Derek had never felt so awful in his entire life. It felt as though his entire head was made of lead and that his mouth was filled with ashes. His head throbbed so bad that for several minutes after he came to, he simply remained in the same position in which he woke up, waiting for the pounding ache in his head to die down. It didn’t die down by any means, but he got used to it enough to crack open one eye and try to get bearing of his surroundings. He did not for the life of him, recognize where he was, why he was there, or who had brought him there. After what felt like an eternity, he was able to struggle into a sitting position, even though his head and body protested the movement every inch of the way. He soon realized why. There was a dirty makeshift bandage and sling covering the upper part of his chest and his right arm. No wonder moving into a sitting position had hurt so bad. He looked around him again, trying to get his bearing, but there was nothing to see. He was in
It took several days... Much longer than it was supposed to take, for people to realize that Derek had most likely been kidnapped. In the message that his bodyguard got that same morning of his disappearance, it had been stated that Derek was going to be unreachable for several days because he did not want to be disturbed. However, everyone who knew him also knew that there was no way he would leave his son so abruptly without giving instructions on what was to be done for the boy, or at least sorting his medical bills. “I can't believe this! How irresponsible can the man be? Who the fuck leaves a sick child in the hospital and disappears in the middle of the night when he knows that the boy’s mother is working and would not be able to come to be with him?” Denise fumed. She was pacing the entire length and breadth of the hospital room in which Barry was admitted and was constituting such a huge nuisance that Barry’s nurse had to ask her to step outside. The child looked very r
Denise stared at Amanda, mouth agape, unable to believe the words that the latter had just uttered.Granted, she had always been aware of some sibling rivalry between Derek and his sister, but that sibling rivalry was all Amanda’s fault.She had always seemed to low-key resent Derek and believed that she was the one who was supposed to have everything that Derek had, but Denise didn’t know that her feelings of resentment ran this deep.“You’re joking, right? You can't be serious about what you just said. He is your brother for crying out loud.” Denise said.“What kind of brother cuts off his own sister and makes her work menial jobs when he has the means to get her settled forever? My father would roll in his grave if he saw all the things that Derek is doing to me.” Amanda replied in indignation, her double chin quivering in anger.With each day that passed, Amanda seemed to be putting on a lot of weight, and very rapidly too. In fact, Denise was beginning to be embarrassed to be see
"I can't believe that this is happening. I swear, I don’t know what you're talking about. Perhaps someone is trying to frame me or something. I had nothing to do with Derek’s disappearance. I swear it. Derek and I didn’t always see eye to eye, but I’ll never hurt him. Amanda, you have to believe me!” Denise said, her voice sounding frantic as tears gathered in her eyes.“Unfortunately, I can't, Denise. All fingers point to you. It's only a matter of time before everyone realizes it and they will the minute the news of your child's true paternity breaks out."“Oh, my God! I can't believe this is happening to me. Are you going to tell people about Barry?"“Calm down. I'm not a gossip. You told me about him because you trusted me, so I'm not going to expose you. Barry's real father might not have any such reservations though, but that's beside the point. I have a solution to the issue on ground. Wanna hear it?” Amanda asked, her eyes glinting mischievously.“Okay.”“As you well know, Der
SIX YEARS AGO“You’re what?!” Derek exclaimed out loud, shock reverberating through his whole being as he stared at Denise, who was staring back at him very calmly, as though she had not just dumped the biggest … and most terrible news of his life on him.“Pregnant. You know … the thing when a woman has sex with a man and then a few weeks later, her body feels funny and different, so she takes a pregnancy test which comes out positive. I’m pregnant, Derek.”“I got that part. The other part is what I don’t understand.”“The part about me keeping the baby? What's there not to understand? You know how much I've always wanted children. I’ve never gotten pregnant before, not that I've tried to do so anyway. I'm not aborting my first pregnancy.”“I’m married…”“I know that, dear. I don’t know why you had to rush to get married, but if you had had the patience to wait instead of getting hitched to the first desperate female you found, then maybe you would have received this news differently
“You’re a very beautiful woman, Ava. Any man would be lucky to have you as his woman.” Steve complimented Ava as they sipped their wine and waited for their food.“Thank you, Steve. I really appreciate you saying that.” Ava replied.The compliment warmed her heart, especially since it was coming from someone like Steve, who himself was one of the hottest men in the country. Ava was beginning to like him more than she had thought she would, which was no surprise because if there was one thing that Steve possessed in abundance, it was charm and charisma.It was a different kind of charisma from the one that Derek possessed or used to possess. Whereas Steve was light-hearted, easy-going, and happy-go-lucky, Derek was the opposite in that he was dark, brooding, and oh-so-serious.“Earth to you, Ava. Your mind is elsewhere. Am I that boring?” Steve asked her, but he was joking.“Oh, no. I was just thinking to myself how different you are to Derek.” Ava replied.“Oh? I guess you could say
When the news of Derek’s disappearance finally broke out and people began to speculate that he did not disappear of his own free will, the news spread like wildfire. This was after nearly two weeks of his disappearance. Suddenly, news outlets, as well as several gossip blogs began to spread the news. “Billionaire Derek Turner missing … Foul play suspected.” “Derek Turner kidnapped and presumed dead. Live in girlfriend and mother of his child arrested in conjunction with his kidnap.” These and many more headlines, with different speculations as to what had happened to Derek, were being peddled on the news outlets. The police immediately swung into action, although it was difficult to know exactly what to search for, especially since so much time had passed. For one thing, Derek’s car had disappeared alongside him. For another, he had left messages with several of his acquaintances, including business associates that he was going to be gone for a while and was going to be unre
Denise couldn’t stop shaking, but she tried to answer the questions of the police … of which there were many, as best she could.No, she wasn’t the one who kidnapped Derek and she would never do something like that because she had nothing to benefit from it.No, she and Derek did not have any major fight that would have led to him abandoning her and Barry and going away for a while.If he indeed decided to go away for a while, it was because he wanted to or for other reasons best known to him, but not because she had done something to him.This particular answer wasn’t exactly true considering what she was suspecting that Derek knew, but the police did not need to know that.No, she wasn’t aware of where he could have gone, as he had never disappeared this way before and she had no idea of any hidden property in the woods where he could have gone to as they said he told someone.Yes, she would cooperate with the police and if any new details sprung up that would be useful to their sea