Chapter 54

Euniel
I anxiously wait for Charles to come back to find me. I don't know if it's because I'm worried about the situation, but I have a strong intuition that this lady isn't simple. She doesn't inspire confidence in me at all. It's as if she is somehow involved in this case. At least she doesn't have to be all white in this. She's always around when I come to Charles's and she seems to have an influence on him. After a few minutes of waiting that seemed endless to me, Charles finally reappeared. His face was different. I understood that something had happened with this woman, not to say something had been said. She left immediately as she had come.
"Who is she?" I asked Charles, looking in the direction the lady took when he arrived in the room where I was.
"It's nobody."
"So, our discussion?" I questioned him, coming back to the point.
"So there's nothing. You have to get out of here right now. I have nothing to tell you and I've already told you. I don't know anything about where your mother is." He retorted in a categorical tone.
It looked like it wasn't the same person with whom I wad just five minutes ago.
"But you were ready to tell me a few minutes ago where she was."
"You're wrong. I never told you that. I've already told you, I have no idea where your mother is. Don't come back here if it's to harp on my ears about this subject."
"It's that woman who asked you not to tell me anything, isn't it? Who is she, and why does she want me to not know anything about Mommy?"
"I told you before, she's nobody. She has nothing to do with your mother."
"And why was it after she talked to you that you changed your mind?" I insisted on making him confess the truth. However, it looks like it has no effect. My father is callous as a rock.
"Stop imagining things like always. If you have nothing else to tell me, you can leave. I have important things to do." He replied harshly.
"Please dad, I really want to know. Please help me!" I begged him.
By calling him dad, I was hoping to at least appease him, but that's not knowing him well.
"Get out of my house!" He summoned me without any remorse.
I got up in spite of myself to go back to the door. But before opening it, I threw to him in a voice full of disappointment
"I thought that for once in your life, you would have wanted to play your role as a father by taking into account what is important to me. I see that I never meant anything to you. I am leaving your house, but know that this time it's to never set foot there again. You're right, you don't owe me anything."
From the drive home to the airport, I had a strong urge to cry. I feel like I'm caught in a gear, like I'm stuck in a tunnel without being able to see this light at the end of this tunnel. Could I finally find my mother? How long will this situation go on like this? I was in a lot of pain and I wanted to be comforted. If only Muse was there for me! She at least understands me without me having to say anything. I arrive nevertheless at the airport where I do not delay to take the flight to arrive in my city. I take the road to my father's house. I'm actually going there to see Muse. I wish she was there for me. However, when I arrived at my father's, he told me that Muse had left. I feel so sad to learn that.
"Where did she go and with whom? I know Muse is not one to go out." I inquired with my father.
"She went out with her friend Nicolas. I think she needs it right now."
"Nicolas..." I stammered, gritting my teeth.
"What? You're jealous? You have a fiancée as far as I know?!"
"No, I'm not jealous." I lied ashamed that my father found out.
"Son, it jumps out like a nose in the face, that you're jealous."
"Yes, I admit that I am a little." I finally admitted.
"If you're jealous that she dated another guy, does that mean you like her?!"
"Yes, you're right. I love Muse like crazy."
"But what's stopping you from going with her?" My father questioned me curiously.
"The situation is not that simple dad."
"So tell me so I understand you. Muse loves you and you love her too. What could be simpler?" My father inquired more confused.
"My fiancée is pregnant, that's why I can't leave her." I declared looking defeatist.
My dad's eyes widened when he heard that.
"You see yourself that it's complicated." I tell him.
"No, nothing complicated enough not to find a way out. Love surpasses all complication." My father said it in a calm voice.
"Maybe, but my situation is sealed. I see no other solution than to stay with Sandra. Which necessarily means that I cannot be with Muse." I summed up my situation with a sad look.
"Tell me, is that why you changed your mind about getting back together with Muse?" My father questioned me, looking me straight in the eye.
I nodded, looking down, then I replied.
"It was choosing between my love and my child."
"And you found it right to privilege the child to the detriment of love?"
"Yes. It's a fair choice isn't it?"
"No." My father replied without hesitation.
"What would you have chosen in my place?" I asked him the question, raising a surprised look at him.
"I would have chosen love without hesitation."
"But it's unfair to the child!" I exclaimed in offense.
"Warning! Choosing love does not mean sacrificing your child. I can be with the woman I love while keeping my child." He said calmly, as if things were so simple.
"I don't think it works that way. You can't have both at the same time. One is bound to suffer."
"You're the one saying it. But I'm going to give advice. Know that by marrying a woman for a reason other than love, you are committing a rather serious fault. Not only are you going to make your wife unhappy because she will never feel loved, you make yourself at the same time Unhappy because you love another woman. And the immediate consequence of this unhappiness is your child. He will suffer all this and will end up becoming an unbalanced man."
"I don't know what to do daddy. I just know that I lived without my parents' love and I suffered a lot from it. I don't want to risk being happy if my child might miss the affection of his two parents with him."
"In that case, we will do something." My father told me calmly.
"Which one ?" I asked him with interest.
"We're going to pray to God to guide you in your choice. If it doesn't come from him, may he intervene so that things work out in your favor."
"Agreed !"
I think talking to my dad did me good in the end.
Pen
Pauline had an ingenious idea to ask me to use Audrey as a mole in Mr. Hawam's house. She plays her role perfectly well and to top it off, she is good in bed.
"So, did I play my role well?" She asked me at the end of a good part of legs in the air.
"You were perfect my angel. Keep it up and everything will be fine."
"Honey..." She calls me hesitantly.
"Yes."
"How do you see our relationship?"
"Our relationship is beautiful."
"Yes, but I don't even know what we are. In sees herself on the sly and you told me that no one should know anything about what is happening around us. But I want more than that." She said to me, getting up to lean on her elbow.
I draw Audrey towards me and put lots of kisses on her face, then I try with honeyed words to reassure her as much as possible.
"Babe, we're going to tell everyone that we're together. But for now, it's best that we keep our relationship a secret..."
"But until when my love?" She interrupted me looking unhappy.
"Just be patient my dear. People are jealous and if the boss finds out that two colleagues are dating, he will fire me from work. I have to secure my position my beauty. As soon as I have enough money, I I'm going to quit so we can get married."
My last sentence succeeds in soothing him, because I see his face light up with a smile. She lies down on my chest more reassured. This case must end as soon as possible, because Audrey is starting to become demanding and that already annoys me.
After Audrey leaves, I call Pauline to put her to the fine-tooth comb of what she told me.
Paulina
Luckily that stupid Audrey is useful to us. If so, this band would be one step ahead of us. I know Pen is making the most of it, but it's a necessary evil. Thanks to her, we succeeded in foiling the plan of Mr. Hawam and his children. When I believe that without Audrey's information, Charles would have thrown everything at Euniel. It's already becoming dangerous for our business. Charles must be channeled quickly. I don't know what we're going to do with him, but I have to act quickly to shut him up once and for all. He didn't cause us any problems when Euniel still believed he was his father and hadn't found out who his real father was. Now everything is starting to get tough for us.
"What are we going to do with him?" I had asked Pen after telling him that I found Charles about to snitch us to Euniel for the money.
"Give him some money, or offer him to leave the city, even the country. I don't know me." Pen casually proposed to me.
"And do you think that's going to be enough to shut him up? It's hard to know him. This man wastes money like stones. He asks me for more every time as if I were a manufacturing machine subs."
"So offer him a trip abroad. That way he won't run the risk of meeting Euniel anytime soon. At least we'll be at peace."
"Even abroad, he's going to live on my hooks. That doesn't guarantee us that he's going to be quiet. The day he doesn't have any more money from us, he's going to rush to tell everything to Euniel for money. This man has no faith in money."
"So what are you proposing? I hope you're not thinking of eliminating him." Pen tells me on his guard.
"I don't know. It's the only option we have when it comes to Charles."
"Oh no Pauline! You promised me no death again." He hastens to plead.
"I don't really know anymore. I have the impression that he doesn't leave me much choice."
"No Pauline. You can use another method, but don't kill him. There is a way to get him to shut up permanently, even if it's by blackmailing him." Pen continued to plead for Charles.
"We'll see Pen. I can't tell you exactly what I'm going to decide on his fate, but I hope he won't push me to extremes." I conclude by hanging up the call.
I won't know on my word of honor that Charles isn't going to end up being eliminated. He behaves in such a way that he leaves me no choice but to kill him. I don't see what I can blackmail him about. He is someone who has nothing more to lose. He has virtually no family. And even if he did, he wouldn't give a damn whether we came after them or not. I hope the only option I have left with him is not to kill him, lest he betray us.