Everyone was ushered into the hall an hour later. The same big hall, Racheal’s wedding after-party had been held when she first arrived in Yin. Seffan pulled out a chair for her, helped her into a seat and then sat beside her.“Are you OK?” He smiled at her.She nodded, and managed to return his smile. “If you want your step-mother to accidentally trip, just say the word.” He whispered to her. She gasped. But he was joking, she saw the humour in his eyes, he was simply trying to cheer her up.“But that may ruin her pretty face, and Roni will have something new to complain about.” Steffan said. Then he turned to tell one of the waitstaff what to get them.“Nothing a little makeup can't cover.” Racheal said with a sad smile.“What?”“That's what she said when she struck my face for refusing the idea of marrying you.” Racheal said. Steffan’s face went serious as he looked at her. She could feel his anger beginning to rise. “That is all in the past now.” She added quickly. She didn
The table continued their meal in silence. Racheal glanced at Steffan severely to see his face was darkened. He was obviously jealous. But what did he have to be jealous about? Her heart only had space for him. He knew that, she had told him, and shown him in many different ways.“I had forgotten what his face looked like.”Steffan turned to squint at her. “What?”“I had forgotten what his face looked like. Somehow, I could not remember what he even looked like.” She said, The diners had loosened up, and the guests had become more talkative and chatty as a pianist played a solemn tone at the side of the hall. No one was paying the couple any mind.“That is a lazy lie. You are saying you didn't recognize him till he introduced himself?” Steffan was looking at her in disbelief.Racheal frowned at him. After all this time, he still thought her a liar.“I never said that. I recognized him. I just did not remember his face in the last two months, because anytime the thought of him cro
The couple stared at each other, panting softly, their foreheads touching. Racheal smiled, Steffan returned her smile, and they started giggling.“I am sure someone heard us.” She said.“I don’t care.” He moved to kiss her forehead. She placed her hands on his large face and kissed him deeply. When she finally let go, he hugged her tight. She was still seated beside the sink.“I am sorry.” He said. She nodded, her chin hitting his shoulder in their tight embrace.“I was not very mad, just irritated.”“I know.” He said, sighing contentedly. “You know?”“Mhm hmm. You had the face of a woman who wanted to be f*cked silly.” He said.She laughed, and gently pushed him away from her. “What?”“Yes. You just needed a good f*ck to feel better.” He said, stroking her jaw. He pulled her back into an embrace. He was back to his soft self, the man who hugged her and did not want to go to the ball, back at that hotel.She stroked his dark curls, and let him hold her as tightly as he wanted to
Racheal continued to watch her stepmother in silence, it felt good to know she was finally not under her mercy anymore.“Diana stays, it is an order, not an offer.”“You forget yourself.” Racheal said. Roslyn looked startled for the first time. “This is not your home, or country.”“Are you speaking to me that way?”Racheal just watched her. The woman was frowning at her, then she suddenly burst into a giggle. “The Sherrod boy is the one emboldening you. You think he can protect you?”“He can. He has.” Rosyln walked towards her, closing the gap between them. “You know, I did not believe it when I heard you had him eating out of your palms. I guess you finally learned our secrets.”“What secret?”“The secret of mistresses you always turned your nose up at. How do you think I snatched your father from your silly silly maman?”Racheal frowned, but she closed her mind to the words. She did not let them get to her.“After eighteen years, you finally admit to being a wh*re. Not everyo
Racheal saw Asad Achillie as he was being led into a gas chamber, his hands in metal cuffs. He still was not talking. She watched him with her heart in her mouth, from where she was seated in the pew with other government officials in Yin. She had come to see with her own eyes whether he would lose his cool at the last moment and admit that he had not sold the document to the enemy, that someone had stolen it from his mistress's house.But the man still remained silent as he was made to sit and strapped to the chair. He remained silent even when the executioner asked if he had any last words, The executioner and other military officers stepped out of the glass box. They shut the door, and soon poisonous gas began to fill the box. Asad sat Stoic at first, but as the fumes rose in height, enveloping him, he began to writhe in pain, and scream, pulling at the straps to get away. Then he turned to the crowd and his eyes fell on her.“You.” He screamed.The crowd turned to her and
Racheal looked at Maxwell and the flower. They were in a maze. If anyone saw them in here from any of the windows on the top floors of the villa, they would come up with a nasty rumor.She picked up her long floral dress, and turned around.“Wow. Not even a hello.” Maxwell said, hurrying after her. She did not say a word as she tried to find a way out of the maze. She was beginning to get increasingly frustrated as she suspected she had missed her way.“Racheal. Please talk to me.” Maxwell said.Racheal said nothing. This damned man was not letting her concentrate. The longer she spends here, the more chances of someone seeing her here, with her ex walking behind her. She sighed in relief when she saw the guard who had been trailing her. He nodded to her, and started to lead the way out.She began to hurry after him, when she felt Maxwell hold her arm.“Racheal.”She turned around, and smacked him hard across the face.“That is the last time you will touch me. And it is Mrs Sher
“Let her go.” One of Racheal’s guards barked at Zuri. “I’ll shoot in two.”Zuri laughed, holding Racheal across her neck. She heard her evil laughter the loudest.“Drop your purse.”Racheal did.“So you think I would come here if I was not sure that you couldn't shoot me?" She laughed again.Racheal realized this was different from the always angry, but calm woman she knew. This was an unhinged Zuri. She thought of hitting the woman with her elbow, and running away. Although her grip was tight, she was not holding any gun or knife to her throat.“You have just two seconds to step away.” her guard repeated.“Well, checkmate!" Zuri said, and held up something in her hand. Racheal looked to her side at Zuri’s hand. She frowned.That thing looked familiar.Years she spent dating a soldier had made her learn about many weapons. She gasped, suddenly realizing that it was a grenade.“Step back, or I’ll blow both of us up.” Zuri screamed.“Do it.’ Racheal shouted at her guards. A woman
Zuri walked out another entrance of the mall to the side. Her eyes scanned the cars parked outside. Racheal watched as her eyes fell on a motorcyclist driving in. “Run.” She said.Racheal had no option but to obey. They were cuffed together. They stopped before the motorcyclist who looked at them in shock.“The keys.” Zuri said to him through gritted teeth.He scoffed as if Zuri was a big joke. He took off his helmet and got off the bike.The biker looked around twenty years old with blue eyes like Steffan’s. “Please give her the keys.” Racheal said.The boy looked up at Racheal then. He squinted, and then his eyes widened in recognition. Then he looked from Racheal to Zuri, and his eyes fell on their cuffed hands, and then the grenade.“Give it.” Zuri repeated. The boy placed the key in her hand, and backed away. Racheal realized that Zuri was beginning to make mistakes in her desperation. A modern bike like this will definitely have a tracker on it. This scared boy will tel
“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