“Would you sit your silly ass down in that chair this instant, Brown Kelce!” Jennet screamed in Brown’s face.“Even you too, mum?” He asked, his face contorted to a mask of hurt. Jennet found it childish that he was about to throw a tantrum in Bennett’s office.“I am a Darius too, mum! He married you into his family, and you put in work while you were both married. I don’t care if you just had to smile for a couple of stupid cameras". Brown continued his rant.“This is not the way, son. We will have our revenge. No one is allowed to kick us to the sides, especially not Darius’ little idiot of a son. I will personally make sure he stops to kiss your feet when the time is right. But for now, we must do what we must". Jennet successfully withheld her son from his sudden outburst and gently helped him to settle in the chair.“Now, you would apologize to Bennett.”“That’s impossible, mum,” Brown began in protest, his faced scrunched up in a scowl. His lips were purses in a pout, giving him
Bennett clutched the phone in his hand a little too tight, almost enough to squash it into bits and pieces if he had the ability to. Something has to take the blame for the insults which had just visited his day.He let out a roar full of pure guttural rage, and in his anger and frustration, he hurled the glass of whiskey in his other hand at the wall, watching as the glass blasted into smithereens and sent a million little shards flying in every direction.He considered throwing away the phone as well, to make it atone for its misgivings, when it began ringing again, like a hungry infant, oblivious to the troubles its demands brought with every cry. He stole a glance at the screen and nearly doubled over at the caller ID. Number One.A wave of nervousness coursed through his veins like an electric shock. Why did the man call him at that time? He had obviously seen the scandal on the news, so there was no escape out of his judgment. Whatever he deemed fit to make out of the issue woul
Mark sat in his office, swiveling this way and that in the ergonomic seat. Before him were Bill Baumerman, the chairperson of the executive board, and David. He had instructed his secretary to close the doors and ensure that they were given maximum privacy.When David had come up with the idea of a meeting, Mark had been excited about discussing the progress of the company and other exciting things that they had talked about over the phone. But by the time he had sat through one whole hour of a round of back and forth between David and Bill, he wished he could be anywhere else but in his office.“I believe Quantum Edge Technologies is more than ready to explore new markets". David went on another rant again and Mark rolled his eyes.“With the profit the company has been able to making, especially since recovering from its little stunt in the hands of Jennet and her son, there is more than enough resources to finance an exploratory venture". David stated professionally.Mark trusted wh
The air she felt was cooling against her skin, caressing her with a soothing kiss as it ran through her hair. Jennet had come to love quiet moments by herself. It wasn’t that she enjoyed being a recluse, but the madness her life had been plunged into ever since Gabriel resurfaced from the land of the dead had left her world in a topsy-turvy mess.Brown wasn’t doing anything to help matters with his endless drinking. He had successfully run out of liquor, and the week was just beginning.He definitely got that from his father. Definitely his father.But Jennet had no idea who Brown's father was. She had been seeing two men at the time. Both of them seemed to be potential husband material. She had always been identified by all who came across her as an opportunistic individual. She saw a window and dived right in to it. When neither of the men wanted to accept the pregnancy, she felt so miserable, like her world had come to an abrupt end.She traveled to her mother’s home somewhere on t
The phone rang shrilly into the air, disrupting what little quiet Mark had been enjoying. He picked it up with irritation brewing a storm on his tongue, waiting to unleash a tirade of venomous verbal assault on whoever it was that was calling him. Dad.He quickly received the call and held the phone up to his ears.“Hello, good afternoon, dad,” he rapped off in quick succession.“Hello, son. How’s business coming along today?”“Very well, thank you, dad". He heaved a sigh.“I can tell that you are really stressed from the sound of your voice. But not to worry, you’ll unwind at the party tonight. Looking forward to it as much as I am, right?”Of course, Mark was facepalmed, beating himself up mentally for not remembering the socialites party his father had received an invitation for. He had been so preoccupied with the new investment and putting the board members in their place, that he had totally forgotten about it.“Are you there, son?” Gabriel asked when the line had gone silent fo
Jennet held the phone to her ears with shaky hands. It felt like she was speaking with a ghost. If her memory serves her well, she was speaking to someone from her past, someone she had thought to be dead for many years.“Jennet? Hello? Are you still there, Jenny?” the voice came again.“Charlie?” Jennet asked tentatively, faint embers of hope coming alive in her heart.“Jenny. Hello, Jenny. It’s been a lifetime,” Charlie said with a voice full of nostalgia.And indeed, it had been a lifetime, a very long one spent in wishful thinking of what is and what could have been.Jennet had run into Charlie when she was at an all low in her life. She had just been jilted by several lovers who found her too demanding. All she wanted was a bite of their giant-sized snack of money and affluence. Since when did that become a crime?It didn’t matter that Jennet had been with all those lovers at the same time when she got busted. Somehow, they belonged to the same rotary club and played golf togethe
“Wait, slow down,” Elena interrupted Bennet over the phone, still confused about what he was saying.“What is it this time?” She could imagine Bennet rolling his eyes as he spoke to her over the phone.“We are supposed to turn up for a party tonight? On whose invitation?”“Number One’s . Now you’ll stop asking me questions and get yourself a fucking pretty dress for the event. I will come to pick you up at eight". He barked over the phone and the line went dead.“Honey, who was that?” Margaret came paddling in from the kitchen with a tray of cookies in her hands.“Fancy the number one fellow asking us all out to party tonight, mother?” Elena quirked her brows in confusion.“Now that’s strange,” Margaret thought aloud, standing with both hands fixed on her waist.Jennet dashed into the room to put on some proper clothes. She had just ended the call with Charlie. He was in town and willing to meet with her. A part of her was apprehensive, and pretty much skeptical, about meeting up with
Bennet arrived at Elena’s doorstep just as agreed. He neither wasted any time nor did he care to exchange any pleasantries. Elena felt awkward being around him, especially after the whole drama with Mark and his father had put Bennet’s business in danger.They made a quick detour to Jennet’s house, which just happened to be out of their planned commute for the evening.“Beats me why she’ll buy a property in a neighborhood so far from the happening places,” Margaret rolled her eyes at Elena, who nodded absentmindedly in agreement to what Bennet said.Elena’s mind raced with thoughts headlined by a dozen million questions. Why did Number One want them at a party? If he wanted to meet them physically, he could easily have pulled them off to some private hotel room, which he was capable of doing.Elena had done the courtesy of browsing through the invitation list for the party. Well, she had heard by some stroke of luck, when two women were discussing a friend who had managed to land an e
EPILOGUE : A YEAR LATER The courtroom was filled with apprehension and tension. From a mile away, one could observe and note the seriousness of the faces, how enraptured they seemed to be. The silence in the courtroom could be broken by just a pin drop, and everyone was rapt with attention, staring at the judge, the jury, the hideous criminal with beautiful eyes, slender waist, a beautiful body and the prettiest of faces, but with a heart darker than the devil's. The entire city was out for her, and everybody in the room was dying for justice to take its course. The entire courtroom was filled to the brim, and even from the outside, people were peering through the windows. It was the largest court in the city, but the turn up had been so massive that people had to look from the windows. That was the kind of reception that Karen Shapiro had garnered. A lot of people had heard her story, the murders she had committed, and how she had controlled the underworld of crime. She wa
In the days that followed, Jenett Darius felt as if she was living in a dream. She could barely respond to questions that were thrown her way, and she knew it made the chief of police genuinely worried because of the agreement she had made to testify against Karen Shapiro in the court. How was she going to be able to do that when her purpose of living was no more? When her son was no more, the child that she had birthed hadn't even lived to experience the remorse that she was feeling? The removal of the guilt that had filled her chest by turning herself in? On a sunny Monday morning, she was shocked to find the chief of police opening the door to her cell. She jolted awake, and so did Margaret Woods. She had barely spoken to Margaret since she had heard the news of her son's death, and all she had wanted was for death to snatch her too. But no matter how much she wished for it, it never seemed to come. Death knew that it wasn't time for her to go, and it was playing its part by r
But Karen Shapiro was in no state to do what she had conjured in her mind. She was brought down by a simple Roundhouse kick, and her head was pinned to the floor as the cold metal of the handcuffs clamped on her wrists. Karen Shapiro was bundled back into her room, just like the common criminal she was. ********* When Mark Darius came to consciousness, he instantly found out that his side was hurting and that he was in a hospital. The dream he had been having was the same one that had tormented him during the previous nights, Karen Shapiro pursuing him endlessly with a knife, her screams making him terrified and making him perspire profusely. By the time he managed to sit up in the white, comfortable bed he was in, he was covered in a sheen of sweat. He also acknowledged immediately that the bed he was lying in wasn't his, and that his room didn't have a speck of blue in it. He had always been a green and orange color person from the start. And those were the colors that flound
When Karen Shapiro came to consciousness, the first thing she recognized was the continuous beeping of the heart monitor machine next to her and the needle that was in her skin. Her head felt as if it had been pounded upon severally and her eyes wanted to close of their own accord. Where was she? What had happened to her? For all she knew about her being in a blue and white room that stank of drugs and antiseptic, she knew within her that she was missing something. Something was wrong. She wasn't supposed to be in the room that she was, and she knew it. But she couldn't place it. At that same moment, the door opened, revealing a nurse in a white uniform that bore kind, brown eyes. Her hair was covered with a nursing cap, and when she smiled, it was cheerful and broad, seeming to light up the whole room. It made Karen Shapiro smile slightly even though she clearly didn't want to, even though her head felt as if a thousand nails had been drilled into it. The nurse proceeded
Swallowing, he spoke those dreaded words that Jenett Darius heard in her nightmares for days, those words that seemed to stick in her mind, that had left a firm imprint in her soul. “I'm afraid your son has been found dead amongst the bodies of the dead in the aftermath of the Splendid bar shooting. He was alive when the ambulance left the bar, but he was confirmed dead on arrival at the hospital. He died from several gunshot wounds.” He paused, and Jenett Darius could only hear the blood pounding in her ears and the hammering of her chest. She couldn't believe it, she was hoping it wasn't true. But it was reality, the cuffs on her hands were real and the chief was still standing in front of her. “I'm sorry that I'm the one that has come to you bearing this sad news, Miss Jenett. I wish I could take it back, but it has already happened.” When she didn't speak, he ventured further, touching her lightly on the shoulder. It was clear that he wanted her to say something, to at least
As soon as he struck Karen Shapiro on the head with the heavy box, he knew that he had only a few seconds before he would totally black out. And that was why without wasting a precious second, Mark Darius made his way to the phone in Derek Campton's hand. Without skipping a beat, he dialed the popular emergency line, his hands trembling. The amount of blood he had lost was going to determine if he got to live or not, and Mark Darius knew that he had lost quite a lot of blood. “911, what's your emergency?” Smiling, Mark Darius was slowly embracing the darkness that was enveloping him. He was fighting to stay alive, he was fighting death, the darkness, and even though it looked bleak, he was sure that he was going to win. He was going to say his location before the darkness enveloped him completely. It had been quite a long day, and Mark Darius wanted nothing more than to lay down and rest. He had been fighting a battle which he didn't know how it was going to turn out, and t
“I can drive you to the station. I believe one of the staff can help to look after Atticus. He's eating, and as far as food is involved, he's good to go.” Sergei stared at her, slightly worried. He was just a little bit different. Even in the urgency of the moment, he was rethinking things, making sure that he wasn't leaving out any detail. He was very observant, and she could see why Mark had maintained his service throughout the years. “Are you sure? You should rest, take a shower. I assure you that Mark will be alright. He knows how to take care of himself, fight his battles if you know what I mean.” She nodded, knowing that she would do anything to know that Mark was safe and sound. He had fought for Atticus, and it was up to her to do the same for him. She would gladly do it without blinking or hesitation. “I'm certain. I need to be sure that Mark is safe and that Karen hasn't killed him yet.” Sergei nodded, finally acknowledging her pleas to follow him. He had carefully c
She didn't know why, she couldn't fathom the reason. It was probably what she had deserved, but the fact that she had been so close to getting away hurt her everyday of her life. After she closed the box successfully, she turned around to see a smiling Mark Darius, the smaller of her boxes with its edges that were made of metal in his hands. And before she could move or raise her hands in defense, the box had been slammed on her head, sending her into a darkness she had never encountered throughout her life. ********** Farida Atticus stared at her son, then smiled. Out of everything that had happened to her in the past few weeks, he seemed to be the only good thing that had emerged from it all. For the fact that he had managed to come out of the devil's lair that was Karen Shapiro's home unshattered and unharmed, there was every reason for her to be happy. Yes, her life had been a mess because of love, but there was one thing Farida found herself acknowledging. She st
But it was clear that Mark Darius was having none of it. His mind was made up, and he stared at her, his gun very much active in his hand. He was going to use it, no matter what she said. “I can give you the contract right now.” Mark Darius smiled instead, as if he knew of her plans to bolt and do something unpredictable like she had done a few minutes ago. He looked purely ready for her, her antics and whatever she was going to try next. “You should've thought about that before trying to shoot me, Karen Shapiro.” And with those words, he fired. It was a single shot, and the bullet pierced her upper arm in a jolt that sent her to the floor, holding her now bleeding hand. At that moment, Mark Darius let out a cry. He had fallen to the floor, and the gun was out of his hand. Staring at him in pain, Karen Shapiro could see that he was in pain. He was clutching his side, his knuckles completely white. Despite her bleeding arm, the sight of Mark Darius in pain seemed to give her st