POV: Raphael
I guess Eloise and her guys forgot to rig a bomb close to the trash compartment. Or maybe they thought we would not be found going through their trash. It could be that they never thought we could make the connection or even make sense of the rubbish they left in their trash. Luckily, Carl went through the trash, and he found some rough paperwork, like a map and some receipts for things bought and shipped to a beach house on a private island with a weird location and address.
The address of that island is suspicious because it doesn’t show in any record that we know of. It’s like an abandoned building that no one is supposed to know about or even go to. Besides, the money she has spent in that place is enough to buy three more companies like theirs. We found receipts of supplies that was taken to the beachouse, they are just too many. And Trust me, they aren’t office supplies, they are household supplies that could last for years.
We had to do more digging about this house because I found the same address too in Austin’s paper. But we found out that on the papers, it is stated that the beach house has been sold to a shell corporation abroad. But when we investigated the shell corporation, we found out that it was just an alias used by Eloise.
That building is initially owned by Eloise’s parents. But when she began making plans to elope several years ago, she put the property for sale to make everyone think that she sold it off. Then she used an alias to repurchase her property from herself. Clever, right?
It seems like she is also using these aliases to launder money for some prominent people in town, and she upgraded the beach house facilities to the most expensive and high-tech security system that is just impenetrable.
“What is going on down there, why does she need this much security?” Miguel asked in Confusion, staring at the blueprint for the beach house and its security system. It’s the same question on my mind, and the only answer I could come up with was that she was preparing for war.
Eloise is not a fool; she knows she is definitely going down, and she is prepared to take anyone who comes after her down with her. If we are going to do this, we are going to give it our best shot because we have only one chance to get it right. If we don’t get it right the first time, then that’s it, we are so fucking dead, and so are the girls.
“Get a tech guy here, Carl. I need someone to tell me how best to evade her security system. But first, he needs to check out that place and make sure we got the right place.” I instructed Carl. He nodded and swung into action immediately, putting a call across to my tech geek.
I need him to rig up a drone that cannot be detected by any device on that island. He would fly the drone into that building and confirm that the girls and Eloise were in sight. When we get confirmation that they are all in that building, then we can figure out how best to infiltrate the building and save the girls.
For his sake, I hope that Allen guy is not there when I get there. He broke into my house and kidnapped my woman. As if that that was not enough, he rigged a bomb and set traps for me and my boys, trying to kill us. I was this close to getting blown away with that building.
So for his sake, I hope he finds a way out of that beach house before I get there because if I set my eyes on him, I’m going to fucking main him. I’ll kill him in the most painful way I can think of. That would be after I’m done with Eloise Kendall. She is the biggest threat I’ve ever faced.
Can you believe that?
It would be so crazy if I died on this mission. I didn’t survive an attempted murder and several death threats and attempts to kill me by my brothers, only to end up getting killed by a crazy woman who thinks she can get anything she wants with her money. I didn’t get this far only to be taken down by Psychopath with zero brains.
If I survived all the attacks from my uncle and my brothers, then this is just a piece of cake; I’ll get past this in no time. I could not get the image of Victoria’s limp body being carried out by Allen and his boys. I could still hear her voice in my head as she called me for help. She sounded so broken and weak.
I could tell that she was scared to death by the treatment she was getting from the woman she had called mother all her life. Miguel has no idea how I’m feeling about this issue. He thinks he is hurting the most because he is her brother. But I feel the pain in my heart too. I love her, and I miss her so much that it hurts.
I would give anything to have her back in my arms again, I would give anything to get one more chance to tell her how I truly feel about her. It would break my heart if I didn’t save her from Eloise; I will never forgive myself if something bad happens to her on that island. It would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“Get some rest, Miguel, I’ll let you know how it’s going in the morning,” I told him calmly after Miguel left with the tech geek and some guys to work on modifying the drone to fit my description and make sure it doesn’t get spotted before or after he invaded Eloise’s house.
“I can’t sleep, man; I just can’t close my eyes when I know that my sister is in danger. Each time I close my eyes, I see her face filled with tears as she begs me to save her before it is too late. I have this feeling in my heart that Eloise might hurt them before we find her. Thinking about it makes me so sick in my stomach. This is why I can’t shut my eyes for even one second.” He told me, his voice breaking at the end as if he wanted to cry.
“I feel the same way, too; it hurts even more to know that with all my resources and influence, I still get played by a crazy woman with evil plans. Like, how did I even let this happen? How could I be blinded by my feelings for Victoria? Why didn’t I stay back and see how she handled the meeting and what she told them?
It’s my fault that the girls agreed to meet with her. If I hadn’t gotten Claire back home, she would not have eloped without her, and while she was trying to get Claire to come back home, I would have had more time to investigate and find out the truth about the girls.
Who knows, maybe I would have found out about the terrorist organization she is using and I would have gotten rid of them before they get to the girls.” I told him sadly, admitting to him for the first time that it was my fault they were kidnapped this time.
“Come on, man, it’s not your fault that this psychopath crossed our path. It’s nobody’s fault that she took them several years ago, and it is still nobody’s fault that she decided to elope with them. She has been plotting this for a long time, we couldn’t have known that she is crazy, so don’t beat yourself up about it.
If we apportion blame, trust me, it will go around. But I’m trying to look at the brighter side and stop blaming myself or anybody else. When we find Eloise Kendall, she would face the consequences of everything she has done.” He told me firmly, sounding determined.
We sat in silence for a few minutes thinking of what might have happened if we had acted differently or made other decisions. For me, I kept thinking of Victoria and how she would no longer be under my control when she got back. Her family is more than capable of providing all her needs.
Besides, she no longer has to take care of a sick mom and there is no crazy father in her Life to hurt and threaten her anymore. This means that she no longer needs my protection or my money. Will she still want me in her life, will she still love me?
“You much love her so much, don’t you Raphael?” he asked me as if he had been reading my mind all along. I looked at him suspiciously, wondering why he was bringing up my relationship with Victoria all of a sudden.
“Yes, I love her,” I responded calmly, trying to stop him from asking questions about our relationship. But somehow the universe seems to be against me this evening because my mom walked into the house looking all classy and bossy. As usual, Vinnie followed behind her, but Cindy wasn’t with her today, and I know she was still hiding her face in Nathan’s house where I’d left her.
“No Myers!
My son doesn’t love your sister and even if she did before, she is no longer welcomed in this family, not after we just confirmed that she is a Myers!” my mom lets out in an icy tone filled with hate and disgust.