“Are you okay?” Detective Jain Reynolds asked, rushing to Rylan who had just come out of the room. Rylan nodded his head as he straightened his clothes once more. He was feeling accomplished now. Everything was set. They had all teamed up against him and he had still found a way to win. Rylan didn’t know if that was luck or the work of his intelligence. “I’m fine, Detective.”Jain flashed him a smile and pulled him into a hug. Lieutenant Wesley, who was still standing by the window, was surprised by this. It seemed he wasn’t the only one as Rylan’s eyes bulged out when Jain hugged him. He sighed and wrapped his hands around her, hugging her back. Jain wanted it to stay this way forever. She loved the warmth he provided her. It made her feel safe, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Finally, she let go of Rylan and her cheeks heated up. She took a step backward and scratched her neck feeling mortified. Rylan could only chuckle while Lieutenant Wesley shook his head behind he
Rylan felt that was the stupidest move he had made. He had watched Jain walk back into the precinct controlling the urge to go after her and place a kiss on her lips. It was a chance that wasn’t going to happen again. And so as he stepped out of the Lamborghini, he slammed the door heading towards the porch. The mix of emotions he had felt over the last seventy-two hours made him cringe. It was something he never wanted to experience again. As he swung the door open, he found Williams standing at the door. This puzzled him. “Williams?” He called. “Sir. You have a few guests waiting for you,” he responded. Rylan arched an eyebrow at that. “Guests?”Williams stepped aside and waved him in. Rylan stepped into the living room and found three figures sitting on the couches. This baffled him. “What the hell are you guys doing here?”Karen McCullough sat across the room waiting for Rylan to send them away. This was her last resort. She had lost everything—her father and the company. T
Rylan clenched his jaws as he ran on the treadmill. He was going faster than he was supposed to, but that didn’t matter to him. He was happy that things were going back to normal. But there was only one thing left for him to cross off his list—finding his father. Only his father knew where his mother’s corpse was. Rya hated the fact that he would have to confront his father about this. But nothing made sense. If Paul wasn’t there for him, why would he take his mother’s corpse away? It wasn’t adding up. Williams had been searching for days but had found nothing yet. He hadn't spoken to Jain since then as well. It seemed she was pretty serious about them not seeing each other again. That didn’t bother Rylan like he thought it would. He was better off alone. When he couldn’t keep up with the pace, Rylan turned off the treadmill and walked it out before stepping off it. He was panting now and was covered in sweat and he headed towards the bench at the end of the gymnasium. There was hi
“Are you sure about this?” Williams asked as he helped Rylan wear his suit jacket. Rylan was looking at himself in the mirror. He was dressed in a navy blue suit with a white undershirt. His dark brown hair was combed neatly and his amber eyes shone in the mirror. He looked stunning. There was finally hope after so many months. He was finally going to learn what had happened to his mother. Rylan had been tired of hearing so many different versions of the story. He wanted to learn the truth from the source itself, which was his father. Rylan couldn’t deny the fact that he was feeling nervous about meeting his father. The man who had abandoned him and his mother when they needed his help most. There was a lot he had to say to him. A lot of questions he wanted to ask. “I have to do this, Williams.”Williams sighed as he heard that. He patted both shoulders of Rylan after dressing him. Rylan looked at himself in the mirror one more time before being satisfied with the dressing. Yeste
Rylan could feel his heart thumping as he stared at the man before him. How could he not tell that he was his son? He looked exactly like him. The man was quiet and he waited for Rylan to speak but no words could converge. As Rylan stared at him continually, he could feel only one thing which was rage. And so he did the only thing he could; he stepped forward and slammed a fist on the man’s cheek. Paul stumbled backward and held his cheek in surprise. He had been taken unawares by this stranger. The last thing he had expected was to hear a knock on his door. He didn’t expect anybody to see him, because nobody knew about him. But here this stranger pulled up to him and gave him a good hit. “Sweet mother of…” Paul mumbled as he regained his stamina. “What the hell did you do that for?”“That’s for abandoning me and my mother.”Paul looked at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?” He asked, rubbing his cheek. Rylan was in disbelief. His father couldn't recognize him. This
THIRTY-TWO YEARS AGO…“Any questions?” Paul Richmond asked, facing the class. Nobody raised their hands. Everybody seemed disinterested in the class. They were all chatting and looking through their pagers. It was a typical college student attitude. Paul Richmond shook his head and reached for his bag. “Very well, we shall continue from where we stopped in our next class,” he said. The whole class rose from the seats immediately to leave the theater. “And read pages 56 to 77, for the term paper,” he added but he knew nobody had heard him. His voice had been buried in the ruckus caused by the students leaving the classroom. Paul grabbed his luggage and cursed under his breath. He hated his job but he needed it. He thought that teaching young college students would be a good thing, but it turned out to be one of the worst decisions he had made. He would have been better off with High school teenagers. Maybe they would have been worse than them. Who knew”“Umm…Professor Richmond?”
“Come in, Professor,” the man behind the desk said. Paul Richmond stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. As he took a seat before the desk, he knew why he was there. It meant that he was in big trouble. To be invited to the vice chancellor’s office could mean only one thing. Which was that he was getting fired. “You’re a smart man, Professor Richmond,” the vice chancellor said, arranging the files on his desk. “So I already know you guessed why you’re here.”Paul nodded in response. He had broken one of the academic laws in the school which was not to have any illegal affair with any of the students. Paul had broken that law when he got Lauren pregnant. It had all happened in a flash. Paul hadn’t seen it coming. Things had spiraled out of control ever since he had asked Lauren out for dinner. She had accepted and they had grown from there. They had gone out on dates pretty much after, and the class had spread rumors about them sleeping with each other. While those
Paul Richmond stormed into the hospital and rushed towards the hallway. He had heard that Lauren was on the verge of giving birth. He was both mad and hurt. Why would she rather go into the emergency room alone than call him? It didn’t make any sense. Arlene wasn’t around anymore which meant that she was all alone. She was an orphan with no parents and had been taking care of herself ever since she got into college. Paul hadn’t learned that until a few months ago. That had made him feel worse. He had indeed ruined her life and there was no way he could come back from this. All he had to do was hope that Lauren would end up forgiving him if he was doomed to feel this guilt forever. It had been nine months since the time he had spoken to her and Arlene just outside the vice Chancellor’s office. Lauren had told him she never wanted to see him again a couple of times after that day, but he had stuck around making sure that she barely had any complications. Paul hadn’t told her that her