OLIVIAI watched as Marcus escorted her out of the house then sat down and continued eating. Lupita raised an eyebrow, but I paid her no mind. Marcus came back and looked at me funny as well. “What?” he shrugged. “I am just wondering if you are okay.” I shoved more food into my mouth and ate.“You should eat Lupita, bring my son back to eat as well.” Marcus furrowed his eyebrows. “You said you will take care of everything. I am deciding to trust you on that and live my life. I am tired of letting these people dictate my life, am tired of their threats and am tired of giving them my time and peace of mind.”A smile appeared on Marcus’s lips. He stood up and pulled me up from my chair. While I was still wondering what was going on, he smashed his lips on mine. My eyes widened in shock, but he didn’t stop kissing me. I then closed my eyes and let myself feel and enjoy the kiss. “Eewww!” we pulled apart laughing.Samual was standing there with his eyes covered, Lupita had a mischievous lo
OLIVIAI watched in horror as Marcus fell backwards, Ethan hiding behind the door and crawling away with Samuel. Grandma Susan falling next to Marcus and defining screams of Lupita. The door closed, I was not sure If I was the one who closed it, or Lupita did.Everything was happening so fast that I couldn’t register who was doing what. Ethan came back still with my son in his arms. “Let’s go around the back, come on!” he yelled but I couldn’t leave Marcus and Grandma Susan. I didn’t want them to burn to death. I couldn’t even tell if grandma was still alive, but Marcus was.But he was losing a lot of blood. He has too many holes on him that I didn’t know which one to put pressure on. It didn’t help that the fire was getting closer, smoke filled the house and the heat from the fire was unbearable. “Come on, Olivia, go get into the car and I will help Marcus.” Ethan shouted.I looked around, Lupita and grandma were no longer in the house. I didn’t know when they left, my focus was on M
OLIVIAWe sat there in silence waiting for his men to send the footage for us to see. I didn’t have to see it to know It was Sandra and Ethen kept telling me I should talk to that man. How was I going to do that when I didn’t even know how to contact him?“May I use your phone; I need to give Lupita feedback about her grandmother.” Ethan took out his phone and handed it to me. I took it and called the hotel, and they connected me to her room. I told her what the doctor told me, and I could hear the relief in her voice when she heard the news.I gave Ethan his phone back but not before looking at the time. It had been three hours since Marcus was sent for surgery, and we have not heard anything. It worried me to death. I needed to know how he was doing. “Nick, where are you going?” I lifted my head to see Nick about to pass the waiting room.He didn’t look good at all. He looked pale as if he was in a lot of pain. He was holding the side of his stomach and limping. “I have to go out th
NICKI glanced at Luke when Olivia said that. he looked as bad as I did. Hurt. He and I had something in common, we both loved Olivia, but she resented us for different reasons. She hated me for what I did to her and protecting Sandra now. But what she didn’t know was that I was doing it for her this time.Me sending Sandra to the psych ward was not to protect her but to punish her. I wanted her to suffer in there, for them to keep her so drugged up that she didn’t know if she was coming or going. If it was night or day.I wanted her to lose sight of reality that she would wake up five years later with no memory of who she was to begin with. But I couldn’t tell her that. I had to let her hate me then see for herself what she would have been like after I was done with her.But I didn’t count on Faren breaking her out, I didn’t even think of her when I sent Sandra there and I still didn’t know how she did
OLIVIAMy heart ached seeing all those tubes coming out of him. Just hours ago, we were having a nice dinner, and he was kissing me. Now he was laying on a hospital bed with tubes all over. We had a moment just one fleeting moment of peace and quiet before all went to hell again.I was beginning to think that Nick’s mother was right. I was a curse, because everyone who got close to me got hurt. Look at Grandma Susan and Lupita. They were fine living a peaceful life in Summer Strand before I came along.I brought them here and look what happened. Grandma almost died, Lupita too. Marcus was fighting for his life with no hope of waking up. It would have been fine if it were me who kept getting hurt but the people I cared about? It was too much.“Look at you, social climber. Now that you don’t have Nick, you are looking for another man with deep pockets to support you. when will you learn Olivia that you don’t belong i
OLIVIAThe frown on my face deepened, I didn’t know If he was a pathological liar or that he was good at playing people. Either way, I didn’t like it. “You never made contact with me, what are you talking about? What I am getting is that the man had me tortured because he could and for whatever reason he had that I will never get to know!”I was shaking in anger; he should have stayed away from me if he knew something like that would happen. He should have never made contact and just when did he make contact? “I didn’t make contact directly, but I had people keep an eye on you. When they informed me about your imprisonment, the Don found out and he didn’t like it.”He sighed running his hand through his hair. “He sent people to hurt you to teach me a lesson, that when he tells me something, I do it, no questions asked or there will be consequences.” He let out a dry chuckle. “As if I made contact physically, the man still went ahead and hurt you to punish me. I couldn’t let that slide
OLIVIAA small chuckle escaped my lips, he was awake and had taken out the tube in his mouth. His voice was scratchy from the tube. Wait! A frown replaced the smile I had. “Why did you take out the tube, you could have hurt yourself.” I reprimanded rushing to his side. He offered me a smile.“If bullets can’t hurt me then there is nothing this little tube could do to me. I am indestructible.” He joked. He was back. Oh, thank the Lord. Now it was time to do what I set out to do. “Let me get the doctor to check on you.” just as I turned to leave, he held my hand.“Not yet just give me water.” I poured him water from the jug next to his bed and helped him drink. I placed the cup back. He still held my hand. “Tell me, why were you crying?” I smiled at him. “It’s not important now.” He studied me but did not force the issue.“What is this I hear about you wanting to leave me.” I gave him a sad smile; he must have heard me talking to him earlier. “Do not focus on that now. Focus on getting
OLIVIAGuilt ate away at me, now that I knew that Nick wasn’t the one who sent those people to hurt me in prison. I felt guilty that I was doing all that to him. yes, he did his fair share of hurtful things to me, but I did not want him to die. One day Samuel was going to ask who his father is and why he wasn’t in his life.I want to be able to look my son in the eyes one day and tell him who his father is and why he wasn’t in his life growing up. It would kill me to have to tell him that his father died, and I had a hand in it. “Ethan, I don’t want Nick in our lives, he might be innocent on somethings, but he has done a lot to me and his presence in our lives right now, is putting my son and everyone I love in danger.”Ethan nodded, he knew as well as I did that the decision I made to keep Nick away, was not taken lightly. I was sorry he was sick but as guilty as I felt, I couldn’t let him back in, not with Sandra still on the loose and not when he is still protecting the woman. “I k
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