CHAPTER 4

In the morning, she didn’t feel like getting up. She just wanted to stay in bed but her father requested her to join him at breakfast. Inwardly, she became nervous because it was unusual for Steve Ortiz to request for her attendance at the breakfast nook.

“Good morning, Daddy!” She immediately greeted him but his expressions warned to be careful with her words.

“What's good in the morning, Rachel? Someone reported to me about your escapade with Brett last night. So what happened? I thought we had a clear discussion about this matter!”

Rachel took a deep breath before responding to her father. He was furious, and he kept on raising his voice! “I want him, Daddy,” she declared.

“My god, Rachel! Have you lost your mind? He’s too old for you and no matter what happens, that man will not marry you, understand?”

“Age doesn’t matter in love, Daddy. Of all people, you should know it better than anyone else because you also seduced Mom into marrying you even when you’re older than her! One more thing, how can you tell me that he’s not the marrying type?”

“I just don't want you to get hurt, Rachel!” Steve explained.

Rachel understood her father but she couldn’t allow him to hinder her plan. She planned to propose to Brett if he wouldn’t do it. “I still want him, though,” she replied.

“No negotiations, please.” Steve stubbornly listened to Rachel's reasoning.

“Dad, this is really the last. Please, just let me have him,” she begged her father.

“Brett already has a girlfriend, my dear. Please, have mercy on that man!” When it comes to Brett Morgan, Rachel was obsessed.

“What about me, Dad? Don't you feel sorry for me? He already kissed me!”

“Stop this nonsense, Rachel!” Steve slapped the table again to get his daughter’s attention but she was so stubborn for goodness’ sake!

“Last night -” she wanted to tell her Daddy how she felt last night when Brett kissed her.

“Last night was all about lust. Brett was gone for too long without a woman, Rachel. And you were there, probably tempting him!” Steve pointed out the underlying fact to Rachel, and yet his stubborn daughter refused to hear him!

“Let's bet Daddy. He'll learn to love me someday, watch out.” She dared her father to take up the challenge. She always won. So, Rachel became even more courageous. She was surprised when her father laughed. .

“Accepted. Now, here's the stake. If you can make him fall for you in two months, I'll buy the fastest car for you. But, if you'll lose, you will also lose your inheritance, honey. You can still have the trust fund, though. Game?”

“Game!” she replied happily.

“Alright, baby girl. Should we put this into writing?”

“Shall we? It's your choice. By the way Dad, I have to go somewhere in the afternoon,” she informed him.

“Okay. Just take Maggie with you.”

Rachel frowned at what she heard but always did not interfere with her father when it came to his activities. “Date?” He was curious.

“Date? Why would I date? “Steve denied that he has a date because there really isn't. “I just have to take care of something in Singapore,” Steve said.

“Okay, you said, eh. Is that all you meant to me? I thought what, “Rachel said before she left her father's study room.

After talking to the father Rachel went to the dining room and served breakfast to Maggie. She liked to eat in the morning especially with her favorites such as garlic rice and sunny-side up eggs. “Maggie, I need to meet him later,” she informed the woman.

“What if your Daddy knows where you are going? I think you should tell him, Rachel.” Maggie suggested because she didn’t like Rachel’s plan.

“Gosh, you don't seem to know me.” Rachel stated.

“But why do you have to bring Silver? You have a lot of cars in the garage!” She did not agree that the woman would bring one of Steve's horses.

“I just feel like riding a horse, eh.” Rachel reasoned out.

“I don't know about you, but when your father catches you, don't ever ask me for help.” Maggie warned Rachel.

After she had breakfast, Rachel went upstairs to text Brett. Before she hit the send button, she reread the content of her message and she laughed.

Hi Brett! How are you? I miss you. I'll be waiting for you at the boundary of our land. Then I'll show you how much I love you, okay? It’s me, Rachel!

After she laughed at herself, she immediately sent it to Brett. She knew that the man had access to the internet all day because he had a smartphone and also had a wifi in their house. What could be the reason that he still didn’t reply to her after eight hours?

At five o'clock, Rachel changed into blue denim shorts and a white t-shirt. She then prepared Silver and no longer waited for the man's reply. She braided her hair so it wouldn't get in the way later when she got on the horse and simply left the house.

She was far away from her home when a group of men stopped her. She did not know them. In appearance they were obvious obstacles to her journey towards meeting Brett but infairness to them, they were on top of high quality horses.

Rebel or thief? She’s not naturally judgmental but it doesn’t look like men come from a wealthy clan like Brett or her family.

She urged Silver to run as fast as she could in the other direction and she no longer waited for those ‘men’ to get close to her properly. Her chest was pounding but she could still hear the laughter of the group that chased her. It was getting closer and closer because the horses they were carrying ran faster. She estimated that the horses were purebreds. It was rare to have such horses in their area so she was sure they just stole the horses they were carrying.

She and Silver kept running, and they were about to enter the woods. Her fear intensified but she had no choice. The only thing that encouraged her was because she had memorized the forest. She knew there was a secret path in the woods back to their house. She accidentally saw it when she and Silver went for a walk. She prayed to God that those who chased her would not catch up with her.

When she suddenly heard a gunshot, Silver jumped up and fell to the ground. It ran away from her. She closes her eyes in fear, Rachel believed that a bullet hit her. She felt himself and when she was sure that nothing was right, she slowly walked into the woods. Infairness, her hip hurt from falling earlier. She was near the cave when it suddenly rained heavily.

“When it rains, it pours,” she said to herself. She looks like a wet chick. And when she reached the secret hiding place it was as if a thorn had been pulled from her chest because the cave she was in now was connected to a tunnel to the basement of their house.

*****

When he received a message from Rachel, Brett laughed and ignored it. The woman was never really naughty and did not instill anger in him. He made a note on his mind to talk to Steve about his daughter. She was too stubborn and aggressive. Not right for an eighteen year old girl.

His staff were roving around the farm to see if anything was wrong with the fences. He received a report from the other town that the theft of horses and cattle was widespread in the farms there. The group of bandits were supposed to be professionals in what they were doing, so Brett decided to make sure.

“Collin, did you see that?” He pointed to the white horse galloping into the woods near his land. He could not tell if it was a woman or a man on the horse and his eyes widened when he saw the group following the white horse. “Collin, follow me!” He ordered Collin to get ready with his horse and they would follow that group.

“Okay!” Collin replied excitedly because the other day he wanted to have a face -to -face fight.

The horses they were carrying were fast and in a few minutes they would enter the woods. If the bandits 'horse is fast, Collin' horses are faster especially his black stallion because it is thoroughbred. “It's better that we separate,” he suggested to Collin so that they could easily find the rider of the white horse who was sure he was in danger and Collin's strange expression did not escape Brett's eyes. He knew she was angry at what his secretary had done so he fired the woman.

Collin took the shortcut to not know his presence. Most of the time, the element of surprise was a great advantage. When suddenly the lone rider passed in front of him and his eyes widened when he recognized who it was. What is the woman doing in that place? Doesn’t she know the word dangerous? That’s why he didn’t reply to its text because he didn’t want it to continue! “Unusually, anytime, a woman really only brings trouble into my life.” He said to himself.

Her mouth twitched as the woman followed. On the woman's birthday something almost happened to the two of them that she knew she would regret eventually. He clenched his teeth when he recalled all the details. After the tongue lashing that she gave him when he tried to blame her, Brett went home with a hardened expression and a boner! He could no longer trust his own body not to betray him when she's around.

The snapping of branches near him brought him back to the present. He was already alert. When he heard the gunshots, Brett knew that it was Collin but there could be a chance that Rachel was harmed. He panicked and went looking for Collin. He called to the man with the sound of a bird. He and Collin used to be together in a group of hired killers and their victims were not ordinary people. “Did you get caught?” He asked the man.

“Yes,” Collin replied shortly.

“It's good then. Go back to the farm and maybe they still have colleagues and alert our staff. I'll be the one to look for Rachel,” Brett was shocked by Rachel's stubbornness. .They both converted Collin and after many years Collin used a gun again.

“Rachel? Your Rachel?” Collin smiled when he saw Brett was furious.

“Bite your tongue, Collin! She's not mine!” He shouted but deep inside his mind, he wanted to add that she wasn’t his woman yet… Not yet!

“Whoah! Just relax, Brett.” He knew Brett and he knew he wasn't in the mood to joke so he simply left for home on the farm.

*****

While Rachel was alert inside the cave. She was vigilant while waiting for the rain to stop. But in the moments that passed she was even more afraid that she might be tracked down and it started to get a bit dark. She prayed that Silver would return to their house and that her father would find her.

“Papa Jesus, please save me. Promise, I'll be a good girl, please? Please?” She bargained with the Lord because he wanted to go home. He was afraid of the dark, and he was afraid of snakes!

However, they say, it is difficult to bargain with the Lord. Her hair stood on end when she felt someone watching her. When she opened her eyes, and behold, there’s really a man in front of him, but it’s dark and she couldn’t figure him out. She's about to scream when his hands clamped over her mouth to silence her! She trembled in fear as she waited for the man to attack her.

“Shhhh, it's me.” He whispered.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized the man's voice. “Brett!” Rachel exclaimed.

“Yes and you, my lady, deserves some spanking-”

She didn't finish speaking and suddenly hugged the man. “Oh God, thank you, Brett,” she said happily as she looked up at him. “Did you know I was so scared earlier?” She was like a child hiding under a man's armpit.

“Do you have an idea what Collin did just to save your pretty face!” he said it angrily and she lost the remaining color of her face because of what was heard.

She remembered the sound of the gun earlier and Rachel understood why Brett was so angry. Brett considered Collin family and he was sad about what happened to his friend. “Oh no, I'm sorry, really, really sorry. But, it's fate! What happens today are meant to happen under any circumstances. It's just a coincidence that I got into the Lord's plan,” she reasoned out but to be honest, she's sorry and ashamed of what she had done and she felt guilty.

“It's better that you take it off first and dry it. You might get sick,” Brett noticed earlier that the woman's clothes were wet.

“It's not modest,” Rachel refused to take off her clothes.

“Rachel, there's no place for modesty right now. Do you want to get sick?” He said angrily to him.

“Your clothes are also wet, don't tell me, you'll also take off your clothes to dry them?” It was a tactless question. The man did not answer but turned around and went to the other side of the cave.

“If you're done, you can come here. I made a pallet to sit on using leaves. We can rest here for the meantime,” Brett said.

When the man turned around he quickly took off his wet clothes and laid them on the rocky shore. The t-shirt he was wearing was thin so maybe it would dry quickly. She didn’t take off her panty and bra because she was ashamed of Brett. Even though it was dark around she was still not comfortable being naked and with a man. She might even be tempted to seduce the man…

“Why didn't you take it all off? Do you think you won’t get sick?” Brett criticized the woman when he saw that she was still wearing a bra and panties.

“No way!” Rachel stubbornly followed the man.

“Rachel, don't test my patience tonight!” He yelled at her.

“But Brett, it's embarrassing!” he insisted.

“Okay,” Brett said and approached the woman and before Rachel could react, he tore her undergarments using his knife.

Rachel sighed at the rapid pace of events. “How dare you! What am I going to wear when I get home !” She shouted at him but it seemed deaf. When the man turned away, he had no choice but to follow it. Hopefully there are no insects hidden in the leaves. She's so upset that she wanted to pull every single hair from his head but got curious about something. “Are you also naked?” Finally, she got the courage to ask him.

“Of course, I can't afford to get sick,” Brett replied.