“Boss, have you seen the news?” Billie rushed into Grey’s office. “Calm down Bill, what’s going on?”
“It’s Cassandra, a news is currently going viral about her cheating on her husband.” Billie showed the tablet in his hand to Grey.
“Damnit!” Grey banged his hand on the table furiously. “This girl would surely be the bane of me. Where’s she?” he questioned with a tell.
“I have no idea boss. Since she left here, I don’t know her whereabouts. I would suggest you should ask Weapon.”
Grey put a call through to Weapon and he picked up within the first few seconds of ringing.
“Where are you? Why haven’t you reported to me?”
“I’m sorry boss, ma’am Cassandra asked me to take her somewhere before she returns to the office.
“Where did you go?”
Weapon swallowed nervously. He was anxious, not sure whether to tell Grey that they had been to the hotel. Moments like this, he mustn’t make any mistake, else he’s in for trouble either way. A lie mustn’t be told, and he couldn’t say the complete truth.
“She wanted to…”
“Don’t try me Weapon, you took her to the hotel right?” Grey said and Weapon’s eyes widened. How did his boss know? He was scared.
“Are you still covering up for her? Didn’t you see the news?”
“No boss, she ordered that I take her to the hotel and I did, but I kept an eye on her. You don’t have to worry.”
“If you kept an eye on her, what’s the news all about?”
“I’m not aware of the news yet, I’ll check it soon.” Grey disconnected the call, with a sigh. He was so pissed and became angrier when Jasper called him.
“Not at this moment” he muttered amidst gritted teeth but picked up the call still.
“Dear father-in-law,” Jasper’s voice reverberated with amusement.
“What’s it, Jasper?”
“Oh no, you don’t have to yell. I have a piece of good news for you.”
“And what is it?”
“You’ll know what it is in the next two minutes.” he hung up.
Exactly two minutes later, there was a knock on Grey’s door. Before Grey could permit the person, Billie entered with a sad look on his face.
“Boss, you have a parcel.” he handed a sealed envelope over to Grey, who collected it quickly and unsealed it. He brought out the papers in the envelope and to his amazement, it was a marriage document.
Flipping the second page opened, “DIVORCE AGREEMENT,” was written boldly on the top. “Divorce papers?” Grey furrowed his brows in confusion. Angrily, he phoned Jasper.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he yelled.
“Calm down father-in-law, I can explain.” Jasper mocked. “You should ask your daughter who she cheated on me with for the past five years.”
“What are you talking about? You know what I can do right? I’ll make you suffer for the false allegations you’re alleging on my daughter if I found out you’re making things up.”
Jasper made a clicking sound with his tongue consecutively, “You don’t have to worry about me making things up. I have evidence and if you think you can use your threats on me this time, I’m sorry to tell you that it won’t work.”
“… If your daughter refuses to sign the divorce papers in the next forty-eight hours, I’ll sue her for child abuse.” Jasper smiled and hung up, his expression, absurd.
Swinging his swivel chair with his weight, he smiled to himself. Never did he expect to have the chance of divorcing Cassandra so soon. Katrina and her brother were indeed God-sent to him.
After seeing Cassandra’s image on the television, he had asked Katrina if she really knew who she was pointing at and she had stood her ground that she was not blind and knows who she has seen. Drake’s confirmation made Jasper calm. Softly, he asked for the details from the two siblings.
Katrina took the opportunity to spill what has been eating her up for days past and what made her wary of others. Jasper was shocked beyond words. The emotion he felt at that moment could not be described. Be it the pain of being betrayed for years, the discomfort of the children whom his wife abused, or anger of having to put up with her for years, or the excitement that he finally has a tool to be free from his bondage, he didn’t know.
His body felt jittery and tingly. He had left the hospital to calm his mind and think about the situation. He invited Carl to his office to explain the recent events to him. The two friends had put two and two together and came up with a solution within time.
If they had delayed any longer and let their emotions get in the way, Grey would have taken the chance to turn the situation around in his favour. That’s how tricky and calculating he is. Jasper spoke with a lawyer and had a divorce agreement set up and had it sent to Grey.
Smiling at the accidental turn of events, Jasper smirked in satisfaction. “Now, the game is mine to play, my family and I can’t remain under your grasp.”
*
*
Katrina was discharged from the hospital and Jasper settled the hospital bills. Outside the hospital, he arranged Katrina’s properties which she used in the hospital in the boot of his car.
“Mr Callaghan,” Katrina called from behind dressed in a short white-blue gown that fits her figure perfectly.
“What’s the problem dear?”
“Where are you taking us?” she asked, fiddling with her thumbs. Nervous. She was nervous and Jasper could sense it.
Amidst smiles, he moved closer to her, engulfing her delicate hands in his. “You don’t have to be scared around me Katrina, I won’t hurt you. Feel free to speak to me as my daughter does. I already considered you as my daughter and family.”
“Thanks” she replied almost inaudibly.
“I’m taking you to one of my houses. Drake has been there for a couple of days, you won’t have a problem.”
“Thanks, sir, but I want to ask for a favour.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I would like to visit our house, there are some things I want need to take”
“Right now, the house has been sealed by the government. You can wait till tomorrow, as for your clothes and other stuff, you can forget them. Tomorrow, I’m going to get you new things.”
“Can you please drive there first, there’s one place that no one knows about and can never be sealed. I can take that route inside. I need to get something from my late mother’s room.”
“Alright, sure.”
The drive took about twenty minutes and thirty seconds. The nanny remained in the car with Drake and Jasmine, while Katrina alighted with Jasper. Dangers might loom around, the teenage girl is still recuperating. She’s yet to speak about what happened to her exactly to anyone and Jasper didn’t want to push her. Thus, he needed to protect her.
Katrina strode to the backyard of the house where a two- foot-cabin was and opened the small wooden door. Squatting to the floor, she used her hand to sweep the piles of dried grasses on its ground. A wooden opening lay there, all dusty.
She blew a mass amount of air across the width with her mouth making some of the dust particles clear off and become invisible. She held the wooden handle of the lock, raising the wooden cover.
Behold, there was an underground with a flight of stairs which lead to the lower part of the building. Jasper stopped her from entering.
“You don’t know what is there? What if someone is hidden there?”
“No one knows this place apart from me, Drake and my mum”
“Not even your dad?” She shakes her head.
“But you know now.” she flashed an earthen smile at Jasper.
Carefully, she stepped onto the stairs and Jasper followed behind her when he couldn’t see her head anymore. The underground led to a short passage with a concrete door.
“How are you going to open that?” Jasper yelled when Katrina touched the door.
“I don’t have to expend my strength, mister, This is a knob to turn.” she pointed at the round-like disk on the door. She turned it and the door rolled open with an ear-splitting screeching sound of the concrete’s effect on the brick wall.
Katrina entered the compartment in view and Jasper followed. She stopped in her track, inhaling the scent of the room. It was her mother’s. Her biological motges. After her death, no one stepped into the room except Katrina. She makes sure no one was around whenever she wants to express her mind.
Jasper walked around the room silent while Katrina stood on the spot. He understands what she’s goi g through. If not all, at least, some.
“It’s a beautiful room” he broke the silence. “Thank you, sir,”
Katrina remembered that she was going with him and bent beside the little cabinet at the far north corner of the room. She opened it and rummaged through the contents looking for her mother’s pictures.
She smiled upon sighting the picture envelope in front of her. Opening it, another envelope fell from it and Jasper picked it up for her.
He handed it over to her and she opened it to see what was inside. A letter?” she was confused. It was a letter from her mother.
“Dear Katrina, By the time you see this, I will be long gone. I want you to know that I love you and your brother so much. Wherever I am, you will always remain the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know from now on, you will have a lot to handle but I beg you to be strong. If not for anything, for the sake of your you get brother.
There is a lot I want to tell you, but I can’t at the moment. I want you to remember that for everything in life, there are things behind the curtain that you can’t see until time wants you to open them. You once asked me about your father’s origin and I told you off.
Now I’m telling you I’m this last letter of mine. Your father is not from this country but Italy. He’s a good man but can be a tyrant at times. I fell in love with him in my early teens and got pregnant with you when I was nineteen.
For some reasons which you will know in the future, we had to leave Italy when I was pregnant with you to save your life and mine. None of his family knows about you and your brother’s existence and they must not know. I can’t say more than this, but always remember that I love you.
Tear the envelope open for the lead to the search for your father’s origin. Hurriedly and in tears, Katrina tore the envelope. On the inner part was a symbol. A half star, crescent and fox head sign are drawn together in a circle. Under it was two calligraphed bold letters. “V. M”