The Mysterious Women Series:Blackmail

by Paramita Choudhury

  Chapter 24

  Neil was given seven years imprisonment because of his involvement with the drug suppliers and Robert was allotted ten years imprisonment because of the murders he had done and his involvement with illegal business. The week after that Ryan and Zack launched their new products and a new magazine which consisted of the latest gossip in fashion industry and other related items. Their products hit it off on the first day because Zack had already gained his popularity due to the ongoing cases regarding the murders and the commoners wanted to know more about this handsome tycoon who got engaged to a journalist, a beauty with brain. The past events had racked all of their brains, so that weekend they decided to spend their time together on the ranch except Mitchell, who still had a few paper works left. The ladies were busy making a feast for all of them while Zack and Laney were teaching Ryan and Willy to ride a horse. Willy proved to be a better rider than Ryan. Ryan's was riding the aggressive Thrill, who had the habit of throwing any rider who tried to ride its back. So after a few trials when Ryan got on its back and kicked his trunk the horse ran till the pigsty and threw the rider in the mud. Ryan fell through his abdomen in the mud and his face got smeared like a pan cake. Zack and Laney couldn’t control their emotions and laughed out loud. Seeing the tragic situation Willy ran home and asked his mother to supply him with washcloth and a bucket of water, when his mother asked him the reason he told her about Ryan's fall. "He will not take this lightly", Sara told them while preparing an apple pie. He will surely do something more stupid, Sara thought. Lucie brought a basket filled with water and handed the wash cloth to Willy "Let's go, clean your uncle", Sara tagged along with them and when they reached the pig sty she too was controlling hard to control her laughter. "Where's the horse?" she asked Zack. "You are going to beat him up"? Zack chuckled, "I'll lasso him", she answered coldly. They paused for a few seconds to look at her face and then started laughing again. By the look on her face Zack knew the woman is serious and will do anything to lasso that fellow. Now the biggest question was does she even know how to ride a horse? His question was answered when she soon spotted a lassoing rope and jumped on Willy's horse, a white mare. Then she asked the still surprised Laney about Ryan's horse" Which way do I find him"? Knowing that his dad wouldn’t be out of his reverie for a while, her question was answered by Willy" It went North towards the pond ", he was helping Ryan wash up. After waiting for her for a while all of them went back to doing their previous training and Lucie provided Ryan with Laney's clothes. Since he was a bit taller than her husband the sleeves couldn’t be stretched otherwise it was perfect because he was not all muscles as Laney. He decided it would be better to watch them instead of participating there. When Sara had not returned for a long time, a worried Zack kept on pacing near the stables "I'm going after her", he said "No, you are not, she can do it", Ryan smirked. "Bullshit, riding a horse is totally different from lassoing it" Zack scowled. Exactly at that moment Willy started clapping his hands attracting everyone's attention. They turned to see the reason of his excitement, it was Sara riding on the Chestnut horse and Willy's mare was roped to the other horse. Laney blew out a low whistle "You got yourself a mighty woman".

  While they were having lunch Ryan told them that Sara's grandfather had a ranch at Pennsylvania and right from her childhood she had been good with them. When Zack asked her regarding her interests in other farm animals, she replied "the other animals were all interested in Ryan", "How's that possible"? Willy took a bite of the pie. "Once during Christmas he tagged along with us to the ranch, he must be ten years old then", "I was eleven", Ryan snapped back. "Alright big boy, there my grandpa had bought a shepherd pup, when grandpa asked him to collar the pup it ran away", she chuckled "he caught it somehow and locked it along with the hens in their coop". "That's gross man", Laney guffawed. "And when grandpa saw the poor creature's condition he asked Ryan to let it free", she couldn’t control her laughter anymore "Well ok, I let it out but instead of thanking me it bit my leg and the mama hen ran after me till I reached the house and got myself locked", Ryan chuckled, all of them burst out laughing. "So, when are you getting married"? Lucie almost surprised Zack with her question. "Very soon", he took a glance at his fiancée. "I wanted to ask you something", Ryan said breaking the silence "Pray tell us your query", Zack grinned. "Why was your cousin after those paintings"? This caught everyone's attention. "Sara took out an old paper from her purse "Now don’t get angry at me but I hid this from you", she gave Zack the paper. He unfolded it and found a riddle "there's a riddle here which says -Out in the west, you'll find the rest; Hidden behind the trees, is your key". "In the West we have the redwood tree", Willy pointed out. "Good job son", Laney complimented. "And what about the painting that you replaced, where is it"? Zack asked Sara casually. She giggled like a little girl "And here I thought you don’t know about it? Can I ever hide anything from you"? He smiled "I don’t think so". They all finished their lunch and soon after that Lucie brought the painting which contained the key towards legacy. To take it out they had to tear off the painting where it was pasted with frame. The sun was about to set when they decide to ride west and to get their faster Zack and Sara rode the same horse, he didn’t want to leave her alone anymore while Willy and his mother rode the white mare; Ryan and Laney rode their horses alone. By the time they reached there only flickers of sunlight were visible, they had shovels and axes along with them. They started digging the ground near the tree and after almost half an hour of digging they got down to one feet depth, but couldn’t find any clue.

  "How much does this mean to you”, Sara asked Zack while they were relaxing on a bench close to the tree. Laney had these benches made so that during summer they could enjoy their evenings here watching the sun set." Not more than you", he looked at her eyes. "I must say we were digging the wrong place", she said out of the blue. "How do you know"? Laney was sitting in the adjoining bench with his wife. Ryan and Willy had gone to take a walk near the garden. Sara took out the map which they found in the frame "Well if you look at the map here you can see that the tree with a bend is located East and the legacy is almost at the centre from here and it is surrounded by five trees which have been planned in the same row", she said."It's in the rose garden", Lucie indicated, "Yes that’s the only place where we found the Chinese barberry plants", Laney informed them. Now they just had to go there and start digging again. But since the sun was set so they couldn’t the next step.

  The next day they dug the garden and almost ten feet below depth a treasure box was found which had a few pictures of Zack's ancestors and the rest was filled with jewels. The jewels they gave it to an orphanage secretly and kept the photos. Even after all this Sara didn’t look too happy , though she enjoyed herself, she had returned back to her old job but now as an assistant editor and after attending an interview when she returned, she found Zack had prepared special dinner for her, they had each others key cards so they could use it anytime . He could see she had put on a mask of happiness for him, so he did the right thing" Pack your bags immediately", "I don’t plan to move out of my apartment", he knew she was possessive of her assets but triggering her anger intrigued him. "We are going to LA for a few days", she narrowed her brows "pack a few gifts for your parents ", she quirked her brow, to which he smiled and said "I have already ordered something special for our angel".