PRESENT DAYAva was going to get her heart broken. Derek had no doubt about that. He knew all about Steve and his escapades as well as his sordid reputation when it came to women, but Ava didn’t want to listen to him.“And who made you her custodian? You broke her heart too, remember?”Derek scowled and stomped on the last bit of cigarette. He hated having to think about how he used to treat Ava. How could he have been so blind and stupid not to see her worth until it was too late?How could he have ignored her when all she wanted was for him to like her and make an effort in their marriage? Instead of obliging her, all he had done was to ignore her like a spoilt brat and let his resentment show. Then, in the end, he had been so stupid as to knock up Denise.He cut off his train of thought immediately as he always did anytime it veered into that territory. He had always prided himself as a principled man and even though he didn't love Ava when he was married to her, he could always bo
The first day of filming was a success, or at least to Ava, it seemed to be. It was surreal to think that five years ago, she had been so jealous of Denise and wished that she could be like her.Now, she could not even see anything remotely attractive or likable about the woman, who always managed to look like she was mad at everyone and everything, and clearly resented Ava.Unfortunately for her though, she had to work to keep her resentment clearly hidden and even do her best to please Ava since Ava was her boss, and watching her try to do this had Ava in stitches.Oh, how the tables had turned. Karma was indeed a bitch. Apparently though, that wasn’t even the end of it because later that day, after a break, Ava went to interview some of the people who had applied for the lesser jobs on the set. There she found the last person she would have expected to see there, in the person of Derek’s sister, Amanda.Just seeing the lady brought back horrible memories to Ava. It had been years s
Ava stared aghast at Steve, wondering what he was up to and what he wanted with her with these revelations that he kept coming up with. Maybe Derek was right about this guy not being good news because how on earth did he know so much about everyone? “Who are you, and what exactly do you want from me?” she asked him, raising her chin in defiance and refusing to let him know that he unsettled her. “Aw, Come on Ava. Don't be like that. We are friends, aren't we? I'm only trying to look out for a friend. I meant what I said earlier when I asked you to be careful where Denise and Amanda are concerned. Those two are usually up to no good and have never been.” “Yeah, yeah, I get that. However, if you must know, Derek also asked me to be wary of you so who on earth exactly am I supposed to listen to?” “Hmm. He said that, did he? I'm not surprised at all. However, you have to remember that you were once his wife, and so of course he is bound to be protective of you. I guess he is ju
“How could you not tell me? How could you let me nearly die of embarrassment today?” Amanda screeched at her long-time best friend, Denise in anger. What added to her anger was the fact that Denise did not even seem remorseful, but was instead glaring at her with what suspiciously looked like irritation. Amanda took a minute to feel really sorry for herself. It was a pity that her life had had to come to this. If her father were still alive, she was very sure that she wouldn’t be treated so horribly by everyone who was supposed to love and take care of her. However, her father had decided to have a heart attack and die over five years ago, leaving her at the mercy of her wicked and heartless brother. Now, even her best friend, whom she had stood by through thick and thin all through these years, was beginning to act up. Actually, Denise had been acting up for quite a while now, but Amanda had chosen to turn a blind eye to that fact, hoping against hope that she was mistaken
EIGHT YEARS AGO“You haven't told me why Denise hasn’t come to see me since all this while,” Derek told his mother one day, not long after he was discharged from the hospital.Mrs. Turner released a long, heavy sigh looking like she wished that she was anywhere but there.“Um, I’m really sorry, Derek, but we did not want to tell you anything about it until after you were well enough. Denise has traveled out of the country. I believe she received a very good acting offer that she couldn’t turn down.” Mrs. Turner replied.“When was this?”“About a week after the accident, I believe.”“Oh. Did she come to see me at all?”“Derek …”“I’ll take that as a no.”“Well, according to what she told me, it was quite sudden, and that was why she couldn’t come.” Mrs. Turner tried to defend Denise, but even she sounded unsure of what she was saying.Ava watched as hurt clouded Derek’s eyes, but he tried to pretend like he wasn’t hurt. From then on, he became difficult to be around. He bare
Barry was finally discharged from the hospital after a long period of nearly two weeks. In that span of time, Derek nearly became a shadow of himself.It literally killed him to see the boy suffering so much and so needlessly. Thankfully, this new incident did not cause any complications in his condition. Derek could not help but feel guilty at having been the one to bring all of this upon Barry. Supposing he hadn't turned a blind eye to all the red flags that Denise had shown him in the past all in the name of being in love, then maybe the poor, innocent child would not be going through so much.He had had CCTV cameras installed in different strategic locations in his house so that he could monitor what was going on in there, and if possible, get some evidence against Denise.He’d be damned if he lost access to his son because of her, and he wasn’t above fighting dirty to get what he wanted. In the meantime, Denise had traveled because filming on the set had begun. Her being away w
"Great! Here we go again.” Derek thought to himself, sighing heavily. Why did the females in his life have to be so dramatic? It was so draining. “What has come over you, Derek? Why are you doing this to us?” She asked, the tears falling hard and fast. Amanda had clearly taken lessons in being dramatic from her. “What am I doing to you guys?” “You’re treating us like we do not matter to you at all. This wasn’t how your father treated us when he was alive. You put your poor sister on a paltry allowance, for crying out loud!” “It’s Amanda’s own fault that she cannot be trusted with finances, and it is out of the kindness of my heart that I am even giving her an allowance at all. She ran through her trust fund in an obscenely short amount of time, for chrissakes. That’s nobody’s fault but hers.” Derek reminded his mother. “All the same, she is still your sister. Your very own blood! How can you be so unconcerned watching her struggle the way she is struggling?” Mrs Turner asked
The wind blew fairly strongly and ruffled Derek’s hair as he drove the five hours to the set location in his convertible. He could have flown down there, but he needed some time alone in silence, and this journey provided him with that.It was not necessary for him to be on the set, or even to show up at all, but he found himself making the journey anyway. He needed a break from everything and the long drive was giving him that much-needed break.However, deep within him, he knew the real reason why he had embarked on this trip, and it was because of Ava. For whatever reason, he could not get her off his mind, no matter how hard he tried and he had finally come to terms with this fact.His feelings for her grew stronger by the day, and were even now, much stronger than they had been after she disappeared.If she knew this, she would probably consider him a creep and make sure never to have to work with him again, which was why he was going to play it cool, at least for now.He got to t
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
"You’ll see her when you’re fully recovered, or at least when you've recovered to a good extent. I had to send her away to stay with my parents because I could not give her attention while spending most of my time here with you in the hospital.” Ava lied, surprised by how steady her voice was as she told the lie.“Is that safe at all? I don’t want whoever is after my life to go after her and your parents, or something.”“Don’t worry, Derek. No one is going to go after them. Damien has been of such immense help to us. He got bodyguards to be with them 24/7 until all this is over and whoever is behind it all is caught.” Ava told him, wondering if she should tell him that Steve was dead, and then deciding against it.There would be plenty of time for him to find out about it and other things that had happened while he was in a coma, such as Amanda and Denise of all people visiting her.“That’s so nice of him. He’s a real one … Damien.” Derek said. His voice was becoming weaker by the mom