2024-11-25 18:57:59Ezekiele was only now realizing the mistake he almost made. And he had Emilia to thank for that. If it hadn’t been for Emilia and her mother asking for a higher dowry just now, Ezekiele would have married her without knowing the truth of the matter!
For five years, he’d doted on Emilia and loved her dearly, but that had been a mistake.
“Lucia, can you confirm that this pendant is yours?”
Still looking terrified, and having a hand covering the spot on her face that Emilia slapped, Lucia was scared to look up at Ezekiele, but she responded with, “Ye-Yes…Yes, the jade pendant belongs to me.”
Ezekiele’s eyes lingered on the trembling woman for a couple seconds before moving into action.
Without much ado, he turned at Emilia, who was still seething, and it was like the veil covering his eyes had finally been removed. Exhaling a deep breath, he addressed Emilia and her mother.
“I almost made a costly mistake, but thanks to you, Emilia, I didn’t. With that said, from this moment, I’m calling off our wedding.”
“What?!”
Ezekiele ignored both Emilia and Maddalene’s raised voice. Rather, he faced Lucia. Her head was slightly raised now, and her expression was schooled into one of surprise.
“You! Come with me.”
Not giving her time to react, Ezekiele took hold of Lucia’s hand and pulled her with him out of the dressing room. Emilia and Maddalene’s voices followed after him, but he paid them no mind.
It wasn’t until he arrived in front of the main wedding hall that he stopped. Beside him, Lucia didn’t struggle. She didn’t understand what was happening, but she knew she had no power anyway to fight.
Seconds later, Ezekiele pushed open the double doors of the wedding hall. Hundred pairs of eyes, who had been awaiting the arrival of the bride and groom, swiveled around in their seats towards the door. To their surprise, the groom wasn’t holding the bride, but the bridesmaid! What on earth was going on?
“Everyone!”
As the guests started to murmur among themselves, Ezekiele’s powerful voice silenced the hall. Still holding Lucia’s hand, he strode to the front of the hall, where the shellshocked priest was.
“You all gathered here to witness the wedding between Emilia and I.” Ezekiele’s strong gaze seemed to meet every eye in the room. “For reasons I would rather keep to myself, that wedding has been called off!”
At this announcement, the excitement of the guests grew immensely. Some of them shot to their feet and started pointing, but overall, no mouth was quiet as they discussed this unfolding event. Little did they know, it was about to get even more exciting.
“There’s more!” Ezekiele wasn’t done. This time, he let go of Lucia’s hand, and under everyone’s shocked gaze, fell on one knee. “Lucia, to have you as my wife will be the greatest honor. What do you say? Will you marry me?”
“Ezekiele Moretti! Are you crazy?”
The arrival of Emilia brought even more frenzy to the guests who were about to pass out from excitement. Not only was the groom not marrying his intended bride, he had gone ahead to propose to the bridesmaid!
“Ezekiele, I won’t let you get away with this! Remember that I’ve been invited to the Great Marshal’s Comeback Ceremony!” Emilia’s screeching traveled through the entire wedding hall. “My mother and I are going to rise to the top and we’ll make you pay for this! Lucia, are you mad? Quickly reject him!”
Ezekiele had tuned everyone out. He only had eyes for Lucia. Emotions seemed to conflict across her face as she looked at the kneeling man. Lucia had already prepared her mind to say no, when Ezekiele’s next words stopped her.
“I’ll protect you.” To Lucia’s ears, it sounded like a vow. “I promise that I’ll protect you no matter what.” Another thing was his eyes. Those brown eyes hid nothing from her. They seemed honest.
Lucia’s lips separated slightly. “I…”
“I swear on my life that I’ll protect you.”
These words from Ezekiele were like the final piece of the puzzle. Lucia felt her heart open up. No longer hesitating, she began to nod. “I will marry you, Ezekiele Moretti.”
A splitting smile grew on Ezekiele’s face as he got to his feet. Now that he had Lucia’s approval, he was going to make everything right with her. All those years wasted on Emilia couldn’t be gotten back, but he could do better now. No! He would do better. He was going to give her the world.
“Quick! Give us the marriage blessings,” Ezekiele ordered the priest. In about five minutes, under the shocked gaze of everyone present, the two were pronounced husband and wife.
The shocked guests looked from Emilia to the new couple unsure whether to clap! The new couple ran together out of the building and into a waiting car.
The car was silent for minutes, and the first thing Ezekiele said to Lucia after he started driving was, “Thank you for not saying no.”
Lucia didn’t say anything, she wasn’t even looking at Ezekiele. Her eyes were locked on her phone, which was buzzing every two seconds. Ezekiele didn’t want to be rude by looking into her phone, but the frequency of the messages coming in worried him.
“Do you need to reply to those messages?”
Lucia seemed to be in a daze and didn’t respond right away..
“My family already has someone they want me to marry.” Lucia’s quiet voice reached Ezekiele’s ears. “Giacomo Hamilton. You don’t know how scary he is. The Hamilton family have everything so they’re scared of nobody. I’ve heard of things they’ve done just to protect their family name. It-”
“I’m not scared of them…”
Lucia’s worried speech was cut short by Ezekiele.
Twisting his body so it was facing Lucia, he continued, “...And you shouldn’t be too. My words back there weren’t mere words, they were the truth. I’ll protect you from any harm.” Silently, within himself, Ezekiele added, “Because you protected me once too.”
In the past, Lucia only ever had a few interactions with Ezekiele, but she’d never known him to be a liar. Which was why his words were oddly comforting.
“I-”
Her phone ringing made Lucia jump. Looking at the caller, it was her mother. She quickly answered and put the phone to her ear.
“Lucia! Lucia! Your father just had a heart attack! Come to the hospital right now!”
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“Lucia! Lucia! your father just had a heart attack! Come to the hospital right now!”“What? Heart attack? Mother, calm down. What happened? How did Father have a heart attack?” Hearing those panic-stricken words from Lucia, Ezekiele quickly turned to look at her. “This is all because of you!” Anna yelled at her daughter through the phone.It happened like this. She and her husband, Daniele, had been hosting some friends for lunch. Naturally, they were bragging about how their daughter, Lucia, was going to marry Giacomo Hamiliton, a wealthy man, very soon, when a neighbor ran in suddenly asking if they’d seen the news. As it would turn out, their daughter had suddenly gotten married to a nobody! Unable to bear the news, Daniele slumped from heart failure. “We’re on the way to the hospital right now. Meet me there!”Before Lucia could respond to her mother, the older woman hung up. The phone fell from Lucia’s ear, hitting the floor of the car with a loud thud. “My father…My father
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“Listen, Lucia, I can help your father, but you also need to do me a favor, don’t you think?”Lucia froze inwardly at Giacomo’s insinuation, but she didn’t make any reaction on the outside so as not to alert her mother. For the entire time they’d been engaged, which was less than six months, Giacomo had always made it clear what he wanted from her the most: her body. Lucia was fully convinced that the reason he remained engaged to her for so long was that. Confirming her words, Giacomo continued, “I’m at Palace Hotel for a meeting I have with clients in the evening. If you agree to spend the night with me, I’ll send a driver to pick you up.” The truth was Giacomo had no intention of helping Lucia’s father. It was as Lucia thought. Why he stayed engaged to her was not because her family had anything to offer him. Well, they had one thing, a pretty daughter who made Giacomo’s blood boil with want. He was never going to marry Lucia. Even now, after getting what he wanted from her, he
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“It can’t be!” One glance was all Anna spared Ezekiele before she willed herself to forget his existence. There was no way that man saved her husband’s life. How could it be when he wasn’t even a doctor. Moreover, it had to be Giacomo’s doing. “Right, Lucia? You called Giacomo not long ago, so it had to be him.”“Giacomo?” The hospital director perked up at that name. “Do you mean Giacomo Hamilton? That’s impossible! I watched Master,” he gestured at Ezekiele, “himself carry out the operation. I believe your husband can attest to this too.” At his words, Anna faced Daniele. Her eyes seemed to be pleading with him to refute the hospital director’s words. “No way. Lucia, call Giacomo this instant. Let’s get to the bottom of this!”Even before her mother gave the order, Lucia had begun to dial her ex-fiance’s number. Four pairs of eyes waited in anticipation. When the call connected, Lucia put it on speaker. “Hello, Giacomo, my father’s operation was successful and he has woken up. T
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As Emilia watched, she grew green with jealousy. Was Ezekiele such a gem? If he was, then she couldn’t possibly let him go like that. She had to find a way to turn the tables around. “Ezekiele, dear.” In front of everyone, Emilia rushed to Ezekiele, wrapping her hands around him in a tender embrace. “If I had known you were like this, I would never have let you go. Can’t you forgive my mother this once? Instead of this nobody, why don’t you make her the hospital director?” Lucy felt her heart pierce as she watched the two of them, but Ezekiele remained unfazed. Prying Emilia away from his body, he moved so that he was standing next to Lucia, showing ownership. “Did you forget that I’m married to Lucia?” Ezekiele asked in a voice so cold, it put shivers in the hearts of everyone who heard it. Not one to back down easily, Emilia forced on a fake smile. “Back at the wedding hall, I might have said a few things that I regret, but you did the same. You can have me back, all you need t
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Seeing the obvious defeat, Emilia didn’t need to be told twice to disappear from the scene. The confidence that had been present with her on the way to the steel mill disappeared immediately after seeing Ezekiele take two men down at once without breaking a sweat. The men Giacomo sent were all muscles and fat, with arms almost five times bigger than hers! So seeing Ezekeile take them out like they were nothing, fear went down Emilia’s spine. Maybe they were much weaker than they looked, Emilia tried to convince herself, but even then, Ezekiele took out ten men!As she drove away to a safe place, Emilia called Giacomo for the second time in two days. “So, how was it?” His sing-song, excited voice made Emilia forget her fear and flare up in anger. “How was it?” It was ridiculous just hearing that! “What kind of men did you send, huh? They’re so weak! Ten of them can’t take out a single man!”“Wait-Wait…” Giacomo seemed to be shuffling around. He was trying to find a quieter place. He
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Emilia had long since gotten to her feet and was now scheming. The business agreement with Giacomo didn’t seem to matter as much to her now. Her thoughts were solely on how to get Ezekiele to ditch Lucia and come back to her. “I will supply you with the steel you need at the regular price. There’s no need to pay me more than is due.”Emilia almost scoffed at those silly words from Lucia. If only she knew her eye was now on Ezekiele, then maybe she wouldn’t be so eager to help. Emilia didn’t appreciate Lucia’s kindness. In fact, she detested it. If someone treated Emilia the way she treated Lucia, there was no amount of begging that would make her accept her forgiveness. Was this how she seduced Ezekiele? With the kind act? Emilia wondered, eyeing Lucia with resentment. Lucia didn’t notice this look in Emilia’s eyes, but Ezekiele, who paid close attention to everything, saw it and knew what Emilia was thinking. He was about to burst her bubble. “Now that you’ve gotten what you want
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“This is a VIP card. It gets you anything you want in Oakheart City.” Sensing Lucia’s confusion, Ezekiele explained. Understanding, Lucia’s mouth rounded into an oh. “How-?” Lucia had been about to ask Ezekiele how he got the card, when another voice spoke over her. “Why are you still here?” It was Anna who asked this question which was directed to Emilia. “My daughter agreed to provide you with the steel you need, so isn’t it about time you left?” The reason Anna had been silent for so long was because she had been trying to process what just happened. It was a lot to process, but Anna knew for a fact that Emilia wasn’t going to sit back quietly while a big fish got away from her, and she would try to sabotage Lucia. Anna took it upon herself to make sure that didn’t happen. “What?” Emilia sneered at the older woman. “I still have some questions to ask Ezekiele.”In response, Ezekiele was quick to shut that down. “Emilia, I believe I have answered all your questions, and I’m cert
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Have you heard back from the Hautings?”In a lavish home office, a man with a full head of grey hair sat at his desk, reading the news on his computer. Standing in front of him was a man, balding in the middle of his head, and with age marks around his eyes. He was in his late thirties, but looked much older than his years. These two people were Micah and Abel Keatings respectively. Ezekiele’s father and brother. After Ezekiele came out of prison, the first thing he did was change his last name so that none of his family members would be able to find him, but before he was known as Ezekiele Moretti, he used to be known as Ezekiele Keatings. “I’m meeting with the first son of the family and my bride-to-be this afternoon,” Abel Keatings responded. “Hmm.” Micah Keatings made a nasally sound with his throat, not looking up from his computer, then said, “I hope you know this has to happen. For the sake of the family business, you have to make sure this deal goes through. Do everything
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Ezekiele!”A good trinkle passed through Ezekiele when he heard the warmth and longing that filled Lucia’s voice as she called out his name. Dressed in a wine gown, his wife had been hard at work on her laptop when Ezekiele entered the office. With brisk steps, he rounded the table. When he reached where she was, he placed his hands gently on her shoulders before pulling her into a hug.“Did you miss me that much?”Ezekiele felt Lucia’s shoulders bristle, but she didn’t move out of his hold. After a few moments, Ezekiele drew away from her with a laugh. He had somewhere else to be, but he wanted Lucia to be the first person to be when he got back to Oakheart City. Now that he saw her and confirmed for himself that she was fine, he felt at peace. “I have to leave again.” At those words, Lucia’s eyes widened with surprise. “But you just got here. Are you going on another mission? I don’t want to trouble you, but I would appreciate it if you told me where you were going.”Ezekiele wa
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Dad says I get to keep you if you come over.”As soon as Ezekiele heard those words, he reached behind him, grabbed onto the gun in Raya’s hands, and pointed it on her. The whole thing took three seconds, tops. Now Ezekiele had the chance to take a closer look at her. A stunned expression adorned the girl’s face. He was right in thinking she was young. She bore a striking resemblance to Lance and looked about the same age too. Twins maybe. Before speaking, Ezekiele took the gun away from her. “Are you alone in the house?” His eyes darted around the room to make sure that he didn’t encounter any more surprises. “Where are the students?”Raya must not have been expecting Ezekiele to turn the tables on her because a deep pout appeared on her face. “I’m innocent.”“Innocent? We’ll see about that. Where are the captives?” When he saw that Raya wasn’t planning on being forthcoming, Ezekiele raised the gun in his hand and aimed it at her. “Tell me or I’ll really shoot.”Rather than move,
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Lucia Rovings…I assume that might be you.”Lucia stared at the newcomer with confused expression, then at Emilia, who looked confused, but also had admiration written all over her face. He was a handsome man who looked to be in his early-thirties. With hair that fell across his face in waves and the suit he had, he had a neat look. All these things were noted by Lucia as she did a quick sweep of the stranger. “Who… are you?” Also, how did he know who she was?The strange man’s eyes widened briefly before he reached into his shirt pocket. “Oh. I forgot to introduce myself.” Stretching his hand out again, he handed a business card to Lucia. She quickly read the name: Tanner Hautings. Other than a name, there was no other information on the card. Not even a phone number. As she was still looking at the card, it was snatched out of her hand by Emilia. “Tanner Hautings?” The pitch of Emilia’s voice was high as she read the name off the card. “The first son of the Hautings family?” In h
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
After the police came and took the student’s body away, the whole school fell into a somber mood. This was the first time a body of one of the disappeared students had turned up. Before, they could lie to themselves by saying the students who disappeared ran away from home, but now, they weren’t so sure. Before class began, Chris asked to meet Ezekiele at the back of the school. The teenager was panicking so he paced around. “He’s killing people now. What’s your plan?” Ezekiele didn’t answer and stared at Chris until he frustratingly came to a stop. “Do you not have a plan? Are you going to play teacher until Cassey dies?”“I won’t let that happen,” Ezekiele said before returning back to the class. The students were less mellow than they usually were. Lance Howard, on the other hand, was another story. The smiles on his face throughout the day were bright, seemingly not noticing the sadness of the others. This time too, Lance stuck around after class and came to find Ezekiele in the
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“He’s dead. What are we going to do?”Giacomo studied the panicking Emilia in front of him. She’d just told him about her mother’s accident. Frankly, it was none of his business, but he still needed Emilia to help him with his plan to get rid of Ezekiele Moretti, so he could abandon her just yet. “I’ll get someone to take care of it.”“Really?” Emilia’s eyes lit up. “Will you?”“We’re partners, aren’t we? I’m not going to abandon you in time of need.” Giacomo nodded as a sinister smile creeped up his face. This was collateral. It counted as something he would be able to hold over her head in the future. “I’ll send someone over to your mother to take care of it.”“Of course! Thank you, Giacomo!”With Giacomo’s help, the news of Maddelena Loveheart’s accident never made it out to public news. The dead man didn’t have an identity on him, so they wrote him off and buried him. With that out of the way, Giacomo was ready to move on to his next plan to take out Ezekiele Moretti. He’d suffe
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A long time had passed since Ezekiele did any kind of undercover work, but here he was again. After leaving instructions with Lupo to keep an eye on Lucia and inform him if anything happened, Ezekiele set out for Maple City. Chris had given them all the information he had about the student who was allegedly behind the kidnapping of his classmates, as well as his Police Chief father, who kept his son’s misdeeds a secret. Over the years, Ezekiele had had to adopt a number of personas, but it was his first time going in as a teacher. This time, he was going in as a recently divorced teacher who moved to a new city for a fresh start. With a complete change of wardrobe and hairstyle, Ezekiele was certain that even his mother wouldn’t be able to recognize him. “Mr. Carrell, you’re recently divorced, right?” The principal of the school was a woman in her mid-thirties, and ever since Ezekiele arrived, she’d been beaming at him. Ezekiele, acting as Steve Carrell, nodded lightly, returning
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“So, why do you want to see me?”The arrival of Ezekiele at his right hand man’s hiding spot meant that he could finally meet Liam Tirro, who now went by Christopher Wilde. With a cool, unbothered demeanor, Ezekiele leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. On the other hand, Chris wore a steel gaze as he studied Ezekiele. A few times, he opened and closed his mouth, seeming to want to speak, but not finding the right words. Ezekiele was a patient man, so he could wait. Turning his head towards Lupo, he asked, “How’s your mother? And your wife? I hope they’re not too mad at me for taking up all your time.” The last time they saw each other was at the hospital when Lupo brought the Ammo needle to Ezekiele. The original plan had been for his right hand man to take a break to go be with his family, but with the numerous situations arising, that plan was now on hold. “Good." Lupo gave a brisk nod. "They’re safe and that’s all that matters.”“I need your help.”Pursin
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Rest up. If you need anything, you can call for a maid with the push of a button. When you’ve gotten enough rest, look around.” Those were Ezekiele’s instructions as he helped Lucia into one of the rooms. A smile appeared on his face as he remembered the shock on Lucia’s face when they got into the private elevator that led up to the Penthouse. “How are you able to afford this?” Lucia had asked with an incredulous tone, making Ezekiele laugh. What he didn’t mention to her was that not long after coming back to Oakheart City, he’d bought the company that owned the skyscraper, therefore giving him ownership of a number of buildings. Later, he would make her privy to all these things, but not now. This was only the beginning of what was to come. “I have some business to attend to, but if you need to go anywhere, there’s a phone right there.” Lucia looked in the direction Ezekiele pointed at, and sure enough, there was a landline seated on the desk. “Any of the numbers will connect y
