Chapter Twenty-Three

Philip POV:

Dad moved into my house because it wasn't safe to remain in his house. I tightened security around my house and at the office. I returned to work because I couldn't let Dad do my job anymore. It was time to return to my responsibility.

Mark came into my office and dropped a flash drive on my desk. "This is the CCTV footage. I went through it, and I found nothing. The man kept his face from the cameras at all times. He knew exactly where a camera would be. That bodyguard must have told him where they were."

I sighed. "Is there anything that would lead us to him here?" I asked.

"I doubt," Philip replied. "But you can check."

I plugged the flash drive in and went through the videos. I couldn't make out the man's features. He wore loose clothes to conceal everything. Something caught my eyes. I paused the video and zoomed in. The man's sweatshirt didn't conceal a part of his tattoo when he reached up for something on the bookshelf in Dad's study. I recognized that part of the tattoo immediately.

"This tattoo looks awfully familiar."

I picked up my phone and dialed my Dad. "Hey, Dad. What tattoo did Uncle Pete's son have close to his wrist?"

"Um, I think it was a dragon breathing out fire. I remembered his father raised hell the day he saw it on him."

The revealed part of the tattoo was the dragon's head and the fire it was breathing out. "The man in the CCTV footage has a tattoo like that. Wasn't Tom sentenced to eighteen years in prison?"

"Yeah, I don't think he has gotten out yet," Dad paused. "Except he escaped."

When Tom, Dad's nephew and my cousin, was imprisoned, Uncle Pete had seized his shares as punishment. Tom was his only son. His wife had died during childbirth and when he died of lung cancer due to excessive smoking in his youth, he handed over his shares, including Tom's shares, to my father.

"Tom did this. He wants his shares back," I told Dad.

"Why does he have to go through all this stress? He could have asked nicely, and I would have given it to him. Whether he's a criminal or not, he's part of the family." Dad paused. "Except he wants something bigger."

"Tom doesn't want his shares alone. He wants the entire company."

"That's never going to happen. And if he's going to commit another crime, he should do better than this. I need to call the head of the police department. I'll get back to you, son."

Dad ended the call.

"Who's Tom?" Mark asked.

"My cousin. Dad's little brother's son. You didn't get to meet any of them because Uncle Pete died, and Tom went to jail."

"Whoa, this is some deep family shit! How about you and Zoe?" Mark asked.

"She called this morning and asked to talk. She apologized for ending us like that. I think we're back on track."

"Don't worry. Everything will be back to normal once we find Tom and arrest him," Mark assured.

"I hope so."

***

I emerged from the bathroom and dried my hair with a towel. My phone buzzed on the bed, and I stared at the screen. It was a private number. I picked up the phone from the bed and picked the call.

"Hello, Philip," the voice said.

"Tom."

"You've already figured out who I am. That was so fast! You were always a smart kid, Philip."

"What do you want, Tom?" I asked him impatiently.

"Everything. My shares and the company."

I snorted. "Your boldness is quite funny. Do you think you can take the company from me, and I’ll sit back and do nothing?"

"If you don't give me what I want, I will hurt everyone you love, including Zoe," Tom said.

At the mention of him hurting Zoe, my temper rose. "I'll kill you before you lay hands on her."

"Those threats don't work on me, Philip. You should know better. Give me what I'm asking for and I'll leave," Tom said.

"Aren't you supposed to be in jail?" I asked.

Tom burst into laughter on the other end. "I escaped," he replied.

"Don't you think they'll find you? It was so easy for me to find you, talk more of the police."

"Shut the fuck up! I don't have time for this, process everything and call me when you have good news. You have thirty-six hours. Guess what? I'm passing by Zoe's house, right now. Tick, tock, the clock is ticking, dear cousin."

Tom ended the call before I could say anything else. There was no way he could break into Zoe's house. There were undercover securities all around her house and I had told her not to come out of the house. I felt a bit worried, but those guys were good at their jobs.

I dialed Carlos and he picked on the third ring. "Hey, Carlos. How's it going over there?" I asked.

"We're guarding the area, boss and staying as low key as possible," Carlos replied.

"Alright. Don't let anything happen to Zoe or her Aunt, okay?"

"Ok, boss. Got it."

I ended the call and went downstairs to join my Dad who was watching a documentary. "Tom just called a few minutes ago, I informed my Dad as I plopped down on the couch.

"He did? What did he say?" Dad asked.

"You won't believe what he wanted. He asked for thirty percent of the company."

Dad threw his head back in laughter. "That's thirty times his shares before his Dad took it from him. Does he think I would give him thirty percent of the company? What did he threaten to do?"

"He threatened to harm Zoe. I don't think there's any way he can do that."

"The police are looking for him right now so he can't hide for too long. We just have to set bait for him. How about you ask to meet him and go over with some fake documents. The police will catch him from there. Let me call Officer Derek."

Dad picked up his phone and made a call to the head of the police department.

"The police think it's a good idea. Prepare some fake documents and we head over to the police station for instructions," Dad said when he ended the call.

"Okay, Dad."

I headed over to the office along with Mark and another bodyguard to prepare the fake documents myself. When I was done, I went to the police station and met Dad there.

When it got closer to the thirty-sixth hour, I would meet up with Tom. The police advised I put on a bulletproof vest in case things got out of hand.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Tom. "What do you want this time?" I asked.

"I called to remind you that the clock is ticking, and time isn't on your side."

"What if I don't do what you want?" I asked, trying to provoke him.

"I'll hurt Zoe badly. So bad that you won't see her anymore," he replied.

"Fine! Please don't hurt her! I'll do as you say."

Tom laughed loudly. "I knew you would come to your senses. I'll text you the address. Come alone."

Tom ended the call.

We waited till the next day before Tom sent the address. The police guarded me up with a bulletproof. I drove over to the address and the police used a different lane. They weren't new to the area where Tom asked to meet.

I arrived there and dialed Tom.

"I'm already here. Where the hell are you?" I asked impatiently.

"Calm your balls down, cousin. I'll be right there." Tom ended the call.

I waited for him and emerged from God knows where. Tom looked like he had a terminal illness.

"Tom. What have you been doing to yourself?" I asked.

"Don't act like you care about me. Let's cut straight to the chase," Tom said.

"Tom, you're still a member of our family. Just end this, we can still help you."

"Philip, stop! Give me the damn documents and let me see them!" Tom barked.

I sighed. Tom needed help medically and psychological and he didn't want to accept it. "Can we have a seat and check out the documents?"

"I don't have that time. Besides, do you see any chairs around?"

"This is a business meeting, Tom. How can you have a business meeting without chairs and tables?"

"Don't give me a business lecture, Philip! You're testing my patience," he warned.

"Fine." I raised both hands in surrender. I opened my briefcase and brought out a file.

"This is the police! Thomas MacArthur, come out with your hands up! Put your weapons down! I repeat, hands up in the air!"

"I told you not to bring the police! Damn you, Philip!" Tom cursed and reached for his back pocket and brought out a gun. The police shot him immediately and he fell to the ground.

Blood gushed out his mouth and I rushed to him. "Tom!"

Tom's eyes began to water as he was in pain. "You will never know my pain because you had a perfect life! I didn't know the joy of having a mother and my father hated me. Why do you think I turned out like this?"

"Tom, we can still help you," I told him. "I'll help you reduce your sentence. Just surrender."

Tom smiled weakly and blood coated his teeth. "I was going to die anyway. There's…" He coughed and more blood gushed out of his mouth. "There's no need. I don't have much time." His eyes began to close slowly until they finally shut close. I sighed and walked back for the police to put his body into a body bag.

"Did they catch him?" Dad asked when he picked the call.

"Yes, he was shot dead," I informed him.

Dad fell silent. Although he and Tom weren't that close, he still saw Tom as one of his own. "Have they taken his body to the morgue?"

"Yes," I replied and got into my car.

"Pete had big plans for his boy," Dad said sadly and sighed.

"Before he died, he told me he had little time left to live. I think he had a terminal disease."

"It had to be lung cancer. Tom smoked a lot like his father."

Dad sighed again. "Are you coming home now?"

"Not yet. I have to stop by Zoe's house," I replied.

"Alright. See you later."

Dad ended the call, and I started the car. It pained me that Tom had to die like this. We were still teenagers when he was imprisoned, Dad and I had gone to visit him, but he never wanted to see us. When he finally agreed to see us, he had told us never to come back again.

I felt guilty for listening to him. If I had visited him constantly even when he asked us not to, he would have probably opened up to him and I would have helped me.

I stopped at a traffic light and pressed the car's screen to dial Mark.

"Hello, boss," Mark said on the other end.

"Mark, lift the security off Zoe's house," I instructed.

"May I ask why?" Mark asked.

"Tom is dead," I informed him.

"Oh. Okay, boss."

I ended the call and hit the gas. Soon, I arrived at Zoe's house and the bodyguards were no longer there, except for Mark.

"How did you know I would come here?" I asked him.

"I knew Zoe would be the first person you would want to see," he replied. "I'll be in the car."

I tossed the key to him, and he caught it effortlessly. Zoe peeped from her window and disappeared. The front door opened, and Zoe ran into my arms.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she said. "I was worried sick about you. How are you okay? Were you hurt?" She examined my body.

"No, I'm fine," I replied.

"I'm so happy to see you."

"Me too." I kissed her forehead and ran my hands through her hair. "I'm so sorry I couldn't come to see you."

"There's no way you could have come to see me when there was someone out to get us. Did they catch Tom?" Zoe asked.

"The police shot him dead because he pointed his weapon at us," I told her.

"Aww." Her face fell and lit up after. "Let's go inside. Where's Mark?" She asked.

"In the car. You know how he is," I replied.

We went in and the house smelled of pastries. "It smells so nice. What's Aunt Emilia baking?" I asked as I plopped down on the couch.

"Brownies and muffins," Zoe replied.

Aunt Emilia emerged from the kitchen. "Hello, Philip. Long time, no see. How're you doing?"

"I'm good. How about you?"

"I'm fine. Would you like some muffins?" Aunt Emilia asked.

"No, I'm good. Thank you."

"I'll leave you two to talk," Aunt Emilia said and returned to the kitchen.

There was an awkward silence between me and Zoe, but of us not knowing how to begin.

"So, are we still dating?" I asked.

"Of course, we are!" Zoe replied and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. But Zoe, if something like this happens again, I pray it doesn't, please, let me know as soon as possible. Don't keep things like that from me."

Zoe nodded. "I promise, I won't do something like this again."

I held both of hands and stared deeply into her eyes. "I love you so much, Zoe. Don't ever forget that."

"I love you too and I missed you so much," Zoe said.

"Do you want to return to being my secretary?" I asked.

"Of course. I've said this a thousand times, nobody else can put up with you except me."

"That's correct." I grinned.

"Spend the night here," she pleaded.

"I wish I could. I badly want to, but I can't. I have to go to work tomorrow and none of my clothes are here," I explained.

"Okay. I'll spend the weekend at your house."

"I'd love that. I have to go home, I'm exhausted and my body needs long hours of sleep."

I stood up and Zoe followed suit.

"I'm leaving!" I said to Aunt Emilia before Zoe saw me off.

I pulled her into a hug and kissed her passionately. "See you tomorrow, baby," I said before I got into the car and Mark drove us home.

***

Zoe POV:

I parked my car in the parking lot and got down from the car joyfully. It had been ages since I last came here.

"Hey, Zoe," the receptionist beamed at me.

"Hey, Kira. How are you?" I asked.

"I'm fine. How about you?" Kira asked.

"I'm good," I replied. "I'm so happy to be back."

"We missed you so much. Welcome back!" Kira smiled.

"Thank you," I smiled back at her. I checked in with my ID card and used the general elevator to Will and Dani's offices. Dani and Will shared an office. I knocked on the door and their heads shot up.

"Oh my God! Zoe!" Dani sprang up to her feet and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Come here." Will pulled me into a hug too.

"I'm so happy to see you, Zoe. We wanted to see you, but Mr. MacArthur said we couldn't see you for some safety reasons. What the hell happened?" Dani asked.

"A lot happened, and I'll tell you in detail during our lunch break," I said.

"No problem, girl!" Dani beamed.

"I'll see you guys later. Lunch is my treat," I told them.

"No, let us treat you to lunch. We haven't seen you in ages," Will insisted.

"No, it's fine," I argued, and they finally agreed. I went straight to my office and found Philip sitting on my desk.

"Good morning," I greeted.

"Good morning. Why are you late?" Philip asked.

"I wasn't late. I went to say hi to Will and Dani. When did you get here?" I asked and kissed him.

"Not quite long." Philip held my waist and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "You look good today."

"Thank you," I smiled.

Philip stood up from the desk and picked his briefcase from the seat. "I need my coffee, please," he said before he went into his office. I made his coffee and placed it on his table and got back to work.

The lunch break came in the blink of an eye, and I informed Philip that I was leaving.

"Don't stay too long," Philip said without raising his head from the screen.

I rolled my eyes. "I have to fill my friends on everything, so I might be a while," I said before I shut the door.

Dani, Will and I headed over to our usual spot. We ordered her usuals and added a few other things since it was my treat.

"So, Zoe, start talking. Curiosity is eating me up," Will said.

I sipped my chilled drink and placed it down, reading to start narrating my ordeal. "So, after our relationship got leaked to the media, my stepfather found out that I was dating a rich billionaire and decided to get money off it by kidnapping me. He demanded two million dollars, but Philip got it back after the police shot him dead. Before that, one of his men was aiming at Philip but I blocked him, and the bullet ended up meeting me. I slid into a coma and woke up about a week later."

"Wait, you have a stepfather?" Will asked with a confused look.

"Yes, Will. Zoe has mentioned that before. Don't interrupt her. Go on, Zoe," Dani urged.

"After I recovered, Philip took me on a vacation to the Maldives. Everything was going fine until I received a call from someone threatening me to break up with Philip or he would hurt Philip's father and my aunt. I was so scared because he threatened again so I had to do as he said to keep everyone safe. Then, Philip asked me to marry him…"

Dani gasped loudly. "He asked you to marry him? What did you say?"

"Who's interrupting now?" Will asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized. "Go on, Zoe."

"I said I couldn't marry him and ended up telling him the reason. The look on his face when I said I couldn't marry him broke my heart to pieces. I flew back alone to LA the next day and cried my eyes out. I called him and apologized for breaking us up like that and we made up, but we couldn't see each other because somebody tried to kill Philip's father and Philip knew he was the person that threatened me. We later found out it was Philip's cousin, Tom. He wanted thirty percent of the company and he threatened to hurt me if he didn't get it. Philip took some fake documents to him, and the police shot him dead because he brought out a gun to shoot at them. So, there you have it! I escaped death so many times and my boyfriend kept playing knight in shining armor."

"Aww, what a touching story! It must be so nice to be in the arms of the billionaire, safe and sound," Dani said.

"Who knew Philip MacArthur could fall so deeply in love?" Will said and I burst into laughter.

"Like I said, he couldn't resist my charms," I flipped my hair.

"We're so sorry we couldn't be with you throughout those hard times," Will apologized.

"It's okay, guys. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you guys. You guys could have gotten hurt," I said.

I intentionally skipped the about being fired and Philip's adoption. It wasn't my secret to share, and I could not disrespect Philip like that.

Dani and Will told me about what happened at work while I was away.

The temporary secretary was hitting on Kevin who got irritated at the sight of her.

Kevin had told her he wasn't interested but she kept on shooting shots at him until he made it very clear, and she got the point and stayed off him.

Then, someone had proposed to his girlfriend, and she declined him saying she only wanted a relationship and not marriage. Shortly after my relationship with Philip was leaked to the media, one of Philip's conquests had stormed into the building, demanding to see Philip. Mark had gotten rid of her in a blink of any eye I didn't expect Philip to know any of these, he was too focused on work and the well-being of those he loved.

We returned to work and Philip wasn't in his office when I checked his office.

I returned to my desk and sent him a text asking where he was, but he didn't reply. I guessed he was busy and didn't see the text.

A few minutes later, Philip walked out the elevator with a young lady. I stared at the both of them and I felt a pang of jealousy. Philip stared at me, and I looked away and pretended to be focused on my computer. They went into his office and my mind wasn't at rest. I knew he was doing any stupid but seeing him with a lady without informing me of her coming made me angry.

After a few minutes, they came out of the office. The lady laughed too loudly at whatever Philip was saying before they got out. I noticed that Philip looked at her weirdly and I almost burst into laughter, but I remembered I was angry with him. She touched his arms, "You're so funny, Philip."

Philip laughed lightly and I noticed there was no humour in it. "Let me see you off."

I knew that was his way of saying get going bitch!

Philip saw her off and returned a few minutes later. "Let me explain."

"Go on." I crossed my arms and stared at him.

"Her father is a potential investor and he sent her here to check something with me. I know she was making advances at me, but she isn't my type. She doesn't look half as good as you do," Philip said.

A smile crept into my face. "Yeah. Her red lipstick was way too much. But you could have informed me that had a lady coming over and I would have prepared myself emotionally."

"I'm so sorry. She just called out of the blue," he said.

"Fine. I forgive you. Next time, give me a heads up so I don't end up killing someone."

Philip chuckled. "Yes, your highness. You look when you're jealous."

I gave him a weird look. "That's a weird compliment," I told him.

"How so?" He asked.

"Never mind. You're a weird person anyway."

"But you love me," he smirked.

"Consider yourself damn lucky, young man," I told him.

"You just sounded like my father when he used to scold me when I was a kid."

"I bet you were an annoying child," I said.

Philip smiled mischievously. "I was pretty annoying and very stubborn too.

Philip's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he went into his office to receive the call. I knew it was a business call and it was going to take a while for him to finish the call.

"Hey, Zoe."

I heard a familiar voice and looked up and saw Kevin.

"Hey, Kevin. Have a seat," I told him, and he sat down.

"How have you been?" Kevin asked. I noticed he wasn't comfortable knowing Philip was in the office.

"Kevin, relax. Philip is not going to be mad at you," I said out of the blue and he seemed to relax.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "So, how have you been? It's been so long. Mr. MacArthur said we couldn't visit you because it wasn't safe. What happened?"

Once again, I explained everything to Kevin. Kevin was beyond shocked. "You went through all these?" He asked and I nodded. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I'm fine now and the worst is behind us."

We talked for a while before he returned to his duty post. The fact that I went through all these made me realize how strong I was, and I had a stronger man by my side. I silently prayed that Philip would ask me to marry him again.