Natasha spent the whole night thinking about the next day. Very early the next morning, she woke up and dressed up. She made sure that she looked exceptionally beautiful and simple for Madame Gu. Natasha wondered why she was trying so hard to impress Madame Gu. It made her remember her date with Henry. She didn't even put in any intentional effort to look beautiful for him. She just did her thing, caring less about how she looked or how pretty she was.After dressing up, she stood in front of her standing mirror and smiled satisfactorily. Natasha walked out of her room after dressing up and met her parents in the sitting room. Her mom walked up to her with a smile and hugged her. "You look beautiful!" Her mom commented. Her dad also smiled at her. They were proud of their daughter. She grew prettier and even sexy. "Make us proud out there, honey," her father told her. She smiled and walked away. When she got outside, Madame Gu's driver was already out there waiting for her. She
"There's someone here to see you," the maid told Henry immediately after he opened the door. He looked back into his room, considering if he should go back and round up what he was doing first, or just leave. He finally decided that he would go back to it after he had attended to his visitor. He walked downstairs, only to meet Bea downstairs waiting for him. He was shocked because there was no way she was going to plan his dress today. How would she finish before the ball? He walked downstairs, dragging his feet on the floor. He already spoke to his mom about her. He didn't want any dress from Bea, and in fact he already got a dress that he would wear to the ball so why was she here?Henry told himself that he would just let her know that he had already had something to wear for the ball since he shopped some time ago. She smiled broadly as she walked towards him, seeing him walk down the stairs. He kept a straight look as he tried to push thoughts off his mind. "Hello, Henry," B
It was finally the morning of the ball and everybody was expectant.The ball to the Floater family was not just a party or a gathering of decorative people, it was way more than that. In fact, it was more like a gathering of elites where the people that mattered in the society got to meet and interact with each other. To ever be allowed or gain access to the ball, it must mean that you are among the elites of the society. The Guild family were lucky to be invited to the ball.Only the outward and inward decoration of the building which was to be used for the ball was enough to tell that the ball spoke of nothing but affluence and. Anybody could have easily seen the kind of capital that must have been put into the building. The extravagance of the building could be seen and smelt from miles away.Henry's alarm was the first thing that woke him up from his deep slumber that morning before he opened his eyes to rays of light filtering into his room from the window whose curtains were dr
Natasha woke up to her mother hovering over her and staring into her face with a very bright and bold smile on her face."Wakey wakey!" She announced cheerfully as soon as she noticed that Natasha's eyes were open.She stepped away from her briefly and started drawing open the curtains which immediately sent a ray of sunlight into Natasha's room. Natasha squinted her eyes a bit because they were yet to get used to the new brightness that was introduced into the room."I think you've had way more than enough sleep that is required for today, and of course, you know what special day it is today." Natasha sat up on her bed while rubbing her sleepy eyes, it was not like she asked for any of these anyways. It was the weekend and because she spent all week working, she would have loved to rest on the weekend, but no, here she was forced to attend a ball because it was meant to marry the arrogant heir of the business group organizing the ball.Although she was glad about something, she woul
Henry could not believe his eyes as he stared back at Natasha who had just come into the ballroom with her parents.He knew that it was not a coincidence that they had the same clothes on because his mother had personally picked up his clothes, he was more than certain that she must have picked up Natasha's dress too, she intentionally made them dress up the same on the day of the ball.He cast Natasha a hard glare with his jaw tightened as she looked at him. He knew it wasn't her fault since she equally wasn't aware of the arrangement, but still, he wanted to hate her and get annoyed with her for it since he couldn't direct his anger to his mom who was walking towards Natasha already. In no time, she had enveloped her into a tight hug.They were talking cheerfully but because of the distance, he could not make out whatever it was they were saying. But he did notice one thing though, Natasha kept stealing a glance at him like she could not believe that they were actually putting on t
"Long time no see." The cocky looking young man said and walked towards Henry who was standing there and looking lost. "You are probably not expecting me," he said while holding Henry's gaze. Henry squinted his eyes and lifted his eyebrows because he was genuinely confused and had no idea why the young man was talking about or why he was even there in the first place. His confusion was obvious and the young man noticed it immediately."Oh, you probably don't know me." The young man seed said and let out a loud scoff.Henry became even more confused and looked around while wondering what must have come over the young man and why he was acting like that. How did he even gain access into the ball in the first place?It was as if the young man heard his thoughts because he immediately scoffed one more time. "Of course I am able to make it here because I have the legitimate right to be here and not even you or your mother can stop me from being here just like how you deprived me or thing
Henry grabbed his car key and walked out of his room. He stopped abruptly once he was outside his room. He looked down at himself. The suit he wore was too expensive. Everything about his appearance screamed at the Floater's family, and that wasn't how he wanted to appear at the dinner. He decided to honor Ava's invitation to a dinner with her family, and that was where he was headed. "There is no way I would appear there looking this way," he whispered to himself. He walked back into his room and wore a simple brown trouser and a black T-shirt. He stared at himself in front of the mirror. He looked okay, except that his hair was perfect. He used his hands to scatter his hair a bit, dropped his car key on the table, picked up a small bag, and walked away. He boarded a cab outside his house that drove him to Ava's house. He called her once he was outside and informed her that he was waiting for her and she could come and pick him up. Ava was excited when Henry called her. After th
Ava stood at the spot staring at Henry as he boarded a cab and drove off. She was glued to the spot, and her eyes were glued to the car as it drove away into thin air. She stared into space even after the car left. Ava noticed that she was smiling and could not tell the reason she was smiling. Was it because she was suddenly falling for Henry, or because her plans were playing out well?She sighed deeply and walked back into the house where she met her mother standing by the door with her hands folded around her chest. Ava gasped when she saw her mother standing in that position and waiting for her. "You scared me, mom," she scolded her mother.Ava's mom moved closer to her, taking precautions. Her eyes were fixed on her mother's toes as she walked. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she wished that she had control over her heartbeat. "So that's it?" Her mother asked and scoffed. "That is what you are planning to bring home to us as a husband?"Ava looked towards her father,
Every other person in the ballroom went numb and stared at the center of the room like they had seen a ghost. In fact, they had indeed seen a ghost because everyone initially believed that Henry was dead.Yes! Henry Floater was standing in the middle of the room.Miguel was quick to regain his composure immediately, he was the first to speak."What are you doing here? How did you escape?" He asked under his breath, pointing at Henry. "Shouldn't you be in prison? How did you show up here without fear of being thrown back in jail?"It was finally Madame Gu's turn to speak as she turned towards Miguel and cast him an angry glance."Don't you dare speak about my son like that." Madame Gu said and finally ran towards Henry. "Where have you been, my son? What happened to you?" She stood from afar, unsure if she should touch him or not.She swallowed hard as she studied his face, it was really Henry.Henry reached out for his mother and hugged her. His eyes were focused on Natasha who was s
Madame Gu slipped the ring into her middle finger while standing in front of the mirror. It was finally the day for the much awaited ball.She stared at her reflection in the mirror. This was not her, this was not what she used to look like. But everything that had happened within the past few days had reduced her into a shadow of herself.Natasha had also been invited to the ball and Madame Gu wondered why. Her company had not formed any alliance with the Floater group, Henry whom she was supposed to get married to and strengthen the relationship between the two companies is nowhere to be found, and had been presumed dead by the law enforcement agents and the cops.But Madame Gu had refused to believe that her son was dead. But why wasn't there? If he wasn't dead, why was he yet to show up?A tear dropped from Madame Gu's eyes, but she was able to hold it back and run her thumb over her eyes to get rid of the tears the moment she heard her room door pushed open from outside."Miss Na
Natasha woke up that morning to an open window which she had intentionally forgotten to lock the previous night, maybe because she enjoyed the natural breeze that was coming in through the window.It felt so..."Soothing." Natasha said, staring out of the window before she got out of bed. She went to sit in front of her dressing mirror and stared into it. Looking at her reflection now made her realize how much weight she had lost and how neglected she was looking over the last few months. She had practically become a shadow of herself ever since Henry got missing and had been presumed dead. She had found herself unable to live with his absence ever since then.She had gone to bed with her mother banging on her door the previous night, trying to find out what was wrong with her and trying to get her to come downstairs and have something to eat.Even though she felt bad for her mother who was obviously worried about her, she still could not bring herself to go outside, nor could she eve
Linda rolled her eyes and tried to avoid Richard, but she did not have my luck because he had already blocked her by the time she arrived at her car."What do you want?" She fired at him as he blocked the entrance to her car.She gave him a once over in a condescending manner, the kind of manner which would have him rethinking his life for the next few moments."What do you think you are doing, Linda? I hope you know the part you chose isn't the best for you? Instead of coming to me and let's resolve our issue together, you went ahead to cast me away just like that, just because you felt like I would not be useful to you." Richard pressed and Natasha rolled her eyes and let out a heavy scoff."You?" She said in the most condescending manner he had even seen and eyed him viciously. "Who exactly are you?" She asked amused and almost burst into a loud laughter. "And of what use are we supposed to be to me?" She questioned, watching him from head to toe while remembering how he had lied t
Two people were seen on a bed, involved in a steamy, raunchy romance.The two people were eventually revealed to be Miguel and Linda. After a while, Linda broke away from the kiss and slightly pushed Miguel backwards."What?" He questioned, looking deeply into her eyes. "Why did you stop? I was starting to get lost in the moment and you suddenly pulled away." They were both sitting on the bed, facing each other in an intimate position. Their faces were only inches apart, it would not be difficult for things to get steamy between them and for them to get intimidate one more time, Miguel would have easily pulled her into his arms and they would go into another steamy round of romance, but he noticed that she had something important to say, so he just let her speak."You wanted to say something?" He asked, lowering his head to meet hers."I... I actually don't know how you will feel about what I am about to say to you now." Linda began, playing with her fingers. She had her eyes lowered
Henry was seated beside the friendly military personnel who had been showing him around since he showed up there and had been equally trying to help him.He was promised by the military personnels that they were going to help him redeem himself and equally take back his company from his uncles. "Because your father had been very nice to us while he was alive, we are going to do everything within our power to help his son." The military man said to him while tapping his shoulder lightly.There were now in the underground office which Henry had been surprised that existed there in the first place when he was first led there. It was more like a tech room because it was lined with several computers and laptops and equally a strong Internet connection."I've been trying to track down Mr Pierson." The man who was sitting beside Henry said, his eyes were focused on the screen of the computer in front of him. "The person protecting him must be a very powerful person. It seems hard to be able
"You know you can't continue like this," Natasha's mom tried to persuade her. "You haven't eaten anything in days. You have been crying all day... you stopped going to work. Do you want to kill yourself?" "See how lean you look," her father lamented. Natasha just sat there, staring blindly at her parents. They were all seated on her bed. She sat in between her parents. "Natasha," her mom called as she pulled her close and hugged her. "You've done so much to get the company to where it is now. Why do you want to ruin everything?" "Just when I realised that I loved him, mom. They didn't even give me the chance to say it to him. They didn't give me the chance to have the last conversation with him, and they took him away from me." Her mom kept rubbing her shoulder while patting her back. Her parents knew she would ruin the company if she continued with the way she was going. Her father's phone began to ring, and he quickly picked it up. He stood up and walked towards the window to
SIX MONTHS LATER Henry's eyes were fixed on the blue Mercedes as it drove into the military training ground. He didn't shift his gaze from the car for a second. For some reason, he was attracted to the blue Mercedes. It finally stopped at a corner of the training ground, and the door opened. Henry's eyes first caught the silver heels as it alighted from the car, and his heart sank. He rarely saw women since he was brought into the training ground. He only saw them whenever he was outside, which was very rare. The men didn't allow him to go out. Other men were training at the training ground, while Henry was seated at a corner, thinking about his mother and Natasha. He wondered if they were looking for him. He didn't want to disobey the orders of not calling his mother."By the time she realises you're safe and stops searching for you. The police would become suspicious. "He would not forget the words. He sighed deeply as he removed his mind from the thought. The next time he look
It's been two weeks already, and Madam Gu had not been able to figure out where her son was talking to. The police had searched everywhere in the country, and they could not find Henry. There was also no record of Henry leaving the country. Madame Gu told herself that she was going to press charges against Henry's uncles and all of her relatives if Henry was not found. The police would also have to provide her son. If they didn't arrest him for a crime he knew nothing about, then he wouldn't be missing by now. "On what grounds are you going to press charges against them?" Madam Gu's lawyer asked her. "You have no evidence that they have him. Mere assumptions can not even win in the courtroom." Madame Gu sighed deeply. She was deeply worried. She felt that the earlier she started acting, then the better for her and her son. Since no one had called her for ransom yet, then it was not a kidnap to raise funds or something. They kept her son so that they could kill him. It was better t