After destroying the phone like Tariq had advised, Alex woke up with the sun and set about discarding the pieces in different dumpsters in the city.Two hours later, he returned to his apartment to prepare for work.He’d originally intended to give it a day or two before he tried to crack open the safe, but yesterday’s events made him realize that time might not be on his side. If he really had a stalker, he had to get his job done before the stalker decided to become bolder.Thirty minutes later, a sleek, black, tinted car arrived to pick him up. Alex got into the backseat beside Tariq.Tariq took one look at his dark circles and muttered; “Bad night?”Alex sighed deeply.“Let’s just say I wasn’t able to sleep a wink.”“Did you do what I asked?”“Yes. The phone is in different parts of Madrid as we speak.”Tariq nodded.“Good. Good.” After a moment of silence, he asked again; “did you read the journal?”Alex shook his head. “Nope. I still haven’t found the courage to go beyond star
After forty-five minutes of thankfully uninterrupted struggling, Alex was finally able to get the safe open.“Hello, Mr. Gustavo. Welcome.” A female, robotic voice greeted as he pulled open the safe’s door.Gustavo? Wasn’t it supposed to be Mendez? Gustavo was the clone. Alex stored that little information away to use it later. He was already tingling with anticipation of what he would find inside, but his excitement dwindled when he looked in and only saw a journal which was eerily similar to the one he’d gotten last night.“What?” He muttered to himself. “What the hell is going on here?”After blinking to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, he poked his head into the safe and sure enough, there were no inheritance documents or jewellery. All he could find was the journal.“This better be a bad joke.” He muttered to himself as he pulled out the journal. However, the moment he stretched his hand into the safe, all hell broke loose.Suddenly, red lights flashed from specific corners of th
Alex was annoyed, but he tried hard not to let it show.He backed away from Camila and walked towards the door with slow, measured steps. However, instead of leaving like she’d asked, he paused, closed the door… and locked it.Camila’s heart raced violently when he turned around to face her. His blue eyes were dark and smouldering, and the throbbing vein on his forehead was an indication that he was not happy. At all. “What are you doing?” She stuttered, trying to appear bold. “I asked you to get out. Why did you lock the door?”Alex did not respond. Instead, he took one step towards her and she barely stopped herself from taking one back.She had to show him that she wasn’t intimidated or scared of him. “What happened to you, Camila? Why are you acting like this?” He growled.Camila gritted her teeth and lifted her chin.“How exactly am I acting?”“You know what I’m talking about. Don’t make me ask you again.” Camila swallowed thickly. His tone was dark and dangerous. A clear indi
Alex’s heart pounded wildly as he lifted his grandfather's journal from the locked drawer where he’d kept it.He ran his fingers over the broken, fragile cover before settling in his chair to go through the contents.“I wonder how long he had this thing for.” He muttered as he gently flipped to the first page.The entries were written more like a diary than a journal. And it seemed like he was addressing it to someone. “Dear best friend,Yesterday, I received news that my grandson had finally been born. Believe me when I saw I have never felt so ecstatic to hold a child in my entire life. I had to leave Spain for New York immediately so I could at least get to touch him while he was still new and fresh. He's a beautiful child, best friend, and he looks just like me. I don’t know why, but I feel a very special connection to him. I think I’ll name him after myself — Alexander, Alexander Stephan. He will be my one true heir after his father. I love him very, very much.Oh, I met my wi
“Ladies and gentlemen, please rise as our lovely bride-to-be makes her entrance.”All eyes turned to the grand stairs as Camila descended. Gasps of awe rippled through the room as they gazed upon her rare beauty.Even Alex was held spellbound. Camila was gorgeous. She was dressed in a sheer silver dress that hugged her curves like a glove and flared widely at the knees, sweeping the floor behind her. It was obvious from the thousands of diamonds that shimmered and winked on the delicate material that the dress must’ve cost upwards of a million dollars. Her shiny dark hair lay in waves around her shoulders and light makeup accentuated her soft, beautiful features. All in all, she looked like a fairy princess that fell from the sky. Camila never got the opportunity to answer all of Alex’s interrogations a while ago because an army of servants had suddenly appeared out of nowhere to help her get ready for the party. But Alex swore that he’d find the answers he was searching for soon
THE NEXT DAYThe moment Tariq stepped into his office, an urgent knock sounded on his door. “Who is it?” Alex didn’t bother answering. He just pushed the door open and walked in.Tariq smiled when he saw him but Alex did not return the smile.“Is there something wrong?”“Yes, Tariq. A lot of things are wrong.”Oh. He hung his suit at the back of his chair and sat down, exuding calmness and confidence.“Okay, I’m ready. Shoot.”Alex frowned.“You sound like you know why I’m here.”He raised a brow.“Do I?”“Stop playing with me, Tariq.”“Well, I definitely won’t know what the problem is if you don’t tell me. So tell me.”Alex took a deep, shuddering breath and walked farther into the room.“You knew. You know.”Tariq shrugged.“I know many things, son. You’re gonna have to be a lot more specific than that.”Alex was at the end of his rope. “You knew my grandfather was responsible for Gustavo’s accident, didn’t you?”He didn’t even bother to deny it.“Of course I knew. I personally
Dear Diary, Mendez got a restraining order against me today. I cannot go within twenty four metres of him or his house. I know he did it to stop me from having access to my property documents which he keeps in his house, but that’s fine. I’ll think of a way to get my documents back. I will never let them take over my company and that’s my vow…”Alex flipped to the next page. It seemed that his grandfather’s entries were becoming even more interesting.He noticed that there were blotches on the page and the ink looked like it had been washed with something. “Dear, Best friend.They killed my wife today. The Capo of the Spanish wife ordered that my wife should be killed and I couldn’t even do anything to help her because I’m kept captive here.They sent men to assault and murder Beatrice, and then had the audacity to replay the entire scene on television at dinner like it was the daily news. I’m writing this entry from the dungeon because I flipped out when I saw that video. The two
The receptionist burst into laughter. “Why do you keep embarrassing yourself, sir? There’s absolutely no way you have my boss’ personal number. Just leave.”Alex did not move an inch. He dialled Alejo’s number and the lawyer answered on the first ring.“Hello, sir?”The receptionist paused, her face morphing into a frown as she listened attentively.“Yes, I’m here, but your receptionist wouldn’t let me in.”“Tell Susana that you’re my guest.” Alejo replied.“I’ve already done that.” Alex said impatiently. “She wouldn’t let me through.”Alejo heaved a sigh.“Okay then. I’ll be there in three minutes.” Then the call went dead.But it only took those three minutes for everything to go south.“What are you still doing here?” The receptionist, whose name was Susana, snarled.“I just got off the phone with your boss. He asked me to wait for him.”She scoffed. “No, you didn’t just get off the phone with my boss. Don’t think you can come in here and try to fool me with a fake phone call. If