Chapter 4 : Old Friend

Andrew pounded the dining table angrily. Making everyone feel tense and no longer excited to enjoy breakfast. Two weeks had passed, but his men still hadn't found Alex.

"Calm down! Alex will be back. If you are thinking too much, I'm afraid your illness will recur." Stacy said.

"Stacy is right. After all, that kid is used to being well-off and you've also blocked all his financial access. How could he possibly survive for long out there without money? Right, Stacy?" Grandma Emma quipped.

Stacy just rolled her eyes at her mother-in-law's words.

"It's all your fault for not teaching Alex properly! How could he go against my orders!" Andrew complained.

Stacy threw the spoon onto the plate. She stood up and looked at Andrew with emotion, "You keep blaming me! You think you're good at teaching our kids? You always push your will on Alex and he never fights back. But have you ever asked him how he feels? You weren't even a good father to him. Just a selfish father who always pressures his son in the name of business."

Andrew stood up and looked at Stacy angrily. He clenched his hands into fists. Stacy's words were sharp and pierced his heart, but he didn't deny that what his wife said was true. Andrew's face flushed with emotion.

"And you, Mom!" Stacy looked at her mother-in-law, "Don't always put Alex in a corner. He has tried to do the best for this family by obeying his father's wishes. Besides, Alex is much better than that bitch!" she said as she glanced at Clara.

Now it was Clara's turn to hold back her anger at her stepmother's words. Even though she was born out of wedlock, Clara was not at all willing to have her mother insulted with inappropriate words. Grandmother took Clara's hand and looked at her. The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Andrew sat back down, ruffled his hair, and shouted angrily. If Alex failed to marry Martha, it would be even more difficult for him to get back most of the company's share of the profits. On the other hand, Mr. Mendel would no longer trust Andrew to hold company projects in the future.

"If Alex refuses to marry Martha, then I won't leave him a penny. I will leave this house and all my wealth to Clara."

Alex's words shocked everyone, especially Stacy.

"What?! You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No! Alex is the only son in this family and you can't just throw him away!"

"I can do whatever I want. Clara is my daughter after all. My blood flows from her too."

"But she was born out of wedlock! From the start, that bitch intentionally used her daughter's existence to drain our family's wealth!"

"That's enough!" Now it was Clara's turn to speak. Tears rolled down her cheeks, "Stop calling my mother that!"

"Why? You don't accept it?"

"Stacy, that's enough. You're so ridiculous!" Grandma hugged Clara and led her out of the dining room.

Andrew also chose to leave Stacy alone. Ignoring the cries of Stacy who kept calling out to him with words of protest.

Stacy walked over to Clara in her room. She opened the door loudly and gripped the girl's chin tightly.

"You'd better not even think about taking possession of Andrew's inheritance, you son of a bitch! You and your mother are both snake women hungry for wealth. The difference is that you are more fortunate to live here than your mother. You and your mother will not live in peace. Do you understand?!"

Clara, who already understood her stepmother's behavior, chose to remain silent. There were no tears on her cheeks like at the dinner table. Not even her eyes showed fear.

Stacy released her grip roughly and left. After Stacy left, Clara smiled. She took out her cell phone and called someone.

"Mom, I have a good news for you."

Clara didn't want to talk about it on the phone. She was afraid that someone would eavesdrop on their conversation. All the maids here were subservient to Stacy and could potentially be spies. She quickly drove to her mother's house by car.

Luna greeted Clara with an impatient expression. She pulled her daughter into the house and locked the door.

"Calm down, Mom. I just got here and you're forcing me to tell you."

"Don't waste time. Tell me what happened?"

Clara told her everything that happened this morning including her father's words. This made Luna very happy. After a dozen years of waiting, the opportunity she had been waiting for had finally come.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Luna immediately contacted her boyfriend -Daniel Brown, one of the mafia leaders in Los Angeles- to help her find Alex's whereabouts. Daniel immediately mobilized his men to find Alex. Luna had to make sure that her stepson would never return to the house, or if necessary he would be killed. Clara did not remain silent. She told Daniel's men the last trace of Alex's whereabouts that she got from Brandon.

Daniel's extensive network of men made their search fruitful quickly. A homeless man claimed to recognize the man in the photo shown by Daniel's men, but his name was not Alex but Matthew.

Daniel's men immediately called Luna to inform her. To make sure that what they said was true, Luna decided to prove it herself and drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

A large building stood tall in front of Luna. In the last report from Daniel's men, Alex was working as a waiter in one of the casinos in the building.

"Hi, Luna. Is that you?" greeted a woman who was now behind her.

When Luna turned around, she was shocked and couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Cathrine?"

"Yes, it's me!" Cathrine looked very happy to see her old friend.

Luna decided to check it out herself and she accidentally bumped into Cathrine.

Luna was very nervous as she was afraid Cathrine would find out that she had a child with Andrew and that she was the one who told Jonas to instigate Andrew that night.

Cathrine invited Luna to coffee, but Luna declined for some reason.

"Well, it's nice to see you again. But, I have some business to take care of. So... maybe next time. Again, nice to meet you, Katy."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Cathrine sensed that her old friend was hiding something. She entered a casino and met Matthew, telling him to be careful with strangers.

After she heard what happened to Alex, Cathrine helped Alex change his identity. Although Cathrine wasn't convinced that Luna knew about Alex, for the sake of her plan, she had to be vigilant. Being in the dark world for so long made Cathrine smarter and less easily tricked.

When she returned to the mansion, Cathrine felt something strange. Some of the systems in her house became problematic. Making her feel very upset. She called the tech company's customer service, but since business hours were over, they promised to come the next day.

While Cathrine was taking a shower, suddenly all the lights in her house went out. She came out of the bathroom illuminated by a candle. Suddenly someone hugged her from behind.

"Hey, baby. I missed you," said a man's voice and kissed Cathrine's hair.

Cathrine was both surprised and incredulous. Now she knew who the man was who was causing chaos in her home.

"Braga!"