2025-01-11 02:07:55Dee thought she was glad that he was nowhere to be found 3 days after the incident but by the sunset of the third day, she could feel her anxiety level spike up beyond what she could control without her medications.
Her anxiety issues which got diagnosed when she was 16 years old had worsened over the years until she met Jason. She was almost 22 years old when she met him and just 2 days before her 23rd birthday, she discovered she was pregnant with Ria. Since that day, her breakdowns occasionally made its grand appearance whenever she’s extremely stressed. ‘Where is he… where is he… where is he… where is Jason?’, She whispered repeatedly as she paced around her bed while pulling at her hair unconsciously. She stopped suddenly in the middle of the room while staring into the wall as the feeling descended on her again felt as though her throat was closing up as she felt the floor beneath her feet quake slowly. As Dee struggled to steady her feet while reaching for the bed, she heard something she had been ignoring. It was getting louder and louder with every passing second. She couldn’t decipher what it was but she felt it ringing in her head. Then, she heard it clearly this time. Someone was crying and it was a familiar one. ‘Ria’, she exclaimed while dragging herself off the edge of the bed to meet her in the corner of the room where she had cuddled herself in since her episode started. ‘Baby, mummy is here. I’m so sorry’, she said as she carried Ria into her arms and walked towards the door. She stopped abruptly and turned back towards the queen-sized bed raised on a wooden bedframe. The bed cover and duvet were crumpled in the center of the bed and she straightened out a side while placing Ria on it. Ria was however not interested in taking a nap. As she refused to lie down while clinging to mother’s weak frame, Dee was almost losing her wits again. ‘Ria baby, why don’t you take a nap? Mum has to do something now, okay?’ she pleaded impatiently. Ria was however not interested in taking a nap. She went quiet for a while clinging to her mother’s frame before she resumed crying. Her tears were not in any way as a result of her refusal to take a forceful nap. They were as a result of her father’s disappearance. She had no idea that her father was nowhere to be found as all she knew was that her dad had not returned from work with a new storybook for her to read. Dee was not privy to when the promises were made neither was she present when a ‘pinky promise-cross my heart’ was made by dad and daughter. As Dee was about to forcefully drop her on the bed, Fiona, her elder sister walked in. Fiona was confused when she saw Dee struggling with Ria, she was struck with the image of a mother and daughter fighting for a WWE belt. She couldn’t help but smile sadly. Ria, on seeing Fiona, immediately detached herself from Dee and watched Fiona through her teary eyes as Fiona made for the bed. As Fiona sat on the edge of the bed, Ria immediately raised her arms to be lifted up and placed on the bed, willingly, this time around. Dee starred in disbelief as her daughter climbed onto the laps of Fiona. ‘Where is my daddy?’, Ria asked while starring into Fionas’s eyes. Fiona looked up to Dee who had turned towards the door as she made to exit the bedroom and shook her head before answering. ‘Your dad is away on a very important journey, cupcake.’ Fiona replied with a soothing voice that silenced Ria’s raging tears. ‘When is he coming back?’, Ria asked without missing a beat. ‘Very soon, cupcake. Why don’t you take a nap before he returns?’, Fiona said while placing Ria on the bed. Ria obediently obliged without any sort of reluctance. Within 2 minutes, her breathe had evened as she was now fast asleep. Dee, who had walked out of the room as soon as her sister began the question and answer session with Ria headed straight for the refrigerator where she picked up 2 cans of beer and a bag of chips which she placed on the island. Within a split second after opening it, she had upended the liquid in one of the cans which she tossed straight into the trash can below the sink as soon asshe heard the annoying familiar squeak of her bedroom’s door. She had owned the room since she was 14 when her parent had newly bought the house. She used to love her room as a teenager. It was her safe space, her comfort zone which witnessed her first kiss and the birth of Ria. They were sweet memories until she had to move into it with her husband when they could not afford to pay rent any longer. She was a stay at home mum who had every luxury at her beck and call until Jason lost his job as the Managing Director of AX insurance ltd, a top gun in the insurance industry of ArkWrath. As Dee could hear Fiona’s footsteps approaching the kitchen, she thought about what to say to her sister when she asks the same question she has been asking for 2 days now. Her thoughts were jumbled at this point as she could not conjure an answer to a question she knew that she would have to answer, sooner or later. Fiona had walked to the island and grabbed the second can of beer before Dee realized that she was lost in the anguish of her broken mirror of thought again. Fiona snapped the cover open before asking the million dollar worth question for the umpteenth time, ‘where is Jason?’. Her tone was filled with the tinge of an interrogation room of a police station and Dee could feel her anxiety which she had earlier washed down with a can of beer creeping underneath her tank top. She wanted to rip it apart as the heat was becoming unbearable but she didn’t. ‘I don’t know, I don’t care and I don’t want to know’, she replied dismissively as she opened the refrigerator to pick another can of beer which thanks to Danny, they have had an unending supply since his touchdown in Arkwrath for a few weeks now. ‘Or you know something that you are not telling me?’, she continued while sipping on her beer and eyeing her sister at the same time. ‘What do you think I know, huh? The fact that you have succeeded in chasing him away with your bad attitude or the fact that he saw you in a compromising position in his boss’ office?’, Fiona answered while eyeing her. ‘Jason told you that? That lying bastard! I knew he was going to twist everything’, Dee said with the tinge of sadness and regret visible in her voice. ‘oh, please please please, spear me the details!’ Fiona retorted. ‘ Whatever it is that that lying bastard told you is nothing but lies from the pit of hell!’ ‘I went to his office to surprise him on our anniversary only for me to meet him kissing that Daisy bitch in their locker room’, Dee replied with her voice choked with unwept tears. ‘If it was true that I am the unfaithful one, why has he not returned home to his wife and only daughter for days now?’ Fiona was torn between believing her sister and Jason’s story at the same time. But truly, Jason had gone MIA since that day hours after she had received the shocking call about Dee’s infidelity. She had her doubts, but ‘Dee and Infidelity’?, she thought ‘they do not go hand in hand.’ Dee was her only sister and she could vouch for her at this point. She was however skeptical about tagging Jason as the unfaithful partner because Jason was more of a ‘simp’ for his wife than his wife was for him. Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of an incoming call from Dee’s phone which Dee was oblivious of until her Fiona called her attention to it. She was lost in thoughts again even though she could not place her mind on a certain train of thought. As she picked up her phone from the top of the refrigerator where she had earlier placed it, she had a confused look on her face as she was faced with either answering a call from an unidentified caller or declining it. She turned the phone to Fiona and Fiona gestured that she should answer it. And she did. She waited for the caller to speak up but all she could hear was a familiar feminine voice singing, ‘Conversations in the Dark’ by John Legend. ‘Daisy?’, she asked with the look of disgust evident on her face. ‘Hey wify!’, Daisy answered excitedly. As Dee could not believe her ears and with the glaring fear of Daisy confirming what Jason had told Fiona made her cut the call without listening to what she had to say. ‘Bitch!’, she cursed as she ended the call. Fiona merely looked on as she was becoming more confused with every passing second, thought and dialogue. The phone rang again. Dee did not bother to check who the caller was as she opened her mouth to tell the caller off. She was however caught off-guard by Zacxavi’s voice. Fiona did not know who the caller was but she saw Dee’s face become calm for a split second before she lost her balance and dropped down to the floor. ‘Dee’, Fiona called as she could not understand what was happening. Dee could not utter a single word as the only sound that escaped from her lips was a muffled scream. 'Jason is dead.'
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Cain ArkWrath sat rigidly at the long, polished conference table, his fingers clenching into fists beneath the smooth surface. His sharp eyes darted between the family members sitting around him, though his mind was far from the polished business conversation taking place. The room felt suffocating, and the air was thick with applause, but Cain’s thoughts were anything but celebratory.Jason ArkWrath, the man who had just been introduced as the new president of the State and business empire of ArkWrath was an enigma to Cain. The moment Jason had walked into the room, Cain’s instincts had flared. There was something disturbingly familiar about the young man. For a fleeting moment, Cain’s mind had thrown up a memory, one that was not so buried in the past and had now resurfaced with sharp clarity. Jason looked almost identical to Fad Lucas, the cleaner who had disappeared off Cain’s radar after their confrontation. The very same man who Cain had tried to kill in a fit of anger and arro
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Mauve’s heart pounded in his chest. His palms were slick with sweat. He could feel the weight of the eyes upon him, even though he was doing his best to remain stoic. He knew, deep down, that this was not his moment. It would never be his moment. Winston turned to the side and gestured to a figure standing at the back of the room. It was a man Mauve had not expected. Jason. But what confused the room was his appearance. The mask he wore, one that had covered his face until now, was an unusual choice for someone in a position of power. As he reached behind his ear and pressed a button, the mask began to shrink, revealing the raw scars that lined his forehead. It was clear that these were not just battle scars; they were marks of someone who had been through something much darker, something that went far beyond the surface.The room fell into an uncomfortable silence, the reporters too stunned to ask the questions that burned on their tongues. Mauve’s chest tightened as he watched Ja
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The clock on Mauve’s desk ticked louder than usual, each passing second feeling heavier than the last. He leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowing as he stared at the letter that still lay in front of him. The crisp parchment, sealed with Winston’s unmistakable crest, seemed to mock him in its simplicity. A year ago, he had made a critical mistake. A failure that still stung, one that he hadn’t fully forgiven himself for.Mauve’s fingers drummed lightly against the polished wood of his desk as he remembered the mission he’d assigned. It had seemed so straightforward then: eliminate the only heir left to Winston’s business empire.But, as with most of Mauve’s plans, things hadn’t gone as expected.The people Mauve had chosen to carry out the task, his trusted agents, handpicked for their loyalty and their experience, had failed him.The operation had fallen apart quickly. The moment Mauve’s agents lost contact, he knew that the plan had failed. He had no choice but to eliminate those
