I stare at Matthew blankly. My eyes popping out and my mouth hanging wide open in utter shock as his words echo inside my head.
_You are dropping the charges._
I scoff, shaking my head in disbelief.
Matthew didn't just say that. He didn't fucking tell me to drop the charges.
"What?" I ask.
I want him to say the words again, I heard him the first time but I am having a hard time believing that those words came from him.
He glances at me.
"You are not going to write a statement against Luther."
God! This is so unbelievable. Matt wants me to drop the charges against a man that attempted to rape me? I honestly don't know what I was expecting, but I certainly didn't expect him to side with Luther at all.
Ain't he supposed to be angry at him? Like extremely furious?
He is not supposed to be okay with the fact that anothe
"Are you okay?" Ava asks when I get closer to her desk and I nod. "You don't look okay." She observes, concern masking her pretty face."I am okay, Ava." She raises a skeptical eyebrow at me. "Really," I add, forcing a smile at her."That there is a sad smile, it is betraying you." She says, a frown forming on her face and I take a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself down."You are a perceptive one, huh?" I ask leaning slightly on the desk and she chuckles."Always." And then she assumes a serious face. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" I open my mouth to say a casual yes, but she beats me to it. "We haven't known each other for a long time but I am here anytime you need someone to talk to." I smile at her, a genuine smile this time.Ava is such a darling.
My head is completely buried in the crook of Enzo's neck and my arms are both wrapped tightly around his neck as I focus on letting everything out.Every pain, every ache, every frustration, and every single tear that I have been striving to hold back the entire day comes gushing down my cheeks to his shirt. He doesn't seem to care that I am ruining his pristine outfit with my tears.He holds me tight, his right arm wrapped firmly around my waist as his other hand fondles my back, rocking me back and forth.I am sobbing bitterly, pain coursing through me as today's scenes play in my head chronologically. I don't hold anything back and with every tear that falls, my heart feels magically lighter. I cry until I drain my tear duct until no more tears come out. Until I am out of breath.And I don't pull away, I stay buried in his neck, eyes shut tight as I try to control my heavy breaths and
Enzo grabs my hand when we get to the entrance and he forces a smile to the blonde officer as we stride past the counter to the stairway.He is gripping my wrist so tight, he doesn't seem to notice that he is hurting me as he dash up, taking two stairs at a time and I am practically flying, trying real hard to keep up with his pace."Enzo," I call him, trying to yank my hand away but either he chooses to ignore me or he doesn't hear me. I have my money on the latter.I think he had zoned out. He seems to be in his own world, a world where I don't exist yet I am standing a few inches away."Enzo!" I yell, pulling out of his grip with all my might and I end up reeling back but fortunately he is quick to catch me, letting go of my hand in the process. "What the hell!" I cuss, holding him tighter and I heave a sigh of relief once I am on my feet again.I almost hit the ground, and I would have rol
I stare daggers at Smith when he stops a few meters away and it's taking everything in me to keep calm.I hate his ass, and I want to smack his ugly face so hard.These greedy and corrupt people make the world the worst place especially for the poor and the helpless, and as long as they exist, justice will never be served. Corruption is the worst barrier to justice and money is the worst thing that ever happened to humanity."Yes, sir." He gives Daniel a salute and then he nods at Enzo, entirely ignoring my presence."Did you order the release of Luther West?" Daniel asks him."Yes, sir, there was no sufficient evidence." He says shamelessly.I scoff and shake my head."There was no sufficient evidence?" Daniel asks, squinting eyes at him and his voice slightly raised. "What happened to the photos that Mercy took?"An expression I
I halt suddenly, taking Enzo's hand and I hastily pull him a step back. He whips his head towards me, narrowing his eyes at me suspiciously."Are you okay?" He asks, his eyes searching my face intently and I nod before shaking my head, causing a confused expression to cross his face."Matthew is here." I say, pointing my head towards Matt and company and I feel Enzo tensing besides me when he sights Matthew.He sets his jaw furiously and his hands are fisted on either side, eyes glaring at Matthew. Ever seen a provoked caged lion? That's the same look that Enzo has on his face, like he desperately wants to tear Matthew down into bitsy pieces until he is no more.Something tells me that this won't end well. Enzo and Matt in the same place, separated by a small distance? This can't end well.Enzo is furious at Matthew for planting drugs in his car and about the whole Luther thing. On
Newsflash: Dad just hit Matt!I guess he is in a slapping spree today but that doesn't matter. He just slapped Matt and I am a proud daughter right now, I can't help the smile that curves on my lips.Honestly, I have never thought that my father could stand against Matt for me or anyone for that matter. Dad is such a booty licker and he has always bowed down to Matt.I glance at Matthew and my smile pulls into a grin. I am trying so hard to suppress my laughter but watching him wince in obvious pain as he rubs his face softly is making it so hard.His cheeks are flushed, the veins in both his arms and forehead are popping out and his entire body is jerking in rage."I am so sorry, baby." Celine tells Matt, taking him in her arms and I break down into fits of laughter when she starts to rub his back, shushing him like a newborn.He is such a mama's boy.
"Matt is such an asshole. God! I hate him so much right now." Sky says bitterly, wiping her tears with the back of her hands.She has been crying endlessly for the past ten minutes while listening to me and I have been busy filling her in, as we wait for Lydia to come back.I have told her the hell that I have been through. How Matthew cost me my job, how I signed an agreement with him, Luther's attempt to rape me, how Matthew destroyed the evidence against Luther. I have told her everything except that she is my sister.You don't know how hard I am trying not to spill it, but for her own sake I will have to wait till she is better. Lydia doesn't want Sky to know the truth, I guess I will be the one to break the news to her."That makes the two of us, I hate him with every single cell in my body." I say blinking to keep my tears from falling."I thought he loved you. I didn't
I glance at Sky and my heart breaks apart, literally, when she smiles at me. I swear I hate that feeble smile plastered on her face. Sky has never looked this pale and this weak and seeing her like this hurts like hell.I know she is in deep pain and she is trying so hard to act strong for me but something tells me that she will break apart the moment I step out of this room.She is hurting both physically and emotionally and I know how it feels having someone forcing himself on you, the heart aches are out of this world.All I want to do is erase the painful scenes of Luther trying to rape me out of my mind, I want to forget everything that happened in that office but my sister has two painful stabs on her thighs and that will always be a constant reminder that her boss from hell tried to force himself on her.A scar will always makes sure that the memories are lingering somewhere inside your head
I watch mom shove two tablets in her mouth, downing them with a gulp of water and I cringe. I really hate medicine but mom is not in anyway bothered by the many tablets placed on her bedside, I can't say the same about Kelly though.She hates them as much as I do and I had a very hard time convincing her to take the pills yesterday. Thank God Ric took over the duty this morning.He arrived an hour ago and after running some tests on mom, he joined Arya, Kelly's physiotherapist and according to Ric, she is the best that our state got.I should be there with Kelly but I couldn't tolerate watching her in so much pain, the session is not exactly a walk in the park, so I switched place with dad.Talking of dad, he didn't tell Sky the truth yesterday, apparently, he just wanted to see how she is doing and you can be sure as hell that Lydia didn't give him a warm welcome and that he left withou
I wake up to a shattering sound in the kitchen and I shoot up immediately, placing both my hands on my chest.Fuck!My heart is pounding so hard and I can't help the paranoia that creeps in at the thoughts of someone breaking in to hurt us, but I get some relief when I glance at the wall clock.It is 8:00 in the morning and I don't think anyone would break into people's place in daylight, probably nanny broke something by accident.I get out of Kelly's bed and walk towards her, she is lying peacefully on the bed that Ric brought since she can't use a normal bed. I stand there staring at her with a huge smile on my face.I am so happy.Waking up knowing that Kelly and mom are feeling better makes me so happy and the fact that they are home makes me feel so contended.I couldn't believe it yesterday when I came home and found them settled in, I
I heave a sigh of relief when we succeed in dodging the reporters who were trying to get to me with all sorts of questions about Matthew and Luther, but fortunately, the police did a good job of pushing them away and Ric shielded me from their view and the cameras the entire time."That was quite a task," I say as we walk through the hallway towards the wards.Kelly and mom have already been transferred to the wards and Ric is taking me to see them."You can say that again, those guys are very nosy." He says in a very irritated sound and he looks more pissed than he sounds."Unfortunately, that is what they are paid to do," he shakes his head."Still, that is too much. They should learn to take no for an answer, they were practically shoving their mike in our mouths. It is not ethical at all and I am so sure that it goes against their codes too."We make to go past the e
I thought Luther's death would give me some sort of relief. I assumed I would be a very happy person now that the person who wanted to hurt me and my family is dead, I won't walk around with a target on my back or worry about Luther hurting Kelly and mom. I thought I would be okay, I am supposed to feel okay, his death is supposed to make me feel better and relieved.But I feel quite the opposite, if anything. I feel sad, I feel sorry for West and it is a shocker that my humanity is still unscathed even after the hell that I have been through.No matter how hard I try to get rid of the image, the scene is still stuck in my head and there is nothing I can do about it.Luther's body lying in a pool of blood, West crying painfully begging his son to wake up, asking him to open his eyes, the police announcing that Luther is dead and two cops pulling a traumatized West up.I keep replaying that sce
The hair on the back of my neck stands up and every muscle in my body tenses."WHAT? WHERE?" I ask as a sudden overwhelming feeling of fear surges through me. "Please tell me that mom and Kelly are safe." I plead.My heart is beating fast and wild against my chest and I can feel my blood pumping so fast and hard in my veins.If Luther gets to them...Fuck!I shut my eyes tight in an attempt to push the thoughts of Luther hurting either mom or Kelly out of my mind but it doesn't work.God!They better be safe."They are okay for now, I have seen him at the reception and I am rushing to the ICU to alert the police guards." Ric tells me and I can hear his ruffled breaths through the phone."Okay. I am on my way.""No. Don't risk coming over, I want you to get out of West's office and hide somewhe
I debate whether to go back to Wendy's room or not, after I end my call with Celine, but the former wins.Wendy is still sitting on the bed, resting her head on the head rest and she stares at me with disinterest when I push the door open.I know my presence is boring her to death but I will be out of this place before she knows it."It is obvious you don't want to see me." I say walking inside."I was hoping it is, so why are you here anyway?""I came to see how you are doing and to apologise for pushing you yesterday." My eyes linger on the bandage around her upper arm. "It was an accident.""You already did that less than ten minutes ago." She says curtly."You got no bad blood?"I want to be sure that she won't be suing my poor ass later."I am grateful if anything, you did the dirty work for me." She says with n
Celine stands there, startled. I know she didn't expect to find me here and neither did I and I can't help but speculate why she is here.She looks like she just woke up, jumped from the bed and drove here. I can bet anything that she didn't even take a shower and my only guess is that Matty already told her what happened that is why she looks super distressed so early in the morning.Because her precious son was arrested.Matthew spent just a night in jail and she already looks like this??I can't wait to see her two week from now because I know Matthew is not getting out and Celine will be depressed to death.I stand there waiting for her to scold me, call me names, slap me, snap at me asking what I am doing in his son's office or do all of the above but to my surprise, she does neither of those things."Jo?" She calls my name after a long silence and
"We have a bathroom in case you want to clean yourself up." Isabell, the forensic nurse, tells me after she is done examining and doing a few vaginal swabs on me."Thank you but I would rather do that in the house." I say, getting out of the examination bed.I have been lying on the bed for the past thirty minutes, legs wide apart and I was starting to feel numb."Are you on birth control?" She asks, walking towards the desk as I follow her."Nope.""Please have a seat, I will be right back."She disappears to another room on the left and I sit on the chair to wait for her.A few seconds later, she walks back carrying a glass of water and three blister packs and she places the glass on the desk, right in front of me."Here," she hands me a pack of emergency pills. "You will take one tablet and the other one s
I am coiling myself up on the couch completely naked, trembling from the cold, my mind a million miles away and by the time it strikes me that I should cover up, Enzo is already standing besides me. I can't see his face from this position, but I can see his legs and I feel his eyes on me.I want to quickly grab my torn dress from the floor and cover my nakedness but I can't even lift my finger. I feel so numb and so weak, I just lay there completely exposed and very conscious.Enzo cusses under his breath as he covers me from chest to my mid-thigh with his jacket and then he kneels besides me.He stares at me for a long second and in his eyes, I can see a hint of fury and concern and compassion and another emotion that I can't make out.He reaches to touch my face and I recoil. I know this is Enzo and deep down I know he can't hurt me but I can't help it. I feel so paranoid."