Hey everyone!
It's been a long time since I've updated. I missed you all and I missed this amazing characters as well.
I've been busy with school work as usual. My schedule is way too tight. I barely have enough time for myself anymore.
I also hit a major writer's block. I haven't been able to write in weeks because of it.
I'm still trying to battle it. I listen to music a lot and read books for inspiration and motivation. It's not working yet but I'm reallyyy trying.
And so, sadly, I won't be updating every Fridays, for now, until I get rid of the writer's block.
From now on, I will update once a chapter is done.
Happy reading:)
I don’t bother to hide the displeasure that’s clearly written all over my face resulting from the presence of Aran in my home—my space. I resist the urge to strangle him to death mainly because my grandma and Nellie were also present here. I doubt I was going to do any damage. He could easily turn the tables around and murder me with his bare hands—but it is worth trying.
“Is everything okay?” Grandma asks for probably the fifth time since she asked my so called boss to stay for dinner. I give her a gentle nod and let a small smile slip onto my lips, my grip tightening on the knife as I continue to slice a couple of garlic and green chilli before she continues to fry up the onions and potatoes before adding eggs to it.
While we focus more on preparing the food, Aran sits quietly by the dining table in such a poise manner while scrolling through his phone and pretending not to be greatly affected by the fact that he was in a small apartment with minimal space which is quite opposite to what he’s accustomed to.
That serves him right. He’s always looking for reasons to terrorize me—and even though it isn’t much, I still derived a little bit of satisfaction from his discomfort.
I drive away all thoughts relating to him—which isn’t that easy since he’s just a few steps away from me—and put down the hot pot of tomato soup from the stove and turned it off. I set it aside and assist grandma in finishing up other things while Nellie takes out a couple of plates and sets the table.
His eyes—though enshrouded in rage for my actions—are entirely focused on me now, his phone long forgotten. I try not to let it affect me too much and instead focus on the task at hand.
Once it's all done, we take our seats by the table and Nellie says a short prayer before we all dig in....well except for Aran who waited for a few minutes and starts to eat as well, shaking off the discomfort.
"It's wonderful to have you in our home, Mr. Aran." Grandma tells him with a wide smile.
His face is void of any emotion as he chews slowly on the food and spares a quick glance at his phone that buzzes with a text. "Just....Aran is fine—and it's a pleasure to be here, Linda." He swallows and sips his glass of strawberry spritzers.
When his face scrunches up into that of distaste, grandma's brow knits together in confusion.
"Is there something wrong with the drink?" She asks.
"I don't like strawberries." He answers bluntly and pours himself a glass of water to drink. "Do you have anything strong? Like beer or vodka? Anything will be fine. I just have a lot of pent-up aggression that I need to get rid of—that is if you don't mind."
A frown pulls up on my lips when his eyes connects to mine.
Grandma stares at him with a look of confusion before she gestures to me and the frown transforms into a tight smile.
I rise to my feet and head over to the kitchen to check the cupboards for any sort of alcohol for his royal highness, and luckily for him, l found a bottle of red wine; not the kind he would take on a normal day but I couldn’t find it in me to care.
I return back to my seat and place the bottle on the table next to him. He eyes it for a couple of second before he uncaps it and pours himself a glass while setting those dark angry eyes on me once again. I bite down hard on my bottom lip and stab the food before me with a fork, wishing so bad that he’s the one that I’m actually stabbing.
"So Aran, if you don't mind, what made you hire my grand daughter at such short notice and even went as far as paying her within a week? You seem like a generous man."
Aran's brows went up in shock, probably surprised that I told my grandma about our agreement. Not completely though, she doesn't need to know the rest. It's more like a half truth.
He casts me a brief glance—which didn't go unnoticed by my daughter—and sips his wine, heaving out a deep long sigh like he's in deep thought. "She seemed like a hard-working woman, passionate about anything she does and well, I knew I wasn't going to regret it when I gave her the job....and I didn't."
The pang of guilt in my chest expands further to the point I feel it squeezing my lungs so tightly when grandma gives my hand a soft squeeze and smiles proudly at me.
“And what about the early payment of salary?” Nellie asks, swallowing the food that’s left in her mouth as she eyes both of us with a look of suspicion.
Aran’s features hardens like someone that’s about to snap but he surprises me by taking a long gulp of the wine and answers with a calm but edgy tone. “She informed me about her inability to pay the rent and further explained to me about the whole hospital scenario and how they were all fired.” I angrily shove the fork into my mouth while keeping a steady gaze on the man who’s lying to my grandma without a break in his expression. “I just couldn’t sit back and watch someone else’s life fall apart so I consented to giving her an early payment just so she could solve her problem.”
My grandma presses a hand to her chest with a beaming smile on her face. Oh God! While Nellie rolls her eyes and snorts but quickly covers it up with a quiet cough when grandma shoots her an annoyed look.
The words she says next has me biting my tongue so hard it draws out blood.
"You're a good man, Aran. You have such a kind heart." Grandma gushes, looking directly at Aran who shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "You are truly a godsend."
I wince at the pain and let out an inaudible whine which didn't fail to get Aran's attention who stared at me with amusement glinting in those stupid eyes.
"Is something wrong, Rayne?" He raises a brow while taking another long dramatic sip of his wine.
A good man? A kind heart? A freaking godsend?
Aran is none of those things.
My grandma is an innocent woman and sees the good in the most vilest person so I don't really blame her for saying such things about Aran. Apart from her, anyone who says those things about him, I just assume they are blind because there's nothing good about this man.
All he does is kill people and manipulate the helpless.
"Nothing." I give him a curt reply and force my lips to form a fake smile when all eyes falls on me.
Wrapping my hand around the glass of strawberry spritzers, I bring it close to my lips to take a quick sip from it and pour myself a steaming bowl of tomato soup.
"If it's not a bother, can you please tell me a little bit more about yourself." Grandma speaks her word carefully so it wouldn't seem like she's intruding in his personal life—since he's my boss—and she wanted to avoid upsetting him.
Aran surprises me once again by dropping his fork back down on the plate, sipping a good amount of wine before responding with a little less irritation. "There's nothing to say about myself. I gat two sons; one's older and the other is an immature teenager and my ex wife is hardly ever in the picture unless she wants to stir up trouble for me and.....what else is left to say.....um, well, apart from that, I'm a very successful business man."
My eyes widens at his sheer bluntness. My grandma freezes mid shoving the tortilla into her mouth. Nellie, on the other hand, lets out a dramatic cough.
"You have a—a nice family, Aran." Grandma recovers from her shock with a smile.
"Quite unexpected if you put it that way, Aran." Nellie rolls her eyes.
Grandma slaps her upside the head and she releases a loud ow. "Don't you call him by his first name, young lady. He's your elder so you treat him with respect."
"How am I suppose to treat someone I clearly don't like with respect?" She lays emphasis on the word 'clearly' while flashing Aran a death glare to which he responds with an annoyed frown.
"Will you shut up, Nellie? Enough with this silly antics of yours. We have a guest and most of all you don't disrespect guests." I scold her.
She scoffs. "Don't you dare tell me what to do, mom." The frown on my face deepens. "I can never show a single ounce of respect for someone that's obviously fucking my mother."
Before I can react, Grandma lands a hard slap on her face and her head whips to the side from the hard impact.
"You little brat!" Aran thunders with a loud roar, slamming his fist on the table as he rises to his feet.
Silence falls. Shit!
"Listen to me carefully child, I have seen way worst behavior than this and I do not ever tolerate such attitude from anyone especially teenage girls who don't know any better." Nellie swallows hard probably not expecting his outburst but the fire in her eyes doesn't dimmer one bit.
"You have no right to speak to me that way and there's no way in hell that I'm going to sit quietly while you disrespect your own mother. My boys may act stupid and insane sometimes but they never cross their limits when it comes to me but if that happens, they get severely punished—and I won't hesitate to punish you and make you regret your terrible actions. Got it?"
Aran doesn't wait for her reply before he turns his attention back to my grandmother. "Thanks for inviting me to join you for dinner, Linda. The food was amazing." With that being said, he storms out and answers the incoming call on his phone.
"What is wrong with you, Nellie? Is it not enough that you disrespected your mother and I in front of her boss but you also insulted the nice man?" Grandma stands to her feet as well, glaring heatedly at my teenage daughter with both hands placed on her hips.
"Granny, I —"
"You, be quiet." Grandma cuts her off. “Go to your room—and don't leave that room until I tell you to because you're grounded for a month.”
"But this isn't —" Nellie tries to speak but Grandma cuts her off with her no nonsense look.
"Don't let me hit you again, young lady. Now, go."
Nellie heaves out a sigh and does as she's told.
I blink rapidly and quickly rush towards the door, opening it and speaking over my shoulder. "I'll be right back, grandma."
"Take your time, dear." She whispers with an apologetic smile on her face.
Shutting the door behind me, I decide to take the stairs so I can quicky catch up to him before he leaves.
I'm still furious with him about the whole manipulation thing and taking advantage of me but I felt extremely bad about the way this dinner turned out. He has every reason to be upset about the way my wayward daughter spoke to him and frankly, I'm a little embarrassed.
By the time I get to the lobby, my breathing is fast paced and my heart is pounding so hard but I pay no attention to it.
"Aran, please wait." I call out to him before he can enter into his car, his phone still pressed to his ear and the rage in his eyes, alive more than anything on this insane planet.
He hesitates for a minute before he hardens his jaw and grunts out. "Later, I gotta go." Then he ends the call and turns to glare daggers into the depth of my soul.
"What do you want, Rayne?!" He slowly grits out and unconsciously, I wince at the venom in his tone. "Here to finish what your insane daughter started? Go on, have at it. But just keep in mind that you won't live to see another day."
I roll my eyes and he growls. "First of all, Aran, my daughter is not insane—and second of all, I just want to apologise for what she said. That was completely disrespectful and borderline wrong. I'm sorry."
"To hell with your apology, Rayne." He spits out and gets into his car, rolling the windows down to stare at the stupefied expression on my face. "If you love your daughter so much, teach her some manners because I won't be lenient next time." He starts the engine. "Whether you like it or not, you're coming with me back to my estate tomorrow. Throw all the tantrum you want, you can even attempt to escape but let me warn you—you won't get far."
Then he drives off, leaving me standing by the road like an idiot.
Oh the nerve....
"You know what?! Forget I ever apologized. You—you bastard! You can go to hell as well, asshole." I shout at the top of my lungs at the car going further and further away from me like a fool.
Ignoring the people who give me concerned looks, I march up to my apartment, but this time I take the elevator.
"How did it go?" Grandma asks immediately I stepped into the living room but I was more focused on something else right now.
I walk towards the direction of Nellie's bedroom and swing the door open with a raging look on my face.
"What?" She says with irritation, taking off her headphones and setting her laptop aside.
"What the hell was that, Nellie, huh? What is wrong with you?"
"Look, if you're here to scold me, granny already did that." She plainly says.
"Enough, okay?! Stop all this. I get it you're angry with me, you hate me, I get it but don't you ever disrespect me in front of our guests. Do you understand me?" My voice is stern as I speak to her.
"I understand you." She gives a weak response and puts her headphones back on.
"Nope. Hand them over." I gesture for her laptop, phone and headphones.
"You can't be kidding me. Haven't you tortured me enough? I'm not a little —"
"I said hand them over. Now."
She silently fumes and hands over the devices, muttering something inchorent under her breath but I ignore it.
"Now you're grounded." I say to her with finality in my tone and exit her bedroom.
****
"I've missed you so much, Meg. How are the twins?" I sit up on the bed and run my fingers through my messy hair.
"I've missed you so much too, Ray. The twins are fine. They miss you as well." She's away from the screen for a while before her face shows up again but this time she seems to be eating pizza while the sunlight radiates on her beautiful skin.
"Where are they? Let me speak to them."
It's been a while since I spoke to Megan and now that I'm actually talking to her over FaceTime, I'm reminded of how much I miss her and how much she means to me.
She left for England a month ago to go spend sometime with her parents after the whole court issue.
"They are not here right now. They are out with my parents on a shopping spree." She answers, wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "So how have you been? How's my favorite girl in the whole wide world? Hope she's not giving you any problem?"
I sigh. "She's good, Meg. Sometimes she gets difficult but....I'm handling it."
She scans my face carefully with a thoughtful look on her face. "What's wrong, Ray? Tell me."
No matter how hard I try to hide it she can always tell when something's up with me and I love her for it but sometimes it can be a huge inconvenience. I like to keep things to myself rather than burden someone with my problem.
"Megan, I —" A text from an unknown pops up on my screen. My brows scrunch up together in confusion. "I'll tell you later, Meg. I gotta go."
“Rayne Horton, you better not —”
I end the FaceTime and tap the message to check who it's from but my confusion only deepens when I read the text.
Unknown number: Hello? Can you please come downstairs. I have something important to give you.
Who the hell is this?
Could it be Aran?
Nah, that man didn't give a shit about anything so I'm pretty sure if he wanted to send me a text, he would do so from his direct line which I have saved on my phone.
So if it's not him, then who could it be?
I get down from the bed and head over to the window to see if I could see anyone out of sort among the people that roamed around. But unfortunately, I didn't see anyone except Aran's soldiers who stationed themselves around the whole building. I roll my eyes.
Damn! It's so early to start this nonsense.
I put on a pair of sweatpants over my shorts and pad out of my room while tying my hair up into a very messy bun. I pass by Nellie who's seated by the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of cereal and reading a book.
She doesn't greet me and neither does she spare me a glance. I ignore her. I don't have the time to entertain her pettiness.
When I step out of the lobby, I scan my surroundings for any sign of.....well, technically I have no idea who this mysterious person is or what they look like.
Sighing, I check my phone once again to see if the person have sent me another message. So far, there's none. And when I try to call the number, it doesn't exist.
My eyes darts over to the road at the sound of a motorcycle screeching to a halt by the curb. Before I can detect who the person is behind the helmet, he takes out a gun, aims it in my direction and pulls the trigger.
In the process, I sight an eagle tattoo at the side of his wrist before my eyes falls to the blood gushing rapidly out of my chest. The sharp excruciating pain that emits from that same spot causes a small cry to slip out of my lips.
My vision blurs and my body begins to feel light. I hear a couple of voices but it seems to be coming from a far distance.
I eventually give in to the sudden weakness and fall flat to the ground, my head slams against the cold hard pavement and my consciousness slowly slips out.
"Mom!!" Followed by a loud piercing scream is all I hear before the darkness draws me in.
———————
AUTHOR'S NOTE
The dinner was a total disaster!
What do you think about Nellie's behavior towards Aran? Was he right to respond so harshly?
So, Rayne got shot!
Who do you think is responsible?
Any ideas?
Don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE.
See you next update, lovelies ❤️