Emily inhaled the cold morning air and savored the refreshing feeling that followed as it hit her lungs. She tried to sit up but a sharp headache stung her at once. Struggling to sit, she rested on the bedpost and rubbed her forehead with one hand while the other hand searched for her cell phone beside the bed. She looked down at herself and realised that she was still wearing her work clothes, a pair of trousers under a white silky blouse. Slowly, the memories of what had happened the previous day started to return, stabbing her like a blade. It all seemed like it happened a lifetime ago. Maybe it was a bad dream. Maybe her father was sitting right now in his office drafting out his plans for the day like he usually did at this time of the day. The thought of what time it was caused her to jerk at once from the bed, spurring her to action. She glanced at her phone. 10:30 am. She had to be at work. Just then, the door creaked open abs Dre sauntered into the room. She was holding a
Twirling around, Dre planted a smile on her face. Emily was still seated on the couch, motionless, her eyes staring at the vacant space before her, as if she saw something. But there was nothing there.She gave her a moment to come back to herself and when she did, she started a conversation between them."Are you okay?"Emily shook her head."Do you think Edmund is right?""Right about what?""His speculations," Emily blurted out, her voice becoming increasingly desperate. "I mean, if he's right, then we can't trust anybody. You do realize that, right? Anybody could have poisoned my father."Dre drew a deep breath."Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. I'm sure the security detail has everything under control."Emily thought for a moment."Yes. I told Max Walker to involve the police in the case.""There you have it," she said, sounding relieved. "Everything's going to be sorted out.""You're right." A weak smile crossed her face. "I should just relax. I'm going to go see my father
Amy Johnson shifted in her seat. She'd just remembered his words and they haunted her. The stern eyes of the detectives were still boring into herself, urging her to speak, but I stead of speaking, her mind transported back to a time far back in the past; a time when she'd been a different person entirely.He was the head of HR in the company she worked at, the most coveted position at the time and he'd caught her doing something that was unheard of. She'd begged him to keep quiet about it. She'd even split the money she'd made with him, but that was not enough to convince him to keep his mouth shut."You're going to ruin my life," she'd said to him. "Is that what you really want? To ruin my life? How's that going to be beneficial to you?"He'd frowned at her, ignoring her plea."If I don't speak now, Amy, I risk being found out. And when I'm found out, I'm going to suffer for what you've just done whether I knew about it or not. That's not something I want to risk."And he was right.
The days rolled away quickly until it turned into a week. A week soon turned into two weeks. Each day brought strength to Mr. Gary Peterson and hope to Emily Peterson whose life was gradually slipping back to normal.Her father had been discharged from the hospital and soon enough, his strength started to return. So did his senses. Emily spent most of the day in his mansion on California Avenue reading him books and singing him to sleep. He couldn't have been more grateful to have a daughter like her like he was now.Gradually, the heart attack and the surgery started to feel like they had happened a lifetime ago. Nothing pleased her more than seeing her father regain his energy like nothing had ever happened to him. He was a fighter. He'd always been a fighter. He wasn't going to give up now.She was seated in the dining room, reminiscing on everything that had happened when she felt a light pat on her shoulder. She snapped her head up at once and found her father smiling down at her
She typed furiously on her keyboard, like someone who was running a race with time and so far, was losing. Then, she stopped abruptly and let out a breath of relief. It was done.Edmund would be far from pleased with the work as it'd been one done in a haste. It would surely have loopholes, but he could do nothing about it. He needed it urgently and she was far behind her schedule.Emily leaned forward in her seat and scanned through the screen, her brain feeling fuzzy. There was no need to do that now, she thought. Edmund would be more than furious if she did not send this now.The sound of the door bursting open and approaching footsteps came into her ears and she sat up at once in panic. When her eyes fell on the figure looming before her face, she fell back in shock. It was not who she'd expected."Hey, Charlotte," she forced a tight smile. "If you're here to see Edmund, I'm afraid you'll have to come back later. He's very busy right now." The words came as rehearsed. Edmund was
Amy Johnson knocked once on the door and entered his office. She tried to look afraid but every nerve in her body was trembling with sickening, uncontrollable fear. From the moment she'd set eyes on those uniformed men outside, she'd not been the same ever since. "What is it, Amy?" Mr. Peterson asked, looking up from his computer. He looked serious as ever, with his erudite face and long, lean nose, propping out on his face like a perfectly carved mold sitting on his skin. He looked tired too; the result of trying to finish up all the pending work affairs that he'd missed during the period that he was resting at home, in one week. "There's someone here to see you," she quivered. "Two people actually." She'd caught his attention now. His forehead broke into slits. "Who are they?" "Police officers." She swallowed, then corrected herself immediately. "Detectives, actually." Mr Peterson braced himself to receive the unwelcome visitors. "Let them in." Amy looked like she wanted to
Dre pulled her hair behind her ear for the umpteenth time. It felt almost frustrating that it was always falling over every time she tried to keep it away from her face.Emily was right. She was almost terrible at the job, maybe because she was doing too many things at once. Who could blame her? Her genius plan could only work if she handled enough accounts to be able to steal from without Edmund noticing a thing.Well, thank goodness she was here. She would help her rectify the errors she'd made and hope that Edmund was smart enough to notice her and make an effort to at least get to know her.The thought of Ronnie strayed into her mind. He worked here. What if he found her here? What would she say? Well, using the excuse that she'd come to see her friend, Emily, came readily to her mind.But then, another thought crept in. Did Ronnie know that Emily was now working here? No doubt it was a big company with so many staff and it was perfectly possible that they had not crossed paths wi
She stiffened on her seat, her tongue hanging on the roof of her mouth. Had she made it that obvious that there was something going on between them? Or did Dr. McGuire'a gifts include mind reading?Edmund had just called to find out why she'd left work without saying a word to him. He sounded more concerned than offended. That had led to her lowering her shoulders and getting comfortable with talking with him.She tried to remember what they'd talked about. It was nothing sensitive, just work stuff. He was telling her how good the proposal she'd just sent to him before she left was and how sure he was that the proposal would yield the intended results. And that was it? So, where was Dr. McGuire getting his misinformed thoughts from? He knows nothing, she thought to herself. I just have to act normal."That was a client I'm working with," she lied, straightening in her seat.Jason did not yet know what she was up to and as far as she was concerned, it was best to keep it that way. The
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