STALKED

By Michael Owino

Stalked is a book that partly deals with love, but also with people who have somehow ended up being obsessed with something they cannot control. The book also deals with the difficulties of being a black woman in a position of power and the jealousy it can bring if a black woman has married a wealthy whit

• Language: English
• Publisher: CPH BOOK FACTORY
• Release date: May 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9788794430081

Book preview

1

The Tennis Club

Book one

Stalked

2

Contents

6 8 8 29 ter 3 66 111 181 225 242 260 318 354 387 416 438 462 484 526 548 582 622 647

3

Characters

Forword by Gabriella.

Half a year ago my life was normal, but it is not anymore. My existence has been turned upside down in an extremely dramatic and shocking way.

I have decided to write about what has happened and what a nightmare me and my family have ended up in. I am writing it down while I am still not declared insane, and committed to the locked ward, or worse, killed by the person or persons who have made our lives hell.

Gabriella: (Protagonist) Woman, 43 years old, CEO at Medicon -Danish division.

living at the Small Beach Road in a wealthy suburb, outside of Copenhagen.

Oliver: Gabriella’s Husband

Lea: Gabriella’s Daughter 5 years old

Galvin: Gabriella’s son 3 years old

Trevor: Family's Labrador puppy

Patricia: Nanny from the Philippines

Elena: Gabriella’s Mother

Matthew: Gabriella’s Father

Mette and Sören O: Neighbors couple

Sarah and Eilef: Tennis friends and neighbors

Monique and Jack: Tennis friends

Wayne and Maria: Tennis friends

Mads and Kirsten: Tennis friends

Eric Jensen: The Vet

Ruth: Eric's Mother

Manfred: Eric's Father

Esther: Eric's former wife

Jesus: Gallery owner

Michael: Security guard

Lea Bonfils: Laboratory manager

Kay: Gabriella's secretary

Rahim: Head chef at Medicon

Samantha: Working in the ministry of foreign affairs as a secretary. Stepmother to Andrew.

Jonathan: American diplomat working at the American embassy in Copenhagen. Married to Samantha and father to Andrew.

Andrew: Son of Jonathan- 17 years old.

Preface

Chapter 1

Oliver is the first to land in the kitchen; he always is.

Dressed in black Calvin Klein pajama pants, made of black mélange fabric. No accompanying jacket or blouse. Just the pants and his naked, well-trained upper body.

Dog paws sprint across the floor, and it's little Trevor, a soon-to-be one-year-old Labrador puppy, who is hot on Oliver's heels.

Ruff

She can hear Oliver saying lovely.

You keep quiet.

They are a troublesome couple. Those who know Oliver will have sworn that he would never become a dog owner. He is the epitome of a big city person and has absolutely no relationship with pets. When she, who was raised with a dog, brought it up, in connection with lea's birthday, he had clearly rejected the idea.

You can get me involved in almost anything, but I don't mind dogs.

Even so, he had been persuaded. Mathew had come to their rescue.

Oliver blindly trusts her father, -The medical director, and admires both her father and her. Medicine is something foreign and very technical to him, something he does not really understand but clearly perceives them, as kind of very responsible experts. Mathew had talked about all the good that dogs could do for children ,about contact, the development of feelings, and empathy. And with that, he had given in to the idea. The first thing he does is go from the kitchen into the entrance hall, open the front door, down the four steps from the entrance area, and

further down the garden path towards the mailbox, where with a rehearsed maneuver, he fishes the newspaper up through the crack, without opening the mailbox himself. Then he rushes back and preferably sits on the terrace, but on winter days like today, he has to make do with the living room and his beloved old leather chair. But before he settles down, he takes the cup, which is now filled with fragrant freshly made coffee, from their newly purchased espresso coffee machine. During the entire session, he has Trevor right on his heels.

It's my kind of meditation.

What did he use to say at the beginning of their relationship when Gabriella asked – Why did he get up at 4:30 a.m. every day?

Gabriella has gotten used to her husband's morning routine, as have their two children, Lea and Galvin. She can hear him from inside the bedrooms, even though they are situated a little distance away from the living room in the back room of the long distribution corridor, which is the first room you encounter upon entering their newly built house. They collaborated on the design themselves, which most of their friends call a big, expensive box." The house is a modern luxury villa with a one-story plan. They purchased the property three years ago when Gabriella was pregnant with Galvin.

They themselves have helped design what most of their friends call a -big expensive box. The house is a Luxurious one-plan villa. They bought the property three years ago when she was expecting Galvin. They had already done the drawings in collaboration with the Danish American architect Paul Roberts - whom they both admired then lay down on the plot, and within 5 months, their 350 Square meter dream house was ready. The house is situated on a plot of land with an entrance that faces the road. A small front garden separates the entrance from the road and is divided in two, by a wide garden, which leads directly to the road. Due to the height of the plot, there is a wide staircase with five steps leading from the road to the house. Adjacent to the garden alley, there is a smaller road that leads to the garage, which is located two meters down. The house itself is rectangular, white in color, and has a flat black roof. A wide, mahogany double door greets visitors at the top of the two steps on the large landing. Upon entering the house, you will find yourself in a four-meter-wide distribution corridor. The entire corridor area has a raised roof section with slanted windows on each side to allow for natural illumination. To the right of the corridor, there is a large guest toilet. Moving further down the hall, you will enter a huge, 70-square-meter living room that is open plan with a large, ultra-modern kitchen. The living room has access to a 700-square-meter garden, and along the entire side of the house facing the garden, there are five-meter-high glass windows that separate the house and the garden.

At one end of the large main living room, there is a slightly lowered extra fireplace living room that functions as a kitchen family room. Moving back into the distribution corridor, there is a door that leads out to the utility room, where there is direct access to the garage. Both a tool room and a larger hobby- storage room. The entrance via the utility room is the entrance used when you have been in the garden.

After the living room turns, the distribution corridor leads to two large children's bedrooms on one side. Further down the corridor, there is another family bathroom opposite the children's bedrooms, and at the very end of the corridor is the enormous master bedroom. The master bedroom is 40 square meters in size and has access to a 20-square-meter dressing room and a huge bathroom. Via the changing room, there is also access to the backyard.

Gabriella tries to sleep for another hour or two, depending on when the children wake up. However, the dark winter mornings are not her favorite, and she finds it challenging to cope with them. Despite her love for everything about Denmark, the long dark winter, especially from January to April, feels overwhelming. At times like these, Florida seems like a country on another planet, and she is consumed by a heavy feeling of homesickness and longing."

Gabriella dear

-Sounds like a voice far away.

Darling, you have to get up. With the smell of freshly made coffee and Oliver's hand on her shoulder, she woke up abruptly. Oliver's lips met hers, and his hand, which stroked her shoulder, felt big, warm, and safe.

Yes, of course, I'm ready, she murmured.

In the same second, three-year-old Galvin landed on her stomach, on the foot of her right leg; two small hands of a child tried hard to pull her out of bed; it was Lea, at five, who thought she had the strength of an ox, which she loved to show off to 3-year-old Galvin.

Come on, Mom.

Trevor is barking, jumping up and down next to Lea.

Oliver's voice.

Shut up, Trevor But the puppy does not react, in ecstasy, over the wild play; it only cares about Lea, who fights with all her strength to pull her out of bed.

Then it's little Galvin's turn, the little hands knocking her on the chest. His voice sounds eager and loud as he accompanies Lea and Trevor.

You have to get up, mother; you have to get up.

About 20 minutes later, all four of them are sitting around the breakfast table - a well-covered table. Oliver has made the breakfast. She had organized their lunch boxes the night before. He arranges the breakfast, and very often, he has made sure that the children are washed and ready to go out of the door.

I'll have to leave in a bit; I'm going to the airport to pick up Marvin.

A bit stressed as if she should have forgotten, but that's the way he'd rather say things once too often than forget. Oliver is an expert in thoughtfulness, both in his job and privately, in everything he does. It is a kind of a trademark of his. She answers.

Of course, I know; I'll drive the kids to kindergarten.

He answers as he gets up, gives them each a kiss on the cheek, and rushes out the door.

I pick up the kids from kindergarten at 2 p.m.; luckily, I only have one meeting and some small things I have to sort out.

And addressing Galvin and Lea, he adds.

This afternoon, you are going to the Tennis Club with Dad.

In the living room, they can shortly after hear the deep sound of the grey Maserati engine as he starts it, then followed by the buzzing sound that gradually becomes lower as he drives down the residential road and finally turns onto the heavily trafficked Beach road.

They continue to eat in silence. This is how it is every morning; the children enjoy every crumb of the homemade buns and the homemade Nutella, Oliver has conjured up the weekend, and she enjoys the silence for a while. The children are busy eating, hence the silence. They finish eating.

Then you should start putting on your jump suits.

She says as she quickly loads the dishwasher.

She then goes out into their wide distribution hallway, where both children are struggling to get their winter jump suits on.

She squats down to help them. The children are still silent; they always are when they have to go out the door - Two well-behaved children, as people usually call them.

She manages to spend a minute by herself, in front of the large mirror that runs from floor to ceiling and is built so that it fills half of the wall in the distribution hall. The make-up fits perfectly, not too much just markings but her black hair in a tight knot at the nape of the neck Although it's only 7:00 a.m., she can see amazingly well even though the birth certificate says -43 years old. After many years of training, she believes it was her luck that she fell into the trend from the 90s where young women were encouraged to drink plenty of water,

Alcohol belongs to the rarities, a glass of champagne on New Year's Eve at midnight, otherwise only a little white wine with water for large events, but only if Oliver is with her; she is too controlled to want to risk appearing sullen alone if she had one glass too many. Her dark brown skin is shiny and glossy, with not a single gram of fat too much. After each of the pregnancies, first thing in the morning, by agreement with Oliver, she resolutely took her Jaguar and drove down to the fitness center, which is about three kilometers from their villa. A place she has referred to for periods as her second home. Lea stood next to her and watched her for a few seconds but now she lost her patience and ran over and stood and shook the main door.

Can we go out in the garden, mother Lea cannot open the door herself, so Gabriella goes the few steps and opens it. You stay in the garden, She says. In front of the house, there is a piece of lawn, and next to the lawn is the double garage where she keeps her beloved white Jaguar F-Pace, a spacious SUV where she can easily get the children in and out. Not the fastest car in the world, but she doesn't need a very fast car when most of her driving takes place in the city zone.

Back to her mirror image, even though she is busy, she is a perfectionist. A character trait that has earned her lots of praise both privately and throughout her career from women as well as from men. At her current workplace, it is no different. Since the pharmaceutical company: Medicons American headquarters had decided to open a branch in Scandinavia, she had been contacted and later headhunted as director of the company here. In the following letter to Medicons shareholders, the final remark was - That Gabriella's choice was guided by her reputation for always seeking the perfect. The hair sits loosely on the white shirt with frills over the light blue Chanel skirt with the boots from Christian Louboutin. - Perfect on the border or over the dress, but with its fresh shape, it usually inspires respect. According to Oliver, she is always perfectly dressed, something he greatly admires.

Walking out the front door soon after, she says half-loudly.

"Now, kids, I'll just get the car, and you'll stay in the garden. She didn't have to say the last thing; the children were fully occupied with admiring and adjusting the snowman they built the day before, and, by the way, they know the rule - that they must not go out from the front garden while they are waiting for the car to be driven from the garage.

Oliver has been quick and scraped the worst of the snow off the tiled hallway, leading from the main door to the garage. Just inside the door, on the right, is the switch which, when she presses it, causes the garage to slide open, by itself.

The car is already warm and comfortable, with a smell of leather and wood as she adjusts to the driver's seat. A press of the start button and the engine starts, with a pleasant, exclusive buzzing sound. With dexterity, she gets the car backed out of the garage, swings back to the right, and places the car directly with the engine on in front of the front garden.

A classic front garden with tiny trees and bushes was originally Olivers idea. -A bit old fashioned perhaps, but it works. The kids love to play there while waiting to get into a car or other things the family need to do when leaving or coming home. -she has learnt to love it the kind of outdoor waiting hall. . Quickly she goes back to the house and collects their bags which are inside the distribution corridor, locks the front door and returns to the car with them, opens the luggage compartment with a click of the electronic key, and places them in the luggage compartment. Then it's time to leave.

She shouts. At the same time, more or less, the same thing is going on in the other neighboring villas. In the fashionable neighborhood, there is a lively activity in the morning. In a busy yet relaxed way. Most people can decide their own meeting times. Busy people but in a relaxed way that characterizes the type of person who has had a lucrative career and to the extent that already at this point could retire from working life and enjoy life. The Villa road is a total of 1 kilometer long and connected to the beach road runs from The Beach Road, a two-lane coastal road that runs from Østerbro in Copenhagen and all the way to Helsingør in North Zealand.

She repeats slightly to the right than last time

Lea and Galvin we're going.

Finally, they give up on repairing the snowman and head towards her and the car; she opens the back door and places the children, Galvin in the child seat, and Lea directly in the back seat with the safety harness around.

She closes the door to the back seat and, moves around the car around the bonnet, opens the door to the driver's seat, from behind a car accelerates strongly, involuntarily stops, turns her head back towards the neighboring property, and registers in a split second that a black person's car is heading towards them. Throws herself into the front seat, whereupon there is a deafening bang as the car coming from behind with full force torpedoes the open side die so that the Jaguar she and the children find themselves being pushed a meter further forward halfway up opposite the square.

Children scream; she herself has only one thought – my legs. The noise of the engine and the reckless driving of the black person's car continues as it, with screeching tires, makes a violent U-turn and, at high speed, drives back towards the beach road again and disappears

-Her legs are still there, instinctively she knows that they might as well have been sawn off -As if in a trance, she hears the children screaming; she perceives the approaching neighbors, the four shocked craftsmen who, less than 2 minutes ago, were sitting in their cars behind, and drank morning coffee have experienced the whole thing. Voices crying hands that take hold of her gently.

Lea Galvin She heard her own voice distorted, with her face down in the seat.

From inside the villa, Trevor's barking and its paws come up against the door.

4

Chapter 2

Later the same day

She is lying in bed and trying to fall asleep. The day has been quiet. Oliver had been around them all the day and have done the best he could, to comfort both her and the children as he try to make them forget about the accident .

The children have been happy not to have to go out ,but instead be with both parents at home that was obviously . The day had been filled with lots of play in the garden interrupted with long talks with both grandma and grandpa(her parents- Elena and Mathew).

From inside the children's room, she can hear squeals and happy voices, Oliver playing with the children, everything seems safe, and luckily as if nothing has happened to any of them.

-Her father had been upset and angry during the whole day, ever since he heard about the accident. But on her mother’s advice, Mathew had managed to control his temper (At least on the phone). She had spoken to both, countless times during the day. Mathew, wanted to board a flight, and go to Denmark immediately. But her mother and herself had him talked out of the idea.

Gabriella knows that her parents must had, arguing the whole day, after they heard about the accident .She also know that, when they did so, it takes place in totally privacy. They had never had the slightest touch of a disagreement in her presence, or other people’s presence. For them it was of almost importance to appear as one Its very important for both of them to appear as one union that never had

In Russia, it is considered a sin if you disagree with your husband and start arguing with him.

And when people, including herself after she got older, made big eyes at that comment and related to her the women-depressing elements Elena's statement contained, she softened and added pointedly:

Yes, you can probably understand; it also applies the other way around.

There was nothing to do; Mathew and Elena were like a wall, a big protective, all-embracing, all-forgiving, demanding a parental wall. Proud of her from the day she was born. Both her parents were what most people would describe as elderly. They had her late in life. According to the mother, they had always put- off having children, as they wanted to wait until they felt absolutely sure that they could give the child an optimal upbringing. According to Elena, her arrival Elena had given extra impetus to Mathew's obsession with performing, so that the year after her birth he had become senior manager of one of the country's largest pharmaceutical companies, a legend in the American pharmaceutical industry. Now he is retired as he describes it himself, which simply means that he still functions as an advisor to the company's board member, plus he holds a number of other board positions, which means that he still has a working week of 50 plus hours Elena is also retired from her job in the financial sector as an analyst. She is also still active as a private adviser specializing in women's pension management - She also has an extremely active day to day as her private consultancy business has become a huge success.

She chooses not to respond to her parents' messages, she needs to think and recover, she knows that it is the calm before the storm and she knows that she will have to talk to them, otherwise Mathew will be here tomorrow. She ponders a little further. It is as if her whole soul is in rebellion - A getaway driver! Possibly some young person under the influence of drugs has panicked - But still?

-She is an overprotected child and spoiled beyond all limits, protecting, probably what you call -Carried on hands and feet through life.

After the accident an ambulance had arrived.

An ambulance arrived on the scene. However, she refused to be hospitalized for shock, as she didn't want to leave the children. Instead, an emergency doctor arrived and gave her some strong sedative medicine, which helped her sleep and regain clarity of thought. Is there anything specific you would like me to help you with

Her father had always thundered -

We must set the best example as America's blacks’ citizens that we can

By that, he apparently meant that there were only two things besides family that mattered, and that was career and status. A deep sound from the doorbell interrupts her thoughts

Sarah, who lives a few houses from hers, stands outside with a huge, brightly colored bouquet of flowers in her hand, which she holds out towards her.

Hey, dear mouse, how are you.

Says Sarah, Her good old, tennis pal. With her head slightly tilted and a facial expression that tries to look optimistic under the heavy make- up.

It will be all right.

Gabriella nods. Trying to push away the feeling of dread, that's been gnawing at her since the accident took place.

She forces a smile and replies.

 Come on in

Ok Sarah’s voice is light and pleasant. Her face is round and warm, with two big, lively brown eyes, that move quickly, as if she were playing tennis all the time. Her voice is light and pleasant. She looks stunning in a dove blue Chanel coat, with her dark brown hair over the shoulders.

As they enter the hall, Sarah puts the flowers in her arms, but immediately her round, happy face changes to an expression of fear and concern. She looks directly into her friend's eyes and says,

From the bottom of my heart .I hope you soon get well I'm furious about what has happened

They enter the large open kitchen, which is an extension of their 70 square meter living room, from which there is a view of their 600 square meter backyard, which is now covered in a thick layer of snow.

Gabriella replied.

I escaped alive and so did the children, we were lucky.

Gabriella say as the walk into the kitchen.

Sit down and make yourself comfortable

While Gabriella makes tea. Sarah's gaze through the enormous living room connected to the kitchen and further out into the family's elegant backyard. From another part of the house, the happy voices of Oliver and the children can be heard singing along to children's songs that they have put on. Gabriella pours water into a large white ceramic tea pot, finds two cups of the same set as the tea pot, and comes over to sit opposite Sarah.

Who the hell would be so reckless as to run away from this? she asks.

I don't know, probably a drug-addled young man, isn't that how it usually is? Maybe one of those they let out on probation, Gabriella replies.

Sarah responds, This soft society is insane. I apologize on behalf of my countrymen.

Sarah is biracial, born and raised in Denmark. Her mother is Black, but her father is Danish. She used to be a fashion model, and the only reason she dropped her promising modeling career was because her husband, who is the director of one of the world's largest shipping companies, didn't think it suited their joint image. She switched and is now sitting on the other side of the table, having become an agent in Denmark for one of the world's leading model agencies.

Oliver comes into the living room with messy hair, a wrinkled shirt, and some pieces of cyan green and bright pink modeling wax sprinkled all over him. He smiles broadly, confidently going over to give Sarah a quick hug.

Hey, Sarah, good to see you, he says.

Sarah's face lights up and she can't hide a little laugh. Wow, Oliver, I've never seen you like this before.

Oliver goes for the quick hug, then stands behind Gabriella and rests one hand on her shoulder.

Right, he replies. But you know what? I enjoy being at home on a weekday with my wife and children within reach.

Yeah, in the middle of the misfortune, there are small good things, Sarah notes.

Yep, Oliver responds, his face taking on a more serious look. Did you know that I've talked to Eilef? Or rather, did you know that Eilef and I have spoken?

Both women look at him, confused.

We've decided to give the Danish police two days to figure out what happened. That means today, and then we'll launch our own investigation. We're not satisfied with the sluggish way the Danish police plan to approach this case, and we won't wait for months for them to find some junkie criminal whom they can't even punish, he says.

They look at him in astonishment, and Sarah exclaims, What, are you serious?

They don't need to ask; as he has spoken, it is clear that he has gotten worked up. He responds briefly, "Yes, very much so. In both Eilif's and my company, there are people who would be more than happy to help find the person or people responsible for this. We have highly competent

Reviews for STALKED

[pratik jha · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

? STALKED

AUTHOR- Michael Owino
PUBLISHER- CPH BOOKS
PUBLISHED ON- 22 April 2023
RATING- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ABOUT AUTHOR- Danish author Michael Owino knows about the Scandinavian life in the Danish capital. But his travels around the globe, especially in Europe have given him his deep understanding of art, design and history.

ABOUT BOOK- Book deals with the difficulties of being a black woman in a position of power and the jealousy it brings.

BOOK REVIEW-

"Stalked" masterfully crafts a gripping narrative that entwines the intricate dynamics of familial love with the chilling depths of obsession.

Gabriella, at the helm of one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies in Denmark, and her husband Oliver, a distinguished shipping agent, share their lives with their two children, Lea and Galvin. Initially, their existence is serene, but soon, their world takes a tumultuous turn.

The narrative commences with a hit-and-run incident, propelling the family into an unwavering mission to track down the enigmatic perpetrator.

Uncover the identity of the orchestrator behind the turmoil and decipher their motivations. Explore Gabriella's concealed history and unearth the enigmatic layers of the story.

Characters are the driving force behind any story, and those were well-developed and multi-dimensional and connected with readers on a deeper level. Plot was great and kept me engaged from start to end. By carefully choosing his words and crafting sentences that flow easily, authors created a seamless reading experience that kept the audience engaged.

The author's writing prowess is truly exceptional, effortlessly weaving words into a tapestry that captivates and enthralls. With a masterful command of language, he painted vivid landscape and evoked powerful emotions.

Secure your copy of this captivating thriller today to unveil the mysteries within.