Chapter 151
""Can you please stop bickering over personal matters at Grandma's funeral?!""
Cassie interrupted them coolly, walking silently to kneel before the altar. Kneeling seemed to be all she could do for Grandma now.
She was simply heartbroken; her grandmother and grandfather had been influential figures in Madison in their youth. Without them, the Brooks family wouldn't be what it was today. But now, gone they were, as quietly as a whisper, without even a stream of mourners to pay their respects.
---
As night fell, Joseph Hernandez drove back to the villa to find only the housekeeper busy cooking.
""Where's Cassie?""
""She hasn't come back yet,"" the housekeeper answered, watching Joseph's handsome face turn cold as ice.
She thought to herself, surprised by how clingy Mr. Hernandez was – always looking for his wife first thing upon returning home.
Joseph glanced at his watch; it was already half-past six.
Could she be stuck in traffic? He dialed her number in a hurry, but no answer.
'Damn it,' he thought irritably, 'just when I started treating her a bit better, she's nowhere to be found.'
While the contract allowed for a return as late as nine o'clock, going off the grid with no phone contact was pushing it.
""Hernandez, you should eat something,"" the nanny offered as she brought in the dinner.
Joseph Hernandez glanced at the meal and paused, ""Did you make this?""
""Yes, Mrs. Hernandez showed me how,"" the nanny said with a smile. ""She mentioned that if she ever had to work late or wasn't around, I could whip something up for you. I just tried it, and it tastes just like what she...""
Before she could finish, Joseph swept the dish off the table in anger, ""So she's considering leaving me.""
This damn woman, she couldn't be playing him, could she? Had her calculated closeness been all about securing free legal services for herself?
Startled by the outburst, the nanny noticed how erratic he had become since Cassie returned. ""No, I mean, Mrs. Hernandez was talking about working late, not leaving you.""
Joseph Hernandez softened slightly, the anger in his eyes dissipating.
Fine, he'd wait a bit longer; it wasn't nine yet.
He turned and headed upstairs as the nanny called out, ""Hernandez, you haven't eaten anything.""
""I'm not hungry.""
And with that, the study door slammed shut.
Upstairs, he pretended to focus on his documents, but hunger gnawed at him, and he found himself checking the time every other minute.
By eight, with no word from Cassie, worry set in. Considering her propensity for trouble, he dialed Walter, ""Find out where Cassie is.""
Walter, weary of these calls, half-jokingly suggested implanting a tracker next time. Hernandez's urgency couldn't be ignored, though.
Minutes later, a surveillance feed from the Mason Stone parking lot left him stone-faced; Cassie got into Arthur Lewis's car.
Walter was about to dig deeper, but at Hernandez's insistent calling, he sent the video and attempted to follow up, only to find Hernandez's line dead.
Predictably, the phone was probably destroyed.
Sighing, Walter picked up a spare and headed to find Hernandez.
Entering the study, he found the smartphone split in two on the floor. Hernandez was partially hidden in the shadow of a floor lamp, his eyes glinting with a dark intensity, his face grim.
Hearing Walter's entry, Hernandez asked in a chilling tone, ""Have I been too good to her?""
""There might be an explanation, let me keep looking... we might figure out where they went...""
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