Arturo went home first, but Jacob and Al continued their talk. Both of them sat in the living room of the Gold Cleaner’s headquarters with a glass of wine for each of them.
“Have you found anything about Emily?” Jacob asked as Al was the one in charge to find news about Emily.
“Nothing,” the younger man said. “It’s as if she vanished into the air. It’s weird that I already sent our men to nearby cities and towns. None of them reports anything yet.”
Jacob blew his breath and shook his head. “Where is she …?”
“Bro, you can find someone else. I know you don’t need more money.”
“You know me better,” Jacob said
“I’m curious about something.” Al stared at Jacob.“Hmm?”“How could you build your business from scratch? I mean you told me you got a loan from Amy to pay the ransom. It means you didn’t have money to start your business, right?”“Right.” Jacob nodded and leaned his back on the couch again. “It’s like a dream when I think about it now.” He closed his eyes. “I thought all’s gone when my father died ….”“Sorry, Bro. No need to tell me if it’s too hurtful.”Sighing, Jacob shook his head. “It’s okay. I told your old man years ago before I joined the Gold Cleaner, you know.”
Both of them were quiet for a while because they thought about Arturo and his love for his late wife. Then Al let out a long sigh.“What?” Jacob asked.“I don’t want to be like my old man, you know.”“Why?”“Too serious with a woman, even after she died.” Al shook his head as he remembered his late mother. “It’s too intense. As if I would give too much power to a woman for the rest of my life, even after her death.”“But you see your father. He’s happy with his choice.”Al shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe, but I think it’s a torture to love someone so deep, to be hurt so
Three months later, a designer was busy preparing a newborn room in Harold’s house. The ob-gyn Emily visited already checked the pregnancy through the USG (ultrasonography) to find she was carrying twins: a boy and a girl.So, knowing that she would have twins, Emily already prepared the name for her babies: Jason and Mia Brooke. Jason was a name similar to Jacob, while Mia was a shortened version name from hers.Each time she went to the ob-gyn, Harold was always with her, treating her as if she were his wife. That’s why the doctor and nurses thought Harold was truly Emily’s husband, but for some reasons, maybe the mother-to-be wanted to maintain her last name instead of using her husband’s.One night, Emily missed Jacob so much until she sobbed. Harold, whose room was connected
Jacob walked back and forth in his office as it had already been three months, but they couldn’t find Emily yet. Al didn’t want to meet him as he was ashamed of his failure.At first, Jacob didn’t realize it. Yet, after a while, his friend kept refusing to meet him each time he asked. Al would make any excuses. It made Jacob more upset because it was as if he lost his bride-to-be and best friend at the same time.It was getting worse by Viona’s actions, who were unprofessional at work. Like what happened just now. She came to his office wearing a thin white blouse. The fabric was so thin until he could see her black lingerie.When he frowned at her, Viona only smiled and greeted him, “Sir, you don’t have a lot of schedule today. So, I wonder if you want to rest.”
A red-haired woman walked to a hotel. She wore all white, following the order from the one who contacted her on the phone. The woman entered the elevator and strolled through the hall on the third floor of the large hotel. She stopped outside room 333 and knocked on the door.Someone, a lawyer, opened the door and stared at the red-haired woman. “Ah, you’re here. Good! Please have a seat!”The red-haired one took a seat and waited for whatever the first one would say. It was for a job, and she needed it badly.The lawyer opened a folder and took some paper inside. “It’s a contract for the job and an NDA—non-disclosure agreement. If you want to take the job, you must sign both. You can’t disclose anything about the job and everything relates to it, including the one who
Elsa called Jacob when he was in the middle of the Gold Cleaner’s meeting. Since he silenced his phone, he didn’t know Elsa called him. After the meeting, he checked his phone and excused himself to others so he could call her.“Aunty, how are you? I hope you called because you had news about Emily.”“Yes, I do! Emily texted me again to tell me she’s healthy. So, I was relieved to know that. But there’s something you need to know. Emily called me from abroad.”“Where?”“Argentina.”He raised his eyebrow because it was far from their country. How she could go there alone was a mystery because Al and their people should already check all airports.&nbs
Al tapped his chin with his fingers. “Where do you want to keep her?”“My apartment is good,” Jacob said immediately.“Okay.” Then Al contacted his men. “I have a mission for you. Find Emily Brooke’s location in Argentina.”“Yes, sir. Right away.”After ending the call, Al frowned. “Are you sure the info is valid?” Somehow, he doubted it because it was too easy. He tried to find Emily’s location for months and couldn’t find her at all. Suddenly, Jacob got Emily’s photo just like that. It was too much of a coincidence.“Why? Do you think Emily’s mother lied?”
Emily gulped because Harold was right, but she didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness. If he truly loved her, it would be bad for him to marry her while she couldn’t love him back.“I can’t ….” She shook her head again. “Let’s not discuss it for now.” She was quiet for a while. “You are a kind man, Harold. I want you to be happy. I can’t marry you because I can’t love you back.”He sighed because he truly expected her to accept his proposal, but she tried to be fair to him. So, he reached out his hand to hold hers and kissed the back of her hand.“Baby, it’s okay if you haven’t loved me. I can live with that.”“No, it’s unfair.” She insist
Jacob and Emily talked about the twins, about the past, and also their current situation. Then Emily said, “I’m sorry for not letting you know when I was pregnant with Jason and Mia.”“I forgive you,” he held her hand and squeezed it, “but can you consider divorcing Harold? I want to marry you and be our children’s father and your husband.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “We can’t repeat the past, but if you give me another chance, I promise I’ll protect and care for you and the children.”She let out a long sigh while biting her lower lip. After knowing Harold’s infidelity, it was getting harder and harder to stay in her marriage.But then she shook her head. “The reason I ran away three years ago was because I knew
From the hospital, Emily was about to go home, but she walked to a cafe near the hospital. After ordering and paying for a cup of latte, she took a deep breath and called Jacob. He took the call after the second ring. “Emily? How’s Jason? Is he okay?”It warmed her heart to know Jacob cared so much for their son. “Jason is well. I just visited him. I … I wonder if we can talk.”“Oh? Sure. What do you want to talk about?” “Well, about the offer you gave.” She licked her dry lips. “I’m at a cafe near the hospital. Can you come here so we can talk?”“Okay. I’m on my way.”After thirty minutes, Jacob arrived at the cafe. Since a few visitors were there, he could spot Emily right away. She waved at him, and he walked toward her table. After seeing her empty cup, he said, “Do you mind if we go elsewhere?”Emily shook her head. “No, it’s okay if you want to go somewhere.”So, Jacob escorted her to the parking lot, his hand on the small of her back. Since he drove the car alone, he opened t
Then, it was the time Viona left Harold’s office. He was already awake and promised her to give a jewelry set because he enjoyed the surprise.When Viona met Emily, she smiled and pretended to be shocked to see her. “Oh!” She covered her mouth with a hand. “You’re here.”Emily recognized Viona’s voice as the voice on the phone. However, she didn’t want to create a scene in Harold’s office.Viona sneered and then bent her head to whisper, “Mr. Montgomery is such a generous man. He promised to give me a jewelry set.” Then she licked her lips. “Maybe he loves my surprise.”Clenching her hand, Emily took a deep breath. She smiled at the assistant. “You can have your lunch now.”
After thinking about what happened, Viona knew Harold was someone she could count on. Considering her nephew told her how happy he was working at the Silent Syndicate, she knew if she could have Harold at her side, she wouldn’t need to work again.She hated Jacob because he fired her. She also hated Emily because she got the men he wanted. First, Jacob, and now, Harold. However, with her joining the Silent Syndicate, not only as Harold’s secret agent to spy on Jacob and the Gold Cleaner, being in Lee’s team would help her approach Harold.When she went to the penthouse, she heard a few maids chatting about how Harold treated Emily and the twins well. It made her hate Emily more.The next day, Viona went to Montgomery’s Express. Since Harold would be in the office until eveni
After the meeting, Lee approached Harold. He shook Harold’s hand first and congratulated him. “Can I talk to you?”“Go ahead.”He glanced around to see some leaders remained there. “Well, can we talk privately?”Harold nodded and escorted Lee to the next room. It was a smaller room. He sat on a brown couch and gestured his hand to ask Lee to sit too.Then he asked, “So, what do you want to discuss with me?”“We currently want to recruit a new member. Since we need a diversion, the member is outstanding at providing it.”“Oh? So?” Harold raised his eyebrow because recruiting a team member wasn&rsquo
Gordon Wilson, the Silent Syndicate leader in the drug department, raised his hand.George nodded at him. “Yes, Gordon?”“I think it’s better we raise our hands for people who choose Harold as our leader.”Then all raised their hands, except Harold. When they realized it, the leaders laughed aloud.George grinned at Harold. “See? I told you.” Then he headed to the door and pressed an intercom. It connected to the guard outside. “Bring the champagne!”Some servers entered the meeting room with empty wine glasses on trays. Another bought a cart with two ice buckets and a few bottles of champagne. They opened the bottles, poured the liquid into the wine glasses, then se
At night, Harold attended a meeting of the Silent Syndicate in the headquarters. The agenda was to determine their next leader. It was a regular thing they would discuss every decade. Considering they could choose a new leader after a decade, it would ensure that the syndicate wouldn’t have a bad leader for too long.Five-year leadership changes were suggested because a decade seemed too much. However, most leaders opposed the feedback in the last meeting. It was impractical to change a new leader every five years. Besides, creating a leadership structure required a long time. Changing it every five years would be unproductive.Harold willingly stepped aside for a new leader to take his place. It wasn’t a big deal for him to be the highest leader or not because he was already busy in his business too. Yet, since most of the Silent Syndic
Jacob immediately lifted Jason and ran to the parking lot. Emily, who didn’t notice what happened, was confused because Jacob ran so fast. When Jacob called her, she accepted the call right away.“Emily, we must go to the hospital. It’s an emergency. Please hurry to the parking lot!”Emily was anxious now because she didn’t know what had happened. Yet, she lifted Mia and asked the nurses to rush to the parking lot. When they were there, Jacob was cleaning Jason’s wound.“Oh, no! What happened?” The mother put a hand on her chest because it was the first time she saw her son was badly injured.“Jason tripped and fell to the ground, face first. His forehead hit a rock.” Then Jacob ordered Jimmy,
When they arrived at the theme park, it was crowded. However, Jacob already had some reserved tickets for them, so they didn’t need to queue for a long time. The two nurses also received their tickets.Jacob already created a schedule so the children could ride what they wanted. They enjoyed the carousels, Ferris wheel, seeing some princes and princesses in the castle, then they rode the train too in the theme park.Afterward, they had lunch at a restaurant. Emily ordered salmon salads and also orange juices for the twins. While she ordered seafood spaghetti with mushroom sauce and mineral water for herself.“Go ahead. Order your food,” Emily said to the nurses.However, they shook their heads. “Please order for us, m