“Xavier, wake up! Wake up!” The sound of the female voice calling out to him sounded so distant at first, but the hand violently shaking his shoulders brought him back to consciousness. He was breathing fast, as his eyes got accustomed to the light around him, his chest heaving rapidly. “Are you okay?” Charlotte asked him, peering into his eyes as she touched the sides of his face. He could see the fear in her eyes as she studied him. “Charlotte,” he whispered, holding her arms and wrapping her in a tight hug. She was alive, here in front of him. “You’re alive.” “Yeah,” she said uncertainly, hugging him back. “Did anyone kill me?” She asked with a chuckle. He finally pulled out of the hug and glanced around. They were still in the jet, on their way to Orlando. He had just had a bad dream. “Where’s Caleb?” He asked. “Right here,” she said, pointing at a part of the jet where a small makeshift bed had been made for Caleb to lie on. “Is everything okay?” “Yeah,
Xavier could only relax comfortably when they were back on the jet and on their way back to California. He could finally let himself be convinced that his dream had been nothing more than that. It hadn’t been a sign of anything, because it had gone on perfectly with no dramatic appearances from anyone. Unfortunately, the thought of one day running into Laura again came often to him and disoriented him. However, he always pushed that possibility away to the back of his mind. He had run a background check on the psych ward Don had placed her and from his research, it was a very exclusive place, so her chances of leaving were lower than zero. It was like a madhouse for wealthy people to drop off their family members who had lost it through drug use of whatever means. Their security was so prioritized that it was practically impossible to get in or get out unless the very owner of the establishment permitted. There was also no possible way Laura could bribe anyone there. It was afte
When Charlotte saw Jonah being led out by a prison ward officer, she froze and started to wonder what she had been so scared about. He looked nothing like he did before. He had slimmed down to an almost unrecognizable state and his face looked like he had permanently lost the ability to smile. He walked with the slouch of someone that had given up on life in general. Charlotte doubted that whatever he was going through had happened in that prison in such a short time. “You can wait for me,” Charlotte whispered to Carlos who reluctantly left her side when he understood. “Hi,” Jonah said when he was sitting opposite her. He tried to smile, but it ended up looking like a grimace. He couldn’t meet her eyes. “Hi,” she said simply. She couldn’t let him see she pitied him. “How have you been?” He managed to ask. “You look good.” She couldn’t say the same for him. “Why did you call me here, Jonah?” “Straight to the point like always, huh?” He said with something she suspec
“It’s time for bed, Caleb. Let’s go,” Charlotte told Caleb with her arms crossed over her chest, giving him no room to argue. “Just let me win this game…” he argued absently, more focused on the game he was playing on his iPad. “You’ve spent your extra fifteen minutes,” she said, taking the device out of his grasp. He frowned, but conceded in the end. “Fine.” As Charlotte tucked him into bed, she couldn’t imagine how the times had changed. It had been six months since Laura had been taken away, her parents had been released and since she had started running her own business. Caleb had started therapy again, and it had definitely worked. These days, he spoke so often and did whatever he wanted to do that it was hard to believe he had been the same mute boy from months ago. He had just turned four, but the topic of his birth mother never came up fortunately. He seemed to blend right in, just as sweet and annoying as any other four year old boy. “I love you mommy,” he wh
Charlotte’s hands were trembling. As she watched the events on the TV play out live from several miles away, she thought she would pass out. Her husband, who had told her he was going for a business meeting was sitting and laughing with another woman, who he was apparently getting engaged to. The very beautifully dressed woman on TV pulled him closer him closer, and Charlotte felt her heart twist inside of her as she watched her husband kiss the other woman more passionately than he had ever kissed her throughout their two-year marriage. The TV remote fell out from her hands as they began to shake uncontrollably. She should put an end to the show as she couldn’t possibly bear to watch any more but she just couldn’t. There was a limit her fragile heart could take. Surely it had to be a joke, an advertisement or something. But she knew that wasn’t the case. Her husband was holding the woman and looking tenderly into her eyes like she was the most precious living being ever. She cou
Upstairs in the control room of Trojan House, Xavier Roman watched the events going on from the cctv. There had been several reports of some sleazy men groping women and drugging their drinks as well as many other ugly characters he did not need to spoil the reputation of his club, so he was watching to see if he could catch one red-handed and teach them a painful lesson. Deep down however, Xavier knew that watching out for predatory behavior wasn’t his main reason for taking over supervision tonight, when he could have been doing anything else he wanted. Jonah was having his engagement party and although he had abruptly refused to go no matter how often he was asked, Xavier just had to watch it happen somehow. No one in the family truly wanted him there. They just needed to use his club as it was the most exclusive in the state and it was impossible to book an appointment there without his notice. He didn’t care that they didn’t want him though, as he had more important things to
Charlotte woke up from a dreamless sleep and tried to adjust her eyes to the brightness. She yawned and stretched, feeling more refreshed than she had been in so long. A little too refreshed, considering what had happened the day before. Her hands stopped mid-air as she took in her surroundings, a note of alarm ringing in her head when she couldn’t recognize the beautiful room she was in. Where was she? Her heart started to pound as she jumped out of the bed but when she did, she realized she was wearing a big T-shirt that didn’t belong to her. She froze. Who had undressed her? Her eyes widened when she realized she was wearing nothing underneath. The last thing she remembered was being humiliated and rejected by her college sweetheart, her husband who she had been married to for two whole years. How did she end up here? Had she been kidnapped? She heard a deep masculine voice coming from somewhere outside and she jumped to the other hidden side of the bed when the doorknob twis
“If you’re trying to joke with me it isn’t working,” Charlotte said to him, eyeing him warily after his last statement. “I don’t know you enough to want to joke with you,” he said with a set face that convinced her he was being completely serious. “When you get to know me, you’ll realize I’m a serious man with very limited time for jokes.” She swallowed when she noticed he was actually being serious. “But I don’t know you. I can’t possibly get married to you.” “I don’t know you either,” he shrugged. “That’s the whole idea.” “Marriage is supposed to be between two people who love and care for each other,” she said, hoping he would see reason. From the way he had said they were getting married, she didn’t think he was asking her permission. “Look how that turned out for you,” he said and her heart sank. “When one thing does not work, you look for an alternative.” “And in this case you’re the alternative? What makes you think you’re an upgrade from my husband?” She asked, wanting