Skylar called on the couple, when Racheal had barely settled back into bed. She wanted to speak to Racheal alone.“Let me talk to her here.” She glanced at Steffan. He shrugged and started walking out of the bedroom. Racheal turned to Luna,“Bring her in here.”Luna bowed and walked away. Racheal leaned her head on the pillow, casually watching the television, when Skylar came in. She smiled up slowly at her and stretched her hand out. Skylar took it, squeezed, and sat beside her on the bed.“What is going on?”“What do you mean?” Racheal asked.“I know a lot has happened since I have been away. But it is glaring now that something big has happened that I am blind to," Skylar stared at her, with eyes similar to her brother’s.Racheal did not know what to say. She could not tell her about all her parents had done these past few weeks, or all their dirty secrets she had discovered.“You know something. Why does my brother suddenly hate my parents so much?”Racheal shook her head.
Racheal felt this was all suspicious. But she could not just leave the box lying here. She picked it up, and went out of the garage. She was going to call Steffan, and tell him all about this. This was all too suspicious.She went back to the house, and hurried up the stairs. She dropped the box carefully on the ottoman and bent to pick her phone up from the bed when she felt someone behind her.“Steffan, I was just about to..” She froze. It was the doctor. The residential Villa doctor that had treated her a few days ago.“Who let you in without telling me?” Racheal asked in surprise.“I came to check on you. See how your headache is now?” The doctor said.Racheal’s frown deepened. It was past nine in the night. Why would he come to see her when she had not called for him? And coming straight to her bedroom?“Mr Steffan said to come check on you.”“Oh.” Racheal relaxed. Why did he not just say that earlier, but her maids should have told her before sending him up, even if Stef
Racheal cried till her body went numb. She could not stand up. She did not want to stand up, even when Steffan dragged himself up onto their bed, and sat quietly staring into space. They were quiet for hours. There were no words to say.She could not even begin to think of a life without Skylar.“We have to go to the morgue soon. Spencer may want to have a wake for her immediately.” His voice broke again, reopening the stream of tears from her own eyes. She could not believe they were putting Skylar and morgue in the same sentence. It did not make any sense.The world no longer made sense.The sun was falling outside, and she thought that today was the last day Skylar ever witnessed on earth. She would never know what tomorrow or all the other days looked like.She would never fall in love, have a happy relationship or peace.She was still on the floor when their bedroom door burst open, and Spencer walked in. His eyes were blood-red.“Father. Why did you..” Steffan jumped up.
08:50 pm10-07-2021Yin capitalHe walked out of the villa. He should not have to be doing this today. His heart was broken, and he could barely breathe. But he could not just sit back and watch his wife relive this again. He had abandoned her before. He was not going to do that again.He got in the car, as the chauffeur and even Justin looked at him with pity. “Get moving.” He yelled. He could not show any emotions here. His little woman was the only person that had the right to see him emotional. It was safe to be emotional with her. He sat frowning, making sure his face stayed Stoic as his heart shattered. He was supposed to get them all out of Yin in a month. His sister and his little woman. The only two people that mattered. He had not even had the opportunity to tell them.He put his head in his hands, as his little woman’s scream came back to him from that time she watched the news. He could not even comfort her. He wanted to hold her, but he could not.“Sir,” Justin
“How can you do this to me?” Steffan yelled. Then he paused. “Just tell me the truth. Tell me how it happened.”“I don’t understand what you are talking about,” Racheal said, shaking her head.“Stop it.” Steffan yelled. “Stop f*cking lying! You are messing with my mind. Just tell me the truth.”“About what?” She yelled, crying, “I did not kill your sister.”“Maybe you did not mean to. Did you mean to stop Skylar from going on the trip like you promised your father you would with me?”“I did not talk to my father. I have not talked to my father since that last time Roslyn tricked me into doing it. I told you.”“How can you be like this?” Steffan was looking at her like he did not recognize her. He raised the document in his hand. “All of these results came back as positive. That was your voice on the call.” He scrolled through her phone, and turned it to her face. “Your call log even shows you had an outgoing call at that time. You somehow forgot to delete it like you attempted to
“Go call him.” Steffan said to Luna, but he was staring at Racheal fiercely.“It’s just the both of us now” Steffan said, as soon as Luna left. “For f*ck sake, say the truth.”“I am.” She shouted.She could see the veins in his temple and forearm begin to pulse. He looked away from her and walked towards the jewelry box on the ottoman. He pulled it open and stared. He took out a card. Then he leaned down again, and fished out all the pearls and gold necklaces.Then he pulled out another card. She stared at him.He turned to her with the card.“This is an address. This is what you killed my sister for, to know where your mother was buried?"She just continued staring at him.“Answer me.” He yelled.She jumped and began to cry. “I don’t know what you are talking about, I don’t understand any of this.”“Why can't you tell the truth? Your insistent lying is driving me crazy. You think that is your only way out? It’s not.”She kept quiet and racked her brain. Was it possible to do all
“I will take your life too.” Spencer Sherrod said, pressing the gun to Racheal's head.“Even in the face of death. You still chose to be tight-lipped?" She glanced up to see Steffan staring at her in bewilderment.“She is her father’s foot soldier.” Spencer Sherrod smiled bitterly. “Why do you think he gave her to us? It’s because he trained her well.”Racheal said nothing. She wanted him to get it over with already. If he did not kill her, this monster headache would.She closed her eyes, and waited.She felt the pressure in her head tightening, and felt Spencer moving his hand to the trigger.“Wait.” She heard Steffan say, and she opened her eyes. “Send her to Tourris instead.”Spencer turned to him angrily. “She killed your sister.” He yelled. “She does not deserve to live.”“You call Tourris living?” Steffan asked.His father seemed to agree with that because he pulled his gun away. Racheal looked from father to son. What the hell was Tourris, and what was going to happen to
07:00 am11-07-2021Tourris, Yin outskirtsRacheal arrived at the last turn.She suspected it was the last turn because she could see the bright light ahead. As soon as she turned left, she found herself in a large room. It had just three walls, the space for the fourth wall was empty. She could see the mountains from the empty space, and the strong wind blew in from there too.When she looked down in the room, she was horrified at what she saw. Most women here looked skinny. Way skinnier than those people back at that camp she had freed.The ones who were not as skinny had sunken eyes. She was the only person that felt like a human at all. She suddenly felt scared. She turned back, and ran the way she had come. She stood at the edge, and noticed that all the guards had left.She lay flat on her belly and looked down. The elevator was gone too. A strong gust of wind blew suddenly, almost taking her over. She gripped the floor tightly, waiting for it to pass. Then she stood
“Mind Skylar’s head.” Steffan said, watching her get out of the car. Racheal cradled six month-old Skylar’s head in her arms and got out of the car. Steffan turned and walked ahead towards the courthouse. She knew he did not like this, neither did her mother, but she wanted to lead a new life from now on.She would only allow any dispute to be settled by the court no matter how long it took, instead of the torture, killing and all they had done up to the point that she had Sterling.“Maman," Sterling said, peeking his head around his father’s shoulders.“Yes, baby.”“Maman.” He said again, and she smiled at him. Steffan adjusted him in his arms as they walked into the building.It was an informal courtroom, and the biggest case in Xen. This case was what had disgraced Roslyn and made her lose the elections. Journalists waited outside for the final hearing.She and Steffan sat side by side after the judge took her seat, and the accused began to be escorted in by the cops. Roslyl
Racheal followed Steffan into his house quietly. His housekeeper greeted her warmly. She nodded at the woman. She was surprised to see Chef Bennett come out.“Dinner in five minutes, sir.” Then he paused. “Mrs Sherrod.” He bowed.“Make a place for two,” Steffan said. Those were the first words he had said, since she told him she missed him.“Sure, Sir.” Chef Bennett responded.“You kept him?” Racheal asked, as Steffan led the way upstairs. “You liked him.” He said simply.She said nothing more. He surprisingly led the way to his bedroom on the second floor. It was a dark masculine room, wide, dark and intimidating.She stood in the middle, unsure of how to act, or what to do next.He dropped his bag on the bed, and glanced at her.“I am sorry I hurt you.” She said. He paused, midway into sitting on the bed, then started to take his tie off.“That’s rare. Women never apologize.”She made a face at him. But continued anyway. “I was conflicted. I wanted to be with you, but I was
Racheal sat on the toilet bowl, staring at the pregnancy test kit. It clearly read positive. In denial, she took others. They read the same thing.She hurried back to her room and pulled on a dress. It would be stupid to make the same mistake twice. She sat nervously in the backseat as her chauffeur took her to the hospital.She waited nervously as her blood got drawn, and patiently waited for the doctor.She could not smile back as the doctor said.“Congratulations Mrs Sherrod. Would you like to see your baby?”She climbed the table, and stared at the ceiling as the doctor smeared a cold gel on her flat belly.“You are about seven weeks pregnant.” The doctor said excitedly. “Look at your baby.” She held her breath and turned.She could hear the heartbeat of the fetus as the doctor pointed out where the baby was in the sac. It was so tiny, she burst into tears.The doctor helped her up and soothed her, telling her it was OK to cry, that days like these were an emotional day for
The president is dead did not cover the horror of how Spencer Sherrod had died. He stared at his father’s coffin the next morning as the priest talked on and on. He had wanted to kill this man. He had wanted to kill him with his own hand, so why was he reacting this way to the man’s death?His mind kept going back to how Spencer had looked in the video he had seen. He was headed for a meeting, surrounded by his guards, edgy and nervous, and alone.The old woman had come from the crowd, begging an audience. He had hesitated, but asked them to let her through. The woman had hugged him, even as his guards had yelled that it was against protocol.One had even reached out to pull her away. Then flames. He shook his head as he remembered the explosion sound. They had quickly found out the woman was the journalist’s aged mother. The journalist Spencer had killed at Racheal’s office.He felt someone squeeze his arm. He looked down at the little woman. She was the only good thing in
“We should start moving. I don’t want Limuel’s men to find us here," he said as he stocked the fire. She dropped a plate of Ramen in front of him. He smiled up at her, and she smiled back.He did not mind if he lost all his wealth, and became doomed to this kind of life, as long as he had her. She was all he wanted now, all he had ever wanted really from the day he met her.“It will be a few hours still before we can start moving.” She responded. He nodded and picked up his meal. She walked closer and sat beside him. He turned to her, caressed her cheek, and kissed her lightly. She returned his kiss, enthusiastically, the way he remembered, the way he liked.He loved how much she loved his touch. They were soon grappling at each other, their meal forgotten. He squeezed her warm soft body as she moaned his name and dug into his back. He savored the warmness of her, the fullness of her curve, the lusty way she matched his thrusts, squeezing tight around him.He did not want to
Racheal sat shocked, staring at Steffan’s face, just barely able to see it in the near darkness. But she could see clearly enough the honesty in there. His blue eyes were clear and honest, open and pleading.“You should have said that when I wanted to hear it.” She said, shaking her head, starting to move away. But he held her.“I should have. I was a fool not to have.”“I even told you once that I loved you. You said nothing.”“I am sorry.”“Stop apologising. It won’t fix anything," she said, trying to pull away. She did not have to hear this, she did not want to hear this. It would make leaving him that much more difficult. It was easier walking away from a man who hurt her, and had never admitted to loving her even once. But now…“Racheal.” He said, taking her face between his hands. “I love you. I have always loved you. My heart stops at the thought of losing you. The day Isaac told me you were dying, the day you sent that divorce document, my heart completely stopped beatin
“I thought you changed. Apparently, you did not," Steffan said finally, looking away. “You are still as stubborn and careless as ever.”His words stung her.“Careless? You sound like I got some warning that a certain Limuel was after me and ignored it.”“I tried to warn you. I sent a dozen messages, tried to make an appointment,” he blew up.She shrank back. Well. There was no way she would have known. She had his number blocked, so there was no way she could have seen his messages. She still did not know how he had gotten her new contact number by the way. She could not think of any of her staff who could have given him her personal number.She knew he was in contact with Isaac, but could Isaac have given him the number?“After all that has happened to you, I don’t know how you can still put yourself in danger like this.”“One could say I was in danger, hiding with you in a storm like this. At least Maman would think so.” She said quietly, lowering herself to the floor. That got
“What are you doing?” Racheal asked as she watched Steffan walk towards one of the many couches in the room. He said nothing.He placed a bright flashlight she suspected he must have found wherever he found the axe on the floor, lighting the whole room up. He raised the axe, and began to hack at the couch.She stared at him in shock, at first not understanding what he was doing. Then she turned back, and shut the heavy bolt on the door. He had to make fire somehow, or they would freeze to death before the storm was over. Between the both of them, they could probably buy a million couches for this family.She walked further into the living room, past him, checking the whole place out. The only place that was open to them was the hallway, the open kitchen in the living room, and a tiny bathroom at the end of the hallway. All the other rooms were firmly locked. She was not very eager to ruin their locks like she did the front door.She walked towards the kitchen, and turned on th
“What? Why?” Racheal screamed in confusion as she watched Limuel’s guards pull a limp Steffan up.Then they began to pull him to pull him away, his tall frame causing his foot to drag behind him.“I had a suspicion he might come here.” Limuel said, pulling out a big cigar.“What did we do to you?” She asked, looking from Limuel to Steffan, who was being dragged away.“I have no problems with the Sherrods. Just you.”“What?” She asked just as she saw Limuel’s toddler run out of the house. The guards tried to stop the child who was not warmly dressed for the weather. The toddler screamed. He just wanted his father.Lukas Limuel turned at the commotion. “Let him through," he said, standing up. The child broke through the barrier of guards, and ran into his father’s arms.“I don’t have the time to explain anything. I hear your mother has suddenly returned from the dead. I believe she will pay a decent price in exchange for you as compensation for what your family did to us.” Lukas sa