Racheal watched the ceremony continue with different speeches from several other people. She sat still trying not to think about her father. She kept her eyes on the screen, studying the faces of people she did not know and may never meet. Some people had brought their children, and she thought how foolish that was. If she had a child, she would never bring them to packed spaces like these.The thought that she would possibly have a child within the next year, at the rate that things were going made her shiver. She did not want to have a child in this circumstance. It frightened her.She felt Steffan watching her, and turned to him. He smiled at her, she smiled back. It was a good thing he did not have the ability to read every single one of her thoughts. The president finally climbed the stage to give his own speech. She wondered if he knew her father was here. Spencer Sherrod was a cunning man, he probably knew, and approved it for her father to be allowed into the country. Wha
Racheal walked back to her seat, partially blinded by her tears. She walked right into Steffan’s arms. He hugged her close, as he fetched a handkerchief out of his pocket.“You did well baby.” He said. Racheal smiled through her tears, and looked up at. This was the first time he was calling her a pet name. He dabbed the tears off her face, took her hand, and began leading her out. Their guards converged around them quickly.She glanced around the stadium at the people still cheering loudly. She knew there was no taming this crowd anymore. They had gone into a festive mood.But still, it felt awkward to be the first person leaving. She looked at Steffan, he was so audacious and non-comforming. The crowd was thicker and struggled to touch her even more now than when she had arrived. The soldiers had to point their guns to keep them back. She sighed in relief when Steffan finally helped her into their car. He climbed in after her.“Where are we going?” She asked. “My father’s reso
“How are you feeling?” Steffan asked, as the waiter, assisted by another female staff, began to clear their table. Racheal pushed her chair back, and stood up.“I am Ok.” She said, and walked towards the floor to ceiling window. She stared out at the lake that bordered this side of the resort. This was truly a beautiful place. The water took on the colour of the sky above, grey. She suspected it would rain before the end of the day. It had been windy from the time she arrived at the stadium. Even now, the weather was misty, although some rays of light still broke through the clouds.She felt Steffan come up behind her, and hug her. She held his hand but did not turn back. She wanted to just stare out at this beautiful place, and not think about all the things that were not so beautiful about her life. Her meeting with her father a few weeks after he sold her off to this place frightened her. How would she look at him, how would she hold herself from lashing out at him if he dared b
Racheal looked at everyone standing tensely in the room. There were at least twenty-five people present, excluding the guards. They were all watching her, waiting. She wondered why she was quiet, was this not what she had always wanted, for her father to change his mind and destroy this marriage arrangement he had with the Sherrod? So why was she not screaming Yes! She would finally be able to exit this pit of vipers and forget all about Thalia, Danna Sherrod, and all the other troubles that came with Xen.She knew her father. He never bluffed, if he said they could walk out of here unhurt, they could. She glanced at his determined face. Did he have snipers around? A grenade? She would not put any of that past him. It would be a bloodbath, cutting their way out of this resort back to Xen. But she knew it was possible, especially since her father was so sure. She caught Delbert’s eye. He gave a small nod for her to say yes. She looked away, and turned to Steffan. His face was li
“I did not send you here to play wife, my dear girl.” Roni Rana continued, standing up. “Get on with your duties.” Racheal remained on her seat, looking up at the evil man who was her father. “And why are you not pregnant already?” He paused. “You should go see a doctor, when your mother had these problems…” He stopped. “A baby will help our plans greatly. If you were caught, nobody would not harm you if you were carrying a Sherrod baby. That would buy us time to rescue you.”Racheal stared on in silence, unable to believe what her father was saying. All her life, the only thing she had hated her father for was his neglect and lack of care towards her. Her step-mother had always been the villian in her eyes. Had she been blind all along?“Stand up my girl.” Roni Ran said, walking around the table to her. “We do not want to raise your in-laws suspicions.” He was smiling brightly now, like the kindest father in the world. Racheal stood up with shaky legs, and placed her hand in her
Racheal gasped.In the time it took her to recover from her surprise, the intruder rolled over and pinned her under, her back to the floor.She struggled to push the intruder off her, but failed. She quickly felt around for the intruder's face but the intruder repeatedly hit her head against the hard floor to knock her out.Racheal ignored the pain she felt and the dizziness it was beginning to cause her.She found the intruder’s eyes and sunk her nails in. The intruder screamed but their voice was muffled by what Racheal suspected was a mask, so she couldn’t hear them clearly.The intruder tried to get off her, but Racheal held on. She knew if she let go, the intruder would have enough room to start shooting randomly, and one of the bullets may just hit her. She was not ready to risk that.“Help!” She screamed at the top of her voice as she clinged on to the intruder.Were her guards so deaf they could not hear all the commotion? How did this intruder get past them in the first place
“Racheal. Racheal, can you hear me?”When she opened her eyes she saw Delbert running beside a stretcher that was wheeling her into the hospital.She opened her mouth to speak, but a sharp pain from her head blinded her. It was sharp and searing, and made her face feel numb.This pain was too much. How had she gone from feeling nothing to feeling so much.She winced as the pain seized her skull like a clamp.“Doctor, She is in so much pain, can’t you do something?” She heard Delbert say, just as he disappeared from her sight as the doctors wheeled her into a ward.She closed her eyes to fight the pain, and slipped into unconsciousness from there.When next she opened her eyes, it took her a whole minute to remember who she was, and where she was.She could hear arguing in the background, and the raised voices made her head start hurting again.“You do not deserve her. You should let her go to someone that will take proper care of her.”“And you are that person? You? Do you think she wo
Racheal told the cops all she remembered,From the point she began to feel uncomfortable when she went to bed that night, till she heard the thud against her bed: a thud she suspected was the intruder miscalculating her steps and hitting her foot against the bed.She recounted their struggle for the gun, hitting the intruder, and seeing the intruder’s frame in the brief light from the storm’s lightning.“If the light was brief, how can you be so sure it was a woman?” The lead cop asked.“We struggled against each other for a long time.” Racheal said.“That does not mean anything.” The other cop interjected.“You don’t think I will recognize a woman’s breast against my body even if we were fighting in the dark?” Racheal asked.The cops had the grace to blush and feel uncomfortable at her comment.“Do you think the lights in your room were tampered with, or the storm made them faulty?”“I don’t know, when I got to my living room though, the lights were on. But so were my bedroom lights
“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