Emily Peterson sighed with utmost relief as the Uber drove out of the premises of Dally Villa and into the expressway. The therapy session had come to an end and nothing had spilt, well, nothing that she didn't want to let out of the bag.That was one big achievement for one day. She thanked her stars that the day had gone so well, despite her earlier setback and looked forward to the welcoming night that awaited her.As relieved as she felt, the nagging feeling that something had gone very wrong remained. Was Edmund keeping something away from her? Or worse. Did Jason know that she was cheating on him? Had Dr. McGuire told him anything?It seemed very unlikely. Jason was the kind of man who acted on what he knew instantly. If he knew something, he wouldn't simply act normal and keep it away from her. She pushed the feeling away from her mind and tried to relax by taking slow deep breaths. It wasn't working. A call from Mia, her friend jerked her away from her thoughts.She tried to
Max Walker weaved through the streets of Lincoln Avenue, humming softly to the sound of the music blaring from the sound system of his car.It was going to be a good day. He could feel it in his spirits. The weather was serene and what's more? His payment for the month arrived early this month. Not that it meant much to him, but it would help keep things in place until he received the other money he was expecting.Max Walker was a child prodigy. At the age of four, he already knew to read. Consequently, he moved ahead of his mates in school, thanks to his supernatural intelligence. At thirteen, he'd already left High School and was applying to top colleges in the state of Washington DC. Naturally, everyone expected the smart kid to go places and male it in life and for a long time, Max Walker believed that too. He was made for greatness. There were obviously many pointers to that. And so when it happened that his fortune suddenly changed when his father was duped so badly in his bus
"I need you to think fast, Edmund, because if you don't and your father finds out about this, he's not going to take it lightly."That was the voice of Mrs. Gina Hamilton, Edmund's mother. The poor old woman had brought herself from her house to Edmund's house as soon as she heard what had been the results of the test.And ever since she got here, all she'd done was try to make Edmund grasp the gravity of what he'd just done. So far, she wasn't doing a very fine job at that."This is scandalous at best," she said, frustrated. "Do you know what the media would do with this kind of information? I'll tell you. They'll sell it to whichever blog has the money to pay for it through their nose and the news would then spread like wildfire. Do you know what that would do to your father? To his business?"Edmund was all but weakened down to his spirits. He clutched his head with both hands and bowed it in deep thought."Since I'm in the mood for a little creativity, let me give you a few headli
Edmund tapped his feet furiously on the floor as he waited. Initially, he'd been Tallington them in slow rhythmical patterns but he'd soon gotten tired of waiting and his frustration was transformed into anger that he let out by punishing the poor Italian shoes that he wore.Being a man of authority himself, Edmund was not used to waiting for anyone. But this was important. So important that it was probably worth the wait.He'd been waiting at his attorney's office for almost an hour and a half to have a conversation with him, a conversation that he intended to use to determine what direction his future was going to take.Out of respect for him, his secretary had let me into his office where he waited for his return. She'd made it a point of duty to check on him every half hour to make sure that he was fine and to also inform him that her boss was aware that he was around and would be with him shortly.When the door finally opened and Mr. Bob Russell stepped into his office, Edmund ex
Detective Camille Adams sighed heavily as she sank into the seat in her cubicle. Her partner stood by her side, both hands holding his waist. He heaved a despondent sigh.The two of them mulled on the unspoken question that hung in the air. Now that Max Walker had refused to talk despite all their attempts to glean the truth out of him, what were they going to do?"I think we're not torturing him enough," Detective Adams said suddenly. She brushed away some wisps of air that had fallen over her face before speaking again. "Maybe we need to try a new approach. A crueller one.""Are you kidding me right now?" Detective Cooper's eyes widened. "You just tried out the Chinese water torture on him. Yet, he didn't talk. What makes you think there's something worse that we can do to him to get him to talk?"The Chinese water torture mechanism or Chinese dripping water torture was a kind of torturing system where the victim was placed in a position such that his movement was restricted from al
Detective Adams halted at once. A thrill went through her. She recognized the tone of his voice at once. It was the tone of someone who had fought so hard to stay strong but could no longer hold on.It was the voice of a man that had finally broken and was ready to tell the truth. But there were doubts. What if he was telling her one convincing lie or the other to distract her from finding out the truth?It seemed very unlikely. His tone was unmistakable. She knew she'd come dangerously close to the truth and she wasn't going to miss the one chance at grabbing hold of the truth.She twirled around, stepped forward and unstrapped the metal frame that held his face in place for the ice cold water to drop on it. She set his face properly. She needed to see his face while he told the truth."I see you're ready to talk. So by all means, go ahead." She took a seat.Max Walker chewed on the corners of his mouth for a few long seconds. He seemed to still be having trouble telling her the trut
Shaped like a rattlesnake, the man curled himself up on the wall. He pressed the barrel of his pistol against his neck and closed his eyes as if embracing a lover.He savored the feeling of power that enveloped him. He looked down at the unsuspecting humans moving to and fro the hallway, oblivious of the fact that somewhere in the building, danger was lurking and lying in wait for somebody that was being held in the building.They were right to be bothered. He'd not come for any of them. He'd come specifically for one person; one person who'd broken the code of conduct or was about to and was going to pay dearly for it with his life.It was uncomfortable, crouched in his hiding place, but the dull ache in his thighs was a small price to pay for what the man whom he'd been told to kill had done.Just a millisecond ago, he would have been caught had his sharp ears not picked up the sound of the approaching footsteps easily or his eyes not caught sight of the approaching shadows.In his
Emily sat still, taking her breathing slowly. Edmund's announcement had somehow pinned her to the seat. She did many wild guesses in her mind but could not exactly pinpoint what the problem was.She could not remember the last time she'd seen Edmund looking so broken and serious at the same time. Had someone died? What did that have to do with Charlotte being pregnant? Was there some sort of connection that she'd missed in all these?"Only my mother knows about the pregnancy right now and I'd like it to remain that way. If my father finds out about it, there are chances that he could find out that what we have together is a lie too. I don't want that to happen."Emily still could not see where she fit in his story. She didn't keep her thoughts to herself."First of all, congratulations on your baby."She wasn't at all prepared for the outburst that followed from Edmund."Do I look happy to you?" He barked. "Do I look like I want this baby right now? But what choice do I have? He's bei
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