CIARA'S POVI stared at them from my car, watching them get cozy as they leaned on the railing of the verandah. I couldn't hear what was being said, but I knew I was losing the battle, I was losing my man, and my world was falling apart. I retrieved a cigarette from the pack on the dashboard of my car, then sighed.My barbershop business was suffering. I had chosen to follow Tristian Ravenford, to obsess over him even though it wasn't healthy, and I knew that despite the fact that he wasn't ever going to look at me the same way ever again, I was still pushing it. I was still doing what I did because I loved him and I wanted him to love me too. I wanted him to look at him in the same way that I looked at him. I lit the cigarette, my mind wandering to Kayla's son, who was alone in the house with a babysitter. This could be my chance to hurt them, to tell them that there were people who didn't approve of their relationship, who didn't approve of their being together. I took a drag of
KAYLA'S POVI was in the furniture market, trying to choose some chairs and tables for my client in the United kingdom. I wanted to make his house beautiful, I needed that five star review. If I wanted to go to the top, there was only one way to achieve it, by satisfying my clients.The talk of satisfaction made me recollect all that had occured after the dinner date last night. After dropping me, I had asked Tristian Ravenford if he wanted to come in, but to my utmost shock, he said no. He wanted to take things slow, were the exact words he had used, and it made me laugh time and time again. I understood him perfectly though. He didn't want to jeopardize our relationship, he had said it time and time again in the car till I had come to believe it. He wanted what was best for us, and had promised again and again that he wasn't going to screw up. I liked this version of Tristian Ravenford better. He knew that I was fragile, he knew the stakes in the relationship and he knew what was
CIARA'S POV“How did it go?”For the first time in months I was in my barbershop, attending to a client. It was in a state of disarray, no matter how well I trusted Lucas and Arianna, they hadn't done a good job of taking care of the shop because they knew there was no one to query them. The mirrors were dusty, the floors showed signs of not being mopped recently, and even some clippers were faulty. I had scolded them, raising my voice to make sure they knew the dexterity of their offense. How dare they leave the shop in tatters? It was clearer now, this was the reason there were no customers, not because I wasn't taking care of the place, it was simply because it wasn't clean.Adrian stood next to me, watching me do my work. He had come in a few minutes ago, and his face beared signs of worry. It made me wonder what had transpired between him and the interior designer lady.“Bad, very very bad. I don't think she believed me. She’s stronger than she actually looks, that one. She mig
ADRIAN'S POVAs soon as I got back home, I knew I was coming back to trouble. Natalie's car was in the garage, and I could hear her teaching Nancy something while the reduced sound of the television was humming in the background.I opened the door, then smiled as Nancy immediately abandoned what she had been doing to come and greet me. “Daddy!”She flew into my arms, her hair falling over her face. I wondered why Natalie kept it long and would've talked about cutting it, but what right did I have when she was the one doing the feeding and the clothing? Even the shelter belonged to her, and I didn't have a say in family matters any longer because I wasn't doing my job which was to provide.“How are you?”I asked her, giving her a cheerful smile. “I'm good, Dad, you? I like your haircut. Mummy says you stay in the house way too much, and that is why I didn't have any milk to use with my cereal after I came back from school. Hope you're going to buy another bottle of milk, Dad? I'll ne
CIARA'S POVFor the past week, I had watched Kayla Smith and her son. Not only did I know his school's closing hours, I knew practically everything that had to do with Kayla Smith's schedule. I was perfecting my plan, putting everything in place to make sure that on that D-day, no stone would be left unturned. We were going to execute our plans perfectly, and that was why I was watching her, I was rounding up my plans. Getting out of bed, I poured water on my face, then brushed my teeth. I sent a text message to Adrian, informing him about the abduction. Today was the day, and once he was in, there was no going back. I donned on a shirt and trousers, then slipped into my car. I spent about five minutes waiting for Adrian to arrive. He arrived, carrying a bag that contained the ski mask and other tools we were going to use to carry out our plans. Biding our time, we sipped beer together while time flew. I smoked a cigarette, then we exited the restaurant together. By the time it wa
KAYLA'S POVMy head was spinning, I was perspiring furiously and my heart was hammering in my chest. Images of Liam flashed across my mind time and time again, and for a moment, I wanted to fall out of exhaustion and fatigue. Why kidnap my son? Why not kidnap me instead? Why not torment me and let my son go free? The questions popped up in my mind, all of them without answers. They were like rhetorical questions, rhetorical questions that hurt me, that made me question my existence and how badly I had performed as a mother. “Ma'am, please calm down. I've just called the headmaster, he'll be here in a few minutes. Please, I'm pretty sure we can sort this out.”But I wasn't listening. All my mind could do was manufacture images of Liam suffering, images of him being tortured or worse, being beaten. I couldn't wrap my mind around it. Was it a prank?It wasn't a prank. It was happening before my eyes, my son was missing. By the time the headmaster emerged from the building in his shir
TRISTAN'S POVWhen I got Kayla's text, I was about to enter a meeting with a company that consisted of Europeans hustling for a good place to boost their business and build one of their branches. Ignoring the prospects and the potential that the meeting could provide, I stepped out of my office, my world seeming to come to a halt. Despite the fact that Liam wasn't confirmed to be my son yet, I treated him like my son. Hell, he was one of the reasons I had even stayed true to Kayla in the first place. He was the one that had me going there, his cheerfulness and his free spiritedness was just what I had always wanted.He was me ten years ago, he was the teenager I used to be. He was a lovely child, and when I heard the news, I wondered why anyone would do such a thing. What did one even want to achieve by kidnapping such a child? What wrong had he done? What had he done apart from bring more love and more cheerfulness to the world? As I plowed the roads, navigating my way to the poli
CIARA'S POVWhen Liam came to, I was ready. With a bottle of orange juice and some waffles, I knew that he was already starving. For the past few hours, I had been pacing, suspecting that I had used too much chloroform. He hadn't been breathing properly, and that was what I was afraid of. When I checked his pulse and found out that it was beating faintly, I finally calmed down enough to run to a grocery store and get the snacks that were in my hand. Adrian sat down, playing games on the television with a console. It was a house that I had managed to rent last minute in order for it to fit with our plans. I had stocked it enough to make a child comfortable.The aim was not to make the child suffer, but to make his parents afraid. As far as I was concerned, I wasn't going to touch a hair on Liam Smith's head. He was going to go back home safe and sound, but first of all, our plans had to be achieved, the aim of him being in the house and enjoying the expenses he was plunging us into w
KAYLA'S POV The courtroom was filled to the brim. The tension was crackling, and one could hear a pin drop.Both lawyers had presented their arguments, and it was up to the jury to make their decision before it would be passed down to the judge.I stare at Tristian Ravenford, who stared at me in return. He was in a beautiful suit, and he looked handsome. His wound was healing fast, and his life was returning back to normal. All of our lives were returning back to normal.Liam was in school once again, and his story was being turned into a documentary. A writer was also writing it to turn it into a book, it was a beautiful story, a story of survival and determination to survive, to live. I was back at work, but I had a different plan for myself and my son after this case. During the past year while the case had been dragging on, I had used the proceeds of Nova interiors to set up another branch in California. That was my plan. I was going to move away with Liam, and I was going to st
KAYLA'S POVI fell in shock as I watched the life seep out of the man I had come to love. He was bleeding profusely, and from the distant look in his eyes, I could see that he was gradually fading.The gun had fallen from Ciara's hand and she was also bent in worry, her hair soaking up Tristian's blood as she bent to check if he was breathing. I was dumbfounded. I was lost. I was crippled with fear. I didn't know what to do at that moment, I could only pray that Tristian Ravenford didn't die. I couldn't imagine living without him, I couldn't imagine losing him. I was crying now, but I wasn't myself. It seemed I was looking at everything happening from a distance. That was what fear seemed to do to me. Fear was one of my enemies, and anytime it hit me at its fullest, I would suddenly go numb. I was paralyzed by fear. By the fear of death. But at that moment, the paralysis disappeared because a dozen sirens began to sound, and even the huge siren of the ambulance made me wipe my tea
KAYLA'S POVI left the station after Tristian. I wanted to know where he was going. When he kissed me on the forehead, there was something in his eyes, a determined look that told me all I needed to know. He was going somewhere, somewhere dangerous, and he didn't want me to know. For all I knew, the kiss on my forehead was one of farewell. And if I was going to lose my son, I didn't want to lose him too no matter how much I hated the chaos he had brought into my life. That was why I left the station in a taxi, telling the taxi to follow his car. I was afraid for him. I was afraid that he wasn't going to come back to me, afraid of the steely determined expression I had found on his face, of the look in his eyes. I didn't want to lose Tristian Ravenford because I still loved him. And I would do anything to keep that love alive and burning. His car stopped next to a house that had overgrown grass and peeling paint. I stopped the taxi, paying the bald headed driver off and tipping hi
TRISTIAN'S POVI drove out of the police station, my feet on the accelerator. I knew exactly where Ciara's old house was located, and even though I wasn't particularly sure, I felt that she was inside there. My instincts told me so. There was no other place Ciara Hemsworth went to hide when things were tough, and I believed that she was still in that house, probably waiting for the chaos she had created to die down. But why?Why did it have to be Liam? What had I done to Ciara to deserve the hate and the dislike? What had I done, that had deserved Kayla's son being kidnapped, that had almost brought a rift in our relationship and destroyed it?As far as I knew, I had never left Ciara just because I wanted to leave her. I had left her because my life was endangered, because I knew and felt that if she was capable of ganging up with my old friends and stealing my money, then there was nothing she couldn't do to satisfy her greed for money. But why?Why had she gone ahead to try and d
CIARA'S POV I stood next to my car, crouching. I was quite a distance from the apartment I shared with Adrian, but I could see everything that was happening. I had initially wanted to go out, but I had just discovered that I had forgotten the stash of cash I wanted to use in purchasing gas for my car.About four or more police squad cars had filled the yard, and I could see a few policemen come out. A megaphone rented the air, announcing that anyone in the house should come forth. When I saw Adrian come out of the house his hands raised in surrender, my heart skipped a beat. The policemen were all over him in seconds, his body against the squad car. A few officers went inside the house, and I imagined them combing the house, looking for Liam. I nodded grimly. Jokes on them. That was my reason for taking him to the orphanage. It was just as if I had known. It was happening before my eyes. The officers came forth from the house empty-handed. A few questions were thrown to Adrian wh
ADRIAN'S POV I stared at Camila, surprised, hurt and angry. How dare she choose Tristian Ravenford over me? I had been in the meeting for days, the spoils were mine to take.How come she had made the whole shareholders still vote for Tristian over me? I was annoyed. Standing, I addressed them, my hands trembling in anger.Without mincing words, I left the agency, anger coursing through my veins. How was it possible? How had he made it happen?I knew that Camila was once his lover, but how she had successfully maneuvered the decision of the shareholders to favor Tristian Ravenford was beyond me. I saw everything I had planned by trying to get power come crashing down. I wasn't going to get a good lawyer, and I wasn't going to get custody of my daughter.Dejected, I entered the house I now shared with Ciara, surprised to see her eating and not finding Liam anywhere.“Ciara? Where's Liam?”She stared at me, grinning widely.“Didn't you get my text? Him being around wasn't safe. I've ta
KAYLA'S POVComing back home, I noticed Tristan's Porsche in my garage once again. For the record, I knew what he was going through at the moment. I had heard that he hadn't even been going to work anymore.He was going through the same feelings I was going through because of Liam. It was clear as day. Maybe I was treating him quite wrongly, maybe I was treating him unfairly. He had already gone to three private investigators, and most of them had been paid without any results. It was all the same thing.He was sitting on the stairs and stood up when he saw me, his eyes glinting in happiness. His hair was a mess, his shirt was stained and even his beards were unshaven. At that moment, all I wanted to do was hold him. We had been through a lot together, and I knew it was best if I let him come into my house at least for the time being. He sat on the sofa, watching television while I took a shower. When I entered the sitting room, I could see his eyes light up as soon as he saw me in
ADRIAN'S POVI stared at my wife, Natalie. She was stating her terms clearly, and although she had said it before, I couldn't believe it. I was finding it difficult to believe that she meant what she was saying, that she was indeed doing what I thought she was doing.For the past two weeks, I had been so occupied with my role in the Liam abduction that I had absolutely no time for anything else. That meant missing a few of Natalie's calls and texts, and getting back to the house I used to call mine after that period, I was shocked to see everything packed up. Natalie was staring at me, awaiting my reply.She had stated her terms fairly. She wanted a divorce. And she wanted to take custody of our daughter.“Come on, Natalie, come off it.”“There's no coming off anything, Adrian Ravenford. You left the house for two weeks, never returned my calls or texts. Never checked up on your daughter. Never even bothered to ask us how we were faring. And now you hope to see your house in the orde
CIARA'S POVI didn't like the way things were going. It was now a week and Tristian Ravenford wasn't still mine. It drove me crazy, the fact that I might be doing all this in vain, that at the end of the day, he might not even belong to me. He was probably still with Kayla right now, and even thinking about it made me hurt with anger. Adrian on the other hand had started to infiltrate Tristian's agency. Due to the fact that he wasn't coming to work, it was stated in the company rules that within two working weeks, if the head of the shareholders didn't show up, then it was natural for a member of his family to take up the post after a vote. Adrian was going to his agency everyday without Tristian's knowledge, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before he got his heart's desire, before he achieved what he was seeking. And what about me? When was I going to achieve mine?It hurt me and as I stared at Liam, I suddenly realized that the hatred I felt towards him and his mother