*Cassie's POV*The time spent with Skylar's family felt so different. My orientation on what family meant to me changed drastically. It was all genuine love and care among them. Even though they were not as wealthy as my family,they cared for each other so much and I admired it and wished I had something like that going on with my family. I used to believe my Dad really loved me and that everything he did was for my sake, I was beginning to realize it was just a cover up to hide his true nature. After the last time I spoke with Ash about finding a solution to what was happening to me,he spoke to his mum and she went with me to the hospital. After a consultation with a Doctor,I was asked to go through therapy and come for regular check ups for a period of time. I was going to be resuming back to school in a few days and my Dad had requested to see me. He initially told me he wanted me to return home but I pleaded with him to allow me to stay back for a while. My plan was to go home for
*Ash's POV*Things were beginning to fall into place in bits, Richard was starting to leave loose ends which were to our advantage. Luke had informed me that he would be leaving soon because he already had a series of pending business transactions to attend to. I totally understood, he has been really supportive since he's been around and I hoped that I would be able to wrap things up with Richard soon enough before he left. My mum spent most of her time alone she found out about Richard being Luke's Dad, she only came out mostly whenever she has to prepare a meal and didn't say much when she's around us. I knew she was going to snap out of it eventually and I was willing to give her as much time as she needed.“What's up Man?”. I asked Luke. He stepped out earlier and had just returned back home.“I'm cool,quite exhausted though and a bit bored. Decided to take a long walk”“I can imagine. I noticed I've never really seen or heard you have phone calls like you have a partner. Are you
*Cassie's POV*“How are you, Sage?. Good evening”“I'm fine Cassie. How are you?”“I'm alright. I woke up not so long ago”Ok. I wanted to call you earlier but I was occupied with something else. Had dinner yet?“Nope,I asked my Dad to get me something on his way back. Did Ash reach out to you today?”“We chatted briefly in the morning. Is anything going on?”“We found a way to locate the Bodyguard and he's going to be seeing him tomorrow so I was thinking he was going to ask you to come with him or something,I guess he'll still reach out to you later on”“Oh alright,that's great. Are you prepared for resumption?”“Not quite. I'll be fine regardless”“Alright. What are you doing this weekend?”“I'll be back at Skylar's but I don't really have anything planned yet”“I was hoping we could go on a date. Been wanting to ask you for some days now but I can't really explain what has been holding me back”“Yeah Sure. I'm open to it,I could really use some fun right now”.“I'm glad to hear th
Cassie’s POVI felt a surge of rage flowing through my veins. I couldn't believe that they had known this all along and decided to keep it away from me. I put myself in a very vulnerable situation__Informing them about my Dad's plans, hoping they would get justice and that they were going to let go of everything I had done to them in the past. I thought we were a team working together and without any more secrets, how did they know about something like this and thought it was best to hide it from me. I was beginning to feel regret, probably I was never going to be one of them and they merely just took advantage of the fact that I was willing to help. I felt angry and used,I should probably have not been too open. I looked towards my drawer and contemplated on whether to take a sleeping pill so that I could sleep and forget about what was happening for now but I was already making so much progress according to my therapist and it would be quite disappointing if I had a relapse.I checke
*Cassie's POV*I paced around my room for a few moments lost in my thoughts. Sage was right in a lot of ways. Skylar and Ash have been really helpful to me for some time now and I couldn't even imagine what state I'd have been in if it wasn't for them. Even if their reasons for hiding things from me were not genuine,I knew I was doing the right thing by not keeping everything my Dad was doing to myself and that was what really mattered to me. I dialed his number and he picked up after the third ring“What's up Cassie, I've been trying to reach you but your line has been busy. I even dropped a text, don't know if you've seen it”. He said “I'm sorry,I just finished talking to Sage a while ago. He even mentioned that he has not heard from you about the plan for tomorrow”. I replies “Yeah, that's why I was calling. Been expecting your call for a while now. Did your Dad change his mind or something?”. He asked curiously “Not at all, I spoke to him tonight. He has given me details and I'
Ash's pov I grit my teeth, staring at the man we had taken captive. A twin? Really, what were the odds that things would turn out this way? Whoever the man was that killed my father surely played smart on us.The man shook his head, bringing his hood back up and proceeding to stare at the floor. I knew he was wondering what we were keeping him for, now that we had found out the truth.But the thing was, could I really just let him go like that? I would never be at peace with myself, coming so close to catching the man who killed my father, and then letting him go because this was a mistake. There had to be a way to turn things around.“We need to strategize, guys,” I said, my eyes shifting from Cassie to Sage, and then to Luke, who still stood with his gun trained on the man.“Preferably without him hearing,” I added when I saw they hadn’t moved.“But we can’t possibly leave him here. He’ll just leave,” Cassie said. I caught the little motion of her tucking a strand of hair behind he
Sage's POVI knew that we were fucked up when I felt the knife on my throat piercing slightly. I consoled myself with the fact that we couldn't have known that there was someone here and therefore couldn't have anticipated this. But another thought came to my mind: there was no excuse. We had been careless. Just one more decision. One changing decision and this would have not happened.I looked at the people beside me and knew that they were feeling apprehensive too. At least that was for the men. Taking one look at Cassie, I knew that she was scared sick already of what was happening."Move faster," I heard, and knew that he wasn't joking when the knife started actually bringing out blood from my neck. I took a breath and gulped it down as I continued moving, wanting to satisfy him so that we wouldn't enter any unnecessary trouble. This was a little silly because he was only holding me hostage and the rest of them could probably take him down by themselves, but I knew that we had to
Ash's POVIt wasn't the time for me to lament over everything that was going wrong. Instead, it was the time for me to plan a way out for myself and my friends, and that was exactly what I was doing.Throughout the while that Sage spent talking with me, I tried to cut myself loose, knowing that once I was free, I would have a very great chance of turning the situation around. I assessed the room we were forced into with tactical precision the moment we came into it. The number one thing I was looking for personally was a way out for us so that we could escape easily the moment we got an opening.I found a couple of loopholes that I could exploit so that we could run away if need be, which meant that mission 1 was accomplished already. All I needed now was to cut myself loose, and that was progressing smoothly.Sage seemed to be intent on provoking the men on his own part. First of all, I thought that it was very foolish of him, but when I realized that there wasn't really anything els
Ash's POVI wasn't exactly sure what to say, so I glanced at my friends, but from the looks in Luke's eyes, I knew that he was completely baffled by the situation. His eyes were hard, contrary to Sage, who looked soft and ready to give in at any moment."I can't believe we are even doing this," he said, his voice expressive as he stepped forward, his eyes flashing. "We shouldn't be bargaining with you; you are in no position to say anything at all.""Am I now?" he asked, his knife pressed a little more to her neck. I could tell that he was about to make a rash decision that would definitely cost him his life, but I was afraid of it costing Cassie's life also."Please," I said to Luke, putting my hand on him. I knew how much he loved his sister and didn't want her to die, so why was he actually acting like this? Luke glanced at Cassie, his eyes rigid as if trying to tell her something. His eyes were fixed on her, but he didn't see anything else, staying in his position with hardly any
Ash POVWe all stayed rooted to the spot, except maybe for Sage behind me, who had taken a subconscious step back. Maybe it was a good idea for us to back away after all—maybe back away out of the room entirely so that I could give Sage a good pep talk and make him gather himself and understand what was actually at stake here.Weakness was the one thing that would actually cost Cassie her life, nothing more. If we played this right, from the position of strength that we actually were in, then we could get her back, though it wasn't certain if we could get Richard and bring him to book along with that; that would actually be asking for too much. One small mistake and our victory had turned into a break-even, or maybe a possible loss if we didn't play our cards right and made another small mistake to add to the former one.I looked at our opponent, the one that we had nearly defeated, for a couple of seconds and finally decided to at least talk with him. If he killed Cassie, then the en
Luke's POVEverything was closing in on me, and I knew that it was too late for me to run away by now. My chance was gone. Looking at my opponent, who was now getting into the attack once more and covering all spaces for me to run into, I knew that he wouldn't let me go. He knew just what I could be thinking at this time, and he also knew that most likely I would try to run away. He was doing everything to prevent that, not wanting his prey to go.I knew that when he won this, he was going to put me along with Cassie and torment us for a very long period of time before killing us eventually. Yes, he had given me my chance to join him, not that I would ever do that, but I hadn't agreed to him, and now he was going to make me pay the price. I was pretty sure of it.I felt a certain feeling of discomfort, knowing how things were about to end, but still staying here anyway. I should be doing my best to run away and break free from his grasp, but I didn't do that for some reason. I just st
Luke's POVIt was honestly very troubling how I was still struggling with Richard after such a long time, and how someone would have thought that by now I would be done with defeating him, especially after I had come to the brink of beating him so many times now. But for some reason, he was always bouncing back and staying up above water, to the point that I was actually pressured by him at times, and even now, I was still pressured. Honestly, I was starting to wonder whether there was something wrong with me, or whether we were just evenly matched. Every time I came to the brink, ready to defeat him, there was one small mistake, or one small thing that happened to make him come back again. And then we started the sequence all over again.It dawned on me now that I would not be able to defeat him, not today, not now. I wasn't strong enough. In fact, I would even be considered lucky to not be defeated by him myself. Remembering clearly how easily he had taken me on previously, I knew
Sage's povThe first thought that came to my mind after he said that was that this was simply too good to be true. I couldn't believe it even now. However, that was a fact. But if he was actually the one keeping Sage from coming here, then he was a true hero. He was the one doing much more work than us and our soldiers who brought the army to the gate and the fight from the outside, because he is definitely the one that brings the fight from the inside, which is the real fight.I looked at Ash, wanting to see how convinced he was. And from the looks of it, he seemed completely convinced by it. When I thought about it, I didn't see any other reason why this could be happening. For one thing, I hadn't heard from Luke at all, indicating that there was a good chance that he was busy. And the fact that, at the same time, Richard was nowhere to be found, made it a little too much to be a coincidence. Most likely, the two of them couldn't be here because they were busy with each other, fight
Sage's POVI didn't really know whether I was safe when I started easily winning the entire fight. It was not much of a battle anymore. If anything, it was starting to become something of a slaughter. I didn't see any reason why I would have it so easy fighting against the man that I was up against—the man who had been rumored to be far stronger than a lot of people and would be a very formidable enemy.I had heard that he was planning some tricks for me, and I also knew that he was skewed and poisoned because that's what I heard from the assassin the time we asked him about Richard. That was enough information to be wary of him, knowing that he could actually be planning something else entirely while we were busy here. But as it happened, maybe he was just all talk after all, and there was nothing to actually be fearful of. He seemed pretty tame to me right now, not at all a threat, no matter how I looked at it.In my planning, I decided to draw back a little and let my men do some o
Ash's POV I join in and things get easy The progress was slow but steady. I knew that it wouldn't be long before we finally reached my territory. Then, I would have the opportunity to take back what was rightfully mine.I could almost see it happening already. As my soldiers marched forward, each with a certain determination in their eyes, I was sure we stood a huge chance of winning this. The moment I got to Richard, I would make sure to rip his eyes out and kill him for everything he had done, especially for killing my father. Until then, I had to make do with what I had and bide my time until everything was set.I had the patience to wait because I had been waiting for this moment all my life. So, even if it was just a couple more hours, I could wait again. It would end in my victory.Setting my eyes on the bigger prize, I kept moving, knowing it would be worth it. I was starting to get tired after marching for what seemed like forever. The soldiers, for their part, seemed much s
Sage's POVMy men started marching forward after I gave the order, each of them moving valiantly. These were pretty much all my forces because the ones I left to defend my home weren't too many anymore and wouldn't really account for much. In other words, if an attack actually started on my home while I was gone, then it would be pretty much defenseless against this attacker, and they would be able to do some large amount of damage to it.It was very precarious, but I knew that if I didn't take as many people as I could with me, then it was highly unlikely that we would win. I had no idea how many people Richard had with him, but I knew that he definitely had a lot of people with him, and that if I took only half of my army, it might not be enough, even when added to what Ash was bringing.I didn't want to take any chances on this because it was pretty much my only chance. If I was going to help, then I was going to help him completely and make sure that we won this. If we didn't win,
Sage's P.O.V.I went home driving in my car at full speed because I wanted to get there as soon possible. Who could have thought that I would be so excited and so fired up about fighting another man's war? It was a big pleasure for me to involve myself to such a large extent like this. But actually, I didn't see myself doing anything else in this particular situation.Cassie had been taken, and this could surely well be the only way I could free her since I couldn't really depend on Luke to do the job for me. Everything seemed to have gone south in this situation and personally, I was feeling affected. I felt incomplete, especially because of the lack of Cassie around, and I also felt a little guilty even though I hadn't exactly done anything.Something told me that the person who had actually caused all this personally didn't even feel guilty himself, and that person was Luke. So, I tried to make myself a little happier knowing that since he wasn't killing himself for what he actuall