Steve, Amanda, and Denise watched the news while they had their mini party, which was mostly them drinking and talking, even though they were all tired from having been out all day. As expected, the media was agog with the news of Derek's death, and the glee on Amanda's face at the thought that her efforts had finally paid off and she was well on her way to getting what she felt was her rightful inheritance was unmistakable. Even Steve who wasn't related to Derek felt somewhat bad at the news of his murder, and it seemed that Denise felt the same way, because she was strangely silent and pensive. It was only Amanda who was full of life and happy as hell. That happiness turned into utter shock and total disbelief in the next hour, though. They were still drinking and discussing trivial things when the news channel that was currently on, diverted from showing the regular news to show breaking news. The breaking news was that billionaire Derek Turner, who had earlier that aftern
Steve listened to Amanda and Logan fight groggily, as he lay in bed in the house that they had come to after kidnapping Harper and Gracie.He had suddenly felt so tired not long after he retired to sleep and didn’t even realize when he fell asleep. He heard Logan hit Amanda and heard her sharp squeal of surprise and pain, but he didn’t bother getting up to ask what was wrong, because it wasn’t any of his business, and frankly, he didn’t care.Also, he felt so tired and sleepy and it was such a chore to keep his eyes open. Not long after that, he heard Logan drive away in a huff.Logan and Amanda’s fight was what had woken Steve up and now, he struggled to remain awake, but he found that somehow, it was difficult to do so, and this was strange, considering the fact that he was something of an insomniac.As he lay there battling sleep, he began to think about his life choices, which hadn't been very good. Yes, he was successful, and yes, he had money and he had fame, but he was a desp
It didn’t take long for Steve to find the basement door and he heaved a heavy sigh of relief when he found it. He wished that he could get some water to splash on his face so that he could be more alert and awake, but he didn’t have the luxury of time to try and find some water. The basement door was locked … no surprise there and he put his ear to it, trying to see if he could hear any noise from inside it, but there was total silence, just as there was silence inside the house. He had known that the door would be locked, but that wasn't a problem for him because he had a paper clip attached to his bunch of keys, which he usually used to remove his SIM card from his phone. All he had to do was to pick the lock as quietly as possible and hope that he would be able to do that before anyone woke up or noticed what he was doing. He had experience in picking locks right from when he was young and ran away from home with his brother, and although he hadn't used that particular skill i
By the time Steve woke up sometime later, the sun was streaming through the trees and he could hear the crunching of leaves somewhere not far away.He froze in fear and looked around, but there was nothing to see other than trees and little shrubs. Harper and Gracie were sleeping peacefully on the ground beside him. There wasn’t much cover for them to be concealed if whoever was out there in the forest came towards where they were. Although his heart was slamming against his chest very rapidly, Steve remained quiet, hoping against hope that whoever was out there would go away. It occurred to him that it could be a hunter or someone else who could help them, but he wasn't willing to take the chance of calling out. He was glad he didn't take that chance when he heard Amanda's unmistakable voice berating and insulting someone. Not long after, Amanda and the other person or people left and everything was silent again. By this time, the sun was shining through the trees and Steve rea
The days passed agonizingly slowly and Ava fell into severe depression. She was going through utter hell and was unable to believe that this was what her life had come to.While it was true that Derek didn’t die from the gunshot wound that had managed to penetrate his chest, he remained in a coma and showed no signs whatsoever of regaining consciousness anytime soon, or even ever.He had had to go through delicate surgeries to have the bullet that, by some sheer stroke of luck, didn't hit any major organs, removed. However, some complications had arisen during surgery, and he remained in a coma.The joy and hope that flooded Ava’s entire being when her mother delivered the news that Derek was still alive, but only unconscious to her, had since ebbed away as there was no improvement in his case.As soon as he was stabilized, he was moved down to a hospital in the city where they lived, and Ava sat with him every hour of every day until a nurse came to demand that she leave to rest, and
Inside the envelope were several pictures of Harper that were obviously taken by her captor. As Ava stared at the pictures, tears welled in her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. How could anyone be so callous to do this to an innocent child? Harper was held in what appeared to be a basement, and the picture was clear enough for Ava to see welts where the girl had been beaten with what must be a belt. "Oh, God! My baby! My poor baby!" Ava cried. "We shouldn't have shown it to her, Mom." Ava's sister said again, crying alongside her sister. "No, no. It's fine. At least we know that she's alive. We just need to find her faster before this sadistic demon does worse than this." Before anyone could say anything else, there was a knock on the door and Ava's mom opened it to see Gracie's mom standing there. The woman was crying as well and in her hands was an envelope that was identical to the one that Ava had received. Inside the envelope were pictures of Gracie as well, but she
“Amanda and Denise? You've got to be kidding me! What on earth do they want and why on earth are they here?" Ava asked her mother, unable to believe her ears.Her mother stared back at her helplessly, not knowing what to answer. Ava disliked her unwelcome visitors so much and never wanted to be around them because as far as she was concerned, they were always up to some mischief. "I don't know what they want, honey. They probably came to commiserate with you." Her mother answered at last. "I don't want to see them. There's no point acting as though we're friends or cool with each other when we're not." "Do you want me to tell them that you're not receiving visitors at the moment?" Ava's mother asked her. "Yes ... You know what? On second thought, I think I'll see them. They've probably come to float at my predicament, under the guise of pretending to be here to say sorry." Ava said. She took her time dressing up before heading to the living room, where the two women were seated.
To Ava’s utter surprise and relief, it wasn’t bad news that the hospital was calling to inform her about. Instead, it was good news. For the first time in almost two weeks since this whole tragedy happened, Ava heaved a huge sigh of relief. Things were starting to look up. According to what she had just been told, Derek was starting to show signs of waking up from his coma. Ava was glad that she was already ready to leave for the hospital, otherwise, she would have died from suspense during the time it would have taken for her to get ready. She rushed down to the hospital, where she met an ecstatic Damien, who was still at the hospital with Derek. "Is it true, Damien? Oh, please tell me that it's true." Ava exclaimed as soon as she saw him. "It is indeed true. Ava. I saw it myself. He hasn't opened his eyes yet, but he moved his fingers a little, and according to the doctor, responded to some stimuli. He's going to be alright, Ava. I told you so, didn't I? Despite his soft
“It was by sheer luck, if not, they never would have found you on time, and what would have happened then does not bear thinking about. Apparently, they managed to arrest the guy that Amanda initially hired to do all this sometime yesterday.Once the asshole realized that there was no chance in hell that he would get out of this and that he was well and truly done for, he began to sing like a canary. He led the police right to the house, and the rest, as they say, is history. I'm so thankful we got there on time.” Damien said.“Yeah, me too. It’s still hard to believe that Amanda could be filled with so much hate in her heart and that she was willing to go to such lengths to harm Derek, me, and even our child who has done nothing to her.”“I was surprised as well. I always knew that she was a mean person, but I never imagined that she was downright evil. I'm glad you followed through on your instinct.”“Me too. So is Amanda still …” Ava asked, unable to finish the question.“Unfortuna
Mother and daughter hugged each other for what felt like decades, and when they finally pulled apart, Ava's arm was hurting where she had been shot."I'm so sorry, baby. No one will ever hurt you again, I promise. Not when I'm alive." Ava said, ruffling Harper's hair, and wincing when she saw where the area on her head that had been shaved because of an injury there."The bad woman hit me with a gun. She shot Uncle Steve with the gun. Uncle Steve wanted to run away with me and Gracie, Mom." Harper explained, noting that Ava's eyes were on the wound.Ava gulped and averted her gaze immediately, unable to imagine the horror that Harper and Gracie had been through. Little children like them should never have to see someone murdered in cold blood.Seeing such a thing messed with even grownups like her, not to talk of children.The girls were going to need loads of therapy. Once again, Ava damned Amanda and Denise to hell and back in her mind. Suddenly, she realized the implications o
Ava had grabbed Denise because she wanted to use her as a human shield, and her plan worked pretty well, as it was all that saved her from what would have been certain death.The bullets that Amanda had just fired hit Denise point blank and in rapid succession. She died quickly, although the other two women didn’t know it yet.Ava felt Denise’s body jerk with the force of the shots at the same time that she saw Amanda crumple to the ground as though in slow motion.That was confusing, and Ava stared at her in surprise, unable to fathom what had just happened.She glanced down at Denise, whom she still held, and who was clearly very dead, and let go of her body immediately, feeling extremely sickened.She needed to focus on not getting killed, which was what Amanda was bent on doing to her.Amanda was trying to get back up, but before she could manage to do that, someone tackled her, and hit the gun out of her hand,Within moments, policemen swarmed the room, and Ava collapsed in relie
Denise and Ava stared warily at each other after Amanda left the room, and a few seconds later, Ava decided to try to reason with the other woman, even though she wasn’t sure that Denise was going to listen to her. “Denise, please, let us go. I promise not to press charges against you. You must know from all indications that there’s no way the both of you are going to get out of this unscathed. It doesn’t matter what Amanda says now. I can see in your eyes that you know it.” Ava tried to get to Denise. It was all she could do not to rush straight at Denise and grab Harper, who was whimpering in fear and trying not to move so that the knife would not nick her, away from the woman. She could see the fear and indecision in Denise’s face. Apparently, she was wise to realize what Amanda clearly failed to realize, which was that Ava was right and there was no way she and Amanda going to get out of this without being apprehended by the police. “Shut up!” Denise muttered. “Think abou
Ava didn’t wait to see what would happen next. She rushed straight at Amanda, faintly aware that her arm was hurting weirdly, but her adrenaline was too great for her to think anything of the pain right then. She had taken self-defense classes several times in the past, and although it had been a long time since she took them, those classes came in handy at that moment. Her life, as well as those of Harper and the other little girl, Gracie, depended on her. She couldn't let them down. She began to try to wrestle the gun away from Amanda, who struggled fiercely with her. As they struggled with the gun, it kept discharging, but by some miracle, neither of them was hit. Finally, the gun was out of bullets, and Amanda let go of it while yelling for Denise to come at the same time. Ava wasn’t done with her, though. She thought of poor Harper and her friend who were somewhere in that house, scared to death and definitely not in the best shape. She thought about Derek, who had been throug
Adrenaline pumped through Ava’s entire body, and utter rage filled her entire being. She was right! She had been right all along. These evil women were the ones who had abducted her daughter and another innocent child. She would have called for help, but there was no service on her phone, and she could only hope that Damien and the police would be somehow able to find her and soon too, before something bad happened to her or the girls. Had it been she had thought things through earlier, she would have gotten a car tracker before coming on this solo adventure. Unfortunately, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined what the night would bring, and so she had failed to take this necessary precaution. One moment, she was standing outside the house in fear, and the next moment, she found herself beside the door. Without caring what was waiting on the other side of the door, she threw herself against it as hard as she could. She thought fleetingly of the poor soul that was growing in
Ava didn’t go back home after driving away from Denise’s place. Instead, she parked her car the next block away from Denise’s house in a spot where her car would not easily be detected.Then she waited for what felt like an eternity for Denise to leave her house because she had every intention of following the woman to wherever it was that she was going.Her phone was blowing up with calls from Damien, who had left her several messages, asking her not to do anything drastic that could cause Denise to have the power to get her arrested or something.She ignored the messages and continued to wait. After a while, she saw a car, which she recognized as one of Amanda’s cars, come from the opposite direction and drive towards Denise’s house.Ava’s heart immediately began to beat really fast. Amanda was picking Denise up? Where the hell were both of them headed by that time of the night? Several minutes later, the car appeared again and drove off into the night.Ava let a few minutes pass, a
Ava sat in her idling car outside Denise’s house, her nerves failing her now that she was here.What was she thinking, sneaking out of her house like a thief in the night and coming here to the house of her sworn enemy?She just couldn't continue to sit at home, wringing her hands and crying while waiting for something positive to happen.She wasn’t sure what to do now that she was here, but she had to do something.Taking a deep breath, she took her phone and texted Damien to tell him where she was, just in case somehow, her hunch was right.If it was, then it would be incredibly dangerous and foolhardy to just walk into Denise’s waiting arms without telling anyone where she was.Even though it was only a little past eight in the evening, the streets were deserted, and there was no one around.Ava was about to open her car door and get out of the car when the lights in Denise’s house went off. Apparently, she was preparing to go to sleep.Ava sat still for a few minutes, wondering wh
It had been several days since Amanda and Denise paid their so-called courtesy call to Ava at her house … a move that Denise thought was incredibly stupid and dangerous.After all, the three women weren't friends and all of their acquaintances knew that, so it was surely going to look weird and suspicious that Denise and Amanda decided to visit Ava.Unfortunately, once Amanda put her mind to something, especially in recent times, it was practically impossible to change her mind, and so Denise had no choice but to go along with whatever she wanted, even if she thought it was foolhardy.“I’ve got a bad feeling, Amanda,” Denise said.“About what?” Amanda, who was in a terribly foul mood asked.It was now common knowledge that Derek had not only survived the gunshots but had also gone on to regain consciousness. Ever since this news broke out, Amanda had been unconsolable and had even taken out her frustration on Derek’s daughter, whom she still held captive.“I don’t know … I’ve got a ba