MARCUSI thought we were going to the hospital to see my daughter, but Nick led me to the psych ward where Sandra was. I didn’t know what he hoped to achieve by doing that, I didn’t think seeing her was going to change anything. Yes, I have not made the decision on what I was going to do with her. she hurt my wife, and I swore to protect her.But did she hurt her more than I did, or was what she did to her more than what I did? We both hurt Olivia and yes. She has hurt her more than anyone could ever imagine. My wife and I were in this predicament because of what she did in the past. But did she deserve to die? I didn’t think Olivia would want that.Knowing her, she only wanted the woman out of her life not for her to die. When we got there, they opened for us and Nick led the way to Sandra’s ward. Inside we found her sitting by the window looking out. She might have looked out of it, but she was still a beautiful woman.I had no doubt my daughter was going to have good features. “San
NICKI knew he was not going to be a good guy for long with Sandra, no one ever is. The woman had a way of making one so angry that they want to kill her with their bare hands. She did the same to me and to Luke. She was good at it. I didn’t know why she was not dead yet.I watched as Marcus choked her, I was sure he was not in his right mind, he was so angry that he found himself doing that. I did it as well, I know the feeling. I walked out and went to find her doctor. I knocked once in his office and let myself in.“Mr Jones, how can I help you?”“Remember what I asked you to prepare for me?” he nodded. “I need it now.” he looked shocked that I asked for it. what did he think it was for? “Are you sure about this?” I nodded, he hesitated but went ahead and opened his locked cabinet and took it out then handed it to me.I took it and shoved it in my pocket then walked out. When I got back to the ward, Marcus had stopped choking Sandra and was now standing by the door while she coughe
NICKI felt lighter after leaving that room, like a weight had been lifted and in a way it had. There was no more Sandra to worry about, no more looking over my shoulder, no more wondering what she is planning or what she would do next. All those worries were now gone. I felt like a new man, like I was born again and given another chance at life.Another chance to redeem myself, a chance to make things right and getting rid of Sandra was the first step towards achieving that. Call me cruel but the bible says, ‘God helps those who help themselves. Olivia, me and God forbid Marcus. Have been waiting for some miracle from above.Praying to God that Sandra changes, but no miracle came, instead, the she devil hurt us even more. Well, I guess I was not different from her after all. Maybe I was worse than she was, I mean she never killed anyone at least not that I knew of, but I did. I killed her, I could not stand to see those close to me suffer anymore.Even the moron who took everything f
OLIVIAThe Maldives was a beautiful place, serene. Nothing or no place could compare to it. being there felt like paradise. I felt free, not once did I think about my husband, I had everything and everyone who meant something to me by my side. Marcus was busy with his daughter, the most important person in his life.I limped to the balcony and closed my eyes feeling the sea breeze gently caressing my face. I inhaled deeply smiling as I did so. I should have gone there sooner. “I know Nick, but I will not tell you where we are and don’t try to look into it because you will be killed or detained until I come back.” I didn’t want to be hearing anything about the people back there.Luke was on the balcony as well taking a call, I didn’t notice him at first until he spoke. “I don’t care about that, this time, I am thinking only about my daughter, what you and Marcus want is none of my business. Don’t ca
MARCUSWe now knew that Olivia was with Luke. But the man was not budging, he was not picking up my calls either. He only picked up when Nick called but only to tell him to not look for them. I didn’t know what he expected us to do. But he knew very well that we wouldn’t sit on our hands and do nothing.Ethan for starters now looked like a caveman in just four days of them being gone. The man didn’t sleep, he was busy with whatever sites he was busy with to try and locate them. I have tried to call Olivia many times, but her number was not in service anymore. My wife hated me so much that she didn’t even want to talk to me.“Send Luke a picture of this man, ask him to at least take him out of his misery. He won’t tell us any way even if he knew where they were. This is a man who kept the fact that Samuel was your son, twice. He can be trusted.” Nick glanced at Ethan.“I think we became frien
MARCUSLast night, we said our goodbyes to Ethan. He said we were going to see him whenever Olivia decided to come back. He warned us not to have him followed or check where he went. I wanted to so badly but at the same time, I wanted to give Olivia the space she needed to calm down. I also sent a letter for her with Ethan.Then I went to the hospital and spent the night being kangaroo dad to my newborn daughter. A child with no name and born into a broken family. I never wanted her to know that she was the reason my wife left me. I would like to believe that the cruel people who instigated the whole thing were the ones who were responsible for everything.But how would I explain to her that she spent days and maybe it was going to be months without a name. because I wanted her mother to name her, if she did that, that would mean she accepted my daughter as her own. She might not want me back, but it didn’t matter to me, as long as my daughter had a mother. But it was going to hurt me
OLIVIAI got a huge shock when Xander said there was a man standing on the balcony taking photos of us. He brought us to the pool and Samuel was having fun with Justin, his son. I was happy that my son was smiling and laughing like that. he must have missed me as much as I missed him.Lupita was also enjoying herself while grandma was constantly bothering Luke. He would complain but I think he liked it. Xander said he was going to check who the man was but then he sat back down saying he was coming our way with a low voice.I thought maybe it was one of Luke’s men but when I turned, I was shocked to see Ethan in white shorts, white short sleeve shirt. When he got to us. He didn’t say a word, he picked me up from the chair and carried me.He started walking way but stopped and turned to Lupita. “Please look after Samuel for a while.” Lupita nodded with a smile. Xander had an expression I could not read; he must have thought that Ethan was my husband.“Hello Ethan.” He ignored me and to
NICKI threw Marcus’s phone away then kicked the tires of his car. I was so angry that I didn’t know what to do with myself. “You fucking moron!” I bellowed in anger. Marcus looked like he was going to faint, clutching on his chest as if it hurt. He could die for all I cared.It should hurt him like hell, he saw everything I went through when he took her from me and now, just when I was accepting that he had her. he went and fucked it up! Now another fucking man from somewhere we don’t know was busy giving her the attention he never gave her.What the hell was I supposed to do with that? “You called me here for this shit? fix it, fucking fix it now!” I yelled in his face pulling him closer to me with his collar. I was mad, enraged. What pissed me off even more was that the moron just cried.He didn’t say a fucking word, he just cried. Bloody shit! what the hell was I going to do with Marcus. I swear to God above. If he didn’t have a child to take care of, I would have killed him! “Why
OLIVIAIt had been two days since Xander had returned. Each day felt like an eternity. His visits were shorter, but he still came and went, often leaving me with more questions than answers. Something was different about him this time, he seemed stressed. There was a nervous energy around him that hadn’t been there before. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what was causing it, but I could feel it. His tension gave me hope. If he was worried, that meant my family, my people, were getting closer to finding me. His stress told me that his carefully laid plans weren’t going the way he expected. That realization was both terrifying and a beacon of light.He returned again, standing in the doorway of the room, glaring at me with that strange, manic smile. His eyes were wild, as if the weight of his own plans was starting to crush him."You know," he began, his voice tinged with a sickly sweetness, "I thought we’d get more time together." He took a slow step closer, a step that made my heart pound h
MARCUSThe drive from the airport to the hotel wasn’t long, but for me, it felt like an eternity. Every passing moment added to my growing anxiety. I was desperate to find my family, but there was a nagging fear in the back of my mind, what if Nick had lied to me again? What if I was chasing shadows?But I held onto the thought that everything had been carefully planned. I had done everything right. Nick wouldn’t lie to me, at least not this time. I could hear the fear in his voice when he spoke to me, and I knew it was real. Fear could break a man, and I believed Nick had broken. He had confessed, and I had to trust that. If I didn’t, I would lose my mind.When we finally arrived at the hotel, the parking lot was almost full, but we managed to find the last available spot in front of the entrance. I stepped out of the car, the weight of the situation pressing on my chest. But I wasn’t alone, I wasn’t just walking into a hotel room without backup. I had taken a page out of Luke’s book
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