"What is the matter? Whatever it is, we should meet, I have a lot to discuss with you," Nicholas said to Astra. Astra was a bit far from her phone when he called at first and that was why she did not pick. When she saw his missed calls, she figured it was a sign. She had to meet him and tell him about Stephanie too, maybe he will be able to help her."Okay, I will come to your place right away," Astra said. There was no need to be coy, it was a matter of urgency."Oh, okay," Nicholas said. He sounded confused by her reply but he did not say anything to show his confusion."I am at home. I will wait for you," he replied."I am on my way," Astra said before disconnecting the call. Astra fidgeted as she picked up her car keys and her purse, leaving her apartment. A lot of things were bothering her, first, there was the problem of Ray threatening Jared and the fact that it could end up ruining her relationship with him. There was also the problem of Stephanie claiming that she didn't want

Chapter 44It had been twenty four hours since Theo was kidnapped and they also hadn't heard from Stephanie. Sarah was growing frantic and the kidnappers had not called, they were sure it was Ray now though. The CCTV cameras caught the car that Theo was in on camera and it was the same one that Thompson used, and they all knew it belonged to Ray. The police was trying to track Ray down to where he kept his victims, but all to no avail. It seemed like he was too smart for all of them combined. They could not figure out where he was after the entire day. The fact that a child was wit him made the situation much more complicated."I think it's time for us to draw him out," Astra said as they all had lunch together, Nicholas, Sarah, Jared and her. It had been bothering her so much over the entire day. It was all her fault. It all started because Ray wanted. If she was the one that Ray wanted, he would get her."How do you propose we do that?" Sarah asked snarkily. The woman had the good g

Chapter 46"I am willing to do anything, as far as you promise to let them go," Astra said and took a deep breath. She hoped she was not making a wrong decision. She knew that it was a but reckless to make a decision at all without telling anyone in the first place, but it was an emergency and everyone would understand. Besides, she already made up her mind to set herself up as bait."Anything?" Ray asked from the other end of the phone. Astra took in a deep breath. She was grateful that she had called Yvonne earlier and asked of her baby. "Yes, anything. You have to assure me that Theo and Steph will be safe though," Astra said. She was hoping that her voice sounded as confident as she needed it to be. She was already scared. She did not need him to add to her fear."Well, in that case, you have to meet me up at the cafe in front of your house in thirty minutes. You will be one the phone the entire time, no funny business. I will let Theo and Stephanie go and I will show the video e

As Astra sat in the car that drove both her and Ray, she wondered why she had not seen the signs. Well, there was also the fact that she might have seen the signs but had ignored them. At first when they were in high school, it was taken as just a crush and it was even looked upon as cute back then. It had made Astra feel a bit good that someone liked her that much. Over time, Astra saw that it was posing as a problem, but she did not take it seriously. It was when she got into college and realized that he was trying to sabotage her relationships that she even took a little seriously, just a little though. Astra had actually thought that if he met someone else that he would leave her alone.Astra did not want that person to be Stephanie at first but her friend had been so hooked on Ray that Astra could have not dissuaded her if she tried, and Astra tried. She did a lot to make Stephanie leave him, but it did not work. After a while, it seemed like Ray's attention shifted from her to S

Chapter 50Astra felt hungry, tired and weak. Ray had driven her to his hideout that day and the emotional and physical torture had begun. Astra felt like she wanted to die. Like she had to die. She could not continue anymore. It felt like she was going crazy. Like she was becoming just like Ray. She was becoming unhinged and mad like him.She had learnt more than a few things since she got to his hideout. The first was that Ray was more obsessed than she thought, there was a room, the place he first took her to, it was like a shrine, it was filled with her pictures from top to bottom.All the time that she had felt like someone was following her, Ray was actually stalking her. He had pictures of he right from high school. Astra remembered vaguely that he had a camera back then, and he was always taking a pictures of her. She liked it at a point as it made her feel pretty, but after a while, she was annoyed. That did not make him stop though, he kept on taking pictures of her and it s