Nicholas was working on some paperwork when Sarah's call came in. That was fast, Nicholas thought while smiling. He immediately picked up the call.
"Hello, Nicky, good evening," Sarah said.
"Good evening, Sarah. Any news? " Nicholas asked. In Sarah's reply, he could basically hear the smile in her voice.
"The trap has been set. The only issue is that we are waiting for the mouse to jump on it. The actor we paid has already called her Astra. "She will be going to find him this evening," Sarah said.
The image that appeared in Nicholas' vision was not very favorable to him. He realized that he did not want Astra going after a criminal that did not exist in the middle of the night.
"She is really going to go this night?" Nicholas asked, and Sarah sighed.
It is best that she goes as soon as possible. That is how these things are done. You should not still be worried about her. She has moved on, you know. She is currently on a date with Jared; that is the only reason why she did not go immediately when the call came to her.
"Jared?" Nicholas asked. He hated the very breath that came out of the man. It was not because he was a terrible person. It was simply because he had a huge chance of stealing his wife away, and the bastard knew it. He even used it against him.
"What the hell is Astra doing with that piece of dirt?" He asked angrily.
"She is clearly moving on with him," Sarah replied. His cousin was not known for her calm and emphatic self. She was extremely raw.
"We have to do something to stop that," Nicholas shouted into the phone. All the progress they made seemed moot if Astra was already moving on.
You have to calm down and relax. Trying to jeopardize their relationship is only hurting yourself. It's as simple as that. You will only end up on the losing end, not Astra or Jared. Let them be. You also need to move on too. Sarah said. "Let's focus on getting her to the wild goose chase, and then maybe we can get you a new girlfriend of your own
Nicholas considered the words of his cousin. She had said reasonable things, and he hoped he could be reasonable. He was simply jealous, and that was it. Being jealous of Astra's new boyfriend would not help him move in. Trying to jeopardize each and every relationship she entered would only hurt him in the end. Astra would be hurt, but Nicholas would feel the pain more. All that for just making her suffer. It was not worth it all.
"I will leave her and her fucking boyfriend." "Let's just hope this plan works," Nicholas told Sarah.
"It has already worked; we just have to bid our time," Sarah replied.
Nicholas disconnected the call with a frown on his face. The call was not really all he expected. He focused his energy back on his work. The last thing he needed was to slack off. If he couldn't do anything else, he should at least expand his business.
~~~
Astra dug into her pasta. It was creamy and delectable. She couldn't get enough of it. Astra tried to be very serene about it, though. She did not need to be very obvious.
"Can you show me some of your sketches? I want to see how they look, "Astra asked. She was a bit curious after his reaction. Jared picked up his phone, opened it and stretched it to her.
"Wow!" Astra said as she looked at the sketches, one after the other. They looked phenomenal. They had a professional look to them. With just a bit of work, he could make them go far.
"There is a very beautiful Jared." "I didn't know you had it in you," Astra said to him, and Jared smiled shyly. Astra could never have imagined that Jared would have this kind of talent.
"Thank you," he replied.
"You should go professional," Astra suggested, and Jared rolled his eyes.
"I have been talking about myself throughout today. "You should tell me something I don't know about you, a story maybe," Jared said.
It was very easy for Astra to talk to him, to tell him a story. The words were very easy to say. She was oh so comfortable with him at the moment.
As you know, I have always wanted to be like my sister, Charis. "I loved to be like her from the very beginning," she started. It had been so long that she decided that she didn't have a sister anymore.
"Charis was very interested in pageantry as a child, and my parents loved that." "We were not very up to do, but they spent all their money to make sure that Charis could be in the pageantry."
My mother bought her a pink flurry dress, and it was hung in the middle of our room. I used to look at the dress for hours, touching the frills lightly. I was never allowed to wear it though. J was barely allowed to touch the dress. My mother did not want me to spoil it. I badly wanted to wear the dress so that I would look like a princess, just like Charis was," Astra continued.
The day before the pageant, I was left home alone, and all that was on my mind was the dress. I wanted to put on the dress. Unable to resist temptation, I put on the dress. It was clearly too big for me, but I felt very much like a princess. I twirled around in the dress, feeling very pretty. When I was taking off the dress, the zip got stuck. It refused to budge. I pushed and pushed until the dress tore. "It was crazy," Astra said, chuckling a bit.
"My mother was so mad. Her face was red. My sister was very angry with me. She blamed me for that and a lot more, "Astra continued. She was able to laugh about it now, but it had been so hard for her.
"Wow!" "That was a lot," Jared said. His voice sounded low. She could hear sympathy in his voice. She wasn't sure if she liked it.
"It ended up fine in the end." That is not the reason why I am no longer in touch with my parents anymore," Astra said, her thoughts flying back to how her parents and sister had abandoned her just because of Nicholas. She was not really surprised that they did not believe her. Astra had always been seen as a black sheep. Her parents never really loved her. Charis was always the favorite child. Astra used to wonder if she was not the child of her parents. It was very hard for her.
"No child should ever feel like that," Jared said, and Astra looked away. The conversation was getting uncomfortable. Astra's mind went to the number that called her. She was so comfortable that she had forgotten.
I will have to get going soon. "It has been a very wonderful night," Astra said without even thinking about it. The rush that she felt when the man called her returned, as she needed to meet him as soon as possible.
Jared's expression changed, and it made her mood sour. She had been too crass.
"If that's what you want, we can be on our way now," Jared said, standing up. He was obviously hurt. Astra wanted to apologize and tell him that she wanted to stay, but he seemed annoyed and she needed to leave.
"I will make it up to you," Astra said. She reasoned that Jared would always be there. The man that made the call gave her a deadline, one that she had to keep.
Astra stood up from her chair and walked out with Jared at her side.
The drive back to her apartment was very long and uncomfortable. Astra just wanted to get to her house, change her dress, and then find the man who made the call.
"I will call you," she said to Jared and waved at him.
Jared smiled at her and moved in to hug her. Astra let him hug her. It felt different, like usual and new. She was not sure she liked the new feeling.
"Bye," Astra said to Jared and locked her door.
As soon as Jared left, she rushed into her room and took off her black dress. She put on a black t-shirt, black jeans, and a black cap. She then called the number.
"Hello." This is the number you called previously. "You said you had information on the Nicholas Michealson case," Astra said as the man picked up.
"Yes," I replied."I am at 9th Street and Webster Avenue," the man replied. Astra frowned. It was very far from her place. a minimum of thirty minutes' drive
"I will be there soon," Astra said as she walked out of her apartment and went to her car.
She drove very fast, but there was a lot of traffic. It was frustrating, to say the least. A thirty-minute drive turned into an hour and still counting.
Astra called the man again when she finally got close to the venue, but he did not pick up. That alone was odd. She was tired and stressed from a very long day. All she wanted to do was sleep.
A bad feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach as she got closer to the venue.
Astra was not surprised that she did not see anyone when she got to the venue, but she was disappointed. Overall, the place was empty. There was an abandoned warehouse but nothing else. Astra began to get angry. Who was playing an expensive prank on her? It was not in any way funny.
She parked her car, slid her phone into her pocket, and entered the warehouse. The place was pitch black, so she brought out her phone and put on the flashlight.
The light that illuminated the place showed that the place must have been abandoned for a while; there were cobwebs all over. The place was filled with empty crates and what not.
Astra was still trying to survey the whole place when she began to hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps. Her ears perked up in attention; her heart jumped into her chest. She figured it was probably the person that called her, but he could be anyone else. She was walking around in an uncompleted building in the dead of the night. She realized then the amount of danger she was in. Her heartbeat had considerably increased as she imagined various ways things could go wrong. Well, she could not stand in fear forever. Astra let out a breath as she turned back.