Ooh lala.
In front of Campbell Corporation, Arthur parks the car after driving here to drop Bethany off at work. He kisses her right hand. “I have not forgotten about our honeymoon, far from it. I just don’t hate my sister enough to ignore her when she is in such pain as a time such as this.”Bethany smiles. “Even I would consider it weird if you decide to ignore her at a time when she needs you like this. My heart breaks for her. I cant imagine having to go through something like that.”“Our children will never.” Arthur reassures her. “I’ll head to the hospital after filing another case at the same one where they had filed the missing one. They will be able to start their investigations from the point where she had been found.”Bethay nods. “You should get going. I’ll head inside as well. I’ll come over there after work.”“Just give me a call, I’ll come pick you up.”“Alright then. I love you.” Bethany says with a small smile.Arthur chuckles. “I love you till the end of time.” He responds, wa
Sienna, the mistress, paces around her small apartment, her movements deliberate and a bit calculative as she bites her inner cheeks, it has all come to a head. John’s message from the night before flashes on her phone screen, the same way she had been checking it every minute since it had delivered some six hours before. “Move out. I’m selling the place. We’ll talk later. Don’t call.” She stares at the words again and again, her lips pressing into a thin line. That’s it? After everything, this is how he decides to end it? “You’re more predictable than I thought.” She mutters to herself, resting her hand on her chin. For two years, two whole years, she has played her role perfectly as John’s hidden mistress, tucked secretly away from his world of wealth and family. She has been patient, knowing fully well that her time will come. But now, he is trying to discard her? As if she is nothing? He doesn’t realize what she’s really here for, does he? Of course, he is too dense to know.
“Ma’am, we have some visitors.” Jade announces, a look of wariness on her face.Bethany sighs in relief. “I have been expecting them. Let them in.”Whipping her hair into one long ponytail with her hand, she uses the other to tie a hair band around it, holding it above her head, ready for business against the bullies that just arrived.Just then, the glass doors open and a total of six people, including Kevin walks in.“Its nice to see you ma’am.” Kevin greets sarcastically.“The feeling is not mutual. Why are you in my office? You are disrupting the peace of my workplace, just like you did two days ago. How can I help you today?”“I brought some people who can help me. These are top lawyers from the best company in the state. I have filed the case and I decided to bring them along with me so we can serve you the summons to court.”“Well, I have work to do. Where is it?” Bethany inquires, pushing her chair back and crossing her legs. She holds out her hand.“You’re not even bothered?
Sienna’s phone vibrates on the table, the vibration cutting through the silence of the room. She glances down, her eyes settling on the message.He has sent the number.Daisy Worth’s number.“It’s finally here.” Her fingers tap the phone number, then it shows up in the call button. She just needs to dial now. All that can be ruined with one, single call.“This is it, this is all for you, Mum.”But just as she’s about to make the call, the phone lights up with another notification again, it’s a call. It’s a completely different number flashing across the screen. She stares at it for a moment, her breath catching in her throat, the feelings she had hidden for so long rearing at the surface.Grandma.Her heart tightens at the sight of the name. She hasn’t spoken to her grandmother in over three years. Not since she left Rewland, the small town that held her past. That held a life she had long since buried, doing all her possible best to fit into the city life, even getting read of that d
The sound of footsteps echo in the entrance of the supposedly empty washroom as a random woman enters, heading toward the sink. She halts abruptly when she sees Daisy, collapsed on the floor, her body limp and motionless.For a moment, the woman freezes in shock, her hand flying to her mouth before she lets out a shrill scream.“Oh my God! Somebody, help! Please, someone help!” She shouts, her voice cracking as panic surges through her. She rushes to Daisy’s side, kneeling down and shaking her lightly but the unconscious woman does not budge, her phone on the floor by her head.“Ma’am? Ma’am, can you hear me?” Her hands tremble as she gently taps Daisy’s cheek, but there’s no response. Her breathing grows erratic, and she fumbles for her phone, her fingers trembling so much that she nearly drops it.She, obviously, is a very panicky woman.“Come on, come on…” She mutters under her breath, dialing the hospital’s emergency line with frantic urgency. As the phone rings, she glances down a
Daisy rushes out of the room as if a fire has been lit in the room where she is supposed to be resting. Her body aches with exhaustion, but she barely notices. Her mind is completely focused on Quinn, her precious girl, who is now awake. Nothing else matters. She ignores the twinge in her limbs, the dizziness that still lingers from her collapse earlier and the truth she is still finding hard to grasp.She feels weaker than ever, but it’s as though it’s simply mother’s love that is carrying her forward. She runs past John who stands in the hall there, watching her.“Daisy, wait!” John calls after her, taking some steps forward, but the sound of his voice grates on her nerves, like the sound of fingernails being drawn on a chalkboard. He moves toward her, offering to help as she stumbles slightly in her haste, wobbling from side to side.“I said leave me alone!” Daisy yells, shooting him a look that could burn through steel. The fury in her eyes freezes John in his tracks. He stands the
In another part of town, Ana Yang adjusts the collar of her sleek black jacket as she strides through the large lobby of Unique Auditing. The walls glisten in the bright afternoon sun, reflecting her composed demeanor, but internally, she's furious.The notice from Campbell Conglomerate had been a shock. She’s never been dismissed so abruptly, and neither has the firm that she represents.It is a serious breach of etiquette.Procedures had to be followed but they completely ignored that, and Kevin had been out of reach for days.And now, it has come to her knowledge that all of her contacts in the company has been fired, just perfect.Her boss, a shadowy man with influence and tons of connections, had been calm when he summoned her earlier in the morning. His voice had the same cold precision as always, no hints of emotion as he gave his orders, but she knew him well enough to not make any mistakes when it comes to issues like these so she would rather take orders than act impulsively
Staring into the ward for a couple of minutes and tired of standing around, listening to his own thoughts, Charles steps out of the hospital, the cool afternoon air hitting him like a slap, a contrast from the slightly chilly one inside.The chaos inside his head has refused to settle.Daisy’s words echo relentlessly, over and over and over again… “Sure you won’t mind losing this one since you have another one out there!” Like a broken record, continues to repeat itself The truth rattles him to the core.Is it true? Or is it just another one of those female moments that they overreact?He digs his hand into his pocket and pulls a flask from his coat, taking a long swig of whiskey, but the familiar burn of the liquor does nothing to ease his nerves, the way it had been doing for months now. His mind spins, with the repeated words.He keeps trying to grasp the weight of what Daisy had said.Dad, has another child.It seems impossible, yet here he is, standing outside the hospital with n
While the pretty silvered plane flies by overhead, a certain couple on the way to their much looked forward to honeymoon, below…The living room reeks of sweat, liquor, and dirty, smelly and rotten food.The morning’s calm is shattered by loud voices, yelling words back and forth between one another. Then suddenly, there is silence, and then that short moment of quietness is broken by a sudden, cracking slap.WHACK!Oh, no.SLAP!Then something shatters, something glass and fragile, a shard is picked up from the shattered glass and then the one piece of glass is picked up from it, used to aggressively cut the other person across the cheek, connecting with the tear caused by the earlier shattered glass.Alexa hits the floor, her body limp, her head smacking against the sharp corner of the center table. The sound is sickening, the kind that sticks in a person’s memory but her assailant does not worry about that, what he looks forward to, is the aftermath, the ecstasy that comes after. Bl
Morning arrives fast...That is how it happens on days you expect so much.The bright morning skies are a soft blue and the air, surprisingly cool for an April morning. The Campbell residence is unusually quiet, except for the muffled sound of footsteps and the occasional whirr of bag wheels being drawn.Arthur stands by the foot of the stairs, dressed casually in a light linen shirt and sleek black pants, overseeing the last of the suitcases being carried out. The driver, uniformed and slightly drawn in the face, loads their luggage into the trunk of the sleek black SUV parked outside.Bethany emerges from the top of the stairs in a matching light outfit, her white blouse tucked into wide legged beige pants, a pair of sunglasses perched on her head and a genuine smile lighting up her face as soon as she sights Arthur waiting for her at the foot of the stairs.Martha and Mason wait for them in the living room, both sipping coffee, the morning sun pouring in behind them.“Someone’s glow
Charles doesn’t remember when the rage began, only that it grew over time, like a parasite feeding off everything he had left of humanity.He stares blankly at the GPS mounted in the Falcon Rental’s Audi R8, sleek, black, expensive, and utterly soulless. Just like him tonight. The false name he gave at the rental office, Reeds Whitby, echoes in his mind as he swerves through the streets.He doesn’t want to think too hard. The bottle of tequila he downed earlier made sure of that. He still has more of it in the deep pocket just if he needs some more liquid courage to protect his family.He punches a code into an app he’d installed on his family’s phones during the Quinn scare, a parental tracking tool he’d masked as a ‘security protocol.’ Now it pulses on the screen, blinking with one word.John.His father’s signal is floating dangerously close to the outskirts of the state. There is no other place she could be staying that is not where the blue dot is currently tapping.“She really ha
The bottle is empty. Charles drops it onto the passenger seat, the final drop of tequila long gone down his throat. His vision swims a little, but his mind is sharp, sharper than it’s been in days.Rage does that.It slices through fog, even the kind caused by alcohol.Simpler to call it a drunken sober state.He adjusts the black cap over his head and slides the dark cloth mask up over his face. It’s not paranoia. It’s protection. He isn’t supposed to be seen. Not today.Not when he’s decided how this ends.The Falcon Rental lot is dim, even in daylight. He parks his actual car on the next street over, then walks across the sidewalk like any other customer. The ID he hands over is fake, the accent he puts on convincing enough. “Reeds Whitby,” he says with a light chuckle. “Just in town for a few days. Business and... pleasure.”The clerk barely looks at him. All that matters is the money.And he gives the guy a lot of it.Keys change hands.Minutes later, Charles is behind the wheel o
Many weeks before...Charles stands on the front steps of the hospital, the early afternoon sun beaming down on him like a spotlight exposing every ugly thought in his mind, shining brightly on every single evil thing he has ever done and said... The conversation with Arthur that he had just some minutes earlier before Arthur had gone up to possibly smack John had ensued, plays on loop in his headaccusations, disgust, disappointment. And the worst part? Arthur did have a point no matter how much he has tried to deny it and say it's a lie.No matter how much he had tried to say he isn't like his father... Deep down, he knew he was like him.And control of himself was slipping right through his fingers.He drags a hand through his hair, chest heaving as he pulls out his phone. His fingers hover for a second before he finally dials the number.The same number he had dialed just before and Arthur had overheard the whole conversation.Sienna picks up on the second ring, her voice light a
Contented sigh.The morning sun peeks softly through the curtains, its light spilling gently over the cream sheets of the master bedroom where our couple have been staying and where the stay would soon come to an end since it's all over anyway. Arthur stirs first, slipping out of bed quietly so as not to wake Bethany. A few minutes later, he returns with two steaming mugs in hand. He knows what his wife needs anyway, and he'll give it to her, knowing what time she wakes up on her and even if it's not near, the coffee will damn near wake her up with it's 'rejuvenating' scent as she calls it.Bethany blinks awake just in time to see him walk in, dressed in his robe and soft slippers on his leg. He hands her one of the mugs and sits on the edge of the bed, watching her with amusement.She accepts it gratefully, taking a sip. “Mmm. You make a mean cup of coffee,” she says sleepily, sitting up straighter as the warmth spreads through her hands, waking her fully.Arthur raises a brow. “Goo
POVGood riddance to bad trash.The glass in front of me is already half empty, but I hold it like it’s the only thing anchoring me to the planet. My fingers tremble around the rim, knuckles pale and tight. Whiskey burns my throat as I knock the rest of it back in one go, but I barely flinch.Who flinches at a burn of alcohol after seeing a dead body’s flinching in death? Its nothing compared to one another, simply fleeting and yet stays with you… When you see the eyes of a dead person closing for the last time.Or the last blink? The last sigh? The last finger twitch? Exhilarating to see and alcohol seems to be the closes thing to feeling that lovely twinge in your back again.The bartender’s eyes flick toward me from the end of the counter.He's used to me now. I’ve been coming here every other night, ordering the same thing, pretty expensive whiskey, no ice, no chaser, the perfect feeling it gives me gives me no other choice but to drink it raw.I don’t need comfort.I need focus an
After they drive away from the police station, the long ride to Daisy’s house is a bit quiet, unlike the previous night. Not heavy at all like the last time, but quiet enough to let the silence settle between them without awkwardness.Its just sad in there.A woman lost her husband to justice, rightfully, a daughter said bye to her father and family has to watch it all happen while he pays his respects, sort of.And now the date of the hearing is just a few days away… Must be hard.Daisy steps out of the vehicle with Quinn by her side just as Arthur pulls into the driveway. They both help one another when they get off from the car, and Bethany is the first to step out from the front. Quinn breaks into a small whimper and manages a small, hurtful smile towards Bethany.Not because Bethany is the one who hurt her but because Beth has been there all along and now there is no reason to hide emotions from her anymore.“I’m really glad you came with us,” Daisy says softly, walking up beside
The silence in the rental office’s reception tightens like a noose on a criminal’s neck.Travis looks like the criminal while Marsh seems like the executioner.Marsh paces slowly in front of the reception desk, fists clenched at his sides, jaw clenching and unclenching with held back fury. Travis, the kid behind the counter, glances between him and Halloway like he's deciding which cop looks slightly less ready to blow, and maybe when to dash back to avoid a swinging fist.Halloway, standing just off to Marsh’s right, clears his throat and steps in. “Is there any other way we can identify the person who rented that car?” His tone is calm but firm, the kind that invites cooperation without threat. It’s a good cop move, and one Marsh doesn’t have the patience for today.The classic good cop, bad cop.Travis blinks at him, then nods. “I… uh, I can call my manager. He’ll know more about it sir.”“Good,” Halloway says, stepping back, folding his arms. He throws Marsh a sidelong glance that