Taken By The Arrogant Billionaire

The bodyguards initially guarding the gate all ran in, their guns raised as they circled them. Sandy shaking like a leaf, her eyes dilating. Dylan pulled her into his arms, mouthing some encouraging words, while the men tried to find out what was wrong. They were waiting for her to cool down, so they could ask questions, but that wasn’t happening soon.

“Speak to us, honey. What did you see?” Their mother cajoled. Sandy raised a shaky finger towards the headstone. Then Mrs Smith saw it. Her face turned pale as she screamed too. Jared step out to check. He circled the grave and finally found it. Lying behind the black, marble headstone was a single stem black rose, and beside it was the item that scared the women. A doll. A bloodied female doll. Its dress was torn into shreds, blood stained the mouth, a knife was lodged in its chest and most of all, something was written on it forehead in red-DEATH.

“Take the Madams out of here” Jared instructed. The women were guided out to the car. Now it was only Jared, Dylan and their father.

“Who could have done this?” Mr Smith muttered. This was a private space, with tight security. An ordinary person could not penetrate without getting caught. This was no prank. “Should we call the police?”

“No” Jared was quick to respond. “Let’s not involve them in this”

“We can. We just have to instruct them to keep it confidential. I have someone who can do that” He dialed a number. He was quite close with the police chief, and he could help with that. A few minutes later, the items were locked in an evidence bag, on the way to the forensic unit.

“We will give you the results in the next 6 hours” the police chief said.

Dylan nodded. “Thank you” they shook hands. He went to the car to check on Sandy, while Jared went to check on his mother.

Sandy was staring into space, her eyes unfocused.

“Sandy”

No answer. He did again, but still no answer. She was muttering jargon. Was she that shaken? He held her hands in his, and that was when she turned to look at his face. Her eyes were red. It broke Dylan’s heart.

“Let’s go home” he said. She nodded.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

She went to bed without showering, but did not sleep immediately. The scary occurrence continued to flash before her eyes. In their group, Layla was the only strong one. She was a scaredy-cat, but not this much. It must have been the pregnancy and the initial fear and insecurity of marrying a man of high status. She had just gotten married and this was happening? Death? Oh, God!

Dylan stayed with her and lulled her to sleep before leaving. He received a call from Jared.

“Any information?”

“I just finished speaking to the Police chief, and he said there were no fingerprints on the dolls and rose” Dylan squeezed his eyes shut.

“Okay”

“How is Sandy?”

“She just fell asleep. And how is mum?”

“Crying non-stop”

Dylan sighed. The election was fast approaching, was this a stunt from opposition? No. Everything about it smelt personal. Who was it then?

************

Valerie hasn’t seen Layla for days now. It was just her in the house. Layla has been using the excuse of being busy on the filming set. She came home once, barely spoke to her, and left the next morning before she woke up. She left the house a little sad. Was Layla going to disregard their relationship? She was so lost in thought that she didn’t see the motorcycle zooming towards her. He was already a few inches close when she realized, she shut her eyes, readying herself for the pain, but it never came. She opened an eye, then the other. The motorcycle was gone. She looked around and paused when she felt someone’s hand on her. She was in someone’s embrace. She turned back to look and was immediately stunned speechless. Staring at her were most beautiful purple eyes she had ever seen. How could someone be so pretty?

“OMG!” She said, dreamily. She quickly wrung herself out of his grip. It was weird being in this position with a fellow woman.

“Thanks so much for helping me, ma’am” she bowed a little. He burst into laughter, showing his sparkling white teeth. Her eyes widened when she heard his voice. “You…. You are a man?” His laughter died down.

“Obviously”

“It isn’t!” She argued. How could a man look so much like a lady?

“I’m Damon” he stretched out his hand. The way he said it made it sound like ‘demon’.

She accepted the handshake.

“Valerie”

“Valerie” he nodded I’m approval. “Nice name. Suits your pretty face” Her face turned hot. He smirked when she was not looking. Of course, no woman can resist his charm. Even Jared’s woman couldn’t bear his charm.

“Thanks for helping me” she said and left.

Damon was a bit surprised. He thought she was going to ask for his number and flirt with him like most women. But, she left just like that? He chuckled. She was definitely different. He was going to get her. The thought alone excited him, as he stared at her retreating back.

************

Three hours had passed since she arrived, and Jared wasn’t at the office. He was the boss and could arrive whenever he wanted, but he had never been this late. She found herself getting worried for no reason. Did something happen to him on the way? But that was impossible. He had bodyguards. She sighed for the tenth time. Kathy rolled her eyes.

“Can you please stop sighing? You are distracting me”

“I’m sorry” Valerie dropped her head. She thought of speaking to Kathy about it, but immediately shrugged it off. She was going to come to the conclusion that she liked the boss, and the whole company was going to hear about it. She could not let that happen.

“Is there a problem?”

“Huh? No. Not at all” she said and tried to concentrate, convincing herself he was fine.

She heaved a sigh of relief when he entered his office, and scolded herself for getting worried for nothing.

She got called into his for his schedule and she noticed something. His eyes were a bit sunken and there were dark circles that were not so obvious, under his eyes, like he didn’t get a good sleep for many days. There were weary lines on his face too. She found herself getting concerned again. Her brows s scrunched together, contemplating whether to ask him or not. She cleared her throat.

“Are you okay?” She asked, sounding casual. He slowly looked up, a smile creeping in. She looked away. Now she regretted asking.

“You are worried about me?”

“I… You know, I was just…..” She couldn’t get the right words out.

“You are worried about me” he wasn’t asking. She pursed her lips.

“If that is all sir, I will take my leave” she practically ran out of the office, hearing his low chuckle behind her. She made sure to avoid meeting his eyes for the rest of the day. She was still worried. He didn’t look fine at all.

She sat in a restaurant after work. There were few people there. She was in no mood to cook. It was just her in the house anyway. She distractedly brought the food close to her mouth, thinking deeply.

“A penny for your thoughts” a voice said. She looked up, her brows furrowed in surprise when her eyes met that familiar purple eyes.