CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

'What is the matter? Whatever it is, we should meet, I have a lot to discuss with you," Nicholas said to Astra. Astra was a bit far from her phone when he called at first and that was why she did not pick. When she saw his missed calls, she figured it was a sign. She had to meet him and tell him about Stephanie too, maybe he will be able to help her.
'Okay, I will come to your place right away," Astra said. There was no need to be coy, it was a matter of urgency.
'Oh, okay," Nicholas said. He sounded confused by her reply but he did not say anything to show his confusion.
'I am at home. I will wait for you," he replied.
'I am on my way," Astra said before disconnecting the call. Astra fidgeted as she picked up her car keys and her purse, leaving her apartment. A lot of things were bothering her, first, there was the problem of Ray threatening Jared and the fact that it could end up ruining her relationship with him. There was also the problem of Stephanie claiming that she didn't want a divorce anymore, Astra was almost sure that Ray had a hand in that.
Astra drove to Nicholas' house with a high speed and shaky hands. Thankfully, she got there in one piece and no injuries were procured.
Astra knocked on the door, and Nicholas' butler ushered her into the house. She had a feeling of de ja vu as she entered the house seeing Sarah seating close to Nicholas. Astra could not help but wonder if there was something more than the simple cousin relationship between them.
'Astra," Nicholas said and she could feel memories from the night they had sex coming back to her. She hadn't seen Nicholas since the night they had sex and so she almost forgot the effect he had on her. The fact that remorse filled his eyes did not help. He seemed like he was regretting a lot of things.
'Nicholas," she said in reply. She did not have other words.
'Sarah please can you give us some privacy?" Nicholas asked Sarah and Sarah looked absolutely shocked, appalled even. Astra was relieved though, she did not want to talk to Nicholas while Sarah was just there listening in on their conversation.
'I will be upstairs," Sarah said after looking at Nicholas for a long, it was almost as if she was waiting for him to change his mind.
'Okay," Nicholas said to her. Sarah still hesitated though before she finally walked up stairs. Astra let out a breath she did not know she was holding before she collapsed on the sofa.
'Everything is just wrong," Astra said, placing her hands over her head. She was frustrated as it was.
'What's the problem Astra?" Nicholas asked her, he was seated beside her.
'It's Stephanie. She wants to leave Ray, we talked about it, we agreed even. She has bought a house and she wants to start life afresh with her baby, and suddenly Ray comes back from wherever he went to and she doesn't want any of those anymore. She says she is okay with Ray now and wants to build her family but I don't believe her. I think he is blackmailing her. Or worse, he is hurting her," Astra said. She was not exactly sure she wanted to tell Nicholas all the details about Ray. She was not sure what to believe even, it was all speculation on her side. Nicholas looked shocked by her words. But not as shocked as she would have expected. She wondered why he had called her then.
'Why are they having a divorce? And why do you think he will go to such l lolengths to stop her?" Nicholas asked and Astra frowned. She should have known that Nicholas would ask for all the information he could get.
'I don't know how to put this," she started and Nicholas looked at her with curious eyes.
'Stephanie tells me that Nicholas is obsessed with me, and that he never loved her and even asked her to abort their baby, and I am inclined to believe her," Astra said and Nicholas frowned.
'You of all people should understand why I am worried Nicholas. I actually felt Ray changed over the years and I had nothing to worry about anymore, but hearing Stephanie tell me that all he talks about is me, is making me feel unsafe all over again. He still follows me everywhere. He has even started threatening Jared," Astra said and Nicholas' eyes narrowed. Astra knew that he was putting two and two together.
'Ray has the propensity to be dangerous, I can't just leave my friend with him, I have to do something, anything at all. Ray has planted himself in my life in such a way that I could never make him leave. It scares me that he married Stephanie just so that we would always have that relationship. I want to think that he actually loved her, even if it is just a little, but I can not be sure. The things I am hearing are scaring me the more," Astra said. Nicholas stared at her.
'Well, you are about to hear even more. Did it occur to you that Ray might be the reason why my company fell into shambles? Why our marriage disintegrated?" Nicholas asked and Astra narrowed her eyes. The nerve that Nicholas had, to try to blame his shortcomings on Ray.
'Our marriage ended because you decided one day to throw me out of your house!" Astra shouted and Nicholas shook his head.
'The letter that was sent to me is still in my drawer. I will bring it out later for you to see, but I want you to think about something. Remember when we got married?" Nicholas asked and Astra nodded her head. It was a whirlwind romance, no one knew that she was getting married, she only told her parents and her friends, including Ray after she was hitched. Astra could remember that Ray was openly furious about her marriage. She had never seen him so angry before and even till now. She actually felt it was a big brother thing at first. Ray never liked Nicholas even till the end of their marriage. Astra was a bit surprised that he had not done much after Nicholas threw her out, but then again, Nicholas was already in a huge mess.
Their entire two years of marriage was full of temptations and tribulations. It seemed like they were going from one problem to the other. They were in love so it was not so hard to conquer the problems. Once in a while, someone would claim to be pregnant for Nicholas and it would he resolved after a while, they not felt then that it was because Nicholas was so popular. Things were going into perspective now.
'Our marriage was one problem after the other. I was also facing threats in the business sector. Eventually, someone sent fake evidence of fraud to all stakeholders and they dropped out. It was the same person that sent pictures and videos of you naked, cheating on me with several of the top politicians in the country," Nicholas said.
'What!" Astra was dumbfounded. Nicholas opened his phone and showed her pictures and videos. Astra was almost sure she was the one in those videos, other than the fact that she did not remember doing anything of the sort.
'They are fake. They have to be. But they look so real. God!" Astra said covering her face with hands, she could feel tears starting to fall, it was just about a video after all. All the pain for a probably forged video.
'The threats stopped after you left and they were traced to Thompson, even though there was no substantial evidence. I was living life and trying to get Thompson when you came back to town. I was angry that you did not seem as broken as I was, and that was why I gave you Thompson's case, that was when my problems started again. Investors started leaving the company, it was too identical to the first time, it had to be the same person. I started investigating Thompson again, but with the idea that he was not working alone," Nicholas said. She could barely comprehend what he was saying but she knew he was going somewhere. It was not exactly pretty.
'For the period I have not talked to you and taken you off the case, no investor has dropped out of the company. Everything seems to be going fine. No one is threatening me anymore. Thompson has been missing for the past month and no one knows where he is, no one even filed a missing person report, they are all sure that he is fine, but I have other ideas. The two cars that drove Thompson around the day before he got missing belong to one person, and the person tried his best to conceal that fact. The cars belonged to Ray," Nicholas said and Astra sighed. It was not as though her mind had not gone through the possibility, but she did not expect to be right, she did not expect it to be this bad.
'I am sorry," Astra said, she was not sure what else to say. She could feel tears coming out of her eyes. It was all her fault. If only she had to encouraged Ray when she met him. If only she had ignored him from the beginning, things would have not been this bad. Maybe her relationships would have run their course, but without Ray to stop them. If only she had taken his stalker tendencies more seriously. She should have reported him to the police then, it would have not been an issue now. Leaving it for so long made it to blow out of proportion. So much time had been lost as a result, so much pain had resulted.
'It's not your fault Astra. If anyone is to be blamed, then it is the bastard that thinks that he is the only one that should have you and anyone who attempts should be eliminated from the equation. Ray is a sick bastard and you don't have to beat yourself up because of him," Nicholas said and Astra struggled to nod her head in agreement, she knew that she had her own part to play. She could feel tears just rushing out of her eyes.
'I am sorry for all you had to go through because of me," Astra said. She was still trying to wrap her head around all Nicholas told her. It all made sense and although they did not have concrete evidence, she was sure he was right. But then again, the fact that she was so close to someone who willingly hurt people was chilling.
'Try and call Stephanie again. Maybe we can convince her with more evidence," Nicholas said. Astra was not in the mood to talk to anyone, but she felt responsible for what was happening with Stephanie and so she called.
The phone rang over and over again and there was no response, each time the phone rang, Astra's heartbeat seemed to cease for a while, and then when she wouldn't pick up, fear rose within Astra, coupled with dread.
'Something is wrong," Astra said and Nicholas nodded.
'I want to check her place," Astra said and stood up. She was still standing when Sarah ran into the living room, she was crying.
Nicholas managed to hold her and rubbed her hair.
'What is wrong Sarah?" He asked. Astra could tell that he truly cared about her.
'It's Theo," she began, she was breathing heavily, even Astra froze.
'He has been kidnapped."