Chapter 4

• JENNA'S POV
• I closed the door on Nathaniel and walked to the front window, watching as he backed the car out of the driveway, around the curve. When his truck was out of sight, I'd let out the breath that I hadn't even realized I was holding.
• "Too damn close," I cautioned myself, fingers tracing along my temples.
• My phone pings with a message. I did not have to look because I knew by whose number.
• Alex: What were you thinking, being careless like that? And why on earth would you let your friend in on how mission? Do you know how dangerous that is?
• I grabbed a glass from the counter and filled it with water while smirking at Alex text. He believed Sophie's text was talking about his secret mission against Alex. Well, I might as well play along.
• Me: She's my friend, Alex. I trust her and I know she is going to be of great help to us. I'll just tell her to be careful next time.
• Another message came in the next minute.
• Alex: This is serious, Jenna. The moment Nathaniel knows it, all that we have been fighting for disappears. You were lucky because he called me before jumping into conclusion. Be careful and warn your friend not to let this repeat itself again.
• I rolled my eyes and texted back.
• Me: I'll be careful next time. I'm sorry, and I promise it won't happen again.
• Alex did not answer immediately, and I dumped the phone on the kitchen counter to get some orange juice while trying to block out the kids' noise from upstairs.
• The screen flickered with another message.
• Alex: Make sure you get me what I want, so we can end this charade as soon as possible.
• Without replying, I placed the phone back on the counter and rested my elbow beside it.
• He was right. I had to find out the truth about my parents' death as soon as I could and get out of here.
• The house was quiet, interrupted only at one-pointedly absurd moments by the crashing of toys upstairs.
• I walked up the stairs and glanced down the corridor in the general direction of Nathaniel's office.
• Stopping in front of the door, I turned the knob expecting it to be locked, but to my surprise, it wasn't.
• "Let's get some work done," I smiled as I looked left and right before slipping into the office.
• The room was dark, with just a small ray of light passing through the blinds. I stood by the door for a minute.
• "Isabella, this is why you are here," I reminded myself to encourage myself and cast away the fear in my heart. "You are doing it for your parents. The faster you do this, the earlier you can be free from this situation."
• I took out the tiny cameras and voice recorder that Sophie had given to me. She had instructed me to put them in Nathaniel's office. I inserted the first at the back of the shelf, another in the top left corner of the room, in the space at the rear of the bronze sphere. The diminutive camera went into place softly as I hid them. I glided along on the back of the desk and repeated it all again at the bottom of the lamp, slid under the desk to put in an audio recorder.
• That way, I would know every single thing he was doing in that office, without missing a thing.
• I'd heard laughter from the room at the end of the corridor. They were busy playing, unaware of my actions. I could imagine how much they would hate me when they found out I only used them as an excuse to get to my father.
• I sprang out of the chair and opened the side drawer, shoving another mic in where I knew he would never spot it.
• That was when I noticed a medium-sized velvet box. My fingers grazed against it.
• "Maybe it was a gift," I said, "he might be planning to give it to me later."
• But I was curious of what it was, and my curiosity got the best of me.
• I pushed the lid off the box.
• A shriek of horror ripped from my lips.
• A diamond bracelet, three teardrop-shaped pendants suspended in mid-air. My mind blanked.
• "No. No, no."
• My knees gave way and I collapsed onto the floor.
• It couldn't be.
• It was that bracelet. The one my mom had given out to her Godson just two days before the incident.
• "What in the world is this doing here?" I yelled.
• I froze, and couldn't budge.
• My past came crashing down on me like a tidal wave. My mother's voice is ringing in my head. "I gave it to my Godson, I will introduce him to you when the time is right. Whenever you are in trouble, you can go to him for help if your father and I are not there to help."
• I raised my hand to touch it, but I hesitated. I couldn't leave my fingerprint on it and risk Nathaniel finding out that I was there.
• Taking out a handkerchief that was in my pants pocket, I wrapped it around the necklace and brought it out of the drawer. I laid it flat on the desk and flipped it over to see if there was a note engraved under it.
• The note stared back at me.
• "From L. With all my heart."
• "Ah! My God," I gasped.
• My own voice rasped.
• I sat in Nathaniel's chair, frozen in place, the bracelet in front of me on the table.
• He had it. He had it the whole time. But the question was, why does he have it? What is the real connection between Nathaniel's family and my parents' death?
• I immediately put the necklace back and left the office, making sure everything was in the same position I left it. As I entered my room, I paced back and forth, thinking of what I should do with my new discovery.
• Sophie. She was the only one I could talk to right now. I took out my phone to call her, but I stopped myself.
• It would be hard to explain if any of the staff overhears my conversation, and it gets to Nathaniel. This situation was not something that could be done over text. I dropped the phone on the bed and walked back and forth again.
• Then an idea struck my head. Just as I was about to pick up the phone and text Sophie, her call came through my phone.
• I answered immediately, "Hello."
• "Meet me at the ice cream shop in your neighbourhood. It's urgent."
• ******************************
• I announced to the kids that we were going out for ice-cream, and instantly dropped their toys and followed me.
• Sophie was already at the shop when we arrived. I bought ice-cream for the kids and pushed them to play with other kids in the playground right beside the shop.
• "You okay? You look pale." Sophie said when we were finally alone
• I exhaled. "He read the message you sent this morning."
• She frowned. "Shit, Bella. I'm so sorry. I will be more careful next time."
• "It's okay. I managed to convince him that you were talking about the kids, just refrain from texting me next time."
• She nodded. "Fine. No more risks."
• I glanced at the playground and saw Natasha went into the bouncy castle. Emily laughed and followed after her. I felt envious for a moment of their innocence.
• Sophie crept closer, her voice little more than a whisper. "I found something."
• I prepared myself. "What did you find?"
• "Remember you told me you found some project documents in your mother's office a few days before she died," Sophie started. "You said you saw the Blackwood name written on it, and that's why you believe they might have something to do with your parents' death."
• I leaned back into my chair. "I remember. It was called Project Eden. What about it?"
• "I managed to hack into the Blackwood system and I found the Project Eden document."
• "What was it about?" I inched closer to her.
• "The project was the current Blackwood Tech company," she revealed, and I gasped. "Turns out your mother and Nathaniel's had worked together on that project but prior to when it was about to be launched, your parents died mysteriously."
• That was when it completely registered. "So Nathaniel's father killed them."
• She nodded. "Stole the entire project and launched it solely under the Blackwood name, and made billions out of it. "
• I puffed gently, "And left us with nothing but destruction."
• A thousand memories flashed before my eyes, my mother's soft smile, the noise she used to make when she was brewing tea. My father's calloused hands when he covered me in the blankets.
• "It would make sense how Nathaniel was her Godson, and he never looked for me after their death. They had betrayed my mother's trust."
• Sophie raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Godson?"
• "My mother had a Godson who she always rants on and on about, but I never got to meet him. She even got a bracelet customised and gave it to him a few days before her death," I explained.
• "How did Nathaniel end up being her Godson?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
• "I found the bracelet in Nathaniel's office today. The same exact one and the note engraved under it."
• "They must have had a close relationship for him to be her Godson."
• "And that's why I will make them pay for what they did to her." I vowed.