by Eilish Rose
“What is going on here? Why are being so tough, Jasper?” Arthur spoke.
“Please dad. Trust me, whatever I’m doing, I have my reasons.”
“It’s okay, dad. I can handle this interrogation,” William tried to joke, but Jasper’s face remained expressionless. “Yes, brother. I have amnesia. What else do you want to know?”
“Prove it. Prove that you are saying the truth,” Jasper said.
“This is ridiculous, Jasper. He is your brother,” his mother intervened.
“No, mum. I’m serious, you have no idea what he has done to Ka…, Jasper stopped himself just in time.
“Jasper, tell the truth. I’m having headache with all these accusations.”
“I haven’t accused you of anything, yet. You’re going to have your head examined first thing in the morning. I want scans of your brain which I’ll show to an experienced and uncorrupted doctor. But even if you have amnesia, this will not stop me from uncovering every sinister thing you did in the past. Just having amnesia doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. I’ve already mourned my brother,” saying this Jasper stood up.
William was deep in thoughts when his parents also stood up.
“Jasper, what has happened to you? Why are you saying all these things?” Sophia was surprised.
“This isn’t you, Jasper. My brother was never like this man. Is your wife filling your head with this crap? I bet she doesn’t want to leave you for me since you are richer than me. She is manipulating…,” William could finish his rant because Jasper stormed towards him and landed a hard punch on his face.
William stumbled down on the floor because he didn’t see it coming. Sophia and Arthur were in shock. Jasper took this opportunity and threw two more punches on his face before Arthur grabbed him and tried to get him away from William.
“Stop this nonsense, Jasper. And William, you should also control your mouth,” Arthur reprimanded his sons.
“You bastard. I knew you were pretending. I never said anything about Kara. You jumped to conclusion when you had no idea what I was talking about,” Jasper tried to free himself but Arthur put all his strength to stop him.
“Jasper, this is enough now,” Sophia said angrily.
“Leave me dad. I wouldn’t go and punch him unless he opens his shitty mouth,” Jasper spoke in utterly calm voice.
Arthur released him hesitantly.
“Mom, dad. Ask him what he did to Kara and Amelia, and how he tortured them? And then how he tried to pin his fake accident on Kara?”
His parents gasped in shock, but William didn’t show any emotion. His mask was slipping away as his deeds were unveiling.
“What?” Sophia and Arthur spoke simultaneously.
“Your son raped my wife, and the child she is carrying is result of that,” his parents’ face went pale, and Sophia swayed a little before sitting down on the chair.
“He also sneaked inappropriate photos and videos of Amelia with someone’s help, and blackmailed Kara with this for one year. Not only this, he also burnt her skin on her last birthday because according to him she was wearing revealing clothes,” Jasper sneered at William with dark look in his eyes. He was in his field agent mode, and was ready to eliminate any threat.
“I have nothing to say. You are obviously turned against me,” saying this William walked back in the house. He behaved nonchalant as if Jasper just didn’t accuse him of heinous crimes.
Arthur hugged weeping Sophia. They asked Jasper again and again to reconsider everything. But Jasper assured them that he was right. For them, it was like the end of the world. Their own son could have such evil personality was beyond imagination for them.
Before leaving Jasper promised them to tell them everything once he saved Kara from this monster.
CHAPTER 28
Jasper sat in his car and was about to start it when his phone rang. It was Noah. First, he wanted to ignore it but then decided against it.
“What is it, Noah?”
“Jasper, they took her,” Noah was panicked.
“Who took whom?” Jasper was altered.
“Amelia. Someone took her, and I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t know there was something wrong,” Noah started ranting.
Jasper’s heart started beating rapidly.
“Wait, a minute,” Jasper put his call on hold to send a voice message to Aaron.
He reconnected the call.
“First, calm down. And tell me how someone took her?” he got out of his home and went inside the home as his brain was telling him that William definitely had something to do with this.
20 minutes ago.
Amelia was sitting on the brick edging of the lawn in front of her school, waiting for her chauffeur. She didn’t register when someone sad beside her.
“So, was the practice okay since Ms. Walker didn’t come today? I mean the substitute teacher was okay?” Amelia jerked when she heard Noah’s voice.
He was bit hesitant. If he hadn’t known the truth, he would have teased her with anything came to his mind. But now he treaded carefully.
“Don’t treat me with pity. I didn’t suffer as much as Kara did,” she seethed at him.
He put his hands up in surrender. She was spit-fire.
“And what are you doing here? Don’t you have something else to do? I think your girlfriend is waiting for you,” Amelia gestured towards tall blond girl who waved in his direction.
Noah flashed his pearly whites, “I can’t believe she’s still trying to be my girlfriend. By the way, we were never in a relationship, we were more like fu…,” he stopped himself before completing his sentence. He then averted his eyes from Kate.
“Fuck buddies,” Amelia finished for him.
Noah looked at her wide eyed.
“What? I know this type of stuff,” she shrugged like it was normal thing to say.
Noah was taken a back and then sobered up.
Meanwhile, Kate walked up to them. She merely gave a glance to Amelia while Amelia looked at her with so much curiosity.
“What are you doing here, baby. Is she your sister?” Kate asked in chirpy voice and Amelia scrunched her nose up.
“No, not my sister, but my betrothed,” he said casually.
“What!?” both girls shouted.
Kate eyed Amelia with distaste.
“Don’t barbie doll, just don’t. He is lying. I wouldn’t marry him, ever,” Amelia shuddered.
Noah laughed loudly, and encircled his arm around Amelia’s neck and pulled her closer, “don’t say never. We might end up marrying each other one day.”
“That day will never come. Plus, you do remember I’m a child, right? You could end up in jail for your actions,” Amelia shoved him away.
“Oh, so now you’re a child. Real classy Miss-I-know-this-type-of-stuff,” Noah winked at her.
They were back to bickering.
Kate huffed in annoyance and closed distance between herself and Noah. She touched his arm, “when is your next game? I’ll meet you after you win, and we’ll throw party,” she chirped in high pitch tone.
Amelia covered her ear subtly, but Noah couldn’t do it in time.
“Kate, just go. We’re over. It’s more than a month. Find someone else. I’m not that type of guy,” he growled.
“I’m going for now. We’ll be back together. I promise,” she flicked her hair back and strutted away, swaying her hips in obvious attempts.
“Wow! She’s smitten with you. I don’t get what these air heads see in you,” Amelia rolled her eyes.
“They all want good time. You know good time, right?” his voice had mischievous undertone.
“Gross,” she made a face.
A car pulled up, and Amelia got up when she saw her ride, “bye,” she said softly and ran towards the car.
Noah just kept looking at the retreating car, lost in thoughts.
A few minutes passed when a man with bloody head ran towards him. Noah’s eyes widened when he recognized the man.
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br /> “Derick, if you are here, who was driving the car?” Noah asked in shock.
“Somebody attacked me from behind, and other person shoved me aside when I was about to sit in the car. I stumbled but he was fast. I came here in taxi as fast as I could, but they have done their job. I have to inform Mr. Smith,” Derick was Amelia’s chauffeur who worked for the Smith family for 23 years.
“I have to call Jasper. He surely would do something, and you come with me. We can at least try to find that car, after all it just happened 5 minutes ago, right?” Noah took out his phone to call Jasper, running to his car with Derick. He was panicked.
She was abducted in broad daylight.
Meanwhile, Ethan was in the supermarket, following his wife who was reading the labels on cereals boxes with cute frown. He shook his head and looked around when a face captured his attention. It was Fiona Walker — Amelia’s PT teacher — grabbing some groceries in a hurry. To any on looker it’d seem as if she was running late for something, but Ethan was expert at reading body language and face expressions. He knew she was anxious as if she had committed a crime or was about to commit one.
When Amelia revealed about her suspicion on her teacher, Aaron pulled out her photo and circulated among his team to keep tabs on her.
Ethan’s military instincts kicked in. He had to follow her to get some answers. But before that he had to keep Crystal away from everything, she was prone to dangers.
“Crystal, come on. We don’t have any time for the shopping. We’ll come back some other time. Right now, I’m going to walk you to the office building, and I’ll send someone to take you home,” he dragged her with him leaving their shopping trolley between aisles. Thankfully, their office building was just few blocks away from the supermarket. He looked at Fiona, she was standing in a long queue. It would take her at least 10 minutes to check out her items.
“What? Is there something wrong?” Crystal asked in a small voice.
Ethan couldn’t hear her properly as he was ahead of her, and their height difference was another thing. Whenever she’d speak in that voice, he’d had to actually lean down to hear her properly.
But he guessed what she’d ask, “yes, there is a problem and I have to deal with it.”
“Is it serious?” she asked again.
She was being talkative, at it didn’t happen often. Although Ethan wanted to sit down and listen to her, he couldn’t. The timing was too wrong.
“Will tell you later,” he dismissed her with a sharp reply, cringing internally.
Crystal scowled at him, nonetheless, kept on walking when all she wanted to do was to trip him down for being a jerk.
They justed exited the front door of the market when Jaden — marketing head in Ethan’s company -- walked approached them.
“Jaden, take drop Crystal at home. I have some important work to do,” Ethan spoke, improvising his plan.
“But I had to do some shopping for Caroline, sir,” Jaden looked at him in eyes.
“Ethan tilted his head and squinted his eyes at him, “shopping during office hours? I’m the boss, I could fire you. I hope you know that.”
“Yes, of course boss. I know. But I didn’t take lunch break today, so this is sort of my lunch break,” Jaden gulped.
Crystal looked away when Ethan turned to her. He was about to say something when he saw that Fiona was moving forward in the queue.
“Lunch break at 4, so you could spend last hour of the day leisurely. I’m impressed! I’d let this slide if you dropped her off at home.”
“Or we could finish our shopping before going back to home,” Crystal spoke while looking at him with expectant gaze.
“Fine. Do whatever do you want,” Ethan gave up as he didn’t have much time. He left them hurriedly and ran towards his office building so he could get his car to follow her.
Crystal and Jaden sighed in relief when they got off the hook easily.
Present
“William,” Jasper shouted when he entered the house. His dad came out.
Arthur told him that William left the house the moment he walked away from the backyard.
Noah told him everything, and he was driving aimlessly in hope of finding the car. But he wasn’t getting any luck. Jasper told him to keep looking.
Jasper was also driving aimlessly as he also didn’t know where to find his brother.
When he hung up, his phone rang again. This time it was Ethan.
“I have got my eyes on Fiona. She’s is definitely up to something. I’m following her, now. And wait, I add Aaron on the call,” Ethan spoke when Jasper picked his phone.
After adding Aaron to the call as well, Jasper told them what just happened.
“Jasper, go to Kara. This could be the distraction. Make sure she is fine,” Aaron said.
“No, I’m not abandoning Amelia. She must be scared.”
“We know, Jasper. And we always knew that this was not one-man job, you couldn’t be at two places at the same time. You’re not abandoning her. We are on this together. First, take Kara somewhere safer then come back for Amelia. Right now, Kara is also vulnerable. We can’t take chance,” Ethan shouted at him as he was getting stuck in the traffic every now and then.
“Keep me updated,” Jasper cut the call with heavy heart. He was feeling helpless all over again. He never felt this helpless in many years. Last time was when he was chasing a lead in his first ever case. A politician was involved who was trying everything in his power to keep Jasper away from finding the truth behind the murder of a 17-year-old girl named Emerald.
Jasper drove as fast as he could to Kara’s office building. The lift took forever to take him to her floor, with every passing second, he was getting anxious.
When the lift door opened, he ran.
“Kara,” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Everyone one the floor stopped working and looked at him with sheer surprise. There weren’t more than eight people, all were too young. It seemed as they just passed their school and started their internship there.
Caroline, Kara’s assistant, ran towards him and asked him if something was wrong.
Just then Kara came out of her office with surprised look. Jasper released a long sigh when he saw her fine.
She smiled at him, but it was short lived when her face twisted in pain, and Jasper ran towards her to take her in his arms.
CHAPTER 29
Jasper held Kara’s hand tightly while she cried in pain. When Jasper visited her, Kara felt severe pain in her abdomen and one of the interns called 911 when Jasper shouted to call.
Paramedic in the van was trying hard to calm her down, but this was not happening. Kara was scared for the child while Jasper was scared for Amelia, Kara and the child.
They reached hospital after a short while and they rushed Kara to emergency.
Jasper was alone there, and his wife was currently in emergency ward. He felt scared. Everything was slipping away. First Amelia, and now Kara.
Kara’s parents along with Jasper’s rushed to the hospital with Caroline.
“What is going on, Jasper? I was in police station, filing missing complaint about Amelia when I received another gut wrenching news about Kara. Why this is happening to my daughters,” James whisper yelled, he was mess as his both children were in danger.
“Come with me,” Arthur asked James and Martha to follow him when he realized his son was not in the state of answering anything. Arthur took it up to himself to inform Smith’s whatever Jasper revealed just an hour ago. He knew after this the relationship between both families would strain, but he’d no right to keep the truth hidden.
Martha cried hard and James also could stop his tears. Although they didn’t know the whole truth, but the agony they felt for their daughters was beyond imagination.
“They were hurting all this time and didn’t say a word, James. We failed as parents,” Martha sobbed in her husband’s chest. James couldn't say anything, he was devastated.
; Arthur squeezed James’ shoulder in silent support.
On the other side, Sophia was with Jasper to support him.
“Jasper,” he looked up at James.
“If this is true, promise me you’ll bring him to justice. Our girls deserve this,” James said in broken yet determined voice while hugging Martha.
“I will,” he replied and ran his hand on his face.
“Go, Jasper. We’re here for Kara. Amelia also needs you,” Sophia said.
Jasper nodded and stood up. He took just few steps when doctor came.
“Mr. Black, we have to take your wife to surgery. She’s lost so much blood. I’m sorry there is no way we could save your child,” doctor informed.
Jasper stumbled. He felt as if the earth had tilted on its axis.
Everyone of them had tears in their eyes. It was cruel, but so very real.
“But she just had her check up the other day, and everything was fine. She was taking her medicines on time, and she wasn’t under stress for some time,” Jasper argued.
“We have to run some tests, Mr. Black, to know what actually happened, but right now please sign these papers,” doctor handed him some papers to sign.
“Please, save her,” he gave the papers back, and went out of the hospital seething in anger.
He dialed Aaron’s number, “where I should go now?”
“Is Kara alright?” Aaron asked instead of telling him.
“We’re on mission Aaron, just tell me,” he ignored him.
Aaron sighed, “check the coordinates, and please Jasper don’t do something stupid. Ethan is already there, and he has gone inside without backup. We need to hurry up.”
With in half an hour, Aaron and Jasper pulled up to the location. It was in the middle of nowhere, hidden behind dense trees. They were still five minute walk away from the building as they didn’t want to alert those criminals. Some of the snipers were also stationed on the trees with two back up teams. Ethan had already informed Aaron that there could be more people, or this could turn into a battle field. Hence, Aaron picked the best men, his security company had the best trained agents, many of them were ex-Navy SEAL.