Chapter Ninety Annabelle_ I was very sensitive to the cars that drove past my car and the vehicles that followed behind mine all through the ride because of the letter. I couldn't wait to get Johnson to Travis's home safely. I had left him a message about what happened and why I needed to drop him off at his place. I didn't even check to see if he had seen it or responded. I kept watching Johnson as I drove. He was reading one of his story books and I just loved how he gave the book his undivided attention. “What's the title of the book you're reading?” I couldn't help but ask because he was so engrossed in it for a young boy. “The Lion King.” He responded gazed at me with a swift smile and turned back to his book. “I see. It must be so interesting. You won't mind sharing the story with me would you?” “Oh mum, I'm sorry. I won't be able to tell you all the story because I'm not done reading them myself.” He sounded like a young professor. I was still very cautious of my env
Chapter Ninety- one Annabelle _ Travis looked at me and looked back at Samantha. “Don't worry, I'd handle it,” He whispered before walking closer to Samantha. “Can we speak inside please?” He asked her gently and held her hand. I hated the fact that I had to see him be so lovely with her. I mean, did he have to hold her hand? “No. I need her gone this instant.” She insisted and forced her hand out of his hands. I walked boldly over to them and faced Samantha. “Look, save this drama for when the kids and I are not present. I'm not spending the whole day here. I will leave soon.” I called out to Johnson and Norah, “Let's go inside.” They walked slowly to us, looking at Samantha as they got closer to us. I followed after them and we made our way inside. “I'm not going to take this. You can't bring your mistress to my house and expect me to remain quiet…” I could hear Samantha as she yelled at Travis. I wasn't bothered by her empty threats. I knew Travis was not going to let he
Chapter Ninety -Two Travis_ I wondered why Samantha was behaving the way she did in front of Annabelle. Couldn't she just understand that this is a critical situation and has nothing to do with her for once? Annabelle sat still on the chair ignoring her but I knew she was disgusted with the way and manner in which Samantha spoke. “This has nothing to do with me choosing you or anyone else. Just sit down and listen.” “No, I wouldn't. Make your decision now!” I couldn't understand why Samantha was being so irrational. “Make my decision about what? I'm not making any decision. Annabelle is in a critical situation and she just has to stay here.” “Oh, I see. I see it now. You want your ex-wife to stay in this same house with me? She doesn't have other houses to go to? She doesn't have her Father's large empire to go to? It has to be my matrimonial home?” “Oh, stop being dramatic! Just let it be.” I stamped my feet on the floor and stood up. “What? I'm being dramatic? Now listen to
Chapter Ninety -three Annabelle _I couldn't stand the back and forth. More than the fact that it made me uncomfortable, it nauseated me that it seemed like I was at the mercy of Samantha. I'm far above that and she had nothing to offer me. That house would have been mine if she hadn't stolen Travis from me in the first place.Walking out in the dark made me a little scared but It was better I was walking alone. I ordered a ride so I stood by the road and waited for it to come.I stood under a boarding vehicle to wait for the arrival of the ride. After a little while, I saw two cars, one coming from my right and the other from my left.I prayed that the one coming from my left, which meant it was coming from outside the community, was the car I ordered and not one that would kidnap me. I had a knife in my bag and pepper spray just in case things ever got haywire. I held the pepper spray in my right hand as both cars drew nigh. I wasn't so bothered about the vehicle coming from my ri
Chapter Ninety -four Annabelle _ I laughed when I heard the person Henry said was behind all the issues that were going on. “Travis? You mean the same Travis I just saw minutes back who is helping me watch over Johnson, trying to inflict pain on you?” I laughed hysterically at Henry. He had to be joking. “Don't tell me all this has been a joke?” “I'm not joking about anything. I am very serious. Why would I joke about my life, yours and that of Johnson.” I stood up and walked to the wall. I leaned on the wall and said, “Okay, let me get what you're trying to say clearly. You are saying that Travis kidnapped you and is trying to kidnap me and my son.” “Yes! Yes!” Henry said, with a look that showed how sure he felt his words were. I scoffed. “Now let me ask you a simple question. Why on earth would you think that Travis would want to put my life and that of my son in danger? I know he doesn't care about you but he can never put my life in danger, that I am certain.” “You know
Chapter Ninety -five Travis_ I lost track of the vehicles and I didn't know who the guys were that took Annabelle. “What am I going to do? It's too late to reach out to Alex for this again. What would I do?” I thought as I drove back to my house. “It's all Samantha's fault! If she hadn't been too selfish and allowed Annabelle to stay at least for this night, all this wouldn't have happened. I didn't know what to think or how best to react so I just drove home. On getting to the gate, after entering, the security said to me through his window, “Your wife locked the workers outside the main house and said they will sleep in the compound alongside you for returning so late.” I was furious, sincerely I got back home very late but that's more reason why I should be allowed in so I don't get cold. I drove to the main entrance of the house and I couldn't believe she would let all those people sleep outside because I wasn't around to time. That was just inhumane. That was the height of
Chapter Ninety -six Annabelle_ “Your men made me misplace my bag, now I don't have access to my phone.” I had woken up the following morning and I was still angry about all that had happened. I was sure Travis was somewhere thinking about how to rescue me, not knowing there was nothing to bother about at all. “I need to make a phone call. I might have to use your phone.” I stood in front of Henry who sat down and watched me while I prepared to leave. He stretched his hand to the side table and reached the phone. “You can have it.” He stretched his phone to me after unlocking his password. I took it from him and walked out of the room while dialing the number. I didn't want him to hear the conversations I was going to have. “Hello, good morning. This is…” “Annabelle? Annabelle, Is that you?” Travis asked curiously. I called Travis. I knew that was unexpected but I just felt he must have been so bothered about me since last night. “I'm fine. I'm sorry for the mix-up…” He di
Chapter Ninety -seven Travis_ I dropped the call with Annabelle and walked to the gate that was still locked and banged it. “Samantha! Open up!” I yelled and I was very furious. I wouldn't want Annabelle to come here and realize what had happened all through the night. It was already past ten in the morning so I could not understand what was delaying her from opening the door. “If you do not open this door now, I will call people to break in.” “You will do no such thing!” She opened the door and said firmly. She didn't look remorseful nor was she scared about what I was going to do about what she had done. “You know you had no right to lock my staff outside in the cold right? Why do you behave the way you do? Honestly, I do not understand you.” I was so angry, that I walked towards her and pushed her aside so I could gain access inside. “Watch it! You should have said I should excuse you.” I turned and looked at her angrily. “Excuse you? From me?” I hissed. “Norah! Johnson!”
Epilogue Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Six Annabelle_ Months after the nightmare I had with Henry. I woke up in my new home with the perfect peace of mind I had always wanted. My life was in a better shape and even though It wasn't perfect, I was living the future I had always dreamed and hoped for. I stood in front of the large windows in the parlor, looked out of it and took a very deep breath. “Come back here! If I catch you, I will eat all your candy.” “You won't catch me then!” Johnson was running after Norah. It was not going to be my first time experiencing such as they have both been best of friends since we all moved in together. “I've told you two. No running around.” I said and shook my head. Travis was the one handling the major companies owned by my dad. He and my dad had become very close following the incident with Henry. Travis held his suitcase, walked down the stairs of our new home and said, “Anna, do you know where my car keys are? I couldn't find them
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Five Annabelle_ The tunnel led to one of the trees in the compound. I walked out of it and snuck to the back of the several police vans that were parked in the compound. I was on the lookout for Alex because I wasn't sure of who to trust. I saw Henry and hid behind the car. I couldn't afford him to see me and then come up with another lie that he wasn't the one behind my kidnap. Someone touched me from behind and I lost my breath for a while. I turned back slowly towards the person and found that it was Alex. I took a deep breath of relief and hugged him. “What happened?” He asked, concerned. I was still trying to get my breath, when he yelled, “Medics, medics.” And the whole attention drifted towards us. Immediately, I could see them putting handcuffs on his hands and leading him into the car like the criminal that he was. “Travis, Travis is badly injured. He has lost a lot of blood.” Those were the first words I said to Henry so they could go a
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Four Annabelle _Henry went out of the basement he kept us in. He went out through a different door this time. I saw him but I was not fully conscious.I didn't know what to do to get us out of his place but I knew that if we did not try to get help from the cops or whoever was around, things would get worse for us all and Travis could die.“Travis,” I called out to Travis who lay in his blood on the floor with his eyes swollen. I wasn't even sure if he was still alive. “Travis, can you hear me? Travis!” I yelled. I couldn't afford his death.“Yes, I can hear you.” He said in a very low voice. I knew he was losing a lot of blood and he was in severe pain.“Can you loosen me? I know it's hard for you to get up but if you can try, it would help us out. We can't stay here. Now is our time to get out of this house because I can hear people walking back and forth in his house. I'm sure they are looking for us.” I said to him to encourage him to get up. Travi
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-ThreeAnnabelle_All I saw was the blood of Travis spilling on the floor like someone had made an incision on a bottle.I picked a cloth that I saw in the room and used it to tie around his arm. I was very displeased with Henry as he stood and watched me take care of Travis' hands unremorsefully.“What has gotten into you? Why are you doing all this?” I asked with so much pain in my heart. I couldn't understand how Henry became the way he was all of a sudden.“Get back to your seat and tie yourself at this moment, Annabelle.” He yelled at me. “You should not have pushed me to the wall all these years. You are the reason why I'm like this. Yes, it's all your fault.”Travis tried to help himself up from the chair I sat him on so that I could help him with his hand and reduce his bleeding. The cloth I had used to tie his hand was filled in no time and I could see that Travis was losing a lot of blood at that time.“Let's take him to the hospital. You know he
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Two Travis_I broke into the house through Henry's kitchen window after I was sure he had gone out of the kitchen.I walked to the slap where knives were kept and I picked one very sharp one.“This should do a good job,” I said and hid the knife behind my back.“What you don't understand is, I'd catch a grenade for ya!” I could hear Travis as he sang in his voice to the song he played out. I used that opportunity to search around the room for any sign of Annabelle and Johnson.“Annabelle! Annabelle!” I whispered as I entered every part of the room downstairs.Then while walking on the corridor, I walked on a part of the floor that felt like something was beneath it.I went back to look at the stairs to be sure I could still hear Travis playing his song, which he was before I went down to check what it was.“This very strange man. Heaven knows where he kept Annabelle.” I tried to open the thing but I couldn't get how it was being handled. It had a complex
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty OneTravis_I received a call from an unknown number. It was very late at night. I had thought it was probably Annabelle because I had been expecting her to call me but I did not receive any calls from her.When I saw that it was unknown, I did not take the call because I was still hurting from the fact that Henry was playing the hero when he did not help to find Johnson at all from the onset. “He's my son. She's supposed to allow me to come along irrespective of what Henry was going to say or do. Don't I deserve to see him too?” I said to myself inwardly.Norah had slept off on my leg. We sat together in the parlor watching a movie.My phone kept ringing and ringing so I became forced to pick up the call. I did not say anything after picking up the call.“Can you hear me?” The person whispered and it made me curious. I placed Norah's head properly on the chair and stood up to receive the call in a place where she would not be disturbed.“Who is this?” I
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Annabelle_ I was scared that Henry might hurt me so I began to yell at him before he got closer to me, “Henry, what is wrong with you? Do not try anything funny. I'm warning you. You know how this will end. It will surely end badly for both of us. Just let me leave peacefully.” “You are not leaving through that door. Not today and not until you sign the wedding document.” He said and got closer to me. He pulled me with force to himself and began to kiss my body against my will. “Get off me! Get off!” He disgusted me but he held me so strong. It was very hard for me to move my body away from him. It was as though he wasn't the same Henry I had known. “Stop it, now!” I continued to shout at him but he would not let me go. I stretched my hand to reach the vase that was used to decorate his parlor. I was able to reach it and I slammed it on his head with all the force I had. I didn't know what to do next and he did not give me any option. All that was
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty NineAnnabelle_Brooklyn and I got to Henry's place very late at night. We had to drive for a long time for us to get to Henry's place. “Why does it look as if Henry is not around?” We were able to get into the house because the gate was not locked. “It's very strange that Henry's gate is open. He never opens his gate.” I said to Brooklyn who was driving the car.“Just be patient. It's late already and he was expecting you. So why wouldn't he leave his gate open?” I knew Brooklyn was tired of hearing all my complaints.“I don't feel good about this honestly. Something is wrong somewhere.” I said to Brooklyn, “Don't drive to the front of the building itself. Park around here.” Henry's compound had some gardens and big trees that one would go through before one would get to his house. I just wasn't comfortable with the way I felt.She sighed but did as I said.“I'd go in by myself alone. You should stay in the car in case anything bad happens.”Brooklyn ga
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty EightAnnabelle_Travis drove us into a very nice apartment that he said belonged to Samantha. It was a more beautiful apartment than the one that he lived in. “This apartment is nice. You guys could have lived here instead of where you're presently living though.” Brooklyn said. I was surprised she said that out loud so I turned to look at her.Travis smiled and said, “Well, Samantha loves her things to be perfectly the way she likes them. She fixed it several times, that's why it looks as good as this.” We got out of the vehicle and we could tell that Johnson was not in that building because everything there was so calm but we walked into it irrespective of how the environment felt, leaving Brooklyn and Norah alone in the car.Travis unlocked the door and led me into the room. “I don't think anyone is here at the moment but we can search the apartment to see if there might be any lead in the house,” Travis said to me as he walked into the living room