Chapter 79: Chapter 79

Chapter Seventy - Nine

Jasper's POV

I did not sleep the whole night. No matter how much I tried to think myself out of it, I just could not.

For some reason, I could not shake off the bad gut feeling that I was getting. So, it was not a shock to me that when the first ray of sun hit my room, I was out of my room and down the stairs. I had not changed my clothes and wasn't planning on doing it.

Throughout the night, I made many calls to Ava over and over and over again. Hoping that somehow, by some sort of miracle, she would pick up my call and tell me what was going on. But she never picked it up. It remained switched off throughout the night. It did not do anything to lighten up my paranoia.

In the morning, I found Maria in the kitchen and asked her if she had any call or information about Ava. Maria denied. I asked her some other questions related to her. If, by any chance, Ava had mentioned some plans to stay somewhere else or if she was meeting someone. To my disappointment, she shook her head in No. She told me that she had no idea.

At last, I told Maria that I was going out. Maria asked me to eat breakfast or at least have some coffee but I declined. I made my way to the car outside. This time I was going to drive the car myself. My plan was to call the cops to start looking for her while I start doing it myself. I was going to start with her parents' house. The old one, where she lived. I had the address and it was the first place that came into my mind. I hoped that she would be there.

As soon as I reached my car and was about to open the door, I felt my phone ring. I felt as if a current had run through my body. In a hurry, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see who it was from. It was from an unknown number. Disappointed, I still picked it up. Yet, I was hoping for it to be Ava.

"Ava?" That was the first word that left my mouth.

"Not quite." The voice on the other hand called out. My forehead furrowed in confusion until I figured out whose voice it was.

"Daniel." I said, my voice ice cold. My temper was flaring slowly by slowly.

"Are you looking for Ava?" He asked me, his voice all cheery. Shock filled my mind and my whole body tensed. Did that mean - ?

"Where is she?" I asked. Almost yelling. All the sense to behave and watch my tone flew out of the window. My anger was reaching its height.

"Depends. Have you pulled off from the International Textile deal?" He asked, nonchalantly. My breathing deepened and I realised what he was trying to say. Finally, putting two and two together.

"I told you that I was not pulling out of it. Is that why you have her?" I asked, even though I knew for sure that was the reason.

"Oh. There you go. Correct. Exactly. I have her because you did not agree to my deal. I told you there will be consequences." He answered. I gritted my teeth.

"I gave you a simple choice Jasper. Ava or the deal. You chose the deal. So, now I'm keeping Ava." He told me. My blood began boiling.

"What do you want?" I asked him. For the first time in my life wanting to murder someone.

"You know it. The deal. You back off from it and I leave Ava. If you don't then she's staying with me. You have six hours. Call it off officially. And one more thing. Marry Charlotte. Do it today, in court." He told me. That gave me a pause. Confused once again.

"What? What does Charlotte have to do with it?" I asked him.

"That's not for you to think about. Just marry her. Do it as I say." He ordered me.

"And if I don't?" I asked him, baiting him.

"You don't wanna know." He whispered and then the line went dead. I stared at my phone realising that my fear had turned real.

Ava had been kidnapped. By no other than Daniel. My hands balled into fists. In rage, I punched the side mirror. It broke from the car and fell on the ground. I stared at it.

Ava had been kidnapped. KIDNAPPED. By Daniel. He was keeping her somewhere with him. And I had no idea where. I did not know what he would do with her. I did not know what he was doing with her.

Getting my thinking straight, I went through the recent calls and called the police. I informed them about everything. About what was going on. I also texted them the number that Daniel had just called, for tracking the location.

They assured me that they were on it and that no matter what, do not back off from the deal. He was trying to manipulate me, using her. Trying to make me give in. Do not reciprocate.

I can't step away from the deal. My company's future depended on it. However, Ava's life depended on it too. If I did not ...

Amongst all of this, I suddenly remembered the unexpected thing he had asked me to do. Marry Charlotte. What did she have something to do with this? My brain starts circulating with different things. Why was Daniel asking Charlotte to marry me? Charlotte knew Jasper? Like Knew knew him? When did they meet?

Out of nowhere, I was reminded by the time when Charlotte told me about seeing Ava and Daniel together in the pantry. That was the last time she had asked me to marry her. Last time, she had talked about it at all. Did that mean? Is she somehow involved with this?

A resolve crossed my feelings.

Only she will be able to answer that. And with that, I climbed inside my car and drove straight to my office. I texted Charlotte to meet me inside my office. She replied with a simple, 'okay'. Charlotte always told me to wait for a few minutes whenever we had to meet. Her subtle reply told me, she knew exactly why I wanted to meet her.

I reached my office and entered inside without saying anything to my employees who said good morning. I was angry and did not want to take my anger out on them by snapping. It was good that I was here early in the morning and most of the employees were not here yet. Saving me the trouble of being stopped or questioned.

I rode the elevator to my office while texting Charlotte, asking her if she was in my office yet or not? The reply came back in seconds, with a 'yes'. Soon, I was in my office. Where I found Charlotte sitting in one of the guest chairs. I did not waste time, I dove right into it.

"What is happening between you and Daniel? Why is he asking me to marry you? And what does this have anything to do with Ava?" I asked her. Getting straight to the point.

"Daniel had Ava. He kidnapped her. Do you know that?" I questioned her walking up to her.

Charlotte stood up, leaned up against the table and crossed her hands around her waist.

"Yes." She replied. Her answer shocked me. Which was ridiculous since I was expecting it to be exactly that. However, what I was not expecting was that she would know that he kidnapped Ava and did not tell me. Wait ...

"You know? What does -" I started but she cut me off.

"Marry me, Jasper. And he would let her go." She said, My mind almost stopped for a moment. Eventually, I processed what was happening.

"You're in this because of him?" I asked in disbelief. Charlotte pursed her lips and did not reply back.

"If you don't then you would lose Ava and your Textile deal as well. It's only the day after tomorrow. If you don't give in then you would lose both." She told me. But my mind was still stuck behind.

"You knew?" I asked again. Her betrayal invading all barriers of protection that I had put in place to my heart. It was a person's betrayal who I had considered a friend. Whom I had considered a family. She betrayed me.

"Yeah. I knew." She replied in a clipped tone. I ran my hand through my hairs, feeling my temper going up and up. Clenching and unclenching my hands, or else I would do something that I will surely regret later. I paced back and forth for a few seconds before a question popped inside my head.

"What's in it for you? Why is he asking me to marry you?" I asked her.

"It's none of your business. Just do as he says and marry me. We are gonna marry in a court. I already have reserved time for our marriage. So, just do as he says." She told me. Now, my anger took over.

"I asked, what's in it for you?" I repeated myself. With a deadlier voice and coldness in mind. She straightened and her own stance became dark.

"Maybe, you did not hear me. I said," marry me first"." She said, getting on my face. I took a step back. I was going to report this to the police and let them deal with it. Getting physical with her would do no good in this situation.

"No." I told her. With that I spun around and began walking away.

"If you did not agree to marry me then Ava would get hurt." She said, making me halt in my steps.

"I don't know what he would do to her. You would lose both your deal and Ava at the same time. Police would do no good either. Their investigation will take time. So, think wisely." She advised me. Or more like threatened me. I swirled around to face her. Wanting to say so many things that it was becoming impossible to hold myself back.

Instead of saying anything, I walked out of the office. I took the elevator and informed the front desk that I won't be working today. And do not call me in any case. With that I walked out of there and went to the police station. There I told them about everything. In this scenario, I agreed with Charlotte. Police will take time to investigate and I did not have that much time. I had to take the matter into my own hands.