CHAPTER 147All members of the board stood with their heads bowed as Caleb walked in through the conference door.Beneath the dashing navy blue suit and outward elegance was a man whose heart had been weighed down.The board members looked at him with compassion in their eyes as he walked to his seat.It had been a while since they had all seen him but the difference was obvious. His cheeks appeared bony and there were eye bags around his eyes to depict constant sleepless nights. He appeared more like a ghost.Caleb adjusted his suit, took in a deep breath and sat. The rest followed after him.“I want to extend my sincere gratitude to you all, for your persistence, compassion, and your ability to keep the company running in my absence.” He cleared his throat and cast a glance in Xavier's direction. “However, due to certain circumstances concerning my wife's… disppearance that are beyond my control at the moment, I will not be able to effectively carry on my duties as the CEO of this gr
CHAPTER 148Caleb was greeted with the shocked look on Lilian's face after one of their domestic staff opened the door for him.Stella was also in the living room, staring at him with a fierce intensity.“We watched the press conference live,” Lilian said, her eyes still widened.Caleb couldn't tell if she was indirectly asking why he had made a decision to increase the bounty. Even he didn't know why he had done so, still he had no regrets. He had no problem in giving up many more millions as long as it helped in finding Jane. At the moment, there was nothing he couldn't do to get her back. And to think that she was pregnant… He pursed his lip and clenched his jaw at the thought of it.“Yeah,” he said flatly as he began peeling the suit off his body. “How could you make such a silly offer?” Stella asked. Her tone was loud and Caleb detected the slight furiousness in it.He glanced at her and rolled his eyes. Merely seeing her face gave him a sickening feeling and hearing her voice w
Chapter 149Caleb's expert driver followed the shortest route to the state's borders and in less than an hour they had arrived. His security guards followed in a separate car behind him, all of them armed and alert.There was already a small crowd in the area and Caleb rushed out of the car even before his driver had killed the engine.Ross walked up to him.“We got an anonymous call a few hours earlier,” he told Caleb. “Someone claimed to have seen the same dress.”“Show me.”They both walked to an area that was surrounded by a group of police men. A bright yellow police line with the words: DO NOT CROSS boldly written on it was tied from one pole to another, separating the major road from the supposed crime scene.A search party had already been sent out to comb the area. Trained dogs barked loudly and sniffed around while torches flickered here and there.Every step Caleb took forward made his heart lurch and his breathing unsteady. He forced himself not to wonder what had probably
Chapter 150“How did it go?” “Would've been much more perfect if the fucker hadn't figured out the difference,” Mann replied and lit a cigarette.“Don't smoke in my car,” Xavier warned, looking straight ahead.Mann sighed and flung the cigar out the window.Silence hung in the air as Xavier punched the steering wheel. "You fool! You should have gone to the shack and get that damn dress from Jane" he cussed. "I'm sorry boss, I didn't thought of that. I'm being very careful because you don't want us going to the shack again because of the risk" Mann explained but Xavier was only peering out of the car window, lost in his thought. Then he suddenly relaxed and rested his back on the car seat. “Thats true. Besides, it's normal for these things to not go exactly as planned. It's not going to be a big problem.”“It's not?” Mann asked with an arched brow, wondering if this was the man that just called him a fool.“Yes, it's not. The idea was to distract them from the main case and it's sti
Chapter 151Thick silence still blanketed the living several seconds after Rose had dropped the bombshell. They were all frozen as their brains slowly processed what they had just heard.Stella felt a huge bang ringing in her head as she clenched and unclenched her fists, gritting her teeth and clenching her jaw.'You fool! What have you done?!' she said in her head, glaring at Rose who wasn't looking at her.“I'm sorry… what?” Caleb asked, blinking. He wondered if the day held any more silly surprises for him.“Yeah, mom, what do you mean that you and uncle Xavier are now officially together?” Lilian asked, placing emphasis on officially.“I'll take it from here, my love,” Xavier said and stepped forward.My love!!!“Wait, wait,” Caleb rose from his chair. “What the hell is happening here?”“Once upon a time, your mother and I used to be lovers,”“Used to be what?”“I'll advise you don't interrupt when I'm speaking, Caleb,” Xavier warned coldly, with a smile spread acorss his lips, b
Chapter 152Brian couldn't think straight anymore.His mind and thoughts were in a total disarray as he was constantly wondering why he had gotten into such a mess in the first place and made himself a puppet in Xavier's scheme.Ever since the bounty was increased, he had not even had the balls to move out of his house. He feared that someone would know what he had done. Anyone who stared in his direction for more than a second sent chills down his spine, and anyone who he saw whispering to each other seemed to be whispering about what he had done. The guilt was consuming him and greed was continually forcing him to consider Caleb's offer.The words replayed in his head, day after day: even though he had aided and abetted in Jane's disappearance and he finally decided to speak up, he would be forgiven and exenorated, kept anonymous and receive the millions! And Celeb would even ensure his safety!One million dollars! So much he could do with that!He had earlier made some calculations
Chapter 153“You don't have to do this.”“We don't need to have this conversation anymore, Caleb,” Lilian snapped and threw in a some books into her trunk. She had locked herself in her room throughout the previous day, sobbing while packing up the thousands of clothes she had into bags, and still, there were many more things left to pack.“I can't even believe how calm you are right now,” Lilian sniffed, shaking her head with a bitter smile.“Trust me, I'm not.”“Then why don't you do something? Call him out, threaten him or just, I don't know… do something!” Lilian raised her arms in despair and then bit down on her lower lip while looking at him.Caleb remained in his position: leaning against her door frame with his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms folded. His forehead slightly creased and there was a downcast look on his face.“It's all just fucking crazy, you know. Uncle Xavier of all people.” She let out a bitter laugh. “I think maybe he's hypnotized Mom or something be
Chapter 154Stella was furious. She had returned to the Lockwood's mansion and pleaded but Xavier didn't listen to her. This time, he threw her out with her belongings. Her rage knew no bounds as she hurled her belongings to the nearest hotel she could find. The hotel receptionist just happened to be at the receiving end of her frustrations.“Get me a room immediately!” She ordered, almost pushing the person who had just been attended to away.“Sure, ma'am,” the smiling receptionist replied, knowing fully well that Stella was just another belligerent customers who were experts at transferring their aggressions.After she was told her room number and given her keys, Stella moved to the said room with her heels clicking furiously against the marble floor and her lips moving quickly as she spat out silent curses. Her bizarre actions attracted the curious glances from the people present but none made a move to ask what the problem was.She flung her purse to the bed immediately she walked
CHAPTER 174Minutes after Marcus revealed all he knew, dozens of patrol cars as well as two helicopters were despatched to the location Marcus had given.One of the helicopter pilots sighted the house from above and the officers, including Caleb quickly moved towards it.They kicked the door of the building down without hesitation and as Caleb ran in, his gaze immediately fell on Jane's weak body sprawled on the bare floor. Caleb rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her. This time, he did not hold back his tears.Her body and clothes were covered in dirt, some parts of her body was swollen and there were a few cuts in different places, but still she didn't lose her beauty.Jane muttered something with her eyes half closed.“I'm here, baby, I'm here. You're gonna be okay. It's all over, you'll be fine,” Caleb didn't mind that some droplets of his tears fell on her face, all he knew was that he had finally found her and he was never going to let go ever again.Some medical attenda
CHAPTER 173“He's a lying bastard! How can you believe all that?” Xavier asked Ross who had asked to question Xavier immediately Lorenzo told them everything.“It's not something we would want to believe as well, Mr Xavier, but he showed us the millions of dollars as proof,” there was a look of disappointment on Ross's face. “You do know that drug trafficking is a really serious offence, right?”“There is nothing to prove that I'm involved with this man!” Xavier yelled. “How do you know if someone didn't pay him to lie against me?”“He gave us a perfect description of you and said you came around every week to collect the profits that belonged to both you and coincidentallly Marcus Dreame.”“This is outrageous, Ross.”“Trust me, Mr Xavier, the whole situation has also left me totally dumfounded, but it's also helping to put the pieces together.”“What pieces are you talking about, Ross? What the hell is all this? I deserve more respect than this, don't I? How and why would I get mysel
CHAPTER 172Four days and there had been no word from either Xavier or Mann, no newspapers to tell him what was going on outside, and they were running out of food. And he still haven't received a cheque from the weekly profit as usual. Marcus was totally losing it.He paced from one end of the house to another.“That fucker!” He said through his teeth, imagining Xavier amassing all the money to himself. He reasoned that Xavier had probably withdrawn himself from situation and had left him and Jane there to die of starvation. And probably enjoying all the money and profit from their illegal business. The thought of that sickened him. Xavier had probably come to his wits end and had decided to keep his slate clean.But Marcus was not one known to easily let go.He knew he was eventually going to go down, and he would stop at nothing to bring others involved down with him.“You'll be a dead man if you step out of that door,” Jane said weakly as she watched him put on his camouflage.
CHAPTER 171Lorenzo sat at his desk, brooding.Two days had passed and neither Xavier nor his scary looking second hand man had come to collect their weekly profit.He looked down at the stack of money in the bag on his desk. If he took even a note from it, Xavier would know and would kill him without thinking twice. He was a man not to be conned and also a man to be feared. But as he constantly stared at the pile of money, he felt his walls of restraint breaking down. The sight of money always enticed him but tampering with Xavier's money was like signing his own death warrant. He quickly zipped up the bag, swallowed some sedative pills and then looked up Xavier's address on his computer. It was better to get the money to him instead than let it stay another day in his office.___Lilian was wrapping her wet hair up in a bun and preparing for lunch when she heard the knock on the front door.“Don't worry, I'll get it,” she said to the house worker who was setting the table.“Hi?” She
CHAPTER 170Lilian, who had heard from Caleb about her mother and uncle's arrest quickly returned back to the state to see them.Rose on the other hand, had just spoken to the detective and was still in a state of shock. Tears rolled down her face as she stared at the photos of her and Xavier sprawled on the table. She had initially thought that Stella was bluffing when she said she had kept some clues for her lawyer to give the police if anything happened to her.The door suddenly opened and an officer popped his head in.“Ma’am, your daughter is here to see you,” he informed.“What? My daughter?” Rose asked with surprise and began to clean her face while stacking the photos together hurriely. “Take everything with you,” she told her lawyer. “Leave immediately.”Lilian stepped in just as her lawyer walked out.They both stared at each other for a long time and Lilian's steady gaze was like hot iron searing her heart. Every second of silence that passed reminded Rose that she had now
CHAPTER 169“You're lucky my lawyer is already on his way. You'd better start preparing an explanation for why you had the guts to touch me!” Xavier ranted as the officers led them through the station.Rose on the other hand did not even try to struggle because she knew they were guilty, and her conscience kept battling with her. She did a very bad job concealing the shock expression that was spread across her face. As she watched the officers lead Xavier to one end of the hallway, her eyes landed on two familiar faces and her eyes widened with shock.Stella's parents! Stella's dad was consoling his wife who was shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.“Rose… you…” Stella's father said when their eyes met, but before she could respond, the officers led her away. She could still hear Stella's mother's voice.“I told her to stay away from their family, I warned her…”Xavier was taken to a dimly lit interrogation room, the room was hotter than usual and Xavier swiftly adjusted his tie, the
CHAPTER 168“I'm sorry… what? What's that supposed to mean?” Xavier asked with his brows furrowed in annoyance. Fear flickered in his eyes but he squared his shoulders and maintained an annoyed visage.“Mr Xavier you have a right to remain silent. Anything you say now can, shall and will be used against you in the court of law…”“You can't arrest us!” Rose said. “What the hell did we do? What's all this about? This is an insult to my person!”Caleb watched with his spoon frozen in his hand. Things were happening too fast for his brain to process and he almost thought he was hallucinating when an officer walked to his mother and ordered her to stand.“Hold up! Hold up!” Caleb finally said to the officers as he stood up.“What's all this about?”“They are being arrested as prime suspects in the murder of Miss Stella Rosman,” the officer explained. Rose and Caleb exchanged glances and while Xavier was able to maintain his composure, Rose visibly went pale.“This is crazy! I barely even k
Chapter 167It had been two days since Marcus was revealed to be the prime suspect in Jane's disappearance. And the forensic tests came out fine that Marcus was the owner of those male accessories as some combs in the bathroom had his hair samples which were tested. The police officers had combed the woods for two whole days yet there was no sign of either Marcus or Jane and there was also no clue left that could lead to them.“They couldn't have just disappeared,” Rose said one morning as they were having breakfast.Caleb had only taken a few slices of his toast and then walked to the living room with his coffee. His mother had been trying to make conversation with him for the past few hours but talking was the last thing he wanted to do. He was preparing to step out one last time with a few officers to search deeper into the woods. He turned on the television.“Have they found out if there's an insider yet?” Rose was speaking only on the topics that related to Jane because she kne
Chapter 166“I still don't understand why it's so difficult for you to put a call across to him!” Marcus shouted. “We've been waiting for hours for fucks sake!”They were now in a bigger house with lesser windows and only one sofa as furniture. Mann was staring out blankly from one of the windows.“You know, Mr Dreame, you complain too much for a man.”“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Marcus scowled and lunged towards him.“You come in at the middle of the night and sweep us all away without explanation and you want me to be quiet and act like nothing happened?”“No, I'm only asking you to be patient,” Mann replied cooly.“Don't tell me that bullshit! My patience expired hours ago. Now call up Xavier.”“Boss is the one who would make the call to us. I'm in no position to call him unless in a serious emergency…”“This is a serious emergency!”“No, it isn't, Mr Dreame. This is just you acting like a scared little girl. Even the woman's doing better than you.”They both turned t