A love story between an assassin and a lady.
A love story between an assassin and a lady.
The bell's clang came with dawn. Sunrays crept into Grey's shadowy room, the unusual wooden clock made a click, he started with his face pressed to the pillow mumbling something like 'Bevilwoodwarming,' then aimed for the plastic table by the window, going on his knees.
"Open thou my eyes oh Lord, that I may behold wondrous things, out of Thy word, for Christ's sake. Amen."
Grey rose, took his seat rubbing his eyes-ready to begin his morning ritual with his Bible.
He was raised in a strict Christian family with high standards, the kind that don't accept fiddles to pure moral behaviour. Grey was the first of three children, and a graduate of the University of Port City, the very one his younger brother had applied to, while his younger sister was in her Junior secondary class three, preparing for her Junior West African Examination (JWAE).
Grey was a fair, healthy twenty-five-year-old with small brown eyes, black hair, a lean muscular build, and a beard.
"Thank you for the illumination of Your word. Guide my path that I may know Thy precepts. Keep me safe from harm."
His prayers had shortened with each passing day since the dawn of reality. He rose with a sober face, not for this day being a Sunday, but for the next-he would begin his mad walk through the busy streets of Port City, job hunting under the glaring hot sun and sweat-soaked suit with the angry face of a persistent, worrisome landlord screaming in his mind, "I'm not running a charity here. Pay your rent."
He undressed, had his bath, walked to his cloth hanger, picked out a lace material he donned on. He didn't care so much for his looks these days, that was the least of his concerns-a miracle was all he needed.
Grey walked over to his table to find his Bible study manual. And in his search, a leaflet slid from the table to the floor-his eyes followed it. The search for the manual ceased, he picked up the fiery coloured leaflet reading the contents:
The Fiery Serpent Church
No. 34 Beryl Avenue, Port City, Rivers, Nigeria.
Such an unusual name for a Nigerian Church, he thought. Grey spotted the red faded serpent on a cross with the reading:
Numbers 21:8
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Have you been bitten by the reality of life? Worship with us today at the Fiery Serpent Church.
Grey jerked his head to recollect how he had gotten this, then it clicked. On the joyous day of his convocation, a lady (he couldn't vividly picture with the day's celebration) passed several of these to him and his colleagues. Grey stared at it wondering, not so far from my place. At least he would miss the tiring festival fated to end by two in the afternoon, he thought, for he was a devoted Anglican.
He picked up his Bible still clutching the leaflet, walked out the door, closed his burglary with the usual small padlock, then left through the gate.
He lived in a student's environment with a 'C' shaped two-story building-Grey's room was on the first floor. Thankfully, his normal customers who asked if there was any progress with his job-seeking were all closed and wouldn't be open until that evening, he made it smoothly to the road.
He waved down a taxi going to Beryl Avenue, he got in, and moments later, he was out facing a huge white structure seated inside a fenced environment with flashy cars on the inside, sweat sprang on the back of his neck. Grey's jaw dropped.
Something I wouldn't regret today, he thought. He wiped his face, then the back of his neck before acknowledging the blazing sun.
Grey came from a middle-class family, the kind content enough to escape the financial cruelty of each passing day, but never privileged to be around the wealthy class.
"I would be sure to make friends today," he said to himself.
Grey walked past the armed security at the gate, and a few others spotted around the compound with policemen by certain engine running bulletproof vehicles-into the church.
Behind sliding glass doors, the chilled air welcomed Grey before the ushers did. The white-painted auditorium was brightly lit and packed with people in great fashion attire. He looked to the altar-a man in white robe addressed the congregation before a glass pulpit sitting on a red rug with a large poster of the fiery serpent behind him. The auditorium was filled, an usher vacated his seat for Grey, and he sat-catching the words of the Pastor.
"There's life between the cracks. In a field of fire, we are the blooming roses. In a dry and thirsty land, we are the ocean. We are calm, undistorted bright rays in the midst of darkening storms," the pastor said, then went into the verse for that day.
Grey took notes, marked verses called from the Bible, did a brief research on his own, and closed his Bible when the pastor began to summarize.
"We must pray. A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant. The shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian," the pastor said, then gazed from side to side.
A pin drop could be heard from any corner of the auditorium.
"You have been bitten by life?" the pastor went on to ask. "Look to the fiery serpent who is Jesus. He won't just let you live again, but every area struggling in your life would breathe. Pen down that request now in prayer. Pen it down."
After a sex filled night with a beautiful, strange lady, Elvin is torn between eagerness to say goodbye to this lady, and the desire to have one more feel of last night when the government declares a lockdown. He finds himself trapped inside his home with her, and just like him, she also wants more experiences like last night, although, through a series of games.
For ages, the harmless, resting form and grave of five sisters-a beautiful, tidy house has stayed silent, and undisturbed. Suddenly, this house is broken into by outlaws. There are set out conditions for humans to reside within this house, but unaware of the consequences if the rules are broken, and the powers that reside within the house, these outlaws cause further damage, thereby awakening the sleeping powers within the house. These powers, hungry, itchy, and thirsty, feast on these men and regain their strength. As they release themselves, and find their way out into the world, their new assignment becomes finding, stalking, and hunting those who buried them in here, locked them inside the house, and eventually turned them into the house, and their tone to man is one man deems unfair.
Worried with his wife's views about sex, and her refusal to let him please her the way a woman should be pleased, Karl refuses to give her the one thing she so desperately needs, which is a child. This sets him on a path to distract himself, leading him to an unlikely fellow, his first love.
She is one who loves fiercely, but it always ends badly for her lovers. One boy upsets her pattern of love crisis, and she would rather leave him, than destroy him. However, there's more to this boy than she realizes.
Eliana reunited with her family, now ruined by fate: Dad jailed, Mom deathly ill, six crushed brothers, and a fake daughter who'd fled for richer prey. Everyone sneered. But at her command, Eliana summoned the Onyx Syndicate. Bars opened, sickness vanished, and her brothers rose-one walking again, others soaring in business, tech, and art. When society mocked the "country girl," she unmasked herself: miracle doctor, famed painter, genius hacker, shadow queen. A powerful tycoon held her close. "Country girl? She's my fiancée!" Eliana glared at him. "Dream on." Resolutely, he vowed never to let go.
"You'll be my wife on paper only. You'll have everything-except my heart. You'll never be Marina." For five years, Lily lived as David's secret wife-his poised secretary by day, his invisible stand-in by night. Every cold touch reminded her she was just a replacement. Every whispered "Marina" cut deeper than the last. Then his ex returned. And without hesitation, David cast Lily aside like she meant nothing. So she did what she should have done years ago. She signed the divorce papers. She walked away. But now, David couldn't escape her absence. Her silence burned him in ways Marina never could. And suddenly, the man who swore he'd never love her was determined to get her back. By any means necessary. Even if it meant breaking her all over again. She paid the price for loving him once. Now, he'd pay for losing her forever.
For ten years, Daniela showered her ex-husband with unwavering devotion, only to discover she was just his biggest joke. Feeling humiliated yet determined, she finally divorced him. Three months later, Daniela returned in grand style. She was now the hidden CEO of a leading brand, a sought-after designer, and a wealthy mining mogul-her success unveiled at her triumphant comeback. Her ex-husband's entire family rushed over, desperate to beg for forgiveness and plead for another chance. Yet Daniela, now cherished by the famed Mr. Phillips, regarded them with icy disdain. "I'm out of your league."
Nadine reunited with her family, convinced she'd been discarded, rage simmering-only to find collapse: her mother unstable, her father poisoned; a pianist brother trapped in a sham marriage, a detective brother framed and jailed, the youngest dragged into a gang. While the fake daughter mocked and colluded, Nadine moved in secret-healing her mother, curing her father, ending the union, clearing charges, and lifting the youngest to leader. Rumors said she rode coattails, unworthy of Rhys, the unmatched magnate. Few knew she was a renowned healer, legendary assassin, mysterious tycoon... Rhys knelt. "Marry me! The entire empire is yours for the taking!"
Her ex-husband declared, "The person I admired most was that legendary racer." She smiled thinly. "Hate to break it to you-that was me." He said, "Jealous I blew a fortune on a world-famous jeweler for Violet?" She let out a cool laugh. "Funny, that designer trained under me." He scoffed, "Buying a dying firm won't put you in my league. Snap out of it." She shrugged. "Weird-I just steered your company off a cliff." Stunned, he blurted out, "Baby, come back. I'll love you forever." She wrinkled her nose. "Hard pass. Keep your cheap love." Then she took a mogul's arm and never looked back.
"Let's get married," Mia declares, her voice trembling despite her defiant gaze into Stefan's guarded brown eyes. She needs this, even if he seems untouchable. Stefan raises a skeptical brow. "And why would I do that?" His voice was low, like a warning, and it made her shiver even though she tried not to show it. "We both have one thing in common," Mia continues, her gaze unwavering. "Shitty fathers. They want to take what's ours and give it to who they think deserves it." A pointed pause hangs in the air. "The only difference between us is that you're an illegitimate child, and I'm not." Stefan studies her, the heiress in her designer armor, the fire in her eyes that matches the burn of his own rage. "That's your solution? A wedding band as a weapon?" He said ignoring the part where she just referred to him as an illegitimate child. "The only weapon they won't see coming." She steps closer, close enough for him to catch the scent of her perfume, gunpowder and jasmine. "Our fathers stole our birthrights. The sole reason they betrayed us. We join forces, create our own empire that'll bring down theirs." A beat of silence. Then, Stefan's mouth curves into something sharp. "One condition," he murmurs, closing the distance. "No divorces. No surrenders. If we're doing this, it's for life" "Deal" Mia said without missing a beat. Her father wants to destroy her life. She wouldn't give him the pleasure, she would destroy her life as she seems fit. ................ Two shattered heirs. One deadly vow. A marriage built on revenge. Mia Meyers was born to rule her father's empire (so she thought), until he named his bastard son heir instead. Stefan Sterling knows the sting of betrayal too. His father discarded him like trash. Now the rivals' disgraced children have a poisonous proposal: Marry for vengeance. Crush their fathers' legacies. Never speak of divorce. Whoever cracks first loses everything. Can these two rivals, united by their vengeful hearts, pull off a marriage of convenience to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs? Or will their fathers' animosity, and their own complicated pasts tear their fragile alliance apart?
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