Extra 4

Extra 4
Jamie was sitting at that corner table in a café across from the hospital where Emma was admitted. From his spot, he could watch people coming and going through the main door. He had found information about Emma and was determined to accomplish his goal. He lowered his gaze to the cup of coffee he could barely afford and thought that soon, all his financial problems would come to an end. His mother could stop pressuring him to fulfill the plan they had devised together. They wanted revenge. They wanted Emma to suffer as they had been suffering since she had called off their engagement months ago. The little they had managed to sell of their belongings allowed them to eat once a day. His hand clutched the worn-out pencil. He pressed hard on the napkin and made a scribble without taking his eyes off the stroke.

"Jamie, right?" he heard a female voice say his name. He looked up and found a beautiful, elegant, blonde woman, already a lady, who seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her.

He squinted his eyes and pressed his lips together.

"Who are you?" he began to get nervous, thinking that maybe Emma had him watched and had found his whereabouts. Jamie's paranoia was extreme at that moment. He was about to get up and leave immediately, but the man who appeared unexpectedly—or maybe Jamie just hadn't noticed he was already there, behind her—blocked his escape. This man in a suit gestured for him to return to his chair, and Jamie didn't hesitate to do so. He couldn't fight a man taller than him, who seemed to do a lot of gym and some martial arts. He sat down and looked at the woman more closely. "I asked, who are you?" he insisted. The woman adjusted herself in her seat and then looked at him without saying anything for a moment.

"I know you're Emma's ex-fiancé," the woman said. "That you've been following her for months. You've been careful enough not to alert her current fiancé." Jamie frowned.

"Who are you?" Elaine took off her sunglasses and then leaned towards him subtly but threateningly.

"I am someone who will make you disappear if you lay a finger on Emma and her family," Jamie raised his eyebrows in surprise. Then, that blue-eyed stare, the threatening look, he knew who she was.

"So you're Emma's mother," he whispered, not taking his eyes off her. Elaine was a bit surprised but hid it well. "That familiar air, it's easy to recognize. Her way of looking, and those dimples, definitely her mother." Elaine twisted her lips.

"Besides," she straightened up, her tone of voice changed, and she leaned back in the chair, now looking a bit bored. "Name your price."

"Price?" Jamie sounded genuinely surprised. "Are you talking about money? Are you going to give me money to stay away from Emma?" He felt relief for the first time in a long time. He wouldn't have to do what he was so pressured to do.

"Yes. I know you're here on purpose. Do you expect the Müller people to catch you by chance in this café? As if nothing?"

"I was just having a coffee..." he looked at the empty cup, then at Elaine.

"If you could afford anything else, I think you'd even be eating, right?" Jamie tensed.

"You don't know anything."

"Don't underestimate me, ex-son-in-law." Jamie raised an eyebrow.

"Don't underestimate me, ex-mother-in-law," he replied.

"Name a number, I'll sign the check, and you can disappear from Emma's life forever. That means you'll never come back, you'll move far away where no one can find you, enjoy what's left of your life. Oh, and of course," Elaine said with a malevolent smile, "take your 'mommy' with you."

"If you've done your homework, ma'am," Jamie said, not taking his eyes off her.

"I pay for it to be done for me," she replied. "Hurry, name a number and disappear from the map."

"How much are you willing to pay?" Jamie wanted to know.

"A lot, as long as you disappear," Elaine responded. "You have one minute to write here," she extended the check across the table towards him, "a number. And we'll close the deal."

"You're quite sure you'll give me the money I ask for, aren't you?" Jamie thought about asking for a large amount and then coming back to finish what he had planned with Emma.

"So sure that if you don't write the amount right now, I'll turn you in, and you'll be left without a revenge plan and without... a cent." He opened his eyes wide, then confusion set in.

"What revenge plan are you talking about?" Jamie stammered.

"Truck with fake plates? Rope? Tape? Chloroform?" Elaine raised an eyebrow. "My question is, how the hell were you going to get through all the security around my daughter with the intention of kidnapping her right under Maximilian Müller's nose? Are you really a graduate with honors and were a personnel manager at a big company? Wait, wait, the best question of the afternoon is: How did my daughter, Emma Spencer, ever notice you? I'm really intrigued. Considering there are better..." she muttered the last part under her breath, but he heard it perfectly, delivering a blow to Jamie's ego. He stayed silent for a brief moment, thinking about the quickest way to get out of there. "So, money or I'll turn you in?" Jamie tensed.

"I want the money."

"Good," she gestured for him to write it on the check. "Tick-tock, tick-tock..." Jamie nervously wrote that he wanted a million dollars and then handed it to her. "Good," she looked at the amount, tore it off, and handed it to him. "Cash it first thing in the morning. And then... disappear."
"Yes, ma'am." He stood up and waited for the security guard to step aside, then hurried out of the café.

"Men. They're all the same..." Elaine stood up and looked at her security guard. "Follow him, I hope we finally find where the rats gather. You know what to do after..." The man nodded and ordered to follow the truck.



Elaine waited patiently in the waiting room. She had asked Max to tell Emma that she needed to talk to her, but he didn't seem to agree, so she kept waiting. What she didn't see coming was that she might run into Jack. She stood up immediately, started walking towards where she had entered, and ordered the driver to come to the entrance. Then she bumped into someone. When she looked up, it was Jack.

"Damn," she thought.

"Nicole," Jack whispered, surprised. Then he frowned. "What are you doing here? You have no..." Elaine interrupted him.

"I don't care what you say. In the end, she's our daughter, right?" Elaine didn't need more reproaches.

"A mother doesn't harm her own daughter," Jack replied, grabbing her wrist when she tried to dodge him, stopping her. "What do you want?"

"I just came to see her, to know how her health and my granddaughter's health are. That's all, Jack. I have no intention of coming back into her life. Believe me, it's the last thing I would do."

"I hope so." Then Elaine pulled away with a sharp movement. She looked him in the eyes while clenching her jaw.

"Goodbye, Jack."

"Goodbye, Nicole." Then they each went their separate ways, Jack to the waiting room and Elaine to the parking lot to get into the car that was already waiting to leave.

Max came out of the room where Emma was, expecting to find Elaine, but she was already gone. Jack was arriving, and Max noticed his annoyance.

"Jack, Emma woke up."

"Oh, that's good! How is she? Can I see her?"

"Yes, yes, wait," Max frowned. "Emma's mother was waiting to talk to her," he looked down the hallway and then the other way.

"She left, and it's for the best," said Jack. Max looked at him in surprise.

"You saw her?" Jack nodded.

"She was leaving, so it's no surprise we won't see her around here again."

"Oh," Max pressed his lips in disapproval. Now that he had the chance to talk to Emma, she had left. "I'll tell Emma you're coming to see her." Minutes later, Jack entered the room. Behind him were Eda, Adler, and Max's four friends, and finally, Horacio. They all stayed in the waiting room to hear news about Emma and the baby.

"Hi, sweetheart," greeted Jack when Emma opened her eyes. She smiled at seeing him.

"Hi, Dad. I thought you'd get to the city tomorrow." She took his hand while he sat next to her. Jack had a lump in his throat seeing her so pale and gaunt.

"I came early. How are you feeling?" Jack asked.

"I have high blood pressure and early signs of preeclampsia. They'll monitor me for a couple of days."

"Does that mean you'll be hospitalized again?" Jack didn't like hospitals.

"Yes, a couple of days. I want to make sure your granddaughter is okay." Jack nodded with a big smile on his lips. They talked about "granddaughter," and he imagined a little Emily running around the attic, shouting, jumping, with those pigtails in her hair, while he waited to hug her. He let out a long sigh. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, don't worry. By the way," he cleared his throat and paused briefly before speaking. "Elaine was leaving when I arrived."

"Oh, Elaine. Well, Nicole." Emma sighed, placing one hand on her belly. "She wanted to talk to me, but I see it won't happen."

"Did she say what she wanted to talk about?" Jack wanted to know.

"She didn't say." Emma frowned. "Did you talk to her?" Now Emma wanted to know.

"Nothing, just that she was leaving," Jack omitted the words he had exchanged with Elaine. "Well, let's change the subject. How have you been feeling? When is the beautiful baby arriving?" Emma and Jack started talking, while Max waited in the waiting room outside the room.

Alex, Sasha, Viktor, and Gus arrived with some gifts for Emma.

"How's our sister-in-law?" Gus asked, greeting Max, followed by the others.

"She's stable. She'll be hospitalized for a few more days. She has high blood pressure and early signs of preeclampsia." They all worried. "But she's stable..."

"She'll be fine, she'll be out of here soon," Sasha patted Max's shoulder.

On the other side of the city, Jamie smiled like a fool at the check with that amount in his hands. His mother came into the room in a foul mood. She had tried to sell her last jewelry, but it seemed it had no value.

"So, what happened? I'm about to..." Jamie got up from the couch and hurried towards her. He put the check in front of her eyes. The woman looked at the paper, and her eyes slowly began to widen. "This is a dream..." she looked at her son. "Where did this check come from? Did Emma give in? Or did you get the ransom?" One question after another.

"The ex-mother-in-law gave me a check."

"Ex-mother-in-law? Emma doesn't have..." she stopped her sentence.

"The mom showed up. And this..." he waved the check in front of his mother's face, "will be the first of many. Finally, luck is on our side."