“Did you do it?”
“No! Why would you even think that?”
“The photos were taken from your room, Chloe. Who else had access to your room?”
“Ever heard of maids?” She asked sarcastically.
“The maids are not allowed to use their phones while on duty.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Emilia. I didn’t do it. I would never betray you and Kane like that. Never!”
Emilia sighed. “This is really disturbing. Maybe coming back to the U.S. with the children was a mistake.”
“I don’t think so. I kinda have a sneaky feeling that someone is trying to set me up in this house and I honestly don’t know why.”
“My vote is on Serena.”
“Who’s that?”
“Lillian’s PA. She even claimed that she saw Samuel coming out of your room on the day of the party.”
Chloe’
They arrived home and found two police cars parked in front of the mansion with their red and blue lights flashing. Both of them were instantly worried and got out of the Rolls Royce as soon as the car pulled to a stop.“What’s going on? What happened?” Emilia asked, racing toward the policemen standing near the open front door.“Good evening, Mrs Beaumont,” one of them greeted her. “Please, be calm.”“Why are you guys here?” Kane asked too.“Let’s go inside, please,” a female cop said and tried to lead Emilia inside.“No! Tell me what happened right now!”“You’re back,” said Elsie, coming outside. She looked upset and her usually impeccable makeup was ruined with tears. “Please, come inside and sit down.”Kane followed his mother in and Emilia followed suit too. The suspense was killing them but it seemed that everyone wa
“Please tell me you have some good news for me, Detective Riley,” Kane said as he welcomed the cop into his office.“Well… let’s just say we might have hit a little snag in the search but we’re not giving up.”“What do you mean?”“We found the Banks family members. The father is battling heart disease and lives in hospice care. He informed us that he and Kendra’s mother got divorced shortly after their daughter’s death.”“Why? Because they couldn’t squeeze out more money from me?”“Not really. Joyce was the brain behind all those interviews and smear campaigns. The old guy claimed to have been forced to participate but he eventually got tired and bowed out.”“Interesting…”“That was when Joyce filed for a divorce and kicked him out of their home.”“And their son?”“
Kane’s head was throbbing when he woke up. His back ached and his mouth felt heavy. He yawned and tried to roll over but he bumped into soft, warm flesh.His eyes cleared immediately and he blinked when he saw a naked woman lying beside him. He was even more horrified when he realized that he too was naked and they were lying down on the floor of his study.“What the hell?” He cursed and sat up.Serena woke up and smiled at him. “Good morning, handsome.”“What the hell are you doing here?”Her smile faltered. “I came here to keep you company last night when you were lonely and we made love twice.”Kane nearly fainted. His life was over!“That’s not possible,” he whispered in denial. “I couldn’t have done that.”“You did!” Serena fired back sharply. She was starting to lose her temper.“I have no recollection of eve
“We have a solid lead,” said Detective Riley confidently. “We got a hit on Joyce Banks’ debit card yesterday. She used it to purchase a bus ticket in Florida.”“Thank God!” Kane sighed with relief.“She took my baby to Florida?” Emilia wailed.“Please, calm down, Mrs Beaumont. We haven’t yet established that she is your daughter’s kidnapper.”“I don’t care what you’ve established. Everything points to her as the culprit!” Emilia snapped.“Sweetheart, please,” Kane implored her. “So, detective, have you sent a team down to Florida to track her down?”“Yes, we deployed a search party immediately. They’ll report back to me later today with their findings.”“So, what now? Are we supposed to just sit around and wait for a report?” Emilia asked. “Why don’t we go there ourselves and bring our child home?”“Mrs Beaumont – ““Don’t patronize me, Detective Riley. I’m not going to sit here and count sheep until you and your team finally get around to locating my daughter’s kidnapper. I’m boardin
Kane returned home with his tail between his legs. The trip to Florida had been a complete waste of time.The street urchin who was using Joyce’s card couldn’t remember where he stole it from her. He was so high that he was barely coherent.“Please, come back home quickly,” His mother had told him on the phone. “Emilia is ill again. We’ve sent for the doctor to come and check her but I think you need to be here too.”He’d gotten on his private jet as soon as he could, leaving Detective Riley behind to continue with the investigation. As soon as he arrived at the Beaumont mansion, a maid was waiting at the doorway with a sealed note in her hand.“What’s this?” He asked distastefully when she presented the note to him.He wasn’t in the mood to look through the utility bills. That was Lillian’s job.“It’s a note for you, sir,” said the maid. “Miss Filipe instructed me to give it to you. She said it is a very important message which you must receive as soon as you arrive.”He snatched the
“You have to do something about this, Kane. People are beginning to talk.”“What do you want me to do?”“Plead with Emilia again until she allows you back into the mansion. Living in your condo like this won’t solve anything.”“Living with her won’t solve anything either. This is all my fault, so let me carry my cross alone, Lillian. Thanks, by the way.”“Don’t thank me. I was the one that let that sneaky viper into our house. I still can’t believe it. How could she do that to you?”“Still my fault. I let my guard down.”“I always knew there was something sinister about that girl but I didn’t expect her to go that far.”“Well, the deed is done. Let’s refocus our attention on finding Tiara and bringing this nightmare to an end.”Lillian sighed. “Gosh, Kane. It’s been nearly three months since she went missing. We should have found her by now.”“Trust me, this is the most frustrating experience of my life. I never knew that there was something my endless supply of money couldn’t get me.
“Fix it!”“How?”“I don’t care. Just fix it and make it go away. I’m not going to let that demented demon take the public’s attention away from my daughter’s search.”“Do you realize what you’re saying, Emilia? Fixing this means letting Serena walk free.”“So be it. If you’d had the decency to keep your dick in your pants, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”Kane groaned. “I’ve already explained that to you a million times. I was drunk that night and I still don’t remember what happened. I didn’t do it deliberately.”“So you say…”“You still don’t believe me?”“That’s not important right now. Do everything you must to make sure that Serena doesn’t spill her gut to the world. It’s bad enough that the police are already awar
“We should go to the hotel,” Kane suggested when Emilia had finally calmed down.“I’m not going anywhere until we find my daughter,” she replied stubbornly.“I understand how you feel but as you can see, it’s getting late. There isn’t much we can do anymore at this time.”“So what do we do when we get to the hotel?”“Strategize and plan for tomorrow. Maybe we can finally involve the local police.”She sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.”They were keeping a low profile in Mexico but that didn’t stop Kane from lodging them along with their companions in one of the finest hotels in the city.He’d gotten a single room for himself and Emilia because he didn’t want to raise eyebrows in case they were recognized by name.“I’ll take the bed and you can sleep on the couch,” she said dismissively when they entered the
Emilia’s road to recovery was a slow and painful one. After six weeks, she was moved to a regular private ward where she got around in a wheelchair.“The doctors believe that your spine injury has healed enough for you to begin physical therapy,” Kane announced to her one afternoon.“That’s good news,” she smiled.“Yes. Who knows, you might get back on your feet in time for the twin’s fourth birthday.”“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, please.”Kane placed his hand on hers and squeezed it gently. “I am not afraid to hope, Emilia.”She shrugged. “Sometimes, hope ends up in disappointment.”“Don’t say that. I believe you’ll walk again.”His phone buzzed. He checked it and got on his feet. “Sorry, my love. This is an important business call.”“You don’t need my permission to answer your phone, Kane. Go ahead and take the call but do it outside. I think I’ll take a nap,” she said and yawned.He pecked her on the cheek and hurried out of the room. Emilia got comfortable on her bed and clo
Kane thought it was only possible to dodge bullets in movies but he’d done it in real life. When the old man showed up with the gun and yelled at him, Kane had preempted his opponent’s move and dropped to the ground before he pulled the trigger.He lunged at the man, knocking him to the ground. Hank fired another shot that went into the ceiling and Kane grabbed the rifle, trying to wrestle it from his grip.“Get off me, you bastard!” Hank yelled at him as he continued to maintain his hold on the gun.Kane headbutted him, destabilizing Hank for a few seconds. He finally snatched the gun from his hands and got up.“You bastard. You broke my nose,” Hank lamented and wiped the blood from his nostril.“Who the hell are you?” Kane asked him while aiming the rifler at its owner.“I’m Hank. This is my cabin and you’re a trespasser.”Kane glanced at Emilia and saw that she
Kane felt like smashing his fist into something. He was so angry he couldn’t think straight. He should never have left Emilia alone.He should have given his Qatari business partners an excuse for not showing up to the contract signing ceremony. Now, he would still miss the event and his wife’s life is in danger as well.“I am going to kill that guy when I see him again,” he muttered angrily.Emilia had suggested that Matt could be the stalker but he had written off that possibility because he was so certain that his wife’s ex-lover was safely tucked away in Wyoming. The bastard had waited for him to leave before finally making his move.His phone rang. It was his mother calling.“Yes, Mother?” He answered impatiently.“The police have found the kidnapper’s vehicle,” Elsie said shakily.Kane sighed with relief. “Has he been arrested?”“Well… that isn’t possible anymore.”“Why not?”“He’s dead. They said the vehicle was crushed completely. They’d have to cut it up to bring out the body
When Emilia regained consciousness, it was dark and she could smell the delicious aroma of beef stew. She was in so much pain that the only part of her body that she could move was her eyes.A slow scan around her surroundings showed her that she was inside a log cabin. She was in a small room, lying on a bed alone. There was one chair in the room beside the bed and a bookshelf with a lantern on top of it.She suddenly remembered that Matt had said he was taking her to a cabin before she jumped on him. Panic gripped her.Had he somehow managed to survive that terrible crash and brought her here after all? How was she going to escape now?She heard the footsteps coming towards the room and a male voice humming a tune. Who was that? Her saviour or her captor?The fear of the unknown made her nervous but she couldn’t get up from the bed to hide. She seemed pinned to the spot.A few seconds later, a strange man showed up at the doorway, ho
“Who is it?” Lara called out from the living room.“Don’t say a word,” Matt warned Emilia.“So, you’re the stalker.”“I hate that word. I wasn’t stalking you, by the way. I was just letting you know that I’ll come back for you and now, here I am.”“What do you think you’re doing, Matt?” She asked him softly. “How do you think this is going to end?”“It’s going to end with you following me quietly and going back to Wyoming with me. Or we could go to Connecticut together. Do you remember how much fun it was when we were together in that hotel, making love all night?”“That wasn’t a fun memory for me,” she replied flatly. “it was a painful time in my life when I was searching frantically for my missing child.”“Well, you’ve found her, haven’t you? Now, stop talking and com
“We will have the mansion under a one-week surveillance to see if the stalker will show up again,” said the police officer, Gary Wesley. “so, have no fear, Mrs Beaumont. If he shows up again, we will catch him and arrest him.”“That’s very reassuring, thank you.” Said Emilia.“If the stalker isn’t caught this week, will you extend your surveillance by another week?” Kane wanted to know.“Let’s see how this week goes first but I am confident that we will catch the stalker if he shows up again,” said officer Wesley.“Fair enough. Thank you for your time.”After the policeman left, Kane joined Emilia in the sunroom where she was brooding alone.“Don’t worry, my love. You’re safe with me,” he said softly. “and if the police can’t protect us, nobody else can.”“I’m just trying to figure out who could be playing this prank on me. What if it’s Matt?”“Who? The Wyoming guy?”“Yes.”“I don’t think so. Why would he leave his job and family to come here and leave dumb notes for you?”“I know, bu
“I really enjoyed our vacation but it does feel good to be back home,” Emilia sighed happily one week later as she relaxed in the family swimming pool with Lillian.Their children were in the kiddies' swimming pool nearby with their nannies and swimming instructors.“I can tell you had a great time. You’re glowing like a crystal ball.”“I am? Gee, thanks.”“I envy you. I wish I can go on a vacation too.”“Why not?”Lillian sighed heavily. “This divorce negotiation with Samuel is becoming a pain in the ass. We have another mediation scheduled for next week with our attornies.”“What’s going on?”“That greedy son-of-a-bitch wants spousal support and is demanding a piece of some of my properties.”“What!”“I can’t believe his audacity. What makes him think he’s entitled to anything
“That audio recording has done its magic,” Virgil informed Kane over the phone a few days after the TV interview. “the publishing company has cancelled their deal with Serena.”“As they should. She was going to write hundreds of pages filled with lies about me and my family. She should have taken the money I offered her.”“She might reach out to you for it.”“That offer is off the table. She missed her chance.”“Well, that’s that then. My work here is done but don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you need my services again.”“Of course, thank you.”After the phone conversation, he went in search of Emilia and found her in the sunroom with Lillian and Elsie.“Hello, ladies. May I join you?”“Of course, darling,” said Elsie. “we were going over the details of your upcoming wedding anniversary party.&r
“Romeo and Juliet… I was wondering when both of you will finally show up here,” said Serena with a delighted grin.“Let’s cut to the chase then,” said Kane curtly. “my wife and I are ready to offer you twice the amount you’re getting from the publishing house to write your book.”Serena giggled. “Are you trying to silence me? I am an American citizen and I have the right to free speech.”“Not if your free speech is a bunch of lies targeted at destroying our reputation,” said Emilia.“You’re one to talk. Aren’t you the same woman that cheated on her husband with a random farmhand in Wyoming? And you’re here talking about your reputation. How ironic.”“How much do you want?” Kane asked her.“I’ve told you a billion times already, Kane. I don’t want your money, I want you.”“What’s that supposed to mean?”“Divorce this woman who is unworthy of you and then marry me. I will be devoted to you, I will be faithful to you and I will make you proud wherever I go.”“That will never happen,” Emi