Rosa chased after her. "Are you out of your mind, Elena? Can you not see this looks fishy?"Elena had no idea what Rosa was talking about, and she told her so. "If this is all geared towards Liam being your ex, then I'm sorry," Elena said. "But I have to keep the peace. Moreover, he's with my phone.""He took your phone?""Sort of got into his hands. Look, no questions. Just help me gather my stuff up and leave my room, alongside your ugly luggage." It was meant to be a joke but Rosa did not smile.When Elena had left with Chris, George leaned near Rosa and asked if there was any problem. "You seem to be against all of this.""I know Elena," she said. "And I know when she's happy about something or faking it. Being Liam's wife isn't giving her any happiness.""You don't understand anything, Rose." He was suddenly annoyed. "You have no single idea what that marriage means to me. You don't."Rosa shook her head and walked away. From the door, she called. "I'd be leaving this evening. Yo
The sun was in her eyes, and it made her dizzy. The fever was returning."What is your name?" the policeman asked Chris. "Chris.""And what is your business with the lady? Young lady, what's your name?""My name is Elena.""Elena what?""Elena Cooper," she said, then corrected herself. "Elena Hemsworth." It felt strange saying Liam's name after her own name. "And what is he doing with you?" asked the policeman. "We have orders that this is an illegal detention.""Detention?" Chris said, turning briefly to Elena with an amused face. "I am just taking her to my boss, her husband. He's waiting in his mansion.""What is the name of this boss, if I may ask?""Liam, of course. Liam Hemsworth." He sounded irritated, but Elena could hear a little nervous strain in his voice. "Everyone knows him.""Is he the same Liam," the cop asked, "who called us to search for you? Are you aware there is a curfew all over the city, just because of you two?"Chris shrugged. "I have no idea of such a thing.
Liam sat in his car, eagerly waiting for the call from the cops to announce that they'd seen where they took Elena to. But he waited in vain.Instead, he got a call from one of his bodyguards, the one who had gone home to take care of his wife who'd just put to bed."Hi, boss," he said cheerfully. He seemed to have missed working with him. "How's it going?""How do you do, Luke?" Liam said, trying out the luxury of a smile. "How's the baby and your wife?""All bouncing and thanking you for the big tip you gave us.""Alright." He didn't know what else to say. The plight he was into was making him confused."Is everything alright, sir?" Liam was amazed that Luke was able to catch the strain in his voice."Not really," Liam said, feeling a need to pour his heart out. "My father and Chris are playing a dirty game with my wife, Elena."Luke didn't sense the danger immediately. "What sort of game?" he laughed. "Hide and seek where you get to stab anyone you find?""C'mon, Luke. Thing is..."
Elena watched with tired eyes as the doctor prepared the syringe. Her eyes wandered to the gloves on his hands and wondered why there were always spaces left at the end of the fingers.Liam was flashing in and out of the room, inspecting the doctor, asking petty questions, and zooming out again. He was having a meeting with his staff from the company in the living room, and it didn't sound like everything was alright. For them to have brought the meeting to his house, something was going wrong in the company.Elena could hear Liam's father's voice raised above the others. And whenever she heard it, she was filled with fear and guilt, because she felt she must be the reason why Liam wasn't putting much effort as he should into the running of the company. She was the problem."Elena," the doctor called, jolting her back to reality. "Are you ready?"She glanced at the covered syringe in the doctor's hand and it became a penknife, cutting through her hair. She blinked rapidly, the images
Liam just concluded a call with his step brother, Ethan. After so many years of ghosting from both brothers. And it was nothing short of surprising and suspicious.The guy had developed one hell of an accent and seemed to be speaking through smoke fumes. He asked about "the family company", and Liam said it was fine."And ya new wife?" he asked. "You think man is gonna know what is going on, right?"Whatever that meant, Liam told him Elena was okay, and switched the conversation back to Ethan. Ethan announced proudly that he would be releasing his latest art exhibit this year, and would love to see his stepbrother attend the exhibition ceremony. Liam laughed and said he might come. The call ended afterwards in an awkward note.Now, Liam sighed as he headed back home on his bicycle, after an evening cycling. Ethan wore him out. But also terrified him. At surface level, it might look like the 25 year old had nothing upstairs. But Ethan was one of the most cunning people Liam had known.
The door to Rosa's room creaked open. She appeared at the doorway. In her background a man in orange overalls was drilling screws into her cabinet."Hi," she said. "I thought I heard someone shouting."Elena watched her very keenly, and saw it: the tiny flash of anger that appeared on Rosa's face when she saw Elena and Liam together."Oh," Rosa said, failing at trying to smile. "You two seem busy." Then she added excitedly: "You wanna come see my room, Elena?""Er, Liam wanted us to go somewhere," she said.But to her horror, Liam replied: "It's nothing, actually. You can join your friend. I need to go wash up. I have a virtual conference by 8 pm. Would have loved you to be there, too.""Oh," was all Elena could say. "Are we slowly switching back to the old culture?" she thought. Just when I believed something was going...She felt colder when Liam's arms left her. He walked upstairs to his room, and Elena wondered what it'd take to run after him, smack his face, then drag him to the
Rosa stopped herself from going after Liam, so that if anything happened, Elena wouldn't see her as the culprit. She remained there on the bench, wishing that the lights of the mansion were dimmer, so that she could feel some privacy within her.Her heart was in turmoil. She couldn't stop it, couldn't let go. Liam. Highschool...*****Flash back"Hi," Rosa said, a pretty school girl with an amazing knack for all the psychological intelligence needed to keep any conversation going.He turned to her from the reverie of his thoughts. And instantly he saw in her a stranger with a pretty face and sexy straight legs."You appear lost," she said, shifting closer to stand with him behind the rails. "Are you thinking about taking over the whole world with the snap of your fingers?"Liam cackled up in laughter, as he hadn't seen that coming. He decided to give it back. "Yes. And I was just concluding my decisions on where y'all gonna stay," he said, "because I wouldn't want any humans around
Elena was woken up the next morning to the beep of a notification sound on her phone. She groped for her phone and found it tucked away under her pillow. Liam had been in bed with her for the night, but they hadn't still had sex.She didn't know why, but something always came up to obstruct every chance they got. This time it was Liam's father knocking right on her door!She sighed and blinked her eyes against the beams of sunlight that streamed through the blinds of her window.She laid sprawling on the bed, caressing the partly warm side of the bed where Liam had laid. It had been one hell of a night, but she was happy that even though they didn't end up having sex, she was relieved that the tension between them had been resolved. She had professed love to him, and he had, too. What else was needed for a good life, finally?Another message dropped and she picked up the device. It was a text from Rosa."Guess what today is!" the text read.Elena frowned in confusion. Today was a Thur
Liam listened to Ethan's lawyer speak. There was a dying flicker of hope in his voice. He had long lost the battle, and the jurors weren't listening to him anymore. But he tried his last weapon: appeal for leniency.And for the record, not long ago, Ethan had been sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, and a wave of terror and silence had coursed through the hundreds of people gathered there.In the offender's box Ethan stood, a shadow of his former self. It was a week since his arrest. And even though his mother, through his plea and Liam's mercy, had been set free on bail, Ethan couldn't get his doom over his head. Liam watched him closely, at his overgrown beards, his unkempt hair, the blood in his eyes. "Your honor," the counsel said, "I understand the seriousness of my client's crime, and I do not condone it. However, I would like to ask for leniency in sentencing. My client has no previous criminal record, and I believe that a sentence of 25 years is excessive. A reduced sen
After the incident with Plum, she became a ghost in the mansion. Elena looked everywhere for her, casually sent other maids to find her, but Plum was always where they had not been.When a maid said she heard her crying in a restroom situated in the basement, Elena ran to the basement. When she got there, the crying had stopped. There was a deep silence. "Break the door open!" Elena shouted with a sense of dread and urgency.The maid went for it, but the door wasn't locked. She opened it and Plum was not there anymore. But Elena had the gut feeling that she was still around there, somewhere."Look, Plum, I know you can hear me," Elena called out, "Whatever game you think you are playing, whatever stunt you want to pull by this shit, would not work. Not in my house. Okay?"She was met with even deeper silence. Her anger built up. "If you want to go crazy, my dear, you can send in your resignation letter, and I'll see you off to the gates myself! Then you can wield your insanity to its
"I don't know how to describe how happy I am," Liam said, "hearing you're pregnant."Elena frowned, as she remembered something. "No, boo, you certainly knew what you were doing. Why didn't you let us have sex all this while?"She saw Liam frown. "Oh, really? I didn't really think about it that way. I was only having fun." He turned to her. "You wanted a baby, too?""I guess as at then," she said, "I didn't. It's all changed now. Then, I only wanted to enjoy this" — she reached out to touch and caress his flaccid dick lying on his belly — "to the fullest. Wanted to suck out every juice you could ever produce.""Eww, I don't produce juice," Liam laughed. "You do.""Let's see who gives the juice first!"she declared, sitting up. Liam was grinning too, perhaps wondering how he got so lucky with a wife who was both an introvert and a sexual creative."What are you trying to do?" he asked, feigning suspicion."How would you like your blowjob? Fast and aggressive, or slow and deep.""This lo
When Liam told Elena to go upstairs, so he would handle his family, she was filled with dread. Not by what the family would to to her as revenge, but for what Liam would do to them. There was so much anger and bitterness in his voice. His eyes were dark and revengeful.And when she passed through their midst, her heart beat with doubled pace. In her room, she couldn't sit quietly. She peeked from the window, saw her husband raving, commanding so much power that even the birds in the sky didn't as much as flicker their wings.She didn't hear some of what was what said, but she picked out the key phrases. And she couldn't help but marvel at the extent her husband was ready to go in his revenge.Not once did she try to interfere, by either calling him on phone to interrupt him, or call his name from the balcony. But she held her reins. Their altercation skyrocketed to a climax, when the gates opened and police sirens filled the air. The police cars rolled into the compound, and everyone
"Liam, you cannot do this to your brother!" Ethan's mother shouted the moment Liam stepped out of the car. "You cannot claim to love him and do this wicked thing to him.""Is he even listening to you?" Mr Paul asked. "He doesn't even remember who you are, talk more of Ethan."Liam allowed his eyes skim through the men and women gathered in front of his mansion. It was just as Chris told. They weren't even sitting. Only his father, whose health was seriously on the decline, was on a chair just behind them, smoking a pipe.Mr Paul spoke again about Liam. "See how he mopes listlessly? I tell you, what he should work on firstly is recovering —""Every dime you all have looted from my company while I was away," Liam cut in, blending in so well that the effect of his statement was an astounded silence.They didn't respond for a while. Maybe they thought not responding would help prove how much of a clueless man Liam was. But Liam had this all prepared. "Hey, El," Liam said to his wife besi
Elena saw the flash from behind Luke. It happened so fast. First, a clean hole on the roof appeared, accentuated by a flash of light. Something metallic hit a pan, bounced off and went through Luke's stomach. Elena heard the bullet — or whatever it was — wheeze past her ear. Her hairs stood on edge.Before her, Luke still stood with his penis in his hand, but a new hole on his chest. He didn't fall immediately, but when there were movements from the roof, he did fall.Elena saw them descend like black angels from the rooftop, or anywhere they might have come from. They were clothed in black, regaled in darkness. Their eyes were flashes of stealth, precision and ruthlessness. In their hands were stout guns, poised to end in a instant the life of anyone who tried to play smart. The red dots of their targets were everywhere on Ethan and his men's clothes. Ethan had more dots."Freeze," a voice said again. "We shall not hesitate to kill whoever moves a muscle."Ethan yelped and tried to
"You see what's inside?" Ethan asked."Ethan, what is the meaning of this?" Liam asked through the phone."I asked, what is inside!""An agreement for transfer of ownership, Liam whispered."That's right. I want you to sign the paper and place it back into the case. I'll get the notification here if that has been done."There was a prolonged silence from Liam's side. Ethan idly shook his feet which were propped on a table. Then he looked to his right to see Elena, tied to a chair. She had long stopped crying now, and all that left her throat was a hollow moan.Ethan motioned to Luke and the four other men who were with him in that underground. "Take the gag off her mouth," he ordered.Liam heard this, and reacted immediately. "You gagged my wife?!" he shouted. "Ethan, you had the temerity to put a gag on Elena's mouth?"Ethan chuckled. "Oh. Look who's hurt and shaky. But that's not even all." He glanced over to see Elena immediately double up to throw up. Ethan smiled and turned back
Liam sat there, gasping, and moving his head back and forth. A lot was going on in his brain, in his mind and heart. He could feel each throb, bringing back with it a cascade of memories."Where's Elena?" he asked himself, remembering he had a wife, who he had been treating like trash. She was right, after all! Liam's hands began to shake against the wheel. The world seemed to slow down around him."Where are Charlie, Olive and James?"The name Charlie stuck to his mind. Charlie. The last image he remembered of him was when he was down on the alley, being pumped by bullets, shaking.He had done that to save him.Liam swallowed and glanced away. The tears that streamed from his eyes had become heavy. Flowing from the depth of his soul. His nose ran freely.Charlie had given himself for him.Liam's thoughts were violently interrupted by a blast on his windshield. He turned to see his chasers lined up shoulder to shoulder, their guns raised to their eyes. They began to fire bullets on L
Liam stared at the man standing before him, anger and frustration in Liam's face. Something was seeping into his brain. He was trying hard to remember who the man was. And he was so close to it!"Here are pictures of us," Charlie said, showing him a screen full of pictures. Liam recognized himself in the pictures. But the man next to him... Good heavens.They were standing under the shade of a random tree in the streets. Liam had no idea how Charlie had found him there. Liam was about concluding his arrangements for the soldiers to go arrest Ethan. "I'm trying," Liam finally admitted. "I do recognize myself, but it is like looking into a photoshopped picture. I can't explain how this is happening."Charlie's face was kind. "I understand. The doctor gave us a forewarning, so I really understand. You're already doing great. I just want to be by your side.""Why?" Liam asked."Because the men who had tried to killer you are back again."Liam's eyebrows crinkled. "What sre you talking ab