She did not spare a second to think or blinked before she rushed back into her room, grabbed a coat and bolted out the door. Her rage was like a flood, engulfing her entire body and leaving no room for her to think about what she was about to do or how it made her look.Charlotte was not sure why she'd started the journey, whether it was purely out of anger or whether she'd been looking for an excuse to do this the entire time. But the wrong thing she was sure of was that she wasn't spending the night crying all alone. Spending it with a man that she was assured would give her many orgasms was a much better alternative. Her bulletproof Cadillac swept by Edmund's estate as she drove against the evening rush like this was some kind of date that she was hurrying to meet up with.Edmund was a monster. He couldn't even consider her condition and take his concubine elsewhere; neither could he even try to keep to the rule of fidelity that bound their marriage together.He rushed off into h
Randall Harrington had listened intently to Charlotte's genius plan and in the end, he thought it was nothing more than a wild and unthinkable attempt that would only end in failure."What?" He was speaking for the first time after allowing Charlotte successfully tell him all about her plans. "You can't be serious right now.""I am.""B—But I thought you were from money," he sputtered. "Why are you so bent on having some of Edmund's money if you have some family money yourself."Charlotte thought about the question. There was no easy way of answering it that didn't involve telling the truth on the spot."That's the problem. I don't have a lot of money remaining for myself. That's because my father cut me out of his will because of the wicked wife he married. And I'm looking at getting as much money as I can to serve as my retirement plan seeing that I wouldn't be able to work a second in my life even if I wanted to. Surely, you of all people understand where I'm coming from."Randall
Detective Adams could not believe her luck. Just this morning, she'd discussed nabbing Jerry Ishag with her partner but it was supposed to happen sometime later in the week. But somehow, Jerry Ishag ended up walking right into the trap that she'd set for him.She'd known since her right eye started twitching when they stepped into the clubhouse that something good was about to happen but never in her wildest imaginations had she imagined that it would be of such a large magnitude.Jerry Ishag turned out to be more polished than she'd assumed earlier. She'd assumed that he would have the roguish look of a thug because that was who he was; a thug who doubled as an assassin. But surprisingly, Jerry Ishag was none of those things.He was neatly dressed in a suit with blazers that screamed extravagance. Detective Adams could not help but judge him at first sight. How else could he afford to dress so expensive if not for the illegal jobs he did?He wasn't looking so bad. His face had the pe
That night, Emily stayed awake till the early hours of dawn when she fell into a tired sleep. The sleep had only lasted for over two hours before a steamy sensation in her nose woke her up.Her eyes flickered open and she found Edmund sitting by her side on the bed, a bright smile on his face.The steaming sensation that she felt in her nose came from the hot cup of coffee that Edmund had fixed for her. She sat up slowly and returned his smile."W---What's going on?""Uhm—-Nothing. I thought you might need some coffee to start your day with."Emily gazed down at the mug and looked up again, tucking her hair behind her ears."Aren't you supposed to be at work?""I want to be with you.""Edmund!" It was a silent reprimand. "You can't just halt your life to be with me. You know you had a life before I came into the picture, right? Maybe it's high time you got back to it.""I'm not sure that's what I want right now."He had a foreboding look on his face like something was wrong or maybe h
For a very long time, Ronnie Hartman would remember this day, the day when he was forced to talk about something he'd long swept under the carpet for the sake of his sanity. And now, Detective Adams was making him want to talk about it.But there was a problem. Talking about it was going to reveal a crime he'd committed. He was in a tight corner. Already, he'd begun to sweat, feeling the full weight of what he'd done come down on him.Could the earth just open up and swallow me already? He thought to himself. Meanwhile, Detective Adams was running out of patience."We don't have all day, Ronnie and quite frankly, you've wasted my time enough."Ronnie wiped the sweat off his face and took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. But it did nothing to calm him down. There was no escaping the hellish pain he was feeling. "You're right. Dre saw something she should not have seen but that doesn't mean that I would kill her to keep the truth hidden." He was appealing to Detective Adams' emotio
Emily wasn't sure it was right or even due process for her to be allowed to speak with Ronnie inside a sealed room like the one they were in.Not that she'd been to a lot of police stations to see the people that she knew as nice law-abiding citizens being paraded like criminals but she'd seen way too many crime shows that showed her where outsiders spoke with arrested suspects and it wasn't inside a room like this.Something fishy was going down but she wasn't dwelling on that. She was dwelling on asking Ronnie why he messed up so badly. More than that, she was dwelling on how she was going to convince him to not reveal what had transpired between Dre and himself before her death.If he had but yet realized it, that would serve as a motive if it got into the wrong ears. She was quite certain that he was innocent and as such, her last duty to Dre would be to ensure that she got him out of the cell.If this didn't work, then she would resort to her backup plan. One thing was sure. Ronn
Like a deer caught in the headlights, Emily sat back and watched Ronnie explain in detail how Edmund hired him to monitor what she used her computer to do from the day she was employed in the firm.He went on to tell her that he'd successfully hacked into her system and was giving weekly reports to Edmund on what she did with it. At the end of it all, Emily could not readily find her voice. What maddened her the most was that the whole time, she saw Edmund as a friend, someone she could trust whereas he was probably laughing at her behind her back and thinking of what a fool she was.And she was indeed a fool. How could she miss the signs that Edmund was onto her? Surely, if she had looked more inwards instead of comfortably enjoying the treats that he gave her, she would have noticed that something was not right. But it was too late to retrace her steps now. Or was it?"How much exactly have you told Edmund?" She found herself asking Ronnie. Ronnie's fists folded like he was kneadi
Edmund Hamilton did not get himself this morning. Something was very wrong with him and yet, he couldn't figure out what exactly it was. And yet, just this morning, while he was with Emily, he was just as happy as any man could be but that happiness had disappeared the moment he stepped foot into his office. He wondered whether it had something to do with the fact that he had so much to hind away from the eyes of the world or whether it was because he could simply not get the guilt of what he'd done off his mind.Emily was not yet aware of it but when she finally caught wind of it, he knew she would be very mad and rightly so. What kind of man would betray her the way he was about to? Obviously the kind of man who didn't care about anyone but himself.At about 12 pm that afternoon, he received a call that lifted his spirits. It was from the regional manager of one of the smaller companies that were owned by Sheraton Group of Companies where he himself acted as the deputy CEO, pendin
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