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After picking Thalia up from the Ford mansion, Oliver dropped his family at Claire’s apartment so that Claire could pack their clothes while he went to see Jessica Hart at the correctional facility. “Marie, you will be moving with us since you need to help out with Thalia,” Claire told Thalia’s nanny, Marie Johnson.She was an elderly woman in her early fifties with an average weight and tanned skin. Claire always moved with her since she took good care of Thalia while she worked. Marie nodded and smiled, saying, “I’ll pack up but what about Miss Katherine? Is she going to stay here alone?” Claire sighed deeply. She had asked her mother to move in with them at the villa but Katherine declined. At the moment, she was travelling around the country to reflect and unwind. It seemed years of hatred and anger had drained the life out of her. “Mom said she’s comfortable in this house. I’ll find her someone she can live with soon,” Claire replied and proceeded to pack her things. A little
Claire awoke to her eyes unable to see anything. She recalled how a car had pulled up next to them and then someone attacked her. Her heart jumped to her throat and panic crept into her. ‘Where am I? Where is my daughter?’“She’s awake,” a strange voice said. “Let the boss know.”‘The boss?’ Claire mused, her heart pounding violently against her chest. ‘Have I been kidnapped?’ The thought that came to her was that these thugs might have done something to her daughter. “Where’s my daughter?” She asked, her voice hoarse. She felt one of the men approaching and then the black bag that covered her face was removed. Looking around, Claire’s heart sank. Her daughter wasn’t with her. Claire was in a basement that looked like it had been carefully prepared for someone. A bed was in one corner with a TV on the opposite end, hanging on the wall. There was even a door that looked like it led to the bathroom. Despite how clean the basement was, fear crept into Claire. She glared at the str
Claire gulped. Her heart raced as she asked, "How did we end up matching on the dating app?" She had an inkling of what had happened but she brushed those thoughts away. She didn't want to believe that she was such a bad judge of character. "Did you plan everything?" "Of course, I did. I grew up being afraid of that bastard showing up and taking everything. Do you think I would have sat and waited for him to show up without doing anything?" Wesley snapped. The fact that he had a brother who was the rightful heir to the Crawford fortune was a weapon his mother always used to control him and shape him into the man she wanted him to be. After everything he had done, Wesley couldn't accept that he would end up with nothing.He recalled how he ended up making such a desperate move. ~FLASHBACK~The day Wesley visited Jessica, they made a plan to come in between Oliver and Claire. It was a foolproof plan. They planned to hire a woman who would seduce Oliver and make Claire think he was
Oliver Ford hadn't slept a wink in the last two days. Refusing to sit still and wait for news, he decided to join the team looking for Claire. In the last hours that she was missing, he had turned the City upside down looking for her. He had men looking in every corner of the city and some were looking in the nearby cities. However, footage from the tollgates and information from the airport didn't have any information about Claire Hamilton leaving the city. This meant she was still in Brentwood City. But where? They had looked everywhere and interrogating Jessica seemed futile since the latter refused to say anything.Oliver went to the extent of going to every house of someone who knew Claire to search for her but he found nothing. "Dante, have your men found anything?" Oliver desperately asked Dante on the phone. He was the family friend who helped him find Thalia when she was kidnapped. Unfortunately, this time, not even the Mafia could find any lead about Claire's disappearan
“According to the DNA results, the body doesn’t belong to Claire,” Jake announced and Quinn heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh my god!” She remarked and unwittingly threw her arms around his neck, hugging him. “I was so worried.” Jake didn’t expect the sudden hug so his arms hang in there. He didn’t know whether to wrap them around Quinn or to just let her do her thing. However, he inwardly admitted that the hug felt good. Quinn’s body was soft and warm against his. She smelled good too. Like lilies. Jake fought the urge to bury his face in the crook of Quinn’s neck and take a long whiff. He knew she probably didn’t know what she was doing so he just patted her back gently, saying, “It’s such a relief. Now we just have to hope we find her soon.” Quinn pulled away, tears brimming her eyes. She pouted before the dam broke and big fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Jake panicked. His eyes slightly widened as he asked, “Hey, what’s wrong?” Quinn shook her head, wiping her tears. She rem
A month later…“Bro, we are almost at the base. We need to be careful, they might know we are coming,” Dante whispered to Oliver as they stealthily made their way to an abandoned building. “The more reason we should hurry. They might sneak the victims out before we get there,” Oliver said, his jaws clenching. He had a pistol in his hands while he wore a bulletproof vest just like the rest of the team. For the last four weeks, Oliver took a break from work and dedicated his time to searching for Claire. Since they couldn’t find her anywhere, they assumed she had been kidnapped by human traffickers. That was the only logical explanation for her disappearance. So, Oliver and Dante raided every hidden base of the traffickers they had found in the city. Nevertheless, each base that they raided didn’t have any signs of Claire. Although they had managed to rescue other women and children, Oliver was sad that he had yet to find his wife. They got closer to the building and Dante gave a
“I’ll find you a nurse,” Wesley said, his eyes widening as he stared at the blood seeping through Claire’s clothes. “I’m a-afraid I’ll be d-dead by then, W-Wesley… I know you’re s-scared of being caught... but... this might be your turning point. The Wesley... I know i-is a good man. I need to go to the hospital,” Claire remarked with difficulty, her face covered in sweat. 'A good man? I've never been good in my life,' Wesley thought and scoffed. 'There's no turning point for me.'“I’m sure you’re just on your period,” Wesley replied and left the basement, crushing Claire's hope of leaving that place. Claire sighed, biting her lower lip as though it would ease the pain in her belly. Her heart raced when she thought about why she could be in so much pain and bleeding at the same time. ‘Could I be…? No… I hope not,’ she mused knowing what it meant to bleed if her assumptions were correct. Thirty minutes later, Wesley returned with a nurse. He pointed a gun at the scared woman and or
Hours earlier...One of the investigators that Oliver had placed to watch and follow Wesley Crawford reported that he was acting suspiciously. "What is he up to?" Oliver asked with narrowed eyes. Even though he didn't find anything in Wesley's house, Oliver didn't stop suspecting him. Wesley was one of the people who would have a motive to kidnap Claire. Perhaps he was working with Jessica's accomplice or maybe he was the accomplice. Oliver had no evidence to bring Welsey in for questioning so all he could do was keep an eye on his every move. "He keeps getting painkillers from different pharmacies. I find that behavior odd, sir," Steve reported.Oliver's eyes squinted thoughtfully. He instructed, "Keep following him. If anything suspicious comes up, call me.""Noted, sir," Steve replied. Oliver went home briefly to see his daughter. After having supper because he needed the strength to continue searching for Claire, he received a call from Steve again. "This Wesley guy just boug