Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seven Annabelle pov I stood up to check who it was that drove into my compound. I was feeling more energized than tired as I had said when I got up to check who it was. I didn't recognize the car but I knew that for the security to allow the person into the house, he or she must be someone they knew. I walked out to the front entrance of the house and stood watching when I saw Henry walk out of the car. “Ughhh…” I turned and went back in. “I shouldn't behave like that, I shouldn't.” I wore a weird smile because Nana and Johnson saw the way I reacted after realizing it was Henry. I had to correct that so they wouldn't think there was something going wrong between the both of us because truly we weren't fighting. I was just not having the way Henry had been behaving. I turned back to look at him and said, “What a pleasant surprise. You should have told me you were coming. What brought you here this early?” I asked. He carried with him two boxes of
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Eight Annabelle pov I had had enough of condoning Henry's behavior and I didn't care about the looks on his face. His flags were beginning to yell, “Red!!!” and I wasn't going to ignore them. “Why is he trying to make me do things I do not want to do? Fine, he's a nice person and he wants what's best for me but he can't make decisions for me. I make the decisions of my life, not him. The earlier he learns that, the better it would be for our friendship.” I said as I walked around my room with my tea in my hand. “He even dared to tell me that I can't live my life without him and he's the reason why I am what I am. No! Never! I decided to come back and build my empire. I made the decision that I wanted a change in my life. I did! I made a decision that despite the hate I felt from people, the rumors and the shame I was going to do something worthwhile for myself. I made the decision! I did.” I was very furious the more I reminisced on what Henry sai
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty NineAnnabelle pov I heard my message notification from my phone and rushed to check if it was Travis who had responded to the message I had sent. “Sure. Will pick you up at nine.” It read. I jumped up for joy when I read his response to the notification. I was elated. I went to check my wardrobe for nice gowns. “This should look good on me,” I placed a dress on my chest and went to look at it in the mirror. “Nah, not this.” It didn't suit the purpose of the hangout.It was then I realized that Brooklyn was the saving grace in my life with how she always helped me to find what was best for me to wear on different occasions.“I think I will just throw on a small top and joggers. It's late already. I wouldn't want to get cold by the freezing breeze outside.” After several selections and dumping of clothes on my bed, I finally decided to stick with something more fitting for the night.I showered and I didn't know that I had spent a lot of time singing i
Chapter One Hundred and ThirtyAnnabelle pov The young girls kept yelling my name as they came after us. We could hear them saying to their cameras. “You won't believe who we met today in the mall. The great, Annabelle. Guess who she's here with? Her ex-husband!”I felt so bad because they were taking videos of us from behind, though they didn't get a shot at my face but I felt anyone who saw the video could be able to tell that it was Travis and me.“Should we run?” Travis asked me because he was also tired of the young girls following after us. Travis wasn't shy of people's cameras. He was always attacked with a camera and never cared about what people were going to lash him about. But he knew I cared at least to an extent about what people might say and that was a delicate matter that I didn't want any of the press interfering in.“Yes!” I said in haste then thought again, “But, what if they run after us?”“Don't worry about that. All I need you to do is to keep running towards wh
Chapter One Hundred and Thirty OneAnnabelle pov Travis and I stopped at the ice cream section close to the game station and got two stick-wrap ice-creams. I opened mine while Travis paid for the two of us. “Yummy! It tastes so good!” I looked at Travis and said, “Thank you!”He walked up to me after paying, opened his too and licked it.We met five people at the station playing the same game I wanted to play. Travis and I looked at ourselves to know if we would still play the game or if we would leave.“Don't worry, we should still be able to play the game and get home in time.” Travis encouraged me to play the game because within me I was discouraged to play, considering the time we had lost.I thought about the time it would take Travis to get home after he dropped me off at home and how Samantha would yell at him when he got home so late.I held his hand so he could follow after me because I knew if I just said it, he would not agree with me. “Let's get going. We will play some
Chapter One Hundred and Thirty TwoAnnabelle pov I sighed because I knew what I was avoiding was about to happen and I wasn't ready to have any unhealthy or strenuous conversation that morning. It was going to affect the energy I wanted to have towards everyone.He could see me through the glass because I didn't take my tinted vehicle so I had to wind down my car window for him.“Good morning.” I forced a smile at him and said.He looked at me for a while and scanned the inside of my car. It was always messy inside my car but I instructed the cleaners to clean the car last night and wash the body also. “I see you're doing a lot of healthy things without me asking you to do them.” He said in an annoying manner. “I need to get down,” I said firmly so he could give me space to walk out of my car. I wanted to show him that not only was I keeping my car clean, I consciously wore a bossy suit. Henry opened the door for me and I got down from the car like a lady boss. The look on his fa
Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Three Annabelle_ “Such audacity!” I sat down on my chair and said after I walked Henry out of my office. “How dare he speak to me in that manner.” I was pissed off by Henry. More than being pissed off, I was tired of the drama around the whole situation. I wished I had not gotten engaged to him because it was clear to me that I was in love with Travis. I placed my head on the table and thought, “Dad must not hear that I have been hanging out with Travis, he will be very angry, truly. I don't think I can do anything with how I feel about Travis at this point. It's more real and I liked him more than I am supposed to. But Dad can never take him in as a son-in-law. What am I going to do?” I kept thinking and asking myself about the several things that were happening and what I could do about them to make things turn out better. “I should just speak to Brook about this. But Brooklyn doesn't like Travis too. What if she doesn't understand what I mean whe
Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Four Annabelle _ I couldn't understand why Henry was aware of all I was doing and never told me for once that he had access to my personal computer. It was very wrong and I was displeased to know that. “Thank you for letting me know all this. I will make sure I fish out who is behind this and no one will know that you helped me with this. Thank you.” I said to my secretary. She stood up and walked out of my office, leaving the field behind. I looked at the file again and prayed that it wasn't Henry that was behind framing Travis. “I mean, he has every reason to do that to him so why wouldn't he? But no, Henry is not that desperate. He doesn't need to do such a thing just to get at Travis. He knows how much trouble it would cost me and even my dad because we had investors for that organization too.” I didn't know what to think and what to not think but I knew something was odd about how Henry had been acting and it was more odd that he had access
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