*Alejandro*Seeing Anna with another man fueled something within me. She had a slight smile on her lips, and she seemed to be having a good time with the man, who couldn't stop looking at her from time to time as they made their way to the entrance. My legs moved forward, but a hand held me back, “why the rush? Let's walk slowly.” Clara said. I had almost forgotten that she was with me. She linked our hands together. She waved at those who waved at her, her smile, which had turned annoying, not leaving her lips. If I had known earlier that Jane would be in this show, I'd have a ticket, and Anna would have been beside me, not Clara. I didn't bother to wave at those who waved at me anymore. I feel like my day has been ruined already. “What happened to you?” Clara asked.“What?” I asked back, though I knew something had changed. My eyes don't leave Anna, who now has her hands linked to the man. “You are suddenly quiet. Did something offend you?” She asked.“No, everything is fine, “ I
*Alejandro*I held her by the hand and took her secretly through the crowd, outside to my car, parked not too far away from the event center. I drove us off to the nearest hotel and lodged us in; I kept giving her side glances and noticed she was flushed, and her ears had turned an even darker shade of red. We finally got into the room. I shut the door to the room and locked it. Walking back to where she stood, patiently awaiting me by the bed. I could see the lust in her eyes.She couldn't take it anymore and turned to me, pressing her lips tightly against mine. Savoring all of her mouth, I took her by the waist, pulling her in even closer until there was no space between us. I grabbed the back of her head tighter as I pressed her body against mine, feeling her skin through the cloth. I let my hand trailed upwards, feeling her skin. I deepened the kiss, and she responded by kissing even more fiercely, finally picking up my pace and going along with it. Taking in her lower lip, I ni
*Andrea*I didn't want the night to end. I wanted to be wrapped around Alejandro's arms all night. “I'll get a cab; you don't need to drive me home,” I said to Alejandro when he offered to drive me home. “I insist, Anna.” He said. I wanted to refuse but couldn't anymore. “Or you don't want me to come?” He asked. “No.” I said immediately, “That’s not what I meant by that. I didn't want you to go through any stress.” He said. “Let me be the judge of that.” He said. I nod. “Alright. I'll cancel the ride I booked already.” I said. “Good girl,” Alejandro said. We began walking out. “How about we have dinner before we go?” He asked. I wanted to, but I couldn't. Alison would be home by now, but I didn't tell her I was going out. “I'm not hungry. And I just ate,” I said and regretted immediately. Alejandro understood what I meant, and a sly smile appeared on his lips, “I didn't know I was enough to satisfy you,” he said. I tried to hide my smile. “You know that's not what I meant,” I said
*Alejandro*It was a long day. But it was fulfilling. When I was still in Anna's home, it didn't occur to me for a moment that I hadn't fulfilled what I had planned to do at the party because I hadn't seen Jane. I could see her some other time. I said to myself as I drove to my house. I stopped in front of another car. I raised my head to see a red light. Taking out my phone, I scrolled through it. I had placed my phone on the do not disturb button adequately before the event began.My phone was filled with messages from Clara. She had called twenty times, and there were over thirty unread messages. I furrowed my brows and moved to open it, but I was stopped midway by a car behind me who blared his horn loudly. I looked up to see the car in front of me had already moved forward. The light was green. Horns kept blaring until I moved my car.By the time I got home, it was late. My phone rang immediately, and I stepped out of the car. It was Clara. I picked it. “Where did you go? You
*Andrea* What did I just witness?” Alison said when the door closed. I had no answer for her. “Come on, Andrea. Tell me, what happened to the boss who would not speak to you at work? Why did he suddenly kiss you? And why the hell did you come with him? I left you with a tall blonde guy the last time I checked. What happened to him?” Alison asked all at once without stopping to catch her breath. I sat. “I'll answer you, give me time,” I said. She sat close to me. “So…” I didn't know where to begin. I could still feel Alejandro's lips on mine. He kissed me in front of Alison, and earlier today, he warned me not to call him boss. He wants me to call him by his name. Does this mean he wants to be with me? “Stop daydreaming and answer me already,” Alison said, nudging me by my arms. “It's not what you think,” I said. “Was he at the show?” She asked, and I nodded. “So you dished the other guy for him?” She asked. I wiggled my finger in front of her, “You sly.” She leaned back. “In fa
*Andrea*I froze and turned around. “Alejandro…?” I whispered, not wanting to ruin the moment.“I want to kiss you right now, Anna. You look so beautiful,” he replied, pulling me closer to him. His eyes roamed all over my features, and I did the same, although I wanted to hide my face in his chest and blush.“Even with the bags under my eyes?” Usually, I would not let my insecurities get to me, but right now, I need reassurance.“They don't diminish your beauty, Anna.” Without waiting for a reply, he softly pressed his lips on mine. I sighed as I let myself relax into the kiss.His lips still tasted like the champagne we drank on the plane, and together with his woody, manly scent, he smelt so intoxicating. I grabbed the front of his shirt as I urged him on, really wanting the taste of him on my tongue.I didn't wait for long. As if he knew what I was craving, he gently bit my lower lip and slipped his tongue inside my mouth.His flavor exploded in my mouth as his scent filled all my
*Alejandro*Settling into bed beside Anna was bliss, but she turned her back to me as soon as we got into bed, and I decided to let her be, turning to face the other side too. After several minutes of tossing around without being able to sleep, I turned to the other side and saw her staring at me. I must have been deep in my thoughts because I didn't notice any movement. “Can't sleep either, huh?” I asked her. She looked at me with weary eyes and nodded. “I don't even know what's wrong. I'm exhausted, but I can't seem to be able to sleep,” she yawned and scooted closer to me.I gently caressed her cheek, “Sorry, love. Anything I can do to help?”“I don't think so. I just want to talk, you know? Maybe I'll just talk myself to sleep, that's if I don't bore you first.”I chuckled. “You couldn't bore me even if you tried. I love listening to you, so talk.”She blushed for a few seconds before clearing her throat. “I don't even know what to talk about.”I took her fingers in mine, massa
*Andrea* A man in black trousers and a white bottoms-down shirt stepped in, “room service,” he said. I pulled away quickly from Alejandro and turned my back on him, a wave of embarrassment settling over me. The man who does the cleaning seemed to have noticed he didn't knock. “You could have knocked,” Alejandro said, disappointment etched in his voice. “I'm deeply sorry,” he said. I quickly turned to spy on him and saw his head bowed with hair covering his face. Alejandro told him it was fine, and he left the room. We should have locked the door. I couldn't bring myself to blame the room attendant entirely. Alejandro and I didn't go back to kissing and mooching. It was already time for the scheduled meeting. “You should try calling him again,” I told Alejandro, who was fiddling with his phone. “You think he would want to talk to me?” He asked. I swallowed a lump in my throat. I honestly didn't know. Lucas was the last person I wanted to talk about, but seeing Alejandro drown i
*Alejandro*We were at the airport, dropping Lucas, Alison and Williams off. Williams was heading back to Florida and Lucas was traveling to attend the conference and manage the company's branch over in Florida. Fortunately, Jane had been able to get it postponed and since I'd already promised Lucas he could attend on my behalf, I wanted to keep my word. Alison, of course, was going with Lucas. She'd already said her home was wherever Lucas was. Everyone was expecting them to get engaged any day now."I'll miss you, auntie Alison," Austin said, trying his best to hold back his tears. Alison picked him up and gave raining kisses all over his face. Watching them tugged on some unknown part of me. Alison had become a huge part of Austin's life. Whenever Andrea and I couldn't have him with us, he was always with her. I couldn't imagine how they both felt now that she was moving temporarily.She kissed his cheek for the last time before letting him down. "I'll miss you too buddy," She sai
*Andrea*It had been a few weeks since I'd gotten back from the hospital. Nora was dead, Lucas was recovering and Austin and I had gotten some semblance of peace back in our lives. I'd managed to convince Alejandro to have a talk with Williams and it was the most difficult thing I had ever done. Alejandro had refused to speak about him for days, always asking me to please change the topic whenever I brought him up.And I had. Every time.As much as I had wanted them to make peace, my loyalty lies with Alejandro and I had never wanted to force him to do something he wasn't ready for. Fortunately after a few more days, he'd loosened up and we'd had the conversation. He'd kissed my head, letting me know he would never go back to being buddies with him but he was willing to make peace just for Lucas. They'd met at a restaurant a few days later.Alejandro had not wanted him in the house.Alejandro had given me a summary of how the talk had went. He'd made Williams understand that they coul
*Alejandro *I held onto the stretcher as the nurses rolled Andrea away. The stainless white walls and strong stench of disinfectant were the last thing on my mind as one of the nurses hurriedly called the attention of a doctor. I fisted my hands helplessly when the doctor asked me to wait outside, watching as they rolled her into the room. I brought my fist to my lips, shaking my head and trying to control my rising panic.I lowered myself on the chair in the waiting room, tapping my feet impatiently on the floor. I hated hospitals. It was filled with such sad people. A woman pushed a man on a wheelchair passed me. Kids ran around the waiting area, oblivious to what was actually going on. It wasn't hard to imagine what I looked like. My hair was a disheveled mess and sweat clung to my skin.I looked at my watch. It had only been two minutes since Andrea had been in the room but it felt like an hour. I stood up and paced around the hallway , unable to continue sitting in one place. Ho
*Andrea*I was pulled forcefully along the rough ground barefoot. My clothes were torn, and because they held my leg, walking became hard. But I bared all of it, hoping I would get through this. “Make her walk faster; we must make sure the piranhas have dinner on time.” Nora was in front, leading as they dragged me. “You don't have to do this, Nora. Don't do this,” I said. I can't imagine my son living without his mother. He had just gotten his father back after five years of living without him, and now Nora was about to make him lose his mother. I didn't want to watch this; I just couldn't.“Shut your mouth, or I'll make you shut it,” Nora warned. “We are close to the lake; you Should save that strength for the initial struggle; oh lord, it will be so fun to watch you.” She let out a laugh, and I wanted to run a dagger through her mouth and cut off her tongue.We soon reached the lake, which had a small bridge and railings. We stopped. “Nora, we don't have to go this far,” I said
*Andrea*I don't know how Lucas came here. But what shocked me the most was that Nora could have him tied like this next to me. One of the men had hit him hard on his head, causing him to lose consciousness. My heart tightened as I watched Lucas groan in pain before dropping to the floor. How could a mother be this heartless? What bothered me more was that it was Lucas who was here. Alejandro should be the one here, not Lucas. I had left through a place where, though it was dark, there was still a CCTV camera there, so why was help not coming? When I saw one of the two men with Nora carrying Lucas up, I asked, “What are you doing to him?” To Nora, I said, “he is your son, so why are you doing this to him?” I expect her to yell at the man who had hurt Lucas and to go pat her son; that's what I'd do. That's what every mother would do. But at that point, I had forgotten that not every mother would kidnap and threaten someone with a gun.It didn't take long for Lucas to regain his co
*Alejandro*The night has to be the longest night I have ever had. I looked back to the early hours of that day. Things had gone well; we had all been happy. All I had to do was to divorce Nora and get back my life. Andrea and Austin. But who would have thought that I would lose both of them that same day? I would never have imagined. I did all I could to find them, but everything led to a roadblock. It was frustrating. But I had to put up with it. I wasn't going to lose hope. I know I can find them.I don't care if I have to flip the earth over. I will find them. I spent the night watching one footage or another, checking everywhere I could, and getting the police involved. Alison didn't sleep either, and neither did Lucas. The following day, when he left to get a few things for us, I stepped into one of the empty rooms, and for once, I felt tears gather in my eyes.I didn't allow them to fall, and I will accept that it may take longer to find them.I was to meet with the inspec
*Andrea*Austin stood still, not moving, “Momma,” he called. From the corner of my eyes, I could see that Nora was trying to stand up.I wasn't going to allow that. I leapt on her and held her down. “Austin, please run. Don't worry about mama. Go and get help for momma.” I yelled, and he ran out of the room.Nora struggled under my hold, but I kept my grip on her tight. I would not allow her to move. Never. Not until Austin was fully out. She pushed me away and aimed for the door. But I hit her head hard with my hand, sending a blow across her head that made her go back on her knees. I don't know how far Austin can go, but I knew I had to keep Nora down so she wouldn't call on her men for as long as I could.I walked to the door, but before I could step out entirely, she pulled my hair and dragged me into the room, “Go after the child, go after the child.” She kept shouting while trying to stop me from running. I couldn't see what was going on behind the door as she closed it, but
*Andrea*It felt like I was dreaming. My mind kept retracting back to the entrance. We had just stepped in, and he had run after Alison. I could still see Alison walking towards me alone. When she said she didn't see him, we went ahead and searched for him immediately. At first, I thought he was just being mischievous as always and promised to scold him in case of further occurrence. But after searching the restrooms and the hallway and not finding him anywhere, I began to feel uneasy. Then we had to search around the hotel. I searched outside; maybe he had run out. But he wasn't outside. After searching for over twenty minutes and not getting any sign of him, worries finally sipped into my heart. I couldn't hold back anymore, and tears began to roll down my eyes. I called Alejandro immediately.We'd been searching for over two hours, and he had yet to be seen. When Alejandro told me that he had been tracked, I wept; that meant my son had been kidnapped. He had been taken away.
*Alejandro* I had just stepped out of my car when my phone rang. I picked up the call immediately when Andrea’s name appeared on my screen.I had been delayed as a result of traffic. Lucas got out from the other side. “We are here, Andrea, sorry just give us…”“We can't find Austin,” her voice rang out from the other end. I removed the phone from my ear, stared at the screen, and placed it back. “We can't find Austin. We came together, but he's gone. He's not in the restaurant. I don't know where he is. We've been searching over thirty minutes…” she was breaking down. I stopped on my track, my entire mood flipping.“What do you mean?” I began working, taking large strides. “When? How?” She didn't respond; she just kept sobbing. Noticing my change, Lucas asked, “Dad, what's wrong?” I ended the call, “Austin has gone missing,” I said, running towards the entrance like a madman.I didn't mind the curious stares I received immediately after entering the hotel.I looked around, but A