Chapter Forty-One

"So you knew all along?" Clarissa asked.

"I knew that you liked him. What can I say? He's quite the lady's man but I didn't know that you were in love with him and I never knew that he secretly had feelings for you."

Kara gave her a sad smile. Everything Clarissa thought she kept to herself was never a secret. Maybe she really did a bad job at hiding how she felt. Darius was right.

"I was so focused on getting your cousin married to my son for her reputation and for my son's happiness that I didn't look at what it would result to. When I found out that things were turning out bad, I tried to get your husband to divorce you."

Clarissa frowned. "Why would you want to separate us?"

"That was what I thought myself. I was definitely meeting a dead end trying to separate two people that are madly in love with each other. But then, do you also know what I thought? I thought getting you two divorced will leave you out of everything. If Jack wanted a ransom, the best bait to use was you and with Nicholas involved he could accomplish it. He could take the money and hand you over to him." She sighed.

"So you never gave him the papers?" Clarissa asked.

"I did give him the papers, but I took them out on Wednesday night after I did a lot of thinking. Selling my family off wasn't the best option after all. I thought Roberto would accept the money again and forget about it but I underestimated him. He held both the money and me, captive."

She continued. "When Becky brought in the files on Wednesday afternoon, I figured out that was my only chance to take it out before I did something irreversible."

"You did the right thing." Clarissa told her and Kara smiled resting her head on the wall.

"I never did know why I never liked you from the start my dear. You're nice, unique, and pretty, but the important thing is that my son loves you, and I need you to keep him happy."

Clarissa smiled at her. "I will, mom."

Kara turned away from her to wallow on her own thoughts leaving Clarissa to stare after her. She didn't know what to say and so, she leaned further into the wall and stared into space.

***

"Yes, he made a telephone call from around the area and I happened to know it is a busy area. Surely someone should have seen them if they were brought there."

Darius signed.

"Don't get disappointed yet, take a look at...here." He pointed at the road.

"What is so important about the road? It's a road." He stated.

"Not just a road lieutenant," Gabriel said. "But a lonely road that leads to an abandoned warehouse and..."

"...that is the only possible place he could have them!" Darius completed.

***

"You know she's hungry." Clarissa spoke out of nowhere and Jack turned to her.

"What did you say?"

"I said, my mom is hungry." Even the woman had to stare at her in surprise.

Yes, she was hungry, but how did she find out?

"And that's your problem." Nick replied.

"It's time for my important meeting and I'll be back. Don't wait up for me." He told Nick. "Do get her something from yesterday, will you?"

With that, he smiled and walked out of the building. Nick only put on a sly smile as he brought before her some soured pottage and Kara couldn't help but want to puke.

"What the fuck is that?!" Clarissa exclaimed.

"Food?" He clearly stated before walking away.

"You know, she needs her hands to eat." She said a moment later.

"Then use it." He only replied typing down on his phone.

"She would have if it was free and—" she was interrupted.

"Don't bother, it's not working."

Clarissa scoffed. "Do you think you're capable enough to at least show some respect. If she's going to eat the garbage you gave her, she should at least have the hands to," she finished.

For a minute there, he contemplated. Still, he didn't know what led him but he found himself going close to them.

***

"Is there room for introductions? I believe it is the first time we are meeting."

"Not the first, the second." Jack said to him.

Second?!

He furrowed his brows in confusion trying to recall where he had met him and then he remembered.

The one time he met him was the time from his mother's office, when she still worked there. He remembered him being introduced as a client.

Jack smiled knowing he had recalled. But right now, every memory of his mom was driving him insane.

She went against him, "Hope we're here alone, we wouldn't want to meet a dead mother and wife, would we?" Jack smiled.

"As promised, you can check for yourself."

"And the table?"

"Not to be disturbed." Daniel said before meeting his gaze once more.

"I'll rephrase your statement. Your ransom for my wife and mother is my company?"

"Wrong," He chimed. "Just one of them."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked as realization dawn on him.

"I thought I spelt it out correctly in my letter. You sign that your father will his company to me instead for one of them. Now you get to choose what to give me for the other or, would you rather let one of them go. Perhaps your mother, to save your prestige?"

He didn't even need to think twice, even though on one side his mom betraying him meant one thing but For this psycho to kidnap her meant another.

"Right now, nothing else matters. So I'll ask once, what do you have in mind?"

***

Gabriel checked his watch, it was about time they got to action. Where the hell was he? He needed to find Daniel fast.

***

He went further to untie her rope without thinking twice.

"Try something funny and I won't hesitate to blow your brains off." He said walking away from them. The woman muttered a 'thank you.'

She tried to dig in for the third time but the smell of something sour hit her nostrils violently.

"Are you going to eat that or do I have to tie you back?"

She woman hesitated once more, but she dove in nevertheless. Closing her nose to the smell and swallowing immediately to fill her empty stomach.

But when she couldn't take it anymore, she puked out all that had entered her stomach, and the young man laughed at the sight.

"You should eat, it's what we have left. I won't be responsible for your unconsciousness."

The night was too dark to see through and he was wondering when Jack would be back. He only hoped that he would get the papers signed, take a fucking share, and move away from here to a place he was going to call home along with his wife.

She didn't love him now but time will tell but he would spend all his life making her notice that all this was because he was in love with her.

He was in love, His eyes wondered back to the lady he claimed to be in love with and found her struggling furiously with her hands. On impulse, he looked down at where his dagger used to be; it was nowhere to be found.

"Hey what are you—"

Wood shattered and emitted from the darkness were policemen.

Unexpectedly more than one.

***

"Sign them!" He tried for the nth time. "I don't have all the time of the day and you should know by now that I'm not one to joke around."

"I know but for once tell me, why you are doing this? Tell me the reason why you had to kidnap my family? Is this some joke."

"Shouldn't I be asking you instead. Is this some joke?" Jack retorted rather calmly. "I didn't come here to chitchat tycoon. Sign the fucking papers and free them!" Daniel's eyes locked with someone from the window.

Finally, "I should sign them?" Daniel only smirked. He raised the papers up and tore them into two squeezing them in his fist.

Jack closed his palm in several applause, then scoffed.

"You don't know what you've done tycoon. You just lost your ticket to the love of your life. You just chose your money over your family."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Jack tightened his fist but just when he was about to say something back at him, a waiter came by.

"Sir, can I take your order?"

"I thought you said we weren't to be disturbed!"

"I did but unfortunately, our conversation was over a minute ago and there," He brought out his phone from underneath the table, "all recorded."

"You—" he didn't complete his outburst when the waiter in disguise held an ID card to his face.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be use against..."

Jack didn't need to hear the rest. He flung from the stairs but he had noticed that the direction he was supposed to take was blocked by the police. He went the other way, took the other door, but when he emerged, he panicked.

How could he be so stupid?

Stupid enough to think that Daniel would come on his own.

He was desperate for after success that he made a very wrong move. All he needed to do was get out of this restaurant.

"Put your hands in the air!" A voice yelled at him. If he was to turn, he would see an armed Gabriel. Still, he was yet to be in the hands of the police.