On the marble tiled floor was Terry, one of the guards on his security detail. He had been shot in the head, and from the position of his hands and his legs, Mark Darius could sense that he was already dead. Even if he wasn't, he was far gone and from his dilated eyes, Mark doubted that there was going to be any rescue. “My God! Atticus? Atticus? Are you in there? Are you alright?” Mark Darius was staring at his guard, and at that moment, he knew. It was happening all over again. Karen Shapiro had come into his life to kill and to destroy, and she was doing the same thing to even those he loved, to anyone at all who was involved with him. He knew immediately that what he was staring at wasn't a mistake. That it hadn't happened by chance. It wasn't a coincidence. Karen Shapiro had struck once again, and this time, it was fatal. When he finally recovered and followed Farida Atticus into her home, he doubted that she was going to see her son. He could sense that feeling of gloom
“I miss my mother,” he had begun, the sobs still making him tremble every now and then. Retrieving a box of milk and a packet of cookies that she had bought from the freezer, she placed it on top of the table where he sat, then ran a hand through his hair before patting him fondly. She knew what children loved, and far as she was concerned, there was going to be no maltreatment of Atticus while he was with her. That was one thing she was sure of. “Your mother will reach out to us soon, Atticus. But for now, you'll have to enjoy yourself in this little room I made up for you. And here, cookies and milk, just for you.” But Atticus turned away from her, frowning deeply. She could tell that he was a child that loved his mother very much from the way he acted, and she knew that it wasn't going to be easy controlling him. She only wanted to kidnap him, and if he wasn't going to eat she would have no option than to start screaming her lungs at him. If fear was the only way she could
When Jenett Darius saw the familiar purple convertible drive into the grounds of her home, she panicked. The sickening feeling in her gut was there, like a wall that had just been painted wrongly and wasn't going to be easily scraped. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and so was the blood in her ears. Jenett Darius knew that feeling pretty well. It was fear, and terror rolled into one. It was fear of the unknown, fear of the uncertain. When she saw Karen Shapiro step out of the vehicle, she bit her bottom lip anxiously, then went ahead to bite her fingers as well. She was afraid. She wasn't just afraid, she was afraid for her son because she knew that whatever Karen Shapiro was doing in her house had to do with her son. When she had heard that the hospital bill had been settled by no other person than Karen Shapiro alias number one, she didn't know the kind of emotion to express. Jennett didn't know if she was supposed to be sad, she didn't also know if she was supposed to be
When Jenett went back to the sitting room, Karen Shapiro was walking around the sitting room, touching the furniture and laughing at the pictures of Brown as a child. There was also a picture of Gabriel Darius, and as she touched the picture, Jenett could see the waves of emotions wash over her face time and time again. She turned as soon as she acknowledged their presence, then grinned at Brown. Jenett Darius swallowed uncomfortably, then averted her eyes, fixating her eyes at the tiled floor instead of looking into Karen Shapiro's cold eyes. The floor was definitely way comfortable to look at. Karen Shapiro's eyes seemed to suck you in, reminding you of your promises,reminding you of your loyalty to her. Jenett Darius was scared of Karen, but she knew she had to be brave. She had to be strong, at least for her son. She had to find and gather whatever strength she had for her son, Brown. “Well, if it isn't the great Brown Darius. You've changed a lot, I can see that life ha
Not seeing her son for days meant that Farida Atticus was slowly giving in to her body's requests. When she was sad, her body wanted sugar. Her body wanted junk, it wanted fat, it wanted carbohydrates. And that was why, for the umpteenth time in her office that day, Farida Atticus had ordered another plate of ice cream with two tacos that were nearly wrapped to back it up. She stared at the food in front of her, slightly irritated. That's what love had done to her. Love had succeeded in making her a fool, in making her look stupid even though she was smarter. Even though she clearly knew how to make better decisions. Love had turned Farida Atticus into something else. She was irritated by herself because this wasn't where she had envisioned herself. In a fix, her son went missing, all because she had decided to fall for a certain wealthy man whose charms were too impossible to ignore. All because she had decided to let love lead for once. All because she had decided to think
Karen Shapiro drove her car, smiling at Gonzalez in the backseat. Her mind was racing. Since leaving Jenett's house, she had found herself thinking. She wanted to box Mark Darius into a corner. She still had feelings for him, and hence she didn't want to kill him. Now, she was focusing solely on what had brought her into the cat and dog chase in the first place, which was the company that she was sure rightfully belonged to her. She wanted to make Mark Darius sweat. She wanted to make him know what it felt like to be hunted. She was the hunter, and he was the hunted. She was the predator, and he was the prey. She wanted to make sure that he regretted ever crossing her path or even playing games with her. “What are you going to do with them, Karen?” It was Gonzalez's booming baritone. Whenever he spoke to her, she found out that he smiled more. But she had always pretended not to notice. She wanted their relationship to remain formal, afterall she was the one taking care of thei
When Mark Darius opened the door to his apartment, he stood in shock, staring at the letter in front of the door of his home. The letter was wrapped in a red box, and even though he was known for being brave, he was afraid. The red box reminded him of the moment when his car had been destroyed. It made him remember how scared he was when it had happened, how terrified he had been for days. Since the kidnap of Atticus, Mark Darius had discovered that he was in fact, attached to the young child. He also found out something else. He was done hiding and concealing his hate for Karen Shapiro. For her to go as far as kidnapping a young child in order to get to him was very petty. Way too petty. The fact that he also loved Farida Atticus and was more than heartbroken to see her break down constantly in tears was what solidified his hatred for Karen. How could she? It was a game of cat and dog, yes, but involving a woman he had barely known for two weeks? Kidnapping her child? It w
Karen's orders had been clear as day. His job was to go in, scare Farida Atticus and then return to the hotel where she was to meet him. But Brown Darius didn't want to scare her. He was angry. He was angry at the world because everybody seemed to have a tongue. He was angry at the world because nobody knew what he had gone through, and nobody cared. He was angry at the world because he knew that nobody cared about his journey, about how far he had come. There were people who had tongues everywhere, people that didn't even know the gift that they had. People who didn't know how lucky they were. That was why he was angry at the world. That was why he didn't just want to scare Farida Atticus, he wanted to injure her. He wanted her to also feel his pain, he wanted her to also feel the pain that he had felt that night at the hospital after Scar had cut his tongue. When Karen Shapiro had shown him the picture of a battered Scar, he hadn't known what to feel. He knew the story was