“This was my favourite photo of you. You looked like a real angel; I knew I had to take a photo”
There was so much love and adoration in Dad’s eyes as we looked at a picture of me when I was seven. I had to admit that I was a real beauty as a child. It felt like I was staring at a human-sized Barbie doll.
I was wearing a cute pink gown, and my blonde hair had been put into a ponytail, and my eyes were so blue as they sparkled with innocence and mischief.
“It had been a hassle to get you to stay still for that photo. You had way too much candy because your mother could never resist your puppy eyes, and you knew it. We had to bribe you with the promise of another candy if you stayed still to take that photo” He smiled and ran his fingers over the photo as if he was relieving that moment all over again.
“That was the best day. Mom had finally gotten that catering degree and made us a feast. I didn’t understand what that meant back then, but I was happy because she was happy”
“I loved you, you know. It killed me when she was taken from us so quickly. I hate to say this to you, but I am happy that I can go to her now. She doesn’t have to be lonely anymore”
My heart ached with Dad’s words. I knew he never stopped missing Mom since he never got married or even had any relationships that I was aware of.
“I know, Dad. I know you loved Mom more than anything in the world,” I said and lay my head on his shoulders, and I was careful not to put all my weight on him.
“I also love you more than anything in the world. I hate that I am leaving you alone, but you don’t have to be scared. You will be in good hands if all goes well”
He would not give me any information about who he was going to leave me with, and I had no idea who it could be. I had run my head over a thousand scenarios but couldn’t decide on what he was planning and just went as far as to tell you how unpredictable he was.
“Are you not going to tell me what you are planning?” I asked again.
“You have to be patient, princess. You will find out in due time, maybe today, as soon as Duke arrives from the errand I sent him”
“And when would that be?”
“I am certain he will be here in a bit”
I was about to convince him to tell me right now because my patience was wearing thin when there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” I said to whoever was on the other end of the door, and Duke walked in before walking to my father’s side of the bed.
Duke said nothing but stared at my dad as they had a silent conversation. After some seconds of just staring at each other, Duke let out a curt nod before turning to look at me briefly.
There was a little bit of relief in his eyes, and even Dad seemed relieved. This had something to do with Dad’s grand plan not to leave me alone.
“Tell me, what did you people do? You promised to tell me when Duke arrived, and he is here now, so tell me,” I demanded.
“You are so impatient, my darling,” Dad chuckled weakly.
“Well, you aren’t helping matters either by delaying the conversation,” I pointed out.
My Dad turned to look at Duke, who gave another curt nod before walking out of the room. After Duke left, nobody said anything. It was as though Dad was thinking of the best way to deliver his statement, and I patiently waited for him to put his thoughts and words together.
“Do you know who Atticus Hayland is?” He asked, surprising me.
“Of course I do. I even saw him once in Paris the day I came back home”
Who didn’t know Atticus Hayland? That man was a force to be reckoned with in the business world. His name was always mentioned in business lecture halls as a mentor for all future business owners.
He took his father’s failing export company and turned it into a conglomerate whose subsidiaries were the top in their field. From real estate to semiconductors, Axis practically ruled the capitalist market.
“What do you think of him?” Dad asked, and I narrowed my eyes.
“Why the questions? Why do you care what I think about him? It’s not like I personally know the guy” I was getting confused with his questions.
“Just answer the question, princess and don’t stress your old man. I can barely keep my eyes open since my body has been awake for too long, and I need to sleep soon” Now he was making me feel guilty for asking questions.
“I don’t know him personally, so all I know about him is solely on his business. I don’t have any opinions I could say about him as a person”
“I’m sorry for snapping at you. I am just anxious because I know that I don’t have a lot of time left. I have to do this as soon as I can”
“It’s fine. I understand, but why are you asking me all these questions? We don’t have anything to do with him”
“We will soon”
“How is that going to happen?”
“You will be getting married to him”
I flew off the bed and stared at my father in shock “I am going to do what?” I practically yelled.
“That’s right,” Dad replied, not minding the shock on my face.
“Dad, you can’t be serious. Wait, is this your grand plan of not leaving me alone? To marry me off to a stranger?” I was furious, and my hands were shaking. Was I a commodity to be sold off easily at convenience?
“Calm down, princess”
“Calm down?” I yelled, “Don’t tell me to calm down. You are going to marry me off to a stranger without my consent. That is never going to happen, Daddy. This isn’t the 18th century. I won’t be getting married to anyone”
My breath had become shaky. I tried to breathe properly, but it was getting lodged in my throat, and my restlessness was over the roof, so I began to pace the room.
“Please, Hazel. Calm down and listen to me” The mention of my name stopped me in my tracks.
Dad hardly called me by my name, and even the workers in our home barely did, as most referred to me as young mistress or young miss. Dad only called me by my name when he was angry, and by the look on his face, he was.
“I don’t like this, Dad”
“I know, but you cannot manage the company by yourself. I didn’t prepare you for that, which was a failure on my part. I should have done a better job raising you for something like this”
I didn’t like the tone of his voice, which made it look like he did a bad job raising me. I walked back to the bed and sat down once again. I let out a sigh and tried to calm myself down.
“I don’t like when you talk like that, Daddy,” I told him “Stop looking down on yourself. You did the best job raising me to be the woman I am today. Are you not proud of me?”
“Of course I am. Every time I look at you, the amount of pride that wells in my chest can never be measured”
The look he had in his eyes was as though he was telling me I was crazy to think he would not be proud of me, and I gave him a look that told him that was exactly how I felt when he said he did a bad job raising me.
“That’s exactly how I feel, Daddy. I would never trade you for anything else in the world”
“You know I would always do what’s best for you, right? I would never do anything that would hurt you or make you sad”
“I know that, but this is different. Marriage is for life, Dad. How did you even get someone as powerful as Atticus to marry me?”
“Marriage isn’t always what you want it to be. You just have to make sure you make yours the way you want, like a potter. He takes a plain clay and shapes it to whatever shape he wants”
“You still haven’t told me how you got a powerful man like Atticus to marry me. What kind of deal did you strike with him?”
I knew there was no way Atticus would have agreed to marry me when he had no idea I existed if that didn’t make him a crazy offer he could not refuse.
“Thirty per cent shares from the company and management rights of the company”
“What!!!” I yelled and was on my feet again “Dad, are you crazy? Thirty per cent out of our seventy per cent? Are you selling off the company to him? And managing rights? That would practically make him CEO”
“That’s the plan”
“What do you mean by that’s the plan? That’s our hard work right there, Dad, and you are just going to hand it over to someone else?”
“The company would still be yours”
“In name only. He would call all the shots”
I was on the brink of tears. I know that I may be incapable of managing the company at the moment, but I could learn. Did my father have such little faith in me?
“I can assure you that I’m not doing this because I think you are not capable”
“Then why?”
“You are delicate, princess, and I don’t want to thrust you into the ruthless world of business, especially one as powerful and cruel as ours.”
“I’ll be fine”
“Atticus would be the perfect person to make sure the person stays at the top and also ensure that you get what rightfully belongs to you. I don’t want you to suffer or worry when I am gone. I have shielded you your whole life, and I want to hand you to someone who would be able to do the same”
“I am not weak, Dad. I can handle it” I tried to reason with him, but his decision was final.
“I know you are not weak, but I don’t want to risk someone hurting you because they think you are not adequate enough to handle the company. If they sense even the slightest hint of weakness, they will attack you like sharks”
“I’ve always known that”
“The people around our company are vultures, and I would not have you among people like that”
“How dangerous could it be? Why did I go to business school if you wouldn’t give the business to me to manage?” Had I wasted four years of my life studying something I didn’t like because I believed that I was going to take over the company someday?
“I wasn’t aware that was your reason for studying the course otherwise, I would have asked you to study something that you really wanted to. I am sorry for that”
“There isn’t any way I could change your mind?”
“No. I am sorry, princess, but I know you would thank me for doing this later”
“I don’t think I would”
He started coughing, and I gave him the cup of water on the table beside the bed that had a straw in it. When he finished, I dropped the cup back in its place.
“Consider it your old man’s dying wish and do this for me. Please” He didn’t have to pull that card, and now I could not deny it even though I didn’t want to.
“Fine. Just because you pulled the dying wish card”
“Thank you, princess”
I stood up and walked out of the room, not turning back even when he struggled to call out my name.
I was hurt.
Hurt that he guilt-tripped me into marrying a stranger and hurt that I was too angry at him to turn back and check on him, and I felt ashamed, but it still didn’t make me turn back to check up on him.
"Mom, Noah won't give me my toy to play. he is being mean to me" Lucas whined from the playroom and I rolled my eyes at their antics. My boys had to be the greatest troublemakers and they were equally stubborn. "Noah, give your brother his toy, don't be naughty" I scolded from the home studio. they had a playroom across the hall so I had to keep the door open when I was painting in the studio. "But Mom, I want to play with it" I could hear the pout in his voice. Noah had exactly the same toy but he always loved to play with his brother's own even if they were the same as the ones he had. "Noah, don't make me stand up. I need to finish this" I scolded. "Sorry mama" He mumbled but I could still hear him since the doors were opened wide. "come to Mama baby, let me give you a kiss" That had to be the wrong thing to say because as soon as I finished the statement, they were both racing across the hallway towards me and I barely had enough time to put my canvas away before they slammed
“No” I yelled and sprang up from my bed. I could feel the sweat trailing down my forehead and my back. The lights came on immediately and Atticus was beside me at a glance. ‘Hey, it was just a dream. You are okay” Atticus pulled me to him and I went willingly allowing him to wrap his arms around me. I felt him place a kiss on my forehead. Ever since I was rescued, I have been having nightmares every night. Samantha was shot and killed when she tried to kill me and the sight of the hole on her head had given me severe trauma. That exact scene was what I kept seeing every night. I couldn’t sleep alone and I was now terrified of the dark. The therapist said I was going to be fine but it’s been almost two months now and it didn’t look like the nightmares were stopping anytime soon. I tightened my hold on him to assure myself that he was really here with me and that everything was finally over. “I hate how scared I’ve become. It makes me look pathetic” I whispered. Atticus tried to
My eyes flew open and I sat up straight on the bed. With shock, I began to search my body with my eyes for any sign of damage. I wasn’t feeling any pain anywhere but I had to make sure that nothing happened to me while I was not conscious. The sound of laughter made me snap my head up and I was surprised to see Samantha and a man dressed in a doctor’s uniform standing opposite the bed. She was laughing so hard like a mad person. I was suddenly aware of where I was. The room looked like a made-up hospital room. It was just the bed and a table that contained some medical equipment. I was confused as I tried to assess the situation and understand what was going on. “What is this? What’s going on” I made an effort to come down from the bed but I was pulled back with force. I looked down to see my hands and feet were bound to the bed and I gasped in shock at how I didn’t notice it earlier. I struggled to get myself free but the efforts were futile so I brought my eyes to the woman b
I couldn’t sleep all night and didn’t even touch the food which I always complained was too little. My stomach wouldn’t have been able to take it if I had tried. I was nervous and scared. Something didn’t sit right with the way Samantha stalked out so calmly after learning that I was pregnant. She was too calm and it could only mean she was planning something deadly. I sat on the broken bed, staring out of the windows. The freedom of the birds that were flying freely in the sky had me so envious. It’s been so long since I saw other people. I was stuck here and I had lost count of how many days or even weeks that I’ve been here. It’s been unusually quiet since Samantha left but yet there was so much sign of her again and I could not help but feel agitated at that. I know that she had not decided to let me go but instead, she may be planning something extremely dreadful and it made my chest burn with the thought. The door opened and Fred came in holding a cup. He handed me the cup an
I could believe it and yet still couldn't believe that Samantha was behind this. She hated me and that was something I was aware of but I didn’t think it was enough for her to do something terrible like this. I guess I was a terrible judge of character. I watch her shut the door behind her. She had a sinister smile and she seemed pleased with herself as she let her eyes roam all over my body. I could see the satisfaction on her face as she took in my state. She leaned against the door and watched me with great pleasure and soon burst into laughter while I just watched dumbfounded and shocked. She bent over, hitting her knees as she laughed uncontrollably and I just couldn’t help but conclude that she was batshit crazy. “Oh my God, It’s so good to see you like this. So this is what you look like when you’ve been knocked off your feet. Oh, how the mighty has fallen. Wait..you were never mighty but small like a fly” She burst out laughing again and I just sat there waiting for her to
I curled around myself on the bed, desperate for any form of warmth I could find. It was raining heavily outside and there was nothing to shield myself from the onslaught of cold air that blasted through the windows. The windows were closed but they had a crack so air still managed to find its way into the room. The room was so cold so there was no escaping the cold no matter how hard I tried and thus I was at the desperate mercy of the harsh weather. My teeth clattered against each other in the cold and I was shivering so bad. I knew there was no preventing the fever I would get tomorrow. I have lost count of how many days I have been here. My faith in Atticus finding me has dwindled so low, it sat at about 0.1 per cent. The living conditions here were terrible and even the workers at home didn’t live like this. I had been reduced to an animal. My body especially my legs hurt from having to sit down or lay down since I was here. I was only released to take a shower and use the
My head was throbbing and it also hurt at the same time. I tried to open my eyes but it felt heavy so I decided to let it rest for a second before opening it again and this time I was successful. My vision was a bit blurry so I tried to clean my eyes with my hands and I watched as the room I was in became much clearer, as clear as it could get in the darkness. The room was in a terrible state and the lighting was poor so I couldn’t see the room properly. I tried to sit upright and that’s when I noticed my legs were tied to the bed but the ropes gave room to allow me to move around a little bit but not away from the bed. The bed I was currently lying on was in an equally bad state. The bedsheets were torn and dirty and the bed frame felt as if it would give away if I made the wrong move. I sat up straight then rested my back on the wall and studied the room. I was not stupid. I knew what situation I was in so there was no need for me to cry and scream for help because no one would
Ever since we came back from the hospital and found out I was pregnant, Atticus has spoiled me silly with gifts and attention. He would not let me do anything even as simple as walking just like what he was doing now. “Babe, put me down.” I laughed so hard when he leaned to bite my neck softly “I can walk to the dining table, you can’t keep carrying me everywhere” My hands were wrapped tightly around his neck as he made his way down the stairs. I knew he wasn’t going to drop me but I held on tight out of instinct. I could see the amusement in Nathan and Justin’s eyes as we descended. “You’ll fall if I let you walk down the stairs on your own” He insisted and I burst out laughing at the silly excuse he was giving. “I’m sure I’ve been going up and down these stairs on my own and I am yet to fall” I mused but he had none of it. “Accidents happen and I won’t wait till they do” He finally descended the last stairs and walked to the dining table where Nathan was already holding out
Danielle and the doctor entered the hospital room and stopped in their tracks to get a good look at me wrapped around my husband like a burrito. I was curled into his arms and his hands were wrapped around me tightly like I had insisted a few minutes before they walked in. Danielle had a sly smile on her face as she pushed past the doctor and made her way to us while the doctor looked rather amused. He recovered quickly and stepped in properly into the room before shutting the door behind him. “I can see my plan worked perfectly and you two doofos made up” She squealed and clapped her hands like a little child and it made me scoff. “I told you she didn’t just go get the doctor,” I told Atticus with a roll of my eyes and he chuckled in response. “Well it worked out for the best, didn’t it?” she gave me a roll of her eyes also “So the doctor has your test results and he promises that it is very good news” It was obvious that she was barely trying to contain her excitement and hold