CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT.
Jamal had dealt with the major issues he had in life. He was no longer at his father’s mercy, his wife had forgiven him for maltreating her and losing their child and now the world knew who she was, his younger sister was about to get married to one of the most eligible in the country. His business was booming, everything was fine. There were two more things he had to settle, the first was Danielle’s issue and the second would be discussed later.
After making Owen Co go bankrupt, Jamal had no idea what Danielle had been up to, but he was sure that she was going through a tough time.
He knew no matter what, he owed Danielle because she was the one who brought him to the light about his father’s plans and stole the documents that could implicate him. For that one reason, Jamal had forgiven her for trying to get his sister raped and he had made up his mind to bring her back to her feet.
Danielle, who had received a call from a private number came out of her apartment as instructed and saw a Black Benz parked by the gate. She immediately recognized the car to be one of Jamal’s. When the guard opened the passenger seat door for her to get in, she didn’t hesitate. She quickly got into the car and her breath hitched when she noticed Jamal was sitting in the backseat.
“Jamal.” She called almost breathlessly. She was beyond shocked to see him. She knew he despised her and never wanted to see her face again, so she wondered why he was meeting with her.
“Danielle. Long time no see.” Said Jamal, keeping a straight face.
“Long time no see indeed.”
“How have you been?” Jamal asked quietly and Danielle snorted.
“What do you care?” She asked, rolling her eyes.
“I won’t be here asking if I didn’t care.”
“Does your wife know you care? Does she know you are here?” She asked with a smirk.
“This has got nothing to do with my wife, so leave her out of it.” Jamal warned and Danielle raised both hands in the air as a sign of her surrendering.
“I have. Don’t bite my head off. So tell me, why did you ask to see me?” She asked, looking at Jamal in amusement. He looked as handsome and composed as always and she knew in her heart that she would forever hate Adele for taking him away from her.
“I asked how you’ve been, I want an answer.”
“I’ve been miserable. My agency fired me after what I did, no other agency wants me. My career as a model is going down the Abyss. I’m broke. My life is in shambles right now.” She explained sadly.
“Do you blame anyone for that?” Jamal asked, looking at her for the first time since she got into the car. Danielle calmly shook her head.
“No, I can’t. My love for you made me greedy and stupid. I did things without thinking about the consequences of my actions and here I am, paying for my sins. I deserve it.”
“I’m happy you learned your lesson.”
“Did you call me out here so you can mock me for everything I’m going through.”
“Given how much distress you caused me and my wife when you were in control, that sounds like an interesting thing to do to make myself feel better, but I know more than to do that. I’m not here to mock you, I’m here to help you.” Danielle turned to look at him with a surprised look on her face.
“Help me?” She asked, just to be sure that she heard right.
“Yes.” He took out a passport with some papers sloughed in it and handed to her. “That’s your passport.”
“How the hell did you get my passport?” Danielle asked in horror.
“I can get anything I want in this country, Danielle. By the end of today, you’ll receive the sum of ten million dollars in your account. I need you to take that money and use this passport to go to Paris. Your flight has already been booked, first flight tomorrow morning. You will be received by an agency and you will work with them as a model.”
“Jamal.” Danielle whispered in a shaky voice as she took the passport for his hand with trembling hands. She opened it to check and indeed it was here and had been recently stamped.
She looked at Jamal with tears of joy filled in her eyes. She had thought her life was over, but the sales person she had wanted to take revenge on was the one lifting her to her feet again.
She felt so embarrassed and lucky at the same time.
“I decided to forgive you for everything you did because I consider you as a young girl who tried to fight for what she wanted. You have a good fighting spirit, Danielle, but I need you to use that knowledge and spirit of yours to do something reasonable. Go out there and excel. Forget about me. I’m positive you will find the man for you someday. Just take this passport, go to Paris and live the life you’ve always wanted. Become that supermodel you’ve always wanted to become and make yourself proud. Make me proud. I want you to become that girl I used to consider my little sister again.” By the time he finished talking, Danielle was sobbing like a baby and he felt really bad for her. Without thinking twice, he took her into his arms and comforted her.
“Thank you very much, Jamal. You have no idea what mess you have pulled me out of. Thank you.”
“Just promise me that you will be a better person. The next time we meet, I want to see a better version of you. Can I count on you to do that for me?” He asked and Danielle quickly nodded her head as tears kept welling down her cheeks.
Jamal just smiled.
One done, one to go.
***********************************************
Shannelle rushed into the house to show Grandma Devon her wedding gown that had been bought while Adele dragged herself into the house. She was exhausted from all the driving and talking she did with Shannelle.
When she got into the living room, she was welcomed by the butler who took her jacket.
“Thank you very much.” She thanked the man with a smile.
“Mrs King, this came in the mail for you.” He handed over a brown parcel which Adele took with a confused look on her face. She wasn’t expecting anything from anyone.
“Who sent?” She asked, confused and the man smiled at her.
“You’ll probably know when you open it up.” The man said and left.
Adele went straight to her bedroom and thought of taking her shower and resting before opening the parcel, but she was too curious to wait that long, so she opened up the brown envelope which contained another white envelope in it. Her name , “Adele”, was written at the back of the envelope.
Her heart began to race as she carefully opened the envelope and took out the note from it. She sat on the bed to read the note.
“Dear, Adele. I was five years old when I first met you. As a little girl, I didn’t mind that you weren’t a member of the Dominick family. I liked you and wanted to be your friend, but Mrs Dominick didn’t let that happen. She always punished Shannelle and I anytime we played with you and we hated it. That’s why we stopped playing with you as kids. Mrs Dominick made us both despise you because of the horrible things she told us about you which I only discovered recently were lies. When Shannelle told me you and Jamal were getting married, I was furious and my hatred for you tripled. I loved Jamal and the fact that he wanted to be with someone else turned me into a mad woman. I did all I could to get him for myself. I even tried to use the information that could get him about the huge mess to my advantage, but it didn’t work. Your husband stayed loyal to you. Adele it’s true that I hate you for stealing Jamal’s heart the way you did, but I had no right to ruin your marriage. I’m sorry for everything I did to you, every pain I made you feel. I’m sorry for the child you lost because of my selfishness. I know all of this makes no sense and it’s probably too late to say these things, but I just had to say them. I lost and you won and I wish you the best in your marriage. If there’s one thing you shouldn’t forget, it is the fact that Jamal loves you very much, Adele. He loves you from here to the moon and back and he will do anything for you. You are the lucky girl he chose and even though I’m not happy for you, I wish you the best. I sincerely hope we never cross paths again. Once more I’m sorry for everything. Have a nice life. Danielle.”
A single tear drop fell on the paper the moment Adele read the last word. She sniffled tears and put the letter away.
Reading a semi apology letter from Danielle just awakened all the hurtful feelings she had been trying to bury.