Chapter Ten
1044 Words
"You’re there, but you’re saying you didn’t see their faces??" Sebastian said sharply.
"Dad, calm down, your blood pressure. You should rest first—we’ll take care of looking for Michelle," Mark said.
The three left Sebastian’s room to let him rest. Jazmine knew it wasn’t easy for Sebastian to lose Michelle. He needed her, not as a daughter but someone to finish the job they’d taken on.
"Jaz, come with us," Christian called out.
The brothers took Jazmine to a condominium owned by Christian. They couldn’t tell her the whole truth, but they just wanted Jazmine to know their sister was in safe hands.
"We’re the reason someone suddenly took Mich," Mark admitted.
"Huh??" Jazmine was shocked.
"Just… we had to do it, but don’t worry. We’re sure she’s in good condition," Mark assured her, telling her not to be anxious.
"Aaahhhhh!!!!! Yaaaa!!!! Have you lost your minds??" Jazmine clenched her fists and punched the sofa.
"We’ll explain everything to you once we’re sure about everything," Mark added.
"Where is she?" Jazmine asked.
"We can’t tell you right now, Jaz—please… don’t force us to say more," Christian said.
At Matthew’s house, Matthew’s maid arrived home from her vacation in the province.
"Nana," Matthew said.
"Yes, sir," Nana replied gently.
"Bring a snack to my tiger upstairs—she might be hungry, she hasn’t eaten since earlier," Matthew ordered, while reading a book in the living room.
"Tiger!! Sir… why is there a tiger upstairs? When did you get a tiger as a pet?" Nana asked, on the verge of tears.
"Are you crazy? What are you talking about?" Matthew asked angrily, tapping Nana on the head with his book.
"Sir, are you mad at me?" She suddenly knelt in front of Matthew.
"What are you saying? And get up from there—stop kneeling like that," he asked, until he remembered Nana hadn’t been around when they brought Michelle to the house. So he laughed loudly.
"Sir, it’s a tiger… what if it bites me? Sir, a tiger isn’t a joke, and why did you put it upstairs? What if I’m cleaning and it suddenly pounces on me? I’ll die," she said, crying.
"And you too, sir—you’ll lose a hardworking, patient, loyal, and reliable maid," she even threatened.
Matthew laughed again at what he was hearing from Nana.
"The one you’re bringing food to is a person, not a literal tiger," he explained.
Nana stood up quickly and fixed her clothes.
"Sir, you should’ve said that right away so I wouldn’t have rambled on like that," she scolded him for his mistake.
"You’re the one who jumped to conclusions. Now go bring her the food," Matthew said, still laughing.
"Sir, is it a girl or a boy?" Nana asked.
"It’s a girl—my wife-to-be," Matthew said.
Nana smiled widely as she prepared the snack for Michelle, because she was overjoyed that at last, there would be another sensible woman around.
"Ahm, Jaz… do you know about Matthew Madrigal?" Christian asked.
Jazmine looked at Christian and stared at him.
"Yeah, a little… their family is well-known and influential. They’re also leaders in the business world—only the Fuentebellas come second to them. And most of all… the Madrigal Family is also a powerful mafia. Their methods aren’t brutal, but they’re still a syndicate. But why? Did you do something wrong to them?" Jazmine asked immediately.
Even if that family wasn’t brutal, they could kill in an instant if you cross them. No one had ever dared to go against them.
Matthew invited his associates to a barbecue party. Michelle just watched them from the window.
"Wouldn’t your wife join us for the fun?" Gerald asked.
"Nana, call Michelle and tell her to come down. Say I’m asking for her," Matthew ordered Nana, looking confident Michelle would obey.
"Yes, sir," Nana followed her boss’s order right away.
Nana went to Michelle to invite her to the party, but Michelle politely declined. So Nana returned to Matthew, having failed to bring her down.
"She didn’t come down? Rejected," Mayson teased.
"That’s the first girl to turn him down—bet he’s going to blow his top, so you guys better watch out," Gerald warned their associates.
Matthew’s associates laughed at him, and he felt embarrassed. He was about to go to Michelle, but Gerald stopped him.
"Calm down, Math," he held him back.
But the reason Michelle didn’t join the fun was because she was planning to escape. She knew there were no guards at the back of the house, so she hurried to the cabinet. She took some bedsheets, tied them together, and used them to climb down from her room.
"You think you can trap me here? I won’t allow it," Michelle said.
Matthew was shaking with anger over Michelle’s refusal.
"Stop, Matthew. Remember, she’s still a little girl," Gerald reminded him.
Nina arrived at her brother’s house, but… she saw him fuming with anger, so she hurried to approach him.
"Kuya, are you okay?" Nina asked.
But he ignored his sister and rushed to his and Michelle’s room, with Nina following behind.
"What are you doing here?" he asked his sister as he walked.
"I came to visit you, and besides, it’s boring at home," Nina replied.
The siblings reached the door of the room. He knocked, but no one answered, and the door wouldn’t open. So he told Nina to go to his office to get the key to the room.
When he opened the door, he scanned the entire room but didn’t see Michelle anywhere. Meanwhile, Nina quickly went to Gerald to tell him what was happening. Gerald ran inside, and when he got there… Michelle was gone.
Matthew immediately called his security at the main gate. He asked if any girl had gone out, but the security guard said "no one."
Gerald gathered all their men in the compound, and Matthew gave them a mission to find Michelle. Whoever found her would get a 250,000 prize. So his men scattered quickly to look for his runaway wife.
While Mayson was patrolling the garden, he saw a girl staring at the flowers. He immediately approached her and warned her that the area was private property.
- Writer
