Rustom stood on his balcony, feeling confused by everything going on. Did he ruin everything? But it wasn’t his fault alone, was it? His boss got sloppy over the years, letting his guard slip. Conceivably his boss had more confidence in himself than he admitted. Even though they made sure Damien didn’t know them, Rustom was still scared to admit it. In all these years of captivity, neither he nor his boss stepped before Damien and Iris. Perhaps they underestimated Damien and his thirst for freedom. Maybe they shouldn’t have forced Damien and Iris to have this child. If they had helped Iris deliver this baby and offered her the support she needed in time, her daughter might not have ended up deaf. Were those sins on him now? Damien never spoke a word all these years to anyone other than Iris. He and Iris kept to themselves. From what he heard from the guards, they incessantly tried to escape in the first two years of captivity, but later they gave up. Maybe this was him planning all t

A few days earlier… Athena walked into the kitchen to get some water and spotted the woman that was like another mother to her, “Miss. Claudia,” she jumped and hugged her from the back. Claudia smiled, turned around, and responded to Athena’s hug, “How are you, Thena?” Claudia smiled with affection. “Alive and kicking,” the girl hopped on the counter and grabbed an apple. Claudia pressed her lips into a thin line stopping herself from laughing. “I heard the good news,” Claudia resumed cutting vegetables, “and saw it too,” she chopped a piece of onion. “You and your mother are carbon copies of each other, and the bitch still hated you?” she scoffed. “Never seen the witch so happy,” she grabbed a stalk of celery and diced, throwing it in the pot of boiling water. Athena’s lack of reaction made Claudia speak her heart out, “You need to tell your mother the truth, Thena, how these vultures treated you,” the kind woman’s voice was full of distaste and hatred for her employers, if not

Azazel opened his drawer, took the file he recovered from her house, and undid it by unwinding a little thread in the front. He placed all the contents of the file on the table, spreading them evenly and examining them one by one. His eyes narrowed at the passports before him. Why did Damien have five different passports? All in his name, from several countries. This is not normal. Usually, people have multiple passports but with different aliases. His family also possesses various passports, but all under pseudonyms and other names. What is he hiding? And how does his doll tie into all of this? He sat there, blood pulsing and headache growing. But his pain isn’t significant now. Her life is. He picked up the certificates before him. Did Athena have another name? Or was it Iris? And who burned these? The possibilities of this situation are endless. Did Damien know someone was after him? Is it why he burned these? Why would he be careless and let someone abduct him if he knew? He cou

Athena gave herself time to return from what she had just experienced. She just got assaulted in a room full of people. She had the urge to resist doing what he had asked her to do, but knowing him, he would let everyone know, and that would break people’s hearts. What has her life become? So, she decided to do what he asked and turned her heels away from the party. Picking her dress up, she walked up the stairs. As instructed, she reached the drawing room. Slowly opening the door, she put one foot inside and noticed a man standing by the window. The lights were turned off, and the window was open. The door closed as soon as she entered, shutting behind her with a thud. The man turned around and motioned for her to come close, and she stepped inside. He motioned her to come closer, and she did. “My good little girl,” the man’s voice reached Athena’s ears, and fear struck her as thunder. Her mind refused to act as she was too frozen to move. She knew that voice that haunted her dream

A man stood on his balcony, deep in his dark thoughts. He would’ve had the company of his burning cigarette to accompany his deep and sad thoughts, but he could not do that, as he was worried that his baby would be affected. He clutched the railing, dreading the silent night. The night sky was aglow with bright city lights. He wondered how many people were in the same situation as he was.The pale crescent moon shone like a silvery claw in the night sky, illuminating his beautiful skin and making him look like a silver wolf on a blood-mooned night. He looked up at the blanket of stars stretched to infinity and asked them if they would convince his lover to be with him, but the stars were distant watchers. They watch but never act. They see but never reveal. The silence of the night met with his ears, and there was no volume except for the occasional barking of faraway dogs that broke the silence of the night.After standing for a while, Azazel strolled back to his room, where she was s