“Release him. Now.” It only took those three authoritatively uttered words for the officer on duty to rush forward and unlock the gates of Alex’s cell.Alex was stunned. For a moment, he remained rooted to the spot. Tariq stretched his hand and beckoned on him.“Come on, kid, it’s time to go.”Alex could not remember the last time someone had called him a “kid.” It felt… good. He hurried out of the dark, dank room and stopped right before the giant of a man.“Thank you so much, sir. Is there anyway I can repay you? Any way at all?”Tariq draped a heavy hand around his shoulder and steered him down the hallway.“What you’ve done for me can never be compared to this, my boy. You rescued my granddaughter from being used in an evil science experiment. I should be asking you if you want anything.”Alex shook his head.“It was nothing. I promise. I’m glad I was able to help.”“No, son.” Tariq insisted. “It was something and because of that, we need to talk.”He took Alex’s hand and led hi
Alex took one look at the injured Martins and all the anger in his blood drained away. “What the hell happened to you?” He asked, storming the room that was used as a makeshift hospital in the mansion. “Who did this to you?”Martins was wounded and bleeding profusely. Most of his injuries had already been covered with white bandages. There was a thick bandage wrapped around his head and over his left eye. He was a mess. However, the moment he heard Alex’s voice, he ignored the pain, rose to his feet and bowed. “Hello, young master.”“You haven’t answered my question.” Alex replied heatedly. “Who did this?”“Sir, apparently, Derek Hunter has a GPS tracker attached to his person.” Peter replied in Martins’ stead. “Martins had already taken him to the hideout but unknown to him, Derek had activated the tracker. His father and their bodyguards were able to track him down to our hideout. When they arrived, Martins was obviously outnumbered. They beat him to a pulp. We had to send a ch
THE DAY OF TRIALAlex sat beside Blakely on the bed and held her soft hand in his. He was happy that most of the bruises she’d sustained from the kidnapping were gone. She was almost nicely healed. Almost. “Are you sure you’ll be able to make it to court today?” He asked for the one millionth time. “I could apply for the date of hearing to be shifted so you could rest more.”She smiled at him and his heart tightened with a strange emotion.“Yes, I’m certain. I’m fine. I know you have the power to shift the date but I just want to get this over with today. I don’t want it to go on for another day.”Alex nodded.“Okay. If that is what you want.”The room was strangely quiet for the next few seconds. Alex looked down and noticed that Blakely’s brows were knotted tightly like she was deep in thought.“Hey… what’s wrong? What are you thinking about?”She snapped out of her daze and fixed him with those beautiful bright blue eyes.“I’m worried, Alex. What if we’re defeated at court today?
Alex could swear that his heart nearly stopped beating as he listened to Ora. This was a disaster. If Ora’s testimony was able to convince the court that Blakely had harboured even an inkling of hatred for Cole because he’d refused to give her money, they might as well kiss the case goodbye. Everything will be lost. Beside Alex, Blakely had completely stiffened with shock. She barely moved. She barely even breathed. “Ora, sweetheart…” the lawyer coaxed get once more. “What did you say just now? Your mother called daddy a bad msn because he refused to give get money to go shopping?”Ora nodded and Alex’s heart dropped to the bottom of his shoes. “That day, I remember that mommy was crying and there was blood everywhere…”Shocked at the sudden twist in the story, Alex sat up straighter. “Mommy was bleeding and c-crying.” Ora continued, her big blue eyes were filled with sadness. “She didn’t have any money and she said that daddy refused to give her money to buy m-medicine for her
WARNING: UNEDITED CHAPTERThe silence in the room was rife with shock, tension.All eyes were fixed on the judge as he flipped through the file, looking for the audio and video tape recording. Alex’s stomach knotted with anticipation as he awaited the judge’s next words. Mrs. Andrews, on the other hand, looked like she’d just swallowed a huge bowl of fart. Her face was twisted in shock and her eyes nearly widened to the size of saucers. When a minute flew past and there was still no word from the judge, Alex started to worry. Finally, he lifted his head and dropped the bomb;“There’s no tape recording in here.”Alex froze, not sure he’d heard right. Mrs. Andrews nearly doubled over in relief. Shicked, Alex’s lawyer stepped forward;“Your honour, please check again. All the evidence should be in there. I reviewed that tape recording myself just this morning.”Blakely wrapped her fingers around Alex’s thigh. “What’s going on, Alex? What recording are they talking about?”Alex was to
After what seemed like a tense moment, The commissioner reached across the table and pushed the briefcase to himself. Even from the video, Alex could see the manner in which his eyes lighted with greed as he stared at the bundles of cash. “What do you say, cousin?” Mrs. Andrews asked, her voice soft and tempting. “Will you do this for me and my son? Will you do this for your family? If you say yes, there’s definitely more where that came from.”For a split moment, the commissioner tried to fight his greed. “But if I get caught…”“You are the commissioner of Police!” Mrs. Andrews interjected. “You will not get caught if you’re careful. You’re the leader around here, aren’t you? Everyone is bound to follow your orders. Just use your power, Rasheed. No one will know.” She said, resorting to massaging his ego. The woman was a manipulative witch. Even Alex had to acknowledge her dubious skills.Finally, just as Alex knew he would, the commissioner snapped the briefcase shut and hurriedl
Alex’s guts tightened with anticipation as he grabbed Blakely’s fingers and held on tight, channelling his support without words. “…I have arrived at my judgement, thus;Stemming from the evidence presented by the prosecution, Mr. Cole Andrews is guilty of the offense of rape of Miss Blakely Anderson under section 130.35 of the New York Penal law…”Alex’s heart was pounding like a runaway train at that very moment.“…accordingly, he will therefore be sentenced to a prison term of twenty five years as stated by the same section of the Penal law.”The judge hit his gravel twice to signify the finality and authority of his judgement and Alex nearly sagged with relief. Blakely burst into full blown tears of happiness and the entire hall erupted in a frenzy of whispers.“Oh my God, Alex.” Blakely sobbed. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” She leaned against him and wrapped her arms around his waist as sobs shook her frame. Alex held on tight, rubbing her back in circular, soothing motions.
Alex led Blakely to the car, still pondering on Mrs. Andrews’ words. He knew her to be wicked and vile, but there was an emotion in her eyes today while she asked him to be careful of Blakely that he did but quite understand. For a moment, it felt like Blakely had actually done something wrong. There was just something fishy about the entire situation. “So, should we go out to celebrate our victory?” Abuela Zeya asked. Alex turned to Blakely.“Are you okay with that? If you’re too drained we can…”“No, it’s fine.” She cut in, smiling at him. “We can go.”“Okay!” Abuela Zeya sounded excited. “There’s a nice place that opened up a few weeks ago just by the bayside. You need a reservation to get in but the owner is a good friend so I’m sure he’ll squeeze us in. I also fear they serve good food.”Alex nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”Abuela gave directions to the driver. A few minutes later, they arrived at the restaurant. They were already seated and taking their orders when sounds