Sebastian’s POVTo think that he might really know my wife better than I do is the worst feeling in the world. It’s like the most intimate corner of my heart is stained by another man, like untouched snow with an ugly, foreign footprint.“You--”“He’s here,” Adrian cuts me off, pulling up the car before he jumps off. I have to follow.We arrived at the building of Aurora’s apartment, and she was standing right in front of it, talking to a tall guy. The guy has soft, blonde hair. His figure is bulky with clear muscles under his police short sleeves. But when he turns around to us, his round chin instantly lights up a flare in the back of my head--The Three Musketeers! Not the book. It was us!I used to play fencing with Adrian. We met another boy at the fencing class and we became friends first, and later “the three musketeers”. It was decades ago though. I was only around ten when I dropped fencing.I wanted to keep visiting Ava, so I begged Granny to quit fencing and play football i
Scarlett’s POVWhen I woke up, everything was dark. For a moment, I thought it was still at night, only to see that I’m in a dark room when my eyes got used to the darkness.My mind is like a mush, and it’s adjusting even slower than my eyes as if someone injected fog into my brain.What happened? Where am I? I was in a car...? The last thing I could remember was Ava’s scared eyes.Ava!My memory of last night rushes into my mind as that name wakes them up, also is waking up is a throbbing pain in my temples. I frown, trying to rub my temples, only to realize that my arms are tied to the arms of a wooden chair.Now I remember.I didn’t want to go out to meet Ava when I got her message. She never reaches out to me, ever. She has got an army to do that if she ever needs me. Nor was there anything for us to talk about. The last time she “talked” to me, she showed the video of Sebastian when he confessed his feelings toward her, thinking Ava was the little girl he saved.I replied with a
Scarlett's POVThe man stands up with a hand supporting his heavy body on the table, then starts stretching his limbs in a string of painfully slow moves, ignoring me and Ava in total. His hair is messy, and his smelly clothes loosely hang from his beer belly. Then he opens a bottle of water, rinses before he swallows the water in his mouth, and splashes water on his face and head until the bottle is empty. He grabs what looks like a dirty shirt and wipes his head.He doesn’t look like a thug. Thug has better bodies...and probably healthier lifestyles, too.But that doesn’t mean he is not a predator. He abducted two girls -- I’ll take Ava’s words on this for the sake of argument -- tied them to chairs in a dark room of what looks like an abandoned building, and it seems that his intention behind his slow movements is intimidation. Like the play before a cat kills a mouse it caught.Then all of a sudden, he pulls a string hanging in the room and lights penetrate my eyes, leaving a sour
Sebastian's POVI split from Adrian after his horrible accusation.Ava doesn’t like Scar, sure. But she would never commit a crime. I don’t believe the innocent angel I met would suddenly turn capable of harming someone with cold blood.24 hours have passed, and the cops found nothing. All they were able to do was to determine that both girls left home willingly, and disappeared from the security camera’s blind spots. How much does it take to fucking cover the city with some damn cameras?!I don’t fucking need Adrian and his police bud! I’ve got friends, too! I filed a formal missing person’s request through a friend, claiming that I have reason to believe that my wife was abducted and being transported out of the city, and the feds were more than happy to intervene.With one of the girls missing being my wife, and both of them my close acquaintances, I was questioned thoroughly before being kept on site --The FBI determined this abduction case a crime targetting me, and though it’s
Sebastian’s POVI mean, I can’t be sure that I have never seen him in my life, and that can be the smidgen of familiarity I feel looking at his photo. And my heart drops--It’s much harder if it’s a random guy instead of the owner who did this.“Fuck!” I rub my head, throwing the photos on the sofa hard. The splash does not ease my nerves.“It’s okay,” Jim is leaving, but he stops and pats my shoulder instead, “We are not tracing the owner, but the car. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”“So what’s your deal with Adrian?” I ask Jim, knowing he is trying to comfort me. He knows Adrian, too. Actually, I knew Jim through Adrian. Jim is two years our senior in college.“We let him know, if the kidnapper ever calls you.” Jim shrugs.He doesn’t think the kidnapper would. After all, it has been more than a day. If it's ransom a kidnapper is after, they would contact immediately. So why haven’t they??Anything could have happened in 24 hours. What if it wasn’t abduction? What if it was human tra
Scarlett’s POVThe guy left the room, leaving us tied to the chair for a whole day.I know because while the window opens to what seems like the inside of an abandoned building, the change of light still somewhat indicates time. But knowing that doesn’t help us at all. The dangerous stranger is no longer our biggest threat --Hunger is.We haven’t had food, or even water for a very long time.“Where did he go?! Is he just going to leave us like this forever?!”Some hours ago, Ava was capable of vigorous complaints like this, and now she can barely talk.But she has a point. If the guy just left us at a random abandoned building, then there is less of a chance for anyone to locate us while he can go and get all the alibi he needs. And condemning him is not even the problem because we would have died way before that could happen.My stomach groans.My appetite has grown bigger since the pregnancy. The baby has grown used to his aunt Aurora and aunt Lilith feeding him all kinds of cuisine
Scarlett’s POV“I’m sorry for your loss, but this is the first time I’m hearing about this,” I talk to the guy, and taking a glimpse into his sad story, I find it easier to talk in a sympathy tone, “May I know her name?”He shoots me a glare, but he grumbles: “Sparrow. Sparrow Ryan.”“That’s a cute name,” I try to smile at him. I actually feel like I do know that name. My brain stores a glimpse of that name because it was so special. But I can’t remember what happened to her. It wasn’t registered anywhere near Sebastian though.If her death had anything to do with Sebastian, I would know. I picked up everything about him like drops of treasures.“Wait, I know her!” Ava suddenly takes a surprised gasp, “She jumped off a building for Justin Roland! She was his stalking fan--”Did her energy-lacking brain malfunction? All words out of Ava are products of serious calculation, always. I have never seen her blurting things so recklessly against her innocent act.She realized her mistake eve
Sebastian’s POVHis name doesn’t ring a bell, but his daughter’s does.The moment I realized it was the kidnapper speaking, I put the call on speaker and wrote down the name for Jim. They pulled out his whole life with lightning speed.But I didn’t need that anymore.Justin Roland was a talented actor, but being a nobody, he had never got any role deserving of his talent before I signed him four years ago. Struggling with tuition for college, he was going to drop out of high school to be a model. Upon hearing that, I offered him a movie under the condition that he would go through college. He did, with excellent grades.The girl, Sparrow Ryan was a high school classmate of his. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, so let’s just stick with the fact that Roland had a high school sweetheart who he married last year, and the Ryan girl did not like that.She jumped off a building on Roland’s wedding day.I normally don’t follow this detailedly into events like this happening in one of my
Driving for 20 minutes in the car, Scar’s eyes are still cold from the outburst earlier. She has loved that man, and hated that man. He is just to painful to keep in her heart. She wants him out of her life, but he just keep coming and stir things up! “So heartless about him, hmm?” Silco breaks the silence tauntingly, “Sure you won’t regret it? I know how much you loved him before.” “That’s none of your business!” Scar snorts coldly, her tone not at all like the sugar baby she shows others.
“Scar!” Scar left when Sebastian was dragged down by the Fullers. By the time he catches up, she’s already by a pure black luxury car waiting right outside of the Fuller’s gate. Scar wasn’t going to wait for him until Sebastian hurried up a few steps and put his fingers between the half-closed door. If he has to be honest, he is surprised that Scar didn’t close the door on his fingers anyway. But Scar turns visibly impatient at his way of stopping her. “You just never settle for what’s yours at the time, do you?” Scar says coldly, standing behind the door when Sebastian feels like the door is the furthest distance in the world. A cold snort lands quietly in the car. Sebastian hears. On the back seat sits that masked man, Silco. That name upsets him. That man is using Scar, if he is not playing her also, he knows. He looked into that guy, and found nothing. Nothing! That’s not normal, and it's not at the level of resources he has. Maybe that man doesn’t exist on papers, meaning a
The phone call changes Scar back to the vengeful fallen angle. For now. “I’ll go after Johnny Vanderbilt for what he did on his part, thanks but that’s none of your business…” Scar curves her lips, her devil like grin has no warmth, sending chills down the spine of her enemies, “I hope your family really have no trouble with your lousy explanation on cheating, Mrs. Fuller. But for now, I want my mom’s necklace.” Anna shakes her head slowly with mercy in her eyes, as if Scar is just a misbehaving child who doesn’t know better. “What happened to you, Scarlett?” Anna insists on calling Scar the name she gave her, ignoring Scar’s words, “Are you seeing anyone for these episodes? It’s not a light thing. If you need help—” “Not from you!” Scar spats with cold anger, “Stop with the hypocritical act of yours! You just don’t know when to stop even after your true color is exposed, do you? I was wondering where Ava got that from.” “How dare you talk to my mom like that!?” Ava shrills, blow
For years Scar has been wondering where Ava got the lying and acting from without a hint. It was right under her nose. It was Anna Fuller, Ava’s mom who is so good at lying that Scar didn’t even notice anything wrong! Anna cost Scar’s mom, and Anna’s daughter took Scar’s baby! Like mother, like daughter! She won’t let them get away this time! She can’t unite with her mom and baby with peace before she gets justice from this pair of snakes! “You need to talk to your father, honey—” Anna Fuller reaches for Scar’s face like the perfect mom she paints herself to be. Sebastian pulls Scar back a step, blocking her with his body as he grunts warningly: “Anna, stop it.” She turned on the manipulating machine again. But Scar heard Anna already. Letting out a cold snort, Scar murmurs slowly: “My father…” The laughter is full of bitterness, anger, hatred and disappointment, everything but what should associated with that word. “Scar…” Sebastian tries to pull her close, but Scar remains wh
“Gabriel,” Scar suddenly turns to the big dumb bear, “There was a time when you bullied me at school and were caught by the teacher. When my teacher asked you to give her mom’s number, you said the wrong number before you quickly changed it. Except it wasn’t a ‘wrong’ number, was it? It was the number you were told to memorize when you were a kid before it was changed to her current one. Why did she use this phone number for twenty years without any trouble when you had to memorize two?” Gabriel opens his mouth like a big mole who digs through its ceiling to the ground by accident. “Mom…?” Gabriel stammers, looking at Anna like a lost boy. He doesn’t know how he could not fall into Scar’s trap. There is no way because it’s not a trap. It’s an endless dark hole in his mom’s past that as much as she’s trying, she’s failing to cover up. “That’s too stretched, don’t you think?” Ava struggles, “Just because of a name and a random mistake—” “Silco pulled the info of the owner who owned
“Oh my poor Scarlett…” Anna Fuller grips her chest with a hand as if her heart pains, her soulful eyes filled with tears glimmering, “You had a few rough years, I know…I wanted to look for you but…” But Jack didn’t let me? But Ava would be heartbroken? Anna said none of those words, but knowing her too well, Scar knew what the indication was. Scar tilts her head, as if seeing Anna for the very first time in her life. In some way, yes. That’s how Anna Fuller talks. Painting herself as the most pitiful person in the world even when you are the real victim, at the same time indicating that someone else is at fault, anyone but her. She might have never told Scar to hate Jack Fuller, but every time when she “comforts” Scar, she paints another layer of hatred over Scar. Like when Jack Fuller ignores Scar, instead of sitting both of them down and talk it out like a proper mom should, Anna would secretly go to Scar when no one else is around, and say things like, “It’s okay, baby, you st
Looking at Gabriel’s steaming head, Scar giggles, waving her hand indifferently. “I came with big money behind me this time, and that’s why your fox of a father and snake of a sister are treating me with a basic manner. They know they can’t push me around but they are not stopping you from pissing me off because they want to see what I can do about your disrespect. Do you know what that means?” “Bullshit!” Gabriel grunts, but he can’t help but glance in his father and sister’s direction either. “I’ll tell you what I will do to you,” Scar stops spinning her phone, putting it in her purse as she stands up, her look bored and cruel, “That little precious company of yours that’s misleading you into thinking that you are not pure valueless trash? It’s going down in exactly three days. I know it doesn’t exactly hurt them,” She nods in Jack Fuller and Ava’s direction, “I mean, how could it when they never cared about you?” “You—” Gabriel wants to shout, but Scar cuts him off— “BUT, I’m
Scar was already at the Fullers when Sebastian made it. The last time Sebastian was with her in Jack Fuller’s living room was five years ago now, yet he feels like it was only yesterday. It might have something to do with the fact that he barely lived a day since. Just surviving. Sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed elegantly, Scar swings her foot lightly with an indifferent look. She is in a business set: white, tight blouse and straight short skirt. A pair of high heels, of course indicating one thing: She’s here for serious business. Just not the kind Jack Fuller looks forward to. That much is obvious because the owner of the living room sits right across Scar with every line of the muscle on his face stretched tight, as if facing a cannibal monster. He is scared, and he ought to be. Though Scar wouldn’t claim it, she’s still a Vanderbilt. Damian has all but thrown everything the Fuller had into fire in the past five years. Ava and her dad did little to improve Z-House’s
“Please, can you come over?” It’s Ava again. Sebastian listens to her sobbing calmly, his face so cold that his new secretary subconsciously holds her breath as she pauses her morning brief for the call from who she was told to be the boss’s wife. Didn’t he give his wife a million-dollar wedding? As a gossip, Emma is sure that she saw the wedding of her new boss on the front page somewhere. Even after years, she still remembers the bright smile of the bride in the newspaper. That’s why she was so excited when she got the offer— A genuine billionaire who spoils his wife to such? He must be a gentleman in person. He is. He is professional in work, but also kind to the staff. He is the definition of a gentleman… Except to his wife. Emma glances at Sebastian again, her heart bumping fast both for excitement AND nervousness. Sure, she has a crush on him. But who doesn’t? Money. Look. HOT body. He has got it all. But when he talks to his wife, he has this dark aura around him as if h