“Sure. But it’s one he drove you to make this decision.”“That may be true, but I’m okay with this,” Audrey said, rubbing her small baby bump. “I’m happy. I’m excited.”“Well, all I know that our babies are going to be best friends. And I can’t keep coming over here for secret playdates. I’m not saying you need to get back together with him, but I don’t think you’re doing the right thing by keeping this baby from him.”“I know people are going to disagree with me. But I know it’s what’s best for the both of us.”“I’ll support you no matter what, you know that.”“I know you will. But enough about me. Tell me about you! How does Mark feel?”“Girl, his whole family lost their damn minds. His mom had offered me like, two million dollars to leave him. I told her hell no. And then I threw up all over their living room.”“She tried to buy Mark from you?”“She’s fucking crazy, but yeah. But after she found out I was pregnant, she was singing a different song. That lady loves me. She won’t let
“Hi,” he said.“How was your day?” She placed her hands on his chest and leaned against him.“Fine,” Lucien tried to move away from her, but she continued to crowd him.“I was thinking that maybe we could cook together and watch a movie tonight?”He thought of the last time he did that and couldn’t help his small smile. That was one of the greatest nights of his life. He held on to it as tight as he could.Mia misunderstood his reaction and felt encouraged by it.“And then after maybe we can have some private time. I seem to remember your rather… voracious appetite. You could never get enough of me.” she said suggestively.Lucien’s smile fell away, and he pushed Mia off him.“No thank you,” he said. “We’re not going to have that kind of relationship, Mia. I don’t know how many times I have to say that to you.”“Lucien…”Mia whined.“I’m tired.” He pushed passed her and went to his bedroom.Mia fumed in the hallway. He could keep spurning her advances, but she would keep trying. Will ha
Lucien was stunned for a moment. He pushed Mia away and looked her in the eyes.“A thousand times, yes.”“I am not asking to marry you. My aunt did this.She thinks that by getting married, I can solidify my place as CEO of the company.”“Oh,” Mia said pretending to be shocked. All a part of the plan. “Well, Lucien,if this is what needs to happen for us to be together, then I’m okay with it.”“This isn’t a marriage for love,” He said. He furrowed his eyebrows at Mia’s happy expression. It was as though she wasn’t listening to him. “You know that, right?”“Yes. And like I said, I don’t care. I’m ready to be your wife. I’ve always been ready.” She reached over to embrace him again, but Lucien dodged and stood from the couch. He stared at her with true confusion.“Did I say something wrong?”“How can you be okay with this,Mia? This is an arrange marriage.”“Well, we were heading that way before anyway, weren’t we? Your father always wants us to get married since we were little. And then w
“I understand. But you still have to get me pregnant, don’t you? A child will only further solidify your position, wouldn’t it?”“That’s not going to happen, so you don’t have to worry about it. This marriage is preposterous enough. I’m not going to put you through all of that.”“But what if that’s what I want?” Mia asked.Lucien narrowed his eyes in confusion. This was getting weirder and weirder.“How could you want that? Mia, I may have loved you once, but I don’t anymore. You saw to that.”“Is it Audrey? Is that why you don’t want to have children with me?”“I can’t do this with you, right now.”He turned to leave and Mia grabbed his arm.“She is gone! She left you!”“So did you,” Will seethed.“But I’m back now, and I want to be with you. I want to be your wife and have your babies!”“You should have said that years ago.”“I did! And you said no.”“I said, not yet. For the last damn time, Mia. We were young as hell. There was no reason for us to get married at that age. But I was
Mark came to see him, a disappointed look in his eyes.“What are you doing?” He asked.“I don’t know. Saving my company, I guess.”“Tracy didn’t come with me.”“No, I didn’t think she would. How is she?”“She’s fine. The baby is getting big.”“Good.”“Dude, really. You don’t have to do this.”“I do, though. But thanks. I’ll see you out there.”Mark shook his head and left. His best friend was fading away before his eyes. There was no fire in him anymore. It was only a matter of time until he was completely extinguished.Lucien took his place at the altar. He turned on a false, but bright smile. Camera lights flashed in his eyes. Mia came down the aisle, but he didn’t see her.“Dearly beloved,” the officiant began. “We are gathered here today, the presence of beloved family and friends to celebrate the union of these two people in love.” The officiant’s words were white noise to Lucien. Everything was a haze. He said the right words when he needed to say them, smiled when he needed to
“Listen, I know this has been difficult, and I haven’t made it any easier with my expectations. And I’m sorry about that. I figured we could pick up right where we left off, but we’re different people.”“Mia…”“Please let me finish. If I don’t say this now, I’ll never be able to say it.” Lucien nodded for her to continue. “I hurt you. And I will never forgive myself for that. We may not be everything we were, but I hope we can rebuild something between us again. Remember…” she laughed. “Remember that one time we got lost in the woods during that one camping trip?”“Yeah,” Lucien smiled without wanting to. “You were crying the whole time.”“Excuse me,” she feigned offense. “I remember that quite differently. You were such a scaredy cat back then.”“I was not,” He laughed. “Okay, maybe a little. But still, that time you were the one that was scared. You were convinced that a witch was going to come and eat us.”“I was eight,” Mia defended herself. “How about that time I had to save you
Lucien realized what she was doing. He was still mad at her, but he was grateful for this interaction between her and his cousin. Mia’s visits to the office became a regular thing. Over the next few weeks, the staff grew to like her and were enthusiastic for her visits. She was charming, kind, and polite. He was happy to see this change in her. It made living with her easier. She had recovered from her miserable marriage with Philip, and some of the old Mia had begun to shine through.She seemed ready to move into the next chapter of her life but was trapped in this arranged marriage. It was unfair for both of them. He thought they should have a conversation about that soon. The more time that passed, he knew that he would never love her. Because it had become abundantly clear to him. He loved Audrey now.********Along with Mia’s regular visits to the office,Stella and Julius started visiting his home.Mia was the happy, courteous, and elegant wife society dictated she should be. Luc
Lucien stared at them, his eyes blank and empty.“Your position in the company is in better standing since you got married. Mia’s family is powerful and influential in high society,” Julius stated. “The board is pleased by this union.”“And it was me that arranged the marriage. We should be compensated for securing your standing in the company. My brilliant idea and quick thinking saved you.”Lucien laughed, but the sound was cynical and sour.“Of course. I should have known,” he shook his head, and a sad smile stretched across his face. “For a moment, just a moment I let myself believe that I meant more than dollar signs to you. But I should have known better. And now I see that you trapped me in a marriage I didn’t want so you two could secure your fucking pay day.”“Your father left you everything, and only gave us some stupid cottage that no one wants,” Stella screeched.“You have to take care of us now,” Julius added.“Why should I?Why have you two always been so lazy to work for
NEARLY TEN YEARS LATER….Lucien came to a halt in front of a school,he sometimes come to get the kids from school,sometimes Audrey does that or their driver.He got down from his car and saw them approaching,all three of them.Louis ran up to him excitedly.Lucien caught him and carried him on his arms.“How was school today?”Lucien asked.“It was fine.”His eldest child,Bella replied with a broad smile.He gave Braylon,his second child who was seven years old a fist bump as they got into the car.***********Lucien hurried around the kitchen,Audrey was busy with work today so he had wanted to take care of the children,feed them and put them to sleep before she comes back home so that when she gets back,she can have a good rest…well a good rest after they finish making love.He was preparing pasta for the kids and he knew he had to make it perfect,otherwise,Braylon would complain and tease him for days.Audrey has been busy these past couple of days but she promised to make it up to him
“What does that even mean?”“He had a strange obsession with Lucien. Everything Lucien did, he wanted to do. Everything Lucien had, he wanted to have. There was one year that he intentionally matched everything Lucien wore. He used to tell everyone that they had the same middle name. He even started talking to another girl in our class named Mia just because that was Lucien’s girlfriend’s name. I never liked him.”“Lucien never noticed this?”Mark let out a long, heavy sigh.“What you need to understand about Lucien, especially at that age, is that he was hungry for validation. Starving for it. If anything, all that strange attention made him feel important. To be perfectly honest, there may even be a good chance he didn’t even notice it. He was so wrapped up in Mia… his world didn’t have capacity for anything else.”Audrey felt small for a moment.“He really loved her, didn’t he?”Mark glanced at her for a moment and noted the sadness in her eyes.“He thinks he did. That wasn’t love,
“We saw that sexy ass car out here, and Nathan got the keys to go move it,” another young officer explained with tears in eyes and panic in his voice. “We all wanted… we all wanted to see. But when he turned the key… when he turned the key…” the young man sobbed. “Some people were too close and got caught in the explosion.”Captain Whitlock looked over at Lucien.“I think you were already bait and didn’t even know.”It was as though he was moving through sand. Nothing registered. Nothing clicked. Not the unnatural metal of the handcuffs as they tightened around his wrists. Not the officers’ angry voices as the read him his rights, or the rough hands that pushed and shoved him into a cell. Not when those cell doors slid home with a loud, echoing clang. Captain Whitlock tried to stop the way they were mishandling him. But they had lost one of their own. A young man who was vibrant and full of life, at the beginning of his career.Another one. Because of me?“I get one phone call. I need
Lucien’s eyes flashed up at the captain, filled with anger and anguish.“She contacted me while I was in Italy,” he almost snarled.“After you and Audrey had just been married?” Captain Whitlock raised an eyebrow.“Don’t judge me. There were… circumstances about that marriage. Either way, I didn’t want to see her. But she said that she needed someone to keep her from… Hurting herself.”The irony. She had run to him once to prevent that. But in the end, she had forced him to witness it. His eyes were dark and stony as he fought to keep his emotions in check. Part of him wanted to give in. To breakdown and just give in to himself. Anything to make these feelings go away forever.Captain Whitlock softened as he realized what was going on in Lucien’s mind.“Sorry. Why was she seeking such an intense escape?”“She was running from him. She said their marriage was in shambles and that things had gone horribly wrong, that he was cheating on her.”“That was it? He wasn’t hurting her?”“She sa
“Philip Carson”The name hung in the air between them, like a two-ton brick. After all this time, Ghost had a name. Now the hunter, could become the hunted.“Holy shit,” the captain fell back into his chair. All the air left his lungs. “That punk? That punk is Ghost?”“You know him?” Lucien’s eyes almost fell from his head.“I had him. Right here in this office years ago,” Captain Whitlock seethed. “Right there!” he shouted and kicked his chair across the room. “Ghost was right there!”“What the hell for?”“That piece of shit kid was always getting into trouble. Vandalism, petty theft, property theft, arson… all kinds of stuff. Typical spoiled rich boy shit. No offense. I always knew that kid was disturbed. He had no remorse for anything. The only thing he ever regretted was getting caught”“This was before he became Ghost obviously.”“Well, yes. But do you know that this means?”“What?”“It’s insanity. It’s the most oversimplification of anything that has ever happened.”“What?” Luci
He began spending most of his time at the building. “Command” they’d been calling it. Eugene and Mia couldn’t be trusted. The first prisoner,Racheal…Rebecca … whatever her name was, was being beaten even though he had given explicit instructions that she was not to be touched. And Mia could not at all be trusted with the other one. God, what was that one’s name? Ava? Avery? It was something with an “A”he was certain. Either way, it didn’t matter. They had to keep them both alive and the two overly emotional idiots he was working with were going to mess it up.Lucien was supposed to do a press conference and announce that he was relinquishing the company over to his cousin. The press conference was Eugene’s idea. He wanted a public take down and humiliation of his cousin. He was all for anything that made Lucien suffer. This plan wasn’t going to work. But he was interested to see how it would unfold.They planned to watch the press conference together. After it, his plan was to slink
His life had become a tunnel and the only light at the end of it was the demise of Lucien. It was the driving force in his soul. It was the pulsing his blood. His first meeting with Eugene set his plan back into motion. There was no improvising. Without even realizing, Lucien had been slipping through his fingers like fine sand. Always just beyond his reach. But this time he would get inside of Lucien’s world and destroy him from within.He kept a close watch on Lucien’s personal life. It seemed Mia had run back to marry him as he had anticipated. What he didn’t anticipate was the wrath it fueled in him. It was interesting. It had been so long since he felt any real emotion that it caught him off guard. Ever since he’d killed his father, it was as though he’d murdered his own feelings as well. Other than hate, nothing else lived within him. He often wondered why he even continued to do anything. He did have to admit that he was chasing the thrill of that first kill. Nothing ever seeme
“I told you not to get involved with her. Her father is my rival, and he has been encroaching on our territory. This,” he indicated the dead woman. “is a message.”“I loved her!” he screamed back, cradling her corpse in his arms.“You loved the other one too.”“This was different,” he cried. “She was pregnant! You killed my woman and my baby! We were going to tell you tomorrow night at dinner!”“Then I did you a favor. Children are a weakness, and you aren’t strong enough yet.”“Not strong enough?” he saw red. The vestiges of whatever humanity he had left dissipated. All that was left behind was anger and a thirst for vengeance. All the warmth left his soul. There was nothing left now. Nothing except an abyss with no end. He leveled his own gun at his father. “No one is stronger than me.”“Son, be careful.” His father’s eyes went wide. He dropped his gun and threw up his hands. He walked backwards slowly, like an animal being cornered by a predator. “You’re overly emotional right now.
Once she made the mistake of asking him what he and his father did. He brandished a gun and held it to her chest. To her immense relief, it wasn’t loaded. But she found that out only after he fired it. Bone aching terror was all she knew. Whatever life she had was almost gone. The only thing that was left was the memory of Lucien.Being with him was the last time she felt happy and safe. She clung onto the memories, and they were the only things keeping her afloat. Life was a nightmare and she just wanted to sleep.He knew he should have been treating her better. He knew that, but he just couldn’t seem to care. They were in love once. Or perhaps they just thought they were. The truth was that he was an escape to her. An escape from a life she thought she didn’t want. It was obvious that she wanted out. But his one issue was who she wanted to run to. He’d let her go if he knew that she wasn’t going back to him, back to Lucien.He refused to lose to him. So, as long as he knew she would r