“Are you suggesting that Steve might become violent towards me?” Ava was asking, her tone sounding a bit worried.“He dares not! However, I’m just saying if such a thing were to happen, then you can count on me to help you.”“Oh, okay,” she said, mulling all that he had said over.Derek wouldn’t understand, but she was glad … fiercely glad to know that Steve might be cheating on her. She supposed it was weird of her to feel that way, but the fact remained that she was a coward who didn't want to have to face him and tell him that she was no longer interested in the relationship.She had a feeling that he would not like that one bit, and now, what Derek had hinted about Steve being violent worried her.She had been suspecting that he was cheating on her for a while now, because, first of all, their sex life was nothing to write home about, and frankly, she didn’t care. They hardly ever had sex, and she knew without a doubt that he was getting it elsewhere.So she was biding her time an
“You won't guess what happened some days ago,” Amanda said to Denise, smiling secretively as she waited for the other woman to guess, but Denise wasn’t in the mood for guessing games.“What is it? I’ve got a headache, and as you well know, I'm not really good at playing guessing games.”“Well, well, well, someone’s in a shitty mood today. What's it with you and the scowling and grumpiness that you’ve been doing all day?” Amanda asked, not sounding particularly offended. In fact, she was in a very good mood.Money always put her in a good mood, and a few days back, she had received money … lots of it, from her dumb brother, so yeah, she was as happy as a kid in a candy store … at least for now.“Well, if you must know, I'm not happy at all. Derek has blocked my access to the account he gave me, from which I used to be able to withdraw at any time. I mean, I still had access to that account even after he kicked me out of his house, but now, I can't access it all of a sudden. How on eart
"Anyway, you were going to tell me about something that happened some days ago,” Denise said, finally remembering that she wasn’t the one who started the conversation.“Ah, yes. Derek transferred my share of the money our father left behind to me. I’m now wealthy. I’m so happy.” Amanda divulged, her gaze far away.She was thinking about how she couldn’t wait for the luxury car she ordered immediately after receiving her money to arrive. It was also high time she went on a much-needed vacation.“Are you serious?” Denise asked, unable to hide the blatant jealousy and anger in her voice.“Yeah. I was surprised too.”“Hmm … is it just me or do you sound like now that he has paid you off, you no longer care about our plan to take all your father’s wealth for yourself?” Denise asked, watching Denise closely.“Of course, I still plan to do that. In fact, I plan to do that now more than ever. I was going to tell you, but we haven't seen each other in a few days, and I couldn't say such stuff
Steve was avoiding Ava, and she had a good suspicion as to why this was so. He no doubt knew that Derek had told her about his escapades and he probably thought that she was mad at him and was waiting her out until he felt that she was no longer angry.She wasn’t mad at him, though. She was just done with him and she had realized that the longer she waited for evidence of his cheating before breaking up with him, the longer she was going to be stuck with him and that wasn't something she wanted.Besides, what if he decided to turn a new leaf and change his ways so that she wouldn't end things with him? It was highly unlikely, but still. Each time she requested to see him so they could talk because she didn’t want to break up with him over the phone, he gave excuses as to why they could not see yet.On the day he finally came to see her in the house, he arrived with a truckload of gifts for her and Harper and acted as though everything was perfect, and then as soon as she mentioned the
Ava and Helen became close really quickly after the event she attended Helen. In fact, they were so close that they both visited each other’s houses frequently now, attended events together, and even went shopping together at times.The day before, Helen had come over to Ava’s house and had forgotten some of her stuff there. The two women had originally planned to go shopping together that evening, but Helen canceled at the last minute, saying that something had come up urgently.At first, Ava thought of postponing the shopping until the next day when Helen would be free because she hated shopping alone and always did it with Harper, but Harper was spending that weekend with Derek.In the end, though, she decided to go alone because several of her groceries were finished and she needed to stock up, plus she wanted to get some new clothes for Harper, so she went shopping by herself.While doing that, she saw a dress that Helen had once mentioned that she wanted to get, so she decided t
Ava was not surprised when Steve pulled up in front of her house less than thirty minutes after she got home from Helen's place. She was already outside the house because she went to throw out the garbage, otherwise, she wouldn’t have opened the door, and she would have ignored him until he left.He parked his car, and hurried down from it with his head bent low and his face cap covering his face to avoid recognition, even though the streets were deserted as it was late.Then he came towards her quickly, and grabbed her hands, before fixing her with the most earnest expression that he could muster.“Ava, I know how you must feel, and I can't tell you how deeply sorry I truly am. I only hope you can forgive me and we can get past this.” He told her.“What are you doing here?” Ava asked harshly, dragging away her hand from his savagely.“I came to apologize, of course. I’m sorry for hurting you, but I swear it was a one-time thing, and I don’t know what came over me. It won't happen aga
Derek was right! Derek was right!! Derek was right!!! These words refused to leave Ava’s head as she continued to stare at Steve, who looked as surprised as she was.She could clearly remember Derek telling her that if Steve ever did something remotely akin to what he had just done, she should let him know immediately, but she had thought that he was just exaggerating.Now, she realized that he knew just what he was talking about and that she did not know Steve at all. Never in her life had she been hit by a man before.“Jeez! I’m so sorry, Ava. I shouldn’t have … Christ! I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never hit a woman in my life before. Please don’t tell anyone … it will affect my career. I know you owe me nothing, but please, I’m begging. I'm truly sorry.” Steve apologized, looking furtively around to be sure that no one had noticed him hitting her.“Are you going to leave now or do you want me to get you arrested for assault?” Ava asked him quietly.The quiet tone was effect
Rage was too mild a word to describe the emotion that Derek was feeling as he took Ava in his arms and listened to her sob while he tried his best to comfort her.The thought of Steve laying his filthy hands on Ava was enough to make Derek want to break every single bone in his body and listen to him squeal in pain without showing him mercy.He had known all along that Steve hadn't and couldn't, or wouldn't change his horrid behavior. A leopard couldn’t change its spots, after all.Derek had failed Victoria, but he wasn’t about to do the same with Ava. He wasn’t about to let Steve get away with hitting Ava, even if he and Ava were no longer an item, as Ava told Derek. Thankfully, Ava wasn’t like Victoria, in the sense that she wasn't going to cover for Steve and continue to take his abuse silently while refusing every form of help.“I’m really sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying. You did try to warn me, after all.” Ava apologized, raising her head and wiping at her eyes. She was look
“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