Linda woke up feeling blank. Just as she got up from the bed, Ruby entered her room with a bright smile.“You are up,” Ruby said as she walked towards the bed.“Yes, I am, mum,” Linda answered happily.“Today is a great day, isn’t it?” Ruby asked.“Of course it is,” Linda seconded.“Now, I want you to get freshen up, wear something nice as usual, and come downstairs for breakfast. In about an hour, the event planner for your big wedding would be here, and we would spend the entire day preparing for your big day,” Ruby carefully listed out the schedule for the day, so that Linda would follow through.“The whole day?” Linda asked, slightly surprised by it. She did not really want to spend an entire day planning a wedding such as this one to begin with, but she wouldn’t dare say or even express how she truly felt. If only they would just skip the awful wedding part and just go right to being married to Samuel Fury; it would help her keep track of what her mission was. “Yes, darling,” R
The baby kicking woke Ciara up.She could not believe that she had a peaceful night despite everything that had transpired. She could not believe that she had held a gun at Samuel and threatened him.She could not also forget the horror and disbelief in Samuel’s face.“Jeez, you must be mighty hungry to be kicking like that,” Ciara spoke to her baby, touching and looking at her stomach. She hadn’t spoken to her child in a really long time, especially during the period when she could not feel it in her.Ciara could feel her bulging stomach. It was as round as a ball. She hadn’t even paid attention to her growing stomach either, and now that she could see it and feel it, it was as though it just got there this morning.But Ciara’s joy that the baby was still alive knew no bounds.“Well, let us go and get you something to eat, then we can spend a few moments talking to each other and bonding again,” Ciara said as she got out of bed.She stretched and turned. Then she walked into the bath
“You make an absolutely stunning bride,” came the patronizing voice of Linda’s stylist.Linda stood in front of her full length mirror, draped in a flamboyant and overflowing wedding dress. Today was the day she was to be wed to Samuel Fury as his wife, and she felt more agitated than enchanted. She was even more worried about the text she got from Hayes several minutes ago.It was a miracle that they were even able to put everything together in less than twenty-four hours, and in all, they still hadn’t heard from Samuel Fury at all, the supposed groom.“Do you know where my parents are?” Linda asked.The Luscious’s mansion was buzzing and thriving with all sorts of vendors, as it had been since the day before, so she wasn’t sure where her parents were. The feeling of agitation and dread prevented Linda from even feeling beautiful in the expensive dress. “I…I am not sure where they might be,” the stylist stuttered a little; she was probably shocked that Linda Luscious was not acting
“Should I just take this all off?” Linda asked, referring to the wedding dress that now seemed horrible to her, and struggling to keep the tears that gathered in her eyes from falling.“Definitely not!” Ruby answered firmly. “We have already put a whole lot of things in place. The paparazzi we have secretly paid and invited are already there, remember?” Ruby asked, looking at Colt and Linda.They knew that Samuel’s insistence on something small and private was so that the world would not know about it. If not that Ciara had gotten herself into trouble and public scandal, no one would have known that she was Samuel’s wife, and that was the same trick Samuel wanted to use on Linda.“You are a Luscious, and we would not sit by and watch any man treat you less,” Ruby had told Linda firmly when they had revealed to her that they had paid for secret paparazzi to capture the event and post everything online.They would surprise Samuel Fury in a way that he would not like, and that would caus
The clock ticked, and everyone waited with bated breath, especially the Luscious family. Linda had her eyes glued to the clock as it struck ten minutes.“Five more minutes, and if he doesn’t show up, I call it off. You all have already stretched me to my limit today,” the priest said grumpily.Linda could not take her eyes off the clock as it ticked forward, not stopping to wait a bit.“Samuel, I know you don’t like me, and I don’t love you either, but please, can you show up and save me from this embarrassment?” Linda begged inwardly and crying inside as well. It took every ounce in her to stop the tears from gathering in her eyes. “Please, Samuel,” Linda said.“Just two minutes more!” The loud and aggressive sound of the priest made Linda jump, but she was quick to comport herself, especially when her parents stood rock still.She knew deep down that they were also anxious, agitated, apprehensive, and every other emotion that kept them on the edge, but they were a better actor tha
Ciara could not help but wonder what made Samuel run out of the penthouse in such a rush. After he read what he read on the phone, he screamed, rushed into his bedroom, got dressed haphazardly, and dashed out of the house without saying a word to Ciara.“What could be going on?” Ciara asked, worried. She knew she wanted to be alone, to gather her thoughts together, but what could mark Samuel run out like that? She initially thought he was going to stay in the penthouse with her with the way he was going.Worried, Ciara dialed Quinton’s number; she was the only one that would tell her what was going on, even though they hadn’t spoken since the last time.Thankfully, this time around, Quinton picked.“Hello?” Quinton still sounded shaky and wary over the phone, making Ciara more worried.“Quinton, it’s Ciara,” Ciara said, feeling the need to introduce herself, because she could not understand this new attitude of Quinton after days of being her ally without even being asked.“I know it
Ciara’s heart began to pound furiously. Samuel has married Linda. Samuel has married Linda. Samuel has married Linda.It was as though she would pass out from what she was seeing. Granted, Ciara knew that Samuel was to marry Linda, and secondly, whatever happened between her and Samuel was based on arrangement and devotion to his mother. There was no love; not even likeness. In fact, they could barely stand each other, so she really shouldn’t be feeling this way, but Ciara could neither help nor control her feelings.“So he rushed out of the penthouse to meet up with the wedding ceremony,” Ciara thought to herself. Now she understood why even Quinton was acting weird with her. She also knew, and maybe now, her loyalty had shifted to Linda, and that was why she refused to tell her things. For as far as Ciara could tell, Linda had probably already moved in. Besides, she already caught Samuel So why did Samuel bring her here? If he knew he was getting married to Linda, why did he acce
“This cannot be happening!” Linda sobbed. “It’s all over the news now!” She cried harder.The same paparazzi that her parents had secretly hired had been the ones who published the news, even after being told to stop filming. By the time Linda got herself after being rejected, the news was all over the place. “My goodness, I was dumped at the altar!” She covered her face with her hands and cried. Her make up was smeared. She was hysterical. This was the most disgraceful thing that Linda had ever experienced. If Samuel hadn’t shown up, it would have been better, because they could have just put up a silly excuse as to why he didn’t, but now, Linda was the entire laughingstock of the country. Even pictures and videos of her fainting after Samuel said no and walked out was all over the news.Linda hid in her room and cried bitterly. She could not even bring herself to face anyone, not even her parents.Her phone rang, and Linda was surprised to see that it was Rudge that was calling he
It had been hours, and it was getting dark, Samuel was yet to return. Ciara became increasingly worried.She had eaten as many times as she had gotten hungry for, and did everything else, like launder her clothes, and hid in her room while she got it dried, but still, no sign of Samuel. “Where could he be?” Was the question that Ciara asked herself all day.Then she was beginning to regret falling asleep, but she could not have controlled it, even if she wanted to. As the pregnancy progressed, Ciara noticed that she had become easily hungry, tired, and sleepy now, and this really scared her, because it also meant that she might not be able to achieve most of what she wanted to achieve.Ciara was yet to visit the hospital and register for antenatal health care, and that was another problem that plagued her mind.It would be difficult to achieve, especially now that she was hiding out in Samuel’s penthouse, and was being sought by the cops.Ciara’s phone rang, jolting her out of her t
"That’s a joke, right?” Samuel asked Jess.“You know I only tease on the phone, and not physically,” Jess answered.She was right, and Samuel knew this. He was just overwhelmed by shock to believe what Jess said. Samuel turned and looked at where he parked his car, and everywhere seemed peaceful and clear. Jess’s place was very open, so it would have been easy to spot anything amiss.“You don’t think your trailer would still be right there waiting for you to see him or her, right?” Jess asked, shaking her head when she noticed that Samuel was looking around, searching for his trailer.“Now I know that you are lying, because you can’t even tell if it was a male or female,” Samuel said, wanting to believe his own words so that he would feel relieved.“It is a black Mercedes with tinted glasses,” Jess said, indicating why she couldn’t catch the identity of the person. “And unfortunately, I didn’t get the plate number,” Jess added.“Are you being serious, Jess?” Samuel said, confused and
Samuel got into his car and zoomed off, headed straight to the penthouse. He knew that Ciara might be worried about where he went, and also, he needed to tell Ciara about the recent development, and they did need to have a long discussion about what to do next. One thing that Samuel was grateful for was keeping his penthouse completely private, and even so, no one would ever be able to get in except he gave them the code.His phone rang, and when he looked at his screen, it was Jess that was calling him.“What have you found?” Samuel said the moment the call connected.“Slow down, mate!” Jess said, laughing. “Days ago, you weren’t so eager, so what changed?” Jess asked lightly.“Not everything is a joke, Jess,” Samuel said. There were a lot of things running through his mind, and the more he had knowledge of what was going on, the faster he could fix everything. “Don’t bite my head off,” Jess warned. “I am not one of your puppets, Fury, and you know I am not afraid of you,” Jess sa
Samuel arrived at the police station in his own car, following the cops. He was boiling with anger, but his anger was to Colt, and not the cops, because they were simply doing what they were asked to do.“What is the meaning of this?” Samuel asked the moment he got into the office he was invited into before. The head cop signaled to Samuel to sit down, and although Samuel sat, he was still upset. This was the second time in a couple of days that he was being invited to the hospital, and he was no longer finding it a joke.“Mr. Fury, we have a lot against you,” he told Samuel.“How do you mean?” Samuel asked, not bothering to mask his anger. “I was here the last time, and you asked me to go, so what is this about?” Samuel demanded gruffly.“Our interrogation the last time was inconclusive, and we informed you about this, so inviting you back here shouldn’t be strange, or even rile you up,” the head cop said, saying the last words with caution.“You do know who I am, right?” Samuel thr
Ciara waited for Samuel to return, but he seemed that was not happening any time soon. She had woken up much later after a disturbing dream, and had found the penthouse very empty. For the first time, Ciara found herself lonely in Samuel’s absence. Maybe it was because of the moment they shared together before she fell asleep, but she could not exactly tell.Then there was the deal with Rudge. Although he was yet to call her back, Ciara still did not want to take chances with him. This was her only opportunity to know about what happened, and contrary to Samuel’s belief, Ciara was certain that he truly had something to tell her. If there was anyone aside from the Luscious family who knew exactly why she went to prison, it would be an employee of theirs, especially the one that worked closely with Linda.All the years living with and knowing Linda Luscious, Ciara knew that she was full of shady and dirty things. There were always skeletons in her cupboard. So now that Rudge had called
So you two created a gang behind my back,” Samuel questioned Kingston after Quinton had left.He intentionally stayed in the study while Quinton sorted out her things and left. Samuel would not go back on his words; he had already fired her, and that was it. Right now, he was even angry with everyone. So while he was struggling to put things in place and make things work out for him, his own employee had been sabotaging every move by reporting to Ciara. Now he understood why he was always seeing her staring at him weirdly; she had been eavesdropping on him every minute and reporting back to Ciara, which was why she had been able to stay two steps ahead.Now he felt like a horrible fool.“What is it with Ciara that everyone just wants to protect her?” Samuel asked himself in frustration. From his mother to his own employee, who was even trying to recruit his driver into the league. For the life of him, Samuel could not understand the hold that Ciara Summers had on everyone else. His
Linda had locked herself up in the room ever since the scandal. She could not even bring herself to go anywhere as close as downstairs, because she did not even want to deal with curious stares from the employees. Not only had she been skipping meals, she had also been avoiding her parents, especially her mother, because she could not deal with any firm of judgments right now.In truth, the Luscious mansion had been somewhat gravely quiet ever since. Linda was a nervous wreck as she called Hayes. She had been calling him almost every ten minutes, but she could not bring herself to stop.“Anything else?” Linda asked the moment the call connected.“No, Linda. He has been in the main house for hours now. Maybe he has called it a day, and I think I should too,” Hayes said, sounding tired.“Don’t you dare move from there!” Linda barked. They had missed Samuel for days, unable to trail him, because he had gone to hide somewhere unknown, and Linda had quickly told Hayes where to find Samu
Samuel got into the main house and flopped on the couch, extremely tired. From what he could see outside, all his domestic staff were in good shape and doing their jobs well, so Samuel closed his eyes and tried to take in as much rest as possible. He did not want to think much about anything for now; he just wanted to rest. If he could stay here for a couple of hours, and even take a nap in the process, he would be relieved, but shutting his brain off completely was not something he could do, considering all that was going on at the moment. He would need to take extra caution dealing with Colt henceforth, but Samuel could not tell if Kingston was now strong enough to get back to work. He knew he should have called Doctor Pedro to ask about Kingston’s improvement, but he had been swamped with things. Anyway, now that he was here, he would ask him personally. Samuel opened his eyes and looked around, and everywhere seemed quiet. Samuel was now used to catching Quinton standing by the
Samuel drove home, his mind muddled up in thoughts. It was a card he played on Colt, and like a mirror, he saw right through Colt.More than ever before, and for the very first time, Samuel was certain that there was something amiss. Colt could not even answer the last question he asked him. Samuel thought of going to the penthouse, but he changed his mind last minute. He hadn’t been to the main house in days now, and since he was still in charge of the Fury house and wealth, he needed to go there and ensure that everything was okay.Changing directions now, his mind went back to Colt Luscious. Samuel knew what he hadn’t known for years now; he was also a victim of Colt and Ruby’s games, but he could not exactly put the points together. All along, he had been worrying so much about understanding what was going on in Ciara’s life and trying to piece together bits and pieces of the things he knew, and he had no idea that he might also need to piece them together. Now, Samuel was begin