Hamza’s mother walked towards Racheal, gently placed her hand on the small of her back and began to lead her away like a child. Racheal found herself following the woman out.“I am sorry we could not chat over tea. I hope you visit again, I am really interested in making your acquaintance.” The woman said, while Racheal found herself meekly following her out. Skylar was there, and if these people were lying about it, that meant she was in trouble. She remembered how Sklar called her with tears on that day of her engagement.“I will tell Skylar you called on my next video call with the couple. You can call her too. You have her contact number I believe.” The woman said, looking up at her. They were now standing outside in the hot sun, near her convoy. All her guards stood like statues. “Yes.” Racheal found herself responding, although she did not know Skylar’s contact number, because she had never had the need to. She did not own a phone. She caught Isaac’s eyes, he bowed slightly
Racheal was done with the form in no time. Isaac hurried forward with Steffan’s card when she tried to pay. She realised she did not mind much anymore, unlike that first day. A smile crossed her face when she remembered how she had thrown a tantrum with his money that day. She shopped for some yoga items at the other side of the building, all the costs were covered in the membership fee. As she changed out of her dress into one of the yoga fits, a beautiful yoga jumpsuit, she noticed how sad her face looked in the mirror even to her. She could not stop worrying about Skylar.She stepped out of the bathroom, and Isaac took the shopping bag now holding her dress, and handed it over to the nearest guard to take it out to the car. He then led the way back to the studio. Racheal arrived just in time for the afternoon session. The yoga instructor smiled, and bowed to her as she walked in, while her guards remained hanging around at the door.The other women in the yoga studio stared a
Racheal cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. Although she liked Jade and was hoping they would grow to become good friends, she did not think she knew the woman well enough to tell her such private things about herself. If there was anything she had learned in her short stay in Yin, it was that people were not truly who they first appeared to be. She could not continue trusting people so easily.So till she was sure where Jade’s loyalty truly lay, she would never tell the woman private information about herself. She was thinking about a polite way to avoid her question, when she noticed a man enter the cafe, and begin to walk towards them. Men in dark suits followed the man closely.Racheal squinted, concentrating on the face of one of the guards. He looked familiar, but she could not remember where she knew him from. She moved her attention back to the elegant man walking in front of them, and this time, her eyes opened in recognition.This was the prince of spain.“Hey,
“What did you just say?” Danna Sherrod asked, looking at Racheal with surprise. Then her face morphed into a furious mask. “How dare you speak to me like that?”“You truly expect to keep disrespecting me and I say nothing?” Racheal asked, not at all surprised that the woman was shocked at her talking back. Up till now, everybody was familiar with and even used to the quiet Racheal, who never fought back when she was harassed. “How dare you? Have you forgotten where you are, I can have you locked up, and your life miserable.” Danna Sherrod was so pissed her face was almost purple with rage. Racheal was not scared of her threats. She now knew the woman did not have any real power in the presidential villa, all she could do was scheme in the dark with her partner-in-crime Thalia.“Just like you had me locked up in that hell hole for a crime you commited?” Racheal asked, walking up to her. Danna Sherrod stared at her with hostility.“What the hell are you talking about?” She asked. Sh
“I had questions, I know the answer now.” Racheal responded to Steffan’s questions, hoping he would not ask anymore.They both stared at each other silently, and she found her mind wandering to memories she did not want it to. Steffan stood up and began to walk towards her. He was still in his work suit, and he looked insanely handsome. She panicked. She was not ready yet, she needed to think some more, and sort all she had just learned into the right boxes.“I think Skylar is in trouble.” She blurted out. Steffan froze in his track. “What?” “I saw her. I saw her, she was hitting on the window and then she was not there again.” Racheal said. Steffan was looking at her in confusion. She knew she must have sounded incoherent, but the image was still haunting her, and the thought that she had failed her friend. She could not live with herself if anything happened to Skylar. “What are you talking about?” Steffan asked. “I sent you a voicenote to let you know. Did you not get it?”
Steffan turned to look when Racheal walked into the room. He stretched out his hand, and she hurried to him.“Skylar is not here.” She said, as he wrapped his arm around her.“No. She isn’t.” He replied. “That is probably a good thing.” His voice was low and he was no longer stiff. The dark fury that had engulfed his body not so long ago had disappeared also. Racheal looked around the room, not agreeing with his sentiments that Skylar not being here was probably a good thing. She was certain that Skylar was here earlier, and not on any honeymoon. It was fishy that they would lie so insistently that she was not here when she was. “What are your guards looking for?” She asked, watching the men bent over, studying the floors inch by inch.“Proof that she was here earlier. Hamza said they flew to their honeymoon location yesterday monday.” Steffan said. Racheal looked back at him.“Isaac saw her too.” She said, feeling hurt that Steffan still did not believe her even after so long. H
The couple walked out of the Almir penthouse, back into their cars. Racheal sat quietly beside Steffan in the car, as he gave instructions to his employees to ready his private jet for the trip. She looked away, and out of the window, wondering just how much money he had. Skylar had told her he was a billionaire, independent of his family’s wealth, so although this was her first time hearing he owned his own jet, seperate from the one his family had, she was not very surprised.She thought about how she did not really know this man who was her husband.“Why are you cold even with the car heater on?” Steffan said with concern, as he draped his jacket over her shoulder. “Do you feel sick again?” He asked.She shook her head as she shrugged on the jacket, and tightened it around her body. “Why did you not go see Skylar tonight?” She asked. He had a jet, he did not need a public flight schedule. A jet could be readied in no time. “The sky has too much turbulence to fly this night. The
When Racheal stepped out of the walk-in closet, Steffan was on his laptop. She walked around and climbed into bed. Her body felt all strung up, despite how exhausted she was.Steffan glanced at her and turned back to the laptop. “You know you can always use my gadgets, right?” He said. “Keep up with the outside world.”Racheal stared at him from her pillow. “But the agreement was that I couldn’t. You were there in that meeting.” “That will change soon.” He said with an irritated frown. “For now, use mine.” She said nothing. He was rarely at home. She wondered how many hours a day she would get to use it. And if she would even dare.Racheal watched Steffan quietly, wondering if perhaps this man would finally be her ticket to freedom. He stood up and went into the bathroom. Racheal looked longingly at the laptop he left. Should she do it? Would she even dare?She heard him turn on the shower, and the sound of water beginning to beat the floor. She tightened her lips, as her heart
“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