She paces around the room, her phone in her hand, unsure if the step she took was the right one.She sighs over and over again, sitting down and then standing up to pace all over again. She grabs her phone and dials that one number that has been in her head the whole day. "Hello?""Hello ma'am.""Is everything going fine over there?"The man chuckles. "Everything is fine here ma'am. She's still unconscious from the chloroform, other than that, there is absolutely nothing to be worried about."Even though she has been reassured more than five times in the last three hours, she's still anxious for some reason."Okay then. If anything happens, don't forget to let me know.""Yes ma'am."She hangs up and sits down, breathing deeply.She had looked like a strong woman when she was making the deal but now, she's sure everyone knows that she's not as strong as she portrayed herself to be, not as tough as she made herself seem.Tiara picks up her phone again and dials another number. "Hello? D
"Here comes the bride... Here comes the bride..." The orchestra sings and performs as the great doors open to reveal Ivy in a long white dress with a long transparent train behind her and her Dad holding her hand, walking hef down the aisle.A crown of flowers on her head and a bouquet of flowers in her hands.Unlike someone who had been missing for a day, she smiles serenly and calmly, her eyes roving over all the guests in the large conference hall. She walks as gracefully as a queen, letting her smiling do the talking for her.On the altar, Ashton watches as she approaches, submerging his awe under a smile and clearing his throat every ten seconds interval.She comes to a standstill in front of her to be in a few seconds husband and smiles, her eyes expressing all her joy that her mouth can't possibly express.The priest comes to stand in their middle and clears his throat into the microphone. "Mr Ashton Wright and Miss Ivy Hall, please share your vows.""I, Ashton Wright, hereby t
"What the fuck are we going to do now? Even though we did what could have cancelled an entire marriage, it still didn't work!" Arielle paces, her anger in her voice.Tiara is just as restless as she is. "Do you think that's all? We had her in custody!"Raine looks at them both, frowning. "What kind of custody? What do you mean?"Arielle quickly exchanges a guilty glance with Tiara. "What did you mean?" She asks too, pretending to not be aware of what Tiara was referring to.Tiara looks at them both. "I meant that I thought we had established that she should not marry him. That's what I meant by custody.""Custody is an odd choice of word for that but I understand. I still don't know why you'd think she'll do what you wanted. You're so naive." Raine comments, calm as she sits and crosses her legs.Tiara throws Arielle a bad look and she looks away immediately.Raine stands up from her chair. "The mum's would be looking for me right now. I have to go.""You see very cool about it though
Removing and gently laying his coat on the bed, he dials a number. "Where are they?""I have them in the same place they held her." The man responds and Ashton nods. "They won't talk if they are experts so don't probe or ask them anything for now. Just keep them on an empty stomach and torture them from time to time. And the phone?""That number has stopped calling."Ashton chuckles. "Don't even bother, I know who it is, turned out I had the same number on my phone, though blocked. Keep in touch."Ashton hangs up just as Ivy makes her way in, looking around, still in her wedding dress.Ashton smiles. "I see they just dumped you here.""Seriously. I had no idea my mum wanted me out of her house that bad." Ivy jokes and they both laugh...They both stop laughing and each one has nothing to say to the other..."Uhm... I guess to my room then. I had a pretty stressful day..." Ivy states, her eyes saying otherwise. "Goodnight."Ashton's expression falls but he manages a smile back. "Goodn
All the ecstasy wipes away with one question and she sits up, wrapping the blankets around her as she suddenly seems naked and bare backed.Ashton waits for her response but he gets none, signifying her acceptance of the situation. "Oh my goodness!" He sighs.For one, he's not angry, he's just... exasperated, unsure of what to make of the situation of her virginity.She's getting married the second time so he thought what any reasonable human would have thought.But here she is, looking fragile on his bed.Ivy swallows. "Y... Yes.""Why didn't you tell me?""Are you angry? I didn't think it was something worth being shared. I wanted to have a first night with you. That's why I didn't say anything, scared that you would have done nothing if I told you."Ashton relaxes, stops pacing and sits on the bed, still very naked. "Telling me would have made me... take care of you more. I could have... hurt you." He confesses, his eyes full of worry."I'm not fragile. I know what I want." Ivy sta
"I'm so disappointed in you." Judith admits as she paces around, looking at Raine with disdain and anger. "You're my child and yet you all find ways to disappoint me. How could you?""What did I do?""What did you do?" Judith asks back, the incredulousness she's feeling very heavy in her words. "Did you just ask me what you did?"Raine nods shamelessly. "Yes, I don't know what my offense here is.""Ever since you got back home, you've been a pain in every part of my body. I thought if I ended this wedding and it was all over, you would relax as well and go back to the child you used to be but no. In front of all my guests and our in laws, you stood up and said no to their wedding."Raine chuckles.Judith clenches her fist, swallowing the urge to wipe that smirk off her face. "You are just as cruel as your big brother." Judith remarks and turns to leave."Oh really? Now you can say that? After you threw him out? Tell me, what did he do to warrant getting exiled? He has no source of liv
Ivy drops her bag on the back of the chair and sits down, looking around at the fancy restaurant Wren invited her to.She's approached by a formerly dressed waiter, complete with bow ties. He curtesies."Miss Wren had said you would arrive before her so she arranged for you to be taken care of." He states as he places a wine glass and a whole bottle of wine right beside it, pouring it into the glass first.Ivy chuckles.She does know how to make a person happy."Thank you." Ivy smiles, the waiter curtesies again and leaves.She picks up the glass and inhales deeply, smiling before she takes a sip of the wine, hmming to herself.Wren Wang.What's the woman's story? Kidnapped for a full month and now, less than a week to that, she's back on her feet, she's that strong."I see you've been pampered." Wren's voice climbs over the noise of the restaurant as she takes a seat. "I'm sorry I'm late, we ran into some traffic on the way."Ivy smiles, nodding as she drops the glass of wine. "It's
"So, where are you going from here? You seem to be in a hurry."Wren laughs. "I can't hide anything from you, I am actually going to meet Grant.""My brother?" Ivy looks at her through hooded eyes, "I've been wondering how you two know one another. You even hit him that day.... Can't say he doesn't deserve it sometimes."Wren laughs, grabbing her bag. "He really did deserve it, and you will know, sooner or later." She winks, standing up. "Sorry to be leaving you even though I arrived late, if I want to avoid been late being for the rest of the day, I'll need to start by leaving here early "Ivy nods, "I'll be leaving as well. Bye."Wren waves her a hurried bye and leaves. Right after, Ivy stands up and makes her way to the counter so she can pay."The bill please...?" She asks"Oh ma'am, Miss Wren already paid.""What? When?""When she made the appointment.""Oh wow. Thank you, I didn't know that."The attendant nods, as she turns around to go pick up her own bag and go back home.Ash
"Calm down, she'll be fine." "How can I be calm when I can hear her screaming her lungs out here!" Ashton half yells at Grant and then composes himself. "Sorry but I can't help feeling like this when her screams seem to be pushing at my heart right now." Grant smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine." In a little bit, the agonizing screams stop and there's calm. Ashton springs to his feet the third time in a minute. A nurse comes out. "She delivered safely. It's a baby girl. She's been dressed now. You can..." She hears her name being called again and goes back inside, not finishing her sentence and the look she gave to Ashton makes him three times more scared. Ivy is in the labour room, her contractions had suddenly started while on a road trip so Ashton had drove like his life depended on it. Well, maybe because his wife's life depended on it and so did his. The baby had come two weeks earlier than the date she's supposed to arrive which has got all of them
She hugs him gently on the bed and presses a blue button above his head.In about a minute, the doctor with his levy of nurses open the door and come inside. Ivy leaves them to it and steps out for the moment. As soon as she steps out, everyone crowds around her."What's wrong?""Why are the doctors rushing in like that?"Ivy smiles and motions them to calm down. "He woke up just now. I called the doctors for their routine check. We may be able to see him after his checkup."They all sigh in relief and some even hug in relief.She waits with them outside and after a little while, the doctors and nurses finally come out of the room."He's fine now. You all can go in to see him."Without waiting for any other confirmation of any sort, they all push past them like the really big family they are portraying and go inside the room, Ivy goes in last but Veronica gives her the chair so she won't stay standing, tired because of the life growing in her belly.At first, there's nothing but then
The next three hours is a flurry of activities as their families begins to troop in, Grant joining them at a point."Where is he?" Judith asks as soon as she arrives, talking Ivy's in his."They just wheeled him out of the surgery room. I was told to wait outside while they set him up or something."Judith nods. "Oh thank goodness. How did you find him?"She glances at Grant who shrugs right back at her. "I had help from a police officer. He helped me locate him.""Don't tell me it was that one on the news?" Veronica chips in as she comes by, coming into the discussion."Yes, it was him. He just wanted Trust Financials as a reward but I knew he was going to betray me anyway so I didn't really give him.""But the news didn't say you were there?" Judith quips this time."Well, I left there with Ashton and came to the hospital so I wasn't really there. Just popped in and out." She smiles, turning slightly red as she covers one lie with another.Grant laughs and then quickly masks it with
"Grant! Watch out!" Ivy yells as she grabs the gun laying closest to her.Grant whips around and stares right into the barrel of a Beretta '94 that had been left behind by one of Mike's own men.Mike chuckles painfully. He glances momentarily at Ivy who's fiddling with the gun in her hand and scoffs. "You can't even handle it, how can you use it?" He takes his eyes off of her and focuses it on Grant. "So you killed my little brother because he raised the gun at you first? Why am I not dead yet?"Grant rolls his eyes. "Is this one of those villain long talks? I'm sick of them, come on. Just drop the gun and accept your fate. Is that so hard? You lost the fight. Well, leave then." Grant mutters disinterestedly even though he's looking right at a loaded gun.Mike shakes his head. "A fight isn't over until it's really over. Do you know why I took that man? Her husband? After she passed out, I was determined to make him a widower who lost his baby by not letting her to go the hospital on t
Recovering from the gunshot and sudden appearance of Grant, Ivy runs for Ashton's who's very weak and his pulse is irregular. She looks around and her eyes land on a bunch of keys on one of Mike's men's trousers.He smirks at her when he sees her eyeing the keys. "Come get them darling."There's a second gunshot and a glaring hole appears right in the middle of his forehead and he falls to the ground. Wordlessly, Ivy runs for his body and removes the key. Mike's men all flee seeing that one dead. They all drop their weapons and run away, leaving Hank and Mike.The fact that her brother just murdered someone doesn't count at in the current circumstances. She loses the chains that he's been tied down with and he falls limply down into her arms. She holds him up with her strength, not letting him hit the ground, the same way he had cushioned her head that night Mike had hit her in the stomach.He moves ever so slightly and his hand come to rest on her legs before he closes his eyes, a ve
True to his words, Hank calls her in thirty minutes. Reminding her that she has thirty minutes to get there. "Where am I meet you?" She asks him on the call."Grey Street Garage..."She immediately springs up from her chair, grabs all the documents from the table and hisses, remembering that place. She had been locked in a warehouse on the same compound for two nights. She inhales sharply and she's sure she's ready to go there.Not like she has a choice anyway.Anita sees her breeze right by but she doesn't say anything, guessing it's about the call that brought back her appetite momentarily. She sighs, wishing her boss well. If everyone in the whole wide world has to go through such thing, she'd never wish it on Ivy. She's basically the best boss she's ever had.The best of the best.Which is why she wishes her luck silently as the elevator doors close with Ivy inside.As soon as she's on the ground floor, she dashes for her car, checking the time every few seconds. It takes about t
The first day went by...So does the second.On the third day, it has Ivy in a bind, pacing in her office.Anita comes in with a plate of vegetable salad and mashed potatoes, and steak in another plate along with another takeout cheeseburger and fries, even chicken nuggets as well, hoping she would eat one of the many dishes.She hardly acknowledges her entrance as she sets all of them down on the table and looks at Ivy as she paces around her table, her eyes not leaving her phone.Even Anita has no idea what she's waiting for but it seems to have so much importance to her so she can't interfere but she can eat while waiting... Right?"Ma'am, you won't eat lunch again? This is the third day you're skipping your breakfast and lunch."Nobody knows about the baby except her family, his family and himself.She looks askance at Anita and then looks away again. "I'm fine. I ate a lot last night.""Really? I was the one who threw the dishes away this morning."Anita has been the one bringing
"Ma'am!" The officer yells as he bangs his palms flatly on the table. "This place is no joking area. There are conclusive evidence against you, all of this interrogations are simply formalities! Do you accept the fact that you did kill Tiara or not?"Yale scoffs. "Technically, Richard killed her not me."In the interrogation room directly upstairs, Richard scoffs. "That bitch said so? She's just trying to shift blames. She was the one who absolutely killed Tiara. As Ivy said in the press conference, I only aided and abetted. I am well aware of that and I am not denying it. But I really didn't kill Tiara."Downstairs. "He aided and abetted? That rat. He was the one who dragged her body to the car and suggested we dump her in the ocean!"Upstairs. "That whore. She said I suggested it? She hit Tiara over the head and make her pass out which I totally witnessed. Then we thought she had died. Thinking of it now, she had not even seemed any scared at all, she just said we should throw the b
A murmur ripples through the whole crowd.Time seems to stand still.The point exactly was that nobody was expecting that was what she had come to say. Nobody, not even Anita who plugs in the flash drive and the presentation begins.Almost soulless and robot-like, Ivy turns around to the projector behind her that has a picture of cars. Not very specific car but a lot of them.Then she begins her presentation, using the laser pointer to point at the things that matter. "We all know Tiara died and her body had been fished out of the sea. Well, she didn't drown, she was murdered so that means she had been carried or somehow transported to where her body had been dumped. There are things called dash cams..." She uses the laser to point just as the image changes into a car's close up view.There is a small device with a blinking red light and she points to it. "That's called a dash cam and not every car has it but every two of five does. Which is why, from the place she had been killed, I