Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Bargain : Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

A few hours later, Racheal arrived at a completely different police building. She noticed how different this place was from the building she had been held in. It was open, and the hallways were busy. Cops and other people in plain clothes milled around, speaking in polite voices. Delbert led her upstairs in an elevator, and a cop joined them, as soon as they stepped out of the elevator. “Hello Mr Dalloz.” She greeted. “Ma'am.” She politely bowed to Racheal. Both of them nodded in acknowledgment to her greeting. “This way please.” She said and began to lead them down a glass-walled hallway.They walked for a few minutes, and were soon ushered into a room that was as small as the one she had been held in. It was dark, with a lone electric lamp hanging low over a table in the middle.Racheal felt uneasy being here, and she had a strong urge to run away. But she felt a calming hand over hers. “I am here.” Delbert said soothingly.She nodded and they moved further into the room. A

Racheal smiled tightly at the young woman. She could only help her if she trusted her. “I will hand your baby over to my friends now, so she can get out of the rain. Is that ok?” She asked. The young woman nodded. Racheal slowly turned her upper body, keeping her legs rooted on the ground. Isaac gestured for Delbert to stay back, and strode forward. He gently took the baby from her and handed her to another guard who took her away.Racheal turned back to the young woman. “What’s your name?” “Laura.” “Laura, I will come closer now.” She said over the wind.The young woman nodded. Racheal tried not to think of how scared she was. She slowly edged towards her, getting further into a slope with each step she took. She smiled tightly at Laura again to reassure her. When she was close enough, she stretched out her hand for Laura to take it. Just as Laura reached out, the wind picked up. Racheal saw Laura lose her footing and slip.Without a second thought, she dived for her and gra

Racheal stared at the black and gold sequin mesh dress, as Luna repeated Steffan's words verbatim. “He was here?” Racheal asked, looking around. “Yes.”She ran her hands over the fabric, it was very soft to touch. She pulled it out of the box, and heard her maid gasp behind her. The dress was a vision. It had a full skirt, sweetheart neckline and careful gold embroidery on the skirt.This must have cost a fortune, seeing Steffan only gave her expensive gifts. She carefully lay the dress on her L shaped couch and stepped back to look. “And you said he insisted I wore this?” She asked.“Yes. He said he will not have you wear another thing, that you are his wife. He is wearing a matching outfit.” Luna said.A thought snuck into her mind. She could wear another dress just to tease him. She knew he would be furious, as he is easily angered. But she did not know what he would do, or what his limits were when angered.She was not ready to find out yet. Her mission was to find allies, a

Steffan was about to say something when his chief guard came over, and whispered in his ears. He nodded and turned to Racheal. “Let's go congratulate the bride and groom.” He said, and helped her up from her seat. She smiled politely at all the people who greeted her on their way to the front of the hall. She saw Skylar sitting beside a handsome man in a black suit and purple shirt. She was a bit surprised. How can someone so handsome be so nasty? She turned her attention to Skylar. Skylar was in a beautiful purple dress with a long train. Her dark hair was held up with twinkling diamond pins. She looked like a beautiful fairy. It pained Racheal to think all that will go to waste on a man like this. She wished she had enough power to save herself and Skylar. Help them both out of this wicked world of arrogant, power-hungry people. “I have only seen you on TV. I thought the images were merely airbrushed.” Hamza stood up when he saw them. “But apparently, you're stunning in real li

“What are you doing?” Racheal asked in shock, stepping back. “Giving you what you need.” Steffan said, and completely ripped his shirt off. His abs popped and his chest was hard. Racheal swallowed and looked away.“What?”“I realised I have not touched you since we got married. So I thought I'd remedy that. Give you what you need.” He said, walking up to her. His chest, naked.“That's not what I need.” she said quietly. “Really?” Then why else will you bring a man up here?” He asked in a deceptively low voice. Racheal felt like she had been slapped. She wanted to scream at him. But instead, she turned away and began to walk angrily to her bedroom. “I don't want to argue, Steffan. It's been a long day.”She wanted peace, she wanted to be alone. And regardless of how charming he was, she would not bring herself to sleep with a man that disrespected her and did not care for her. Even if he had not been her country’s enemy. Just as she got to her bedroom, he grabbed her arm and spu