“I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”It’s been theee hours since Aled was attacked and Mrs. Maria had been acting strange.First of all, she moved him out of his old room and gave him a brand new suite with its own sitting room, ultra modern restroom facilities and a king sized bed.Alex had been a little skeptical about the whole arrangement, seeing that the other workers were starting to give him weird looks. Why was she so invested in making sure he was comfortable?It was the day after the banquet and most of the guests had gone back to their different destinations. Alex was currently overseeing the cleaning of the garden. “Tell me the good news first, Tariq.”Tariq came closer and sank into one of the left over plastic chairs.“I was finally able to convince Maria to let Eden go.”Alex paused, the hose in his hand hanging midair.“Really?” His lips stretched in a smile. “That’s wonderful news.”Alex had had sleepless nights thinking about Eden’s
Alex was right. Miguel had actually succeeded in convincing Mrs. Maria to hire guards to keep an eye on him.“What’s wrong, Alex? Why do you look so… tense?” Tariq asked.Alex scanned the garden to make sure he was not being followed. He’d overhead Miguel’s conversation with Mrs. Maria the previous day. When the day was over and he hadn’t noticed any traces of men following him around, he’d concluded that Mrs. Maria had not taken his words to heart.That was a big mistake because the next morning, he kept feeling a strange tingling sensation at the back of his neck. He’d felt as if… he was being watched.Alas, his suspicions were confirmed just a few hours ago. Alex had come up with a quick plan to find out if he was being followed or not. The Guerrero Mansion’s grand hallway was just as the name implied. Grand.Not only was it grand, it also branched off into a series of confusing passages.Alex had decided to play a trick to trigger his new supposed bodyguards. Without telling
Alex had taught himself not to be surprised whenever he heard of Miguel’s escapades. The bastard was always one step ahead of his rivals… but not this time.“You sold the tape to Miguel but you also made copies of it, didn’t you?” Tariq asked in a quiet but authoritative tone.Jim’s shoulders drooped pathetically.“There’s no point in lying, is there?”“No, there isn’t.”He nodded. “My brother advised me to make copies of the footage for future use, so I did.”“And the future use was blackmail, wasn’t it? You’ve been blackmailing Miguel to pay you money, otherwise you’ll expose him.” It was not a question. It was a statement that gave no room for arguments. Jim lifted his head. “Sir, I admit that I did blackmail him with the tape, but I did it just once and it was months ago.”His cheeks coloured with embarrassment.“I’m not good at that kind of thing and I had not thought it through properly. I tried to blackmail Miguel but he was quick to find out that I was behind the phone calls
The lounge was quiet and tense as Alex slowly walked in. For the first time, Mrs. Maria was alone. Camila and her mother were nowhere to be seen. Mrs. Maria stood with her back to him, pouring tea from one of her fancy teacups.“Welcome, David. Sit.”Aled was surprised.“I should…”“Sit!” She snapped, pointing one finger at one of the plush Italian sofas. Alex hurried to the sofa and sank into it immediately. Mrs. Maria daintily dropped the teacup and sashayed to her throne-like chair. “Miguel. Bring in the laptop.”The door flung open almost immediately and Miguel walked in with a laptop and a cocky expression on his face.He placed the laptop on a table before Mrs. Maria and she gave him a smile of thanks. “Play the CCTV footage you showed to me earlier.”Alex shifted to the edge of his seat. What the hell was going on?“Yes, ma’am.” Miguel replied as his fingers flew over the keyboard. While Miguel was trying to find the footage, Mrs. Maria fixed Alex with an icy stare.“I wi
Miguel did not look happy as he handed the laptop to Scott. He did not look happy at all.Mrs. Maria just looked confused.“Tariq, why is your friend here again?”“Because we need to know if that footage is fake or not.” Tariq said seriously. “I will not give an opinion on this matter until I’m one hundred percent certain that that footage was not edited.”“Why is there no sound?” Scott asked suddenly, frowning at the laptop.Tariq went closer.“You’re right. That’s weird. All of our CCTV cameras come with sound.”He turned to Miguel.“You brought this footage, right? What happened to the sound?”Miguel looked momentarily confused.“Uh, sir… I got it from the technical department without the sound. It’s not my doing.”Scott twisted his lips. “But Tariq says that all your cameras come with sound. Was the sound on this footage purposefully removed?”A cold, hard silence reigned in the room. Alex was literally burning with anticipation at that point.“Oh, what in the world do you mean?”
“…do you know this man…?” The men turned in his direction and Alex patiently waited for them to deny ever knowing him so he could clear his name once and for all.But he was in for the shock of his life.To his utter horror, after scrutinising him for ten seconds, both men nodded. Several times. “Yes, ma’am. We know him.”Alex froze, not sure he’d heard right. “What?” He whispered, unconsciously taking a step forward. “What did you say?”Aside from Alex’s desperate questions, the entire lounge was as silent as a tomb. The men turned to Mrs. Maria, completely ignoring him.“We know him, ma’am. He’s our leader.”Alex was aghast.“That’s not true.” He said forcefully, unable to understand what the heck was going on. “Why are you lying to her? You know I’m innocent. I’ve never set my eyes on you two before today.”“That’s enough!” Mrs. Maria snapped. She turned to Tariq and lifted a brow.“You asked me to summon the criminals here because you were in doubt of David’s participation in t
“What the hell is going on, Tariq?” Alex asked the minute he was able to dodge the guards that Mrs. Maria had assigned to follow him and finally have a chance to speak to Tariq.“I’m very certain that all of this mess is Miguel’s doing. He’s trying to slow us down.”A thought suddenly occurred to Alex.“He knows that we’re onto him.”Tariq frowned. “He does?”“I’m afraid so. When Mrs. Maria first called me to the lounge, after she’d left, he told me that he knew about our little meeting with Jim. He knows that we’re aware that he stole the signet ring and not Eden’s father.”Tariq pressed his fingers against his eyes.“How the hell did he find that out?”Alex shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe Jim got scared and told him everything.”He paused suddenly. “Speaking of Jim, has he provided the footage we asked for?”Tariq shook his head. “I haven’t heard from him since then. I’m really starting to believe he’s been avoiding me.”Alex let out a long sigh. “Things are not going according to
“… just touch me, David. No one has to know…”Alex remained completely still, trying hard to control his raging hormones. Looking at her soft, plump lips and the outline of her pert breasts beneath her tight, little dress, he was tempted to swoop forward and kiss her senseless, but he held himself back with much difficulty.Even if she was asking for it now, Alex would never have any sexual relations with a drugged woman. Besides, she would hate him when she came to her senses if he tried anything sinister.He forced himself to come back to reality and hefted her into his arms.“Come on, Miss Camila. Let’s get you upstairs.”The moment he lifted her, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nestled her face her face against his neck.“Noooo…” she moaned, running her fingers over his shirtless body. “Let’s just do it here. Please…”Alex shook his head, took one step forward and paused. He had no idea where Camila’s room was located and the mansion was huge.He looked down at her