Chapter Thirty Nine

The next day, I thought about Samantha and what she said the previous day. I just realized I knew nothing about Samantha. I called Mandy.

"Mandy, can you come over to the house. I have something to tell you"

"I'll be there in a jiffy"

"Who is Samantha?" I kept asking myself. I've known Samantha since I started working for Constantine but I knew just her name and age and nothing else. Now, it seems like she was hiding things about herself. She never introduced me to her boyfriend.

There was a knock on the door. Mandy was here already

"Good morning Mandy" I engulfed her in a hug

"Did you find the person?"

"Come in first and sit down. Do you want to drink anything?"

"No, I'm not thirsty"

"How are the baby and Peter. Did you people settle?"

"The baby is fine and Peter too and yes we talked and we are cool now. He was so happy when I told him we were having a baby. He said he had been praying I got pregnant"

"Did he propose yet?"

"It's too early. We just reconciled now and you are already talking about a proposal. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and he's going with me"

"I would have loved to come too"

"You can tag along" we laughed

"You said you wanted to tell me something. So tell me what did you find"

"Samantha came to visit me yesterday"

"Who is Samantha?"

"She works as a receptionist in my former workplace. She said my mistake was taking the designs home and not leaving them in the office. No one knew that I had those designs talk more if bringing them home"

"Are you suspecting her?"

"Yes, I have this feeling in my gut that she knows something about it or she knows the person that took it"

"Then let's have someone dig into her past or something"

"I don't want to involve another person in this. I just want to do it myself"

"How do you plan to achieve that by yourself?"

"I'll ask around about her. I'm sure somebody knows something about her"

"It's going to be faster if we get a private investigator to do the job. I know a man, he's very reliant and trustworthy and he would do it quickly"

"How sure are you about this guy?"

"A hundred percent. I just need to give him a call and the job is done. We won't regret it"

"Okay, I'm just scared. I don't want anybody to get hurt"

"No one is getting hurt" she picked up her phone and scrolled through it before dialing a number. She put the phone to her ear

"Hello" she put the phone on loudspeaker so I could hear their conversation

"Hello Mandy, it's been a while. It's so nice to hear your voice after a long time. How are you?"

"I'm doing great. What about you?"

"I'm doing perfectly good"

"It's glad to hear that. I need to ask a quick favor from you"

"Go ahead"

"I need detail on Samantha Darios. I want to know everything about her from her parents to her boyfriend where she lives even what she likes and hates. Can you do it for me?"

"Yes, I can"

"How fast can you do it?"

"I'll give you a call in the evening"

"I'll be expecting your call" she hung up

"I told you he's quick and efficient"

"I pray he finds something useful"

"So what happens if Samantha is behind this?" She asked with raised eyebrows

I would be sad if she had anything to do with it because I considered her my friend.

"I won't be happy, I've always thought of her as a good person and I really like her. So, it would be a shame if she's the one. I don't know what she gains for working with them"

"You shouldn't trust just anybody completely. You need to take your time getting to know a person"

"Has Constantine called you yet?" I shook my head

"He was being serious when he said he doesn't want to see my face or hear my voice. He had moved on already"

"I know you are hurting but you need to brace yourself"

"I love him and I don't think I'll be getting over him soon. When I'm with him, it's just like I don't have any worry. I just....."

"I know how you feel, if he's really meant for you then he will come back for you. If he's not the one for you then you don't need to stress yourself crying over him"

"Do you want us to do something while we wait or we should just sleep"

"Let's watch a movie"

"Let's watch To all the boys I've ever loved"

"Let's watch kissing booth instead"

"Fine"

I searched my Netflix for kissing booth and we watched it for the rest of the afternoon. We paused a while to have lunch and we continued from where we stopped. The ending made us cry because Noah and Ellie didn't end up together. I guess not every love story has a happy ending.

At 7:15 we got a call from Carlos and he asked if we meet in a restaurant. Mandy and I went together. He was waiting for us already, he hugged Mandy when he saw her. They looked like friends from way back.

"Carlos this is my best friend Eulalia and Eulalia this is Carlos the man I told you about"

"It's nice to meet you" I extended a hand to him which he accepted

"Same here" he brought out a brown envelope and have us

"It contains everything you need to know about her. I also had to go to her house and places she usually visits to get some pictures from their camera" we thanked him

We opened the envelope and I saw a picture that got me. It was Samantha and my brother Francis, they were kissing.

How did they know each other? I never introduced them. I checked her profile and my brother's name was there as her current boyfriend

There was a picture of her giving a man something in an envelope. There was also another picture of the man bringing it out and then I saw the designs.

It was very clear now who had stolen the designs and who had given them to Caesare. Francis and Samantha were two people I trusted.

Maybe Samantha had a reason for doing this but Francis had no reason.

Mandy and I held hands as we walked out of the restaurant.

Tomorrow is not going to be a good day.