~ COLTON ~“Thanks for cleaning out the house for us, by the way,” Raphael said to Colton. “We didn’t even have to do too much,”Colton’s jaw was clenched shut. He was armless and the only guard left in the house was beaten and tied up. Everyone else already left with Jackson and Levi to Paris. Colton started to wonder if Raphael might have planned all of this. He learned where Sierra was at and he purposefully put Henri in that hotel room knowing Colton would look for him. And then he came over here to get the girl.If this was true, then Raphael was a lot more dangerous than Colton thought. “Come with me, Sierra. We’ll get you out of here,” Raphael stretched out his hand to Sierra while she was frozen in her spot. His voice was fakely sweet and gentle. “Princess, don’t go with him,” Colton interjected, pulling Sierra’s attention back to him.“I think you’re in no place to tell her what to do,” Raphael scoffed.Then he walked closer and put a hand on her shoulder. Sierra flinched a
~ SIERRA ~- - - - - THREE DAYS LATER - - - - -Sierra sat by herself in her room. Ever since she got back from Paris, she refused to talk to anyone and just wanted to be left alone. It was one thing to reel from a devastating heartbreak, but it was another thing to have to deal with a baby as an aftermath. The past three days had been dreadful. Sierra couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and couldn’t think of anything other than Colton. A part of her wondered if he was okay, and he probably was. They also left Pierre at the house, so they could easily call the ambulance. That made her feel a little better, but on the other hand, she also wished he was dead. After hurting her the way he did, a part of her wanted him gone.It was definitely a complicated situation to be in. Sierra couldn’t even feel just one emotion. She had to be sad and mad at the same time. She was grieving the loss of her first love, her innocence, and her hopes and dreams. And on top of that, she was angry at Colton for
~ SIERRA ~“It’s best to do the wedding quietly and away from media attention,” Henri said as he sipped the glass of whiskey in his hand. “I agree,” Raphael replied, sitting across from Henri in his study. He was also holding a glass of whiskey in his hand. “And we should do it sooner than later,”“Do you think you can postpone your business trip to London?” Henri asked.“Yes, I’m sure my family will understand,” Raphael nodded.Sierra mostly kept quiet as the two men were talking and deciding her future. She sat next to Raphael, across from her dad. Every now and then, Henri would look over to her to check for her approval. Sierra would just smile and nod in response. At this point, she didn’t know what else to do. Everything was happening out of her control. Her only goal now was to keep her family happy and her baby safe. So even though the wedding wasn’t ideal, it was the only saving grace.“When do you two suppose is an appropriate time for the wedding?” Henri asked, directing
~ SIERRA ~Sierra walked into the bedroom with slow and careful steps. After turning the lights on, she saw how the master suite had been perfectly done for her liking. The ceilings were tall, decorated with a gorgeous light fixture, and the room was huge, with a king sized bed and couch in the middle. Right after the wedding was over, Sierra and Raphael got into a car and they went to the penthouse apartment Raphael bought. Raphael had to finish up some phone calls, so he went to his study while Sierra went to the bedroom. Being in this master bedroom wasn’t a new thing for her. She had been here before, Raphael took her to see the apartment last week. Sierra liked the view from this room, they had the most amazing unobstructed view of the New York skyline, rivaling the Empire State Building. Knowing how much Sierra liked the view, Raphael bought the place immediately. The apartment was also only ten minutes drive away from Henri’s house, so Sierra could always visit her dad anytim
~ COLTON ~- - - - - ONE WEEK LATER - - - - -Over the past few weeks, Colton was put through hell and back. The bullet wound was severe and he was losing a lot of blood. If they waited for the ambulance to come, he wouldn’t have made it. Luckily, Pierre was able to perform an emergency surgery on the spot. Pierre used to belong to the COS, a special operations command for the French special forces. Though he was limping and hurt himself, he managed to get a clean knife and alcohol, pluck the bullets out of Colton’s body, and stitch him back up.Minutes later, Jackson and Levi returned to the house. They were waiting for Colton to join them in Paris, but they realized something was wrong when they got to Henri’s hotel and it was surrounded by the city police and bodyguards. The police and the guards weren’t scouring the city looking for Sierra. That meant that their plan was wrong. Henri wasn’t there to search for Sierra, he was there waiting for Sierra to come to him. When Jackson a
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X ~ SIERRA ~- - - - - TWO WEEKS LATER - - - - -Sierra sat by the window, holding onto the ultrasound photo she received this morning. She was three months along in her pregnancy and the doctor was finally able to tell her the gender. Sierra smiled as her finger brushed over the writing: A Boy. Sierra pressed the photograph to her chest and felt her heart fluttering. After weeks of torture she endured under Raphael, seeing the doctor this morning and hearing about her baby’s progress gave her hope. To the outside world, it seemed like Sierra was living a great life. She’d go to campus on the weekday and visit her dad and Rosie on the weekend. She always looked put together and she had on a brave smile in front of everyone. But what nobody knew was what would happen to her in the nighttime. Raphael was a hardworking man. He went to work every day, including weekends. He only came home around eight or nine, and th
~ COLTON ~- - - - - ONE WEEK LATER - - - - -Colton leaned his crutch against the desk at the study. Walking slowly and limping a little bit, he went around the desk and sat on his chair. Though it may not look like it, his legs were getting stronger and so was his spine. He made such great progress in physical therapy, even the doctors were impressed. At this rate, Colton should be back to his normal in a matter of weeks. While his body was still recovering, Colton’s mind never stopped working. Every day, he’d spent hours locked up in that study. He was studying and expanding Henri’s file, and he dug deeper into Raphael and his family. With Jackson and Levi’s help, he committed all of his family’s resources to this cause, and the results were extraordinary. For instance, a couple of days ago, Jackson found dirt on all of the Rothschild brothers. To the naked eye, the brothers may look like normal, upstanding, billionaire heirs, but in actuality, they were all riddled with problems
~ COLTON ~- - - - - THREE DAYS LATER - - - - -Colton stood in front of a wall of photographs and notes in his study. His face was serious, his eyes were zeroed in on the newspaper clipping of Sierra and Raphael’s wedding. For the past several days, he didn’t sleep or rest, putting together this next mission. On the wall, all the clippings about Henri’s wife’s accident, Colton’s dad’s accident, Sierra’s wedding, Raphael’s businesses in Europe, and everything he could find on the Rothschild family were displayed. He also put notes next to the photos and clippings, proving that the Rothschild family was responsible for all of this.“I think we’ve got ourselves a pretty solid case,” Levi said as he stood next to Colton. The two of them were staring at the wall knowingly.“Yeah, but what are we doing with all this information?” Jackson stood on Colton’s other side, cocking his head to the side, watching the wall in confusion.Jackson and Levi exchanged a look, meanwhile, Colton kept his