NICKI sat on that jet with the image of Olivia's sunken face engraved in my mind. I wanted to talk to her, find out if she was alright but as soon as the pitch was over, she disappeared. I thought of going over to her house to find out what was going on. Use the excuse that she invited me over not so long ago. But I held back, if she still wanted to talk to me, then she would have done so at the hotel after the pitch. But instead she left, that meant she was not ready to talk yet. But the image of her walking around looking like the dead hurt me. What could have happened to her? It's only been two months since I last saw her and she was happy. "Sir, we are here." I looked out and saw that we were outside Luke's office. Did he know what was happening with his daughter? I doubt it, he would have been there for her if he knew. A sigh left me. Owen opened the door for me and I got out. When I got to his office, i knocked once and let myself in. "I knew it could only be you who would h
MARCUSI should have never suggested we have a baby, it is all my fault that this is happening now. If I didn't suggested it, my wife wouldn't be suffering, she, Samuel and I would be happy now. Going to the park together, trips, movies, dinners. Doing everything a happy couple should be doing. But I got greedy, I wasn't conted with what I had and I wanted more. Why, why did i want more, why couldn't I be content with things the way they were? Was it because Samuel is not my biological son? No that's not it. It was because I was afraid I would lose him to his real father when the truth came out.I wanted to have a child of my own so that it wouldn't hurt much when he left. Basically, I wanted a consolation prize which I was not meant to have. Now I am stuck with that disgusting woman and hurting my wife. As if she has not been hurt enough, as if the pain Nick caused her wasn't enough. Why the fuck aren't humans ever content? Men to be specific. We always want more.More money, more s
OLIVIA I didn't stay after asking that question to Marcus, I know that he doesn't know the answer to that question as well. I might be hurt by everything that is happening but I know he is hurting as well. He doesn't show it but he is a shadow of the man I married. I have my doubts some days, especially when he is enjoying himself too much with that woman. I pour myself a glass of warm milk trying to get myself to sleep. Just when i lift the glass to take a sip, a knock comes on the door. I glance at the wall clock and it's after ten. Who could it be at this time? The person knocked again. "Who is it?" I asked moving away from the door. If it was Ethan, he would have called first and he has a key.I moved back some more worried to death. "Olivia, open the door." I stop moving and frown. That sounded like my father, what could he be doing here at this time of the night? "Olivia! Open the door." I rush to the door and open. Indeed, it is him with Nick by his side. "What are you two d
OLIVIAIf I had known five months ago what I know now, then I would have asked my father to come visit sooner. Last night, for the first time in five months, my husband spent the night with me. In our bed, and he wasn’t gone when I woke up. He was still fast asleep next to me and that warmed my heart.Things have not been good in our home for months now and it was getting to the both of us. I hoped with everything I had that by the time, the four months end, we will still be a family. That we will be able to pick up where we left off and continue with our lives leaving all the bad stuff in the past.After showering, I went to the kitchen and the table was already set. My dad was the one busy making breakfast. Nick and Marcus were sitting on the dining table looking like someone died. I knew then that Marcus already told them everything. It was a good thing I sent Samuel, Lupita and grandma away.When I got in, my dad only glanced at me then clicked his tongue and continued with what h
OLIVIAMy heart sank, why did it have to be her. why was it that whenever something went wrong in my life Sandra was involved. What the hell did I do to that woman to make her resent me so much. We were friends once; I believe I treated her well even then. What could I have possibly done to make her do all these things to me.How did I offend her? “Olivia, her being lucid doesn’t mean she is responsible for this. It can’t be her because she never left the hospital, that I am sure of.” I laughed, I didn’t know If Nick was naïve of just plain stupid. He of all people should know that if Sandra wanted something. She always found a way to get it.“Olivia, that facility is secure, there is no way she could have left and done all this. There must be someone else working with this woman, but it can’t be Sandra. It’s impossible.” I looked at Nick and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Was the man stupid, really?“Stop being naïve Nick, seriously, I don’t know how you survived in the busin
MARCUSI was tired, no, I was exhausted and fed up with that woman. I tolerated everything she has done up until now. I was going to continue to do so until she gave birth but now, she wanted me to divorce my wife! Who the hell did she think she was to make me do that? I had been hurting my wife for months because of her and now she wanted me to divorce her? over my dead body.Her days of controlling me were over. I dragged her to her room then locked her up in there. “You are going to stay there until you get back to your senses. I am going to be here day and night. Guarding you and giving you food and everything else you will need. If you don’t get back to your senses, then you will stay locked up in there until the day you give birth.”I shoved the key in my pocket and turned, only to see three shocked faces. “You can’t do that Marcus; it is illegal, and you know it.” My wife, my poor good-hearted wife. Did she think what that woman has been doing was legal? She threatened to take
JENNIFERI sat in the room biting on my nails and wondering if I had gone overboard. I never thought Marcus would react that way to a divorce. I thought he would give me what I wanted like he always did but he reacted differently. I thought because I was pregnant, and he wanted the baby badly. That he would give me what I wanted.‘Damnit Jennifer, you went too far. You shouldn’t have asked for him to divorce his wife, instead. You should have asked him to kick her out of the house and let her be the one to ask for a divorce.’ Shit! I took out my phone and dialled my aunt, that woman was going to kill me if she found out that I did my own thing and didn’t follow the plan.“Oh, my goodness! You finally called. I thought something bad happened to you.” well, I was enjoying myself too much that I forgot about her. “Am fine aunt, am not hurt. But I did do something.” I held my breath waiting for her to respond.“What did you do?” at least she didn’t sound angry, well, not yet any way. But
OLIVIAI was bothered by the fact that Marcus locked that woman in the room. She has done a lot to us and I understood his anger and frustration. But I didn’t think locking her up was the solution. I didn’t think it was legal as well. But I believed he was going to find a way around it somehow and that when he came back from the lawyer. He will come with better news.I was going to check on her when I heard her yelling for help. I stopped in my tracks wondering what the hell she was up to now. the woman was full of tricks that It was difficult to believe that something was wrong with her. but when she yelled the second time, I couldn’t just ignore it. she could be in real trouble and might lose the baby if I continue to ignore it.I opened the door and found her on the floor looking like she couldn’t breathe. At first, I thought she was just full of it but then I saw her face turning red and I knew she was not faking it. I rushed to her and her breathing was now laboured. I called for
MARCUS“Boss, we’ve arrived,” Steve said, his voice cutting through the thick fog of sleep that had settled over me. I blinked a few times, disoriented, before slowly coming to. My body ached from the constant movement, the long days of traveling across continents, jumping from one city to another, chasing dead ends and half-truths. I hadn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep in days. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was the face of my wife, Olivia, fading from my thoughts like a distant dream.I rubbed my face with both hands, trying to shake off the fatigue. The exhaustion was getting to me, but there was no time for rest. Not now. Not until I had her back. My mind was a blur, constantly circling back to the same thoughts: Where is she? Why won’t anyone tell me? The people who had information were all cowards, and none of them would speak up. It was maddening. The jet had become my only sanctuary, a
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