Chapter 41.

Christmas for Ryder meant his parents were coming home, along with his new brother Alex.

He was already planning to spend Christmas with them, but he wanted to finish up with work before he visited his parents.

Ryder was trying to close up a few things so he could have the opportunity to have dinner with his parents.

His company had been busy lately, there was a lot of restructuring to do and talking to a lot of clients. Ryder had been swamped with work but that didn't mean his mind didn't stray and think about Holly, she was constantly on his mind and he thought about her every day.

He often stopped by in front of her shop, hoping to somehow see her but he hadn't built up the courage to go into her shop after the last time. He sometimes spent his lunch break watching from the shop across the street, hoping that he'd catch a glimpse of her.

He missed her and he missed her baked goodies. Ryder wished that he could get over the fear of her rejecting him. What he did was despicable and horrible, even more than that, he knew that it started with a bet but he wished he hadn't taken the bet in the first place.

A phone call jolted him out of his reverie and he hurriedly picked the call after seeing that it was his lawyer who was handling his case with Jake.

"Hello Mr Bates. We've sent Mr Jake Summers a court summons and he hasn't replied yet."

Ryder sighed.

"Does that mean he won't come to court?"

Ryder asked and his Lawyer sighed.

"If he doesn't he is going to be arrested. Try and reach him, make sure he answers the summons before things get ugly."

"Hmmmm, have you contacted his lawyer?"

Ryder asked as he scratched his chin deep in thoughts.

"Yes, I have. His lawyer hasn't heard from him either. Do you think he has left the country?"

Ryder shrugged.

"I don't know. I'll look into it."

Ryder said as he ended the call.

He wondered what Jake was up to.

Kim Evans was well skilled in breaking into people's apartments. It was what she had done for most of her ex boyfriends after their break up. She would sneak in their apartments and commit terrible pranks that either scarred them or hurt them physically.

Like the time she sneaked into Carl's apartment and replaced his shampoo with hair removal cream. It had given her immense pleasure after more than half of Carl's hair came off. Carl always took immense pleasure in styling and grooming his hair, so much that it was the perfect punishment for the blubbering idiot.

But this time, Kim wasn't sneaking in to play a stupid prank, she was sneaking in to steal Jake's secret stash.

Unfortunately for Jake, he had given her the access code to his apartment and she didn't have to worry about how to sneak in.

Kim was low on cash, and she badly needed the money and Jake it seemed was planning to run away the little money he had saved up. He had dropped the hint that he had little money stashed in his apartment during their last meeting with Catalina.

Kim had waited till he left his apartment building and she had gone in the minute she was sure he had left.

The apartment was dark and cold, Kim turned on the lights first and started searching the common areas.

She checked the chairs, under the chairs, the kitchen cabinets and the even the bathroom.

"Where's the money you stupid oaf!" She cursed in annoyance as she walked into Jake's room frustrated.

Her thorough search in the living room and the kitchen had yielded nothing and his bedroom was her last resort.

"God please let the money be here, if I find it, I'll donate a tiny bit to charity."

She murmured silent prayers as she started searching through his bedroom.

She knelt on all fours and searched under the bed, while searching, her hand hit something hard and Kim struggled to pull it out.

It was a black briefcase and fortunately for her, it was unlocked.

Kim opened it and found wads and wads of hundred dollar bills.

"Ahhhann! Jackpot!"

She said as she hurriedly picked the small duffle bag she had brought with her. She had disguised herself in dark leggings and a black hoodie while she was on her way up the building and the duffle bag held a change of clothes and also where she was going to keep the money.

It was not like she needed it, if everything went according to plan and Jake goes to jail, Kim would never be accused of stealing his money.

She had started the process of packing the dollar bills and putting it inside her duffel bag, she was so engrossed by the money and the process that she didn't notice Jake sneaking up on her.

Jake had been on his way to forge a new passport to enable him travel when he received a call from his lawyer reminding him about the court summons he refused to acknowledge.

He decided to have a change of plans, there was no time for him to get a new passport and travel out of the city, the only time he had was the time he had to retrieve his secret stash of money and run away. He was going to drive out of New York and use his passport to travel to far away in another city with the stash of money he had.

On getting to his apartment, he met it unlocked and at first he was scared that the police had come looking for him, he summoned up the courage to go inside after hearing nothing.

Upon sneaking into his room, he found Kim happily putting the money he had worked hard for inside a duffel bag.

"You little bitch!" He shouted as he pulled her by her crimson ponytail.

"Owwww!" Kim yelled as she was jerked upward by someone and she turned violently and her eyes widened when she saw that it was Jake.

"What the hell are you trying to do? You sick demented thief?"

Kim struggled in his grasp but Jake held her arms with a iron grip

"I'm not sick! You wouldn't give me the money I asked for! I decided to take it myself. It's not like you'll have use for it in jail."

Kim laughed and Jake became even more angry.

"So, why don't you let me take the money now and I won't find Ryder more evidence that'll make you go to jail!"

He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her hard against the wall.

Kim felt her arm dislocate at the impact and she was still trying to check it out when she found out to her horror that Jake was charging at her.

"Jake! Jake! Please stop!" She squealed as he squeezed her neck dangerously.

"Oh! Now you're begging? It's because of you my life is ruined!"

Jake shouted in her face.

Kim's face was red and she was gasping for air as she tried to loosen Jakes hold on her neck by scratching his hands.

There was no use, he had her pinned to the wall and Kim was thrashing, exerting every bit of tiny energy she had.

Jake loosened his grip on her just a little but his hands remained on her neck, her neck was already turning to a nasty purple color.

"Jake please! Just stop! Please you're hurting me." She begged as she resumed her scratching and targeted his face this time.

Jake pulled away just in time but one of her finger nails managed to snag his cheeks and left an angry red mark in it's wake.

"Hurting you? I'll be doing everyone a favor if I kill you! I'll be doing Ryder a favor! Because, guess what? He doesn't love you and he never will!"

Kim flinched uncomfortably as she stopped struggling.

"I'll be doing Holly a favour! You keep going on and on about how she betrayed you but guess what? You've caused her more harm than she ever did to you!"

"And finally, I'll be doing you and myself a favor, finally ending your miserable pathetic life."

Jake said and Kim busted into unexplained tears.

"Oh God please! Jake please! Don't kill me, please, please. I promise you, I won't say a thing against you, I won't do anything, please... I can't breathe..."

Kim begged as she started gasping for air, Jake watched her with disgust, he had been holding her neck for so long that her face was turning into a sickening blue color.

She was slowly losing her grip on him and Jake released his hold on her.

Kim fell to the ground the moment she was free, taking in large breaths of air.

Her throat felt like it was on fire and her entire neck felt raw, not to mention the numb pain she felt in her arm from being slammed into the wall.

Jake watched her with disgust as she curled into a ball and started crying.

He felt little remorse for his actions, he was still overwhelmed with blinding rage but he was aware that time wasn't on his side.

He picked up the duffel bag, threw Kim's clothes out and packed the money inside.

Then he picked up a few things from his bedroom and hurriedly left without as much as a backward glance at Kim who was still on the floor.

Kim stood up slowly after Jake was gone with tears in her eyes.

"I swear you're going to pay for this Jake..."

She said with her voice raspy and low.