CHAPTER 55Jane quickly walked out of the office and brushed away a tear that was about to fall from her eyes.Her legs were moving just as fast as her heart was pounding. 'Maybe I am the problem,' she thought to herself. 'Maybe I am the one always falling for the wrong men.'She continued to chide and blame herself because she had no other explanation for why she would be rejected and heartbroken by two men that she loved, and in less than three months!She increased her pace as the need to get to the nearest bar and drink her sadness away became intense.Just as she was about to round a corner of the hallway, she crashed into a person's sturdy chest."Woah, woah, watch where you're going..." A familiar voice said.She looked up and met Brian's face."Jane? What's wro..." Jane threw her arms around him without thinking and let her tears fall freely.Brian felt skeptical about hugging her back. He quickly swept his gaze around the hallway and then returned her hug when he was certa
CHAPTER 56Abigail adjusted the scented candle on the dinner table for the hundredth time. She stepped back and examined her work, checking if any of the candles were oddly placed. Finally satisfied after thousands of adjustments, she placed a small blueberry cake she had ordered on the dinner table where it was surrounded by candles. She then took out a bottle of vodka from the refrigerator and arranged it on the table as well.There couldn't be a more romantic atmosphere, she said to herself with pride and mentally rehearsed the apology she had memorized for Marcus. She needed to restore her good standing with Marcus, and it was partly because she couldn't imagine herself living without going shopping at least once a week. And she wasn't going to let some stupid pregnancy get in her way.Just as she had been expecting, there was a knock on the door.Giggling to herself, she took off the thick fur robe she had on, revealing the sexy net jumpsuit she wore underneath."Welcome home,
Chapter 57Caleb was nearly losing his mind.He had sent over a hundred texts to Jane asking of her whereabouts but none of the messages were replied to, and all the calls he made had gone straight to her voicemail."She'll be here soon, she's probably stuck in a traffic so chillax." Lilian assured him.She still had the image of Jane and Marcus kissing at the charity ball fresh in her memory.She was still a little pissed at Jane for cheating on her brother at the slightest opportunity but she cared too much about her brother and his happiness so she didn't make a huge scene or if it. The only thing that still annoyed her was that Jane had been giving her special treatment since then."You don't understand what's going on Lily, I have no fucking idea where she might be and it's almost eleven o'clock!""You're the one who said you left her back at the office. So, it's actually your fault.""No, I didn't..." Caleb started but stopped mid sentence, remembering that he had given her that
CHAPTER 58As Bianca left the bar, she strolled down to the city park, lit a cigar and waited.Few minutes later, a sleek black Audi drove in, stopped and flashed its headlight twice.She frowned and knew at once that it was the person she'd been expecting so she didn't bother checking who the driver was before she hopped in."Stop flashing your damn headlights. Did you get my message?" She turned and asked the man seated behind the wheels."I did. Give me the details.""Well she was drunk a few hours ago and revealed that Caleb was her fake husband, so I think that theirs is, perhaps, a contractual marriage."The man stroked his chin. "That makes sense, but there's no proof yet so there's nothing I can work with, and besides, we can't bank on a statement she made while drunk.""I will make further investigations," Bianca promised."Good. Anything else?" Bianca noticed the impatience in his tone but she didn't care. "Oh, yes there is. I need five thousand dollars to put the boy in a
CHAPTER 59Their bodies were ignited with need at once.Jane moved her hands to his hair and tugged on it while Caleb slowly and lovingly sucked on each of her lip, savoring the plumpness of it. But he wanted more, so he parted her lip with his hot tongue.Jane moaned at the intrusion. That single sound sent Caleb's testosterone running crazily. They had now found their rhythm so they let their bodies and souls wander into the realm of unbounded pleasure, their hot tongues swiping over each other's lip, tugging, biting, wanting more. Caleb lowered his lip to the skin beneath her ear, trailing kisses all over her neck and leaving hot puffs of breath as he did so.Goosebumps covered every inch of Jane's skin and she writhed beneath him.Caleb still wanted more, so he moved one of his hands to her right breast, giving it a little squeeze.'Fuck!' he muttered inwardly. He had not expected it to be so soft!"Jesus, Jane!" He growled and began to knead it gently, liking the way she arche
CHAPTER 60"Just one more picture, one more, I promise. Smile, darling!" Abigail squealed as she tried to get Marcus to take yet another picture. It was the fifth time she was asking for one more picture.They were seated on one of the plush sofas in the luxurious salon of the yacht used by Island to transport their clients. Abigail had pressured him into paying for the yacht ride rather than taking a regular ship to the island.There were five other couples lounging in the salon with them and somehow, Marcus felt that Abigail was only trying to attract attention to herself and him with her chirpiness and endless videos and pictures.Marcus had lost interest a hundred snaps ago but Abigail insisted that she hadn't found the perfect picture that would get her social media fans hooked.Abigail scrolled through the recent ones she had taken with a frown."None of these is giving couple goals, Marcus, you look like you're being forced to take them," Abigail complained."I am being forced t
CHAPTER 61***Caleb had his arm wrapped around Jane, his fingertips stroking her upper arm gently as they lay side by side, watching a movie.Caleb complained about the movie being unrealistic with the leading male actor acting like a love sick puppy."Are you kidding? This movie won an award," Jane countered defensively."It's shitty."Jane rolled her eyes. "I wonder what kind of movie you like. Now be quiet, I wanna watch this part."Caleb chuckled quietly and stroked her hair. His mind then went back to the time she had come back drunk and had called out for Marcus. That didn't sit well with him."Jane?""Yeah?""Do you still love Marcus?"Astonished at the question, Jane sat up and leaned on her elbow to support her weight. She stared at Caleb for a while with a surprised expression. "No, I don't. Why would you think that?""You've called out for him twice now when you were drunk, that gives me the impression that you're still into him," Caleb explained with a tinge of sadness.
CHAPTER 62"You've got to be fucking kidding me! Are you all setting us up or what?" Jane exclaimed."Excuse me, sir?" The man asked with a confused look."Can't we change game mates or something?" Caleb asked calmly with both hands placed into his pocket, his brows creased while Jane folded her arms across her chest, standing next to him. "I'm sorry sir but the players are grouped according to room numbers," the man explained."What the...""It's alright Jane, calm down," Caleb said, cutting her off. He then turned to the guide."Thank you for your help, Mister."The guide nodded and left."Jane are you sure you want to meet them? You know what they did to our project right?""I'll be fine, Caleb, it's just a game. Besides, if we back out, they'd think we're cowards, that what they did sent a huge blow to us. So let's face them together.""Are you sure?" Caleb asked again. He was more concerned about Jane's emotions and mental health than about proving a point to Marcus."I'm sure.
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