1 (The hostage)

Adeleine annoyingly turned off the ringing alarm clock in the small cabinet table beside her bed.

It's 6:00 o'clock in the morning,and she's still laying on her bed.

"Why is that 7 hours of sleep always felt like it's just 5 minutes."

She softly exclaimed while yawning.

She just woke up but she did still look effortlessly beautiful and her white laced,sleeveless evening gown honed to her gorgeous perfection.

She had an amazing body curve best define as a great example of a woman figure,

and a goddess face as if created with no impurities.

No wonder every man that looked at her easily got impressed and mesmerized by her addictive beauty.

Specially her fiance, Alton Morant.

"Oh my God,

Please turn the time back where I just got started to fall asleep.

I'm willing to wait lord just please make it happen."

A horrible groan came out in her mouth.

Waking up every morning was her tiring thing,she hate it mostly.

But after a minutes of just staring at the white,blank celling of her room in her apartment, she stood.

Her wish to turn back time isn't working, she had realized she's too old for that to really think it's coming true.

That's not being close to being realistic after all.

Remembering back when she's still in college and her professors asking her favorite thing to do and she said "sleeping".

"Who hate having a rest, right?"

She smiled feeling stupid in asking herself for that such nonsense question of her knowing the fact that there's no one will probably gonna answer it.

She paced near the wide glass window and open the blue vintage curtains.

She seized the light showered by the brilliant, relentless sun pouring into her face and touching her medium toned skin.

The outside view of her wide apartment got her breath comfortably, the near hills,blue ocean,the flying morning birds,are surely breath taking.

That's the reasons why that apartment worth a millions,and that's her dream to live in that place and just bought it one month ago.

Adeleine Alvarez was an author and currently working as an assistant vice president of the world's biggest telecommunication company.

She's 23 years old,an american-filipino descent and carries the last name of her mother.

She's raised by her mother alone whom who died 3 years ago,she didn't knew who's her father for her mother said he left them when she's conceiving her.

And just this week she had made the most foolish thing she can ever made.

She accepted the wedding proposal of her fiance Alton.

Alton Morant was a wealthy heir of the

Morant's group of companies and soon to be the owner of the company of the world's number one seller of cola that produces billions of dollars a year.

He's a fine,handsome man with a black curly hair,emerald eyes,a six footer guy,that had a white skin that suited him perfectly.

Alton and Ade met in an event 2 years ago,they became close friends for he became Ade's comforting shoulder when she's starting to get over from the miseries of losing her mother who died from brain tumor.

The case is,she will marry Alton because he is kind,and good to her and not because she's in love with him.

She had never been in love at all.

The Malibu sun was growing much wider and it's magnificence truly made it a king as it came up lurking in the great mountain.

Ade smiled with a lot of contentment and satisfaction feeling her life so much better right now,

she'll felt that every time she had a good night sleep.

But,

her tiny happiness won't quitely last long when she remembered something.

And that something might be so bothering that made her growled.

"Jeez Christ!

I am so late!"

She rushed to run in her bathroom and do something to fix herself.

After doing a quick tooth brush and a bath she dressed herself with a black fitted v neck long sleeves, a grey formal pants,and wore her black heels.

She should never forgot her high heels to add a liitle bit of height,yeah,she's 5'4.

Her body curved showed up amazingly in her formal outfit.

She put a little shade of red lipstick in her thin lips and didn't bother to keep herself busy doing a make up.

She combed her long,wavy,black hair after drying it,

and wore the golden heart necklace Alton gave to her last christmas.

This necklace will give her luck and that's what she thought every time she wore it.

She didn't take a time to glance herself in the mirror as she's late and gotta keep going.

She picked her laptop,phone,and DG purse then locked her apartment after she got out.

When she's already inside her 2016 acura ILX suv and parked outside her gate,her phone rang.

She picked it up immediately where she placed in the left passenger seat of her car.

She sighed when she saw the name of the caller registered in the screen of her phone.

"Hey,good-morning."

She uttered just enough to be heard by the caller.

"Good morning,baby.

Good luck to your appointment,

I'm pretty sure you're gonna be promoted ASAP.

I never knew someone as convincing as you."

Al replied with gratefulness and benignant.

"Your appointment will start a minute from now,I'm just gonna give you some inspiration."

Her shoulders weaken its muscles hearing the words-a minute-from-now.

She should not let this presentation fail for this will lead her into a promotion to become the vice president of the company.

"Yeah,great.

Thanks for that,Al.

I think I gotta go because I'm still right here in my apartment.

I'm gonna call you later."

"Wait,what?

I thought you're-"

Ade interrupted him.

"I forgot about it,

bye for now Al,

I really gotta go."

Ade hung up the phone and drive her way to the company.

Her sweats starting to fall out in her face and she's panicking and over thinking everything.

Surely she had left Alton puzzled why she forgot about it.

Maybe she'd got a lot of that good night sleep that causes her brain to malfunctioned.

And that's what she's thinking right now.

"I am so stupid."

She bullied herself forcing herself to think critically amidst in this critical time.

After a 2 minutes drive she arrived in the company.

She should be there after 15 minutes but she drove fascinating as fast as light can defeat one second count.

She certainly took it seriously, maybe the people who had seen her drove like that thought she's a drunk asshole who had been high taking so much weeds.

At least she saved 13 minutes,

but still late.

She stood nervously in front of the door in the meeting room,

surely everyone inside are checking their clocks and boiling their bloods unpatiently waiting for her.

She took a very deep breath and when she begun to open the door her boss opened it first.

The furious blue,eyes of her gay boss meet her chest nut eyes,she swallowed her saliva thickly.

Troye Simmons is the owner and CEO of the company.

He likes Ade and they were friends but with limitations, he's like a dragon spitting fire when he's angry.

"Where on Earth had you been?"

He asked with a degrade but in a soft voice that only the two of them can heard.

"I'm so sorry,Troye

I-"

"Enough with it Ade,

you should come inside and get it started.

Mr.Harden waited for you enough."

Ade walked toward in front of their clients and visitors and their face are scary.

Ade calmed herself and breath deeply again.

Her report paraphernalias are completely ready,she's the only thing missing.

"Good morning everyone..."

She falsely coughed to break the silenced.

"I'm sorry about disrespecting the time mr.Harden."

She sincerely said showing respect for the client.

Mr.Philip Harden was about 50 yrs.old, his hair are not completely white and he is a good looking old man with a very handsome assistant sitted beside him.

If you didn't knew he had an assistant you might think a Hollywood star.

And yeah,Ade did noticed that right after she entered the room.

Mr.Harden was one of the world famous billionaires.He owned a lot of companies,properties and factories.

He's one of the most important client that Ade need to impress.

"It's fine Ms.Alvarez,

you may proceed to your presentation."

He replied with no anger or any gratefulness in his face.

Ade took it as a good respond from him, thinking that mr.Harden was indeed a very forgiving man to considerate her.

When she started to open her mouth to begin the presentation

unexpected situation happened.

Ade became shocked and a rush of adrenaline flowed in her veins.

Everyone in the room had the same feeling except for mr.Harden's assistant.

There were 10 men entered the door with guns in their hands.

They are masked and with a terrifying intentions.

Mr.Harden's assistant pulled out his calibre but he had been shooted dead first.

Everything happened so fast that it's so hard to believe.

The men go near to mr.Harden and injected something in his neck to make him fall asleep quickly.

"There were police outside!"

The masked man near the window shouted.

Ade still standing unstable while looking at Troye being shooted and lying on the floor bleeding.

She can't move her feet nor any part of her body that she closely collapsed catching her every breath.

Ade didn't anticipate this series of event ever in her life.

Just a seconds the five people inside the room are all dead.

She's trembling helpless while watching the men carried mr.Harden.

"Get the woman,idiot!

We'll take her as a hostage."

Ade's heart beats so fast and that's the only words he had heard before her ears go deaf and her visions go blurred,

she already didn't know what happened next after she had lost her consciousness.

• • •