*Ash's POV*Ever since I got the information about my mum being alive,I've literally been counting down till the day I finally get to see her. My Dad had eventually reached out to her and planned a day for her to come back to the city with my step brother, Luke. I didn't know how long she was going to be staying but I was just excited about meeting her. I wondered what she would look like now. I was also having thoughts on how it would feel like finally meeting a sibling, and if we were going to have any similarities or would be able to get along with each other.I could barely sleep all through the night. I kept tossing over on my bed and surfing the internet at intervals,pondering on how the day was going to turn out. I was going to be meeting my mum and step brother for the first time and I didn't know how well to prepare myself. For people who I'd never met in my life and who I felt cared less about me,I shouldn't be this bothered but I just could not be at peace__I doubt if they
*Ash's POV*“I'm sorry. I had to reach out to Luke,he should have gotten here a while ago”. She said walking towards a sofa.“That's alright. I hope he's good?”. I asked in concern,not like I really cared much.“Yes He is. He'll be with us soon. Something came up that kind of delayed him”. She replied,setting her phone down and facing me. There was a brief pause. The silence was deafening. I knew it was time to be done with the formalities and have a real conversation.“How are you?”.She asked,looking into my eyes. I didn't know much about the nurturing aspect of a mother, but I could see the genuineness in her countenance.“I'm OK. Surviving”. I answered, smiling a bit.“Ash”.She started. “I want to apologize to you for having to grow up without me in your life”.“I turned out fine eventually as you can see”. I replied defensively. I didn't want her to talk to me like she was feeling some sort of pity towards me.“Of course you did but I still have to apologise to you. I'm sure your
*Ash's POV*“Hi”. I greeted, walking towards the both of them.“Hello. You must be Grey?.Nice to finally meet you”. He replied, with a grin on his face.“Same here. It's Ash by the way”. I replied, trying to hide my sudden irritation.“Forgive me, I know it has something to do with colours.You look really good. Better than I had expected. Your Dad must really have a lot of money for you to be looking this good”.“Luke!. Cut it”. My mum shot at him with an angry look.“What Mum?,It's a compliment. I hope you didn't take offense in my remark, Ash?”. He asked,turning to face me.“Not at all. I'm used to hearing it so it's not a big deal”. I answered. I didn't like it when people felt everything about me was because my Dad was rich but I just had to pretend like I didn't take offense. I didn't want to start our first meeting on a wrong note.“You see”. He said,looking at my Mum and walking over to the kitchen cabinet. He seemed really free and I was here trying to be so composed and uptig
"Ash's POV”My Dad had already gotten home by the time we arrived.“Wow. This house is massive. I wasn't expecting it to be this big. One can get lost if he doesn't know his way around”. Luke gasped,looking around as we entered. His facial expression was funny and I wanted to laugh so bad.“Is it?”. I asked. “Take it easy with the exaggeration though”. I added, smiling a bit.“You are welcome Ma'am”. One of the bodyguards greeted, facing my Mum.“Thank you. The house is really lovely”. My mum remarked.“Coming from you?,I appreciate that”. My Dad said, strolling down from the stairs.“Good evening Damien”. She replied, her cheeks a bit red.“You're all welcome. I was expecting you a bit earlier though. I've been home for a while now”.“We didn't leave on time and we made a stop on our way to get some things“Oh,I see. You must be Luke?”. My Dad asked, stretching his right hand to shake himYes I am. It's good to finally see you. My mum has told me a lot about you and I've always looke
*Cassie's POV*I felt I was beginning to lose my mind. These past weeks that I've been home were one of the most horrible moments of my life. I had no one to talk to. I had ruined every genuine friendship and relationship I had due to desperation. After the last time Sage came over to my place, he didn't reach out to me again and out of pride,I ignored him also but I was beginning to think that was a mistake. As much as I had realized that Skylar didn't do anything to me, I had to blame it all on someone. If she hadn't agreed to be with Ash from the start, all these would not have happened. My Father had been having these strange and secret meetings with a guy and I wondered what he was up to lately. He was so occupied to even notice I was losing myself.“Hey Dad. Can I talk to you?”. I asked,entering his bedroom.“Yes Sweetheart. How are you?”. He asked.“I'm just there, could be much better. I just feel caged since I got suspended. Having to go over the same routine everyday without
Ash's POV*I wished someone could wake me from this current nightmare. It was beginning to feel too real and I wasn't finding it funny anymore.“What's the problem Ash?”. My mum asked again, bringing me back to realization and bending over to pick up my phone. I didn't know that I had dropped it, my hand was still placed over my ear as I stood.“It's Dad, I got a call from someone saying they found him dead in our other residence a while ago”. I replied, staring into space. “That's not possible”. She said,taking a few steps backwards. “He went for meetings, that was what he told me when he was leaving the house this morning. What could he possibly be doing in a house?”. “I don't understand Mum. I don't know what to say”. I looked towards the door and saw Cassie standing close to Luke.“What are you doing here?”. I asked.“I wanted to tell you yesterday but you didn't even wait to hear me out”. She said,taking a few steps towards me.“Listen I'm not in the mood for your nonsense talk
*Cassie's POV*I knew I couldn't go home with the way I was feeling,my Dad was going to suspect that something was wrong. I didn't even freshen up before dashing out of the house in the morning and I could be almost likened to someone in the early stage of madness. I thought of where I could go and spend some time after I left Ash's place. The only person who came to my mind was Sage but I had to inform my Dad first,to keep him from getting worried.“Hello Dad”. I greeted “Hey Pumpkin,how are you?. I'm sorry I left the house in the morning in a hurry. You were still asleep when I checked and didn't want to disturb you”. He replied.“It's fine Dad. Where are you?”. I asked.“I'm on my way home,I've had a couple of meetings today and I'm quite exhausted. I just need to get to the house and take time out to rest well. I'm guessing you're home too,I mean it's not like you have where to go”. He said,I could hear the sarcasm in his voice. I felt infuriated just by hearing him speak. He was
*Ash's POV* This was the first time I was unable to sleep for a full night in years,everytime I managed to close my eyes,I kept seeing images of my Dad. The house that felt bubbly and alive in the morning suddenly felt so cold. It was still hard to accept that my Dad was gone. I kept hoping that someone would wake me up and tell me I was having a nightmare,I would give up anything to at least have one more conversation with my Dad. How was I supposed to move on from here?. Where was I even going to start from? My Dad had been a strong anchor to me all my life and even the thought of having to carry on without him was overwhelming. Richard had reached out to me earlier this morning to offer his condolences and had requested that I came to his house later in the day for us to talk. This was an opportunity for me to gain more insight on what I already knew so I accepted his invitation. My mum had refused to come out of her room since she went in yesterday,I wondered what the level of pa
Cassie's P.O.V.The days were lovely now, as I went to school and went about my daily life, knowing that I had my friends to call upon if anything went wrong. Sage had made me his personal mission. I knew that he was in love with me, but really, what he was doing at that moment was too much. He just kept on checking up on me, picking me up from work and stuff like that. At first, I thought that Luke would say something about it or probably even fight him for that, but Luke seemed to have made his peace with the gloomy romance between us, and I couldn't be more happy. A couple of times he even took me over to his house where we had a wonderful time. How would the time I spent with the very alpha of the park not be wonderful? But then we left each other not too long after that, and I continued with my life.Although Luke had let me have some fun with him, he forbade me from ever spending the night at Sage's place, like that was going to be even possible. I stayed a couple of nights, bu
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,