JUDY
The car stopped and I looked out of the window to see where we were.
We were at an abandoned factory sitting on a parcel of land I had purchased few years ago, hoping to put in work and turn it into one of Luthel Inc’s pharmaceutical someday.
But for today, it would be serving a whole different purpose. I opened the door of my Mercedes S600 guard and the smell of wet decayed grass and messy puddles here and there hit me, making my nostrils tingle.
I quickly walked into the factory building as I was shown the way in by 2 of my security personnel-that escorted me here in a Range rover sentinel just for extra protection.
The risk of being here was very high, given my high profile in the society and all, so it’s best not to get killed out here, or even worse- get caught.
But I had urgent business to attend to and it’ll go without saying that the risk would be worth it.
We took the stairs to the 3rd floor of the building were we met with other of my men- Baron, Pope and Jack, who were guarding a raggedy looking man, beaten and tied up in a wooden chair.
His eyes were blindfolded and his mouth was gagged with a piece of dirty looking cloth.
“Has he said anything relevant yet?” I asked one of the men watching him.
“Nothing yet ma’am. But he was insistent on meeting you in person.” Baron replied.
Yes, I had this man kidnapped and will do worse if he doesn’t tell me what I wanted to know. He requested I be here, so I took the risk of coming here. But if he’s trying to trick me by lying, I’ll have his head and that of his entire family.
“Wake him up.” I ordered, and Jack slapped the man a few times into consciousness.
He winced in pain from the sensitive parts of his body that has sustained bruises from my men’s beating.
“Take off his blindfold and gag, I want to be able to hear what he has to tell me.” I ordered, and his eyes and mouth were free in an instant.
The moment his eyes fell on me, it was as though he felt a bit of relief and that bothered me all little.
“Mrs Luthel” he greeted.
“Do you know why you are here, Frank?” I asked him, not wanting to be here any longer than I should be.
“Your men kidnapped me on my way home from work, and they’ve been accusing me of something absurd that I can’t even understand, let alone believe.” He replied frightened.
Since he doesn’t understand what was going on, I’ll just have to properly explain everything to him.
“About 3months ago, there was an accident and my daughter died in that accident. You were the detective i paid a huge sum of money to cover up every and anything that would pin my other daughter the case, I’m i right?” I asked him sternly.
“Yes ma’am, you are.” he answered trembling.
“You were ordered to destroy every evidence of my daughter’s involvement to that case and in return, I established you and your household in the most gratifying way possible, is that right?” I asked again, making sure he is completely on board and I’m not amiss here.
“Yes ma’am.” He replied.
“But about a week ago, series of pictures resurfaced and they landed in the hands of my precious daughter- the same daughter I had paid big money for, so she would never to find out. Now, only you and I knew what happened that day, so if I didn’t send those pictures to her, I figured the next person would be you. And boy- did you make it difficult to find you.” I told him clearly.
He knew this was time for re-evaluation because, anything he says now would either end his life and that of his family or set him free.
“Ma’am, I’m telling the truth, I didn’t…”
“You thought you could use those pictures to blackmail my daughter into giving you more money, right?” I asked in a haste, catching him by surprise.
“But that’s not true, I swear on my daughters lives. I did no such thing.” He confessed nervously.
If he didn’t send it to Livy, who did? He and I were the only ones with the memories of what happened that day.
“Mrs Luthel, we made a deal because you trusted me, and I’ld be a fool to break the trust of such a powerful woman for just a few more bucks. So, just give me sometime and I’ll find out who exactly did this.” he stated assuredly.
Well, he was a detective and up until now I’ve had no issues working with him. If he really wants to find out who did these, then he can be my guest.
But, if it turns out that he just swore falsely with his daughters lives, then they are better off without a father like him.
“Fine. You find out exactly who gave my Livy those pictures- and… who is trying to blackmail her with it. You have 72hours and of which… your family will be in my special custody, just for your motivation” I replied, sending terror all through his face with the mention of his family.
I don’t plan on harming them in anyway. To them it would be like a vacation in one of Luthel Inc’s luxurious 7star hotels for the next 3days, unless of course he fails to find out who is behind all of these.
Then I’ll be responsible for making his wife a widow and his daughters- fatherless.
“Please ma’am- I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt my family” he pleaded with sorrowful eyes.
“Then I suggest you start searching. Let him go.” I ordered my men, and they hurriedly let him lose.
I headed out the same way we came with my security in front. It wasn’t until I got in the car was I able to breath properly, even my cheffur noticed the color leaving my face.
Alex has been in the family even before I got married to Julian- my daughters father, so he was trusted until he’s found unworthy of that trust.
“Should we head to the hospital, ma’am? You look faint,” Alex asked me as he looked through the rare mirror, but I shook my head in protest.
“I need to be at the office, I’ve got some investors coming over for lunch by 2, so I can’t afford to be absent.” I replied, while putting a call through to Baron.
“Make sure you keep close eyes on him, Baron. And do not let him communicate with his family in anyway, have I made myself clear?” I asked intensely.
“Very clear ma’am.” Baron replied through the phone before I ended the call.
I opened my purse and brought out a pill container. I opened it and took out one pill from it and swallowed. I opened the armrest by my side and brought out a bottle of spring water and took a sip from it.
Lately, with the anxiety and sleepless nights I’ve been having, my health has deteriorated even further. The headaches had intensified and it’s slowly beginning to after my daily performance.
This is the reason why I can’t leave anything to chance anymore. Livy has to step up, unless Luthel Inc would go under, but that would be over my dead body.
I already spoke with a judge who said Markian and Livy’s marriage have to be at least a year old in other for them to be able to file for a divorce. I couldn’t express my relief at the news, but I wondered how Livy would react to it.
She’s been acting like her memories were coming back which would be impossible because they were taken away from her by hypnosis.
Few days ago she had confronted me about the same issue as last time. She pleaded that she wants her memory back, but I refused.
Of course she must have found out that she and Markian couldn’t get divorced since they’ve barely been married for up to 3months.
“You won mother- you always do. No matter how hard I try to fight or stand up to you, I never win. I can’t get rid of Markian, so until I find out if it’s really me in those pictures, I’ll have to suffer every time I see him because I can’t tell him anything.” She sobbed.
“You were never meant to see those pictures, but you did. So, you’ll just have to pretend like you didn’t and go on with your life.” I said to her casually.