Chapter 10 (Benjamin's POV)Can I just say that life was perfect right now?Well not like right now exactly but in the past few months. At this moment it was not as perfect as I would want it to be, we were at practice and the coach was forcing us to our limits or that was just my opinion because I was absent for some time. But I felt good now because my mother was out of danger, Anastasia was behind our timeout box with Valentina and Anabelle probably keeping an eye on me and Seth as well, what with his leg being shot in the middle of summer. But his leg was healing perfectly and he looked in a much better shape today than I did. While I was breathing like I ran a marathon up the hill, he was completely calm and looked even more relaxed. What the hell was wrong with me? Did I really forget to take care of myself that much? After a full hour of painful torture, we were finally over and I hate to admit it but my lungs were burning and every muscle in my body felt like it could snap at
Chapter 11 (Anastasia's POV)You want me to answer honestly, I bet. Well to me it does not really matter what Benjamin's answer would be, it was so worth it to see him squirming and being confused. But I knew Benjamin and he always gave me an honest answer, and I had no doubt he would give me an honest answer now as well."I have o idea how you came to this question right now since we have not even slept together yet, but since you asked already, yes. I still want to have babies and be a father, maybe because of the whole fucked up experience with the crazy ex I want that even harder." See? Honest, no matter how weird or ugly the truth may sound to someone. And actually could understand his reason for wanting family even harder than a man at his age usually would. He was mentally already prepared to be a father but then he realized not everyone was as honest as he was. And to top it off he was not alone in this shit hole.Instead of pushing him for more unpleasant answers or being a s
Chapter 12 (Benjamin's POV)After the dinner, I could see and feel a slight change in Anastasia. It was most definitely in a good way but if you asked me what exactly it was I could not point it out to you even if I tried. But I liked to see her relaxed after Seth's question. I could see she was nervous when he asked her about her father's trial but she stayed strong anyways and I could not be more proud of my girl. What I still had to idea though was why they waited twenty years to bring Anastasia to the stand as a victim. It was weird but I guess this shit happens more often than we would like to think. The only thing I wished, for now, was that my sunshine got through everything with her pride still unharmed. She came a little way since the abuse in her childhood and she deserved to be happy so I hated it even more. It all came right at the time when she put all her pieces firmly back in place and now she would have to go through everything again. Those thoughts occupied my mind al
Chapter 13 (Anastasia's POV)Oh my freaking God! I made it! For the first time since I can remember I asked for something that I wanted and it looked like I was going to get it. Benjamin was still kissing me while he was pushing me to the bedroom but I had no patience to go that far. Nope. The living room would have to do for today, "No! Here! I need you like yesterday!" and what did the asshole do? He chuckled at my impatient ass. But I didn't care as long as I get what I wanted, and I was determined to get it, so I grabbed his belt and undid it before he could object and pulled it out of his pants, what I did not expect was that his jeans would literally fall off his ass and pooled around his feet. I moved away from him in surprise and just kept looking at him and back down to his jeans that were around his feet, and back to his face and back to his pants…after a few times I could not hold it in any longer and I burst out laughing and surprisingly Benjamin joined me only a moment la
Chapter 14 (Benjamin's POV)I created a monster. Horny monster to be specific.Ok, I might be overreacting here a little and making it sound bigger than the problem at hand is, but whatever. I am allowed to whine from time to time. Even though, I am not sure I even want to whine about it honestly. It was not as bad as it might sound since Anastasia was pretty much glued to my side and whenever we ended up alone in a room she was jumping my bones. What I was worried about at this point was that my balls would disappear into thin air from all the orgasms. But otherwise, everything was perfect. Now do not get me wrong, of course, we argued but what couple does not? So I would say we were inside the circle of normal relationships.At the moment though everything seemed too peaceful for my taste. Anastasia was nowhere in sight, my parents were in their room or on the back porch and I was just combing my horses. But such quietness was not normal on our little ranch or farm or whatever you w
Chapter 15 (Anastasia's POV)Packing my stuff was hard, knowing that I am leaving this ranch and the happiness that it brought me behind was hard, but facing Benjamin and intentionally aiming to hurt him was harder. And when he said he loved me, well, that was the thing that broke me in the end. He finally said those words that I longed to hear my whole life and unfortunately, I was in no position to say those words back, all I could do was break his heart in pieces by telling him the feeling was not mutual and that was the biggest lie that ever left my mouth. Now I am sure the obvious question was why I did what I did if it hurt me so much. It is pretty obvious and easy though. I had to, I had no other choice.Remember how I told you people were after me because of my father's debt and other people wanted to see my father walk free after all these years because they still had some kind of thing to get from him? Whatever their reasons were I was just an obstacle in their way so it was
Chapter 16 (Benjamin's POV)"What do you mean she is gone, Benjamin?! She did not leave for no reason, so speak what did you do before I beat the truth out of you!" As I was sitting here, listening to my best friend yelling at me because his sister left without any explanation, I realized sometimes this familial bond was not good to get in between.I could understand his desperation to find out what was going on and why she left so suddenly, but I also knew had no answer and wanted them as badly as he did. He could beat me for all I c Asa red but I could not answer him and besides my pain was at the moment much worse than any body inflicted pain could ever hurt.Anabelle was standing right next to Seth and was pulling his arm to keep him somehow in control, "Seth! Listen to yourself! This is your best friend! Don't you think he would tell you already if he knew something? Look at him for fucks sake! The man is one word away from crying! Does that look like a man who hurt your sister?"
Chapter 17 (Anastasia's POV)If someone said just a few days ago that I would end up in my childhood home I would simply laugh at them. But today this unthinkable scenario was my reality and I was sitting on a couch in the living room which was covered with a white cloth like every other piece of furniture in this haunted place.All I wanted was to run as far away from this place as I could because it brought back so many bad memories, but right now hiding here was my best option. Because no one in their right mind would think I would run here. Memories were hidden in every wall and every board on the floor. So many of those boards had my blood on them and even more tears and sweat. When my mother was still alive I was allowed to be just a little girl with a perfect family, but after her death, everything went to hell. I became a slave in my own home and I was not allowed to speak if not asked, screaming was also not allowed in our household. No matter the amount of pain you were in,
Chapter 27 (Loraine’s POV) epilogue Some years later… “Andrew! The girls will be here any minute, could you get Samuel ready for me please?” Before you make any assumptions let us make something clear. Samuel is our son, and he is three years old. As weird and unthinkable as it might sound, all girls gave birth to a child in the same year. Sure, there were differences, Valentina and Nathaniel had three kids. The first one was a little girl named Daisy, who was not so little anymore since she was nine years old already. Second was a boy named Gareth, he was six years old and the last was Penelope who was three years old as well as our Samuel. Then there was Anabelle and Seth. They had two kids, twins to be exact. A boy and a girl, Samantha, and Sam, they were three years old as well. If we move forward, we have Anastasia and Benjamin, they had just one kid the same as me and Andrew, and the little three years old princesses’ name was Lory. The next in line would be Malcolm and Mandy
Chapter 26 (Andrew’s POV)We were on our way to the airport and of course, with Malcolm in the car we were driving over the speed limit and if a police officer pulled us over there would be hell to pay once he realized who the driver was, but mostly no one dared stop Malcolm, even the new guys knew his car and just waved when he passed. But in my opinion, we were still not driving fast enough. I wanted to be at the airport already, deal with the bastard and wrap my Loraine in my arms where I knew I could keep her safe.But as much as I wanted to yell and rant and be a smart ass, I knew I was thinking irrationally so I rather just sat back and kept my mouth shut. That and the fact that Malcolm threatened to throw me out of the car if I dared be loud.Thankfully we arrived at the airport just when my patience was running low. But as we stopped the car, I could not believe my eyes. There was a plane, ready to take off at any moment, but the stairs were still pulled out and firmly on the
Chapter 25 (Loraine’s POV)Either these people were stupid, or they just assumed I knew London so well that I did not need to have my eyes covered while we were driving to the airport. Or maybe it was just the fact that they were so sure I would not be going anywhere except board the plane to Washington.Too bad for them because I had every intention to run away as fast as my legs could carry me, especially now that I knew two of six guys were on my side. Two of those guys that were not on my side are going into the plane’s cabin to make sure everything is set up and two will be completely oblivious to my attempt thanks to my accomplices. I still had no idea what their moto was, but I was not about to ask them since I was just happy to have someone willing to help me get away without a need to kill someone.You see all my self defense classes and so on that I was taking while on the run were in case, I found some place I want to stay and not run anymore, but before London there was no
Chapter 24 (Andrew’s POV)“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE IS FUCKING GONE?! YOU STUPID BUNCH OF IMBECILS! HOW COULD YOU LET HER SLIP OUT OF THE CLUB WITHOUT ANY OF YOU NOTICING!?” As you can see, saying I was pissed would be a huge understatement, because I was livid! Somehow, while we were celebrating our win in the office with Malcolm and the girls, and a few minutes later with their boyfriends as well, Loraine managed to slip out of the club and disappeared into thin air.If you would tell me a week ago, she disappeared I would probably believe she ran away like she did every time in the past eight years when something or someone got too close to her and her heart, but today I was sure she did not run away. She promised me that she would not run away, and she would stay with me for as long as I wanted her and on the other hand, the fact that Rodriguez was just leaving my club when Loraine mysteriously disappeared just did not stop nagging me. So, I had my suspicion that he had something to d
Chapter 23 (Loraine’s POV)Today was the first time in my whole life that I remember standing up to myself for as long as I can remember. Not once when I was married was, I willing to do so. I just swallowed everything that was thrown my way. I never yelled at the man or talked back, I never told him my opinion, never objected to his decisions about my life, nothing.And the feeling was kind of refreshing and new. It felt amazing.Now, you see I stopped smoking years ago, it was bad for my health and all that and honestly it was just an expensive habit. But at this moment I felt like I was on top of the world and decided to treat myself to one cigarette you could say for old times’ sake, so I can finally close the door on every bad decision I made in the past.I was at the back entrance when I heard steps approaching but I thought it was sure one of the girls or maybe Andrew, so I stayed put and did not even turn around to see who it was, a big mistake.Next thing I know someone was h
Chapter 22 (Andrew’s POV)The thought of pinching myself and seeing if I was even awake crossed my mind, but nothing felt as good even in dreams as Loraine felt in my arms. She said it. Those fears I had for the past few weeks since I realized I fell for this woman melted away like ice cream on a hot sunny day.Now the only thing left was for us to deal with Rodriguez once and for all. But that was not mine decision, I stopped kissing her and moved a bit away but still kept our foreheads pressed close together, “Are you ready to deal with the demons of the past?”She gave me a nod which was a bit hesitant, but honestly if I was in her shoes and had to deal with someone like Rodriguez, I would be hesitant as well. I took one of her hands in mine and gave her a squeeze to show her that she was not alone.As we rounded the corner, I could not help it but look around and once again it surprised me how self-assured the man really was. He took only five men with him and all of them were in
Chapter 21 (Loraine’s POV)How could he do that? If I had to guess, from what I saw in the office I would say Andrew knew about my past and he knew it well. So first of all, he was hiding the fact that he knows about everything from me, or maybe I can find an excuse for him and say he just found out, but I doubt that since he has been a bit weird for the past few weeks and especially today. But I am willing to tell myself anything to feel a bit better, and right now I needed to believe Andrew did not betray me like everyone else in my life did.At the moment I was sitting by the river that was right next to the club, and yes, I know I did not go far from everything, but it was far enough that Rodriguez would not think I came here, he probably thought that I ran away already like I always do when he finds me, but this time was different. I had friends, I had a job that I liked, and I hope they cared for me as well. I had a good life, and I was actually looking forward to the future. I
Chapter 20 (Andrew’s POV)The moment Loraine barged into my office I knew something was going to go awfully wrong and as usual I was proven right when the asshole opened his mouth.Thankfully me and Malcolm seem to be on the same page because when Loraine ran out of my office as if she was on fire, we both jumped to our feet, but since I was in my usual seat and Malcolm was right next to Rodriguez, he was the one that landed a solid punch to his face and probably broke his nose in the process judging by the crunching sound that could be heard, “You idiot! You just broke my nose! What in the ever-loving hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea who you are dealing with? I can have you erased from the surface of the earth in a moment!” technically, if we were not who we are, he would be right, but since we were one of the strongest mafia organizations in the world, well, sadly for him, he was wrong. Sure, we were operating on legal grounds, but that was actually a plus on our side, b
Chapter 19 (Loraine’s POV) Something did not feel right. I could not put my finger on it, but my gut was telling me to go back to the club. Why? I had no idea but the opportunity to do so presented itself when Mandy asked me to put the car keys into my purse, because I was the only one that remembered to take a big enough purse to put in my wallet, phone and all the girly necessities but still had some space to put in the keys as well. Now I just had to come up with a plan to get away from them with a believable excuse, ran to the parking lot and drive back to the club so this awful feeling would go away. Even if I drove for nothing, I would still feel better if I followed my instincts and honestly, I doubted my gut was warning me for nothing. I know to some people it might sound stupid to follow your gut or your instincts, but those two things saved me more than once in the past years while I was being on the run. So, there was no way I would ignore it. As we walked around the sho