I didn’t have time to get a driver and I wouldn’t have gotten one if I did. I sped into Queens through the rain, which was heavy now, verging on a thunderstorm. When I got to Chloe’s apartment,I dialled her line , no one was picking ,She wasn’t there then I called my friend who was seeing Sara, then I drove down there I sat in the driver’s seat, shaking with rage and something else. So this was fear, true fear. The fear of losing the things in the world which matter most to you.I slipped inside through the open door and bolted up the stairs. But when I got there, I could see the door to Chloe’s friend’s apartment was open.I went inside, and what I saw made me feel sick. The upturned table, the crayons on the floor. Little pictures of a happy sun smiling down on a house. A drawing of a lady with red hair that said Mommy next to it in childish, curly handwriting.Chloe and Sara were on the sofa, shaking. From the looks of it, they’d only just got back. Another man was standing by the
“What are we going to do?” I said.“I don’t know,” said Sara. “But I do know someone who can help.”“I’m not calling Riley or maybe I should call him to ask for the divorce so that I can get my kids back,” I said.“Let’s Chill for now, let’s see the help the person I called could offer.”Sara says“Yeah?” I said.“ he’s coming over in about an hour,” said Sara, smiling.But both of us knew things looked awful, all the same.***An hour later, Zeke appeared armed with a laptop at Sara’s front door.“How are y’all doing?” he said, and gripped me in his arms for the biggest hug I’d ever had. It almost reduced me to tears again, but I took a deep breath.“What are you gonna do with that?” I said, looking at the laptop he had under his arm.“Lena’s dirty laundry,” said Zeke.He loaded it up while Sara and I paced around him, as Zeke logged into the laptop.“Someone sent those stuffs to me but I never believed him, he calls himself Kiefer,” he said, “it would have been too risky. But despera
“I had a feeling that was something to do with it all,” said Kiefer. “He kept talking about a birth certificate and some other forgeries. But I never put two and two together.”“Well, she told me to go, as a matter of fact. Told me that I was no good, that it was all my fault.”“And you believed her, you left her?” Asked Kiefer.My phone began to ring, I bring out the phone and I check them, when I check the screen , my grandparents were calling, I didn’t want to speak with them but then I thought of their safety.I picked the call.“ Hello? My Grandmom began to scold me over the phone.“Riley, How could you abandon your wife?! Listen and listen carefully, I want my granddaughter in law and my grand kids back home, bring them back home” she said firmly.I hanged the call and look towards Kiefer.“ You can’t just sit here because she pushed you away?I scowled, then looked away. “I don’t have to justify myself to a man who walked out on his own family,” I said. “I did my best to help. B
“I had a feeling that was something to do with it all,” said Kiefer. “He kept talking about a birth certificate and some other forgeries. But I never put two and two together.”“Well, she told me to go, as a matter of fact. Told me that I was no good, that it was all my fault.”“And you believed her, you left her?” Asked Kiefer.My phone began to ring, I bring out the phone and I check them, when I check the screen , my grandparents were calling, I didn’t want to speak with them but then I thought of their safety.I picked the call.“ Hello? My Grandmom began to scold me over the phone.“Riley, How could you abandon your wife?! Listen and listen carefully, I want my granddaughter in law and my grand kids back home, bring them back home” she said firmly.I hanged the call and look towards Kiefer.“ You can’t just sit here because she pushed you away?I scowled, then looked away. “I don’t have to justify myself to a man who walked out on his own family,” I said. “I did my best to help. B
Not until I know they are safe.Inside the tower, it was musty and damp, and water dripped from the tall places and plashed on the floor beside me as I climbed the metal staircase around the sides of the structure. It seemed to take forever, and more than once, I had to stop to catch my breath, which I was drawing in and out of my lungs in painful gasps. I tried to be quiet. What if Lena heard me and decided to act?What if she and Amanda and their men are there?Eventually, I saw a doorway to my right, and entered through it. But I almost fainted when I looked down.I was high-up now, on a gantry, some fifty or sixty feet above the ground. It ran around the whole length of the warehouse, and two platforms ran across its center, connecting the pair of them. I stepped gingerly back, trying not to look at the distance stretching down below me.“Well, if it isn’t Chloe.Chloe Anderson . Or is it Chloe Sam?”It was Lena. She stepped out from the shadows, calling to me. Then Amanda walked to
RILEY.“Well,look who’s come to join the party,” said Lena. “And just in the nick of time, too.” “ What a perfect way to have a wedding between you and my daughter”I scoff.“ So what has my wife and kids got to do with all of this ? I ask.“ Uhm…Lena scoffs, who’s with you?“Check for yourself” I said.Is men quickly rush out and return that I was the only one. Really could that be true, how did I know here if there is no one with me? I thought.“ Okay, why should I fight you, my mom and dad was murdered by you and now I am sure your plan is for me to get married to your daughter so that you will have that total right to my inheritance” I said.“Well,well well, Your father was a bastard, I proposed marriage to him but he went ahead to marry your mom and to add to it all, he found out my truth , he was going to block my avenue to run my father’s company which has flopped, I had to do the needful” Lena said.“ So that you can continue stealing and you succeeded in doing that for twenty
“I think we need it,” I said.“Where is daddy? Henry asked.Not long Russell O’Rourke stood at the door, he stepped in. My sons backed up in their separate bed in fear.“It’s okay, kids,” I said, giving her a reassuring glance. “This is the man who saved you.”“Judging by what the ballistics guys have just told me,” growled O’Rourke, “it was Riley who saved the two of you.”I lowered my eyes, and felt a rush of blood spread to my cheeks.“Daddy was the hero,” Harry asked, and suddenly I felt tears rushing up through my body.“Yeah,” I said. “He was.” And I began to cry.***Sara came to sit with my kids for a while. There was something I knew I had to do. If I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t sleep a wink. And more than anything, I needed to sleep now. Needed to know that the nightmare was over.Only, it wasn’t.Because Riley hadn’t woken up yet.When Lena had gone over the side, Riley had gone with him. Lena was handcuffed to a bed in a different hospital somewhere.He was medicated out
RILEYFew days later we return home, our kids were having nightmares.My Grandparents have been helpful, they came spend some few days with us then left, they always call to know about our well being. they couldn’t sleep alone, we had to share bed with them I practically left her off balance when I leaped from the shower and kissed Chloe. But then, as I cradled her, with nothing but a towel around my waist, she put a hand knowingly to her lips. And then I remembered that our kids were fast asleep.“It’s three walls of soundproofed insulation,” I said.“I still want to be quiet,” Chloe said, playfully.I grinned and wrapped my arms around her head as I kissed her. In turn, she put her arms around me, and the feeling of the soft linen material of her shirt as it pressed against my naked back was ecstasy. In the low light of my bedroom, I picked her up easily, and span her as we kissed, making her a little dizzy. By the time I threw her onto the bed, cushioning her fall with my arms, I