Alexander ~•~I was excited when I got a Maybach for my eighteenth birthday.I was excited when I met my favorite footballer and he signed on to my football.I was very much excited when my company was listed among the top three companies in America.But none of those moments compared to the sheer excitement I felt when my ex-wife, Olivia, agreed to return to New York. I spent more than a month in California, trying to convince her to move back with me. But Olivia was determined to stay back in California and I lost all hopes of getting her back. I couldn’t stop smiling for days when she told me she was ready to move back to New York. My friend Arthur joked that I looked like I’d won the lottery, but the truth was, that getting Olivia back in the same city as me was far more valuable than any jackpot.I spent the last years fantasizing about having her back in my life. I also spent the last months fantasizing about being a part of my children’s life. Now that she was here, those f
Olivia ~•~“I was really confused when I heard him call my daddy his daddy.” “Me too, I didn’t know we had a little brother.” Hearing the kids talk about their encounter with Sandra’s son made me laugh. It wasn’t funny but their reaction to the incident was funny. They had no idea Sandra and I used to be best of friends. I wasn’t even planning on talking to them about it. I was a little bit relieved that they finally found out about their half-brother. After chatting with them for another few minutes, I put them to sleep and went back to my room. I indulged in a long and relaxing shower because I had a really long day. I dried off my body and changed into my nightclothes. Just as I was about to get to sleep, my phone rang. I retrieved it from the bedside drawer and saw it was Amanda calling me. “Hey, sister!” Amanda’s excited voice echoed through the other side of the line. “How are you doing? I’m sorry I couldn’t help you with moving” I waved my hands dismissively. “It’s okay
Olivia ~•~“Who was that?” Alexander asked when he saw the shocked look on my face. “What did the person say?” He added. “I have no idea who the person was,” I said, my mind racing with different thoughts. “You’re messing with me and I’m going to teach you a severe lesson,” I repeated what the person said to Alexander. His eyes widened in disbelief and his expression turned serious. “Why did you hang up the call without saying anything else?” I shook my head. “I didn’t hang up the call. The person who called me hung up without letting me say anything.” “Was it a female or male voice?” Alexander asked, his voice filled with genuine concern. “Who would say something like that to you?” “I have no idea if it was even a male or female,” I replied, leaning into the car seat. I couldn’t even think of what I had done to warrant that kind of warning from anybody. Alexander extended his hands to me. “Give me your phone.” He requested and I handed it to him without asking any questions.
Olivia ~•~ Alexander dropped me off at my parent's house before heading back to wherever he was headed. Even if he said the phone call must have been a prank call, I was still worried about it. But I just shoved away my thoughts and focused on my mother. When I arrived at the house, she was in the kitchen preparing a delicious meal. The amazing aroma of the food filled the air. My mother was a good cook. It was one of the things I missed the most when I moved out of my parent's house after college. “Olivia, how are you doing?” My mother asked with a wide smile on her face as she heard me walk into the kitchen. I returned the smile, grateful to see her happy. “I’m doing great, mum.” I threw my hands over her, pulling her into a tight hug. “How are you doing?” “I’m good, baby.” I was happy with the way my mum and I interacted with each other. Compared to the other years, we would have been upset with each other because of our different opinions about everything. “Alexander and
Olivia~•~I made my way to the familiar classroom where I had dropped them off earlier. However, the teacher's uneasy expression as I approached sent a shiver down my spine. “Where is Rowan?” I asked when I saw only Riley sitting beside the teacher. “We can’t find Rowan.” My heart flew out of my chest as I heard those words leave her mouth. “You can’t what?” I asked, hoping to hear a different answer. She must’ve probably made a mistake. “Where is Rowan?” “We’ve contacted the police and the school security are all searching for him.” The teacher said, her voice cracking slightly. My emotions were all over the place and I was trying to process what I had just heard. I began pacing back and forth around the classroom. “So you mean I dropped up my child in the morning? At a new school. And in less than six hours, he has gone missing?” I asked, incredulous. “I’m sorry, I had no idea who took him.” I took a deep breath and turned over to Riley. She was already crying profusely. I
Olivia ~•~My hands started shaking uncontrollably and my phone fell off my hand. “What’s going on?” Alexander asked as he picked it up from the ground. “Oh shit!” He exclaimed after he read the text from the phone. “It wasn’t a prank call after all.” He said, running his hands through his hair. Someone had taken my son as an act of revenge. I had no idea what I did or who the person was. My heart was racing and I was really scared. I could only hope they didn’t hurt my Rowan. “Can we see the head of the school or something?” I asked the crowd of teachers who had arrived at Rowan’s class. “He is in a meeting, he would…….” Alexander cut the teacher off before she could complete her statement. “Have you heard of Alexander Burke?” He asked, his voice low and threatening. “If you don’t get me whoever is in charge right now, you all will end up in jail.” Were they actually serious? My son was missing and the supposed head of the school was casually sitting in a meeting. A few of t
Alexander ~•~After I dropped Olivia off, I drove down to the tech company as fast as I could. For the first time, I even ignored the traffic lights and drove recklessly, my heart racing with every passing second. Arthur was already there waiting for me. He was the one who made the arrangements with the company to fly in a specialist from China. After a short drive, I pulled up in the parking lot of NovaTech. It was owned by a good friend of mine, so he didn’t hesitate to help me when I told him about the situation. “Hey.” Arthur walked over to me as I made my way into the building. “The man coming from China won’t arrive until tomorrow.” I let out a defeated sigh as he informed me. I was so caught up in finding my son and didn’t realize that it was going to be a long flight to New York. “Can’t the other workers here try to track the number again?” I asked as Arthur and I made our way to the elevator. “You already tried before, right?” Arthur asked I nodded.I didn’t know how s
Alexander ~•~I couldn’t look Olivia in the eyes to tell her we weren’t able to track the phone number of the person who took Rowan. So I waited until I got home before calling her through her sister. “You have to stay calm please, I promise we will find him tomorrow.” I tried to reassure her but it fell on deaf ears. “How do you expect me to sleep when my son is out there?” She cried. “Please, let’s go out and find him.” I knew she was worried and frustrated. I was also worried but she just had to exercise a little bit of patience. The specialist would arrive the next day and track the number. “Olivia, please just get some sleep. We will deal with it tomorrow.” I continued, trying to reason with her. “If you want to go out, where do you even plan on going?” “I don’t care where I’ll go. But if you’re not ready to help me find him. I’m ready to find him alone.” She said, her voice laced with determination.I ended the call with Olivia. Then I called her mother and asked her to ma
Chapter 269Riley Burke ~•~I wanted everything to be perfect! For the past two weeks, I’ve been looking forward to this day. Mason and I were finally going on our date. I had no idea why I was nervous. It wasn’t like it was the first time I was going out with him. Maybe I was just having PTSD from our last date. But I knew I had nothing to be worried about. My father had assured me that he was okay with me being with Mason. He wanted me to be happy, even if my happiness included being with someone who had hurt us in the past. It wasn’t Mason who hurt us but I just didn’t focus on that part. As long as he was ready to move past the whole situation, I didn’t care to correct him anymore. “The makeup artist is here!” Rowan yelled loud enough for me to hear after knocking on my room door. Yes, I had to ask for a professional makeup artist because I was hellbent on making everything perfect. “I’ll be downstairs soon,” I replied as I wore my hair bonnet to protect my hair while getti
Chapter 268Mason Craig ~•~Ever since Riley’s father picked her up from the restaurant and interrupted our date, I had this lingering feeling of sadness inside me. But I acted like everything was fine and normal. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on her. I felt hurt because every day I woke up, I was reminded that she wasn’t my girl and could easily give another boy a chance. I didn’t want that to happen but at the same time, I didn’t have any control over it. Every day felt like torture but I was glad that it had finally come to an end. Riley’s father had finally approved of our relationship. A wave of excitement surged through me but I tried my best to remain calm when she told me about it. I would finally be able to be with the girl of my dreams. I had a feeling that he changed his mind because my father agreed to help when Riley had gone missing. I also had my father to thank. He finally fixed the mess he had caused earlier. Everything was finally going smoothly. I h
Chapter 267Olivia ~•~“Are you sure you don’t mind seeing them together?” I asked Alexander for the umpteenth time when he said he wanted to tell Riley that she could be with Mason. I didn’t want a situation where he would second guess his choice and regret his decision. Or a situation where he wouldn’t be nice to the boy later in the future. It wouldn’t be fair on Riley. Alexander nodded his head as he parked the car in the driveway. “Yes, I’m sure.” He assured me. “I shouldn’t be the one to take away my daughter’s chance at teenage love.” He added, smiling at me. I shrugged. “Okay, if you say so,” I replied as I loosened my seatbelt. “I hope you don’t have any secret animosity towards him that will reveal itself later.” Alexander laughed. “Don’t you trust me?” He asked, raising a brow at me. “I’m not holding anything against the boy. Not even his parents.” “Fine.” We stepped out of the car and made our way into the house. On our way back home, we stopped at the mall to get
Chapter 266Riley Burke ~•~It was fun having my friends over for the weekend. And it was a total flop trying to pretend like I was surprised when they first arrived. They saw right through my pretense. Even if we hadn’t been friends for so long, they knew me well enough. I barely even thought about what I had gone through while they were around. Having them around was a good distraction. I was sad that they had to leave. But I couldn’t do anything about it as I walked them to the car. During their stay, I realized that it was actually my mother’s idea to invite them over. Now it made sense why she was so welcoming. My mother didn’t usually like it when I had my friends over. I mean, my friends from high school. Our family was always under scrutiny, so she didn’t trust anybody. It was nice to see her giving my new friends a chance. The weekend was over and it was a new school week. I hadn’t completely healed but even when I assured my parents that I would be okay, they claime
Chapter 265Riley Burke ~•~As soon as my dad handed me a new phone, I found my friend's phone number and called them immediately. It was already noon and on the weekend, so I was confused about why none of them answered their phones. I mean, those girls were literally always with their phones. I really wanted to speak to them, but I guess I had to wait until later to try calling them again. Maybe they were busy with something. I spent most of my time inside my room and I was getting bored. Normally, my mother didn’t like it when l took my food upstairs but this time, she brought the food to my room by herself. I hadn’t gotten any reason to go downstairs. I needed a change of environment, so I decided to freshen up and head downstairs. I was pretty sure Rowan and Jason were playing video games in the living room. After spending about thirty minutes in the bathroom, I dressed up in my comfortable sweatshirt and shorts before making my way downstairs. “Hey,” Jason said as soon a
Chapter 264Olivia ~•~I wanted to accompany Alexander when he was going to see Maxim, but he refused. I knew that he didn’t want me to see him, but still, he said I was going to see him later. After helping Riley with dinner and giving her medication, I went back to the room to meet Alexander. I hadn’t talked to him since he came back from the station. “Hey, what happened at the station?” I asked him as I walked into the room. He was standing in front of the closet and searching through it. “I have something to tell you,” Alexander muttered under his breath. My interest became piqued. “I’m listening,” I responded as different thoughts ran through my head. Alexander sounded so serious and I couldn’t help but wonder what he wanted to say to me. He took a deep breath and turned around. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.” He cleared his throat and continued. “You remember when you found out that Maxim was a fraud?” He asked and I nodded, anticipating what he had to say next. “Y
Chapter 263Riley Burke~•~When we finished at the restaurant, my father asked my mother to drive me back home. He wanted to go to the station to see Maxim and the other men who kept me hostage. My mother wanted to accompany him but he refused, saying she would see him later. As soon as my father left, I followed my mother to the car. I couldn’t wait to go back home and see my brothers. I was so excited to see everyone. Being free felt so good. “Riley, I’m inviting the doctor over, so she can do a checkup and give you the necessary treatments you need.” My mother said as I settled down on the passenger’s seat. I hated anything related to hospitals or medical care, but I couldn’t protest against it. I actually needed medication because I was still in pain. My legs and my head were still hurting and I needed the pain to stop. “Sure,” I responded with a smile and my mother nodded. A few minutes later, we arrived at the house. My heart leaped for joy as the security guards open
Chapter 262 Rowan Burke ~•~I loved my sister but I had no idea that her absence would affect me so badly. Ever since I realized she was missing, I couldn’t even focus on anything else. My mind was always racing with different thoughts. What if something bad had happened to her and my parents took so long to search for her? Everyone thought Riley had willingly disappeared but that wasn’t the case. My sister was missing. I couldn’t even talk to anyone or go anywhere. I shut everyone out, including my girlfriend, Belle. Until Riley was found, I was certain that I would be restless. While my parents were at the station, I kept on blowing their phones with constant calls. Most of the time, they didn’t respond. A part of me felt bad because I wanted to be kept in the loop, I wanted to know what was going on, or even if they had gotten a lead. But I knew that they were busy and my calls were distracting them from doing their work. When my mother finally answered her phone, she a
Chapter 261Olivia ~•~Different waves of emotions rushed through me as I saw Riley running in our direction. Relief, joy, and gratitude swirled together, overwhelming me.I was so happy to see her. For a moment, I thought we were at a dead end. I thought she had left the house or the men they caught were probably lying about her whereabouts. She looked so scared but also excited to see us. Before I could even move, Alexander rushed and pulled her in a tight hug. I was still in shock as I watched them reunite. After a few moments, I joined them, turning the hug into a group hug. “Oh my baby, um happy to see you.” I smiled at Riley as we broke the hug. Riley looked like she was struggling to hold back her tears. I could only imagine what she had gone through at the hands of those people. Alexander stepped aside to call the detectives. He wanted them to know that we had seen Riley. While he made the call, I led Riley to the car. As soon as we got into the car, I began asking her