CHAPTER 79The car stopped in front of a large ice cream store with the words Creamy Delights written in bold cursive font on a large board.Caleb was still absentmindedly staring out the window with his hand on his chin and did not notice when the car came to a halt."Here, hold Jeff baby while I touch up my make-up a little bit," Bianca said and dumped the child on Caleb's lap even before he could protest.Caleb looked down at the child, unsure what to do with him."Come on," Bianca snapped her mirror shut, opened her side of the door and stepped out."Hey, where are you... Bianca!" Caleb called out, wondering why she was leaving the child with him."Bring him in, he doesn't bite," Bianca said and sashayed into the large store.Caleb sighed and looked down at Jeffery again and wondered how the child took nearly all his physical traits; same eyes, same hair color, and they even had the same mouth shape!"Daddy!" Jeffery squealed, waving his hands in the air."Alright," Caleb hooked h
CHAPTER 80Abigail was seated on the sofa in her and Marcus's large living room, scrolling through tweets and posts."Is my breakfast ready, Abigail?" Marcus asked from inside the room. Abigail rolled her eyes and checked the food delivery app on her phone. It showed that her delivery was just a minute away."It'll be ready in a minute!" She answered back."Where the hell is my phone?" Marcus's voice sounded nearer to the living room."Come on, come on," Abigail said, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently.Just then there was a knock on the door and she rushed to get it."It's about time!" She said to the delivery man and snatched the package from him. She quickly took the plate of meatloaf out of the paper bag and placed it on the table."Have you seen my phone around?" Marcus walked into the living room, adjusting the cufflinks on his sleeve."Yeah, it's on the sofa," she squeezed the paper bag and quickly tossed it to a corner. "Someone named Enzo hasn't stopped calling you."
CHAPTER 81Caleb's laptop dinged with endless notifications. He groaned and rolled to a side of the bed. His eyes were heavy and his head ached from having yet another night of troubled sleep.He looked towards his laptop on the table with drowsy eyes and managed to read a few of the notifications.> Will there ever be an end to this cheating scandal?> CEO already making plans to leave his wife for his baby mama? Read full story here.He narrowed his eyes and bolted up, pulling the laptop closer to himself and reading the notifications faster.> CEO of Lockwood Enterprises seen on public date with his baby mama and son. Where is your wife?!> Who will be the actual heir to the Lockwood Enterprises? > Hundred reasons why men are scum, case reference: CEO Caleb Lockwood."What the fuck!" Caleb exclaimed as he read the degrading topics and comments under them.Tossing the laptop on the bed, he dashed out of his room to confront Bianca who he found in the living room, taking pictures wi
CHAPTER 82Jane stopped on hearing her name and turned.Rose's heart skipped a thousand miles. Why was she here? How long had she been here? What would she tell Stella?"Good morning, ma'am," Jane greeted respectfully."Wh-what are you doing here?""Mom, please," Caleb intervened."No, Caleb, she won't stay here! She has tarnished your name!" "Jane did nothing wrong, mom.""Caleb, don't let her deceive you with her fake tears and remorseful looks, she had the guts to run off to another man at the slightest opportunity! I told you it was a terrible mistake marrying her but you didn't listen!""Mom, can you just listen...""She won't stay here, and that's that!" Rose stomped her foot on the floor."Mom!" Caleb snapped and Rose turned to him with wide eyes."It's okay, Caleb, I'll leave," Jane said sadly and started towards the door but Caleb stood in her way."Jane, don't go, we'll fix everything, please," he held her shoulders and pleaded.Jane looked up at him, her eyes glistening wi
CHAPTER 83As the sun beamed in through the window, its rays settled on Abigail's face, making her squint and turn over on the bed.A bird perched on the window sill, chirping loudly, and Abigail groaned at the noise.She opened her eyes slowly and was surprised to see Marcus already awake, staring up at the ceiling with a small frown on his face. He looked like he was deep in thoughts."Marcus?" She called quietly but he didn't respond.She stretched out and tapped his arm. "Marcus?""Hmm," Marcus shook a little, as if he had suddenly been jolted out from a bad dream."Why are you up so early? What's the matter?""It's nothing," Marcus sighed.Abigail moved closer to him and wrapped her arm around his torso."You haven't been very happy lately, Marcus, and it's freaking me out. Is it about Caleb and Jane? We should even be celebrating because it could take weeks, months even, for them to take care of the issue.""I know," Marcus sighed."So why are you so sulky? We should be doing so
CHAPTER 84As Abigail left the house, she immediately drove to Diane Clark's apartment. Diane was her co-worker in the modeling agency she worked with and was also slowly becoming her best friend.Diane opened the door, her face slimy with aloe vera gel."Aby?" She asked and opened the door wider for her to come in."Hey, Diane," Abigail responded and walked in. "Busy?""I have a shoot in an hour's time," Diane paused and looked her over. "Did you really drive down here in your pajamas or is that a new item of the clothing brand your modeling for?""Don't be silly, Diane, it's my pajamas," Abigail said with a sigh and collapsed on her couch."You look stressed out, babe, what's the problem?" Diane asked and joined her on the couch."It's my husband," Abigail sighed."I knew marriage was total bullshit after my third divorce. Listen, girl, if your husband messes up, you serve him the papers. Problem solved," Diane snapped her fingers."But I'm in love with him, Diane, divorce is out of
CHAPTER 85Jane was quiet, too quiet for Caleb's liking.She had not said much to him since she arrived and he didn't know how much longer he could keep up with the tension between them.He constantly stole glances at her as she ate her breakfast, wishing that she would at least glance back."Are you still mad at me?" He finally asked.Jane paused, her spoon midway to her mouth, but she didn't look up at him. "Yes," she replied."Do you want to be mad at me?" Jane closed her eyes and inhaled. Of course she didn't want to be mad at him. She didn't want to be in the middle of such a complex situation, yet she found it difficult to just get over all that had happened. The news circulating about him and Bianca made her think that Bianca was trying to turn his heart away from her and she knew that if she didn't do something about it quickly enough, she could lose him.She opened her mouth to reply but Bianca suddenly walked in with Jeffery in her arms."Good morning, people! Cold night
CHAPTER 86The board members had been waiting. Some of them aimlessly scrolling through their laptops while some tapped their pens on the table and chewed on their inner cheek.The usual Monday morning meeting was to be held but Caleb had not yet arrived, and they couldn't proceed without him.Xavier saw a perfect opportunity, and when thirty gruelling minutes had finally passed, he stood and called their attention."I'm sure we all must be tired of waiting. Mr Lockwood hasn't informed us of his location and I doubt we can wait any longer. I personally have a lot to attend to, so how about we kickstart the meeting and fill him in when he arrives later?" "I think we should wait a few minutes more," Mr James suggested."How about a vote then? Those in favor of us starting please raise your hands."Five of the eight members raised their hand. "Let's flow with the majority then, shall we?" Xavier smiled at James who just looked away.He pulled out his chair and walked around to one end
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