“Are you ready to do this?” Ryan asked Zeke who breathed out rather dramatically from the other end. “You have asked more than a thousand times if I am not mistaken.” “Because that woman is meticulous and you know it too. Say nonsense to her and then you’ll have that tape leaked to the world.” “I literally have no wish to patronize her but I have no choice and I know, I will be careful.” “Don’t forget to insert the device I gave you to her laptops, and then stay by because you’d need to verify some things from it.” “I have heard you.” “Where are you?” “In front of her house,” he answered and glanced at the gate again before he pressed the honk of the car. “Alright. Don’t do anything stupid and don’t…” he was still saying when Zeke ended the call when the gate opened and then he drove in. === “Where is she?” Zeke asked the housekeeper who followed him as he ascended the stairs. “I am sorry, sir. She has not been in a good situation and I don’t think it is very advisable to s
Zeke pushed the door open, barged in, and then walked closer to his friend whose head was buried on his computer. “Hey, what were you saying?” Ryan sat upright, leaned in his chair comfortably, and then placed his index finger on his lips. He tugged his lips into a smile and exhaled. “Talk clearly, don’t laugh!” Zeke warned with all seriousness that he could muster. “My friend,” Ryan swallowed, tilted his head, and then burst into laughter. “Talk!” “How… How did we become friends again?” Ryan asked amidst laughter and Zeke hissed, resting his weight on his left leg. “Oh, Ryan…” “Dude, you fucking got blackmailed by something you were not sure of! Are you a baby?!” “You mean to say the video is a fake?” “Guy!” Ryan laughed again. Zeke exhaled, pushed out a chair across him then settled on it. “I thought…” “You really thought it was you? Really?” “Ryan, she looked so sure!” “That is because she wanted to get you back! I can’t believe you fell for that.” “Me too…” “You
A little taken aback, Ryan kissed back skeptically. Chloe noticed and pulled away from him, her face a few inches away from his. “You don’t want me? I thought you’ve always wanted this to happen,” Her eyes carried uncertainty in them “Not like that, Chloe. I want you,” He began placing his hands on both sides of her waist since she was atop him “I’ve always wanted you and I want this to happen but I don’t want to rush you. I don’t want to rush things. I want to be gentle with you all the way.” “Oh, spare me this ‘not wanting to rush me things.” Chloe flipped her hair, frowning a little as she placed her hands on his shoulders, leaned in, and kissed him hard. Still wondering where Chloe seemed to have gotten her sudden dominance from but having understood the message all the same, Ryan kissed back with so much fervor, his tongue fighting for dominance in her mouth. Her lips were softer than anything he had ever known, soft like a first snowball. It felt like biting into cotto
Ryan stared at the woman who lay peacefully beside him and then smiled softly. He had won, for real. Remembering their moment the previous night while the sun crept in slowly, he reached his hand to her and then caressed her brown hair that was sprawled on the pillow. Gently, so as not to wake her up, he got out of the bed, adjusted the duvet on her, and then walked to the window to close the curtains properly. Wearing a shirt that was lying on the couch, he proceeded gently out of the room. *** Ryan returned to the room with a tray of Soft-Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Sablefish and Trout Roe, walked to the table beside the bed, and then dropped it gently. Almost immediately, Chloe stirred in her sleep, and he watched her closely while she yawned and then opened her eyes. “Good morning, pretty,” he smiled softly. Her eyes widened as she stared at the man staring at her so closely and then pulled the duvet to cover her face. Ryan laughed shortly and then watched as she peeped a
Zeke did not know what to say. Seeing his sister, so early in a man’s house… his best friend at that was not what he was expecting. He needed not to be fucking told that she passed the night here… and things he would not like to imagine had happened. He had journeyed to Ryan’s house because he needed some information from him and the man had not been picking up his call. Since it was a Sunday, and he was less busy, he thought it was not bad if he just came around to meet him. But… this? The couple looked like they had seen a ghost. Chloe especially. Her face had suddenly gotten pale and she was grabbing onto the hem of the oversized top she was wearing. Did he fail to notice that both the polo and shorts belonged to Ryan? No. No way he could. “Brother,” she breathed out his name. When Zeke ignored Ryan who stood in front of him and turned to walk over to Chloe, Ryan hurriedly moved in front of him and he drew his brows together. “Let’s talk,” he sighed. Still, Zeke gave n
The two of them lost count of how long they stood still in a position and glared at each other. Chloe returned shortly after with her bag, and Zeke looked down at her with a frown. She was still wearing Ryan’s clothes. “Where are your clothes?” She didn’t answer, instead, she moved in front of Ryan, pressed her lips together in something that seemed like guilt, and then curled her fist into a tight ball. “I am sorry,” She mouthed. Ryan shook his head, and as he took a step closer to her, Zeke covered the space between him and Chloe, grabbed her arm, and then dragged him to himself. “I said we are leaving.” Chloe snatched her arm away, hissed at him, and then walked to the door. “I will call you,” Ryan said. “I will kill you if you do,” Zeke shook his head and then turned to leave too. === Chloe sat in silence in the back seat of the car while Zeke drove away from the premises. At that moment, she regretted not having come with her car the previous night as she had no choi
The moment the car pulled in front of the mansion, Chloe got down without letting the man park properly which earned a frown from him. “You are acting like a rebellious kid,” he got down from the car and then hissed. “How are you acting then?” She hissed and then pressed the bell of the gate. “How I should,” he answered, crossed his arms across his chest, and leaned against his car. She scoffed and turned to look at him, “How you should?” He shrugged and nodded his head. “Yes.” Chloe moved over to him, ignoring the creaking sound behind the gate that indicated that it was about to be opened. “Put yourself in my shoes, Zeke.” “Why should I? Your shoes stink,” he said and she hissed. “I think you wear the stinkiest shoes in history?” “How so? I didn’t fall for my best friend’s brother… or sister.” “But you fell for your wife’s best friend,” she attacked him and he went mute. Chloe had literally never attacked him straight that way before. She would rather just blame him or t
Zeke and Ryan went silent at the news Ryan had just passed before Zeke exhaled and resumed talking. “Tell me more.” “His throat was sliced, and he took his final breath in his pool of blood.” “He knew we were coming,” Zeke stated. “I think he does. Because… How is it exactly when we were digging into him? The blood was still fresh, so my men assumed that he had just been recently killed. They called the ambulance and he was taken to the hospital.” “Fuck,” Zeke cussed again. “Has the thought of an accomplice ever crossed your mind?” Zeke drew his brows together at Ryan’s question and then shook his head as if the man was there to see the gesture. “Why do you ask?” “I don’t know. I don’t think he is acting alone. There is an accomplice and I don’t know why I am so sure of that.” If Ryan was not a businessman, he would have been a detective. A very ruthless one who is known for his hunch. No wonder why the man has the largest security company in the country. “Why would you thi
“It is dangerous to go in alone, sir,” the leader of the swat team said to him and he nodded his head.“That is why you guys will be around. Don’t stay far away,” he answered and then leaned down as the man wore the bulletproof vest around him.“Take this,” he handed over a gun to him.Zeke twitched his lips upward and then nodded his head.“I doubt I would be needing this, but okay,” he collected it and then scanned it.“Call for backup immediately if you’re in any trouble but we will be around regardless.”Zeke nodded his head, looked up at the building, and then entered gently.As he began to ascend the stairs, his phone beeped from his pocket and he removed it immediately.“I’ve got them!”Said the message from his brother with a picture attached to it.His lips tugged into a wide smile and then he returned the phone in his pocket before he increased the pace at which he ascended the stairs._____“Enough of this madness, Mateo!”“Madness?” Mateo drew his brows together and stood
“Shit…” Ramon stuttered, dropped the cigar in his hand, and took a step back.“If I were you, I wouldn’t move an inch, you get? This shit is completely loaded, a bullet could kill you, you know?”Jeremy said as he covered the space between them.He grabbed the man by the collar instantly and then smiled mischievously.“You look like you just saw a ghost.”“Fuck you,” Ramon spatted instead.“Now, we’re gonna play a little game,” Jeremy said as he pointed the piston at Ramon’s temple.“You tell me where the kids are. I go get them and then leave. What do you say?”“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ramon frowned.“No, you do. And you’re going to do exactly as I have said. Where are they, the kids?” He asked again.“I don’t know what…”He was still saying when Jeremy hit the butt of the gun on his head and then the man screamed.“Now… let’s start over,” he ignored the blood that was starting to gush out of his head and then sniffed.“Where… are they?”Ramon cried out in pain, y
Elena dropped her head on the steering after the call ended and then Zeke finally got to her place.“What’s wrong?” He asked, placing his hands on her thighs.“He called… Mateo.”“Don’t let him get to you,okay? I have this under control. I have gotten…”She grabbed his wrist hurriedly, cutting him short.Elena shook her head, moving gently away from the camera that was planted in her car.“What?” He whispered when she dropped her index finger on her lips.She picked up her phone, and then turned on the note application, “My car is bugged too.”He drew his brows together as he read and then nodded his head.Afterward, he collected the phone from her and then typed in it too.“We are going to find the twins soon. There is a way.”“So Mateo called me too,” he said after she read the message he typed.“He did?”“And he made his demands already.”Zeke narrated everything to her and she shook her head.“He is crazy.”“I plan on doing that.”“What?!”“We have to give him what he wants in ord
“D… do you hear that?” Zeke stuttered after the call ended and Ryan raised his brows.“He is a psycho,” Ryan breathed out.“No, no. I heard the sound of a siren in the background. He…”“I got his location!” One of the men hollered.“Where is he?”“He is… nearby,” he drew his brows together and zoomed in properly.“He is around here,” he repeated.Zeke prepared to stand up but Ryan was quick to stop him.“No, wait.”“I have to find him.”“We need to be rational here. Hold on.”“He said the bomb could detonate on its own!”“I heard that, just calm down.”“How is it going so far?” Ray joined them in the car and Zeke breathed out.“He has called, and made his demands,” Zeke answered.“Good. How much? Tell me, and I will raise it right now.”“He wants all of my assets.”“What?”“My assets. Everything down to my shares and buildings.”Ray swallowed hard and then shook his head. “That psycho.”“What are we going to do? Make the call again. I will give him mine. They might not be up to yours,
“I knew it…”When the low, hoarse voice of the little boy came up, Ramon turned around to look at him and then breathed out.“What?”Nathan adjusted in his seat and then glanced at the tiny rope that was used to tie his wrists together.“I knew… something was wrong about you. I have always known that.”“Shut up, you don’t know anything,” he hissed at the boy.Natalie stirred gently from where she sat too and then finally opened her eyes.Looking around at where they were and how they were tied, she whined gently and then burst into tears.“I know you were not a good person,” Nathan said again.“The problem with you is that you act like you know everything.”“I think you are actually pained that I have always been right about you.”Ramon forced a laugh and then shook his head. “Right about me? You don’t know anything, trust me!”“Aside from the fact that you hold grudges against little children like us which actually amuses me, I know for a fact that you have always had this darker sid
The call ended, and Elena shook her head vigorously. There was no way this was going on. She swallowed hard and dialed the number again but it was not going through. Skeptically, she looked around the car while she made sure she sat tightly. What if it was not a lie? What if there was truly a bomb in her car? How could anyone have had access to the car anyway? Finally, her eyes settled on the dash camera in her car and she squinted her brows when her eyes caught the faint red light that was flashing beside it. She leaned closer and when she realized that a camera had been planted in her car. No wonder he knew to call the moment she wanted to leave the car. If truly she was sitting on a bomb as he had said, then she could have died if he had called her a second late. Oh, what a psychopath! Her kids were missing and she has been made to sit forcefully in her car. She browsed through her phone and then clicked the camera application. She began to record the car and then gentl
“K… kids? Whose kids?” Elena stuttered. Zeke dropped the call instantly and palmed his face. “You are not talking about the kids, are you?” The gateman stuttered. “Why…?!” He sniffed and shook his head. “Why did you let them go with him?” “I have seen him before, so I didn’t think to refuse him. Besides, they called him uncle.” Zeke looked around and his phone rang again. He gritted his teeth and then picked up the call gently. “Where are my children?!” She thundered, breathing heavily. “I am going to look…” “You said Ramon has them?!” “The gatekeeper said someone came to pick them up. I believe it was Ramon.” “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Elena screamed from the other side. “Stay back, Elena, I am going to find them,” he said when he heard the sounds of footsteps. “You can’t tell me to sit back while my children are missing!” She yelled and then dropped the call. Zeke looked around and when he saw the CCTV camera, he moved closer to the security man. “Can I see
“B… but… why have you come to pick us?” Nathan stuttered as he reluctantly got out of the gate.“Your daddy sent me to pick you up. He is running late at work.”Zeke had initially thought that they were going to close by 3PM as usual but they had closed by two.“Daddy?” Natalie raised her brows.“Have you forgotten? I am his friend. His only best friend in the world.”The twins exchanged glances again.“I know you two are mad at me about what I said the last time and I am so sorry, okay? Can you forgive me already? I’m taking you to your daddy. Can we leave now?”Nathan moved over to Natalie and then held her hand. “We will wait for Daddy to come.”Ramon gritted his teeth and then forced a smile hurriedly. “Come on, guys.”“Daddy promised to come pick us up.”“But he is not here yet.”“He probably thought we would be closing by three and not two!” Nathan snapped.Oh, this boy was smarter than his age.Ramon hissed,“Actually… I should not be telling you this…” he sighed and bowed his
“Can we not go to school today, Daddy?”Natalie forced a solemn look as she stared at her father who addressed her dress.“What?” “We are not going to tell mummy.”“What?!” He widened his eyes when Nathan added.“We’re going to act as if we went to school and then when it is time, you will take us back home,” Natalie said.“Jesus, when did you two become like this?!” He exclaimed and the twins burst into laughter.“You are being dramatic, papa.”“You want me to join you to lie to your mother!”“You are exaggerating. It’s not gonna be a lie. We’re just gonna tell her that we went to school…”“Whereas you didn’t?” He cut her short and she clasped her hands together.“Exactly.”“How did you two come up with that idea? It is so…”“Perfect? We know,” Nathan smiled.“Not perfect, guys!”Natalie covered the space between her and her father who knelt in front of her and then wrapped her arms around his neck.“That is because we have missed you, daddy. We want to spend the rest of today with