After Xavier left, it left me stranded with Jace."Are you okay?" Jace’s murmur caught my attention."I don’t know. I am losing everything—my sanity, my energy, and even everyone," I replied, but I didn’t wait for him to say anything. Soon I walked inside the room I woke up in after I thought they had abducted me."I know how it feels." I didn’t realize that Jace had followed me to my room. "The people we love are always the ones giving us pain. Either by leaving us or by breaking us.’’ his words were deep, but somewhere Xavier was going through the same pain and even alone. "I have still not forgotten about your mother, Jace, and after losing my sister today, I intend to give you your family back." I assured him it was strange to talk to him now after so many brutal incidents."I don’t want you to drag yourself into another trouble, Phoenix. You already have too much going on." He gave me a closed-lip smile, and I did the same, but my smile was more fake than his."Why did he abduct
"My elder sister, Michelle Charming." He looked at me and smiled."She was your sister?" I felt terrible. All that time I was jealous of his sister?"Phoenix, you are an idiot. Do you really think I fell in love with you while carrying someone else in my heart?" He caressed my cheeks. The warmth of his finger gave me chills."I’m so sorry." I lowered my head in embarrassment. "What happened?""She died when I was nine." He said, pain taking over his smile."Oh," I kept my eyes lowered."There is a history behind this town and every person. My sister’s only fault was that she tried to change the rules, just like you. But it was sad because she couldn’t even trust her own father. She needed someone to believe her and help her, but father didn’t want the town to know anything. For him, this town, his prestige was more important than anything else." There was pain in his eyes."You don’t have to deal with all this pain alone, Xavier; I’m with you now," I said while holding his hand."You
Author’s POV:Years Ago:After Markeel told Paul he could stick with him and get Phoenix just like Markeel is going to get Millie again."Tell me you are not thinking about it, Paul," Phoenix shook Paul out of his thoughts and requested that he not listen to Markeel."He is committing a crime, and he is dragging you into it," Phoenix begged him not to consider it, but from the looks of it, Paul was already giving it some thought."She is never sleeping with you until you do exactly what I am telling you," Markeel told Paul again, holding his gun against Millie’s temple."He is not breathing!" Malika yelled after checking Frank’s pulse one more time. When Markeel heard that, his face turned pale.He never expected it to go this bad. As everybody started mourning Frank, Markeel felt the pressure."What have you done?" Millie cried, unable to reach Frank because Markeel was holding her back."Shut the fuck up!" Markeel yelled at everyone, and silence engulfed them once again."Paul!" Mar
He licked my neck and pressed his body against mine. I’ve got to stop him; he can’t do this to me. I managed to pull my leg close to my body and adjust my knee on his stomach with difficulty; once done, I kicked him back. Before he could turn back on me, I slapped him hard. He took a minute to respond, but he was back at it again, trying to hold me again. I pushed him off and quickly made my way inside the room, locking it behind me. My heart was racing fast, I was trembling, and I knew he was still out there.“What the hell just happened?” I uttered this to myself in disbelief. My whole body was burning hot due to anger.I went out because I thought he might be feeling sad because he was expecting me to find his mother. All this time I was feeling bad for him, and he did this to me? I couldn’t believe it. I rubbed my face in my palms, and tears wet my cheeks again. How am I going to ever tell Xavier that his cousin kissed me? I can’t, even if I want to, I can’t. If Xavier comes to kn
"Hey," I uttered, picking up Xavier’s call. Every time I think about him, he either texts me or calls me."Hey, what’s happening?" He said."Nothing much," I replied with a sadistic smile only I could see."What’s wrong, Phoenix? You were awfully silent at breakfast, and you didn’t even call or text me later. You know you can share everything with me, right?" His concern melted my heart. I've got to talk to him, but what about Jace’s mother? And what if Xavier didn’t like the fact that I left him in bed and walked out of the room for Jace?"It’s just that I’m worried about Derrell. He hadn’t been caught yet, and I’m bored." I really wanted to do something, and staying at a mansion doing nothing was making me nothing but a lame ass."He’ll be caught soon, Phoenix, I promise you." He reassured me, and I had no doubts about that."Thanks for everything," I said as I got to my feet and stood by the window, staring outside. I rarely ever looked out, but it was a pleasant view."Are you sur
It was 11pm when Xavier finally dozed off and I decided to have a round of the mansion. But before I could step out, I received a text from none other than Jace. Jace: Phoenix? I waited for a few minutes; I do not know what he wanted. Me: yes? Now, I wanted to know what was going on around me. I have to monitor their actions. Jace: Do you want me to talk to Miranda for you? The tape? Me: Why are you saying this to me? You forced me to do it, so do it for yourself because you are going to pay if Xavier finds out about it. I was mad at his words. He was making it look like it was all my doing when it was his. Jace: Okay, relax. But I need to know what she wants. Me: try, but the type of b*** she is, she will not tell you anything. Jace: At least I can try. I owned, wondering if he would be able to get us out of this mess. Oh! I wished. Me: okay. Jace: She is anyway staying in the mansion tonight, so I have a chance to talk to her. Me: Okay then, lemme know what she wants.
I saw Jace quickly jump off the bed before I could shut the door behind them. All this time, he pretended to be innocent, to be a victim. I thought everything he did was for his mother and stupid me, always doubted Xavier. I had to make sure the video was safe with me.I ran away from the room where they were. The lock won’t hold them for too long because they knew someone has seen them and they will do anything to capture the person, or at least to find out who saw them.I was shaking uncontrollably as I ran to save my life. The main door to the outside was locked. As I said before, the security was all in Jace’s hands. He must have triggered the security system since the Wi-Fi and signals from the phone got blocked as well.One thing I knew about them was that they would definitely check upstairs. Their first preference will be to find out if I have seen them. I heard Jace breaking the lock on the door and coming out, followed by Miranda. She was a mess, huffing and grunting in pani
"How did you know?" I asked, looking at him while he stared at me."You know, whenever I hear an alarm bell, the only person I think about is you. I instantly know my girl has strangled herself in another mess." He smiled and caressed my cheek. I felt bad for hiding things from him."I knew something was wrong, and the bell never rings like that. I knew it must be my Phoenix involved somewhere in it." His every word melted my heart. I felt blessed to have him with me."Why do you love me so much?" I inquired, placing my head on his shoulder."Because I do. You are all my heart wants. You are all that my mind thinks about." He stroked the tip of his finger on my nose, and we both smiled.We spent a few hours just talking to each other about our feelings and nothing else.It was late, and we were all at the dinner table. This time, I’ve asked Jace and Miranda to join us. Usually, they did, but this time I didn’t object at all."How is the dinner?" Xavier gave me a smile. I smiled back a