Back To The Stars: ROMANCE: ALIEN (Alien Invasion Abduction SciFi Romance) (Fantasy Anthologies & Collections) (49 page)

Chapter 25:

Elaine had fallen sleep in my arms and I simply stayed awake wondering at the possible things I could do. Daniel had texted me saying that he had started his plan and the results should start coming in shortly. I knew that if his plan worked out, Victoria would surely be momentarily distracted.

This would give us the time to work on other aspects and we would be able to find out who to approach and who could help us out. If luck could help us, maybe, I would get in more details of how to spot Rosie and get her out of the mess.

I knew that I was thinking way ahead of time, but then this is what I wanted. I wanted to think positively in order to actually achieve this. There was no way I could let things slip by so easily.

I started making some detail plans. I had to wake up the investigator in me and think of the umpteen ways and methods that I could use for the sake of doing my best. This was my daughter and my wife and this was my own goddamn life. I knew if I had to be a complete badass mean monster, I would be that because when it came to my own family, I was ready to go to any length for it.

I woke up the next day to Daniel’s call. As soon as I picked the call, he asked me to check the news and I knew by the tone of his voice that he had something good to tell me. Sure enough, as I flipped the channels, I saw how Victoria’s empire was under attack. There had been rumors that she had been using smuggled stuff and had even been selling illegal products under her brand. There were multiple charges that had been inflicted on the company and all her stories had been sealed.

Until the case could be resolved, there would be no store that could do business. This was amazing, in fact, more than amazing, I knew what this meant and I knew that Daniel had nailed it right. There was no way Victoria could give her undivided attention to me anymore and so I figured it was the right time to do the perfect attack.

I had to think of my plan and I knew that we had to get into action. I would need a lot more resource so I could get as many people as I needed. Amidst all of this, I wanted Daniel to appoint someone who could try and keep a watch on Victoria to find out what she was doing to Rosie.

Rosie remained the key lead in all of this and I knew that I had to be really careful all the time. One small mistake at my end could turn out to be really troublesome in a lot of ways.

“Elaine, wake up,” I whispered in her ears amend I knew that I would need her help.

She immediately got up as if her senses were on an alert and then when she looked at me, I could see the raw fear in her eyes. This was a bit too drastic and I hated that she was living in such fear.

“I will need to leave now. There is something I have to do. Look at me. I am going to try all I can to keep all of us together but there are people who are spying on us. I don’t know when and if I will come back. I am going on a mission to save our daughter and remember, if Victoria’s men or she comes to you, let them know what I told you. I would choose to be with Victoria so that I could save the two of you. Right now, everything is very chaotic, but I need you to trust me. I will sort everything out.”

She nodded and my heart was a little pained at how feeble her voice sounded. I knew that I had to assure her, but how could I when I wasn’t sure myself of what I would do. If I could be hundred percent sure of what my actions would tantamount to, I would definitely tell Elaine everything, but as this was not possible, I realized that I needed to just promise her that I would give my best.

I couldn’t meet Daniel as Victoria’s men could easily complete the puzzle then. I decided to go to Victoria's mansion and meet her. I could pretend that I was oblivious to all that had happened. She had given me some time to think and I could meet her asking her about my child.

I didn’t know if she would be there at the mansion and I was willing to check it out. As I finally reached her mansion, I was delighted to see her confused. She looked like a mess and my inner conscience was extremely happy to see her like that.

“Hello, Victoria!”

She turned around to see me and I could see that she both tensed and relaxed.

“What brings you here? Did you decide what you would do?” she asked and her cunning smile could once again be seen.

“No, I want to meet my daughter. Please don’t do this Victoria. Elaine is dying without Rosie! How can you be so stern? For the sake of the bond we had, can’t you let me take Rosie?” I pleaded.

“She gave a mean laugh and told, “Do you really think that I am so stupid that I would do this? Why would you ever come back here if I gave you your daughter? She is the one who brings you back to me.”

Ideally, I knew Victoria would talk a lot more and she would use too many plots but owing to her business troubles, she definitely looked a little distracted.

“I really never thought you would turn out this way. I hope that there is still a part of you that has the old Victoria in you. The woman I dated wasn’t this ruthless and heartless. She cared for people and she made me a man. I liked being with you because you made it better for me. I remember you letting your heart feel. What happened that changed you so much?”

Even though I said the words, I knew that they would have the least impact on her. She had hardened her heart by putting several layers on it. As she was about to tell me something, her phone buzzed and she excused herself from taking the call. She kept on talking for a long time and I could see her expressions. She was definitely worried having all her stores sealed and with so many different allegations on her brand definitely made her worried.

She came back to men and told, “If I come to know that you are the guy behind all the troubles I am facing, I swear to you I am going to make you pay for it. Don’t you dare mess with Victoria as you know how hard it is going to be.”

“What is wrong? What had happened? Stop talking in circles. Tell me what do you mean?” I said and pretended compete ignorance. I knew they my trick worked as Victoria looked convinced.

As she was about to leave, I called after her and pleaded her one more time to help me see my daughter.

“I am giving you five more days to decide. Come and let me know your decision and I will decide accordingly as to what should be done. We are done playing these little games,” Victoria said and stomped away from the room.

She had a lot of things to take care of and my purpose of visiting her had been served. The main reason as to why I had come to this place was because I needed more time. I needed to be sure that I could get some more days so that I could have my own army and plan Victoria’s downfall.

Moreover, I needed to be inside the mansion to scoop in some details too. Every information was important. One of my first targets was James. I had to make sure that I could corner him. As James was nowhere to be found at the Victoria mansion, I knew that there was the likelihood that Rosie was still with him.

When I left the mansion, I made sure not to talk about anything. Her men were most likely to be there and I didn’t want to do anything foolish to bring in more troubles than what I could handle. After I had walked a lot of miles and I knew that I was away from surveillance, I called Daniel and filled him in with all the particulars.

I told him about James and his absence and I let him know that I wanted one of Daniel’s guys to find James. If we could find James, we might get Rosie and this would be enough to defeat Victoria. But, it won’t be that easy to seek James and even if we did, I knew that there would be a lot of security.

Daniel gave me a number and asked me to get in touch with the guy. His name was Ed and he was one of Daniel’s best guys when it came to scooping details and information. I agreed to do as directed and decided to call him.

After calling Ed, I was a lot more confident. He surely knew how to get the ball rolling. I gave him all the details of what I already knew about Victoria and even Natasha and in between the time we were talking, he had quickly scanned some details and used his tools for making some search. He told me that Natasha was out and she was working on one of the small libraries in the same town.

“How did you even get access to such details so quickly?” I asked as I was clearly confused.

“Dude, I have been in this business for so long that I know the specifics a bit too well. I have my network set everywhere and not just America; if you are looking for someone in Africa, I can scoop the details for you too.”

This gave me hope as I knew that he might even be able to find James. However, Daniel had asked me not to talk to him further about any more details. He had planned the whole thing and had allotted specific men for some well-segmented tasks. I trusted Daniel and I knew that once I was out of the whole mess, I would happily treat him and thank him for all he did for me. However, right at that moment, my core concern was to make sure that I could find out how to deal with Natasha and to get details of who were against Victoria.

Simply knowing who Victoria’s enemy was not enough because I couldn’t trust everyone here. I would need to find out what was their cause of enmity and why was there so much abhorrence. Once I had the list, I could scan through it and find out the ones that were best for me to approach them.

It was a long and laborious job, but I knew that I needed to do it quickly. When I disconnected the call, I was extremely optimistic about the whole thing. I knew that this was the right sign and I was willing to let myself believe that I would come out of the mess and have my family back.

I wanted to believe that unlike my past, my future won’t be dark and skewed. I called Daniel back and told him about my conversation. He then told me the outline of his plan and I knew it was a great one. We both decided to go through the list that Ed was supposed to turn shortly and decide which would be the ideal ones to seek help.

The people who were really against Victoria and wanted to see her downfall at all cost were most likely to help us. I knew I could have gone back to Elaine and be with her. She needed me and I needed her too. But, if I would be with Elaine, I would spend a lot of time talking and wondering. If love made you strong, it also had the power to make you vulnerable and I knew that I had to avoid this situation at all costs.

I knew it well that I would have to make sure that I could keep everything hidden. If Victoria could sniff even the slightest chance that I was the one behind all the fiasco, she would leave no stone unturned to make my life a living hell.       

I wasn’t afraid of what she would do to make my life, but I was scared of what she could do to my family. I wanted to keep them safe at all costs. I had worked as a private investigator for so long that even now I knew exactly how to keep my details hidden. However, the fact that Victoria had her guys spying on me all the time meant that it would be a little hard.

I got a message from Daniel that read, “Inside sources say that Victoria has gathered all her staff to work on her business temporarily. She may face complete financial breakdown and so she has all her attention focused on reviving her business. It won’t take too long for her to come out of it as half the allegations are false. But, we need to act this time and make the most out of it.”

I knew I had to calculate the risk. There was a high probability that there was no one spying on me. Even if she would have someone looking at me, I could easily give them a pass as it won’t be more than one guy and that were enough for me.

I had to work hard to find the details and I knew that not being with Elaine at this point was the right thing to do. I was going to make it work and I would do all I can to get as many details as I could.

I got the list from Ed and I started scanning it from top to bottom. I knew I would have to get the details and act on it as soon as I can. I needed to talk to Daniel and it was getting harder to have everything done on the phone.

“Do you think it is safe for me to meet you? Can this be a huge risk and can Victoria find out that we both are in it together?” I asked him as I really wanted to meet him and decide what was to be done.

“Yes, dude. This is a risk we cannot afford to take. If she gets the slightest idea that you are the man behind all of this, I think she won’t give one fuck to her business and would start her revenge plan and this could land us in some serious shit.”

I agreed and we decided that we would have to get things down on the phone. I kept calling him from different numbers as I knew that she might even keep tabs on my call details. I couldn’t trust the woman with a single thing and so I often messaged him and emailed and did a whole lot of other things to minimize the calls I put to Daniel.

In order to ensure more privacy and safety, I also made it a point to be sure that Daniel didn’t do anything himself. He had appointed men for almost everything so that just in case, they were exposed, Daniel would still nowhere be in the scene and this would make it impossible for Victoria to guess that I was the one behind it.

I shortlisted three names from the list as these were the people who seem to have faced too many troubles because of Victoria. While one of them was a gangster, the other two seemed to be good people. I did not care who had committed what crime as all I needed to do was make sure that Victoria got into deep shit and I could get my family back.

We decided to appoint people again so that we could have a discussion with them. Everything had to be done privately because the mere mention of my name could get very risky. Daniel being the senior detective that he was never had a trouble with resources. I knew that he was putting a lot on the line for me and I had to repay him.