More Than A Reaction
ELEANOR
What did I just hear him say?
At this point, there was a smile on my countenance while my head shook automatically. “No. No.” My mouth muttered and I moped at the man before looking at the child of the accused who lay in her cot.
“What do you mean ‘no’?” Raymond questioned. “Do you think I'll come all the way from my room down to this room to tell you lies about a man who should be the least of my concern? Is that what you think, Eleanor?”
“I don't know,” I could not lie.
“I don't know what to believe, Raymond. I am beyond shocked and don't know if I should call this a lie.” Irritated by this piece of news, I adjusted on the bed and a part of me wished that I did not hear such nonsense in the first place.
Was this not a lie?
How could Raymond hate Andrew so much that he would tell such a lie? I looked up from the ground and met the gaze of a man whose gaze was fixed on me as well.
Did he or did he not tell a lie? But what was I thinking? He said that Matthew and the other men had talked to him about it, meaning I would need to face Matthew and the others while I let him be on the other side.
“Eleanor?”
He called out to me who didn't know what to say.
I just sat there, unsure, fazed, and scared for the life of my daughter. What would I tell her about her Father when she comes of age? Who would I say was her Father? A man who abducted people against their wishes and sold them out?
“No.” Once more, the word ran out of my mouth.
“Eleanor?”
I looked up. “How sure are you about this, Raymond?” Now I asked, left with no choice. At least, I needed to see the proof he talked about. “Didn't you say you have proof to back up this piece of information? Where's it at?”
He nodded and got on his feet. “I knew you would react this way, and I didn't want to tell you about this, but there's no way we would hide it from you if at all, we would go ahead with this plan. Don't you see?”
“I—I don't know.”
He was seated on the bed next to me. “It's okay,” he mouthed and took out his mobile device from his pocket. “This is what you've asked for,” he said and looked at the screen of the phone while his hand did one or two things to the surface and tada—he looked at me.
“Here you go.”
Standing back on his feet, he walked to the couch and mouthed. “You should take your time, Eleanor. There are many pictures and videos there to back up this piece of information. Do with them whatever you choose. I'm sure his face is clear enough.”
Without hesitation, I fixed my gaze on the screen of the phone. A part of me didn't want to, because I believed they were not true and the other part was curious to see what was on the phone that rested in my hand.
There and then, I caught sight of a scene.
“No—” I could not contain it. “No. No way, Ray—” A drop of tear, from nowhere, came on my countenance. “No way. This is not true.” Holding back from making too much noise, I looked at the man who also looked at me.
“How did you come about this, Raymond?”
“My men,” he let out. “They have special ways of digging information about someone. Just like they were asked, they followed up on Andrew and this is what they found.”
“How didn't I see all of these from the first instance?” I let out, controlling myself and the tears that threatened to fall off my face. “How didn't I know he was a bad person? Why did I not find this out?”
“Love, Eleanor—” Raymond chuckled.
“It was love that made you blind and caused you to not notice it. I can imagine this too, but I'm also glad you came out and are safe with the child. Nobody deserves such a human being as a Father, talk more about a husband.”
Then, I recalled the phone in my hand.
Looking back at the man, I had to ask—just so I could know. “Were they able to stop him? At least, from hurting this girl and doing what he wanted to do with her?”
“No,” Raymond got on his feet. “I'm afraid they can't do that right now. And they won't be doing that in a very long time. We can't catch him this way. Do you think it works this way, Eleanor?” He paced the room and stopped in his tracks at some point. “There have to be others.”
“Like who he's working for—” I let out and he nodded.
“Oh, no—” I let out. “What are we going to do, Raymond? He can't continue like this, or can he?”
“No, but it's going to take a long while before we can take him down. These people work directly with the police and I'll not be surprised if they're not caught when the time comes. This is a serious level of crime and they must have so many connections. You need to understand this.”
“What do we do?”
“For now—” He walked back to take a seat on the couch. “For now, you shouldn't worry about the girl, boy or whoever he abducts. Do you understand me? Who you should be angry at is Andrew, but while playing smart so that we're not caught in the process.”
He was right.
If Andrew could keep this from me for a very long time—in over two years of staying with him as a wife, then we needed to play smarter because as the case was, he was the smart man in the game.
“Thank you.”
“No, not yet,” he got on his feet and snatched his phone from the bed where I had dropped it. “There's something you should know, too, Eleanor. You should meet with the men before the end of the new week that's about to begin. This way, you can discuss your thoughts with them and whatever it is that should be discussed.”
“Thank you, Raymond.”
Another drop of tears fell off my face, and I wiped it with one of my hands. “Thank you—” again, I said but with a shaky voice. “I'll be ready to meet the men by then.”
Once again and finally, the man was on his feet. He nodded and walked to the door, changing his mind, stopping in his tracks, and turning around to meet my gaze.
“I wanted to let you know about something, too, Eleanor. While we're struggling to take a chance on Andrew, I hope you know that I'm trying to convince the public, especially Grandfather, that we're not married on contract.”
“I understand that.”
He relaxed his back on the door. “Having said that, you should know that he's been asking questions of late. Funny ones that show he doesn't trust our marriage completely, even when he has a copy of the certificate from the court.”
“Why? It's your brother.”
“Who else if not him?”
He chuckled, taking his back off the door and facing it.
“We'll go to the house and spend a day with him. I'm sure that with this, he'd be convinced that we're not married on contract. I know this would work.”
I knew that also. But when did he plan for us to go? And was I going to be there with Michelle?
“You should come with Michelle,” as if reading my mind, he muttered and opened the door. “I'll ask Maria to get fruits in advance for this trip. He loves them a lot.”