Harriet brought the kids and joined Damien, who was waiting for her. She couldn’t believe that Stacy would be so biased. She loved her as a mother, but after seeing her side with Adrian, even after everything he had done, it made her question her relationship with both her and the kids. The last thing Harriet wanted was for Stacy to teach her children to defend criminals.
She was sure of one thing. She didn’t want her children anywhere close to her. She could trust her anymore, and she could wake up one day and let Adrian back into the house while her children were there.
“I’m sorry, mother, but this will be the last time you see our kids until Adrian is caught.” Damien said, as though he read Harriet’s mind.
Stacy stared at him with wide eyes, obviously not happy with his decision.
“You cannot stop me from being with my grandchildren! It’s their birthday this week! I have to be there!” She said in a shaky voice.
Stacy might have been blind to Adrian’s actions but, she loved her grandchildren more than anything, and she had been looking forward to their birthday party too.
Harriet looked at Stacy and saw the sincerity in her eyes when she talked about her grandchildren and, with the little time they had spent together, Harriet knew that she wasn’t pretending.
“Damien. Why don’t we let her attend the party but, she won’t touch them.” Harriet said, and Stacy looked at her sadly. She also didn’t like that it looked like she hated Stacy, so, she explained to herself.
“I’m sorry mother, I cannot risk it. Adrian is an enemy of my family. He kidnapped the children before and will do so again. We do not know what he will manipulate you into doing but, we are not taking our chances.” Harriet said, and walked to Damien with her children.
Without saying another word to his mother, Damien walked out of the house with Harriet and his children.
As soon as they left, Thomas turned to his wife, fuming with anger. He had been holding himself all along, since it would be wrong to correct his wife in the presence of the children.
“For goodness’ sake, Stacy. Why did you do that?” He asked in a rough tone, making Stacy flinch.
“How can you be so indifferent towards Adrian, Thomas? He’s your son too!” She flared up again and Thomas could not believe how much she had been brainwashed by Adrian.
“He’s our son, but he almost got his brother killed, kidnapped his brother’s ex-wife, tried to kick his brother out of the company and is also siding with Evelyn. He’s a criminal!” Thomas shook her shoulders as he yelled in her face, begging her to come to her senses.
“I know, Thomas. I know that he did all this but, it’s hard to accept it.” Tears began flowing out of her eyes as she slumped on the couch.
“I don’t want him to go to jail, Thomas. Is there not another way out of this?” She asked and Thomas shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but there’s no way. He still hasn’t apologized, which means that he hasn’t repented. All criminals should be brought to justice. Adrian isn’t an exception to that. All we can do is plead with Damien to reduce his charges. Maybe he can get fewer years in prison. But, he’d have to repent first.” Thomas said, and went to his room.
He also instructed one of his men to keep watch on Stacy at all times. He had a feeling she would try meeting with Adrian soon. That was part of the reason he didn’t seize her phone.
She could lead them to Adrian.
*
*
Evelyn looked at Adrian’s body and sighed. He had been in a coma for days and she was losing her cool. She couldn’t let him die, not when she was still a criminal who was on the run and had no penny to her name.
She thought of a way to get some money and escape to another country but the only thought that kept coming to her mind was Adrian’s mother. She remembered how Adrian always talked about him being her favorite.
She quickly took out another burner phone and took a picture of Adrian, looking dead, and sent it to his mother. Her plan was to blackmail her using the picture.
“I’ve had enough of myself pretending to be Adrian. It’s time for some real action.” She smiled to herself as she waited for Stacy to read the message.
That night, Stacy felt disturbed and was unable to sleep, so, she went into the mini-bar. She had barely taken a sip of her wine when her phone dinged.
She saw that it was a text from an unknown number. Normally, she would never pick up unknown numbers but, with Adrian out there, she had a feeling he would contact her using a different phone number, so, she opened the message.
“Ahh!” A scream left her mouth and she almost threw her phone away as a picture of Adrian on life support appeared on her screen. Below the picture was a text.
– His chances of survival are low and he needs immediate surgery. If you want him alive, send 60 million to the attached account. If anyone finds out about this, you can kiss your son goodbye.
Shaking with fear, Stacy zoomed in to be sure that it was her son.
“Oh my God!” She screamed again and started wailing. Her loud cries got to Thomas, who quickly rushed to the wine bar and was shocked to see his wife on the floor in tears.
“Stacy? What happened?” He asked, but she couldn’t form a coherent sentence as she kept weeping, holding her chest in pain.
No wonder she had been restless all along. Her son was on the verge of death. The same son that she delivered with so much difficulty.
Thomas’s eye caught her gripping her phone tightly, so, he took it out of her hand and the first thing he saw was the picture of Adrian and the message that followed.
His hands gripped the phone tightly, and he felt anger curse through his veins.
He didn’t need a sorcerer to tell him who was behind the text. There was only one person who would stoop so low and use a life and death situation to threaten his family.
Evelyn James.
“This bitch just messed with the wrong person.” He growled in anger.
Thomas Daniels was going to show Evelyn that he wasn’t as kind as his son. This time around, he was going to find her and bring her to Damien, dead or alive.