Edmund veered the car towards the next street. He was racing against time and hoping that he made it. From the moment he received the message from her father's nurse that he was back in town, he'd not been the same.Mr. Tyler Hamilton or simply, The Bull, as he was known by the majority of workers in his company was his father. Tyler Hamilton was a greying man in his sixties that was gradually getting close to losing his marbles. He was erratic and spontaneous at best and often liked things to go his own way.When Tyler Hamilton was not travelling around the world on some luxurious holiday, he was squandering the money he'd made in the days of his youth at casinos and clubhouses. He got through with hookers the same way other men got through with socks. It was one of the reasons his marriage with his mother was suffering.Despite Tyler Hamilton's reckless lifestyle, he surprisingly had very high moral standards which he did not live up to. Growing up, Edmund had always thought of him
He could not keep his mind off her the entire night and when he woke up the next morning, she was the first person he thought of. He tried to envisage her in his eyes. She was blonde and full-breasted, with the soft-milky skin of a child. His body tingled as he thought about her. He could not believe that at a dire time like this, such a mundane thought crossed his mind.Emily Peterson! There was something uniquely compelling about her, something beyond her beauty and made-for-sex body that had haunted his dreams from the first day they'd had sex. He hoped to find out what that special thing was soon. But first, he had to secure her help.The next morning, he went to the office earlier than usual. His troubled heart would not allow him to sleep the whole eight hours. He was mer with the sleepy-eyed receptionist when he arrived. She shot up her head in surprise when she saw him and greeted him. Edmund mumbled in response and went his way.Emily was not in her office when he arrived. B
Emily sat across from her friend, Dre in a coffee shop that was a few buildings away from Greenwood Estate where she worked. Dre had insisted on going on a lunch break with her and even though Emily had protested, she'd had to give in in the end. Dre was not ready to give up.The waiter wandered to her side and flashed her a genial smile. Emily shaped her head towards him at once."I'm not ready to order yet," she said.The smile on the waiter's face faded. He turned to Dre and asked, "What about you, ma'am?"Dre shook her head."I'll call you when I need you."Without another word, the young man passed her a tight-lipped smile. His face quickly registered his displeasure. He turned and moved to another table."What is it?" Dre asked, after the waiter had moved out of earshot. "What?" Emily asked, raising her eyes to meet Dre's."The look on your face, Emily," Dre said. "It's obvious there's something wrong with you. Spit it out."Emily heaved a deep sigh."Is it that obvious?"Dre n
Emily stepped on the porch of her house and exhaled a sharp breath. It was unbelievably warm outside and she could not wait to get into the house, turn on the air conditioning system to the lowest level and have a sound sleep. But something was wrong. She could feel it in her guts. And it wasn't just the gnawing anxiety she felt, it was the fact that her eyes were twitching from the moment she left her office right till this very moment. She let her thoughts wander to what might be wrong. Had it gotten out to the press that SkyNet was sinking? That was the worst-case scenario. The management of SkyNet had done a great job at keeping their predicament away from the public. But what if it had gotten out? The thought of that made her feel depressed. She'd wanted to follow her up pulse and place a call to her father at once, demanding to know the situation at SkyNet at the moment, but on second thoughts, she decided against it. There was no need to pressure the old man. And she was just
Edmund had been busy all day. He'd barely had enough time for work. He was either calling the logistics company to make sure that everything was in place or he was yelling at the caterers to add a few more meals to their cuisine. It was all exhausting. He wished there was some other alternative but there wasn't. His father had personally put him in charge of everything. It was April 15th, his father's sixty-eighth birthday. Everything about the party that going to take place later that evening had been planned to the very last detail and Edmund was determined to make it a grand affair, just the way his father wanted it. Anything to make the old man happy enough to will the company to him or at least not change his mind if the will was already in his favor. Edmund hurried down the stairs in his apartment at Hillwood Estate, buttoning his sleeves as he did so. By the time he reached the foot of the stairs, he'd finished buttoning his left sleeve. He glanced at his wristwatch before he
Edmund frowned, his eyes narrowing into slits. He'd always known that Charlotte was a bloody opportunist but not even in his wildest imagination had he figured that she would ever go this far.From the moment she made her request known, he'd lost his voice. And like a pack of cards scattered over the table, all his hopes had crashed. All he felt now was anger. Deep, intense anger."What?!" He glared at her. "Are you insane? You and I are over, Charlotte. Why don't you get used to that?"Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Is that your final answer? Because if that is what it is, then it's fine. I'll just turn around and head back into the party to tell your parents the truth."She turned to walk away but Edmund stopped her. He grabbed her by the arm, his nails almost digging into his soft, delicate skin."Wait a minute, Charlotte," he said, heaving an exasperated breath. "This doesn't have to go this way. We can come to some sort of compromise. I can pay you to buy your silence. Just name yo
Emily placed her hand on her forehead to shield herself from the unforgiving scorching rays of the sun. It was just mid-April and the sun seemed to have reached its peak in the city of Washington DC. She hitchhiked on the road for a bit until a taxi stopped before her. Emily slipped away her sunglasses which she'd worn because of her prolonged stay out in the sun. "I'm going to Hillwood Estate," she said to the cabman. He appeared to think for a moment. "Gonna cost you twenty bucks." He had a thick Texas accent. Emily's eyes widened. "Twenty what?" She heaved a frustrated sigh. "You're tripping, right?" Without saying another word, the cabman returned his face to the road and zoomed off. She'd barely removed her head from his window just in time to stop him from snapping it from her neck. Emily cursed under her breath. Her car had broken down and she didn't have insurance to cover it. She'd had one, but she'd not funded it for a couple of months. She reconsidered the decision
Edmund Hamiton was in a state of deep wrath when he stormed out of his office. In his mad state, he'd not stopped to explain anything to Emily. All he cared about was putting a stop to all the madness that was going on. Charlotte had to leave. The deal was off!He found her downstairs, pacing through the sitting room engrossed in deep thoughts. When she saw Edmund enter, she stopped abruptly at the spot and glared at him. Edmund stared back at her in defiance."You need to leave, Charlotte," he said, fixing her a cold stare. "The deal is off."Charlotte stated back at him in disbelief, her eyes boring into his."You're joking, right?""I'm afraid not," he retorted, his voice firm. "I don't want the deal with you anymore. Surely, you of all people understand that."Charlotte studied him for a long moment, unable to find her voice."What changed your mind? Her?" She laughed sarcastically. "You think she cares about you more than I care about you?""There is no relationship between me an
Life had suddenly turned good for Emily. It was barely a week into her engagement and the soles of her feet had stepped into more bridal shops than she'd stepped into restaurants in her entire life.It wasn't exactly her fault. Jason wanted a quick wedding. The wait was killing him and he needed the wedding to be over and dine with in no time. He'd reintroduced her to his family and his mother had even begun warming up to her, despite her earlier cold feelings towards her.Emily wasn't sure whether it was the universe that was tired of seeing her suffering and had decided to make things better for her or it was just purely out of merit but whatever it was, she was grateful for it.Today, she was going to go with Mia and her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Mrs. Wendy Campbell to yet another boutique that had a bridal shop to pick a wedding dress.The boutique was owned by one of Mrs. Campbell's influential friends. She was going to take the ladies there to show them around and also catch up
Seeing Edmund jump down from his jeep and advancing towards her like some maniac made her blood to suddenly stop flowing. She stood rooted at the spot and plotted her next move.Directly across from her, Jason was standing on his own, waiting for her. No matter the direction that Edmund came from, he was going to see him.There was no need to run away. Edmund didn't look like he was going to back away easily. The only decision she now saw was to stand back and contend with him or maybe reason with him.They didn't have to cause a scene here. In fact, if Edmund cooperated, no one would have to know what the problem with them was.As Edmund continued to take quick strides to reach her, all her hopes of reasoning with him evaporated into thin air.Edmund didn't look anything like the Edmund she knew. He wore nothing else but a fades shirt that shouldn't have been seen outside and a pair of trousers that were at least two sizes smaller than him.He looked even worse. His facial hair was s
All around the garden, black umbrellas formed pinnacle of covering over the over hundred people that had come to witness the lowering of her coffin to the ground.It was unarguably the most horrifying scene that Emily had ever witnessed. It was hard to just stand there and not shed tears while the burial proceedings for Dre Sinclair who was amongst other things, her friend was ongoing. She thought she had her acts together all this time. Not even when the priest had delivered a pitiful sermon about how people ought to lead good lives when they were alive so that when they died like Dre had just done, their spirit would not be filled with regret, had Emily shed a single tear.The high point of the event was when everyone was led to the graveside, dug in the middle of a beautiful garden. It was just the kind of place that Dre would have wanted to rest in, had she been alive to make her decision. A place filled with so much calmness and serenity, where she would forever commune with th
The man slipped out of the door unnoticed, feet barely touching the ground as he struggled to make it out of there without making a sound.Just a few meters away behind him, Jerry Ishag's body lay lifeless, his face bent over on the table. He'd died with tears rolling down his face.A part of him felt guilty for what he'd done but there was no undoing his action neither was there another option. It was a dog-eat-dog world. You either ate or got eaten. If he chose to disobey the order that had come for him to kill Jerry, that would be him signing his death warrant with his own hands.It was best to obey and stay alive to fight another day. The image of Jerry lying helplessly while the poison worked inside his body, killing him slowly was certainly going to haunt him for life. But Andre had no regrets, only guilt. Even if he'd refused to get the job done, another person would have been hired to finish Jerry off once and for all. And afterwards, come after him.By killing him, he'd save
Charlotte arrived breathlessly at his door. It'd taken a lot of guys to admit to her fault and finally make the trip here but in the end, she decided that it was all worth it. She was never really welcome back at Edmund's house anyway. At least here, she had a man that loved her, a man that wanted to be with her and most of all, a man that was determined to take care of her.Those were things that Edmund could never ever do for her. So, her fall was a blessing in disguise. At least now she'd get to love her truth and loving her truth wasn't as hard as the lies she'd been trying to keep up with all along.She didn't bother to knock on his door. He barely went anywhere these days. He just stayed at home and read all the books on his shelf. When she was around, they would make love from sunrise to sunset.As happy as she was about this new development, she still had her doubts about the new life that he'd adopted for himself. Would he be able to take care of her if he continued to live
Outside, Emily could barely focus on the road that lay ahead or any other thing for that matter. It was hard to focus on anything knowing that she could be in the police cell any minute.The idea of trusting Edmund to keep everything that had happened between them simply did not appeal to her. He wasn't just going to allow her to get away with everything she'd done.That's why she needed to clean up her mess and get out of town. This town had taken so much from her. Now, all she wanted to do was stay far away from it and count her losses.In reflective moments such as these, Emily couldn't help but think about how lonely her life had just gotten. With Dre dead and Mia grieving, there was really nobody else to talk to.Well, except for Jason who'd gotten so busy with work that he barely had time for her anymore. There was also her father. But surely, he too would be busy with work.Emily was in the mood to throw in a surprise on her old man. She didn't bother to think about it or call
She struggled to breathe but the stubborn burning sensation in her chest was so great that every attempt to breathe made her feel a lot worse than before.Everyone was looking down at her on the floor, waiting for her to say something, to clear the air and to answer all the questions that they had, both the ones that were said and the ones that weren't said yet. But the most demanding of them all was Edmund, maybe because she was betrayed on a very personal level. He refused to give in to her show of being hurt and continued to probe her to know what was going on."I'm sorry I lied," she said, making an effort to speak. "I didn't mean to lie. And I'm very sorry about it. ""What do you mean by you didn't mean to lie?" Edmund probed. "You did what you did with very clear eyes, so why are you pretending that it was a mistake now?" He rose from his squatting position, scratched his head rather roughly and paced to the end of the room. When he returned, he faced Charlotte squarely in the
From the first day he was arrested and brought in here, his hope had wavered. For people like him that weren't worth a ransom, no one would even notice he was missing and no one would come looking for him.The only thing Jerry Iahag now lived for was to know the truth. The moment he knew the truth about who sold him out and punished the offender accordingly, he would gladly tell the truth and accept whatever penalties went with it.But he was quite sure of one thing. He wasn't going down this path alone. It was either he brought everyone else who was involved down with him or he told the truth and struck a deal with the detectives, a deal that would allow him to return to the outside world again, to hunt down whoever had betrayed him.But with Andre's presence in the station, his hopes were restored. He suddenly didn't look forward to dying anymore. Like an animal who'd been caged for too long, he longed for freedom. He longed to breathe the air outside the walls of the police station
About thirty miles away, an unknown visitor slipped into the premises of the police station. Dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a blue UCLA T-shirt, he looked very ordinary.But there was nothing ordinary about this man. His name was Andre Anderson and he was a very well-known friend of Jerry Ishag who was still being held in the station.Today, however, he was not there at the police station as Jerry Ishag's friend. He was there as a traitor, ready to perform the last act of betrayal to his friend.Getting into the station was made very easy as he'd had access to the map of the entire building and chosen to go through the places which were less guarded than the others. He got in noiselessly, slipping in like he was invisible. Taking the front door was suicidal as there would be many officers waiting to receive him. But Andre had a better plan. There were two main doors in the station. One opened up at the entrance of the building while the other one was at the rear of it.He chos