Sia’s phone rang, and she checked the caller. “I have an emergency…take care.”Hazel stood there, lost. Ariel Pearl? Was that Selene’s name, or was Sia mistaken?Hazel dialled Damon’s contact, and it got connected. “Hey,”“Hmm, I just received Selene’s files, and they’re clean. She was born in Germany and…”“No. I think that information is fake.” Hazel chimed in, It was just a hunch, but it won’t hurt to check it out.“Ariel Pearl, why don’t you look into that instead?” Hazel said, and Damon agreed and said he was going to check into it.Hazel’s mind drifted to years ago, the night she helped Coyle out of the burning car.“There is a burning car!” The little Hazel had screamed out for help, but there was no one, not even a soul.Then she heard a boy cry inside the car; she scanned the place before slowly approaching the car… There was just a little fire on the car, so she ran towards the car and crouched to find a boy inside.“Hey…come out.” Hazel screamed, and Coyle’s gaze moved to h
Coyle walked in while holding a bouquet and a box of chocolate; he had hurried home to hand this to Hazel and check up on her before returning to the office.He walked upstairs to the bedroom but couldn’t find her, so he walked back downstairs and spotted Sharon. “Where is Hazel?” he asked.“She left some hours ago,” Sharon replied, and Coyle sighed; of course Hazel wouldn’t just sit at home.His hand moved to his pocket to retract his phone, but he couldn’t find it. “Fuck, I left it at the office,” he sighed heavily and walked to the home phone and dialled Hazel’s contact, but it went straight to voicemail.“Hazel, where are you? Can you come back early?” He registered his call in voicemail before he ended the call and sat on the couch when Sharon approached him with a cup of coffee.“Hmm,” he nodded and sipped with his gaze at the entrance, waiting for her to show up.After thirty minutes of waiting, he sighed heavily and picked up his car keys. He had a meeting in the next twenty m
Ouch.Her world was spinning; Hazel slowly opened her eyes and felt like the room was spinning. She closed her eyes and tried rubbing it but discovered she couldn’t move her hands.Her hands were tied, and she sat on a bed in a not completely furnished bedroom. “Hey,” Hazel muttered and opened her eyes.Memories from earlier came flooding, and her heart raced when she realised she was kidnapped. “Hey…anyone?” Hazel’s tone increased as she called out.“Get me out of here,” she scolded and kept trying to free her hand, but it was hard, and her legs were tied as well.“Get me out!!” Hazel kept screaming, and her gaze moved to the door when she heard the clicking sound of keys.The door pushed open, and a bald, muscular man stepped in, and she panted, “Who…who are you?” Hazel asked, and he frowned and walked towards Hazel.“Just keep quiet,” he scolded and cut a good amount of scotch before placing it on her lips.“Hmm,” Hazel kept struggling but to no avail, and tears rolled down her che
Staring at her reflection one last time in the mirror, she smiled with satisfaction. Hazel Jones had been searching for the perfect wedding dress for ages—something that would complement her fair skin and long black hair."It's so beautiful," her younger sister, Nady, exclaimed excitedly. The shop assistant finally sighed in relief."We want two," Nady added, leaving Hazel confused."Why?" Hazel couldn't help but ask."For me," came Nady's response."Sorry, Miss, but this is a limited collection, and it's the last piece we have," the shop assistant apologized. Nady was about to lash out at her when Hazel intervened."Please go make the payment," Hazel said, handing her card to the lady, who happily walked away. Hazel threw a sharp look at Nady before heading to the dressing room to slip out of the wedding gown. Nady stomped her foot angrily."Stop giving me that judgy look. Is it a crime if I want to look as beautiful as you?" Nady retorted."We are not the same, Nady," Hazel snorted b
Hazel had spent two days locked in her bedroom. She cried and starved, still unable to believe that all this was happening to her.A knock came at the door, and the maid's voice followed. "Miss Hazel, your father requests that you come downstairs.""Get out," Hazel muttered. She didn’t want to see anyone, let alone their faces."He says it’s an order," the maid added before leaving. Hazel sighed, dragging herself off the bed and reluctantly making her way downstairs.Her mother was busy ordering the maids around, preparing for tomorrow—Nady’s wedding to Max. Even the guests weren’t aware of this sudden twist."Hazel," her father called from the patio, and she walked over to him. Nady and her mother joined them, and it was at that moment Hazel realized something was wrong."What happened?" she asked nervously. Her parents exchanged looks before her mother sat next to her."Are you angry with us?" Mrs. Jones asked, but Hazel didn’t reply. They already knew the answer; why even ask?"Of c
Hazel stood before the patriarch. While she was having a quiet court wedding, Nady was walking down the aisle with the man Hazel was supposed to marry. Her parents weren’t even present."Miss Jones," the old man next to her called. He was apparently the butler of the Anderson family and had brought the wedding documents, which Mr. Anderson had already signed."He must be too sick to show up," Hazel thought before a paper was shoved in front of her."Please sign the papers," the butler said. She nodded and signed the documents.After all the formalities were completed, she got into a black limousine with the butler."Mrs. Anderson, do you need water?" the butler asked, holding out a bottle of water.Mrs. Anderson. She wasn’t yet familiar with the name, but it was hers now. Was that a privilege or a curse?She accepted the water and gulped it down quickly."Are you a virgin?" the butler asked suddenly.Hazel choked on the water, coughing hard as her eyes turned red. She stared at the but
Hazel had tried to understand what he meant by meeting his expectations. Wasn't he supposed to be disappointed that it wasn't Nady he had married?"It's so hard to understand people," she muttered under her breath and decided to eat, as she was starving.When she was done, she picked up the dirty plates, but a maid hurried to her. "I will take them."Hazel smiled at the maid. "It's fine, I will—""Please, Mrs. Anderson," the maid insisted in a pleading tone. Hazel let her do her job and returned upstairs to the bedroom she had been assigned earlier.She pushed the door open and found Coyle on the bed. He was now dressed casually, wearing glasses, and focused on reading a document."Umm," she stuttered, unable to form a coherent word. Was she supposed to share the bedroom—and the bed—with him?"Silly me, we are married," Hazel thought, but that still didn’t feel like enough of a reason."If you're sleepy, then go to bed. Don’t stay up on my account; I’ll be quiet with my work," Coyle sa
The car parked in front of the Anderson's mansion, and Hazel was still in deep thought, trying to understand everything that was going on.Why was this man being nice with her, and why did he make her family believe that he was comfortable with the marriage when from the first day he wanted to marry Nady?"I have some urgent work at the office; you should go in." Coyle brought her out of her trance; the driver had already pulled her side of the door open, patiently waiting for Hazel to step down."Mr. Anderson,""Coyle," he corrected. Hazel was confused for some seconds before she got to understand that he wanted her to call him by his name, but that felt so wrong to her."Have a nice day." Hazel had to refrain from what she wanted to say; it was better than calling his name; they weren't so close.She hurried down the car and walked into the mansion. She was visited with the loud clattering sound of dishes from the kitchen."What's happening?" Hazel walked to the kitchen, where she f
Ouch.Her world was spinning; Hazel slowly opened her eyes and felt like the room was spinning. She closed her eyes and tried rubbing it but discovered she couldn’t move her hands.Her hands were tied, and she sat on a bed in a not completely furnished bedroom. “Hey,” Hazel muttered and opened her eyes.Memories from earlier came flooding, and her heart raced when she realised she was kidnapped. “Hey…anyone?” Hazel’s tone increased as she called out.“Get me out of here,” she scolded and kept trying to free her hand, but it was hard, and her legs were tied as well.“Get me out!!” Hazel kept screaming, and her gaze moved to the door when she heard the clicking sound of keys.The door pushed open, and a bald, muscular man stepped in, and she panted, “Who…who are you?” Hazel asked, and he frowned and walked towards Hazel.“Just keep quiet,” he scolded and cut a good amount of scotch before placing it on her lips.“Hmm,” Hazel kept struggling but to no avail, and tears rolled down her che
Coyle walked in while holding a bouquet and a box of chocolate; he had hurried home to hand this to Hazel and check up on her before returning to the office.He walked upstairs to the bedroom but couldn’t find her, so he walked back downstairs and spotted Sharon. “Where is Hazel?” he asked.“She left some hours ago,” Sharon replied, and Coyle sighed; of course Hazel wouldn’t just sit at home.His hand moved to his pocket to retract his phone, but he couldn’t find it. “Fuck, I left it at the office,” he sighed heavily and walked to the home phone and dialled Hazel’s contact, but it went straight to voicemail.“Hazel, where are you? Can you come back early?” He registered his call in voicemail before he ended the call and sat on the couch when Sharon approached him with a cup of coffee.“Hmm,” he nodded and sipped with his gaze at the entrance, waiting for her to show up.After thirty minutes of waiting, he sighed heavily and picked up his car keys. He had a meeting in the next twenty m
Sia’s phone rang, and she checked the caller. “I have an emergency…take care.”Hazel stood there, lost. Ariel Pearl? Was that Selene’s name, or was Sia mistaken?Hazel dialled Damon’s contact, and it got connected. “Hey,”“Hmm, I just received Selene’s files, and they’re clean. She was born in Germany and…”“No. I think that information is fake.” Hazel chimed in, It was just a hunch, but it won’t hurt to check it out.“Ariel Pearl, why don’t you look into that instead?” Hazel said, and Damon agreed and said he was going to check into it.Hazel’s mind drifted to years ago, the night she helped Coyle out of the burning car.“There is a burning car!” The little Hazel had screamed out for help, but there was no one, not even a soul.Then she heard a boy cry inside the car; she scanned the place before slowly approaching the car… There was just a little fire on the car, so she ran towards the car and crouched to find a boy inside.“Hey…come out.” Hazel screamed, and Coyle’s gaze moved to h
“Please…please.” Mia scolded, and the door pushed open. The cops hurried in and pointed their guns before Jude ran towards Mia.“Hey,” he pulled the man who was on her and hit him hard. “Have you lost it?” Jude scolded and kept hitting the man till the police stopped him.“We will take it from here,” the cop said, and Mia jumped into Jude’s arm.She hugged him tightly, and her tears had wet his shoulders. He rubbed her back, but she was out of control.For a moment she thought those men were going to get their way with her… She had lost all hope and was powerless.“They…they want to…” she stuttered, and Jude placed a hand on her lip.“You are fine; don’t say anything,” he muttered and watched the police drag those men out.After an hour of trying to comfort her, she was finally calm and asleep on his thighs, and Jude sighed.“Mia…you should spend the night at my place,” Jude whispered, and she shook her head.“It’s okay; I will go to my parents place,” she replied with her eyes closed
Coyle parked the car before he helped Hazel down, and she kept assuring him that she was fine.They got to the bedroom and found Sven deeply asleep on their bed. “He is so cute when asleep,” Hazel muttered, and Coyle chuckled before he rubbed his hand through the kid’s hair.“Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?” Coyle asked more to himself, and Hazel burst out in laughter; she can’t believe he was already thinking about that.“So what surprise did you have for me?” Hazel asked, and he rubbed her cheeks.“I think it will have to wait, baby.”“But I am not sick,” she pouted; the deal was that if she was sick, then there wouldn’t be any surprise, but she wasn’t.“Hmm… I will bring your dinner,” he said, and Hazel frowned at him, she wasn’t crippled; why did he have to bring her dinner?**Hazel’s sleep got interrupted by her phone, which kept ringing. She sighed and picked it up to discover it was a call from Damon.Her gaze moved to Coyle, who was deep asleep with Sven between them; she
Hazel chuckled in disbelief; he was one to question her when he just walked in with Selene.“I met up with Damon; we talked about his dad,” Hazel explained, and Coyle nodded.“I know you care so much for my family, but I don’t feel comfortable when you meet up with Damon,” he explained, and Hazel nodded.“I understand. I won’t meet up with him again,” she said.“Good…so did the doctor check up on you?” He asked, and she had a nervous smile. She had totally forgotten about the doctor and went to meet up with Damon.“Let’s go.” Coyle held her hand, and she frowned.“Where?” “Hospital,” he frowned when she stopped moving, so he carried her in his arms as she kept flinging her leg.“I am fine, Coyle; just let me be.”“I am not sick,” she tried convincing him, but to no avail, as he pulled the car door open and made her sit before driving away.“I assure you that I am completely fine… Yesterday I just felt nauseous and vomited,” Hazel kept explaining, but Coyle turned a deaf ear to her an
Hazel returned to the mansion and was all lost in thought, she was wondering if Selene could have bad intentions towards the family.“This is so twisted,” Hazel sighed, and her thoughts got interrupted by the loud clattering sound of dishes in the kitchen, so she quickly headed there, and to her greatest surprise, Sven stood there surrounded by breakable plates.“Oh my…” Hazel hurried to the kid and lifted him up before rushing to the sitting room.“Are you okay? Tell me where it hurts.” Hazel was all paranoid as she kept scanning the kid’s body, but he simply pushed her hand away.“I am fine.” Sven frowned, and Hazel shook her head in denial.“What do you mean? What happened?” Hazel asked.“I just wanted to warm water for coffee; it’s not my fault that your slab is so high and the dishes fell off,” he snorted, and Hazel was confused; why would he ever want to do that?Her gaze shifted to his right leg where she noticed a scratch “I will be right back”She hurriedly got the first aid
Hazel returned to the sitting room with two cups of coffee and one cup of warm milk for Sven. she shoved the coffee towards Muna and one to Sam who smiled at her.“Thanks dear”Haze didn’t reply, she walked to Sven with the cup of milk “Here”“Why are you giving me milk?” Sven asked, and Hazel was confused; if not to drink, then what else?“You don’t like milk?” she questioned, and Sven shook his head in denial.“But I didn’t ask for milk”—that was the kid’s reason, and Sam walked towards them.“Do you want to receive a beating?” Sam questioned, and Sven quickly shook his head in denial before he took the cup of milk from Hazel and walked to Muna.“Do you have difficulties with the kid?” Sam asked, and Hazel sighed heavily and folded her arms below her bosom.“Please, I really don’t want to exchange words with you.”“And I am not here for that.” Sam assured Hazel “Yesterday you made me realise my mistakes and how unfair I have been to my nephew… I owe you a lot, Hazel."“You are a goo
Coyle parked the car in front of the mansion, and his gaze shifted to Hazel, who kept avoiding eye contact with him.“Hazel,” he called, and she turned her gaze to him, and he noticed her face was wet from tears, and he felt his heart squeeze seeing his wife in such a condition.“I shouldn’t have spoken to Muna that way.” Hazel muttered; it was just the heat of the moment, and now Muna must feel very bad and very angry at her.“She will be fine, come.” Coyle walked down the car, but Hazel didn’t.So he pulled her car door open and carried her in his arms, and she wrapped her hand around his neck; she felt more comfortable this way.“I am sorry, Coyle. I should understand you more than everyone, but I don’t,” she confessed, and he kissed his teeth.“You do, baby,” he assured her before they walked upstairs to the bedroom, and he placed her on the bed.She was looking so tired, so he tucked her in the bed and rubbed her cheeks. “Go to sleep,” he whispered, and Hazel shook her head in de