Deceived By Her Billionaire

Chapter 9

Present

In the car with the detective

Cynthia woke up with a start ... “He’ll find me ... I can’t run away or hide from him ... what would I do?” Thea cried hysterically.

Her sudden panic attack startled Jerry, and he looked at her in concern ... he shook her arm… trying to bring her out of her hysteria. “Ms. Miller…. are you all right”?… Taking his eyes off the road and his hands off the steering wheel was a mistake. His car suddenly veered right towards the adjacent lane. A speeding vehicle coming from behind gave a loud… angry horn. He immediately steered it back… his heart pounding. This could’ve cost them their lives… he thought. Thankfully, the next exit was just a few meters away. He carefully changed lanes, took the exit, and looked for a rest area to park his car.

Cynthia, unaware of the disaster that nearly happened, was still in hysterics. Jerry unbuckled his seat belt, went around to her side of the car, and opened the door. “Ms. Miller, calm down ...”

“He’ll find me..” wide-eyed, she looked at him and grabbed his hand… pressing it hard… “He said he’ll always be able to find me… He’ll find me ... he will not leave me be.. I can’t run away from him.”

He unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her shoulders.. tilting her towards him, “Ms. Miller .... Ms. Miller,” ... he said, jolting her ... trying to get her attention .... “Come to your senses… if by ‘him’ you mean Mr. Williams… then I can assure you that he doesn’t have a clue about your whereabouts and can’t reach you… in fact, we are going to throw him off the trail soon, so just relax and trust me when I say ... I won’t let him harm you ...”

That got her attention… she looked at Jerry with teary eyes. “He can’t reach me?” She asked, shaking her head from side to side. “You’re not just lying to make me feel better, are you?”

“I mean it when I say that he can’t reach you,”… she sagged in relief hearing him say that… he omitted ‘yet,’ not wanting to burst her bubble… “and to make sure that you escape unscathed… we have to divert his attention….” At her questioning look ... he held up his hand. “I will answer all your questions once we reach our destination…. So get ready to enjoy your freedom ….”

She hugged him in relief… “Thank you so much for helping me…. I was feeling so hopeless.. so helpless…. He has turned my life upside down… taken away everything from me…. I hate him… I hate him to death and beyond,” she said, sobbing her heart out.

Her pain… her gut-wrenching sobs tore his heart out … reminding him of his Jesse once again .... He hugged her back, consoling her…. he couldn’t protect his Jesse, but he will not let any harm come to her… he was determined to do a better job this time ….

Once calm…. she immediately pulled back, “I am sorry… I’ve embarrassed myself again… haven’t I? I am usually not a cry baby… it’s just that right now I am… too weak… too vulnerable both physically and emotionally.”

“You don’t feel sorry for showing your joy and excitement when you are happy or your annoyance and unhappiness when you are angry, then why do you feel embarrassed showing your sadness? You were sad, so you cried.. what’s the big deal about it… in fact, it’s good that you cried… because with those tears you drained all your negative emotions… so instead of saying sorry, just thank me for lending my shoulder.”

She smiled at him… she was indeed feeling light. They had a quick meal and were back on the road heading towards their eventual destination.

“Now that we have hugged… let’s do away with the formalities first… Shall we? It seems a bit silly to address each other as strangers? So Cynthia… I can call you that, right?” At her nod, he continued, “so why did you choose Red Rock Gorge.”

“I didn’t choose it… it just happened that way,”… she thought back to that day.

Past

She was sitting in a park… sad and distressed…. thinking about the nosedive her life had taken. She was trying to pep-talk herself.. “Cynthia is a brave girl… she is not afraid of setbacks and obstacles… so what If it’s painful and unbearable” her lips quivered, and a sob escaped her lips… she swallowed a couple of times to clear the lump in her throat “this too shall pass… nothing is ever the same. She will go with the flow and face these challenges with a smile on her face”… tears threatened to spill again… she tilted her head back to stop the flow… and that’s when she saw them…. out of the corner of her eye….. Liam’s bodyguards…. they were at a safe distance from her, but she was able to recognize them nonetheless .... she had no idea that they were following her… did they come to take her back to that lecherous client? How could Liam stoop so low? Even if he did not love her, how can he throw her to the vultures?.. How can he stomp on her dignity like that? This was the last straw… the ultimate insult he could hurl at her .... she was not able to hold it in anymore… her tears started coming out of their own accord as if a dam had broken…. all her raging emotions came out rushing… “What the hell do you want? Have you not insulted me enough?” she said, shaking with anger ... “LEAVE ME ALONE,” she shouted at the top of her lungs… her anger… her distress evident…. “Please ...... just go away,” she whispered, all the energy leaving her body ... “Let me live in peace ... or do I not deserve even that much,” She said resignedly.

The heavens must have felt her pain as gloomy ... ominous clouds covered the sky .... lightning flashed…. buzzing and hissing ... The sky rumbled with thunder, and angry rain began to fall ... it was as if the skies were crying with her ... for her ... She did not know for long she sat there crying ... oblivious to the rain or the thunder .... completely drenched and emotionally drained. She wiped her tears with her hands and got up from there and started walking ... like a zombie ... she stumbled… and hit a stone .... scraping her knees ... but she didn’t pay any attention to it nor did she feel any pain ... just continued walking ... the people on the road were looking at her strangely, but she ignored them and continued walking.

Liam was taking pleasure in inflicting pain on her, seeing her writhe ... the more he will see her suffer and in pain .... the happier he will be and the more he’ll torture her ... she had to break this cycle… she had to get away from here ... from him…. with that resolve… she took stock of her surroundings and headed in the direction of the nearest mall ... she found one at the corner of a block… not far away from where she was. Conscious of the way people were looking at her, she immediately went into the washroom…. looked at herself in the mirror and gasped in horror ... she couldn’t recognize herself ... gone was her impeccable makeup and silky smooth hair .... instead she had panda eyes. Her mascara and eyeliner had completely smudged, leaving dark marks beneath her eyes and on her face ... her hair was all damp and limp ... her dress, her legs, and her shoes ... all were covered in mud, her knee was bleeding badly from that fall. No wonder people were looking at her strangely.

A kind attendant came to her and asked, “Are you, alright miss?… Do you need any help?”

She shook her head and said, “I got into a little accident,” ... and then an idea struck her ... it was a perfect opportunity for her to escape from his clutches, “Actually, I do need some help… if you don’t mind, can you please help me buy a change of clothes? My clothes are all wet and dirty, and I am a bit shaken because of the accident. I’ll be grateful if you could help me buy a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, a rain jacket…. innerwear and shoes in my size… just wearable clothes to change into… nothing fancy..”.

The attendant took pity on her and agreed, so Cynthia handed her some money and thanked her for her help. She had already worked out her escape plan and was anxiously waiting for the attendant to come back. After the longest 30 minutes, when she came back, Cynthia thanked her again and gave all her remaining money. The kind lady refused at first but then, on her insistence, kept the money. She went inside a stall and changed into her new clothes. She took out her foundation from her bag ... squeezed a sizeable portion on her palm ... and added her bronze highlighter to it to make it a few shades darker. She blended them well and then covered her smudged ... streaked face with it…. making sure to cover her neck, ears, and hands too… to make her pale skin look much darker. With that done, she rummaged through her bag for a lighter. As Liam’s assistant, she was used to carrying stuff in her purse that he might need - from a tie to general medications.. first aid kit, Swiss Army knife ... flashlights ... sewing kit ... lighter ... she carried it all ... Thankfully, it was still there as she hadn’t gotten around to emptying her bag after Liam had fired her publicly.

She took it out and listened for any noise in the washroom ... when she was sure that there was nobody outside ... she quickly came out and looked for the fire alarm ... she found one near the exit gate. She immediately collected a couple of hand tissues and tied them to her heels, the ones she was initially wearing, with a rubber band. Then she burned them with the lighter and directed the smoke towards the smoke detector ... and within seconds, the alarm went off ... she then put her burning footwear underwater to extinguish the flames and generously sprayed her perfume to mask the burning smell. She hid the burnt shoe in her bag ... By now, security personnel were getting everyone out of the mall. She took advantage of this chaos and merged into the crowd …

It was getting dark outside. The rain was falling incessantly…. scared and panicked, people were coming out of the mall…. running… trying to be as far away from the mall as they could. Cynthia covered her head with the hoodie and ran with the crowd. She immediately crossed to the other side of the road. The crowd here was moving at a slow pace… some people even stood there, blocking the sidewalk, to look at the mall… she dodged the crowd and walked as fast as she could.

The ominous sounds of the fire engine and the ambulance resonating through the area made her stop in her tracks and brought home the ugly truth of her actions. What if somebody was hurt or, worse, killed in the stampede? Would she be able to bear that guilt… that burden?…. A wave of nausea engulfed her. She felt lightheaded… “No… noooo…. please God don’t let anybody be hurt… please,” Cynthia prayed fervently and turned back. The crowd pushed her… making it difficult for her to go back… forcing her to cross the road. She ran blindly…. eager to cross the road and reach the mall… to ensure that nobody was hurt. Just as she stepped down to cross, she heard the faint sound of a horn. She looked up and froze in horror… her eyes widened in shock. The sound became more urgent… more pronounced… the tires screeched…. And there was a sickening ‘thud’…. ‘What a waste of life,’ she thought.