Donald's POV After a week in the hospital, the doctor finally satisfied Rose to be okay, discharging her along with a strict list of warnings and medications that she needed to take to get her back on her feet.On our way out, he brought me to the side wanting to reiterate the fact that it was important she took her drugs. I agreed, promising to do my best and make sure she followed the prescription.The previous day her mother and father had stopped by to visit her check up on her, so today it was just us as we walked the car.It was quite awkward, the air heavy with words unsaid as we both went out of our way to not say anything.As soon as we arrived at my new place, Rose practically flew out of the car but suddenly skidded to a halt.Her eyes widened with wonder and a bit of disbelief as she stared at my three bedroom comfortable building. I didn't want something to flashy or expensive to maintain so I settled on the most beautiful and quaint building that I could find.“Do you l
Rose's PovThe twittering of birds outside my bedroom window woke me up the next day. My lashes fluttered open, blinking rapidly to clear the cobwebs out of my eyes.Flinging back the sheets, I swung my legs over the side of the bed, heading towards the windowsills to push open the curtains.I was met with a beautiful array of trees and birds flying about it. Standing here in this very moment made me appreciate life and all what I have conquered.Being here after what happened yesterday, almost felt like I was being given a second chance I mean, if Donald can still stand by me and support me after everything I've done, then something must be going good for me.Hearing him say those words quenched the doubt that were roaming free and wild in my mind and if I was being honest, it made me fall deeper in love with him.After reflecting on last night events, I headed towards the bathroom to freshen up and don a new pair of clothes but I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt and regret. Dee
Donald's POV Twisting my neck around, I walked briskly to my office.Once I get there, I slid the key in about to walk inside when I heard a voice from behind.“Sir!”Spinning on my heel, I let out a sigh when I realized it was only my secretary.I walked in, regardless of the fact that she was rushing to meet up to me leaving the door open so she could work past it. “What is it?” I said, with my back facing her. “Sir, you had this come in the mail and I wanted to give it to you.”With my mind on a million and one things to do and accomplish today, I turned around to see her holding an envelope. “Thanks.” I say, sounding dismissive.She understood the message and instantly found her way to the door, closing it softly behind her.Plopping my arse on my seat, I sat down impatiently tearing the envelope open to read its contents.It was from my divorce lawyer, Luke.I sat up straighter when I noticed that, my brows furrowing because I knew it wasn't yet time for the proceedings to go t
Rose's PovIt deeply pained me to stand before Donald and turn down everything I had ever wanted and prayed for. I could see in his eyes that his actions were sincere and honest…I mean, the man nearly got into a car crash because of how much he was rushing down here.“Rose, I don't think-” he tried to object but I didn't give him the chance.Taking a step forward, I closed the distance between us smiling up at him so he couldn't see that my heart was literally breaking to pieces. “The truth is, I don't deserve you Donald. Not one tiny bit and after everything I've done to you, it's a wonder that you're still able to occupy the same space as me but I'm not going to have to force you to do that any longer.” I sucked in a shuddering breath. “You're free to date and go out, have fun enjoy your life, like you were meant to before I came in and sucked the life out of it.”Donald just stared at me before raising his hand up to touch my cheek but at the last second, he hesitated, searching my
Rose's PovAfter that awkward encounter, I rushed back upstairs and the next day I came face-to-face with the nurse that he was talking about.She's pretty but not so much so that I would feel insecure or unsafe, plus she's very engaging and outgoing.Within the first 5 to 10 minutes that I spent talking with her, I fell in love with her personality and I could slowly see us becoming fast friends.Fast forward to three weeks down the line, and we have settled into an easy client/friend relationship which was only growing with each passing day.“Hey, I was thinking that we could cut back on the celery juice for today and switch it up!” Daphne yelled out to me who was currently in the kitchen.Esmeralda and I had grown close, despite what I told Donald that I would stay away and in my lane but she just had that warm, motherly nature that sucked you right in and I was helpless to resist.Now, I was in the kitchen bringing out a fresh batch of cookies that Esmeralda had taught me to make.
Rose's PovHearing those words being uttered out loud felt like a dagger straight into my chest, robbing me of the capacity to breathe properly.“David, please…you can't do this!” I hissed, mindful of Daphne in the other room.He laughed, the sound dark making goosebumps appear on my skin. “Why not? I can do whatever the hell I want!”My breathing hitched. “But c-can we at least talk about th-this, Dav-”The sound of the tone dialing in my ear cut me off and to my surprise, I removed the phone from my ear only to realise that he had cut the call.Blowing out a large breath, I placed a palm on the wall, needing it to keep me upright so I didn't fall to the ground.Did I offend someone perhaps, because tell me why whenever I was close to achieving something that I desired, other things cropped up to take its place just like David was doing right now.“Rose, is everything okay?” Daphne called out, her voice shaking me out of my reverie.Coughing under my breath to clear my throat, I smil
Donald's PovRose's lips parted, those wet shiny plump lips calling my name.Almost unconsciously, we gravitated towards each other pulled by invisible strings.Even while our marriage may not have been a match made in heaven, one thing we always had going for us was our insane chemistry.When I realize I was learning in to kiss her, I instantly snapped out of the lust that had clouded my brain, pulling back.Rose blinked, disappointment clifing her features.Damn! She probably thought I was going to kiss her.“Um, I…” I had no idea what I was going to say, so I just winged it.“You're right.” Rose, to my surprise, stepped up. She ran her hands down my body, but not in a sensual manner. “I have to trust you, besides hell will freeze over if allow David to take my kid away from me!”I smiled, nodding in agreement.Once I managed to convince Rose that everything was going to be okay, she calmed down after having a couple more bites of her food, before deciding that she wanted to go upst
Rose's PovStretching my arms above my head, I woke up fluttering my eyes open. The conversation I had with Donald and David kept playing in my head. The thought of David taking my child away from me sent terror racing through my body.Even though Donald had told me he would get to the bottom of the issue, I couldn't help but feel as though this is something I need to get done by myself.Rolling over on the bed, I stood up but something caught my attention from the corner of the bed.It was a little white paper tucked into the corner of the bedside lamp.Bending over to pick it up, I scanned it's contents only to see that it was a handwritten letter from Donald.“Dear Rose, I hope this morning finds you well. I know you're worried about what's going to happen to you and the baby which is why I am writing this letter, to tell you that you have nothing to be worried or afraid about. I promise I will make everything right… all I ask is for a little bit of patience. Take care, Rose, I'll
Donald's POV The ‘beep beep’ of the monitors woke me up from my deep slumber.I open my eyes slowly to meet the white, sterile ceiling of a hospital. I knew it was a hospital because it had that familiar disinfectant smell to it…also because it makes sense, given the fact that I was shot at three times a couple of hours before and yeah, I remember every bit of that story.It was like a clip of a very bad movie except this happened to me, the distant yet eerily familiar feeling of being shot invaded my senses and I had to inch my hand up to see if I could check out the wound. “I wouldn't advise you to do that.” A pretty blond nurse wearing scrubs walked in, a clipboard in her hand.“Hel…Hello..” I croaked out, realizing that my throat was as dry as a desert.She must have come to the same realization because she walked over to my bedside, reaching for a cup of water and she handed it over to me.I greedily slurped it down like a greedy man dying of thirst, only stopping when I emptie
David's POV Just like I expected, the media circus around Donald's death blew out of proportion.As I'm packing my bags, the entire area in which Donald was shot had been taped off by the police.Apparently they were opening a case into the incident, searching for who shot him.I would like to feel relaxed on that point but it's just my luck that the homeless guy I usye turned out to be something else.For the rest of the day, I kept on trying his number but he never picked up soon enough, the number became unavailable which I took to mean that he had either discarded of it or he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. When Boone asked me about the progress report, I lied to him stating that I had taken care of the homeless guy but I knew it was just a matter of time before the police found him and he blurted out the truth…which was why I was booking the next available flight and getting the hell out of this cursed city.The moment I left the borders of the city and I was on my
RoseTo think that it was Donald's death that brought me and my family together, it was mind boggling to say the least.I received the call from my sister early the next morning and to say I was surprised, is an understatement.“Hello, Tanya. Wh-hat's going on?”She was breathing heavily which made me worried. “Have you seen the news, Rose?” She asked.My brows furrowed in confusion. “The news?” I repeated. “No. What news? I'm just waking up!” I say, flipping the covers away from my body so I reach for my laptop.Suddenly the speaker went mute as I could only hear muffled words float through. it seems like she was talking to someone else.I ignored her, checking up on the latest news.I quickly scanned through a number of them, realizing that no one stood out to me. “Tanya, I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at here but nothing is making sense to me. Can you talk to me and tell me what happened? Is it Mom or Dad? Are they okay?”Immediately, my mind jumped into the worst sce
RoseI knew the exact moment I fell for David all over again was when I heard the words, ‘you’re free to go’.That faithful Tuesday morning, I was laying face up on my cot, thinking of new ways to distract myself from a boring and predictable day when the buzzer sounded.Unlike the last time when I ignored the guard, I turned around to look at him but this time he wasn't holding a tray of food in his hands.He had the bunch of keys in his hands and he was walking slowly towards my room, an unpleasant in his eyes.“Hey, you. Get up!” He boomed loudly, startling me.“I was already up…” I grumbled, flipping my legs around the tiny cot. “Where's my food?”He didn't respond, only grunted and shoved me not too gently toward the bars, handcuffing me. “Move!” He ordered and I obeyed, shuffling my feet.We did the same walk routine, similar to when I visited Donald but this time…it seemed different.“Where are we going?” I twisted my head around to ask him but he just shoved my head forward.W
David's POV Contrary to what Donald thought, I was right there behind him the whole time.He was so easy and gullible. Just one mention of Rose and he came running exactly like I thought.All I needed to do was play the pity card and he sucked it up like a starving man drinking water.It was quite hilarious if I was being honest.I wanted the first location, simply because it would be easier to dispose of him when the homeless guy was done with the job but Donald being a hard ass…he insisted we change it, probably suspicious of my actions. Well, at least he was smart… just not too smart to avoid dying though.My phone buzzed with a text.Donald: Where are you?Me: I'm right behind you. I'll be there soon.When I sent the text, I burst into laughter, muffling the sound.I kept checking my watch, waiting for the homeless guy to show up. This was not the agreement. He was supposed to be here a couple of minutes ago, do the job the moment Donald showed up and get out of here.I gritted
Donald's POV I was woken up by my phone buzzing needlessly.Groaning, I twisted around in bed to reach for the phone only to see a name I never thought I'd see flash across my screen.Immediately my eyes flew open, sleep deserting my mind and I nearly jumped out of bed.Wait, why the hell was David calling me?To make matters worse, shortly after the call ended he dropped the text followed by another.David: Hi, I know I'm the last person you want to talk to right now but I need your help. David: Please respond, it's urgent.I debated, responding, wanting to shrug it off but I sat up on the bed so I could think logically.From the little I've known and observed about David, I know that he's a snake and he's very cunning, always thinking three steps ahead of everyone else which is why it bothers me so much that he's texting me.What the hell does he want from me?While I was contemplating on whether to pick up or respond to his text messages, he sent another.David: Please.Because I
David's POV “Hey guys, do you have any news yet?” I asked barging into the basement. All through the night, I could barely sleep a wink as I tossed and turned, my brain producing new ways on how to help Rose.After I went to visit her, I became spurred on to double down on my efforts and for the past two days, my team and I have been up through out the night, working tirelessly on breaking into David firewalls.At this points, I didn't care about whether it was illegal or not, all you wanted to do is to get Rose out of that filthy place.“We don't have any leads yet.” Shawn spoke up. “We still haven't gotten those parts that we needed and decrypting the messages by hand is taking us way longer than it should. At this point, we'll probably get done by the end of the year.”Groaning, I slapped my hands over my face. “That's not going to work. You're sure there's no other way to get this going faster?”If I could get my hands on some incriminating messages that David exchanged with his
David's POV Popping a chewing gum, I sucked it back in, tapping my feet impatiently on the brakes.I decided to make use of Boone's advice, doing the extra work to cement the plan that I have already started and that begins with…A loud honk from a passing car jolted me out of my thoughts and I popped my head out, raising my middle finger as a response.“Fucking asshole!” I muttered under my breath, stealing a glance at my watch. It's been over an hour and this guy is nowhere to be found.He's got to know that he's playing with his life.I am a gentle and mannered man until I was pushed to the wall forced, to do certain things…one of which is to make good on the threats I told him.A couple of days before I decided to meet with the homeless man who placed the tip in the police station for the cops to find, I spent some hours out of my day to watch him and like clockwork he always appeared at the same time every day.It was tad boring and predictable but it saved me time to look for h
RoseThe minutes turned into hours and the hours into days, each day more horrible than the last.My nightmare of being trapped in here was slowly coming to pass and I was too helpless to do anything to stop it.Reaching out to my family wasn't an option and none of the guards agreed to let me use their phone to make one more call to Donald, leaving me stranded.The food was probably the good thing about the place.I don't know who the chef is but he's doing a really good job of keeping me happy…temporarily though.I sighed for probably the hundredth time, staring vacantly at the ceiling.You know, when you first have your freedom taken away from you, you think that the first few hours or days at the worst but it's not. It's actually quite easy because there is a list of ways you can distract yourself but as the day grows longer, that's when reality sets in and the sadness begins.The possibility that this could become your new normal starts to haunt you and in as much as your mind w