"What?!" Alvira exclaimed then laughed a little. "Are you joking with me, Madam Sarah?" She asked with a smile and Sarah laughed too, as she was slightly amused at Alvira's reaction. "No, I'm not. I think he really likes you, Alvira." Sarah pushed. Alvira rose a brow as the smile on her face slowly disappeared and she began to wonder what on earth Madam Sarah was talking about. Why would she say something like that to her? Did someone start to misunderstand something again? At the time when she was been bullied by Simon, the servants had also mistaken it for Simon being dependent and trusting of her. Was that what was happening here? Was everyone in the mansion confused about something again? Or did they just like to see things that were not there?Was someone trying to cause a fallout between herself and madam Sarah? "I'm sorry madam Sarah, but I think this is a misunderstanding, sir Simon has no feelings for me whatsoever. I don't know who told you this, but I promise you, they
Alvira pushed her cleaning tools up the stairs towards Simon's room with a complicated expression on her face the next morning. After her discussion with Sarah the previous day she had initiated a long conversation with a maid, she met in the changing room. This lady was one of the maids who had been working at the mansion longer than most of the others.The maid who was excited at the idea of a gossip wasted no time in telling her everything she knew of the three years since Simon had been locked in, what he was like after his surgery, and how he had treated his caregivers. Even though she didn’t state it in clear terms, Alvira deduced from what she heard that he was a man who had been ready to give up on life already but couldn’t because Ben wouldn't let him. The mere thought of it broke her heart, ever since she heard Simon's story, she had been a little quieter than she normally was and had a furrowed brow at all times. Her mother noticed and had asked her but she had waved her
Alvira was helped to the bed where she sat, her hair fell around her framing her face and clinging to her skin like a lover. She watched as Simon also helped himself out of the chair onto the bed and sat beside her.As he did, her thoughts strayed to what she had heard about him the previous day. He had learned to depend on himself as a result of his refusal to accept anyone’s care over the years. She was the first person he had actually allowed to move close to him or help him in three years. She had heard that much from the maid and was informed that it was the singular reason why she had been assigned to his room. She stared at him, did he really trust her as they say? If he did? How much did he trust her? "Let me see your leg,” Simon said the moment he settled himself down in the most comfortable position he could assume, leaning a part of his shoulder slightly on one of the four posts of the bed. He wasn’t very comfortable especially when he was seating there without having
When Jared came out of the bathroom, he had no choice but to plug in the hand dryer to a nearby socket, placed at a spot where Simon’s hands could reach and leave.When he did, Simon turned to Alvira and handed the teacup to her first, "Here, drink this. It is hot and good for you" He said and Alvira's eyes widened was little, Did he order this for her too? Looking at the sprain medication, he must have also asked them to bring it for her but when did he order this, why didn't she see him when he did? Was it when she was in the bathroom? She wondered as she collected the cup of tea and sipped from it gently. It was hot and delicious, just the way she liked it. She felt relieved as she felt the tea warm her up from the inside.“Thank you.” She said and Simon nodded before patting the spot next to him. "Seat, I’ll help you apply the ointment." He said.He felt happy when he saw the look of satisfaction and relaxation that spread across Alvira’s face when she drank the tea. He was
The next morning brought a new visitor to the walker's mansion. Clarisse Stone got off the cab that had driven her into the mansion. The white, sleeveless bodycon dress she wore ran all the way to her knee, and her sandy brown straighten hair that had a little curl at its tips fell behind her loosely but a few rested on her right breast in front.She took off her sunglasses as she stared at the mansion for a few minutes, a slight smile on her face as the cab driver helped her offload her numerous luggage from the trunk. As he did, the giant door to the mansion opened and Lara came out, the moment Clarisse saw her she smiled. "Lara!" She called with a smile, a smile also blossomed on Lara’s face and she walked forward, some maids following her. "Mrs. Stone! It’s so good to see you!" Lara said, "I know!" Clarisse exclaimed. "We haven't you in so long," Lara said again as she stopped in front of Clarisse who was smiling brightly. "Oh dear, I have been so busy. You have no idea. I h
The moment Clarisse was done with her breakfast she walked out of the dining room in her usual bashful manner as she greeted all the maids she met along the way feigning the image of a very rich but humble woman. Looking around, she couldn’t see Lara anywhere around the dining room. Even though she wanted nothing more than the opportunity to look around the house in case she caught a whiff of an exciting information that she could use for her and her husband’s benefit, she knew she couldn’t go looking around just yet, or else it would raise suspicion, especially when she could see that madam Sarah was weary of her. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up it, she noticed that a wheelchair path had been made there and she sighed. The elderly couple really loved Simon, they even made changes in the mansion for his sake. Too bad he had so much bad luck, if he didn’t, would he have fallen in love with a woman like Lana? She thought and scoffed. All the maids looked at her
The moment Lara walked out of the guest room where she had been directing the servants to put things in order according to Clarisse's taste, she was met by another maid, who informed her of Sarah's request to see her. She nodded and hurried toward Sarah’s room, she had been overseeing the cleaning and rearrangement of the room the moment she left Clarisse at the dining hall. Not that there was much to put in order as all the guest rooms in the walker's mansion underwent daily cleaning, even though they were always empty, the servants cleaned them just in case of impromptu visits just as this one. Lara wanted to impress Clarisse and priding herself as someone who knew Clarisse more than the other maids she decided to re-arrange the room to Clarisse’s taste.She hurried to Sarah’s room wondering why she had left the dining room so early, she had worked with Sarah for many years and knew her taste better than anyone else, she even knew how fast she ate and how long she spent at the brea
Somewhere in the city, Josh stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling window dressed in nothing but a white bathrobe, his hair wet, and a little steam still rising from his body as a result of the hot shower he just had.He held a pony tumbler in his hand and slowly drank the brandy that was in it as he overlooked the city below from the 58th floor of his apartment where he lived, he was lost in his thought, things have not been particularly easy for him in the company upon Simon’s return.Simon has begun to suppress him on every side, cutting off his funds both the legal and illegal ones and it had started to take a toll on him, if it hadn’t, would he have asked Clarisse to go to the Walkers' mansion and find any implicating information with which he could defeat Simon? He thought and sighed.Clarisse was wasting too much time, Simon was closing in on him and he knew it, he also knew that the real reason Simon hadn’t made his final move yet was because of the family ties they shared, he
In a small town somewhere in Australia, Clarisse walked down the snow-covered street vigilantly, dressed in heavy padded jackets with a scarf covering her face tightly. She had been hiding here since she escaped the country and had been listening to the news of Josh and Lana in the country.Hearing of Josh’s death, she was more than excited, she was even glad that she had left him at the time she did, if not, only God knows what would have happened to her now, as for Lana that delusional bitch, hehe. Serves her right. She rang the bell of her home, a small apartment where she lived with her boyfriend who she had found in her first week in this town. He was handsome and romantic and he just made her happy. She rang the bell continuously wondering why he was not opening the door. She walked to the one place where they kept the spare house key, under a stone slab by the door but the key wasn’t there. She tried calling him but his phone was unreachable, so she knew she had no choice but
It was obvious that Josh had finally lost his mind and was trying to get everyone killed. Lana looked around from her hiding place in search of Simon. In this situation, if she could escape with Simon, it would be great. She thought, forgetting that she was wanted by the law. Just as she saw him and wanted to crawl to his side, Josh also saw her, this woman owed him a blood debt, and she dared ruin his plan. He thought with anger as he saw many of his men fall to the ground dead, he also wanted her dead.He aimed for her head. At that moment Lana felt a sense of crisis, looked behind her, and saw him pointing the gun at her. Her eyes widened in panic. Josh smiled at her, he hoped she would regret ever talking down on him.“No!” Lana screamed before the gun was shot and she was silenced forever, a bullet hole in her head. Even until her death, she was looking towards Simon with longing, failing to realize he was not the perfect man she envisioned. He was a man with flaws just like ev
Minutes before the gunshot, Simon walked into the building flagged by Josh’s men, unaware that they had been followed by Asher and that the police were not far behind. The hideout was an abandoned food processing factory in an area marked for demotion in town, no one could have guessed that criminals were hiding in such an unstable environment. He followed the men into the not-so-tidy office that must have been the director’s when the factory was still functioning and saw Josh who he hadn’t seen in the past three weeks seated there with a smirk on his face.“Hello cousin, happy to see me?” Josh, who was resting back in the chair, his arms spread out and a happy smirk plastered on his face asked.Simon didn’t care about him or the men surrounding him, he didn’t even care if Josh wouldn’t allow him to leave this place alive, all he wanted to know was if Alvira was safe and sound.“I have what you want,” Simon said seriously as he placed the black box on the creaking table before lookin
Alvira felt herself sink to the bottom of the transparent tank the moment she landed in, only then did she notice that the rope tied around her waist was inlaid with sandbags to keep her at the bottom and made swimming to the surface hard.She tried to swim upward but it felt as if she was only expending her energy wastefully, while Lana laughed at her from without.Lana knocked on the wall of the tank, drawing Alvira’s attention to herself, before going to pick up a chalk and a board and wrote, “Didn’t you say you would rather die than let my plans work? What then are you struggling to survive for? If you die, Simon might just be free from me forever.” She wrote with a smile and the struggling Alvira paused.It was true. If she survived, what was she surviving for? Wasn’t it for Lana to keep on playing with her, hurting Simon and causing him to do things that he shouldn’t do? What was she living for if she was nothing but a weakness to the man she loved? She thought and suddenly fel
Detective Peter frowned uneasily as he stared at the location where the van had been seen, which was marked on the GPS map. It was about an hour ride away from the St. Joseph hospital and out of town, he didn’t understand why these men would come to a damaged car garage with Alvira.There was no hidden place to keep her there, so why bring her? Was some kind of exchange supposed to go on there? Why did he feel something was off? He was wondering when he got Asher’s call, when he heard Asher’s question he felt even more flustered and confused, was there something he was missing? He picked up his phone and called Kalvin.“Hello? Are you with Simon?”“Yes sir, he had an emergency, so I went to get the doctor for him,” Kalvin told him.“Okay,” That’s understandable, “But your Lane is with him right?”“...No sir, he went to get Mr. Simon something to eat.”“So you mean no one is with Simon at the moment?”“We…ll, yes sir…”“What!” Peter shouted and the detectives in the same car as him lo
“Josh! Josh!” Jared walked into the slightly messy but old office with anger just as Josh got off the phone with Simon. “Are you messing with me right now? Why didn’t you tell me when you got Alvira? It’s been five hours.”Josh's eyes flashed with impatience before he turned to Jared with a smile, “What are you so worked up about? I obviously tried to call you but the call was not going through.” Josh said as he placed another call.“Hello? It’s me. I need a huge diversion. One big enough to get those detectives out of the hospital.”Jared's face darkened when he heard the content of the call, “You are planning to send Simon over?”Josh glanced at him but didn’t respond immediately, he ended his call before turning to him, “Calm down Jared, we are all partners now. The least you can do is trust me.”“Trust you? You didn’t even call me over when you got her and now Simon is coming here. How can I trust you when I don’t know what exactly you are planning?” Jared asked unhappily. “If I
It’s been a week since Simon was shot and life became more peaceful than anyone expected. Josh and Lana disappeared from the eyes of the public and the police investigation was hitting a dead end everywhere. Their whereabouts could not be found and it was obvious that some powerful people were helping them, but those helping them could not be discovered either.For Alvira life was pretty much good, she and Simon were reconciled and they were even more attached than they used to be in the past. She guessed that when people go through challenges together, their feelings for each other get deeply rooted. Simon was still forcefully hospitalized, as his hand was still in the cast, and the new physiotherapist didn’t trust him to be careful with his leg even though it was fine. As much as she wanted to stay with him at the hospital, she also needed to rush back to school to finish her exams.She walked out of a high-end restaurant, with takeout bags in her hand followed by the detectives th
[A shootout occurred at a coffee shop down lane 23 today, Mr. Simon Walker who was present at the sight of the shootout was injured and has been hospitalized, as at the time this report was made, his present condition is still unknown. The police, during their investigation however discovered that Joshua Stone, a highly wanted criminal, working hand-in-hand with a woman called Lana Jones, daughter of the millionaire, Mr. George Jones was the culprit in yesterday’s shootout. As a result, these two suspects are declared wanted….]The TV was switched off before the reporter could finish her report and Lana turned to Josh angrily, “What the hell do you think you are doing?! You. Shot. Simon? Why did you shoot Simon?! The one you were supposed to shoot was Alvira! That was the plan! That was why I got you out of jail?!”“Stop freaking out! You were there, weren’t you? He took the bullet for her, couldn’t you see that? He took it for her before my man could shoot her down.”“That’s a lie!
The next time Simon opened his eyes, he was in his private ward at St Joseph Hospital. He looked around confused, tried to sit up, and was immediately helped by Sarah who had arrived at one point in time.“Grandma? What are you doing here?”“Silly child, what do you mean what am I doing here? I am your family.”“Yes.., yes, I know. I am sorry.” Simon looked around the room, “Alvira…, where is she?”“She’s fine. She’s giving her statement to the police as we speak and your grandpa went with her, I must say, you did a good job this time. Alvira finally forgave you.” Sarah teased as she nodded towards his casted hand which was hung to his neck.Simon followed her line of sight and sighed helplessly. His grandma was always like this, trying to cheer a patient with the weirdest joke. “Grandma, I didn’t wish to get shot at.”“But it was still a good thing in disguise, wasn't it?” She winked and smiled.The door to the ward opened and Alvira walked in, seeing Simon awake in bed she rushed to