Lisa glanced anxiously at her phone as it buzzed for the third time in a row. She knew who was calling, and she wished he would just leave her alone. She was trying to enjoy a romantic dinner with John, but Daniel was ruining her mood.
“You should take that call,” John said, sipping his wine with a hint of irritation in his voice.Lisa sighed and reached for her phone. She tried to turn it off, but it kept ringing. She felt guilty for ignoring Daniel.“Alright, give me a minute,” she pleaded with John, who nodded reluctantly. She picked up her phone and finally answered the call.“Lisa, please. I’m sorry. If I’ve done anything wrong to you, I’m really sorry,” Daniel pleaded with Lisa in a broken voice. He sounded desperate and scared, and Lisa felt pity for him.“Daniel… what do you want? I already told you we’d talk about this at home,” she said calmly, trying to sound firm.“That’s the problem. I can’t wait until you come home. I know you’re in a hotel with another man!” He yelled over the phone, making Lisa flinch. She looked around nervously, hoping no one had heard him.“I don’t like your tone, Daniel. And I’m not some cheap whore! What do you take me for?!” She yelled back, feeling offended.“Then tell me where you are so I’ll come get you! Listen, Lisa, I trust you with my life! I know you’re not capable of hurting me. It’s late, honey. Tell me where you are so I can come get you,” Daniel begged, sounding more pathetic than ever.Lisa rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples. She was tired of Daniel’s drama and his lack of ambition. He was a pauper, as her mother and brother would call him, and he had nothing to offer her. She had married him out of love, but love was not enough to pay the bills or fulfill her dreams.“You want to know where I am so bad? Fine! Meet me downtown at the Crusty Ribs restaurant,” she said with a sigh, knowing that she was inviting trouble.“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be with you in a minute,” he said eagerly and hung up the phone.Lisa put down her phone and took a deep breath. She reached for her glass of wine and took a sip to calm her nerves. Then she met John’s gaze across the table.He looked angry and confused. He had heard part of the conversation and he didn’t like what he heard.“What the hell was that for?” He asked in a low voice, trying not to draw attention.“I want him to come see that I’m really serious about leaving him for you. I promise you won’t regret this,” she said softly, reaching for his hand across the table. He took it hesitantly.“You haven’t told him about the divorce yet?” He asked incredulously. Lisa and John had been seeing each other for a while because she wanted to get promoted in her place of work and John was the son of one of the directors. He had asked her to divorce Daniel several times, but he had no idea why she hadn’t done that yet.“I told you. I have given him the divorce papers already. I’m waiting on him to sign,” Lisa said, swallowing hard.“Really? When did you do that?” John asked happily, taking another sip from his cup.“Well, I didn’t have the nerve to do it on my own, so I sent my mother to my home to surprise him with it this evening,” she said in a low voice, hoping that John wouldn’t get angry.John stopped taking a sip of his wine and paused to look at her for a second. His blue eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. He was not pleased with what he heard.“You did what?” he asked in a cold tone, making Lisa flinch. She cursed inwardly for even opening her mouth to say anything about it.“My mother is fierce, you know. She can handle it even better than I can. But I promise you, I will get those papers signed before the end of the week,” Lisa assured him, but had a gut feeling that she was going to regret her words.“Alright,” John said with a shrug, pretending that he didn’t care. But he did care. He cared a lot. He wanted Lisa to be his and his alone. He wanted to get rid of Daniel as soon as possible and hated the fact that Lisa was still legally married to that loser.Twenty minutes later, Daniel finally arrived and parked his electric bicycle outside the restaurant.He ran towards the entrance, determined to confront them.He looked through the window and saw them sitting at a table near the corner, holding hands. His heart sank and his eyes filled with tears.“What the hell, Lisa?” he exclaimed as he banged on the glass, attracting everyone’s attention.Lisa turned her head and saw Daniel standing outside, looking furious. She opened her eyes wide and instantly felt like she was having a panic attack.“Oh no, he’s here,” she whispered to John.John glanced at Daniel and smirked. He enjoyed the drama and decided to make it more interesting by provoking Daniel.“Hey, buddy, why don’t you come inside and join us?” he called out to Daniel, waving his hand mockingly. “We have plenty of food and drinks here. Don’t be shy.”Daniel heard John’s taunt and felt his blood boil. He wanted to punch John in the face and drag Lisa away from him. He tried to approach the restaurant, but he was stopped by two burly men who blocked his way.“What is this? Who are you?” Daniel thundered as he tried to struggle his way past them, but they didn’t budge.“We’re here to protect Mr. John from people like you,” one of them said with a sneer. “We advise you to turn around and leave, pauper.”“Listen to them, Daniel! I’m with my new lover now. Go! I don’t need you anymore,” Lisa yelled from inside the restaurant.“Bullshit!” Daniel shouted as he tried to walk through them, but they picked him up with no effort.“Let me go! I need to talk to my wife!” he cried out, hoping that Lisa would hear him and come to his rescue.But Lisa didn’t move from her seat.“Hey, we didn’t talk about this,” she said to John, feeling uncomfortable with the way they were bullying Daniel. She didn’t want to hurt him more than she already had.“I don’t need to talk about it. He’s obviously angry and therefore a threat, so he should be treated as one,” John said with a wicked grin on his face. He was enjoying the spectacle. He wanted to humiliate Daniel and show him who was the boss.“I don’t like this, John. We’re causing a scene,” she whispered to him, looking around nervously. She noticed that the other customers and the staff were staring at them with curiosity and disapproval.“Then I guess you shouldn’t have called him,” he said with a shrug.“Fine. Let me go home with him and finalize the divorce, then all of this will be over,” she said, trying to sound reasonable.“We’re not done with dinner, cupcake,” he said casually, ignoring her request.“John, I have to go,” she said firmly, getting up from her seat. “I’ll talk to you later. Thank you for the dinner.”John was surprised by her sudden change of mood, but he didn’t want to give up on her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.“Come on, Lisa, don’t be rude,” he said, trying to charm her with his smile. “Give me a kiss and show your husband how much you love me.”Lisa hesitated, but she knew that John wouldn’t take no for an answer.“No, John. Please don’t make me do this,” she pleaded softly, looking into his eyes.“This is your chance. Once your husband sees you kissing me, any remaining love he has for you will die and you’ll be a free woman!” he said persuasively, spreading his arms wide open.Lisa thought about it for a moment. He was right. No matter how painful it was, she had to do it.She leaned in and kissed John passionately on the lips, while Daniel watched in horror from outside the window.Daniel drove back home in his bike angrily while Lisa followed behind him in a cab. It was a very chilly night and his teeth were already chattering but he didn’t care. He hoped the cold would subside his pain and anger.He burst into the house angrily and met his in-laws still in the house.“How did it go?” Kevin asked with a hopeful tone, but Daniel ignored him and walked past them.“Where’s my daughter you idiot? You promised to be back with her. Better pray nothing has happened to her or else!” Gloria yelled after him as he stormed into his bedroom and banged the door behind him.“Or else nothing mom. I’m fine,” Lisa said walking into the house, looking obviously cold but there was something else about her expression that her mother couldn’t tell. She looked sad.“Oh thank goodness my child. What happened to you? You look terrible,” Gloria said after hugging her and started scanning her face.“I’m fine mother. Where’s Daniel?” Lisa asked and her mother shrugged.“He’s inside. We c
“Hello, uncle!” Daniel exclaimed, grinning ear to ear as his uncle was the first person he saw at the entrance. It seemed he was waiting for him to arrive.“My boy! You’ve grown so big now,” his uncle Mark remarked in his coarse old voice, but he was still standing tall and vibrant just the way Daniel had remembered.“You don’t look bad yourself,” Daniel complimented, and his uncle patted him on the back.“Come with me, you must be exhausted from the entire chaos,” Uncle Mark suggested, holding Daniel on the shoulder as he walked him into the house.……“So, it has all been a lie then. My father didn’t die of a stroke?” Daniel asked, confused, glaring at his uncle who sat at the arm of his chair in his office.They decided to go somewhere discreet because Uncle Mark had something important to tell Daniel.“Of course he didn’t. It’s uh… actually very sad and I feel heavy speaking about it,” he said with a sad face, looking down at his shoes.“Tell me, uncle, I need to know more. I’m not
Police sirens were heard everywhere and they took Daniel to safety. Daniel looked traumatized as they kept asking him questions about what happened and how it happened.He narrated the story to them, while they took down notes. “I told you it wasn’t going to be easy,” his uncle said, the minute the police left him. He had arrived immediately at the crime scene.Apparently, it was his uncle who sent his men after Daniel’s car and they got into a shootout with Daniel’s kidnapper, who of course escaped and was nowhere to be found.“But how did you know I was in trouble?” Daniel asked, confused. “You were going the wrong way, son,” he said, and Daniel forced a grin.……There were murmurs in the conference room as Daniel walked in with so much grace and poise, looking dashing in his tuxedo.“Good morning, everyone,” he said, clearing his throat, as he walked to the high seat, in which he sat down, and everyone followed. There was utter silence in the hall, as everyone was in total confusio
“What do you mean you don’t know? My uncle was left in your care and you blew it!” Daniel thundered at his uncle’s head of security, his face red with anger.He and Jane had driven straight to his uncle’s place to check on what was going on and saw the security there relaxed, as if nothing had happened.“I swear sir. He asked us not to follow him that it was just the grocery store. Besides, one of us eventually followed him, I guess they have him too,” the chief security explained, his voice trembling as he met Daniel’s furious gaze.“Oh my goodness! We have to do something. I can’t let my uncle die,” Daniel complained in fear, his hands clenched into fists. He felt a gentle touch on his shoulders and turned to see Jane, his girlfriend, looking at him with concern.“Calm your nerves. Let’s go home and get some rest, I’m sure we’ll find a solution in the morning,” she said, patting his shoulders for comfort.“You’re right. Let’s go home. We have some people to pay a visit tomorrow,” Da
“Sir, what’s the next step from here? This helicopter has to land now,” Henry said again, his voice sounding urgent. He was worried about the safety of his boss and his men.“We’re going in,” Daniel said, his voice firm and resolute.“Babe, wait, it’s dangerous in there!” Jane shouted after Daniel, as he was already dashing towards the warehouse, once the helicopter landed. She wanted to go with him, but she knew he wouldn’t let her.“That’s my uncle in there! Hey, Luis! Come here! Take her home. This scene is not for you. I made a mistake bringing you here,” Daniel instructed one of his men, as he handed Jane over to him. He was afraid of what might happen, and he didn’t want to put her in harm’s way.She didn’t even hesitate, because she was scared to her bones. She quickly followed Luis, and got into the helicopter. She looked at Daniel, as he ran into the fire, and prayed for his safety.“Uncle!” Daniel shouted, as he walked into the warehouse with his men. He was greeted by a hor
Daniel was bubbling with happiness as he walked into the office that day. He had a big smile on his face, and a spring in his step. He greeted everyone he met with a cheerful “Good morning!” and made his way to his desk.He smiled as he remembered how Lisa had wrapped her arms around him last night, whispering “I love you” in his ear. He was sure that she was finally back to him, after months of drifting apart. He ignored the warnings of her family members, who had told him to leave her because he was poor but he believed that their love was stronger than anything, and that they could overcome any obstacle.He sat down at his desk, and turned on his computer. He checked his email, and replied to a few messages. He had a lot of work to do for such a meager salary but he didn’t mind. He was in a good mood, and nothing could ruin it.Or so he thought.“Hey, you look happy today. Have great sex again?” Tiffany sneered at him from across the room. She was his colleague, and she often tease