CHAPTER 3

Author's POV

"My dad has more cars than your dad, Oliver!" Mia, the youngest kid said.

Oliver argued back, "Well, my mom has lots of super fancy shoes, even from Paris!"

Emma, stood up and raised his shoulders up, "You two are losers. My dad has a plane, and my mom has a big boat. Top that!" He boasted proudly.

"But my dad said I would take over his company when he's gone. His company is huge. I will be the boss and make everyone bow down to me!" Oliver argued, seemingly jealous of the rest.

"Why does Clara never show up? My mommy said her daddy is poor and locks her in a prison!" Mia recalled and giggled, arranging the scattered toy house.

"That is true. My daddy calls her father a rag. He's a broke officer. Haha!" Emma laughed scornfully like he had an in-depth idea of what he was saying.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The conference room was quiet. Everyone was either chained to their phone screen or their laptops or making calls or reading books or…

Amanda sat there uncomfortably. She felt like a little worm in the midst of birds. Even among her own family, she felt unnoticed. What would she be doing? Her husband didn't own a company or a firm. He didn't even own a business.

She felt ashamed of herself for being married to the broke man. But deep inside, she knew that she loved him. He showered her with love and affection.

"Amanda!" Laura finally called out to her daughter who was seated on the extreme end of the seat beside a wall mirror.

"Yes, mother."

"Now you have seen how worthless of a man your husband is. We all warned you and gave you better choices, but you rejected it. You rejected your family over a cop! Where did that lead you?"

"Back to us!" Derek spoke up. "Right back to us. Tell me, Amanda, did you think fate was going to work in your favor? There's no fucking thing as fate. We all worked hard for our money, thanks to mother!"

Amanda's heart kept getting stabbed. Her daughter. Her dear daughter was gone! What she needed now was a hug and comfort, but she got the total opposite.

"But… but mother, he's still my husband. We're legally married." Amanda tried to defend.

"I will break the marriage if I have to. I have the money and the power. And I will do it! You're tarnishing the image of the Kensington family!"

"Now, listen, everyone!" Laura called out and smacked the table thrice, getting everyone's attention.

"This is not the proper time to discuss this, but it will be brief. We are having a decline in sales these past few weeks! Our clients are scared of the ongoing kidnapping tragedy and many have cancelled their meetings with Kensington's company."

Everyone listened, paying rapt attention. How they respected their mother.

"But we have a big deal that we are on the verge of losing and we cannot afford to let that happen! A deal with the Clifford's. You all know that this is the biggest and richest company in all of Pennsylvania. They own all the money in this city!"

Everyone was dead silent. Laura was right. Clifford's family was the wealthiest. Though no one ever knew the CEO or ever got to meet the founder of the company, they knew that whomever he or she was, they operated like gods. Like the wealthy gods of Egypt.

"Mother's right. We can't afford to lose our deal with them. It's going to be the biggest lost of our lives and a shame on our name and on this company!" Kate, Derek's wife rang.

"Good! Now, you all know of the billion dollar building that this company is currently working on…"

"Fuck! I'm super hyped and pumped! I checked their update online and the progress is massive. I mean, the architecture is freaking wild!" Emerald echoed excitingly.

"I wonder what they're building. They haven't disclosed it to the public yet!"

"I'm glad you are all keeping yourselves updated. But we need more than that! We need to make sure we strike that deal with the Clifford's."

Laura leaned forward, interlocked her finger and placed her arms on the table.

"We need someone who can push through with this massive project. Someone with the guts to go over to their company and submit our proposal!" Laura finally said. She looked very serious and strict as hell.

"But we already submitted the proposal, didn't we? And we got a positive response! They said they were going to strike the deal!" Parker asked confusingly.

"And what has happened? Nothing! It's been 3 weeks since we got their response and we have recieved absolutely nothing! They want to withdraw. We need to act now! We should be the ones to source that project with their building materials! We must!"

"Maybe we should be a bit more patient! Maybe they might reconsider!"

"No! There's no reconsidering. If we….."

As their heavy conversations muffled into the background, Amanda sat idle like a wood not having anything to say. She felt worthless.

No one was talking about Clara? She must have been wondering. Her daughter. Her hands shook as she tried to call 911 to report the matter, but she almost forgot that her husband was an officer.

She scrolled through her phone to remind herself of her beautiful girl. She knew her husband would do something. Or would he?

Silence suddenly fell upon the room as the glass door slided open. Emerging into the room was Nathan.

He looked like a mess. His shirt was covered in coffee stains. Though his arm was bandaged, blood stains still peeked through.

As he walked casually into the room, everyone looked at him in disgust. Kate brought out her hand fan and turned it on.

James kept looking sternly and fiercely at Nathan. His cold dead stare could freeze time itself.

"I'm sorry I'm late. My car broke down." His soft, yet deep voice echoed across the room as he pulled out a chair to sit.

"Where is my granddaughter, Nathan Wade?" Laura finally broke the silence harshly.

Nathan remained silent, the guilt of his failure pulling his head down. He was an officer, so, he tried to maintain his cool and look into Laura's eyes even though his heart was bleeding.

Laura suddenly stood up and stormed her hand on the table and screamed! "Where is my granddaughter, Nathan? Where is Clara?"