Chapter hundred and twenty nine

Oliver

I sat on the edge of the bed, watching as Dallas stitrred in her sleep. A sigh escaped my lips.

I'd brought her up from the gym when she passed out after crying for so long. Heather helped her change from her fencing gear into something more comfortable.

She hadn't moved for a long time and I was worried she was still unconscious. The only thing that kept me from going crazy was seeing the steady rise and fall of her chest.

She was alive, not dead or mutilated like I have seen several times in my nightmares.

The knowledge that Lucien was out there and probably making an elaborate plan to hurt her didn't help me sleep well at night. I needed to find him. Alive or dead, I don't care. I needed to do it soon before I lose my mind.

Ever since we watched the explosion from the footage, my mind keeping replaying the clip but imagining that Dallas was there at the sight of the explosion.

The thoughts had plagued me since last week, consuming all my waking hours. What if she was on the site of the explosion that night?

I would have lost her without so much as a goodbye. I couldn't imagine living in a world without my Little Monkey in it. Absolutely nothing would make sense without her.

I closed my eyes and chased away those negative thoughts before they could be fully rooted in my mind.

She's fine. She's fine. And she's here.

But no matter how much I repeated it to myself, I couldn't calm down. It didn't help that she wasn't quite herself after what happened with Ron.

She had spent her whole life wishing for a father's love, just to find out that her biological father never wanted her. I couldn't imagine the pain she must be going through.

Jus thinking about it made me so mad and I wanted to hurt Ron because of it. But it wasn't my place to do that. He was still her father after all.

When I first found out about their relationship, I asked my private investigator to look into it, but Joe couldn't find anything.

I thought it was weird at the time. But it finally made sense now. He kept the information so tightly under wraps because he didn't want people finding out about his affair. He certainly had the resources to do that.

I doubted his family knew about Dallas. Even if Juliana knew about her husband's relationship with Dallas's mother, it doesn't seem like she knew he bore a child. Or maybe she was just great at pretending.

But even my own mother doesn't know about Dallas so maybe it was the former with Juliana.

Dallas stirred on the bed again, a low moan escaping her lips. My lips tilted into a smile. I wasn't kidding when I said I loved all the sound she made.

I felt contented just watching her sleep and reminding myself that she was okay. The shrill sound of a phone ringing echoed through the otherwise quiet room.

I sighed before swiping the answer button.
“Good day, sir.” Tabitha's voice rang from the other end.

“Have you done what I asked of you?” I asked, ignoring her greeting.

“Yes sir. I've got everything you asked for. I've forwarded file to your personal email.” she said.

“Good.” I said. “And Tabitha?”

“Yes?”

My tone hardened as I delivered my next words,
“No one must know about this. Not even my mother. Especially not my mother. Do you understand what will happen if any one finds out about this?”

I heard her swallow from the other end. She was obviously scared. That was good. I didn't usually like resulting to threats with my employees, but I also didn't need her blabbering this to anyone who would listen.

I would have done this myself but I needed someone to go undercover. Not that I exactly trust Tabitha, but she was the only available option for me.

“Yes sir, I understand.” I sensed the slight tremor in her voice as she spoke.

I hung up the phone without uttering another word, the utter silence in my mind was unnerving.

I forced myself to open my email and immediately spotted Tabitha's message. With a deep breath, I opened the attached file. Dread settled in the pit of my stomach as I began skimming the lines.

It seems my suspicion had been right all along. Before the dread could fully settle in, my phone rang again. This time it was Ethan calling.

“Hello,” I said as soon as I answered the call.

“Get your ass over here. I think we found something.” Ethan said, his voice holding a slight glimmer to them.

Whatever he found out must have gotten him really excited. He hung up before I could ask more about it.

I sighed and rubbed my temple gently. I rose from my sitting position and glanced at Dallas. She was still sleeping soundly. I placed a kiss on her forehead before walking out of the room.
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I stepped out of the elevator in Ethan's apartment and strolled to the front of his door. I rang the doorbell and waited impatiently for it to open.

For something that was supposed to be urgent, he sure wasn't acting like it by taking so long to answer the door. I heard footsteps approaching before the door flung open.

“So, what is this thing I had to see?” I pushed past him and walked fully into the apartment. Ethan sighed and mummured something I didn't care to listen.

I immediately spotted Xavier sprawled on the couch and typing away on his phone. He raised his head when he heard me come in and nodded in greeting.

“Why are you here? Don't you have people's lives to ruin?” I asked and sunk into the space beside him.

I heard Ethan chuckle behind me and then footsteps retreating.

“I thought we agreed that running people's lives is your job. And yes, I'm taking time off work. Papa Carson is feeling energetic giving me enough free time.” Xavier replied.

“Ah!” I nodded.

I had known Xavier's father my entire life and I understand why Xavier was avoiding him. The man wasn't exactly a delight to be around. But I guess some people would say that about me too.

“Okay guys, enough chitchat. Time to work.” Ethan called behind us, his laptop in his hand.

Xavier and I both turned out attentions to him. Ethan placed the laptop on the coffee table.

“Aside from the recordings we have of the evil twins plotting, we have nothing else on them. I've monitored their movements since the last week and true to their words, they went to to a guy's house.”

“Yes, it was a dead end. We know. Now let's get to it.” Xavier rolled his eyes.

“Well, it wasn't.” Ethan grinned widely.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

In addition to Ethan's digital spying, I had set up several spies near the twins and they hadn't reported anything suspicious.

“Remember the envelope Xavier saw in their house that has the inscription ‘C’ on it?”

“We already know the ‘C’ meant Castillo.”

It was a quite easy guess actually. Whoever sent that envelope wasn't very subtle about it. Which made sense that it was Alberto. He was very old and was bound to make slip ups.

And if the email Tabitha sent me was true, then Alberto was guilty for more than just keeping Lucien alive.

“Yes, but what we didn't know was Alberto's location since he went into hiding.” Ethan's wide grin already completed his sentence.

“You found Alberto.” Xavier breathed.

Ethan's grin became wider.

“Time for a road trip, boys.”