ELENA'S POINT OF VIEWMy best friend was sprawled out on the floor in front of my apartment, sleeping. Had she slept here last night?"Quinn?" I prodded her awake. "Get up."She stirred in her sleep and mumbled a string of curses before going silent. This woman."Fire!" I suddenly screamed and she jolted awake, looking around with fear-filled eyes. When her eyes landed on me, she visibly relaxed."You finally decided to come home." She sat up. "Where were you last night? I came out because you said you were on your way to my place. What happened?"I smiled sheepishly. "You know how it is when I get drunk." I put in my passcode and went in. She followed behind me. "I might have been somewhere far away from your house when I made the call.""Whatever. Go shower, you stink. I'll make you coffee." She made a beeline for the kitchen."No need." I said. "I've had breakfast."She turned around with a raised brow, a hand to her waist. "You've had breakfast?""Yes." I answered, heading for my
THEO'S POINT OF VIEWWhen Elena showed up at the door, to say I was surprised was an understatement. Who invited her to the palace? She was wearing a green shirt, black trouser and white sneakers. Her hair was in a ponytail. If she was some other person, I would say she was beautiful or even try to flirt. I couldn't dare do that with her. I did not trust her."How can I help you?" I asked, blocking the entrance with my body."Hello to you too." Her tone was sarcastic. "Where's your boss?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. It was clear she didn't really like me. The feeling was mutual."You meant your boss, right?" I eyed her from head to foot. "And he's not home.""Who's not home?"All the color in my face must have drained because the witch had a triumphant smile on her face when she saw Ryder amber towards us. I moved out of the way so he could see the annoying woman."Good afternoon, Sir." She greeted, still smiling. I wanted to wipe that smile off her lips."Good aftern
ELENA'S POINT OF VIEWTruth be told, it wasn't much fun to talk about Andre. I missed him a lot and at the same time; I didn't want to see him. I didn't want him to see how much of a disgrace I was. A family shame and an embarrassment to the Garner family. So, when Mirabel asked if I had a brother, I told the truth. I wanted to say I have a brother. To say I had a family. Even though he was thousands of miles away from me, he was still my family.We had lunch in silence; a comfortable one. It was hard to talk about Andre to them, but it made me feel better. It was a reminder that I had a reason to fight Alistair. If I could somehow get rid of that monster, then my life would be smooth sailing. It would be easy to try to get in contact with my brother.My phone vibrated on the table, pulling me out of my thoughts. I had a text message. Ryder and Mirabel paid no attention to me as I picked up the phone and read the text. They also didn't pay any attention when my breath seized and when m
ELENA'S POINT OF VIEWI shut the car door and made my way to the club entrance. There was a bright Neon sign that had J&K written boldly on it. Two armed men stood guard, keeping unwanted people from going in. I just prayed they wouldn't shoot me on the spot. They were terrifying."Hey, miss." One of the men called for me as I got closer. "Are you coming in or what?"I clutched my bag tightly and walked up to them. "I am. Where's the basement?"The two men looked at each other before one spoke. "Basement?" He asked."Yes." I confirmed. "Where is it?""What's your name?" The bulkier of the two questioned."Elena Greene.""Took you time to get here." He whipped around and went into the club, gesturing for me to follow behind him.Surprisingly, the nightclub was completely empty. The man stopped to point at a door in the furthest corner of the room."Go in there." He faced me. "And for your sake, I hope you didn't come with the police or anything that could tick him off."With that, he w
RYDER’S POINT OF VIEW People thought I’d gone mad because they hadn’t a clue what I was going through. The pain, the suffering, and the longing. Every night I would sleep alone, something I never did when Isabella was alive. Sometimes when I had nightmares, she’d hold me close and remind me she was here and wasn’t going to ever leave me. Now, she was far away from me and I could never have her back.The cool night breeze pushed my hair to the side as I looked up at the warm glow that was the moon, that was always in synchrony with her companions. Staring at it reminded me of a mother singing a soft lullaby to ease her child’s heart. I needed the peace I had under the white-gold moon.“Are you watching me?” I let out a pained laugh as tears stung my eyes. “Can you see me from where you are?”No response.“I miss you. I miss you every day and it’s more painful than I can take. Every time I look at your pictures, I feel as though someone is stabbing my heart with needles. I c
RYDER’S POINT OF VIEWTwenty minutes earlier.Mr. Brad got down from his car and walked over to mine. He asked us to be extremely quiet and not do anything that would draw attention to us. Even the cops had turned off their sirens and parked a little farther away from the warehouse. Some of the police had surrounded the warehouse as stealthily as they could.We followed the police officers and hid behind old goods and heavy machines. The place was dusty and dimly lit. The only source of light was the man’s torch and Mr. Brad’s. From where I stood, I couldn’t quite make out the man’s face, but I could tell he was tall and lanky.“Hey, did you come alone like I asked?” The man scanned the warehouse. “If not…” He lifted the hem of his shirt, showing Mr. Brad a gun.“Calm down. I came alone.” Mr. Brad assured him. “So, let’s get down to the main thing, shall we?”“Go ahead, investigator.”“Well, let me ask you this. Did you go to Oahu beach on September 25th?”“Yes, I did.”“And did you s
RYDER’S POINT OF VIEW I was furious.How could I have been so blind to the fact that Elena was not a good person? The accident was just enough proof, yet I failed to see it. She even had the audacity to kidnap my little sister. Until now, we did not know where she could have taken Mirabel to, and it was killing me inside.“Have you found anything?” I approached the police chief and investigator.“No, Sir.” The police chief answered, “But I must ask this.”“Go ahead.”“How did you meet this Elena? What is your relationship with her?”“We barely have any relationship. I first met Elena when she crashed my car and almost gave me a heart attack. It was later confirmed that it was indeed a brake fail, so I let her go. Some days later, I found out she was working at my company and then we exchanged numbers. Mostly because I felt guilty about dragging her to the police station when she was innocent. After my sister got shot, she called me while we were still in the hospital.” I b
ELENA’S POINT OF VIEW Quinn and I went up the stairs to Mirabel’s room. She was sleeping. That she felt safe enough to sleep made me feel she trusted me. I would never hurt her intentionally. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Deep down inside, I hoped she’d trust me completely. If she did, it’d be easier for Ryder to drop whatever he was planning against me. “She looks peaceful.” Quinn sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed. “I don’t know why Alistair has chosen to make her suffer. I’m the one he wants. Why doesn’t he just come at me directly?” “He’s a lunatic. I guess he believes this is the best way to hurt you. Think about it, she’s the king’s sister. Her brother has the power to make your life miserable, and he doesn’t have to lift a finger.” She was right. If Ryder wanted, he could behead me and no one would dare question him. Alistair really used his head here. Thinking about it made me wish I had done as he wanted at first. The stupid
After Quinn’s passing, I was a lot more motivated to work because staying at home only gave room for more depressing thoughts. I had no clue where to look, but one thing was certain. I couldn’t go back to my previous work. Not because of Ryder this time. Miss Miller was just difficult to work with, and I wasn’t looking forward to being an errand girl. I picked up a newspaper from the center table and went through. There was nothing much. Just boring talks with Ryder on almost every page. However, I stopped flipping when an article about Quinn caught my eyes. POPULAR CANADIAN PHOTOGRAPHER, QUINN FALLON, HAS PASSED AWAY. Although I knew the circumstances of her death, I went on to read the article. It was reported that Quinn Fallon died after getting hit by a hit-and-run driver in the afternoon of December 14th in front of a café. People who were in the café at the time of the accident said she had left the café after meeting up with someone. I stopped reading. My heart became heavy
It had been three days since we returned to Ordene, and everything was going just great. Kai and I were happy together, spending long nights in each other’s arms and just doing things that brought smiles to our faces. It felt good to be back, even though I missed my brother. Fortunately, Alistair and Annalise were still locked, which was a colossal relief to me because, no matter how much safety I felt, there was a part of me that always thought something could go wrong. It bothered me. However, seeing how things were now, I pushed the thought aside. Everything was and would remain fine. As I prepared for my meet up with Quinn, someone knocked on the door. It definitely had to be Talia. Kai wouldn’t knock on the door for any reason. Also, he wasn’t home. He’d left in the early hours of the day, saying he had a lot of work to take care of. I wasn’t even sure he’d come home early. “Come in.” I said, bringing down the eyeliner. Talia came into the room, holding a glass of water. “Are
When we arrived at the end of the jetty, I was in awe. Before me was the Baltic Sea, frozen and beautiful. I was extremely tempted to slide on the ice, but I knew better than to do such a thing. I averted my eyes to Kai to see if he was enjoying the view just as much as I was. He was. He may not have been the one I initially wanted to be here with, but standing here now, I realized no other person could make my visit to Estonia more special.“It’s beautiful.” He whispered, but I heard.He peeled his eyes away from the fantasy-like scene and to my face. “Ready to see if that legend is true?”I nodded, stepping closer to him. He gently held my face in one hand and lowered his head a little while the other hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me in. Our bodies pressed together heatedly against one another as our lips fell sleepily together. In that passionate moment my soul was opened, his breath warmed my body and nothing existed aside us. There was something about the way
I went into the living room to join Kai and Andre. Aretta was still not down. Man, having a baby seemed stressful just being with them for about an hour. I wasn’t certain if I wanted a baby or not. I couldn’t imagine having to feed another mouth that wasn’t mine, be sleep deprived and always on alert. My brain could never. I’d probably pass out on the street due to stress. “What are you asking him now, Andre?” I sat on the armchair next to Kai’s. “Just getting to know him.” He looked at Kai. “Right?” “Of course.” I narrowed my eyes at Kai. “You’re lying.” “No, I’m not.” “Your shaky pupils tell a different story.” “Leave the guy alone, Elena.” Andre crossed his legs. “We were talking about you?” “What about me?” “Just curious about stuff.” He drummed his thigh. “Stuff between us guys.” I rolled my eyes. “Mm-hmm.” Andre suddenly became serious. “Before I get to ask.” His gaze was on Kai. “Do you two live together?” “Yes.” Kai answered. Andre shut his eyes and mumbled somethi
When I tell you Jay squished me in a tight hug when I told him about what happened with Andre, it’s no joke. He wouldn’t stop telling me how proud of me he was. He really was a ‘family sticks together’ kind of guy. Even when I told them about me and Kai going over to his place for dinner, he was ecstatic. It made me happy.It was 6.30p.m, and I had just received a text from Andre, which had his home’s address. I was almost done getting ready. I wore a velvet zipper front long sleeve skinny jumpsuit, black heels and a black purse. I did my brows, then put on mascara and a red lipstick. The last thing was spraying perfume. Very important.“You look so fine.” Arianna said, looking at me like a proud mom would. “So damn fine.”“Thank you.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m nervous.”“About what?”“The whole dinner thing. I just hope it doesn’t go downhill.”“You worry too much.” She held my arms. “Don’t stress. It’ll make you old.”I was definitely the luckiest person in the world. There wa
I waited in the car for several minutes, waiting for Arianna to come out of the pub with either good or bad news. The bad news being he rejected the gifts. Fortunately, she came out empty-handed, wearing a bright smile. When she got into the car, she still hadn’t stopped smiling.“What got you smiling like that?”“Your brother is such a sweet person.” She said. “And good-looking, too. If he wasn’t married and if I wasn’t with Jay, I’d shoot my shots because damn!” she slapped her thigh. “That man is damn fine. His wife is extremely lucky.”It made me happy to hear her say such positive things about Andre.“Did he say anything?”“He said he was thankful and if it was possible, he’d like to meet up.”My eyebrows shot up. “Really? He really said that?”“Yeah. Do you want to go in?”“I want to, badly, but I’m afraid he’ll judge me.”“Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you? That man doesn’t seem like he could harm a fly. Why would he judge you?”I said nothing. Maybe if I had a
I dragged my feet along the street, still not wearing my coat. It was dark out and the cold air nipped at my skin, but I wouldn’t give in. I liked the feeling of numbness it gave me. I lifted my head when colorful lights flickered on the snowy floor.A nightclub.Just what I needed to get my mind off things. I was going to party like it was my last night on Earth. Anything to get my mind away from the harshness called reality. I entered the club after being checked by security outside.As soon as I stepped foot into the club, beats revved up my soul. Bodies rubbed against each other’s, sweats mixed and joy flowed in the air faster than a virus ever could. Every soul here was invited to become one, and the loudspeaker was the commander. A commander I was ready to follow for the next few hours.I made a beeline for the bar, ordered three shots of vodka and downed all immediately. It burned my throat as it went down. I didn’t care. It was exactly what I needed.I slammed the
CHAPTER 46ELENA’S POINT OF VIEW The flight to Estonia was the craziest, most mind-blowing flight of my life, with Kai confessing his feelings and opening up to me about his ex. To top it all off, Ricky cried in front of me and, to be honest, it was surprising. I never imagined I’d see him cry. Kai could not understand why he was crying. I couldn’t, too. It wasn’t as if she broke up with him. She only moved to Spain because of her academics.Ricky had said. “You don’t understand. Kayleigh is gorgeous. She’s everything. Elegant, beautiful, and caring. Guys are going to try and get her.”I still didn’t see his reason. All he needed to do was trust her.Kai then suggested. “You can move to Spain if it bothers you so much.”“I can’t leave my business here and besides, my siblings need me here.” He’d said.In the end, we let him cry his heart out while we comforted him.After about three hours of fun and crazy, the jet landed. A car was already waiting for us. Jay took the whee
Arianna and I were having a wonderful time until Kai knocked on the door. I rushed to the mirror to wipe off the ridiculous makeup on my face. Arianna was trying to do the joker’s makeup on me. It was awful on me. “Kai,” she blocked the entrance of the room with her body. “What’s up?” He craned his neck. “Where is she?” I hurriedly wiped off the makeup. At this point, I looked as if a rainbow puked on my face. “Where is who?” I heard him sigh before moving Arianna to the side. On instinct, I covered my face with my hands, creating a little space for me to see. “What’s with you?” he asked, coming closer. “Nothing.” “Then look at me.” “I am looking at you.” He put both hands on his waist, head leaned to the side. “I want to see your face.” “No. Arianna did this awful joker makeup on my face. I’m a mess right now.” “I hear Jay calling me,” Arianna smiled sheepishly. “Coming babe.” She stepped out of the room and shut the door. Little shit. Kai stepped even closer to me. “I w