Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
Mr. Ortiz understood where she was going, but he was concerned. “I’m afraid that someone wanted to bait you. Mr. Zellweger is missing now. I can’t have anything happen to you too.”
“Don’t worry. Look, that’s why I asked you to gather all our men.” She smiled at him. Although she was nervous, she had nothing to fear.
Still frowning, Mr. Ortiz made two separate calls. “I’ll gather more men just to be safe.”
Although all of Graham’s men were ready to be dispatched, Mr. Ortiz needed to find some bodyguards for hire. With money, one could find such bodyguards anywhere in the world. Danika agreed to it because they’d be safer with more men around.
Danika tried not to keep her hopes high before heading to the address. If the mastermind was that kind, they wouldn’t have stringed Mr. Ortiz along. She even prepared to fight any attackers at the place. Regardless of the motive, Danika believed she’d at least get some information out of captives.
With that in mind, she arrived at the address with her men in no time. They saw an ordinary house, and nothing looked off. She frowned and went to the front door.
Mr. Ortiz hurriedly stopped her. “Miss Zellweger, I’ll do that.” He’d be putting Danika in danger if someone awaited them behind the door.
She wanted to turn down his protection, but Mr. Ortiz had opened the door and barged in. Feeling defeated, she followed closely behind.
There was nothing wrong with the interior of the house. It was well-kept and looked lived-in. Just when they were scanning the environment with heightened alert, the door to a room suddenly flung open. The guards quickly formed a circle around Danika and prepared to counterattack. However, they were caught off guard when they saw a woman emerge from the room. They did not know what to make of the situation.
Danika made her way through the men and looked at the woman, who was staring back at her. Then, the woman asked, ‘Are you Danika Zellweger?”
“Yes.” Danika nodded.
The woman turned to the side to make way for her. “Come on in. The man you’re looking for is in the room.”
Danika was flustered once again. She wondered, “Is Dad really in there? Is it that easy to get to him?”
The woman noticed the doubt on her face and explained, “There’s no danger in there. Just relax.”
Danika didn’t want to take her word for it, but since they had traveled all the way there, she needed to take a look. Therefore, she followed the woman into the room.
When she saw Graham on the bed, she was gripped by a wave of mixed emotions. Before she could speak, Mr. Ortiz ran past her and asked, “Mr. Zellweger? What happened to you?’
Graham was unconscious. Danika shot a confused look at the woman, who explained, “He’s fine. He’s just knocked out for a while and will wake up soon.”
Danika sighed in relief and performed a checkup on him. His condition was as described by the woman. “I’m sorry, but what exactly is happening?” The situation was beyond comprehension, and Danika looked at the woman in the hope of an explanation.
However, she was destined to be disappointed. The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I have no idea either. Someone paid me to take care of him. I was told that someone would show up and pick him up today, and I was told your name. I know nothing more.”
Danika started thinking again. Who would be behind this? She recalled the text she received and suspected the sender was the mastermind. But that begged the question—who was that person?
Did they have something to do with Graham’s disappearance? Or did they save him?
She was drowning in questions, but no one could help her out. The woman added, ‘You are asked to leave Bayside City immediately after picking up the man.”
Danika nodded and thanked the woman, “Thank you for taking care of him. I hope you bring this secret to your grave after we leave.” Regardless of the woman’s identity, Danika could not trust her and had to remind her to keep her mouth shut.
When Mr. Ortiz handed the woman a check, she seemed taken aback but quickly accepted it with a smile. “Don’t you worry. I will not tell anyone.”
Next, Danika asked Mr. Ortiz to instruct the men to carry Graham out of the house as they prepared to leave. When Danika turned around to exit the house, the woman called her from behind. “By the way, I can offer you some information.”
However, the woman did not elaborate on that information. Instead, she glanced at Danika in anticipation. Speechless, Danika asked Mr. Ortiz to furnish a second check. “Tell me, what’s the info?”
“The person who called me to take care of this man is a woman,’ she answered.
A woman? That was indeed an important clue.
Soon, Danika left with Mr. Ortiz, Graham, and the other men they brought along. Graham woke up in the middle of the trip, but she didn’t notice it.
“Danika? Why are you here?” He rubbed his temples and thought Danika was merely an illusion. At that time, the car had arrived at the entrance to the villa.
Danika didn’t answer, but she opened the car door for him. “Let’s talk when we are in the house.”
Graham agreed, and he was helped into the villa by Mr. Ortiz.
Once they were in the villa, she reminded Mr. Ortiz to increase the security of the compound by hiring more guards. Somehow, she felt that the case had not come to a close. After she made all the necessary arrangements, she finally turned to Graham. “Dad, can you tell me what happened?”
A moment of silence later, he told her everything from the start. After arriving in Bayside City, he searched for Lynette’s whereabouts, but he failed to gather any clues. Just like Mr. Ortiz said, Graham had survived a few assassination attempts, confirming his suspicion that Lynette was indeed in the city. He must have been close to the truth. Otherwise, the mastermind wouldn’t have sent assassins after him.
Still, he was unable to get more clues on Lynette. On the day he went missing, he had been walking along the streets when he spotted a woman who looked like her. He sprinted after the woman without much thought and ran into an alley, where the woman vanished into thin air. While worrying about his next move, someone hit his head from behind, and he fainted.
The next thing he knew, he woke up and saw Danika in front of him.
“So, you’re saying that you were unconscious throughout the time you went missing?” she asked.
He nodded, and she frowned. It seemed that the person behind this incident wanted to keep him unconscious on purpose. If so, what would be her motive?
Danika could not find a reasonable explanation for the move. She was even baffled and sank into silence.
Graham felt bad for her. “I’m sorry, Danika, for giving you trouble.”
“Dad, what are you talking about? I have to save you because you’re my dad!’ She sounded impatient and dropped the topic. “Let’s focus on finding out the person who hit you. Why did she text me to bring you home? Wasn’t that too much?”
Graham nodded, but he held a different opinion. “Danika, I don’t think she has bad intentions. She must have been doing that in my best interest.”
“Oh, how is that so?’
“I told you that I survived a few assassination attempts, right? If I kept looking for Lynette, I might run into more attempts. Perhaps, she knocked me out to save me from the danger,” he offered his analysis.
She thought his explanation was solid. “So, once she learned I was in Bayside City, she instantly contacted me, telling me to collect you and leave the city.”
“Yeah, I think so.” He nodded, thinking that there was a good chance they were right.
Danika agreed with him, but she struggled to figure out the motive of that woman. “But why did she do so? Does she know you? Why would she help you?”
She did not believe that people would help others out of pure goodwill. She worried that the woman who helped Graham might turn out to be a ticking time bomb if they could not figure out her identity soon.
Graham had no answer to Danika’s question. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling that she isn’t acting with malice.”
She could have jumped on all the opportunities to take his life when he was unconscious if she had bad intentions.
“That aside, may I know when exactly you plan to leave Bayside City?” Danika started entertaining the idea of leaving Bayside City with Graham. After all, the city was too dangerous, and she agreed that Graham shouldn’t hang around for too long.
He fell silent. A long pause later, he insisted, “Danika, I dont’ want to leave just yet. I have a feeling that your mom’s around. If I leave, I might never find her again.’
“I went to check with the Bells. She has left home for decades. Are you sure she’s still in Bayside City?’ Danika countered.
Graham was shocked to hear that Danika had visited the Bells. “You went to meet them? What were you doing there?”
“They were prime suspects in your disappearance. Of course, I had to question them,” she answered, confident in her decision.
Looking defeated, he said, “Why would they tell you the truth if they were behind it? Have you ever considered that something bad could have happened to you when you confronted them without thinking?” The look of protest was written all over his face, and he was slightly enraged.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I know the Bells are quite something in Bayside, but us Zellwegers are not to be messed with as well.’ She smiled. She confronted the Bells exactly because she was confident they wouldn’t lay a finger on her.
Graham sighed and let go of the matter because he knew Danika was strong -willed. He asked, “Did they tell you that your mom has left the family for decades?”
“Yeah. The Bells seemed to be very sensitive around the mention of Lynette Bell. Sounds like she’s been away for a long time.” Judging from their reaction, Danika felt that the Bells were telling the truth.
Graham was silent. Where would Lynette be if not with the Bells?
Danika pressed on, “So, are you not going to leave, even if you know she’s not with the Bells?”
“Of course. Even if your mom is not with her family, she must be somewhere in the city. Why else would assassins come after me?” The assassins must have been sent because someone wanted to obstruct his search. It proved that he was going down the correct path.
In the face of his insistence, she knew she couldn’t change his mind. ‘ Alright then. I’ll help you to look for her.”
“But Bardoff City…”
“Don’t worry. Everything’s fine there,” she replied.
He didn’t say anything after that. He could use an extra pair of hands. Maybe the search would be more effective with two.
Meanwhile, a Dafoe Mansion was located south of Bayside City. The city was full of mid and small- sized families like the Bells, but the Dafoes were on another level-they were the kings. It was not an exaggeration to describe the city as belonging to the Dafoe family. Anyone who wanted to make a living in the city needed the approval of the Dafoes. Otherwise, their business would fail, or worse, they might end up as bodies abandoned in deserted corners of the city.
The mansion was gorgeously and intricately designed in a courtyard style. Birds and blossoms filled the courtyards, turning the compound into heaven on earth.
Lynette Bell sat in her bedroom as she watched the view of the courtyard, but she wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it. Clutching her phone, she constantly fixed her gaze on the screen until it lit up from a text notification. “They picked him up.”
She let out a relieved sigh. Next, she took out the SIM card, crushed it in half, and threw it into the toilet.
When she was done, she heard a knock on the bathroom door. “Lyn.”
Her adrenaline rushed as she forced herself to calm down. She combed her hair in front of the mirror and finally wandered out of the bathroom once she found no hint of panic in her.
“What are you doing in there?”
She heard a man’s voice from above her head. Her heart sank, but she acted normal by looking into his eyes. ‘What else can I do in the bathroom? If
He gave her a doubtful look as if he wanted to find the truth in her eyes. Too bad she was no longer the naive young lady she used to be. Now in her forties, she was no longer youthful and had long shed her innocence from her younger times.
“Why are you here?” She looked away and went around him. Eric Dafoe stared at her but did not ask more questions. “There’s a dinner tonight.
You’ll go with me.”
That was not a question; it was an announcement.
Lynette wasn’t surprised at his attitude. He had always been like that. “Me again? You have an endless supply of women around you. Why do you always want me to go with you? Aren’t you worried that I’d stir trouble?”
“Lynette Bell, you are my wife!” Eric looked furious. He hated when Lynette put on an uninterested look. She always seemed unbothered by the number of women he kept outside.