Chapter 96: Chapter 96

By the time Emily stepped out of the Brown’s estate, she had tears spilling down her face and her whole body rocked with emotions that she couldn’t control. She felt the queasiness return, the nausea rising from the pit of her stomach back up to her throat until she was bent down by the at the side of the flower garden spewing her guts, with her head suddenly swimming. She grabbed her stomach viciously because it was the only thing that kept her mind sane, the seed growing in her stomach – Jackson’s seed.

Her mother had cancer? She was spiraling and had ran out of the house the moment the words came out of the woman’s mouth unable to wait for her to explain more. She didn’t want to hear, she wasn’t sure she could handle it. How does one even respond to something like that? What kind of reaction was befitting for a bomb like that? How does she - ?

The questions flew in and out of her head with no way to stop them until Victor her body guard came running her towards her, and he grabbed her shoulders immediately. “Mrs. Hatton?” he called but Emily felt too weak to respond. She gave him a brief glance as his eyes washed over her and visibly laced with concern.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Did she look okay? Emily thought but felt too downtrodden to be sarcastic so she just let herself lean on him, feeling his rock hard body beneath his suit and his strong manly hands gripping her by her shoulders but she was unable to think too much of anything. He kept her safely in the back seat of the car, as her head suddenly began to pound.

“You’re burning hot” Victor revealed with the back of his palm to her forehead.

“Just take me home” she whispered weakly. She took out her phone from her purse and her first instinct was to dial Jackson but she could barely hit the dial button when her world began to swirl around and she could barely keep her eyes open no matter how she struggled until everything went black.

***

Victor Cornwell watched Emily through the front mirror as she lost consciousness, but he sat still unmoving for a minute to make sure she was truly out cold before driving the car out of the Brown’s estate. He kept driving and constantly watching her equally trying to ignore the slight tremble of his hands on the steering wheel.

Finally he stopped the car, he gave her one last glance and then he picked up his phone. He dialed a number that picked at first ring.

“She’s out cold” he said, the other end paused for a while before speaking.

“Then do it” it was a female voice.

“I’m not sure I – ” he tried to say but the voice cut him off immediately.

“Do it right now, just as we talked about and planned. You have the reward waiting for you and it’ll be wired to your offshore account immediately. I thought you wanted a new life”

“I do” Victor admitted quietly, he looked at Emily again and this time his hand trembled not so lightly, the tremor was more visible and he wasn’t sure he should ignore it, but he needed the money, he needed the money more than the need to be a good person.

“It’s not a big deal” he tried to convince himself and then he sighed deeply “Fine”

The line went dead.

Victor started the car again with an even deeper resolution to carry out the task. He wasn’t in a hurry to do anything, he had all night and then after he had sent the proof and the money was wired, he’d be on the next flight out of New York to a small country in Europe perhaps to start all over, the way he had always to with enough money to last him a life time only if he lived a low profile. Soon enough, he stepped on the gas and picking up the pace. It was a three hour drive to a small motel on the outskirts of town where nobody usually went to except travelers who wanted to rest for the night, and that night he was on a road trip with his wife who had drank too much to be visibly conscious.

The breeze kept getting fuller but thinner at interval on the lonely road that led to the motel as he drove and the closer he got to the destination, the more his hand trembled but he had come this far already and it felt too late to turn back. He drove slowly into the empty parking lot and suddenly it felt strange that such an expensive car should parked at the front of such a low budget motel but it was too late to think about the details. He was here now.

Victor sat in the car for a little more than five minutes before he got down and opened the back door to Emily sleeping stature. He waved his hands over her face to make sure she was truly asleep. He studied her face, the peacefulness that he was about to disrupt with he was about to do. Slowly, he lifted her from the car and he could hear her grunt slightly, but he wasn’t shaken he needed her to be half awake at least so they could walk into the motel together without raising any suspicion.

“I need a room for the night” he said to the tired looking receptionist, the middle aged woman with  blonde cropped short hair looked at him and then her eyes drifted over to the woman leaning on him and deep in slumber and then she raised a brow.

“My wife and I are on a road trip and she’ll rather be dead drunk than talk to me, we just need a room for the night” Victor explained and trying the hide the tremor that still seized his hands.

The blonde woman shrugged, endlessly popping the gum that she furiously chewed. “My boss  was going to shut the place down anyways so I could care less, maybe now I could actually go on that camping trip. I hope you don’t extend your stay, I really need to go on that camping trip and there’ll be no one to cover my shift”

“Right” Victor responded, unsure of what to say to that.

“That’ll be 50 dollars for the night” she said and placed a single key on the table “First door to the right, complimentary breakfast if you’re interested but I’ll advice you not to, Brenda no longer cooks with love since her husband cheated on her and left the country with his new beau, guess what? It’s her younger sister”

“That’s tough” Victor said now as he fished out a single 100 dollar bill and slammed it gently on the table “You can use the change for your camping trip, always nice to have a little change”

The woman gave a crooked smile and took the money “Very unlikely, but enjoy your night”

Victor nodded grateful and instantly sighing a relief. It was going easier than he thought and now was the difficult part. Helping Emily into the room, he placed her gently on the bed and he stared at her still sleeping figure and he took out his phone, specifically opening the camera option.

“Lights, camera, action baby”