As usual, Belle opened her eyes to see herself in the same bed, her head hurting more than before. Memories of last night suddenly came to her and she grabbed the blanket which was already over her, closer to her chest.She felt the least safe now than when she was first brought to this place. Tears started to form in her eyes as she wondered about her fate. She began to worry that she might never be found and rescued, she thought of her cousin's sister, she thought of Ben, and unpredictably, she also thought of Mrs Johnson.She thought more of Ben, was he thinking of her? Was he worried about her disappearance? Was he making any effort to look for her?The room's door opened and both Mev and Tiger walked in. Mev had a small bag with her like she always did whenever she came to check up on Belle, while Tiger had a stick of cigarettes in-between his index and middle finger.Belle fidgeted with pre-existing fear the moment they both walked in. Tiger noticed it."Relax, he's gone." She he
"I miss you, Ben.""So you are not here because of Jenna?" He wanted to be sure."No, I'm here for you. I came here to see you.""Get out." His order was sudden. She snickered in reaction."What?""Leave my office, Alex." His voice was calm, but he generally wasn't and didn't want her there."Don't you miss me?""Alex, leave."She stood there, her hands still on his shoulder, she took in a deep breath trying to control her anger. She knew she couldn't be angry at him."I thought you've been away from women all this while because you needed a break, and that's why I stopped coming around but then you are seen with this girl...." Ben raised his eyes to look at her when she said ‘this girl’."You know about her?""Of course I do, I was at the hotel that day. You would never hold me in public but the way you held her hands that day...." Alex trailed with jealousy in her voice."Alex?" He stood now, taking her hands off him."Do you have a hand in her kidnap? Was this your doing?""No!" She
Belle couldn't close her eyes since Mev left. There was fear in her mind. She was expecting Tiger to come so she could decline his offer and was also prepared if he tried anything with her. It was dark in the room now, the lights were turned off from somewhere else other than the room. It made her clutch one of the pillows tight.She could hear her breathing in the quiet room, heavy as they were. She blinked now and then to stop the tears that wouldn't stop forming in her tired eyes.She heard a familiar sound, the unlocking of the door. Her breathing got heavier than they already were. She saw a male figure walk in, and rather than sitting up to face him as she planned in her head, she laid still, closing her eyes and hoping he would just walk back out.She still had her eyes closed when she felt a gloved hand touch her face, her heart skipped. The hand caressed her cheeks first and then her lips, slowly parting them.Ben, that was the first thought that came to her because he did
The driver had driven them to one of Ben's apartments where he casually visited. Belle had fallen asleep while resting in his arms as they drove there so when it was time to get down from the car, Ben had to carry her in.The driver who had followed Ben up the elevator to get the door opened it and Ben carried her in. She didn't even know she was being carried by him till the driver closed the door a little bit loudly, and she opened her eyes slowly.Ben's face was the first thing her eyes met, and she smiled. Ben noticed she was awake when he wanted to lay her down on the bed."Are you going to leave?" She asked with her sleepy eyes aimed at his."No. No, I won't.""I feel dirty, Ben" She pouted, holding on to his neck and not letting go."I NEED to immerse my body in some warm water.""Okay, you can do that when you wake up tomorrow." Ben tried to lay her down again because he thought she was just sleep-talking but she wouldn't let go. "You are not listening to me, Ben. I want to fe
Morning.Cherry was asleep when she heard her friend sobbing. She rubbed her eyes and sat up to see Brie's face streaming with tears."Oh Brie, not again," she hugged her to try and comfort her. Brie had been crying a lot since Belle went missing and had Cherry cry with her sometimes too. "It's been days, the police are still not saying anything about her, no one knows where she is....what am I going to tell my grandma? She doesn't even know yet, I was supposed to look out for Brie but now she's been missing and no one is calling with any information about where she might be." Brie started to weep more loudly than before; she had been muffling her sobs because she didn't want to wake Cherry up but now she had someone to cry her heart out to."She will be okay," Cherry said even if she was beginning to lose hope in those words of hers, it was just an attempt to calm her friend down again."I hope so..." Brie sniffed and wiped some of her tears away. *****Almost noon.Brie was at th
"Did you call her yet?" Ben asked Belle as she left the room to join him in the living room. He wanted to know if she had called Brie because she kept on repeating that she needed to call her sister to notify her of her safety."Yes, I have to go see her, she sounded really worried," Belle said to him, intending to really leave at that particular moment."Now?""Yes.""No," Ben said with finality in his voice."No?""You need to get some more rest, that's after we get back. I'm taking you out so we can have breakfast, after that you get some good rest.""But...""Your sister can see you later, we will have breakfast and you get some rest like I said. I already asked my doctor to come see that you are alright.""She's sounded so worried," Belle insisted."I wanna go see her, I can have breakfast at her place." She said lastly before it turned quiet between them both."Come, I'll take you there." He accepted her decision, picking up his suit jacket and holding the door for her to go thro
"Brie!" Belle couldn't take it anymore."Can you please stop? Please, just stop all of these accusations, okay? You are saying it's his fault, blaming him for all of this, do you know who saved me? Huh? It was him, he found me and he got me out of there.""That's because he probably knew where to find you all along," Brie felt so sure."Okay, now you are just saying this because you have an issue with him." Belle shook her head."No, I know what I'm saying...""It's not his fault Brie, it's not. The fact that he gifted me a house and I was kidnapped around there doesn't make it his fault. Can we please just go inside and be happy that I'm safe instead of accusing him?" Brie looked away after all her sister just said, she still believed her intuitions were right."Please, Brie?" Belle held her arm, making Brie look at her for a while."Okay," She shrugged with her arms folded against her chest."Is he coming in too?" She whispered to Belle."Yes.""Oh. We are still gonna talk about this
"Good day, sir," A policeman saluted Ben as he walked into the station. He was escorted to an interrogation room where Tiger was being questioned.The moment Ben stepped into the room, Tiger wanted to stand and approach him but an officer made him sit back down. His eyes were challenging Ben but he could do nothing as he was being held to the chair by chains.A proud smile took over Ben's lips when he saw how badly Tiger wanted to get at him. He was smiling because he knew he had ended his streak of invisibility from the police.Ben had worked with him before and knew where to find him after he discovered that he was the one in charge of Belle's kidnap. Tiger's biggest mistake was agreeing to kidnap Belle because now he was in jail after being able to successfully evade the police for almost a decade; he was in jail, thanks to Ben."Did he talk yet?" Ben threw the question to all the officers in the room, his hands in his pocket as he tried to remain calm after remembering what Belle
"Are you okay?" Jenna asked her when she noticed she was acting somewhat different."Yeah, it's just..." Belle stopped and sighed. "Can I tell you something?""Yes girl, I'm all ears.""Well, you see..." Belle sighed once more after sitting next to her on the sofa in the living room."I thought and thought but couldn't get Ben a good gift. He got me those cars outside and all I could get him was tickets to go see a movie with me. I realized that I couldn't even go out to see a movie with him because he's him, you know. I feel bad but I'm trying not to because he was so excited gifting me the cars.""You got him tickets?" Jenna laughed after listening to her say all she had."Yeah?""Three of his houses in city S have private cinemas in them." Jenna couldn't stop laughing."Awwww, that makes me feel worse." Belle almost sobbed."I'm sorry. It's just funny but don't stress about it. I used to feel that way years back but then I realized he really didn't care what it was I bought, he only
Back in city S.Belle woke up and didn't see Ben by her side so she got out of bed and went to the bathroom to check for him but when she didn't see him, she decided to just do her morning routine of brushing her teeth and cleansing her face.After that, she decided to go to the balcony to check if he was there because lately, he was there using his laptop whenever she woke up late.She got there and didn't see him but she saw something surprising. There were seven cars parked downstairs. She turned around to go look for him but saw him just there, he had been behind her while she counted the cars."Good morning, my queen," he told her with a smile."Good morning," she held his face and kissed his right cheek."And happy birthday," she got on her tippy toes and hugged him and felt his arms go round her waist."You're finally awake, I've been waiting and my excitement almost died while waiting." He laughed after the hug."The cars?" She didn't know how to react though he was laughing."T
Larkson mansion.I"Aww, she has such a pretty face." Mrs Larkson said after some silent minutes of admiration.Belle looked up from her dish and smiled at the woman sitting opposite to her on the dining table. Things were great since she came by unlike all she assumed. Mrs Larkson didn't ask the many questions she assumed she had to prepare for so things were alright till she said:"My grandchildren will be so cute, I can already imagine." Belle almost choked on what she was about to swallow when Mrs Larkson blurted that out.Ben stood and filled a glass of water, rubbing Belle's back slowly while bending to speak to her as she had her head down."Water?" He proposed and she took the glass from him and took a big sip. While Belle was drinking water, Ben took the chance to give his mother a questioning look about what she just said.Belle returned the glass to him and he kept it on the table and sat back down. Mrs Larkson didn't say anything else; she didn't mean to make Belle uncomfor
Morning, the next day."Did you think about it?" Ben leaned against the wall with both his hands in the trouser pockets as he watched Belle arrange her hair."Think about what," she dropped her hairbrush and turned to him."Please tell me you gave a thought to what I told you last night.""Be direct, we talked about quite a lot yesterday," she started to put lipstick on her lips while facing the mirror again."..." Ben scratched the back of his neck and bit his lips because he knew that she remembered what he was talking about."Alright, I'm ready." She stood up from the chair in front of the mirror."Will you drop me off at my sister's or will someone else take me?" She asked, walking past him after picking her purse and hoping he followed like she wanted but he didn't. Ben pulled her back by her waist and he did it so easily, it made her wonder if to do a weight gain diet so he couldn't do that anymore."Please?" Be didn't let her go after bringing her back to himself. His arms around
"Hey man, come take a look." Belle watched as one of the men assigned to be with her called to the other after collecting her ring from her ring finger."Is it original diamond?" The man who was called asked."What do you think? Of course, it is, can't you see?" The first man held it up to the light."She's wearing a ring that's probably worth an amount I've never touched in my entire life.""Are we going to sell it?" The second man asked."We? Did you just say we? I'm the one who noticed it on her finger first...""Guys," someone came in while panting loudly."Yeah?" "I was upstairs..." The man stopped to pant for some seconds."I was upstairs, and I saw these vehicles...""Is the boss back?" The first man asked, putting the ring in his jacket pocket."I don't think so, he usually comes alone. When I said that I saw cars, I meant that there were at least seven of them.""Seven?" The second man asked."Yeah," the informant nodded."I would be far off if I had started to run when I saw th
Richard was now being tied up in her living room while she watched alongside Ben. She was excited at first, that Ben came to her rescue then realized sooner that he came solely for Richard."What did he do?" She asked Ben but didn't get a reply. "Search for it," she heard him order instead. The men started up her stairs."Search for what?" She asked again but got no reply. She saw Ben go over to one of the sofas opposite to where Richard was tied up to take a seat. She saw a look on Ben's face that she saw the day he came by and injected her with an overdose of the drug that landed her at the hospital. It was a masked look because he seemed calm but she knew he was angry and unhappy at the same time.When she got a chance, she moved to where Richard was and decided to ask him what she asked Ben earlier, hoping for a response."What did you do, Richie?" She asked and got a glare from him that made her move back."Where is she?" Richard's eyes turned from Alex to Ben when he heard the q
Alex was starting to get scared of Richard's presence when they heard her doorbell ring downstairs."Are you expecting someone?" He asked her."N...yes!" She lied and left him for downstairs before he could hold her back. Happily opening the door to at least be free from him, she saw Randy."Ma'am, I was sent by Mr Larkson..." Randy saw that she was in a towel and looked away immediately."Randy, thank goodness it's you." She pushed him outside and followed, closing the door behind her."Ma'am I...""Shhhh. I need you to help me okay? There's someone in there whom I am currently not very comfortable with," she started and when she saw that he was listening, she continued."I want you to act like we planned to leave together and that you came to pick me up. Can you?""I was actually sent by Mr Larkson to...""Aren't you listening to me?!" She whispered shakily."I need your help, someone broke into my house.""I'm not the police, ma'am." Randy remained polite though he didn't believe what
11:49 pm Cherry returned from the restroom and saw Brie seated on the bed, not sleeping. She lay on her side of the bed and pulled the blanket over herself to go back to sleep but couldn't, not when Brie was awake."You are overthinking shit again, aren't you?" She sat and joined Brie."I just have a bad feeling. It's been two days since Belle went to that wedding, I find it weird that she hasn't called or come over to tell us about what happened that day. You know how excited she gets, she should have come by to see us, you know.""Urggh, Brie, really? Is that why you are not sleeping?""Is it not a good enough reason?""No, it isn't. Get some sleep, Belle is FINE. She's probably cuddling in bed with him right now and you're here, worrying your ass over nothing.""I'll call her tomorrow morning, please remind me?""Yeah, sure. Can we return to sleeping now?""Okay." Brie rested her head on the pillows."Oh wow, that was actually easier than usual, you agree to go back to sleep. Good
Weeks later.Late night.Alex's heels made some noise as she walked into the quiet house. It woke Richard up; he had been sitting and waiting for her till he fell asleep."You're finally back, I've been waiting for you. Why didn't you pick up your calls? The least you could have done is answer the goddamn call and let me know if you're busy, you fucking left me worried.""You didn't see my text?" Alex raised a brow."I didn't.""Well, I sent you a text to let you know that I would be visiting Doctor Dan to fix an appointment for my abortion.""What? I thought we talked about that, we're keeping the baby, aren't we?""I changed my mind," she shrugged."You changed your mind? Seriously? Tell me you're joking, Alex.""Do you see me laughing right now? Look, Richie, I'll be honest with you. I went out with my friends after seeing the doctor and I'm as hell as I speak so please let me just go have a good shower so I can get some sleep." She started to walk towards the stairs."You can't mak