Four children were playing by the beach. Their parents are happily chatting closeby.It was a beautiful bright day, the sun was s.h.i.+nning down brightly and the reflection on the water made it look like it was filled with gems.
The little girl was watching the sea in amazement, she loves the way it s.h.i.+nes.
The other three boys were playing with the sand, creating their own sand arts.
From time to time the little girl would look back at them. She would smile before looking back at the sea.
The scene was peaceful until...
"Mommy!! Mommy!!"
The parents were shock to hear the young girl"s shout. Looking towards her, she was frantically waving her hand.
"Ashton!! Ashton is in the water!!"
She was a four year old girl and her little hands are frantically pointing at the water.
Kyle abruptly run to the water upon seeing his son flapping in the water. They didn"t know how long he had been there but when he pulled him out.
He was crying non stop.
Being doctors themselves, Liana and Sarah made a check up on him.
"I think it"s best that we bring him to the hospital for a more thorough check up," Liana said as she turned to Kyle.
"Go on, we"ll wait for the news," Sarah said as she called for her children.
"Mommy will he be fine? Is he alright?" the young girl asked worriedly, her dark brown eyes was teary and if not for the situation, people would see it as her being truly cute.
"Don"t worry Nathalie, you have helped him fast enough. We just need to make sure that no water will affect him further."
Nathan pat her little head.
At the same time, they felt guilty and embarra.s.sed as the old ones. They actually didn"t notice what was going on and allowed such incident.
Seeing as she was still worriedly looking at Ashton, Kyle squat in front of her and placed a hand on her little head.
"Thank you Nathalie, you"ve saved his life."
"Uncle promise me. Call me after you went to the hospital."
Kyle smiled lovingly, they only had Ashton and so they treat Nathalie like their own daughter.
"Uncle promises, okay?"
After hearing it, Ashton remembered that it was that event that lead him to have a certain degree of fear for water. Something he got over after a long arduous years of training.
"Your parents told me that when they asked her how she found you drowning her replied shocked them," Gideon continued as he spoke full of adoration.
Ashton looked at him curiously.
"I was watching them, at first I always see the three of them together. Then I would look back at the s.h.i.+nning water, after a few looks I realized that he was no longer there so when I searched I saw him in the water and didn"t look good."
"But I was still small and was told not to go in the water on my own, my brothers are busy playing and didn"t see it as well, so I called for mommy instantly."
Gideon suddenly gave a low chuckle, "Such a loving child. So you see Ash, she have saved your life when you were young. Your mother said that there was a big chance that if they realized your condition it would already be too late."
Ashton could only purse his lips, he has no idea what to say. All he remembered back then was that it was his father who pulled him out of that water.
He didn"t know that someone else have really saved him by calling for his parents.
"She genuinely wanted to help you, stop beating yourself up. Madison is now happily living her life, she"s now married as well. What happened back then was not your fault."
"Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have no confidence in their own kin that they kidnapped her to get you to not attend that transaction, allowing them to win that contract."
Ashton"s fists were clenched into fists.
At the age of fourteen he was already competent enough to close business transactions here and there.
That business transaction was one of the biggest and he prepared very much, just as he was about to set off to go to the venue. He received a call that Madison was kidnapped.
He was even excited for it was his birthday and they planned on celebrating it together.
With that he didn"t go and started searching for her. By the time he came to where she was, she was already tortured.
He didn"t know why they did it. Why did they have to torture her? He didn"t even know how they brought her to the hospital.
Yet who would have thought that her father would be visiting that same hospital? He saw his daughter that runaway from home and insisted on taking her away.
Ashton went out during that time to finish off those who were watching over her and look for those kidnappers. By the time he returned, she was no longer there.
The next time he saw her, she was already engaged to Glen Price. He tried approaching her only to find out that she had no memories of him.
Upon investigation, Madison Stevens was her real name and that she was the daughter of Van Stevens, one of the well known scientists in Celestial Country.
Price was watching Madison and upon finding out, they made coincidences and allowed Glen to get close to her. It wasn"t even a year yet when the engagement was finalized.
Van was fed with lies and became enraged towards the Wright Empire.
Glen and his father have twisted the story, Ashton became the jealous enemy while Glen was the lover.
Madison working as a receptionist in one of Wright"s main hotels, were twisted to a story that she was being maltreated there. The other employees were paid to lie.
They thought they wouldn"t be caught and just wanted some easy money, but when they realized their mistakes it was already too late. Van no longer believes them and their jobs were lost.
They were then forced to leave Ceres country and go to another smaller one.
All the twisted truths were then believed by Van and Madison, causing Ashton to lose control, he had just scene her bloodied body and then he watch her be happy with the one who caused those wounds.
His warm smiles were gone, his gentle demeanor disappeared. He became cold that no one could approach him.
Ashley who was but a child was so scared of him. But she also misses her brother so she did her best to get close to him again. Until only on his birthday could she not do anything.
"Ashton," Gideon was already sitting beside him and his warm aged palm was placed on his shoulder.
"I didn"t know we left you alone for too long, five long years. You have suffered for five long years. Shouldn"t it be time for you to finally let go and help yourself out of that dark past?"
"What am I supposed to do then grandfather? Those father and son have twisted the truth and was still deceiving so many people. I just can"t leave them be," Ashton replied through gritted teeth.
"Slowly son, slowly. Try and learn from that young lady. No matter how mad she is right now, she was doing everything step by step. Remember, when you went and run-rampant back then, without any plans and without holding back."
"Wasn"t it that it was you who still suffered in the end? The shouts of those you killed, the smell of blood, wasn"t it that you almost lost your mind back then?"
"If it"s me, I would like you to support that girl. Her revenge was towards the Price Empire, with how those father and son act. I can tell that they would be under her revenge as well."
"But I"ve hurt her, yesterday I lost control and hurt her."
"She was not that bad of a girl, the best thing you do now is search for her and apologize."
With resolve, Ashton and Gideon had Carl to drive them to the hotel. But after ringing the doorbell for quite a while, she still didn"t open it.
They could just keep going but somehow, Ashton felt something was wrong so he had James take out her spare key and the three of them opened the door.
"Good Lord."
Each of them had a sharp intake of air upon seeing the condition of the living room. It"s like someone have wrecked havoc.
"Go and check the CCTV, see what time she had left," Ashton instructed James upon seeing that she was not in the room at all.
The bed room and guest room were both empty, the bathroom had no signs of life either.
"Grandfather, when you called her last night, how did she sound?"
"We can"t decipher anything. She spoke like nothing, she doesn"t even sound mad or sad."
Ashton walked close to the gla.s.s cabinet and found traces of blood at the bottom. This must have come from the wound he inflicted her. A pung of guilt hit him hard in the chest.