OLIVIAThe anger I felt when I saw my grandmother’s grave was indescribable. The pain though, was more than the anger I felt. The woman did everything for me and made sure I studied and became the woman I am today. Yet, I was not there when she needed me the most, I was not there to give her a proper burial.She was buried like a dog with no headstone or photo. It broke my heart that things got so bad that she became collateral damage. But I was going to make things right, those who wronged me, those caused me this pain, are going to feel the same pain ten folds.“Take me back Ethan, I am just going to tell Nick’s parents that I am going back home.” He nodded and we left the graveyard. Leaving my grandmother with a promise that I was going to do right by her. The drive back was silent, with me thinking of ways to make money. I had no job, and no one was going to hire me with a criminal record.That was what Nick wanted when he got me arrested and he did swear to make me pay, to make m
OLIVIABeing back home felt strange and familiar at the same time. Every room I entered filled me with nostalgia and vivid memories of my grandmother and I. The house was dirty and full of dust. Walls needed paint and floors needed to be scrubbed.I roughly wiped my tears away as I cleaned. I have cried enough at the graveyard; it was time for me to act now not to cry. a knock came through the door, and I went to open. May was standing on the other side of the door with a pretentious smile on her face.The woman must think I was still the same naïve Olivia from before. “Yes?” I said with a raised eyebrow. “Olivia, it’s me, May.” Did she really think I didn’t know who she was? But I went along with her. “Oh, I couldn’t recognise you, it’s been so long.” She pushed me aside and went inside.It annoyed me but I kept my mouth shut. “Goodness! This house needs a good scrubbing! I heard about your arrest, and I want you to know that I didn’t believe a word they said. Media can be cruel but d
NICK“What are you standing there for? Go get me my daughter-in-law back, tell her you are sorry and that you will do better. Go, Nick, go now.” Said my mother hitting me over and over while crying. She loved Olivia and I didn’t like seeing her that way. But what else could I do when she didn’t want me? I was not going to force her to want me.I held her hands to stop her from hitting me, “Mom, she doesn’t want me going after her. you heard what she said. She wants a divorce and nothing I say will change her mind. I am sorry.” She cried even more freeing herself from my hold. It hurt, the way she looked at me was like she was looking at someone she despised.“Get out, get the hell out of my house Nick!” she screamed at me, I looked over at dad, but he just sat there as if nothing was happening. I knew then that I had done more than just disappoint my parents, I hurt them. “I am sorry mom.” She only glared at me and pointed at the door.I gave her a sad look before leaving. Ethan and O
NICKEthan said something that got me thinking. Everything else he said made sense and I regretted it. But I didn’t get why he would say I didn’t take care of my wife’s grandmother. I might have refused to see her because of how ashamed I was of facing her after sending Olivia to jail. But I did send money to her card every month.She should have been taken care of even with Olivia in jail, I never sent Olivia to jail so I could punish her grandmother. “Ethan, you know me man, do you think I didn’t take care of her grandmother? I sent her money every month for the past two years. I might not have gone to see her, but I did make sure that she had money to live a comfortable life.”“You sent her money, then why was she buried in an unmarked grave?”“I don’t know Ethan, the person who buried her might not have known that she had money in the bank.” To be fair, she might not have known herself that she had that kind of money in the bank. Olivia’s grandmother was an old person, and she didn
OLIVIAI didn’t expect to see Nick so soon after asking him for a divorce. I thought he brought the papers already when I saw him parked around the corner from my house. Only to find out that he was spying on me. he thought I was still the naïve Olivia he sent to jail to believe the lie he told me about passing by.I must admit though, my heart skipped a beat when I saw him and that happened because of one, I was scared that he brought the divorce papers. I don’t know why because I was the one who asked him for divorce. All I can say is that it was not easy letting go of someone I still had feelings for. Two, because I was afraid of how final divorce will make things.The divorce was not going to affect me alone but my son as well. Samuel is a boy, and he will one day want to know who his father is. I needed to be sure what to say to him when that day came. But I didn’t want to think about that, all I knew was that I wanted to be free from Nick.He hurt me too badly that I no longer sa
NICK“Gentlemen, if this is what I flew all the way from New Village for, then I am not impressed. We have a reputation to protect, and you bring me ideas like this? Do better!” I stood and fixed my suit jacket. I walked to the door but turned to the group. “I want to hear something better tomorrow and it better not be a waste of my time.”I then walked out of the boardroom, I have been there for two days now, and they were yet to give me something I could work with. Just because Jones’ enterprise was a big company did not mean we should relax, there was a lot of competition out there. “Sir, I have ordered your lunch, it’s in the room.”I went towards the elevator but then turned around. “I want to eat out today, I need the fresh air, I need to clear my mind and think. Take me to those beach front restaurants.” Olivia liked beach front restaurants. She like the breeze coming from the beach, she would close her eyes and feel it caressing her face gently as it passed. Like a gentle kiss
OLIVIAI was busy showing the guys where to hang a painting in the reception area when Nick came in looking like he was ready to murder someone. “Everyone out, now!” The guys scattered leaving me standing by the reception desk wondering what the hell got into the man to act like that.He slowly walked towards me with his eyes locked on me like I was his prey. The look in his eyes got me thinking back to prison, to how those animals in there used to look at me when they were about the beat the hell out of me.I shuddered. He stood a foot away from me still not saying anything but looking at me. I didn’t back down either, prison taught me to face bullies head on even when I knew I was out matched and outnumbered. “Do we have a child together.” My heart grew cold, and I could feel my hands shaking a little.But I didn’t avert my gaze from him, I knew he found out something, but I didn’t know what. I bailed my hands into fists with my nails digging in the palm of my hands. The pain stoppe
OLIVIAI stopped myself right in time before I let it slip that I lost my womb in prison and a year and four months of my son’s life. “Go on, Olivia. Tell me what you lost; I want to know.” I turned giving him my back. “You lost the right to ask me questions the day you called the police on me and sent me to jail for two years. Oh, wait. It would have been longer if your parents didn’t come back, and you wouldn’t be bothered.”I sighed turning back to look at him. “Just leave Nick and never come back here again. When the divorce papers are ready. Send your lawyer with them and I will sign, there is no need for us to see each other again.” There we go again, a flash of pain in his eyes and it was gone before I could even react making me feel like I was seeing things.He looked at me for a while before turning back and walking out my door. The guys rushed back in surrounding me. “Mam, are you alright, did he hurt you? we can call the police if he hurt you.” I chuckled, clearly, they did
OLIVIAIt had been two days since Xander left, two days without food or water. My body had grown weaker with each passing hour, and I could feel every ache in my bones, every crack in my spirit. But there was a small sliver of hope amidst the physical torment: the sedative he had used to paralyze me was finally starting to wear off. I could feel a slight tingle in my legs when I pinched them hard, nothing much, but enough to give me the faintest glimmer of relief. Soon, I would be able to move again.That is, if I didn’t collapse from thirst and hunger first.The worst part of being in that hellhole wasn't the paralysis. It was the silence. The uncertainty. I had no way of knowing if it was day or night. Time had ceased to exist in that dark, suffocating tomb, and with each passing moment, I felt like I was slipping further from reality. I was literally buried alive, a prisoner in a catacomb of stone, with no one to help me, no one to hear
NICKLuke’s face changed from shocked to anger very quickly. “Tell him, tell the moron where we are!” he bellowed throwing his hands in the air. “How could this moron do something like this? I am the only one who is supposed to do things like these. You boys are supposed to keep your hands clean!” he paced the room.He was frustrated. “Since when did Marcus become worse than me in things like these, just what the hell is wrong with him?” he said to no one in particular. I didn’t know if he was just frustrated or a little impressed by his son in law. He turned to me with a glare. “What the hell are you waiting for? Do you want him to bomb more cities before you tell him where the hell we are?”I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Just moments ago, Luke had been telling me to keep everything from Marcus, and now, here I was, being blamed for not telling him where we were fast enough. It felt like I had no place to stand, caught between a rock and a hard place. But it wasn’t the time t
ETHANThe moment Nick hung up the phone, his face shifted, his expression unreadable. It was as if all the colour drained from him in an instant, his skin paling in a way that I had never seen before. I had been around Nick long enough to know that he was no stranger to bad news, but this? This was different. It was as if something beyond our worst fears had just been set in motion.We had already been living through the chaos, Luke, Xander, Olivia’s disappearance, and now, the kids were safe with us. That much, at least, had been a small mercy in the storm. But Nick looked like he had just been hit with the weight of something even worse, something that none of us could prepare for. My mind raced, trying to figure out what could possibly be so bad. And then it hit me. Could it be…? No, it couldn’t be.Before I could make sense of it, I moved closer to Nick, my concern deepening. I needed to make sure that whatever was going through his mind wasn’t as bad as I feared. Leaning in, I wh
NICKI had been holding onto the hope that once Xander showed up, everything would fall into place. That the mess would be cleaned up, and we could put an end to the nightmare that had been plaguing us.Luke and Xander reached some sort of agreement, at least, that’s what I gathered, but the specifics were still hazy in my mind. Luke had told Xander to bring Olivia, or he would destroy his father’s remains.What exactly that meant, I wasn’t sure. It felt like a vague threat, but the tension in the air told me it wasn’t just idle talk. Xander responded with some sort of counter-deal, loaded with things I couldn't follow. Honestly, I was drained. I didn’t care about the details anymore. I just wanted this whole nightmare to be over. But Xander wasn’t backing down, and neither was Luke.Luke had his men tail Xander. And, as expected, Xander went straight to the hotel. He wasn’t trying to outsmart anyone or go off the grid. He was playing by his own set of rules, one that I didn’t fully u
XANDERI was about to take the biggest gamble of my life, and I knew it. Luke was offering me a choice, an impossible one. It was a trap, a setup where only he could win. The terms of his proposition were clear: there would be no chance for me to exact my revenge on him, and there was a very real possibility that I would lose my life in the process. But I wasn’t ready to die, not yet. Not when I had a son waiting for me, hoping I would make it back.I had to think fast. Luke had me cornered, but I couldn’t show him how much fear his words stirred inside me. I had to put on a face, act like I was in control, even if I wasn’t. It wasn’t just about surviving this moment; it was about finding a way out. I wasn’t going to let him win that easily.I stood tall, trying to exude confidence, even though inside I felt like a bundle of nerves. My heart hammered in my chest; my hands clenched into fists at my sides. I could feel the sweat starting to bead on my forehead. If I didn’t hold it toget
XANDERFor the past few days, I had watched them stumble around in their futile attempts to track me down. Every morning, they would set out at dawn, and every night they would return empty-handed, their efforts wasted. It was amusing to me.They had no idea where to look, no real understanding of how to hunt someone like me. It was almost laughable. I had thought they were dangerous, but I quickly realized how wrong I was. There was nothing good about them, nothing that made them worthy of fear.Perhaps they just hadn’t met their match yet. Until now.Now, they had encountered me, and they knew they were nothing compared to what I was capable of. They were amateurs, playing a game they couldn’t win. But Olivia... she was another story. She surprised me. I had expected more resistance from her, some fight, some fire. But instead, she complied. She ate the food I gave her, barely muttering a word of protest. The silence was almost worse than anything. I could tell that the trauma from
NICKThe island was still, too still. No one slept that night. Luke had kept busy with his men, the sound of his voice drifting through the halls, low and intense. I couldn’t make out the words, but I could tell they weren’t discussing anything good.Ethan had joined them; he was more involved than I would have liked. I had asked him to keep an eye on Luke, to make sure things didn’t escalate further. I didn’t trust Luke, not when he was like this, wild, unpredictable, the kind of man you couldn’t reason with once his mind was made up. He was like a caged animal finally set free, and I was terrified of what he might do to the people on this island. They were innocent; they didn’t deserve to be dragged into whatever madness Luke was planning.As for me, I was stuck dealing with the kids. I tried to keep my mind occupied, tried to push away the dread gnawing at me. But before anything, I knew I had to prepare. I organized money, lots of it. It felt like I was bracing for something big.
NICKIt had been three days since Olivia disappeared, the longest, most agonizing three days of our lives. Every day felt like a never-ending loop of despair. We woke up, checked the rooms, scoured the island, hoping to find some trace of her. But no matter how much we searched, it was as if she had vanished into thin air. There was no sign of a struggle, no indication that she had left the room, and absolutely no lead to follow. It was like she was swallowed up by the earth itself.The island wasn’t that large, and it seemed impossible that someone could just disappear like that. But here we were, endlessly combing through every corner, every inch of the place, but we kept coming up empty. It felt like we were chasing ghosts. The stress, the exhaustion, the hunger, none of it was helping our situation. It wasn’t that we didn’t have food. We had plenty of food. But none of us could bring ourselves to eat.The nanny we had hired to take care of the kids, a kind woman, had been cooking
OLIVIAThe tears wouldn't stop. I was completely numb to the pain in my feet, but the sight of Xander meticulously cutting and removing my toenails sent waves of horror and helplessness through me. I had no idea whether toenails grew back after they were surgically removed in such a brutal way, but the thought of it made my stomach churn.“Please…” I sobbed, my voice breaking as I pleaded with him. The tears streamed down my face, unable to stop. I wasn’t sure what was worse, the pain I couldn’t feel or the torment of watching him work so calmly, so coldly. It was as though he had done this a thousand times before. The sight of the tiny toenails being placed in a small, neat box made my breath catch in my throat.“Why are you doing this?” I gasped between sobs, barely able to force the words out. It felt like my whole body was shaking, though the numbness in my feet made it hard to tell if that was real or just my mind frantically trying to escape the horror.Xander didn’t even flinch