CHAPTER 7: HYACINTH

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Sometimes the heart sees,........

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If dark days are not those with a stormy weather, then what are dark days?

Dark days

Dark days

Nooo ...

Dark day.

Riven fought from within himself.

"Riven, RIVEN!!!!" Igor belowed, instantly snapping Riven out of his conflicted state of mind. A wide grin was playing on Igor's face, because he suspected that it was about Arabella.

Riven gave him a look that had "do not bring her up if you don't want to die" written all over it, which was also code for he didn't want to talk about it... no.. her.

"What's happening man, it's like I've been talking to myself for the past hour." Came Igor. And indeed, for the past hour, Igor didn't have Riven's attention, the latter kept on thinking about the previous day, and couldn't shake the feeling that he had messed up, in being a human. In his defense, men like him must not show emotions at any point in time, and the only one they are allowed to project is utter rage.

When Igor got no response from Riven again, he stood up, put the documents together, and before he left, he tapped Riven's shoulder playfully given they were alone, and said. " I don't know what's bothering you Riv, okay maybe I have a clue, but if you need to talk or advice, I'm you're person. I'm married remember?"

"Thanks Igor. Sorry, I'm just working through something. And I will keep that offer in mind." Riven said.

And with that, Igor made his way out of the office, leaving Riven to sink back into deep thought.

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Arabella had only one week left to find a new place to stay, but she was poorer than a church mouse, for a church mouse had a roof over it's head, and fed on the food rejects. Whereas Arabella, made great use of the staff lounge and still had a temporary roof over her head. She started considering the idea of being in a shelter. Her second job was to pay her at end of the month, and she didn't have till the end of the month.

Aside from her living condition, she had the "Riven Condition", and ironically it was more pressing than the need to have a home or food. The whole day she was sure to try and avoid him, but she didn't seem to do much, for it appeared Riven also tried hard not to cross paths with her.

One time she was coming out of the bathroom, and she heard his voice from around the corner, he was speaking to another man, she immediately slammed the door and ran into the bathroom, the two men got concerned and they ran into the women's bathroom.

"Is everything okay?"the first man asked. And they got no response.

"Is there someone in here?" Came Riven. Upon hearing his voice, shivers ran down her body, she froze, and couldn't answer, so she didn't. He was mean and arrogant, and yet she felt a strong pull towards him, she was losing it. Her reason knew he was a dangerous man, but her emotion craved to clash with him. So she too was at war with herself, a battle between reason and fatal attraction.

Riven checked the small units at the end of the room, and the other man checked the first ones.

"There's no one here sir." He said.

Riven saw a shadow in the unit and instantly knew it was Arabella. He knew she was trying not to cross paths with him, and he respected that.

"Nothing here too." Riven said. And the two men exited the bathroom.

After a long day's not so long work, Arabella finally returned home, her worst place in the whole world, she wished that she would be whisked away from this hell hole.

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"Boss, it's time to go to collect at the house. We've gotten the confirmation that she's home." Came Igor.

Riven remained seated for a while before he got his languid body from the place where he had sat the whole day, it was time to go get his payment, or something else. It was how his business ran, the lion always demanded for it's share.

"Let's go." He said, somewhat sounding excited, he wanted to see her, a woman who had been giving him a hard time for a long time now.

As he passed by Igor he left a whiff of whiskey, Igor was really getting worried about the conflict going on within Riven, because with his rage, he could leave uncalled for destruction at his wake.

Back at Arabella's place, she was relaxed in the living room, watching TV, when the door flew off it's hinges, just like that night she first made an encounter with riven, deja vu all over again. Men stormed in, and grabbed her, she looked at the shadow of the man in the door with disbelief.

"What do you want from me?" Arabella asked, but she wasn't honored with a response, she was instead thrown into the back of a van and was whisked away.

Be careful what you wish for, right?

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Riven went to work the following morning, and everything seemed to be normal, he had carried out a raid the previous night and had kept something he considered valuable for himself. As always, he opened the doors that led to his office chambers, expecting to meet Arabella, he was ready to face her, maybe clear the air even, but to his surprise, she was not behind her desk. He proceeded to his office and there were no new files on his desk. Further, he called the front desk to ask whether Arabella had checked in, and they confirmed that she had not showed up for work yet.

He thought that he she was over reacting, it's what women did. But just as the day had began bright and hopeful, it ended in darkness and gloom, that came with the night. And she hadn't shown up to work.

'Was Arabella really acting out?', or had she ...fled. No, she wouldn't dare cross him. But after the events of their last encounter, who would blame her if she tried to flee. Key word to him being "tried".

One thing was certain to him, if she had fled, he was more than determined to find her. And he would find her, no one ever really ran away from him, the world was his oyster, literally.

'Where was she?' he inwardly asked himself. The desire to know her whereabouts was devouring him, with an insatiable hunger.

Soon, the next day came and went, and still there was no sign of Arabella. This was Riven's breaking point, he snapped and rushed out of his building.

"Rudolph give me the car keys!!" He barked, and his chauffeur obeyed immediately. Riven called off his security detail, hopped in the car, fired up the engine and drove away at a break-neck speed.

Finally at the Gold's house, he jumped out of the vehicle and was greeted by a door that was off it's hinges, and he was sure that it had been fixed, he saw to it that after that night he was here, the door was fixed. He continued into the living room, and he saw more signs of struggle, it's like she had been dragged out of her home, because the rag was folded, some cushion were scattered on the floor, plus the tv was still on and there was a plate with half-eaten food which looked recently cooked. He searched the rest of the house and it was empty of her. At least her clothes were still there in her room.

The thought of another man laying his hands on Arabella drove him wild with rage...and jealousy, that man was going to lose his hands, and an eye as a bonus. Riven got his phone and ran Igor.

"Igor get the best tracking team ready, Arabella has been taken, and I need to know by who and why,"... 'and make them pay'... but he didn't say that, he couldn't bring himself to admit it to himself that he felt an aggressive need to protect her.

About thirty minutes later, Igor joined Riven at the Gold residence, the latter was in a sofa, his head leaning backwards.

"How'd you know where to find me?" Riven said with deep gruffness.

"It was like finding the sky, Riv. You ok man? There's still no sign of her, maybe she fled bro...."

"She couldn't," Riven interfered, but he too was unsure of the words that he had just uttered.

"Tell me this," he continued, " would she be capable of staging all this just to get away from m-..uh her responsibility. Her parents have put her ..." He stopped, having a light bulb-over-his-head moment.

"We need to find out those who were owed by her parents, I'm sure I'm not the only one they owed. And my money is on Demetri." Riven said. This made a lot of sense to Igor.

"He's having a party at the end of the week, will you be going?"

"No Igor, I hate the man, and he hates me more for being on top of the chain. I'm sure there's a way through which I can get the info I need without setting foot in his God forsaken house." Riven replied, his jaw set with determination.

"Your choice man, but if Arabella was truly taken by Demetri, then time is not on our side, he's mixed up with sex trafficking, you know that won't end well". And Riven nodded, if it was Demetri that had taken Arabella, and she had been made a sex slave, of course it wouldn't end well..... for Demetri.

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Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, and there was nothing new about who took Arabella, Riven was frustrated and was getting desperate, at this point he'd sell his soul to the devil.... but why was he concerned?....All those nights, he was sleepless, as he was a walking sack of worry.

Friday reached, officially making it a week since Arabella was taken. It was also the day of Demetri's party.

"I hate to admit it, but it seems we hit a dead end sir." Said one of Riven's henchmen, the latter threw the contents on his desk to the floor and he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He had to find her, that's why he finally had a change in heart to go to Demetri's party, maybe the bastard would spill something when he was drunk. He dressed in one of his usual fine suits, and was soon off with his entourage.

The convoy of black SUVs made there way off the main road and proceeded to a private piece of property. The sides of the road was filled with long trees, which made the place look immaculate. They entered through a lovely golden gate which led to the manor, at the entrance gate, there was

a fountain, with a statue of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, the ground was filled with antique pavers. The manor was adaptation of medieval times, with marble gargoyles atop, the intricate pillars and magnificent gigantic wooden doors.

The inside was just as exquisite as the exterior, with Classical paintings hanging on the white wall, golden chandeliers, marble floors, and state of the art furniture, this completed the Victorian look that Demetri had going.

The night was not off to a bad start, but Riven would rather have stayed at home. He spent hours talking to many people, sipping wine, ensuring that Demetri was getting drunk. And finally he got bored, so he left the festivities and went to look for the bathroom. The one downstairs that he was directed too was occupied, so he was directed to the upper one. He was a bit woozy from the drinks and he also didn't know this house as such. But he eventually found the bathroom and did his business, regretting why he had come here, it was a total waste of time.

On his way out, he saw men carrying items to what seemed to be a safe storage, which was of little wonder, Demetri was probably going to hold an illegal auction, typical.

But as he turned his head away that's when he saw it from his peripheral view....her. She had her back to him and was wearing a tight black dress that fit her like a second skin, and her signature silky locks of dark brown hair that fell to her back gave it away, it was no doubt that this was Arabella. Yes he might have had one to many drinks, but her body had no equal, it was her, he had found her. Relief and ecstasy washed through his body and it was now time to be her knight in a black tuxedo.

He realized that night that he had an inexplicable need to protect her, he would always be there for her...what the reason was, was a realization for another day.

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Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. H.Jackson Brown Jr.

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