For a moment, time stood still. Luke stared from Fiona’s hand on his wrist to her face, totally disgusted at the greed he saw in the depth of her eyes…the greed she tried so hard to hide but couldn’t. Something very fishy was going here, but Luke’s grandfather had taught him just yesterday to always play smarter than his enemies, so he was going to play Fiona and her mother at their own game.He settled back in his seat, making Fiona believe he was actually considering her stupid proposal. He even took the risk and ran a finger over the backs of her palm. Just a light touch… just something to make her believe she was successfully fooling him.Luke was aware of Nina’s confused, hurt expression as Fiona sent her a smug look over her shoulder, checking to make sure that Nina had seen my touch.Even her mother was smiling like the cat that got the cream.“Oh, Luke,” Fiona purred. “I always knew you’d make the right…”“Why now?” Luke asked, stopping her mid sentence.Fiona’s smile falte
“The plan didn’t work.” Trent Carmichael said, looking at Wilhelm Humsworth from across a table in the prison’s common room.Wilhelm narrowed his eyes, his short temper beginning to flare.“What do you mean by that? Why?”Carmichael shrugged tiredly.“According to what my daughter told me, Luke would not be swayed. He didn’t even want to let her into his office. She and my wife had to struggle their way past security. Do you understand how embarrassing that was for a family of our status?”Wilhelm shook his head angrily.“That was just a small price which they had to pay to make sure Luke Bradford gets destroyed. This is a small price for an even greater victory.”Carmichael shook his head.“So what do you suggest we do now? Luke rejected the proposal no matter how juicy it sounded.”“Knowing your wife and daughter, they probably turned the whole thing into a power of wills.” Wilhelm said on a scoff.Carmichael did not justify his snarky comment with a response because he knew the man
Luke waited with bated breathe for Trent Carmichael’s decision. Mr. Carmichael shot his daughter a look which Luke couldn’t quite decipher before turning to him.“She’ll take the messenger job. She has no choice.”A pained gasp escaped Fiona and Luke switched his gaze to her, hoping to see some kind of reaction that will reveal whatever these two were planning.Luke had been positive that the Carmichaels were definitely up to something by coming here, but the fact that Mr. Carmichael accepted for his daughter to be an ordinary messenger made him even more confused.Were they genuine or was this all some kind of act? Luke was getting angrier by the second because he could not figure that out.Mr. Carmichael’s behavior really appeared to be one of a father who genuinely wanted to punish his daughter for a wrong doing.So why then did Luke feel they were up to something fishy?“Daddy. Daddy, please. Please reconsider.” Fiona begged.Mr. Carmichael gently pushed her away. “I’m sorry, Fi
Luke’s blood boiled as he watched Fiona balance haughtily in the backseat of his car. All in due time, he told himself. She was about to get the biggest embarrassment of her entire life.“So, who did you say we’re going to pick up at the airport?”Luke smiled at her.“Exercise patience, Fiona. It’s a very important personality in London. I’m sure it would be an honour for you to meet her.”“Oh, wow. Most times, people are always honoured to meet me.” She bragged. “I wonder who this person is.”You’ll find out soon enough, Luke thought.Due to pleasant traffic, they arrived at the airport quite quickly. The driver came down and pulled Luke’s door open. Luke even allowed Fiona to be helped off the car. He wanted to give her the impression that she deserved to be treated like a queen.Within moments, guards flanked them as they made their way to the terminal. Everyone watched in awe at the expensively dressed man who stormed the airport with a group of armed guards. Just as they were
“Excuse me?” Fiona asked, her mouth agape.Nina stood to the side and allowed Luke to handle the situation. She knew Fiona was a spoiled little brat and she did not want to get involved in their issues unless she had to.Luke walked over to Fiona and stood a few inches away from her.“You heard me. You’re my employee so you’ll ride back home with the other employees. A servant does not ride in her master’s car.”Fiona was all but ready to explode with rage.“I am not your servant, Luke. I’m just here because dad asked me to, otherwise I would never have come to work for you. I am a queen and that is all I will ever be.”Luke nearly laughed out loud. He suddenly remembered the day Fiona and her mother ordered him to take off his shirt and wash their car until it was sparkling clean…at the car wash. In public.Yes. The Carmichaels took him to a car wash and while the machine washed other people’s cars for them, Luke was given a bucket of water and forced to wash their car manually simp
Three days after the fall out at the airport terminal, Luke was entertaining international guests from Paris and Russia in his office concerning the annual business ball which will be coming up in the next two weeks when the unexpected happened.Just as he’d prophesied, the news of Fiona’s failed marriage ceremony was published as a ‘special edition gossip’ on the trendiest part of Bella Rodriguez’s blog.If the Carmichael family name had been ruined before, it was well on the path to destruction now.The annual business ball was a meeting of intellectual business owners from all over the world which occurred once every year.During the ball, a competition was held where different companies pitched and presented various ideas for different innovative and groundbreaking business propositions. It was called, “The Pitch.”This year, the annual business ball was to be held in London and Luke’s company had been chosen to host it.He was currently in a meeting with Andrei Konstantin, leader
“You were just asking her to do her job.” Luke repeated, disgust evident in his tone. “Let me ask you something, Fiona. Are you paying Laura for her services? Is there any part of your contract of employment which states that she’s under your payroll?” Fiona shook her head.“No, sir. But…”“Keep quiet!” Luke thundered and she fell silent, her cheeks colouring with embarrassment. “Now, I’m going to ask you a few questions and I only need ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. Understood?”“Yes, sir.” Fiona replied, raising her eyes to meet Luke’s. She’d already tried to lure him into punishing Laura instead of her with puppy dog eyes but he gave her a cold-eyed stare and she promptly looked away.“Did you ask Laura to clean dirt off your shoes?” Luke began.“Yes, I did.” Fiona replied without remorse.Luke’s anger slowly returned.“Did you lay your hands on her?”“No. No, I didn’t, sir.”“How then did the contents of her bag end up all over the floor?”Fiona pursed her lips, racking her brain for a
“How dare he?” Fiona fumed to herself as she picked the last of crushed papers from the office floor.It was 6:45 PM and everyone else had already gone home. She, however, was stuck doing the lowly job of a cleaner because of that wretched pauper named Laura.“I’ll show her.” She muttered under her breath. “When this week is over, I’ll be sure to teach her a lesson she will never forget in her entire life!”As she hurried away to dump the refuse sack into the main dumpster, she stumbled on her too-high heels and a loud “crack!” reverberated through the empty halls of the office.A startled shriek escaped her lips as she flailed her arms, looking for anything to hold on to to maintain her balance. Three seconds later, she fell to the polished marble floors on her arse and pain shot through her body like a missile.“Ow! Ow, ow, owwww!” She screamed in frustration.Fiona went completely still for a few seconds, trying to recover from the painful fall. Looking down to assess the damage,
One year later“…to end this broadcast, here’s a recap of the major stories.Former Mrs. Fiona George, ex wife to one of London’s most successful trillionaire businessman, Luke George, along with her mother, Mrs. Carmichael and ex-boyfriend, David Humsworth have all been sentenced to different years in prison. After a long year of legal battles, the court finally announced their sentence today, bringing months of crime and criminal conspiracy to an end…”A sense of satisfaction settled over Luke’s heart as he watched clips of Fiona, her mother and David being led into a police van, already handcuffed. Fiona was screaming and crying while David and Mrs. Carmichael lowered their heads to avoid being captured by the cameras.Beside Luke, Nina, his five months pregnant wife, snuggled deeper against his side, placing her small hands atop his chest.“It’s finally over.” She whispered, her gentle voice already soothing his soul. “It’s really over. Are you happy now?”Luke twisted to the si
For five long seconds, a thick blanket of silence reigned in the room. Lord George stared at Nina in shock, obviously unable to believe his ears. Lucas’ expression was filled with awe while Fiona and her mother looked like they’d just been forced to swallow a bowl full of fart.“Luke, she’s lying. This bitch is lying to you. I didn’t bribe the doctor. How could I do that when I didn’t even know the hospital until you took me there? How can I betray you like that?” She sniffed and hiccuped, looking every bit the victim.Mrs. Carmichael was enraged.“All you’ve done for the past few minutes is go around yapping that little mouth of yours and spewing lies.” She spat at Nina. “Where’s your evidence, huh? You’re claiming that my daughter bribed the doctor. Where’s your goddamn evidence, you shameless homewrecker?!”“If you’re looking for evidence, don’t ask her. Ask me.”Everyone turned towards the door, searching for the owner of the new voice.Mrs Carmichael’s face dampened with fear an
Luke’s heart thundered like a runaway train as Fiona came closer and closer, thrusting the baby towards him.When she was just a hair’s breadth away, Nina intercepted her, blocking her from reaching him.Fiona’s scowl deepened, her eyes already burning with rage.“What the heck do you think you’re doing, Nina? Get out of my way.” She snapped angrily.“And what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Nina countered, folding her arms.Fiona raised her chin.“I was just about to introduce Luke to his son and heir before you rudely interrupted. As you know, my Cameron is a bonafide member of this family. You’re not. Therefore you have no right to be here. Why don’t you just give up on your plans to destroy my marriage, Nina? Can’t you see that you’re already failing?”Nina smirked.“Since we’re all here and you seem to have so much to say today, Fiona, why don’t we play a little game?”Luke stared at the back of Nina’s head with confusion. What was she doing?“In addition to being blind, ar
SIX MONTHS LATERPain. He was in so much pain.His arms, legs and back throbbed and burned. His head felt like a wailing banshee had taken up residence. He tried to open his eyes but his eyelids seemed to be glued shut.“His vitals seem okay but he’s no longer responding to treatment. I’m afraid his coma might become worse. His injuries are nothing like we’ve ever seen before.”He heard noises above him and tried to alert whoever it was to the fact that he was actually awake. He tried to blink or even move his finger, but his body refused to listen to his brain as usual.“I’m sorry but you and your family will have to consider taking him off life support. I don’t mean to be pessimistic but it doesn’t look like he’ll get any better than this.”His heart tightened with panic as he listened to the doctor go on and on about how he’ll never recover. Someone was crying in the room. He could hear the whimpers. Her whimpers.He struggled to stay awake for a moment longer but his brain was spi
THREE MONTHS LATERThe day was dark and gloomy. Rydling soldiers and Elders gathered around the glass casket, their faces pinched in tight frowns.“We’re gathered today to celebrate the one person who sacrificed his life to save all of us. We’re here to witness the end of the reign of our chosen one.” Elder Tomako said quietly.“We watched him fight a good fight. Now, it’s time to bid him farewell. We tried our possible best to bring him back, but I believe this is really the end of the road for our hero. Lower the casket.”The casket was lowered by four heavily built soldiers into the already dug earth. The moment it touched the ground, the death bells started ringing.The forlorn sounds of the bell were followed by flashes of lightning and the deep, rumbling sounds of thunder. That was the king of the Rydlings himself, saying goodbye to his chosen one. The Chosen One had fought a good fight. Now, it was time for him to rest eternally.
THE END OF HIS REIGN***Have you ever gotten the feeling that you’re about to die and no one can save you even if they tried?Have you ever looked death straight in the eyes?That was all that went through Luke’s mind as he stared at the red eyes of the demon-beast before him. His knees and heart quaked with fear and blood whooshed loudly in his ears.Luke knew he was powerless without his amulet. Even if he’d trained for physical combat, those skills wouldn’t be of any significant help against Malcolm.Malcolm took a step forward and Luke gulped in deeply.“I heard Rydling had chosen a weakling to save his people.” He growled, his voice dripping with disgust. “I thought my people were bluffing. But looking at you, I guess they weren’t.Which makes me wonder why my own brother would, out of the millions of experienced and well-trained soldiers at his disposal, choose a good-for-nothing scaredy-cat to lead a war against me.” Malcolm burst into loud, booming laughter. “I mean, what w
A month later…Something was coming. Luke could feel it.For the past month, his anxiety rate had tripled. During the day, he felt followed, stalked. At night, he felt watched.. He could barely sleep these days. His amulet glowed all night and he was pretty certain he’d heard whispers in the dark two nights ago. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. His guts burned with suspicion. There was something wrong somewhere.Something was coming. Something dark…and very, very ugly.****“Focus, Luke. Focus! Channel your amulet’s power. If you’re distracted, the enemy will definitely find an opening to strike.”Luke took a deep breath, trying to calm his raging nerves. Today’s training was on mobility. His ability to dodge the strikes of evil spells or possibly, gun shots from the enemy.“There’s an unwritten rule that guns are banned from all supernatural wars but Malcolm’s followers are evil. We should not underestimate their inclination to cheat.” Elder Tomako had said ea
FOUR MONTHS LATER“It's all about concentration, Luke.” Elder Tomako said for the umpteenth time. “Close your eyes and focus on the power within your amulet. Channel it. If you can do that, the amulet would do anything you want. Close your eyes and feel the magic. Command it.”Luke shot his eyes and focused. Gradually, he felt the familiar energy begin to build. His amulet glowed and throbbed against his chest, sending spurts after spurts of power through his entire frame.He chanted the power codes he was taught throughout his first month of training and the tips of his finger began to burn. “Ancient spirits please arise. Lend your power and your might. Victory over my enemies, I pray thee. Ancient spirits please arise!”Finally, the energy within him became so powerful, shards of dangerous light shot through his fingers and sliced all the targets in front of him, reducing them to puffs of dust.The room erupted into a flurry of explosions and the stench of smoke filled the air.Whe
“How did you kill him?” Luke asked as they both settled down on the Italian sofa.Lucas’ expression became guarded.“Well, turns out, grandpa isn't the only person Edoardo was indebted to. The bastard was involved with a lot of shady people. He gambled a lot and lost loads of cash in the process.Unfortunately, he borrowed money from an organisation that doesn’t believe debtors should walk around scot free.”A slight chill crawled up Luke’s spine at Lucas’ dark expression.“What organisation was that?”Lucas took a few seconds too long to reply and Luke instantly knew that Edoardo had fallen into deep, deep shit before his death.“Edoardo borrowed money from the Russian crime syndicate. The Bratva.”Luke froze as shock shot through his entire system. “D-did you just say…?”Lucas nodded.“Yes. Unfortunately for him, he borrowed half a million dollars from them and couldn’t pay back after a period of six months like he’d promised.”Luke's heart thumped wildly as he asked;“How did they