Tessa looked at Albert and cooed, “Husband!”Albert had thought the surprises were over when she called him husband.Little did he know it was just the beginning.“Husband, be careful. You are so handsome. What if you get into an accident and get disfigured?”“Yes, little brother, you should be careful. Or you’ll look ugly in the wedding pictures.”“Husband, don’t worry. I’ll still love you the same.”“Tess, you should love him more if he becomes disfigured.”“Husband, it’s good if you get disfigured. Then no one will covet you. There are ugly bitches everywhere who will snatch handsome husbands from others. You should become especially ugly, and they don’t look at you.”Albert would have found it funny and even a tad bit touching if he was not the one being discussed or disfigured. ‘Thankfully, they don’t want to go to the cemetery anymore. It’s worth it, as long as these two don’t insist on going to the cemetery.’Albert had barely finished his train of thought when it got jinxed a
Tessa and Rosaline were so quiet on the way to the cemetery that Albert wondered if they were alright.Sure enough, when they reached the vicinity of the cemetery, they began to sniffle.He could not help but ask, “We can come tomorrow if you want.”“Husband, Grams will be happy to see you.”Albert felt he was stupid. He should have just kept quiet instead.They were stopped by a guard when they arrived at the gate.Albert managed to convince him to let them go in, though he only realized later that he should have just used that excuse to bring them back home.The drunken girls had made him drunk.For someone dead drunk like they were, they managed to reach Grams’s tombstone directly.Albert was surprised at that but shrugged it off as muscle memory.They kowtowed at Grams’s tombstone three times before sitting in the front. With no regard for their clothes, they simply slumped on the ground. “Grams! Are you cold?” Rosaline asked.“It’s so chilly these days. Are you wearing Rosy’s ha
After their meal, Supriya and Tina asked for Albert again.The staff told them Albert had clocked off. They asked about his address, but the waitstaff declined, citing the employee’s privacy.But the guests were well off, and they discreetly handed him a 100-dollar bill.The server decided to tell the truth.Tina and Supriya found out that Albert lived in the hotel only.He knew someone from the management or the owner. The other staff wasn’t clear on the details.But it was an open secret that he lived on the bunk bed in the basement. And his meals were free. He was not allowed drinks, but he could choose any one-person meal - 4 times a day. He also clocked in and out by the second.Mostly he just stayed in the basement and seemed a bit recluse.Supriya then sneaked another 100 dollars bill to him to get Albert to them.Albert, who had been watching them from the surveillance room, quickly changed into suitable clothes and went out to see them in all arrogance.The two girls were ple
Albert continued with the act, “You are good at bluffing.”“Maybe. But can you afford to walk away?” Tina taunted instead.“15% shares of this. Good! Good! Give me that, and we can discuss what happened or could happen between the drunk beauties and me.”With that, he strode away.Supriya and Tina exchanged a look of complacency as they exited the bar as well and headed home.When William returned home that evening, Anabella cornered him.She went on and on about what an ungrateful brat he was who had no sense of decorum, did not know how to differentiate between good and evil, and on and on it went.When Anabella paused to drink water as she became parched, she realized Liam had not said a word since he came in.William was frustrated as his mother did not let him speak and kept making a scene until she became hoarse and parched.Anabella thought he was frustrated with her nagging and began to wail hysterically. “Liam, since you are so frustrated with me, why don’t I just die? That
William woke up to find two videos on his phone, both from Albert.He clicked on the shorter one only to find Supriya and Tina teaming up to rope Albert into their schemes against Rosaline.He was surprised to find Tina colluding with Supriya.He had a momentary flash where he assumed Lexi and Lina might be the same person. But, he denied that right away.Moreover, he got occupied with what his mother was planning.She seemed to be getting deeper into the hellhole, happily led by Supriya. He had to talk to her.Cursing about the crappy start of the day, he opened the other video.This one had been laughing out loud while looking at Rosaline dotingly.‘She likes warm hugs. I’ll wear warmer clothes from now on and hug her tight.’His mood completely lifted seeing the drunk Rosaline.He freshened up and went out for a run in a good mood.After he returned, showered, and changed, he waited for his mother at the breakfast table.Anabella had thought things through last night.After talking
William went to Tessa’s place first.Then he escaped through the backdoor leading his stalkers to think he was inside the whole time.He did not bother going inside as he knew both the girls would be sleeping. They probably would not wake up before noon or could even sleep till evening. As much as he wanted to see his girlfriend in her half-asleep-messy state, he could not be sure she was alone in her bedroom. Besides, he knew she wouldn’t appreciate the invasion of her privacy.So he left directly.When he arrived at the AR mansion, he went inside his study on the ground floor, locked himself in, opened a closet, moved the stationary supplies to another cabinet, and opened the detachable bottom part of the closet. It revealed a staircase.The staircase went from narrow to spacious and finally led to the hidden basement. For something hidden underground, it was well equipped.It had two bedrooms, a kitchen with an island, a study, a living room, and most importantly - a large surveil
William and Albert spent the better part of the day fixing the ring.A few years previously, William had designed a ring when Albert went missing, and Aunt Aria had panicked.It was the first time he had seen her panic.To give her a sense of security, he designed a simple gadget for himself and Albert that would help them keep in touch no matter what.It did not have many features, just live GPS transmission between the two devices, a one-number-only call function to each other, and a voice recorder.The prototype had looked rather suspicious and ugly, so he discarded it.But Albert had kept it as a souvenir. William had never thought it would come in handy one day.The ones William and Albert used looked like a simple silver band on their thumb. It looked ordinary and cheap.The rings looked like something one would wear for sentimental reasons.Hence it was inconspicuous. After a couple of hours, they managed to update the old prototype and copy the functions to it as well. They a
Rosaline sighed as she looked at her friend. She knew Tess was just worried about her.She turned around to find William squinting at her.She cocked her head as she asked, “Are you going to try to talk me out of it?”“No. I was going to say that you can stop when you are tired.”“You sound like someone who reluctantly gave up.”“I just don’t want you to be hurt.”William pinched her cheeks as he pulled her down from the couch to his lap.“Oie”“What?” He asked innocently, still pinching her cheeks.“Why are you pinching my cheeks?”“You look adorable. Such rosy cheeks.”“Have you lost your mind?”“Maybe!”“Let’s go to my room.”“huh”“I don’t want Tessa seeing any of this. The teasing will never end.”“Be my pleasure,” William murmured in her ear.He picked her up in his arms and headed to her room.William sat on her bed, leaning on the headboard with Rosaline on his lap.He asked mischievously, “Aren’t you worried I will get ideas when you tell me to go to your bedroom?”Rosaline s
William lay on the bed with Rosaline in his arms and little Parth in his crib on the side. “Lexi?” William whispered. “Hmm?” Rosaline hummed in his neck. “Falling in love with you is the greatest achievement of my life. Thank you, darling. I never knew I could be so happy that my heart feels like it’ll overflow.” William said emotionally. “Don’t steal my line. That’s how I feel. With you by my side, I feel invincible.” Rosaline murmured. “I love you so much.” He said hoarsely. “I know. I would argue I love you more, but we both know that’s not true.” Rosaline giggled, peppering kisses on his neck. “Don’t do that!” William sighed. She teased, “Do what?” “Our son is here. We can’t do anything, so don’t provoke me. Besides, you have not healed yet.” William answered. “Teasing you is no fun. You have better control than me.” Rosaline complained. “You should be happy about that. I want you more than you want me.” William teased. “I have noticed our desire for sex and food follow
Everyone had gathered at the AR mansion early as Asteria was to bring Rosaline and William’s baby.Tessa jumped first and ran to the door.She could not snatch the baby from Asteria’s arm, and Asteria would not give him away.They argued as they reached Rosaline’s side.The silent baby finally made a cooing noise as he leaped at Rosaline.“You heartless brat, I have been looking after you for two days, and you did not even speak to me once,” Asteria exclaimed, making everyone laugh.She had become much more cheerful in Apex city. She was unrestrained and happy.Everyone was waiting to hold the baby.Leena whistled and said, “Don’t crowd around him. Give him some breathing space. Rosy will introduce everyone to him.”They all grumbled and sat down.Jack had to grab Tessa and Albert by the collar and make them sit.Meanwhile, the baby rested his head on Rosaline’s shoulders but kept facing outside.“Don’t be mad at Mamma. Mamma was busy. Look, Mamma brought Dada home.” Rosaline convince
Danial, Isabella, Rosaline, and William went to the Scott family mansion.They had identified and reported the spies to the authorities.Someone had screened the entire mansion for hidden bugs.They enjoyed a lively dinner. It was the most peaceful meal in over five months. They shared what was going on and celebrated the reunion.They had planned to fly to Apex city the next day.They had given a week off to everyone in both companies except the support staff. It was to gear everyone up for the drastic changes that were to happen in Scott Group and to set the pace they would pick up at AR Group. Finally, William and Rosaline were alone in their bedroom.He hugged her close as soon as they locked the door.“You worked so hard,” William sounded sad.“It was the only time I had gotten physically involved. I only worked from the sidelines and helped the rescued people. It was emotionally draining to see so much suffering.”“But I tried my best to channel it into helping others, spreadin
Rosaline tried to soothe her.“Forget those vile creatures. That phase in your life is over. It’ll never go away, but it’s only a past now.”“The baby is innocent. It’s 29 weeks old now. Already fully formed.”“That gives you three options - you can keep the baby.”“You can abort it.”“Or you can wait a few more weeks. After the 34th week, we can do a c-section. The baby will be kept in a NICU until it is ready to be taken away.”“It’ll have a very high chance of survival after 34 weeks. You need at least six weeks for your physical injuries to heal anyway. You will be in the hospital regardless.”“And even if you want to abort, you’ll have to wait two weeks before your other injuries are healed enough for the procedure to be safe for your body.”“You can sleep on it and make a choice.”The girl looked at her and asked, “If I give birth, what will happen to the child?”Rosaline answered, “Depends on what you want. You can leave it in CARE if you don’t want to raise it. I promise the c
Rosaline broke the silence before the reporters could ask anything.“This little girl needed 30 stitches to heal the wound caused by rape. I had qualms about signing the consent form to terminate the pregnancy, which she called a monster. It would have undoubtedly torn her already vulnerable body apart.”The host silenced the reporters and played another clip.It showed a hospital bed and a young woman with a big pregnant belly. Her face was blurred, but she looked young.A police officer took her statement while a nurse and Rosaline stayed in the room.“Miss , let me confirm the details as you have mentioned previously. You met Peter a year ago in a cafe. He asked you out, you refused, he started to harass you, and then you filed a complaint against him.”“We found the complaint in the FIR box in the police station of south branch-9, which is close to your house. You and your parents met with an accident five days after you had filed an FIR.”The girl trembled, and Rosaline hel
Rosaline asked.“Whose permission do we need to terminate any possible pregnancy? They are too young to consent to anything, and god knows when we will find their families.”She slumped down and leaned on the wall as she sighed.“On top of everything, I don’t want them to have to carry a pregnancy to term. Under a proper environment, there is a chance they might heal and have a life, a family, and a future ahead. Let’s protect that.”“Thank you, Chief!”“Can we also get permission for the girls to choose if they want to return to their homes or stay in CARE?”“I suspect one of the girls got sold by her family. The others were in unwanted, improvised conditions. Only the 13-year-old seems to come from a loving family. If they don’t have a healing environment at home, let them stay in CARE. When they are better, they can move out anytime they want.”“Thank you, Chief. I will get the documents from you and prepare them after I get checked at the hospital.”“Don’t worry! I won’t mess with
A reporter asked a question that was not related to the case.“Miss Dayne, there are rumors that all the rescued rape victims get forced to have an abortion before being admitted to CARE. Could you shed some light on the matter?”The host replied, “Please keep the questions limited to the case.”Rosaline smiled at the host and answered, “That is not true. But I think I should be able to answer more clearly if your question was specific.”The reporter was stunned but soon asked, “Is it true that you have signed the consent form for abortion for the rape victims who were underage?”“Yes, that is true.”The reporter sneered, “In that case, it is true.”Rosaline countered, “I think you should get your facts straight and understand the nuances while discussing a sensitive topic.”“I have signed a consent form to terminate the pregnancy caused by six months of continuous rape of an 8-year-old who was in no way capable of sustaining a pregnancy on her physically undeveloped body that needed
Chief Green continued after the reporters quieted down.“After an in-depth investigation, we uncovered some evidence which indicated Mr. Jackson Senior’s involvement in the accident of Mr. Andrew Scott’s pregnant wife.”“Mr. Jackson Junior’s involvement in missing funds and misappropriation of money and resources within Scott Group subsidiaries came to light. We also found evidence of him bribing many staff members of Scott Group.”“Ultimately, there was evidence of their involvement in child trafficking. It linked both cases together.”“Furthermore, Mr. Jackson Senior was the leading investigator of the case of Mrs. Andrew. He was also the senior leader overseeing the capture of the suspect - Peter.”“However, there was no motive linking them, and their accounts were clean. And the evidence was not enough.”“So, we had to dig deeper, and we uncovered Mr. Jackson’s sister, who had wanted to marry into the Scott family, had gone missing and was presumed dead two years before Mrs. Andre
“You bitch, you called the cops,” Michael said venomously, spittle spraying from his mouth.“Someone is indeed helping you from the inside. No wonder we failed three times.” Rosaline said calmly.“Hahaha, you are smart. No wonder you found all my hideouts. Too bad you can’t catch me, though.” He sneered.“For what you did to those little girls, I will make sure you get caught, even if it’s the last thing I do,” Rosaline vowed.“Those little cunts were so tight. I am getting hard just thinking of them. The youngest one, how old was that bitch again? Ah! 8, 7 when I bought her. She was one feisty bitch, so much like you. When I shoved myself inside her, she begged until she passed out. One day, I will make sure you do the same. I won’t kill you today. I am going to fuck you bloody first. And, you won’t be able to do anything because you can’t touch me.”Michael punched her on the stomach, spat on her face, and left.Rosaline took a minute before she managed to stand.She took off her ea