Chloe wrapped her hands around her body, shaking badly.She managed to avoid being seen by people around, sneaking out to flag down a taxi.The driver looked her over before stopping. That is when she took a good look at her outfit. Grass stains edged the white lace and mud-stained her feet. From the reflection of the car window, Chloe saw twigs in her hair and how scattered it was.Trying to smooth it down, Chloe ratted out her address and got into the car.The cab driver kept glancing at her through the rearview mirror but Chloe ignored it, fluffing her hair around her face to hide it.When he pulled up near the apartment, Chloe caught sight of her sister, Maeve pacing up and down.Meanwhile, Chloe flew into her sister's arms, wrapping her hands around her neck and hugging her tightly. “Where were you?!” Maeve moved back, starting at her sister, relief the size of a well in her chest. “I was looking all over you, I thought something had happened!”Immediately, she flew out of the c
If there was any other word to describe how he felt apart from devasted, Sean would have discovered it by now.As it stands, not only has he lost the claim to the CEO position but he's also lost the best thing that has happened to him in a while.Chloe.She refused to pick up his calls so that he could at least explain his side of the story to her. It wasn't until he got back to the hall, that he found out that her purse, with her phone included, was abandoned there.Her sister, Maeve was also a no-go area. At least, she had the decency to tell him to his face.Chloe just fell off the face of the earth.No social media, no contact. It was scary in a way but that gave Sean more time to focus his energy on important things.Now that his head was clearer, he took his time counting down the days he last laid with Amelia.According to his calculations, she must be fatter than she says she was, that's if the child is his.Confused and a walking shell of his former self, Sean took advice fr
Magnus held the last Cuban cigarette he had in between his fingers, parked on the other side of the road.The tip was lit, smoke billowing from its ends. Magnus took a deep breath, trapping the nicotine in his lungs for some seconds before he let it out.A cloud of smoke flowed from his mouth, temporarily obscuring his vision.He waited in his car, waiting for anyThe thing about being a PI is that it will reach you with patience. Getting people to reveal their deep, dark secret isn't easy. It takes time and with lots of patience, you can wear them out eventually discovering their hidden secrets.Sean Lambert’s money was sitting pretty in his account and any moment from now, the man himself would be calling to request an update.The bad part is, that Amelia Cruz was way smarter than Magnus gave her credit.For the past week, she'd been careful not to visit any suspicious places or talk to suspicious people.Taking the route that led to her house, Magnus parked several feet away, a bin
Two days ago….(Before the visit to Chloe's home)Moriah kept tapping her pencil against her mug, deep in thought.Her gaze darted towards the clock as she checked the time. He was late.She knew it was a deliberate attempt to make her wait and get more antsy.Fucking Clement!The door opened and the man he was thinking about walked in, his face all smug.“Took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?” She spoke up, stopping the pen. “Well, you know what they say, Mother, beauty takes time,” Clement smirked, taking a seat in front of her.“Really? So does scheming and plotting against your brother.” Moriah retorted. Anger bubbled up in her lungs but she managed to restrain it. “How could you, Clement?”“Is this why you called me here?” He had a bored look on his face but Moriah knew that it was just a front to mask his true feelings. “To whine about your favorite son?”The pen in her hands snapped due to the force she applied on it but Moriah calmly drew her hand back, adopting a ca
“Prove it,” Clement spoke. “If you're on my side, I'm going to need you to prove it to me.”Moriah was torn. There's no way she thought that he would dive straight in.Squaring her shoulders and raising her chin, she nods. “Okay, fine. What do you want me to do?”“Chloe.” Folding his hands behind his back, Clement walked around like he was in charge. “Sean loves her, even way more than Amelia. If you can get her to hate him enough to not talk to him anymore then I'll know you're on my side. Sean would be heartbroken, and henceforth useless.”He stared at her, waiting for her to come to a verdict. A part of him told him that Moriah would be up to it.She might act like a ruthless businesswoman when it came e to it, but to her family, she was as gentle as a bird.Seconds ticked by while Clement waited for a reply. The ideal thing would be to say no and find a way to work together with Sean and bring Clement down.The maternal side of her knew that Clement was only inflicting hurt on Sea
While Chloe followed the doctor in, she shit off a text to Maeve, telling her to keep Ethan occupied a little longer, just until she had a beating of the situation.“Please, have your seat.” He opened the door, a pleasant smile on his face as he ushered her into the sterile-looking room.The small office was bereft of any personal items save a mug that says ‘Best Doc Ever’ and a calendar that looked to be abused judging by the number of marks it had on it.“Nice office.” Chloe offered, not sure what to say in this scenario.“Thanks,” Robin said taking his seat at the other end of the desk. “So, Miss…?”“Chloe.” She eagerly filled in. “My name is Chloe.”“Right.” He waved it off, diving straight into it. “Like I said earlier, your uncle's wife's case is quite severe.” Sliding a pair of files to her, he prompted her to take a look. “The car's airbag deployed immediately after the hit so that helped her head stabilize a bit. The only part I'm worried about is the rest of her body…”The d
Moriah was pretty eager to meet up with me.Shortly after the call, she directed me to her office in downtown New York. According to her, a space in her schedule just magically opened up when she called.Chloe sensed something fishy but she kept it to herself, boarding the next bus out of the hospital while making sure neither Ethan nor Maeve saw her and tried to stop her.She couldn't handle either of their troubles at the moment.Lambert Inc was only twenty minutes away but it felt like an eternity away, with Chloe looking out the window watching cars pass by.Anything to keep her off the impending meeting that could equally decide if Christy lives or dies.The cab pulled up in front of the massive building, putting an end to the thoughts swirling around in her mind.Leaving the cabbie with a handsome tip, Chloe hesitated for a second, not sure where to go from here.Moriah, ever the gracious hostess anticipated that which was why there was a man dressed in a black suit who hovered
Chloe looked at Moriah in shock, wondering where this was coming from. “This is a joke right?”“So you see any clown here?” Moriah replied, her face as cold as steel. It was hard to equate this woman with the same person who was all smiles at the engagement party. Granted, it was only a week ago but the sudden change gave Chloe whiplash.“How can you tell me that?” Chloe sat up, struggling to make sense of this scenario. Even though she might have returned Sean's ring, that didn't mean she wanted to wipe him off her memory forever. “I love Sean.”“Yet you're sitting here without his ring on your finger.” Moriah cooly stated a pointed look at my bare ring finger.Aware of Moriah's scrutiny, she pulled it out of view. “Whatever issues Sean and I are having are ours to face, not yours.”“I'm not trying to meddle but you see…” she stood up from her perched seat, circling Chloe's chair the way a predator would. “The last time I caught Sean in a similar position, I stepped back and allowed
“So you’re going to do the wedding before you start to show? Why not do it after?” Maeve asked as they lay upside down on the couch. She had a permanent smile on her face these days and Amber liked to joke that she was receiving great sex from Ivan. They had been under the covers for way too long and finally announced their relationship over Sean’s takeover dinner last week, of course none of them were surprised even Mrs Lambert had teased them about it. Sean had passed all the requirements and Clement was serving Jail term for the next two years. Sean knew if he came out he would seek revenge again but he was going to gloat in the beauty of having a wife with him, at the end of the takeover night when he was crowned CEO, he went down on one knee and proposed to Chloe.“Sean wants it soon,” Chloe answered, fidgeting with her sheets.“Sean wants it or you want it? You don’t listen to what he says and he does all you ask!” Amber retorted and they laughed.“I don’t think there’s any ne
The beep from the EKG monitor was the only sound present in the room. Sean had sat just as he was seated throughout the night, holding Chloe’s hands as she received the treatment, the doctors had done a mini surgery and removed the bullet. He also cleaned up the injury and she was still unconscious, Chloe’s eyes had only fluttered open once in the night and the only thing she had said was “Sean” and she went back to sleep.“Are you sure I shouldn’t switch with you? You’ve been keeping watch throughout the night.” Maeve asked him her concern was clear in her eyes. Sean scoffed and shook his head.“No. This is my fault, all of it is my fault and now she is probably fighting for her life.” Maeve sighed. “She's not fighting for her life. The doctor said she’s safe, all that’s left is for her to receive proper treatment. Allow the nurse to stitch up your wounds and let me spend time with my sister.”Her final words did the trick, Sean nodded and stood up, pushing back the chair. “If she
“Your stupid boyfriend is here! How did he locate us?” Drake panicked as the police officer’s voice sounded from the speaker again. He didn’t know how to act or what to say.“Don’t ask me” Chloe muttered under her breath, feeling her chest bustling with emotions, she was finally going to be away from the shackles of captors and ropes!“You have bad taste in men.” He concluded and she raised an amused brow as he continued. “Listen to me, just agree that you wanted to stay away, that way nobody gets hurt. Not you, not me.” Chloe pretended to be lost in thought. A few seconds before her head snapped up and she looked at him.“No, I won’t be doing that, I'd rather die than let you go scot free and I mean that in every possible way.” She snapped at him and immediately he pulled out a knife again and wrapped his left hand around her neck, he placed the knife on her neck and led them downstairs, Chloe groaned in his hands, acting up to hide this year that she felt when he pressed the knife a
Sean would remember to give Amber a hug when next he saw her because apparently, she had the foresight to dial 911 and halfway through their pummeling, the cops showed up. The whole place was surrounded, escaping was out of the plan, Clement wanted nothing but to pluck out his brother's eyes but the cops had their own plan which involved he conflict ending peacefully.Everyone of them including Maeve and Amber were placed in the vehicle and driven off to the station. Only Drake and Chloe were not there which made pissed Sean off especially when he had his eyes on her less done twenty minutes ago.His first instinct had been to drag her out of his arms but holding on to Camille had made that impossible. Camille now sat at the corner of the van looking out the window wondering how she had managed to end up in this exact place again. Maeve was all cuddled up on Ivan in a cozy position, and he made a mental note to ask Ivan what was going on between them later.“Amber,” he muttered an
Waiting for Clement didn’t take long, he came forty minutes later, the sound of his car was the first thing they heard and it was Drake who brought their attention to it. Amber, Maeve and Ivan immediately left, then Sean followed with Camille and stood behind the large banister at the living room exit, hiding his view.Sean's heart was racing at a mile per minute and he prayed that nothing went wrong so they were able to get Chloe. Camille wanted to say something but he pressed his hand over her lips firmly. “If this goes wrong because of you, trust me I will invent ten thousand ways to slowly kill you, so shut up!” He hissed.“If you don’t have something reasonable to say then I swear I will shoot you right here right now” Clement growled as he walked over to where Drake stood with Chloe, he bent toward her and held her chin. “Hello Chloe, I trust they’ve been treating you poorly.” “You don't need to worry about me, it seems you have bigger problems,” she said to him, and he chuckle
The gun remained on Drake's head and the knife remained on Chloe’s neck as the three of them walked into the building again. If Ivan knew better he would have taken the risk and fought her out of Drake's hands, but who was going to believe a man hardened by life’s many struggles would hesitate to cut his prisoner's neck wide open. The knife to her neck was causing Drake to feel sick in the stomach but his fate would be much worse if he let her go without Clement’s consent. “We’re in here!” Maeve called shakily from what looked like it used to be the living room of the mansion, when the three of them came into full view and Ivan saw that Sean had Camille he dropped his weapon. “What in the hell happened here?” He gasped, subconsciously shielding Maeve from any stray bullets that may be fired.“Sean, Maeve!” Chloe cried out loud, all her emotions concentrated into that one word. She wanted to say more and even run into all their arms but Drake placed his palm over her mouth. Ivan watc
Their plan was in motion and the girls had proved to be more useful than not. Sean had suggested Trevor stay back while the rest of them spread out in Aviline, a slim in downtown New York.It was a spot where the low or the lower class lived, just like Trevor had described.The young man was more useful than not and Sean was going to make sure he fulfilled his promise, but first…“Have you texted Clement?” Sean asked Ivan and he nodded, in response, bringing out the phone to show him the text.Amber and Maeve were standing a few feet away from them, lost in their own discussion. It was going to surprise Chloe to come out and see that her sister had made a friend in Amber who she originally hated a lot.Ivan flashed the phone in front of him reading the chat out loud.“Yes, you said ‘Chloe is missing, have you heard anything from anywhere that suggests foul play?’” “Well I guess that’s convincing enough. Andrea is back in the house as back up. She will call the cops if we don’t show up
“If you honestly say a word, I’ll stuff my hands in your mouth.” Dufus threatened and she was quiet, she had lost strength and zeal, her despair was crawling over her and she wondered how long this torture would have to go on for.After Drake left, he didn't come back and instead they sent this Dufus guy to take over because she hadn't seen him since then almost like Drake couldn't stand the sight of her.From the beats and pieces of conversations that she heard she realized that she was being moved, as they handled her roughly, pushing against her as she got in the car, shoving her roughly into the new space before pulling off a blindfold.This new place that they took her to was even worse than the last, dank corners with rusted irons scattered about. The smell was horrible and she could see that a section of the ceiling was leaking, leaving a puddle on the floor. The conditions were worse than jail and her heart bubbled with hatred for Clement.If she ever saw him, she would proba
They settled in a corner of the pub, Ivan and Sean on one side and Camille sat pretty opposite, she had the air of someone who felt in charge and her cockiness was enraging Sean.Ivan noticed and patted him on his arms, urging him to remain calm. Ivan leaned forward and pushed one of the beer bottles Fatima had brought, towards her. It was her third bottle.“So, you are here to see your former captor, get a closer look?” Camille asked as she took a large gulp of the lukewarm drink, Sean had taken a bottle and decided he had enough but she was still going at three. It definitely pointed to some kind of celebratory mood.“No actually, we need your help on something,” Ivan told her and Sean watched as his friend delved into an Oscar award-winning act, his face twisting into a concerned one.“Recently, one of our friends went missing, we didn’t know if it was a voluntary ghosting or an actual case so we are being more on the low profile side. She was last seen in this area, I was hoping s