“I can’t believe we just did that.” Racheal giggled as she pulled her dress down to cover her legs, and then up to cover her chest.“I can’t believe we have never done that.” Steffan responded, tossing the wipes in the car’s disposal purseThey watched it shrink.“We are disrespectful lots.” She said, now beginning to feel sorry for the men that had to live through that. Steffan smiled, and pulled her close.“I was joking about the screen. This is a custom-made car. They couldn’t hear anything,” he said.“Did you have this in mind when you were customizing your car?” “Maybe.” He grinned.She shook her head, and looked away. "They still knew we were up to something improper when you closed that screen.”“You think they don’t know we are always up to something improper?” He asked, softly caressing her arms.She smiled and said nothing, just continued leaning her head on his chest.“Racheal.” Steffan said, his voice serious. She froze.“Never lie to me again,” he said.“I won’t.”He
The couple left Hilltop Mansion, as they now called it, and returned to the city the next morning. Steffan was quiet the whole ride, his eyes glued to the window as he stared outside.Racheal knew he was not angry with her, this was not about her, so she left him alone. This was important; they had to do it. Now that she had chosen again to build a life with him. She did not want this hanging over their heads.Besides the secrets, to build a solid new life together, they had to wave goodbye to their old lives. One of the cars in the convoy branched out to a flower shop and got carnations. They arrived at the cemetery, and she felt a chill in her bones. She thought of her mother. The thought that her mother was resting in one of such places, and she had still not found it, made her chest hurt.Their guards found the spot where Malorie was buried and led them to it. Steffan walked as if in a daze. Racheal walked by his side, not touching him, although she very badly wanted to s
“We might have a job for your nephew too,” Racheal said. “Anyone good enough to work for the Sherrods will do a good job for us.”Steffan glanced at her.“Oh yes. Good fellow, strong too,” The old man looked up and stopped, staring at Racheal. Racheal froze. Did he recognize her? Had she been underestimating the man’s intelligence?“My God, you are beautiful, lady.” The old man said finally. “Your wife?” He turned to Steffan.Steffan smiled at him. “Yes.”“Lucky man.” The old man said, and returned his attention to his task. “What do you want my nephew to do for you?”“We need a guard for my wife,” Steffan said, his voice gentle. Racheal was impressed. This was the calmest she had seen him. She was glad he took her cue, and was interviewing this man with kid gloves.“Hmmm.” The old man said. “Jordan may not be the man you need. You see, he is no spring chicken anymore.”“That is exactly the man I need around my wife, someone older, more calm-headed,” Steffan said smoothly. The ol
When Steffan returned, it was completely dark outside and Racheal was already in her night dress. As soon as he walked in through the door, she knew something bad had happened.She hurried to him, and threw her hands around him.He paused, and then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to himself. She stepped back, looking at him all over. “Are you fine?”“Yes.” He said, and walked to go sit on their bed.“What happened? Did you get the evidence?”“Jordan is dead.” Steffan said, dropping his head between his hands.She stared down at him in confusion. What was he talking about? They had seen him together, so it meant that the story that he was dead was a lie.Steffan looked up, and saw her confused face. “I think something foul is at play.”She shook her head. “I don’t understand what you are saying, Steffan,” She said, and went to sit beside him. “Start from the beginning. What happened when you got to his house?”“He lived in a dingy slum. So the guards and I could not a
Racheal had no idea why Steffan respected her decision not to talk about why she had reacted so strongly to what he had just told her. Maybe it was because he saw how distressed she was, or because after listening to her talk about her previous interactions with the Dallozs, he had an idea why the news affected her so much, or still because she finally promised she would get the key for him.But he did not ask her any further questions. He simply led her to bed, and tucked her in. She listened to him get under the shower, and the sound of water hitting the floor before she stood up and pulled her phone from the nightstand. She scrolled to the message Chloe had sent her and stared at it. She had to go speak to this man, before he turned up dead again.She thought about all Madame Dalloz had told her, all the lies, half-truths, and pieces of information she did not know how best to classify.She had heard that Spencer Sherrod bombed the camp from one person only. Madame Dalloz.
Racheal stood in their closet with Steffan deciding on what to wear. It felt good to not have anything to hide anymore, to not be dying of anxiety.“I remember watching you in this at that nightshow.” Steffan said, reaching from behind her to touch a blue blazer. She smiled at the memory, till she remembered that Madame Dalloz had gotten her that. She had encouraged her to go to the show and sent a stylist over with options of clothes to wear.She sighed, and looked away. Her eyes fell on a purse sitting on a rack at the other end of the closet.She walked towards the purse and picked it up. “Coincidentally, this was the purse I was holding that day too.” She said over her shoulder to Steffan. “All a gift from Madame Dalloz.”Steffan said nothing. She dug her hand in the purse, and felt her finger scrape a card. She pulled it out.RACHEAL ROBERTS was boldly written on the front of the card. Racheal gasped. She had never gone to see the woman after that night. This was the wom
Racheal asked the nurse questions. The nurse had offered to take the couple up, instead of simply directing them to the ward Roman Gilbert was at.The nurse told them that it was not so much the burns but the poisonous gas the patient had inhaled that kept him here all these months.Racheal held her breath as she stepped into the ward. The man lying on the bed was young, she suspected, in his early thirties. Even with the burns and how emancipated his body looked, you could tell that at one point, he had been good-looking.She and Steffan drew closer to the bed as the nurse said, “Mr Gilbert, you have visitors.”The man opened his eyes, and slowly turned to look at them. He stared at them blankly.“Hello.” Racheal said, awkwardly, leaning down a little. She couldn't help but curse whoever did this to the people in that camp. This was the worst thing anyone could do to their fellow human being. She almost thought all the people who died were lucky as she looked at the man's scar
Racheal felt Steffan squeeze her hand as they drove out of the hospital. She bit back her tears. They drove in silence for a long time before she finally felt in control of her emotions enough to speak. She turned to Steffan. “I don’t know why Roni would do something like that. There was absolutely no reason for him to do that.” Racheal said. She could not bear the thought of calling him her father anymore.“You can always confront him. But I have some theories,” Steffan said.“Tell me.” Racheal said eagerly.“You need to ask Madame Dalloz questions too. The official news about the bombed camp said it was a suspected terrorist attack, even my father thought it was a terrorist attack. Why did she tell you it was my father then?” Racheal nodded.“And if Roni Rana is out to get Spencer, it would only make sense that he would do anything to weaken his position. A bomb at Yin’s capital displacement camp is one of the worst ways to show the world that Yin is unsafe, and the president
“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