"Where is your daughter?" Bruce roared immediately when he saw Angela, Claire's mother in the sitting room, pissed that she and her daughter had tricked him."Cl-Claire?" Angela swallowed. "I have no idea. What did she do? I hope everything is alright and I—""Everything is not alright," Bruce lashed out. "Your daughter tried to kill me and you knew about it.""I did not," Angela said, defending herself. "I kind of figured out that you did not get married to Claire for love at the hospital. I pretended not to know to help Claire get closer to you. I may have helped her to trick you into getting her pregnant but that was only because I felt my daughter would be happy with you but that is all I did. I had no idea that Claire tried to kill you. If I did, I would not have helped her.""So you're saying that your daughter left you behind despite knowing that I know she tried to kill me. Isn't she bothered that I'll kill you."Angela froze. "Y—you wouldn't d-do si-something like that. Right
Bruce was one person that could keep his emotions in check and not let it get the better of him.Well, that was until now. He was standing before Bryan ready to somehow pass through the bar separating them to beat him up."What do you want?" Bryan grunted."Where is Claire?" Bruce snarled."She is your wife Bruce. Not mine," Bryan snorted and Bruce grabbed him by the collar immediately."I can end your life at this very moment and go Scot free. You should be familiar with how these things work," Bruce said and Bryan's face turned red."H-how am I supposed to know where she is?""She connived with you to kill me. You're the one guiding her every move. Where is she?""You can't control your own wife. What makes you think another man can?"Holding on to Bryan's collar, Bruce pulled him towards himself. In split seconds, Bryan's face was smashed to the iron bars separating them.Bryan lifted his shaky hands to his face, wiped it like he was wiping off sweat and looked at his palms which w
"Take the seat to my right," The in-court clerk said after he had done the required registration. Today was the first hearing and the first time he would be seeing Claire after her disappearance.In a few minutes, Claire and her lawyer walked into the court and Bruce clenched his fists. She walked over to where the in-court clerk had pointed her to sit. The whole time, she did not bother to spare him even a glance.She finally looked at him and he glared at her, then she looked away immediately. She was playing her fake character well.Her face was swollen and bruised. Her eyes were red and glossed with tears. She had eye bags like she had spent the whole night crying instead of sleeping.She was good at playing the victim.They were all good at playing the victim — women. That was why he had left the bar last night upon realizing that Jade was talking to him.If he had seen Jade a few days ago, he would have run to her. Today, he ran from her. He had had enough heartbreak in his life
"Claire?"Claire raised her head from her food to see who was calling her. Her eyes flew open."Jade."She frowned."Oh my! How have you been?" Jade asked, joining her at the table. "Where have you been?"Claire raised an eyebrow, wondering if Jade had no idea of the ongoing case between her and Bruce. The news was everywhere. How would she not know?"Are you talking to me?"Jade smiled. "I know we don't have a good past. The issue with my brother and Bruce and stuff like that, but now these people are no longer in our lives, so I think we should be nicer to each other now.""Have you not seen Bruce?""I've seen him." Jade's face fell. "I saw him in a bar yesterday. He only talked to me when he did not know who I was. When he did, he yelled at me and left. He was telling me something about his wife trying to kill him to get his property and that she had sued him for beating her up which is not true. Do you know how he has been?""You don't know who I am?" Claire asked, just to confirm
Bruce Ace sat on the wooden bench. His eyes moved around searching for any trace of Claire. The courtroom was filled to its brim. The judge was visibly annoyed at everything that was happening.Murmurs filled the air.It's been an hour since the trial should begin but Claire, the plaintiff, was absent.The judge finally raised his court to talk. "The plaintiff seems to be nowhere to be found. In this light, the case is therefore dismissed."Bruce Ace frowned.He was ready for her.He has something to prove his innocence. Something to show that Claire was the guilty one here.Bruce was fixed to his seat. Refusing to get up. If this was the case, everybody would think that he had paid her off to shut her up.They will think he was the cause of her absence. Not like he cared what they thought of him but he wanted to shut her up the lawfully way.He wanted everyone to get a glimpse of what he had to go through because of women.Bruce finally left his seat and headed for the exit. His body
It's been two months since Bruce saw Claire. She was nowhere to be found. He involved the police, and his men and searched for her himself but he still could not find her.Finding Claire was the only exciting thing that had happened in the space of two months. He worked from 7 am till 9 pm, then from work, he would go to the bar.Once in a while, his eyes scan the bar for Jade. The night before his first trial was the last night he saw Jade. He never saw Jade again after that day.Bruce looked around his office. The furniture was sleek and modern. The floor-to-ceiling windows gave the office a good view. He placed his hands on the mahogany desk, his eyes on his phone.His phone rang and he picked up the call immediately."Have you found them?""Ava still lives in this city but Naomi has relocated," the caller said and Bruce Ace nodded."Text me Ava's address."The last time he saw them was the day Claire ditched him on their wedding day. He smirked, remembering how they had looked do
"He is your son too. Are you seriously going to kill your son?" Bruce could not believe his ears.Claire scoffed. "He is your son. Not mine. According to the contract I signed, you did not need a mother for your son. You only wanted an heir. You planned on paying me off so I could leave the child I would give birth to with you.""He is your blood. Don't tell me you're this heartless.""You know what poverty is like. You know what being powerless is like and what being powerful is like. So you should understand when I say that I want power and money. I want to teach those who have ever looked down on me a lesson. I want to be able to get what I want whenever I want. I want people to look at me with respect. I want the kind of money you have without being at your mercy.""Claire, don't I give you what you want whenever you ask?""You can wake up one day and decide you don't want our marriage again. What should I do then? I refuse to be at the mercy of a man. I want to have your money. I
Bruce's eyes flung open. His breathing was back to normal and his heart stopped beating fast. He felt everywhere was brighter too. He guessed right. The door was opened and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion immediately he saw who opened it. "Jade?" "Bruce." She ran to him to check if he was alright, but when she touched him, Bruce slapped her hands away from his body. "What are you doing here?" "If I had not reached here on time, you would have died." "That's what you want, isn't it?" Bruce scoffed. Jade shook her head. "If I wanted that, I would not have risked my life to save you." "Risk your life? I know you're on Claire's side. Stop the pretense. I know you somehow found out that I had a mp3 player that could land Claire in trouble. You told her about it and like you wanted, she was not absent. As a result, the case was dismissed. " "That's not true," Jade said, defending herself. "I was the one who took the audio recording. I asked the old man to give you