Racheal ran fast, all her years of having kept fit paying off.But she was beginning to feel dizzy again. No one in the streets helped, they looked at her, looked at the men chasing her and their eyes widened in fear, and they too ran off.If this was her karma, it came very quickly. She glanced back, the crowd chasing her had grown. They looked excited. A greater fear seized her. She knew it would be over if these people ever got her. Everyone in the country knew her, and were all currently angry with her. It was not every day they saw her alone, and unprotected. The sun had set and night was falling. She did not look at the road before she ran across it and ducked into a train station. There she paused for a few seconds to catch her breath. Everyone turned to look at her wide-eyed. Then she saw the dawn of recognition in their eyes.“Racheal Sherrod!” One person screamed.She turned, and ran fast. She glanced behind as she ran, and saw the mob who had been chasing her earlie
Steffan hurried in after Racheal.“I will not be able to live with the guilt if that boy dies.” She said, as she watched them wheel him into the emergency ward.“This is one of the best hospitals,” Steffan said simply, giving her space. He was watching her. She caught her reflection on the glass door behind, and saw she looked like she had been through a tornado. Her dress was ripped in many places and filthy. Her hair was a mangled gold mess.She looked away. She couldn't care less how she looked now. She was just glad she was not physically hurt. But she wanted that boy to be fine too. He had saved her. “Come sit.” Steffan’s voice was soft, but she heard the faint order in it. He did not want her arguing. She went to sit on one of the benches, and looked around. There were so many security men everywhere, in the hall, and even outside.She was currently outside the capital, in a nearby state. The capital did not have room to build a big rehab like the one Skylar had been co
Steffan took the dress from Justin, and asked him to arrange for a private ward. The couple walked into this private ward, and Steffan began to swipe through his phone. “Your father would be very mad,” Racheal said. “He will.” “You are defying him.” “I am.” She exhaled in frustration. What did Steffan have on his father? What did Spencer Sherrod owe him? Why were both his parents scared of him in some way? She understood he was wealthy, and with that kind of wealth came so much power. But Spencer was not poor either, and he was the f*cking president. How come his son continued to defy him like this without any consequences? She knew it could not be fatherly love that was making him not push back. He had not cared about fatherly love when he pushed Skylar out in marriage, his favourite child. “When you are ready, hit the red button, and you will be live.” Steffan said, handing his phone to her. He walked to the door, and turned the lock. She sighed, hesitating. “Ra
When Racheal woke up the next morning, she immediately sensed something was wrong. Steffan was not in bed beside her.She slowly rolled out of bed, her body ached from all that running and struggling yesterday.She checked the bathroom. He was not in there. She rinsed her face and mouth, and stepped out.“Steffan.” She called.He walked in as if on cue. She saw he was holding her purse. “Where did you find this?” She asked, looking up at him. He was fully dressed, and not in a casual outfit for a Sunday, but in a shirt and a pair of dress pants."Good morning to you too.” He said, and kissed her forehead. She blushed.“Sorry. Where did you find this?”“One of the guards picked it up, apparently you dropped it in front of the rehab building before you ran for the hills.” He said, sitting on the bed. She giggled and took the bag from him, searching inside. She found her phone, and a box of the wristwatch she had made, and planned to give him on their trip yesterday.She looked at hi
Racheal hurried out of the shower and ransacked the closet for a suitable dress.“Will journalists be there?” She asked.“I think so, it is an official visit, however impromptu.” Steffan appeared at the closet door, watching her.“Steffan.” She grumbled. “You could have told me earlier. There was enough time to get ready.”“You know, when you call my name like that..” He said.She gave him a look, and he laughed. “They can wait. I would have them wait hours to meet you if I had to.”“You are testing the boundaries with your father.” She said, finally picking out a beautiful off-white suit dress, with short pleats at the hem.“You know how I love testing boundaries.” He leaned down to kiss her cheek as she walked past him. She frowned, and he laughed. He seemed in a very good mood. Was it the watch, or had he found Zuri?“You are not being helpful. I have already wasted three minutes of the ten.” She said.“I will call your maids.”***With Leah and Luna’s help, she managed to get re
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
“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