Chapter 128 CHAPTER 128: Kidnapped
Chapter 128 CHAPTER 128: Kidnapped
Alexander sat completely still behind his desk in his study. The thick, black folder was on the desk.
Soon the door creaked open, and Tristan walked slowly into the room.
Even though he tried to hide it and would never admit it, Tristan felt nervous.
He had spent his whole life living in the dark shadow of his older stepbrother. He always knew Alexander just tolerated him, but being called to his private study was very rare.
Tristan tried to remember if he had done something wrong.
"You wanted to see me, Alex?" Tristan asked, stopping a few feet away from the desk.
Alexander did not speak immediately. Instead he looked at his younger brother.
Tristan was not a monster like his mother. He was simply easily manipulated, like a puppet who had spent his whole life desperately trying to win the approval of a deeply wicked mother.
"Sit down, Tristan," Alex said softly, gesturing to the leather chair opposite the desk.
Tristan sat down, waiting for whatever Alex wanted to say.
Alex pushed the thick black folder across the smooth wood. "Open it. Read the summary page, and then read the highlighted emails."
Tristan frowned deeply in confusion.
He reached out and took the folder, he flipped the cover open. His eyes scanned the legal papers prepared by Alex's private lawyers.
The silence in the study grew suffocating as Tristan moved on to the printed emails.
Right before Alex's eyes, Tristan's face turned white, his eyes widened in shock, he looked exactly like a man who had just been violently punched in the stomach.
Tristan dropped the paper. His hands shook violently. He looked up at Alexander, his eyes wide with horror.
"My mother...." Tristan whispered in shock. "My mother killed yours?"
"Yes," Alex confirmed, his voice was heavy with sorrow. "She worked with Dandelion's stepmother, Margaret. They tampered with the brakes on the car. They murdered them years ago just to take our inheritances."
Both Viola and Margaret would have succeeded if there wasn't obstacles, that hindered their plans.
As for Alex, if Grandma winifred wasn't still alive and cautious of everything, she would have been killed too and Alex would have lost his inheritance. Probably his life too considering how much she hates him.
Then Dandelion, if not for her mother's inheritance clauses which had hindered Margaret, Malcom would have been made the CEO a longer time ago.
Tristan swallowed hard. He knew his mother was a cruel, manipulative woman. He knew she lied, schemed, and used people to get what she wanted.
He had spent years watching her verbally abuse both himself, the estate staff and even plot against Alexander. But murder? The planned murder of Flora Graham?
The horrifying realization hit him. He had spent his entire life seeking validation from a monster.
"I did not know," Tristan whispered brokenly. "I swear to you, Alex. I had no idea she did this."
"I know you didn't," Alex replied calmly, "But now you know. And the police will have these exact documents very soon."
Alex leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk. He looked directly into Tristan's eyes with a serious expression.
"You have a choice to make right now, Tristan," Alex said with seriousness, "You can stand with her. You can tell her about our plans, and protect her. But just know that you'll go down with her when the authorities drag her away in handcuffs."
Tristan swallowed.
Alex continued, "Or, you can stand with us. You can help me put the woman who murdered my mother in a concrete cell, and you can finally be free of her forever."
Tristan lifted his head. Then he looked down again at the old, wrinkled emails resting on the folder.
He thought about the years of heavy emotional abuse, the constant demands to steal Alexander's position even though he didn't want to, and the toxic poison Viola had poured into his mind since he was a little boy.
Tristan rubbed his face roughly. His jaws clenched, a new, fierce determination finally breaking through his lifelong cowardice.
"I choose freedom," He said firmly, "I will do whatever that is needed to be done. And help in anyway I can"
.......................
Back in her bedroom, Viola paced frantically across the white marble floors.
Her lawyer’s warning echoed loudly in her mind. Alexander and Dandelion knew everything now. They had the evidence, and they were secretly preparing to destroy her completely.
Viola snatched her cell phone from the glass table and dialed a number she had not called in over a decade. The line rang three times before it was finally answered.
"Who is this?" Margaret demanded, her voice dripping with irritation.
"It is Viola," she hissed, stopping her frantic pacing. "We have a massive problem, Margaret. We have been compromised."
"What,,,,what are you talking about?" Margaret stammered, her arrogant tone vanishing instantly.
"Alexander and your stepdaughter found the evidence," Viola revealed angrily. "They know exactly what we did years ago. And they are filing for arrest warrants."
"That girl again!" Margaret shrieked through the phone, her frustration completely boiling over. "She is always ruining my perfect life! What do we do? I cannot go to prison, Viola!"
Viola closed her eyes, and exhaled, letting calmness wash over her panicked mind.
If Alexander and Dandelion thought they could simply corner her, they were gravely mistaken.
"If we cannot get away with it," Viola whispered, a dark, twisted plan forming rapidly in her head, "then we take everything from them."
"How?" Margaret whimpered.
"Dandelion is pregnant," Viola explained, her voice turning colder with each word. "Her pregnancy is progressing fast, and Alexander loves her to the point of madness. So we'll take the girl and use her as leverage."
Viola walked over to the large floor-to-ceiling windows, looking over at Alex's side of the estate. She did not care about the legal consequences anymore. She only cared about winning.
"We'll kidnap her, and demand a massive ransom. We take the money, we destroy their evidence, and we disappear far away and even change our identity." Viola revealed her plans.
"But....What about our children?" Margaret questioned nervously. "What happens to Tristan? And my kids?"
"I will force Alexander to step down and publicly make Tristan the CEO of Graham Corporation," Viola said, grimly.
It was the exact prize she had wanted her entire life. She wanted her son sitting on the throne, even if she would not stay in the city to enjoy the immense power due to her plans of running away.
"He will be the new billionaire CEO. Don't worry about your kids they will survive, they already have Dandelions inheritance." Viola said and scoffed.
"Or would you rather spend the rest of your life in jail? Because that's the least punishment we'll receive for murdering two people. And I definitely don't want to die or stay in that smelly place."
Margaret swallowed, she would miss her kids so much, but at the same time she didn't want to end up in jail!
"Okay.... what do I do?" Margaret said finally.
"Good. Call the men we used for the warehouse job. We must act immediately, in fact today."
.....................
The bright afternoon sun felt wonderfully warm against Dandelion’s skin as she walked out of the private prenatal clinic.
She rested her hand gently on her round stomach. Her pregnancy was three months old now.
The baby had kicked strongly during the ultrasound, a beautiful, fluttering sensation that completely melted her heart.
The heavy sadness of the past month felt slightly lighter nowadays. Grey Knight was dead, and Roxy was gone for good. She was currently preoccupied with the case of Viola and Margaret.
"Right this way, Mrs. Graham," the private driver offered, opening the back door of the black Audi.
Dandelion had refused heavy security for this appointment. She was exhausted by the constant presence of armed guards following her every single move.
With the main threat permanently eliminated, she just wanted to feel like a normal, expecting mother for one quiet afternoon.
She stepped toward the open car door.
Suddenly, a dark, van aggressively screeched to a halt directly behind the Audi. The side doors flew open before the vehicle even stopped moving completely.
Three massive men dressed in dark clothing jumped out.
The driver turned around, raising his hands to fight, but the first attacker swung a heavy metal pipe, striking the driver brutally across the head. The driver collapsed onto the pavement instantly.
"Hey!" Dandelion screamed, her heart leaping into her throat.
She turned to run back toward the glass doors of the clinic, but a thick, muscular arm wrapped tightly around her waist, completely lifting her off her feet.
She kicked her legs wildly, trashing against the heavy grip. She screamed for help, but the clinic parking lot was completely empty.
"Hold her still!" a rough voice barked.
A second man grabbed her struggling arm. Dandelion felt a sharp, sudden pinch against the side of her neck.
They injected her.
"Get off me!" Dandelion yelled, but her voice was already slurring.
The terrifying faces of the men began to blur heavily. A thick, heavy darkness rapidly flooded her brain.
The strong sedative, carefully chosen to knock her out without immediately harming the baby, pulled her under. When her body went completely limp, they tossed her roughly into the back of the dark van.
Moments later....
When Dandelion finally forced her heavy eyes open, the world was spinning.
The air was incredibly freezing and smelled strongly of rust and old chemical dust.
She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the thick fog from her drugged mind. She was sitting in a hard, uncomfortable wooden chair in the exact center of a massive, abandoned industrial warehouse.
She tried to move her arms, but thick, rough ropes bound her wrists tightly behind her back. Her ankles were securely tied to the legs of the chair.
She suddenly felt a terrifying weight pressed heavily against her pregnant stomach.
Dandelion looked down. Her breath completely stopped in her chest.
A thick leather belt was strapped tightly around her waist.
Attached directly to the front of the belt, resting right over her baby bump, was a heavy block of gray explosives.
A messy tangle of red and blue wires connected the explosive to a small digital timer.
The bright red numbers glowed in the dim light. And the timer was already ticking down.
She was wearing a bomb.
"Help!" Dandelion shrieked, pulling violently against the thick ropes. The rough fibers instantly burned her delicate skin. "Somebody help me!.... please....No.no....please someone help me!"
Loud, slow footsteps echoed sharply across the floor.
A figure stepped out of the deep shadows. Viola Graham walked elegantly into the dim light, wearing a tailored red designer coat and holding an expensive leather handbag.
A cold, wicked smile stretched across her perfectly painted lips.
"Hello, dear stepdaughter-in-law," Viola greeted, her voice dripping with pure, toxic venom. "You have caused me a lot of terrible trouble."
Dandelion stared at the elegant monster. The absolute horror of the situation completely washed over her, but the fierce, burning rage inside her chest refused to let her die.
This was the woman who had orchestrated her mother's death. This was the monster who had ruined her childhood.
"You killed my mother and my mother-in-law," Dandelion spat, her blue eyes blazing with hatred. She stopped pulling against the ropes, sitting up as straight as the bindings allowed.
Viola stopped a few feet away from the chair. She looked down at Dandelion with an expression of complete disgust.
"And I would do it again," Viola taunted, unremorseful.
"Both Flora and Genevieve were weak women. Genevieve knew her husband was cheating with Margaret but didn't do anything, she wanted 'Peace'. What a joke!. She thought she could protect your inheritance with all those silly clause, but she was foolish. Just like you."
She pointed at Dandy.
"I roped Alexander's father with my pregnancy with Tristan before he passed away, but of course I still wasn't allowed to live in the estate since I wasn't legally married and I was just his mistress. Even after he passed away that old hag insisted on DNA before she finally accepted me and my child. Even after accepting us I still had to fight for every single opportunity. And that bitch! Flora wouldn't cease to remind me that I was just a mistress."
Viola fummed.
She exhaled as if to calm herself down, then she pointed her finger directly at the glowing red timer resting on Dandelion's stomach.
"Alexander wants to ruin my life. So I am going to ruin his. He will give my son the entire company, and he will pay me exactly what I demand. If he refuses, or if he tries to send his little security team to rescue you, I will press a single button and turn you and that precious baby into absolute ash."
.................
Back at the Graham Estate, Alexander burst into his private study. He had just received a report from the hospital that Dandy was kidnapped, their surveillance caught it on cctv.
Almost immediately after the call from the hospital.
His cell phone vibrated again with a new message. It was from an unknown number.
He swiped the screen open, and a short video file immediately popped up.
Alex tapped the play button.
The screen showed Dandelion tied securely to a wooden chair in a dimly lit empty warehouse. She looked terrified, her dark hair was messy and tangled around her pale face. But the camera quickly zoomed in on her waist.
Alex froze at the sight in front of him.
A heavy, wired explosive was strapped directly to her pregnant stomach. The bright red digital timer clearly displayed exactly twenty four hours. Before it would explode.
The video ended.
The phone slipped through Alex's fingers, crashing loudly against the tiled floor.