I believed we would be the closest partners and the truest lovers, yet who would have thought this bond would last only ten short years.
Carlos, when I loved you, I gave up everything for you, but now we have come to the end.
“Nineteen eighty-seven six…” The victorious countdown from behind the door cut through my thoughts and those ten minutes felt endless yet gone in a blink.
I pushed myself up and as the count struck zero, I flung the door open.
In an instant, every gaze fell on me. I ignored Carlos’s shocked expression and went straight to the only woman there.
I yanked her hair and slapped her hard across the face.
“Hannah, why did you hit me?”
Everyone inside froze in disbelief, except Maya Rivera, who covered her cheek with both hands, her face full of grievance.
I stayed calm but pretended to be furious.
“This is how you act as an assistant? The boss is kidnapped and you’re here untouched. Who else should I strike if not you?”
After saying that, I motioned for the people behind me to come forward. “Teach her a lesson and show her how to be a proper assistant.”
Maya was the assistant Carlos had hired at a high price and he once said the business needed someone to handle it, that violence wouldn’t last and he wanted to free me and the child from worry.
Yet I never thought that in only eight months, Carlos would turn away from me and the child for her.
The men advanced with iron bars and Maya, terrified, fell to the ground behind Carlos while clutching his sleeve.
“Carlos, help me! Hannah wants to kill me…”
The bar came down and her screams of pain echoed through the room.
Carlos finally moved; though bound, he suddenly stood and grabbed the iron bar with one hand.
“Enough, Hannah! Can’t you see she’s only a foolish girl? You’re still pregnant, yet you’re shouting and lashing out like a killer!”
I sneered inside, because he hadn’t remembered I was pregnant when he lured me into this kidnapping, yet now he suddenly remembered when it came to Maya.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
The sound of blood dripping from the knife’s tip mixed with my rough breaths against the floor.
He gave a laugh, let out a sigh and tugged at his wrinkled collar. “This was all for Phillips’s. Don’t you also want our child to be born into a better place? Mr. Landers agreed and if you had come just a second earlier, that piece of land in the south city would already be ours.”