A million thoughts flickered through Ash’s mind as he motioned with his head bowed, and his eyes fixated on the shoes which he thought belonged to Nelly.
“How could they have found her so soon? Or did she never get to Germany?” Ash was frightened and confused. He did not have the balls to raise his stares. If they had found Nelly, then he would never forgive himself. He failed her before and never wanted to be a failure to her again.
“Is it my shoes?” The soft feminine voice whose feet possessed the shoes said to Ash.
That’s not Nelly! Ash knew that. He could recognize anything about Nelly – her voice, her Laughter. He was both relieved and now more worried. All these thoughts were going in and out in just a minute. If it wasn’t Nelly, how then did they get hold of Nelly’s favorite shoe?
“Raise your head up and look me in the eye!” The feminine voice instructed him.
Ash did so. It was Daisy, Ivan’s cousin who was standing right in front of him with a determined, cold stare.
“Who are you?” a confused Ash asked. Daisy introduced herself as who she was – Daisy, a Landers.
“What do you want from me! Did Ivan send you to torture me?!”
“All I want to know from you is where my brother’s wife is?”
“Nelly is not Ivan Lander’s wife. At least, he never for once treated her as one. You should have enough conscience to know that Ivan does not merit a wife like Nelly!”
One of the hefty bodyguards Daisy brought with her wanted to hit Ash but Daisy stopped him. Even in Ivan’s absence, no one dared to speak ill of even his shadow, that was how powerful Ivan was.
“We are not to hurt him. We are not to hurt anyone,” Daisy instructed the guards.
For the next two hours, Daisy tried as much as possible to get the truth of the whereabouts of Nelly from Ash but he would not budge. Daisy had no other choice but to let him go. She made a few threats but could not carry it out when Ash refused to yield. It was not in Daisy to hurt anyone. In fact, this was the most extreme she could go.
Ivan waited in his office for some good news. Every minute, he’d check his phone if he had any call from Daisy, or perhaps, a text message.
“Why is it taking so much time to extract a little information from that nobody!” Ivan said concerning Ivan in his expression of frustration. “It should not be so hard to break him! It should be done without breaking a sweat!”
Just as he was immersed in his thoughts, his door opened up and it was Daisy who walked in. Her facial expression showed she didn’t bring the need he was expecting. This made Ivan furious even before he got to hear what Daisy had to say.
“You could not extract so little information from that son of a nobody? I’m so disappointed in you, Daisy!”
Ivan didn’t care how his words hurt someone when he was angry, be it anyone.
“I tried my best to get him to say something but he didn’t! What else could I have done?”
“You should have done it the Lander’s way! You are a Landers and we always get what we want!”
If it was Ivan who had Ash, it would have been extremely horrible for him. Ivan would have stretched him beyond breaking point but that was not who Daisy was. She could not even hurt a fly. They’d always said she was a different Landers.
“I just can’t believe that you let him go without obtaining any useful information from him,” Ivan voiced out in frustration and disappointment.
Daisy apologized for not being able to do what Ivan would have done. She wasn’t wrong, but it was Ivan, everyone apologized to him even when he was wrong.
“You said you wanted to help me, you should have done things the way I do! If you don’t, how then are you helping me?” Ivan was logical but Daisy would never hurt someone.
Daisy had to take her leave so she could make preparations for the return of Easton Landers, their grandfather.
Nelly was getting used to the life in Munich, Germany, where she was. She was sharing an apartment with a twenty one year American blonde, named Amanda. They had the same level of experience in Germany, just that Amanda had stayed a week longer than Nelly.
“I’m going out,” Nelly informed Amanda.
“To where?” Amanda asked Nelly.
“I’ll look around if there are some brown collar jobs for me to do. I just can’t keep staying idle, I want to earn some money.”
Amanda was sure she had seen Nelly before but she didn’t know where.
“You look like a TV personality I know,” Amanda said to Nelly.
Nelly didn’t tell Amanda who she was, she did not want anyone to know she was the girl involved in the scandal of sleeping with her Directors just to earn roles. Nelly already had enough of such a lifestyle, people bashing her on and off the internet. At least now she felt like a normal somebody.
She stepped out and there was this guy in the neighborhood who would always stare at her. He was at it again.
“Why does he always keep staring at me?” Nelly said to herself.
Amon was an impressive young man, well built muscles, with irresistible alluring green eyes. He was always in a singlet and joggers, constantly exercising. He waved at Nelly but she knew better now, not to be focused on the beauty of a man.
“I’m never going to let myself get hurt the second time!” Nelly vowed. Besides, she needed to focus on securing a job first. That was her primary concern.
Ash was dropped off a few blocks away from his house. He had to trek the rest of the distance. When Ash got home, he saw a luxurious car parked roughly in front of his gate.
The lady stepped out:
“Hello, Ash!”