There was a tremendous pound on the door from someone being flung into it. Sylvia was frightened when she felt the tremors through the door. Odell, who was on the verge of losing his sanity, suddenly stopped his movements. He grabbed Sylvia and dragged her several steps back, then he looked toward the door with ominously red eyes and hissed icily. "What's going on?" Ben, who was standing guard outside, answered him. “Master Carter, the second master brought... a lot of people here. We’re no match for him. You have to go now!” he informed while struggling for breath. It was him who was slammed against the door. A sunken loop appeared in Odell’s eyes, then he peered at Sylvia who was bound in his arms. Sylvia glared back at him. "Odell, let me go unless you want to get beat up!” Odell smiled grimly. She felt an inexplicable shiver run through her body. He suddenly raised his hand and turned on the lights. Brightening rays of light washed over the entir
Odell looked at her profoundly, his lips held into a frown. Sylvia thought that all that stress from recent events must have gotten to his head which led to him acting this way. She refrained from going on for fear that it might cause him to further lose his mind. Either way, she would find some way to get Isabel and Liam out of this place after she met them later. After it seemed like Odell had calmed down, she peered at his pocket. Odell caught her stealing looks at his pocket and asked, "What are you looking at?" "Didn’t you just put a ring in your pocket?” Sylvia asked. "Yeah." Odell took it out of his pocket, assuming that Sylvia took interest in the ring. The street lamps along the side of the road cast beams of light down to where they were. Under such sufficient lighting, Sylvia could easily recognize the delicately polished, vintage sapphire ring that rested in the center of his palm. She immediately frowned. Odell was paying close attention to he
… It was a stormy night filled with the ringing of thunderstorms. Ten-year-old Sylvia was still living in the old district with her grandparents at the time. That night, she wanted to eat snacks from a certain street vendor and snuck out of the house without her grandparents knowing. That was when she encountered the fateful scene of a boy surrounded by a group of people at the entrance of an alley. The poor boy was beaten up. It was a rainy day and it was very dark. Not a soul passed by the alley. She wanted to call someone for help but there was no one around and she did not have a phone either. She knew that she could not just watch as the poor boy continued to get brutalized. She grabbed a pocket journal from her pocket and put it to her ear to pretend that it was a phone. Then, she stood at the mouth of the alley and began calling for the police and informing the police of her current location. She put on a tremendous act to make it seem like she was truly calling the
It was bizarre to think that the boy ended up becoming her husband in the future, the now twice-divorced ex-husband that had given her nothing but suffering… … Memories came flooding back. Sylvia looked at the night sky through the car window. Her mind was blank. Odell sat next to her and stared thoughtfully at her. It was as if his gaze would penetrate her skull. Sylvia found it hard to believe that he was the boy she rescued that night. She suddenly felt an inexplicable heaviness in her heart and after a while, a thought suddenly occurred to her. She turned to him and asked, "Odell, you don’t think that Tara was the one who saved you that night, do you?” Odell made a look and stayed silent. The disturbed look in his eyes was all the answer she needed. She felt something stuck in her throat and did not know what to say. She recalled how he always talked about how much Tara had done for him in the past, and how she was his single ray of hope in the dark da
There was not a spot of light seen in her residence, while Odell’s was glittering with lights everywhere. It was still as well furnished as it was in the past. There were even two bodyguards posted by the entrance. There was no sign of any depravity that came upon the property. Perhaps this was the last remnant of his time in the spotlight before the Carter Corporation faced total collapse. The bodyguards recognized Sylvia and immediately opened the door for her when she approached. Shortly after she entered, the housekeeper, Sebastian, greeted her enthusiastically. Sylvia exchanged several kind words of greeting with him before she went to Madam Carters’ room. As expected, Isabel and Liam were inside the room with her. Liam was sitting by the bed and had his attention squarely fixed on his book, while Isabel had fallen asleep next to her great-grandmother. Sylvia slowly walked to Liam's side. Liam turned up to look at her. His adorable, chubby cheeks seem
Sylvia ruffled his hair and asked, “Liam, why are you standing here?” “No reason.” Liam looked at her and said, “Mommy, Uncle is here.” “Alright, let’s go downstairs,” she said while taking Liam’s hand. Liam peered at her face and noticed the dark, heavy circles under her eyes, sharp evidence of her lack of sleep. He reflected that he should have never let Isabel go downstairs. It must have been her shouts that woke up their mother. He made a subtle, silent frown and restored the cool, stoic expression on his face shortly after. They arrived in the living room. Thomas was seated on the couch in the living room while the enamored Isabel was sitting on his lap and seemed very delighted to see him. “Uncle, drink some tea and have some snacks. Don’t be shy.” Thomas smiled faintly. Aunt Tonya, who was busy pouring him tea, was similarly amused by Isabel playing host and chuckled heartily. Sylvia took Liam to them and greeted Thomas with a smile, “Thomas, why ar
Lush Heaven. The atmosphere inside the VIP box was a sharp contrast to the world outside. There was hardly any light inside and the air was filled with the pungent scent of alcohol. A tall man was slumped against the black couch with a glass of liquor in his hand which he hung suspended in the air, fixed in a trance. Knock knock. There was a sudden knock on the door. He opened his eyes but did not answer the knock. Cliff was standing on the other side of the door. After not receiving an answer for some time, he very cautiously opened the door. He walked up to Odell and frowned when he saw the state Odell was in, but took caution to maintain the respectful tone in his voice. "Master Carter, I just got back from the police station." Odell pried his eyelids open and revealed a sharp look underneath them. “Go on.” “Your suspicions were correct. After the police interrogated Melanie and looked further into her relationship with Miss Tara, they found that she was n
Sebastian answered her warmly, “I… No, it’s nothing.” That was when Sylvia and Aunt Tonya stepped forward to see him. Sylvia gently patted Isabel’s head and urged, “Isabel, go inside and play with your brother." Isabel muted a quick “Okay” and ran back into the living room. Sylvia went up to Sebastian and addressed him, “Sebastian, are you here to say something to me?” Sebastian hesitated for several seconds and with an exasperated sigh, began relaying, “Missus, I just wanted to see if I can persuade you to speak to Master Carter. Jacob told me that he went to the bar today again. I know that circumstances are hard with what’s happening with the company, but he can’t keep living like this.” Sylvia frowned sternly. "I divorced him a long time ago. It’s not in my place to talk to him.” “But there’s no one more suitable for this task than you. You just need to go to him and say a few words. I’m sure he’ll return to his usual form after that.” “No, it’s just that th