my husband had warmed his way through my heart. *********The chirping at the window told me that it was another day and all that I needed to do was lay still in bed as I waited for him to come in. He had kept to his words and had come in subsequent times, and I was longingly expecting it today. “Wakieee… Wakieee Ray,” running a hand over my face, I let out strings of curse. It was still morning, why was it that I had to go through such torture most mornin
Richard's POV“I don't want this” Reina mumbled in the still as Jackson stood demanding for an answer from her. “I don't want this,” she repeated. My heart pressed hard against my rib cage as I tried to ascertain what exactly it was that she didn't want. “This marriage, this sham, this facade, I don't want it. I feel nothing for you, I don't Jackson, no matter how hard I tried to. I can't fall in love with you”. Jackson's hands pulled from my clothes. His eyes swiveled around until they were locked on Reina instead. “You didn't mean that, did you? Gosh” his hands ran through his hair. “You can't do this. Why? What are you even talking about?” “I… I… I don't want this Jackson, I don't want to end up with you “The door yanked open, revealing a furious Mrs. Kourtney. “I should have known better when you kept refusing to go home. What exactly is he doing here?” her eyes held a contemptuous gaze, as though she were disappointed at Reina. Like she had done everything wrong and I didn't
Reina's POVI gazed absentmindedly at the mirror, my mind traveling so far. Since the day I had asked Richard to leave, I had regretted every single day, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't place a call to him, nor was there ever any chance that I would bump into him somehow, everything seemed to be against us and I didn't know what to do. “ You are zoning out again,” Jackson whispered behind me. His hands trailed on my collarbones as he touched me. His touches repulsed me. I didn't want them. They disgusted me and I didn't want them. Flicking off his hands with a false smile on my face. I turned around to look at him. “ I guess it is the fever. The bridal fever you know”He didn't look convinced with my answer. I didn't know what I was to do anymore, so I tried to take a step away when he held me back. “ Let me admire my beautiful bride” his fingers trailed on my collarbones before stopping in-between my cleavage. I swallowed, trying so hard not to get his hands off. It was
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
Ryan's POV I had a hand against my head, as I gazed at the screen before me. I had a deadline and I knew that I had to get this done, but I couldn't bring myself to work. My eyes turned blurry as I peered into the computer, the screen splitting into lines of black and white the longer I gazed at it. Brian and Nina were two people who just didn't fit, I had tried to place my hands on it, but I just couldn't get why exactly she preferred his presence all of a sudden. Was it because of the crash? Why exactly would she forget us all and prefer his company? All of a sudden, at that?A gush of air left my throat as I tried to get the answer, but it wasn't forthcoming, my hands ran across the keyboard before I tapped on the landline, ushering my secretary in. “ How many pro bono cases have we taken up this week?” I had to keep to my arrangements, and had to be careful when it was needed also. “ Five” “ How many more?” There had to be more, and I needed to know if I would go myself, j
Brian tried to understand what exactly it was that Nina was playing at, but he just couldn't. He would have believed her little antics that she had indeed lost her memories, if she hadn't avoided all of his attempts to touch her. It seemed like she had something in mind, maybe she was thinking of how to pay him back, and she was in for a long run because he was certainly not going to allow that. He was determined to play along, and perhaps then when he had gotten her to lower her guards, he would have his way with her, for now, he had to make her pay for going against his words. His eyes searched around the familiar white bungalow severally for its owner, and when it was dawned on him that he wouldn't be successful tonight, he tried to leave when he heard her heels on the pavement. He slipped the little camera he always had in his pocket, he was one who loved to record memories of when his opponent was at their lowest, when he tainted his hands with blood because he got the thril