CHAPTER 63Abigail raised herself from the mat."Umm," she nervously rubbed her palms together and gulped. Some of the couples seated around them had turned to look in her direction and she felt sick as she wondered what they might be thinking."Excuse me," she said. "Marcus, wait!" She ran in Marcus's direction, calling after him but he did not stop and he eventually walked out of sight.Marcus stormed into the lodge and headed straight to the the wine bar.He took out a bottle of tequila and drank directly from it.'How could she! How dare she!' He thought as he angrily gulped down the drink."And Caleb..."He tightened his grip on the innocent bottle, the veins at the back of his palm nearly popping out as he did so.He silently vowed to himself that when the whole bullshit vacation was over, he was going to kill Caleb, no excuses. How dare he try to kiss his ex-wife in his very presence! He secretly blamed Abigail for setting up this vacation in the first place.He ran his free ha
CHAPTER 64Caleb woke Jane up by taking her index finger in his mouth and gently biting it.Jane stirred and her eyes fluttered but she didn't wake up.Caleb smiled, took her middle finger and bit it a little harder."Ow," Jane pulled her finger away and opened her eyes."Good morning, sleepyhead," Caleb smiled down at her."You bit my finger," Jane faked a pained look."Well you enjoyed it, didn't you?" "No one enjoys pain, you jerk.""Trust me, some people do. Come on, we overslept, do you wanna make breakfast or you prefer we check out the island's restaurant?" Caleb slid out of the sheets."I think we'll eat at the restaurant, I feel tired and I wanna go back to bed.""It's almost ten o'clock Jane, and the activity for this afternoon is surfing. Won't you want to see that?" "I can't surf, it's scary.""Yeah, but I can, and I'm sure you'll love to watch me," Caleb smirked.Jane rolled her eyes at him and he laughed."Get ready, I'll run your bath," he said and walked to the bathr
CHAPTER 65The island's restaurant was a warm and inviting atmosphere with romantic and exquisite design that could leave anyone awestruck. The sound of slow, soft music flowed from speakers that could not easily be seen.Caleb and Jane admired the beautiful artworks and framed pictures with love quotes written in them as they made their way to their table.A waiter walked to them and took their order of granola and yoghurt parfait."This place is amazing," Jane said and ran her hand over the linen covering the table."It's worth the cost," Caleb replied just as their food arrived. The garnishing of the food alone made them want to dig in immediately. The parfait had some banana slices in the shape of a heart."How did they do this?" Jane asked, holding up a slice."A banana in the shape of a heart, wow, and I thought my eyes had seen everything," Caleb replied with a smile."The garnishing is creative and very appealing, I wonder what their recipe...""Can we just start eating, Jane.
CHAPTER 66"No, no, no, no!" Jane screamed and walked towards them.One of the divers began to give Caleb CPR but there was no response from him."Come on, Caleb come on," Jane said, clasping his hand in hers.An ambulance soon came and the paramedics wheeled him into the back of the van."I hope he'll be fine," Jane heard Marcus yell behind her, the sarcasm in his voice was obvious.She ignored him and rushed into the car, sobbing."He's going to be alright ma'am," the paramedic told her."He's .. he's not even breathing.. he's just..." Jane stammered between sobs."Everything will be fine, ma'am," the paramedic assured her. Jane stayed at the waiting room for two hours with her head buried in her palms. When a nurse finally walked out of the ward, Jane quickly ran towards her."How is he? Is he alright?!""Calm down ma'am, he's alright...""Oh thank God!" Jane put her hands to her chest and sighed with relief."We were able to revive him, and thankfully, his vitals are okay. It co
CHAPTER 67Abigail paced around their bedroom, deliberately stomping her legs on the hardwood floor so the noise could wake Marcus up."Do you have a problem with you legs or something?" Marcus asked with a grunt."Yes!" Abigail yelled."We haven't done a single fun thing since we arrived and all you've been obsessed with is trying to ruin the week for Caleb and Jane!"Marcus sat up in bed and gave her an annoyed stare."We're getting back at them for trying to ruin our own vacation.""And how's that working out for us huh?" Abigail yelled. "You thought that drowning Caleb was a smart move but ever since then, they've clung onto each other like they're the only ones in the world! And look at us, what romantic thing have we done?""You complain way too much for a woman that brings nothing to the table," Marcus rolled his eyes."Excuse me? What do you mean I bring nothing to the table? I support your decisions, I stand by your side, I even agreed to your stupid idea of trying to ruin C
CHAPTER 68Lilian took one more look at herself in the mirror, adjusted her wig and then added an extra layer of red lipstick.She nodded in satisfaction, grabbed her purse and then headed downstairs."All the paintings are still dusty. Is this what I pay you for?!" She heard her mother's loud voice yelling at a maid."No, ma'am," the maid replied quietly."So clean it properly!" Rose snapped with a huff and turned back to continue flicking through her magazine. Her eyes then met Lilian who was all dressed up."Lilian, dearie, how are you?" She walked towards her and cupped her face."I'm fine mom.""Are you going somewhere?" "Yes. I need to catch up with a few of my friends, the driver will take me.""Oh, are you sure it's a good idea? You don't need to rest?""I said I'm fine mom! I'm sick and tired if you all treating me like I'm a dying person. I need to go out with my friends that's all!" "No, dear it's not like that," Rose tried to hold her hand."Whatever," Lilian rolled her
CHAPTER 69Abigail made her way through the noisy crowd until she was behind the waiter.Caleb and Jane were still too engrossed with whatever they were saying to themselves and the waiter was oblivious of how closely Abigail was following behind him.When she was sure that her aim would be accurate, she pretended to fall, bumping into the waiter. Some of the drinks on the tray spilled over Jane's dress, spotting the perfect white dress with red wine stains. Glasses crashed to the floor and the sound attracted the attention of the others.Jane gasped and looked down at her damaged dress. "What the hell!" Jane yelled, looking down at the ruined dress in disbelief and utter shock. "Sorry ma'am, I'm sorry, I must have missed my step. I'm so sorry," the waiter quickly apologized. The shock and surprise at the suddenness of the whole thing was clearly written over his face. He began to pick up the pieces of broken glass."Yeah, he must've, you can't blame the innocent waiter," Abigail sa
CHAPTER 70"What's on your mind?" Caleb asked Jane after he watched her repeatedly draw shapes on his chest with her index finger. It was just seven o'clock and it was the last day of their vacation."How could you tell there's something on my mind?" "You've been looking moody since you woke up and now you're teasing me with your finger. Or are you down for some hot steamy morning sex? Because I am.""Oh, God, no! Don't you ever censor your words?" Jane flushed and gently smacked his chest."You don't censor your screams when we're fucking.""God! Please stop," Jane closed her ears and Caleb laughed."I do like it when you scream though...""Ugh! You're disgusting," Jane started to move away from his arms but he held her back."Fine, no more talks about how sexy you are when we fuck. Let's talk about what's making you so moody.""It's just.. I really don't want the vacation to end. I've had so much fun especially with you and it just seems stressful to go back to our normal work rout
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