CHAPTER 100Xavier was again at his usual spot in the restaurant with one hand stroking his chin, intently watching the people who entered and exited the restaurant. An untouched glass of beer next to a plate of beefsteak was placed on the table and he absentmindedly fingered the fork on his plate.When his expected visistor finally walked through the doors, he sighed with anticipation and took a sip of his beer.The man swept his eyes across the restaurant, as if search for someone, so Xavier raised his glass above his head to get his attention.He noticed how the man stiffened and gulped when he saw him before starting hesitantly towards the booth."You wanted to see me, sir?" He asked shakily."I did. But you don't look as delighted as I am to see you."The man let out a nervous laugh and fidgeted with his fingers. "Well, er, I was a little nervous when you insisted to see me so...""Some things, my friend, are never discussed over the phone," Xavier replied in his deep baritone."
CHAPTER 101Caleb was putting on his second cufflink when he heard Jane suddenly jerk up from the bed with a gasp. He turned to her and smiled. Her morning look– dishevelled hair, slightly drowsy eyes and dazed expression– was enough to arouse him again. His eyes unconsciously lowered to her lip, red and plump that was around him just hours ago. He shook his head to clear his thoughts before walking towards the bed."Morning, love.""You're dressed!" Jane said with surprise."I get the feeling you want to undress me," Caleb smirked, kneeling on the bed and crawling towards her.Jane scrunched up her nose, as if disgusted."No, I don't. Jeez! Did I oversleep again?""I told you, you tend to do that whenever you sleep in my arms." Jane rolled her eyes but did not stop him when he planted a kiss on her forehead."You should've woken me up as well," Jane whined."You looked too beautiful in your sleep. Besides, I have a meeting at eight with a new investor, thanks to you," he added with
CHAPTER 102Marcus stood above his bathroom sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror with a scowl on his face. The bridge of his nose seemed inflated and it had began to hurt him badly.The bathroom door opened and Abigail walked in, surprised to see him up at such early hour."What's the matter?" She asked as she walked up to him."I can't sleep and this fucking nose won't stop hurting," his scowl deepened."How come?" Abigail asked and turned his body to face her. "It's been almost a week, you said it'll heal in days," Marcus said and winced when she touched his nose."I said it's supposed to heal in days, Marcus, there's a difference. Hold on," she left the bathroom and returned a few seconds later with a napkin.Marcus folded his arms and watched as she wet the napkin under running water and then brought it up to his nose."Careful," he said and she nodded.Abigail began to wipe his nose gently and clean the bruise on his upper jaw as well. Seeing that he was shirtless, she
CHAPTER 103"Oh my God! This is so satisfying!" Jane moaned as the masseur rubbed her temples."Oh, boy," she moaned again, her eyes rolling. "How do you guys even do that?"Lilian laughed. "Some people do have magic hands, don't they?""Indeed! I haven't been to a spa in a really long time and I totally forgot how exquisite the feeling is. Oh, boy!""Jane, I think you need to reduce the sound of your voice, there's a guy over there staring at you like he wants to fuck you right now," Lilian said with a chuckle.Jane opened one eye and peeped around. The man quickly turned his face away."He's a shy one, how cute!" Lilian giggled."Well, he'd better not try to hit on me because Caleb wouldn't take it lightly with him," Jane replied with an air of confidence."No doubt. And speaking of Caleb, I see you two are on good terms again," Lilian said leaning in closer to Jane."I guess we are," Jane shrugged. "Thanks to you, I've realized there really is no point trying to fight against him. H
CHAPTER 104Abigail stopped in her tracks and turned to the direction of the voice.Immediately she spotted Jane, her blood began to boil. Jane, on the other hand, was initially happy to see her cousin but when she saw the hostile reaction from Abigail, she felt nervous."What do you want?" Abigail snapped. "To break my nose just like your silly husband did to Marcus? Has he sent you here to beat me up as well? So I can't even have the luxury to grab a cup of coffee anymore?" Abigail ranted. She was obviously not in a good mood."No, Abigail, I don't have any bad intentions towards you," Jane said in the calmest voice she could muster and moved closer to her."Don't even take another step forward, Jane, I don't have time for your crap this sunny morning. Haven't you done enough already?""I didn't mean for Caleb to hurt Marcus.""The past is the past, isn't it? You both cornered him and beat him up but, oh well, he's also a coward anyway.""Abigail, I'm sorry about what happened to M
CHAPTER 105"What a coincidence!" Bianca repeated with a stunned look on her face. She squatted to the baby stroller and picked Jeffery up."You didn't tell me you were leading us straight to daddy!""Bianca, what are you doing here?" Caleb asked, each syllable dripping with contempt."You wouldn't believe it, Caleb!" Bianca smiled widely. "Jeffery wouldn't stop crying and I reasoned that he wanted to go out so I decided to take him on a stroll and he began to point towards this restaurant and, of course, every mom would understand what that meant. So here I am!" She slid into the couch besides Caleb who sighed and pressed himself closer to the wall."Wow, this place is awesome, and this couch, damn!" Bianca exclaimed as she pressed her fingers into the soft velvety couch."Bianca, you're not supposed to be here," Jane said, also trying her best to keep her anger in check."Why not? You don't want Caleb to spend some time with his son that you tried to poison to death?"Jane let out
CHAPTER 106The hospital reeked of disinfectant and the excessive whiteness was almost blinding: white tiles, white walls, and even the metal chairs they sat on was white."I'm beginning to think this is a bad idea," Abigail whispered to Diane who was also looking nervous and out of place."Well look on the bright side," Diane said to her. "Your modelling career will remain intact. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.""Miss Abigail?" A nurse asked and Abigail's blood ran cold."Y-yes, that's me," she said standing."The doctor would see you now please," the nurse replied, and gestured towards an office."Can she come along?" Abigail asked pointing at Diane."I'm afraid not, ma'am.""It's fine, Aby, you've got this," Diane said to her.Abigail gulped, took in a few breaths and walked into the office.The doctor was a man, much to Abigail's disappointment. He looked like someone in his early forties but he had already started balding. She turned to the nurse to ask for a female doc
CHAPTER 107Marcus walked briskly into Best Health hospital, desperate to find Abigail. It was the second hospital he had been to and was even willing to search the entire hospitals in the city as long as he would find her.He couldn't believe that she was bold enough to follow through with her plans of getting an abortion, and now, what he had considered as mere bluffing had turned out to be something quite real and serious."Abigail. Abigail Dreame," Marcus said impatiently to the woman at the hospital's front desk."And what's your relationship with the woman you're looking for, sir?""I'm her husband. I need to see her."The woman then put on her glasses and began to look through the list of names on her computer. Marcus drummed his fingers impatiently on the desk as he waited."You say she came in today, sir?""Yes! Yes, she did. She came in this morning if I'm not mistaken," Marcus felt like snatching the laptop from her and searching for Abigail's name by himself."Well, I'm so
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