The rest of the afternoon went well enough, except for the fact that Derek and Ava didn't speak much throughout that afternoon, despite the fact that he had spent all afternoon at her place.He was beginning to think that she was avoiding him. Her father, however, was pleased with the pack of wine that Derek brought for him."This is my favorite wine. How did you know that? Who's been spilling my secrets?" Ava's father asked as they had dinner.Derek couldn’t believe that so much time had passed since he first arrived at the house that afternoon, yet he didn't even notice because he enjoyed being there."Oh, Ava mentioned it sometime in the past and I remembered," He replied to Ava’s Dad’s question.That was when he and Ava newly got married and were having dinner together one night. He poured them each a glass of the wine, which was a gift from a friend and Ava mentioned that it was her favorite wine.Her tone and face were nostalgic as she said it, and since then, he made sure that
"I heard that Jerome is dead. I'm guessing you had something to do with it.” Denise said to Amanda, eyeing the other woman.She more or less lived in Amanda’s house nowadays, while she waited for someone to buy her house that was close to Derek’s so that she could have some money.She hated having to be without money … lots of it, to be precise, so she had also put up the luxury cars that she bought from the time she lived with Derek for sale.At least the sale of these items was going to keep her afloat pending when the scandal died down and she was able to start working again or pending when Amanda finally got rid of Derek and she got her share of his money … whichever one came first.“Of course, I had something to do with it. Having money is a really good thing. If you have money, you can do literally anything you want.” Amanda said, puffing up with her own self-importance.Denise took some time to reflect on how life really wasn’t fair at all. She had worked her ass off ever since
The two women stared at him in surprise as he slowly made his way into the restaurant.His eyes were obscured by shades that were meant to conceal his identity, but they certainly did not conceal his identity from Amanda and Denise though since they knew him like the back of their palm.“Isn’t that Steve? Why on earth is he looking like that?” Denise asked Amanda, who shrugged and wondered what on earth she saw in him in the first place.He must have seen them where they were sitting and staring at him because he came straight to their table and sat down opposite them.“Hey ladies,” He said, taking off his glasses, at which point Amanda and Denise both gasped.Steve’s eyes were bloodshot like he hadn't been getting enough sleep, his face was red and swollen and to sum it all up, he looked like shit.“What on earth happened to you?” Denise asked him in surprise.“Derek, our mutual enemy, happened to me. I swear that man thinks he's invincible.” Steve spat, his eyes showing the depth of
Not long after their lengthy man-to-man conversation, Derek and Mr Jones went back into the house because Derek had to prepare to leave.Emily looked at him inquiringly when he came back inside, and he smiled at her to assure her that all was well. He said goodbye to everybody, and finally, Ava got up to see him off to his car."Do you mind if we take a little walk down the street, Ava?" He asked her."Of course not. I don't mind. In fact, a walk will be just great after all that tension." She replied."You thought that there was tension in the house today? In my opinion, it was much better than yesterday.""I guess you're right about that. I hope my dad wasn’t too harsh on you when you guys went to discuss.""No, he wasn't. In fact, he bestowed the privilege of being part of the family upon me, and I feel very honored because your family seems to be really interesting, at least compared to mine, or rather the one I used to have.""That's a good sign then.""He did tell me that he pre
It seemed as though Steve turned over a new leaf overnight. Whereas before, he couldn’t hide his disgust for Amanda, now, he waited on her hands and foot, called her day and night, and generally acted like a man who was in love."I still don't know what you want from me, Steve," Amanda told him one afternoon when he took her out for lunch yet again. She wasn’t complaining, though.As far as she was concerned, she was living her best life. Steve could be quite charming when he decided to be and he was really putting his mind to being charming these days, but still, she knew that she had to be on her guard.She had been burned by him once before, and she didn't want that to happen to her again.It was a good thing that Steve was acting the way he was now and was giving her all the attention that she craved because Logan had all but disappeared into thin air after taking the fifty grand for killing Jerome.She knew that he would be back in no time though ... Perhaps when the money was fi
“I thought I already told you that I would have nothing to do with the kid. The only person I'm going to go after is your brother, and maybe I can be persuaded to go after his ex-wife too, but I'm not going to unalive an innocent child." Logan told her, scowling when she mentioned Harper."No one said you had to do anything to her yourself. You can surely hire someone to kill her or something, or if you don't want to do that, you can kidnap her and leave the rest to me. I don't mind doing it myself. You've got another thing coming if you think that Derek won't leave his wealth to her if anything happens to him or that bitch he's so obsessed with. If they're all out of the way, then naturally, since I'm the closest living and only relative, for that matter, I'll get everything." She told him. It was simple common sense.He seemed more grumpy than he usually was, and she wondered what an earth his problem was, but she did not care enough to ask him."Were you fucking that actor guy?" He
After their talk the other night, Derek began to court Ava. According to her, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get back together, so he made it his mission to show her reasons why getting back together was a good thing for the both of them.Her family remained in her house for a few more days after he talked with her Dad. During those days, he stayed away from her house so as to give her family some time and privacy to visit with her, but he still made sure to call her every day.Ava had never before seen this very attentive side of him, not even when he wasn’t avoiding her after they just got married. He had always been caring, so his caring nature wasn’t a surprise.However, now, he showered her with so much attention that it was becoming increasingly difficult to continue to keep her feelings for him at bay.The sexual tension between them had gotten to an all-time high, and Ava had never felt as attracted to him as she did now, not even when they were married. They both kept their
They were silent for a few minutes. Harper was already fast asleep because it was past her bedtime already and Derek realized that he should probably leave so that Ava could get some sleep as well."I should probably be leaving now," Derek said, getting up and stretching luxuriously. One day, in the near future, he hoped he wouldn’t have to leave Ava and Harper at the end of the day anymore, but for now, he would do whatever it was that made Ava comfortable and happy.Ava stared at his rippling muscles as he stretched, remembering all too vividly how hard and silky they used to feel under her hands. Damn! This was becoming even more difficult to bear.Shaking herself, she got up with him, so that she could walk him to the door, even though he had come here so many times that there was no need for that anymore and he could see himself out.With each day that passed, she fell more and more in love with Derek. As for him, she couldn’t tell how he felt because he acted the way he normall
“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