"Promise me you're not going to get hurt" "Leonardo!" She called and a sharp breath escaped his lips. But not with any more words. He turned off the speaker and pressed the phone back against his ears. "If not for me, then your kids" Following her voice was a very faint sound from Emily and he pushed yet another lump down his throat."Promise us you'll come back." She whispered. "I will" He blurted out just then and a crinkle curled his lips. The car came to an immediate halt in the gas station and Leonardo sat forward."I will be back with Isabella" He assured and then ended the call. Stevens climbed out the other side while he alighted from the right. "What happened?" Leonardo asked, his voice almost buried amidst the creaking of the crickets by the shrubs on the roads."We're meeting Jazzlyn and Daniel somewhere around here" Joan stepped out of the car and Leonardo threw her a look. Stevens jerked the fuel pump and inserted it into the car. "Since when?" He asked. "Since they text
Unknown Number: Argon Towers, 5AM. If you want her alive, come alone.Leonardo blatantly stared at his phone screen for more than a few minutes and horror slowly seeped into his eyes which he batted to close. His fingers turned off his phone immediately Joan reached out to him.“So what should i text him?” She asked the whole car and Stevens looked through the rear view mirror before looking right back at Leonardo. The empty packet of his burger crunched between his hands and the whirling steering wheel. He could tell something was up with the billionaire.“A hey, hello?” Daniel sat forward but Jazzlyn cut him short. “A hey would be too bleak, we need something that he might actually consider replying to” She interrupted and Leonardo muttered beneath his breath.“We need to consider a plan that might actually work” He said.“I thought you were in on it earlier” Theodore asked and he rolled his eyes to the back. “This is our best shot” Stevens added. Toying with the phone in his hands,
There's a popular saying about how you never really get over your first love. Several arguments regarding whether it's a myth or if it's indeed true, controversially, i'll agree to the latter.There's something about loving someone for the first time that insinuates that it's your deepest—your most vulnerable. That love represents your youth, a younger and much simpler time that most people long their whole lives for. It's a life changing experience, feeling so strongly for one person to have it all devastatingly end. Of course it ends, or else it wouldn't be called your first love anymore.It would have be your only love. There's something about your first love that registers into your brain, filling it with the much needed hormones to make the thought of that one person last forever—to make it unforgettable. And that's besides the various first milestones that follow.You'll carry these memories with you often times and you find yourself drawing back to that time, that time you ne
Joan’s feet stepped on a stick and a snapping sound echoed through the air—it was followed by the flight of several birds which broke away from the tree right beside them and went ahead to hover in the skies. Theodore, with a sharp reflex threw his head over his shoulders to her and she chuckled.“I’m fine” She lifted her feet and marched towards him. “You know you don’t constantly have to worry about me?” She asked him and there was a crack in her voice. He hummed, slowly nodding his head that one would believe he actually agreed to a word that she said.“Come on i’ve been here the past few years. This is just typical Chicago”“This much chaos?” He clicked his tongue in a way that forced a laughter through her lips. It came so unexpected that when her lips sealed, it rang back an echo that seemed indeed like a strange sound. She hadn’t remembered the last time she laughed like this. There was always something—the most outrageous thing that would come back to haunt her like the slimm
The metal doors clanged open and the shard of light that burst through speared Isabella's temples. She was suddenly awoken from her slumber as she hefted her back from being slouched against the wet, and gross walls.She didn't know when she fell asleep because bound in a twenty pound chain, there was only so many comfortable positions to lay down. Her joints ached so much with an agonizing sting radiated through her left leg—the right, she couldn't quite feel.Her hair was a mess, all tangled and falling across her smudged face with several strands even to the ground. Maybe it was because she hadn't eaten in days and she realized that the moment her feet gnashed the plates right next to her. One was filled with a lump of green puddle that scented so bad that her appetite vanished upon its sight.There was no way she could eat that even though it had been days.Kayla even had said the food was more likely to kill them than starvation. The two of them wallowed in the silence and unlike
“So now what?” Christian watched as Joan and Theo climbed over the barricade and he could already see the crinkle between their brows that proved how futile the search was. He had stayed behind to watch over the cars and guard the house and one by one they started to show.“Nothing” Joan muttered, trying to dust off the dirt smudged on her dress and Christian ran his hands through his hair—a seemingly bad habit as he exhaled. “But where’s Stevens?” Joan asked as she looked around.But just then as if he has heard, he showed up, emerging from another entrance of the forest but unlike them, he and Jazz and Daniel were more panicky than usual. “Any luck?” Christian and Joan chorused and he came to a halt, hefting the broken watch in his hands. “I’m afraid not too good of a luck” The sheriff bestowed upon the group a reason to fear. “Is that—“ “It’s Leonardo’s” Jazzlyn sharply cut through and the next moment was them exchanging callous glares. “So if they have him, what now?” Daniel smot
“She’s gone.”“What do you mean she’s gone?” Emily asked with a weary arc between her brows. The sheriff had walked all the way to them to deliver the bad news and his shoulders was well collapsed. His lips curved in devastation and a brisk moment of silence fell between the group. Jazz and Daniel looked behind to see Theodore leaning against the Ford car with his arms crossed in front of him. It was Christian that sauntered up to him and stayed right beside. He was in tears, with his chin cupped to face the ground and although they didn’t know anything about each other, Christian placed his arms to comfort him—like a brother.“Hey, man it’s okay” He whispered and everyone seemed so defeated in their expressions. “It was all my fault. I should have stopped her” Theo lifted his gaze and his eyes were already bloodshot and swollen. “I should have stopped her when i had the chance to and now she’s gone” He said.“Maybe she made it out.”“Maybe he could have helped her—the other guy” Chr
“In a complete shock and turn of events, it appears to be that the global hotel merchants, Starlight has now listed more than a 50% of its ownership shares for sale in the stock market. This comes after the riveting news of Isabella’s uncertain disappearance. We’ve reached out to the Carters over a week now and there has not been a single response as to why the sudden change of heart—“ The news reporter read.His brown eyes were fixated on the cameras which just made him appear to looking directly into Patricia’s eyes. She’d increased the volume of the tv with the remote as she sat up. There was a crinkle between her brows—because what exactly did he mean by Leonardo was selling his portion in the company.“It is expected that we would see a complete take over of the company should it be purchased and would no longer be headed by the current CEO and Director Leonardo Carter anymore but by a new person. We couldn’t get through to the CEO but we managed to speak to some of his employers
FIVE MONTHS LATER.Isabella gathered the hems of her flowing white dress as she heaved in a deep breath. Her face turned crimson with blood draining from her cheeks and she turned to Joan who was right beside her. "I'm so nervous" She whispered beneath her breath with her shoes grazing into the fields.There were roses all around them and they stood just behind the door yet to open. "The dress is beautiful, Isabella. You're perfect.” Joan whispered, being her maid of honor for her second wedding and they shared a chuckle."It's like a full circle moment" Isabella beamed a smile and Joan rested unto her arms."But it's different now" She said."Either way i'm glad i get to do this with you again. I'm glad i still have you" Isabella pushed a hard lump down her throat. "Have you thought about what Leonardo said?" She asked for the nth time and i remembered months ago when he told me of his plans to leave Norman.That it was up to me though, to decide what exactly a fresh slate meant."I
“Hey” Her soft voice drew to him as he brought his eyes to open. The incessant beeping of the heart monitor subdued behind her voice and Em inched closer to him. Gerald’s eyes were slow but the moment he recognized her, there was a large grin that spread across his lips. “I’m here” She comforted, leaning forward to place a kiss on his cheek.“You’re okay” Her hands pressed lightly on the wrapped gunshot wound in his chest and he nodded. “Isabella?” He softly asked and Em held his hands to her lips and with tears in her eyes, she nodded. “She’s okay—”“Everyone’s okay.”His hands fell around his wrist and there was the bracelet he’d gotten for her thirty years ago. Gerald’s eyes shimmered with tears as he gazed upon the beautiful beige dress she still wore. “You kept it” He whispered and Emily nodded her head fraily.“Of course i kept it” She smiled. There was a minute of silence between them as she wiped beneath her eyes but then Isabella knocked upon the doors before walking in. “You
Leonardo burst out the other side of the door and the heat from the serenading flames hit him in his face. He tied a cloth around his nose and he searched through his foggy vision to make out everything around him.It was a painstaking effort with his feet crunching into a piece of glass and the parts of the ceiling that had crumbled to the ground. “I say we take ahead!” Theodore yelled, looking at the only way still feasible. Leo choked but somehow managed to get himself in order in a minute.The sound of approaching sirens blared from outside the door but by the looks of it, they seemed still far away. He didn’t have time—and so did Isa. “Let’s go” He chanted and they filed down the corridor, searching each room for what was left. The whole house was dark, even as the skies were visible through the shattered roof. “Isabella!” He yelled at the top of his voice, taking down the mask across his face for a second. “Joan!” Theodore yelled too, in the hopes that she was here as well.“Is
TWENTY FIVE MINUTES UNTIL MIDNIGHT.The car finally came to a halt and from a distance walked Sheriff Stevens accompanied by both Christian and Theodore. In a world that had gone digital, it was surprising that they didn’t show up with a large bag of cash to submit to the mafia Lord but rather just a plain-old cheque.“You’re nothing like i expected” Constantin turned around when he suspected their footsteps had drawn them close enough. The sheriff met his cold gaze with a defensive stance. “I’ll say the same” He muttered and then his eyes roamed both Christian and Theodore who acted like bodyguards. “I thought i told you to come alone” He looked as far as the car but with the silence that enclosed them on this deserted coast, he was moreso convinced. “Do you want your money or not?” Stevens hissed back at him, pulling out the cheque from his pocket and Constantin scoffed from his lips. “I’m not stupid. Bring out all the hostages and then i’ll give you the money.” The sheriff negoti
Stevens dashed across the bordering sign that demarcated Norman and Riverdale with his hands firmly grasping the steering wheel. He was on the edge of his seat but somehow managed to steal a glance at the clock.ONE HOUR UNTIL MIDNIGHT.“We can still make it” Gerald piped forward, drawing the chair behind. Em was at the front seat and she allowed their eyes to meet in a tensive second. “It’s okay” Gerald whispered with an affirmative nod. “It’ll soon be over” He reached to her hands and Theo pushed a hard lump down his throat. All, that on his mind was Joan’s safety and whether or not she was okay. “Do you have the complete money now?” Emily turned to the sheriff, still reeling in the disbelief of how they raised a hundred million dollars in twenty four hours. He nodded, darting a stare back at her. “I mean Harold was the last. He was able to get an upfront deal of about forty for the shares of the Norman hotel. Christian wired my ten and Gerald as well—And your uncle transferred t
The slow jazz pierced through Emily’s ears as she wrapped her hands around Gerald’s neck. Indulged in the dance, she didn’t raise her head but that was until it was his turn to swing her. She moved her hips so elegantly like she was young again and after an hour, she admitted to be wrong because there was something about the dance that eased her tension. The music stopped and there was a round of applause, the same moment that allowed them to intimately look into each other’s eyes. “You were amazing” Gerald whispered but before Em could mutter another word, her eyes caught him.“Klaus!” She blurted out.There he was, by the bar downing a glass of champagne with a younger mistress in his hands. He was headed for the stairs and Emily fixated his eyes on him, unwilling to let him misplace in the colorful crowds. She tried to catch her breath and the hemming of her dress as she moved closer.This place was big, the walls a glittering gold with a low hanging silver chandelier dropping fro
Isabella awoke to a dimly lit candle in the corner of the room.The crimson orange flames flickered in her eyes with a slight pitter-patter sound of the wax burning. It curved to the side and just that single piece was able to warm the room, ridding it of it’s unconducive iciness. She shivered off the remnant cold as she sat up. The heavy chain followed even the slightest movement of her hands, letting out a thunderous clang as she retracted them. Her eyes met Kayla who was quivering in fear just opposite her. “It wasn’t there before” Isa’s voice interrupted the eerily silent room. Her eyes looked pointedly to the candle flame but then suddenly something fell right in front of her.“Oh my God” She clutched her chest, startled to her bones and Kayla let out a shaky scream. The pair of black rubber boots that sauntered towards her drew her attention before whatever it was that was thrown to her. “Take a look” The familiar voice towered over her and Isabella didn’t even need to lift her
“I’m sorry but Mr Sanders left a little while ago” The woman behind the desk pressed her lips together and it was a like a sword of disappointment struck through Emily’s chest. She batted her lashes and then exchanged glares with Gerald.“I’m sorry—to where?” She stuttered.Her hands reached across the counter and she tapped her fingertips into it. “And when will he be getting back?” She asked and the receptionist was a bit reluctant divulging any piece of information for these strangers in front of her. Emily saw the crinkle form between her eyes and a sharp breath escaped her lips.“Look i know you know who i am.”“If not from my last name then perhaps from Klaus telling you never to engage with his own niece if ever she came around. Short, brunette haired with the mouth like a tap is exactly how he would describe me—““I don’t know what you’re talking about” The lady replied.“Well i call bullshit” Emily cussed and Gerald found his hands holding her back. “My daughter, Klaus’ fucki
Leonardo snapped his eyes open with an agonizing pain spearing through his neck and along the veins of his numb limbs. He was carried by two hefty arms into a large, dark room and when he realized that his consciousness was regained after an hour long sedation, he struggled to break free from the grasps of the arms that restrained him. “Where’s Isabella!” Was the first question that he yelled out through his panting lips. He threw his head upon his shoulders as he was dragged, his feet barely an inch from the callous grounds. And then he was thrown in the deepest and darkest part of what seemed to be a dungeon. The beads of sweat that formed across his head tricked down his body and he wiped across his face, lifting his gaze to see the masked men in front of him. Leonardo was short of breath as he staggered to sit up, using his barely formidable arms as a wedge. He was able to lean against the wall as he searched for his breathes.“Where’s Isabella?” He looked around him and there d