The sound came the second time before he could get to the door, and he responded, “Hold on. I will be with you shortly.”
He got to the door and opened it. Then, he breathed freely when he saw her.
He welcomed her with a charming smile, “Welcome back. I felt empty without you.”
She walked in while he held the door for her.
“Thank you. I felt the same way, too,” she said as she walked in, and he shut the door.
Then, he held her hands while they walked to the couch.
(Peck)
“How did it go at the office today?” He asked her before they sat down on the couch.
Then, Lorene gave a superficial answer, “Nothing much. We will continue on Monday.”
She gave him a keen look, which he mistook for a suspicious look, and that made him fidget because a sinner would always run even if no one was chasing him.
Then she requested, “Tell me, how did you spend your day without me?”
Now, Stephen tried to change the tense atmosphere to a lively one and joked. He gave her the same response she gave to him a while ago
“Nothing much. We will continue on Monday.”
Although it was a joke, as honest because he had agreed with Evelyn to meet on Monday for lunch.
Lorene laughed softly, and he laughed too before she said, “Wow! That is funny.”
They laughed happily. And to distract her further, he volunteered to serve her some breakfast.
“Let me serve your breakfast.”
“Oh! I don’t mind. Thank you. Let me change,” She said and got up from the chair.
She walked to the room while he proceeded to the kitchen. He served the breakfast on the dining table, and she joined him later.
“You are a caring person. I love you.”
(Peck)
“I’m happy you found me loveable. We will get to know each other better. Okay?”
“That is okay.”
They had their breakfast joyously, chatted, and resumed their love escapade. Meanwhile, they had the urge to switch on the television, especially Stephen, who was interested in the news about his wolves. But they were afraid of appearing to be bored with each other, so, they spent the weekend loving each other and pottering about without turning on the television.
Nevertheless, to avoid appearing desperate, she did not disclose that she saw his children at the hospital. Besides, he had not introduced them to her officially.
At the Military Barracks
After the complete pandemonium at Stephen’s resort the previous day, the news spread like a forest fire in the dry season. All media houses, both locally, internationally, and online, broke the news on their stations so that even the deaf could hear it. As expected, the news had many dimensions; everyone conceived the news to suit his or her opinion of the resort and the owner.
(I know what that dubious man is capable of doing it. He can kill to make money.)
(Nemesis had cut up with him.)
(How can he be callous to keep the money meant for the indigent for himself?)
The negative comments were endless. Everyone believed that he was guilty of the allegation without any iota of doubt. Besides, the beggars and indigents were regarded to be honest in their claims.
“They cannot be claiming what they were uncertain of,” Some passersby claimed.
Meanwhile, among Bailey’s family members, some of them were seeing it from another perspective. On Saturday afternoon, the news of the uproar was still as fresh as if it just occurred. It was the headline of the major dailies in the city.
Gen. Trevor Bailey, the family’s Patriarch who was not familiar with Stephen and did not have his contact, found it difficult to contact him and hear from him.
After Gen. Bailey watched the news, he asserted, “No matter what the accusation is, he is one of us.”
He was upset when he saw the news, the pictures, and the videos of the explosion. He was aware that the resort belonged to a member of the Bailey family who had questionable characters, especially after Oscar reported to him that his wife was found at his house unconscious.
“We cannot abandon him at this point. Yes, he may have questionable characters, but he is not the worst human being that ever lived,” he concluded and mulled over the matter.
He lived at his barracks home where he had lived since he was twenty years after he was enlisted in the army. After his retirement, he still maintained his apartment as a retired General in the Military.
The Patriarch was a highly respected member of the society. When the attempted abduction of Arthur failed on Monday and the media reported that a respected member of the society was their target, many people thought he was the person involved. At Ninety-five years old, he was still strong and agile and drove himself about without the aid of a driver.
“Get the family file for me,” he called out to his orderly, who was sitting on the balcony.
“Okay, General,” he answered and moved.
Gen. Bailey still maintained the old method of preserving information. He had a cabinet for the documents pertaining to different matters in his care.
“Here is the file, General,” the orderly said and handed over the file to him.
“Thank you,” the General mumbled and collected the file.
Then, he fished out of the file, the document containing the email addresses and the phone numbers of all the heads of the family of each branch of the Bailey family. Within twenty minutes, he had sent messages to the sixty-eight Family Heads, including Oscar, even though he was not a Family Head.
He requested that they should converge at his apartment at the barracks by 1:00 PM the next day for a very crucial matter.
At Cairo
That Friday, Arthur and Nichole arrived at the Cairo airport after five hours. They checked in without a hitch. Now, they were nostalgic about their first visit to the suite, especially Nichole, who suddenly remembered how Louis wept like a baby that day. At that point, her eyes were moist as she walked to the bedroom to drop her jacket. Her husband, who was attending to the porter, was oblivious of her mood.
After he settled the porter, he began to drag their trolley bags to the bedroom and met Nichole backing him and facing the wardrobe while snuffling silently. He stopped instantly, dropped the trolleys, and hurried towards her.
“Nichole,” he called out before he got to her.
Then, he held her shoulder and turned her swiftly to face him. He was surprised that her face was soaked with tears.
“What is the matter, Nichole? Why are you crying?” he inquired.
Nichole looked at his worried face before she laid her head on his chest and sobbed silently.
“Calm down, dear. You can talk to me. What is the matter?” he cuddled and pacified her.