Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
“Paul! Let me go!” Worried that he might spiral and go out of control, she wanted to leave.
However, he clutched on tighter. “No, I wont! I will never let you go!”
Who Do You Think You Are?
Stephanie’s greatest fear had come true. She was most fearful when Paul lost control. She knew he’d do anything in that situation, even imprisoning her in his villa. She refused to go through that harrowing experience again.
When she was trapped and troubled, a figure appeared from behind her and punched Paul to the ground.
“Leonard? Why are you here?” She was surprised to see him because he should be working his shift at the police station.
He shielded her and stared at Paul in a hostile manner. “You didn’t reply to my texts, so I was worried and had to visit you.”
He started worrying when she didn’t reply to his texts in time. Moreover, he knew Paul’s wretched character and needed to check on Stephanie in person. Thankfully, he had arrived on time to protect her.
“I’m sorry that I worry you.” She looked a little embarrassed. When she first agreed to date Leonard, she decided to leave the past behind and tied all the loose ends with Paul. To her dismay, he still came to her apartment.
Leonard took her hand and said unhappily, “Why are you saying sorry? It’s not your fault. I should have walked you home from work.’
“Wow, I’m invisible to you, huh?” Paul wiped away the blood from his lips and smirked. How dare they display their affection before him, thinking he was easily bullied?
Leonard gave him an icy glare. “Steph is my girlfriend now. Mr. Wagner, please know your boundaries.”
“What if I refuse?” Paul asked with a terrifying smile.
Leonard walked up to him, staring him in the eyes. ‘Paul Wagner, you’d be damn wrong to think you have hidden your crimes well. This is a warning-l will not go easy on you if you pester Steph.’
Although he did not have concrete evidence at the moment, he’d definitely send Paul to jail if he uncovered something damning.
“Is that so? Try me. Let’s see who’s the last man standing.* Paul had no regard for a mere deputy commissioner. He was no stranger to killing and didn’t mind dirtying his hands by taking one more life.
The two men were head-to-head, and tensions were high, threatening to explode at any moment. Feeling worried, Stephanie pulled at Leonard.” Let’s ignore him. Send me home.”
“Sure.” Leonard did not want to waste time with Paul. There was no point throwing empty threats at each other. They should save the actual fight for later.
The couple entered the elevator. Paul watched from afar without barging in. “Leonard Sullivan? Who do you think you are?” He lit up another cigarette as he made a call. “Look into this man for me. I need everything on him.”
Paul scoffed at Leonard’s attempt to take Stephanie away from him-the man had overestimated himself. Paul believed that Stephanie was his and no one should take her away from him.
When Stephanie and Leonard exited the elevator and arrived at the door, he urged, “Go in. I’ll watch until you’re inside.
He needed to see her walk inside her house to feel assured. She did not budge. Biting her lips, she blurted out, *Do you want to come in?”
“Uh…Your parents are at home. It’s going to be awkward.” He looked shy. Even though he was her boyfriend, he needed more time to get ready to meet the future in-laws.
However, she wasn’t bothered by his concerns. “Just come in. My parents are really nice.”
Since she was insistent, he decided not to back out. He bit the bullet and said, “Sure.”
Mr. Zellweger Has Gone Missing
Back at Eustace’s villa, Eustace served dinner in no time and sat down to eat with Danika. The two chatted during dinner, mostly about the interesting episodes in her consultations. While talking, a thought crossed his mind, and he said, “I have an event on Sunday. Do you want to go with me?’
Since they started dating, they had not attended official events as a couple. Sunday’s event would be a great time to do so.
“Sure,” she agreed immediately since she would be free on Sunday.
“Here. Eat up.” He piled food on her plate with a smile. He was clearly in a good mood. Although their days looked simple and monotonous, it was a dream come true for him.
After dinner, he went back to work in his study. Danika went to the living room to read. After the previous incident, she didn’t follow him to the study anymore-she’d be distracted from her reading, and he’d struggle to focus on work.
She was reading profession-related books to prepare for a professional exam in two months. Even with her talent and experience in the field, she’d need to treat the exam seriously.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden call. It was from Mr. Ortiz, which shocked her. “Mr. Ortiz.”
“Miss Zellweger. Mr. Zellweger has gone missing.” She heard his worried tone and sat up straight from her relaxed position on the couch. “What happened?”
Next, Mr. Ortiz updated her on the events prior. Graham had apparently tried to look for Lynette Bell based on the clues in his hands. When he was close to getting to her, he went missing, which was alarming.
She frowned deeply after hearing that. “Mr. Ortiz, you’ve been with my dad. What do you think is the reason behind his disappearance?”
“I think…” A pause later, he shared his honest thoughts, “It has something to do with your mom’s side of the family.”
She wasn’t surprised at the answer. In fact, she harbored the same guess.
“We ran into a few assassination attempts as Mr. Zellweger dug deeper. We managed to handle those attempts. From that moment, I knew someone didn’t want us to look deeper into her. So, I advised Mr. Zellweger to give up.”
Obviously, Graham would not give up easily.
After some serious thinking, she said to him, “Mr. Ortiz, send the information you have to me. I mostly need the information on my mom’s family.”
“Sure. I’ll send them over to you soon,” he promised.
After the call, her eyebrows were knitted tightly out of grave concern.
“What’s wrong?” Eustace came to the first floor and went up to her. He knew that something was wrong, given the expression on her face. She didn’t hide the truth from him. “My dad’s gone missing.”
Even Eustace looked worried at that moment. Graham was Danika’s dad and his future father-in-law. If anything bad happened to Graham, it’d greatly affect Danika.
“Don’t panic for now. He might be safe too. We can surely find him,” he sat by her side and assured her.
She nodded rationally. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
She was gripped by worry, but she’d never lose her mind. Her priority now was to locate Graham, and the other matters could be dealt with another day.
She heard a chime on her phone-Mr. Ortiz had sent her the information. She stopped talking to Eustace and started pouring over the files.
Eustace joined Danika in checking out the information in an attempt to help. After she was done reading, the expression on her face grew serious.
Just as she had guessed, her mom, Lynette, came from an impressive background. The Bell family was quite something. But Danika had never heard of the family in Bardoff City, which could only mean that the family was located somewhere else.
She glanced at Mr. Ortiz’s current location-he was in Bayside City. It was a city near the sea. She had heard of the place before. Residents of Bayside were rumored to be good in business, and they mostly ran family businesses. The families there were very united.
“Eustace, how possible do you think it’s the doing of my mom’s family?’ she asked him.
He gave it some thought and answered, “Judging from the situation and the details you shared about your parents, I think it’s highly possible that her family took your dad.”
From the clues in the past, one could tell that Lynette Bell’s family was against her marriage to Graham, which was why they took her away and barred her from showing up. Eustace, however, was confused by their action because Graham was still a good match for Danika’s mom, even if he weren’t the head of the Zellwegers. The Bayside City families might be filthy rich, but they could never rival the Bardoff City families in terms of stature.
Eustace and Danika would not know the reason behind the puzzling action. Perhaps, they could only get to the truth once they found Lynette.
“I think so too. Maybe the family found out that Dad was looking for my mom, but they made a move against him because they didn’t want him to reach her,’ Danika surmised.
“What do you plan to do, then?” he asked.
She fell silent, rapping her knuckles against the tabletop. A moment later, she answered, ‘Of course, I’ll knock on their door and ask for my dad.” She would never act like Graham, who insisted on searching for her mom in secret even after he found out about the Bells. It was a waste of time, in her opinion. She’d confront the family right away instead of going through a grueling search.
“Yeah. That works,” Eustace agreed with her. If the Quinceys and the Zellwegers worked together, no Bayside family was to be feared.
Once she made her decision, she refused to waste more time since Graham was still in the hands of that family.
Eustace held her hand and said in defeat, “I know you’re anxious, but you should wait until the next morning. There’s no flight to Bayside City at this time.”
“I’ll pack my bags and take leave from the hospital.” The mention of leave- taking made her embarrassed. She had just returned from leave but had to excuse herself again.
“Don’t overthink it. The Quincey Group has acquired the hospital, so you’re the boss now. You can go to work or take leave as you wish.” He smiled at her. The acquisition was something he’d been busy with.
She froze after hearing that. No wonder the director told her not to rush her return to work and had been extra nice to her in the past two days.
She was at a loss for words. “Why would you acquire the hospital out of the blue?”
“There’s no need to overthink it. It’s part of the usual business strategy of the Quincey Group,” he explained.
A usual business strategy? She’d be a fool to believe in him. Still, she knew he acquired the hospital in her best interest-he didn’t want to burden her with the information and hoped she’d be comfortable at work.
“Thank you,’ she thanked him and went upstairs, disappearing from his sight.
He stared at her and pouted. “It’s always a thank you from her without any physical reward.”
When Danika boarded a flight out of Bardoff City, she could not help but lament her hectic life due to all the things she had to deal with. She wondered how Graham was holding up, hoping nothing bad had happened to him.
This time around, Eustace did not join her on the trip to Bayside City. On the one hand, he was busy with work in Quincey Group; on the other hand, Danika was confident she could handle the matter independently. She was far from helpless and handled most things in life well on her own. He was worried about her but did not insist on going with her-he knew her personality too well. There was no changing her mind once she arrived at a decision.
It was a four-hour trip from Bardoff City to Bayside City, a longer trip than to Parrington. That was no surprise because Bayside was closer to the sea. While everyone in Bardoff was huddled up in coats, the residents of Bayside could show off in summer dresses.
When Danika alighted the plane in her coat, she was instantly attacked by the heat and started sweating on her back. She quickly found a restroom and changed out of her thick clothes into something comfortable.
Mr. Ortiz was already waiting for her at the entrance to the airport. He was a longtime staff in the Zellweger Family. After Graham handed the family matters to Danika, he enrolled Mr. Ortiz in his search for Danika’s biological mom. At this point, Graham was more than an employer to Mr. Ortiz.
“Mr. Ortiz!” Danika waved at him after she spotted him.
He respectfully opened the car door for her. “Miss Zellweger, please get in.”
“Sure.* Without wasting time, she entered the car, and they left the airport.
He appeared worried in the car. ‘Miss Zellweger, we have heard nothing from Mr. Zellweger. Could something…have happened to him?”
“Mr. Ortiz, do you know the location of the Bells’ family home?” Instead of answering him, she posed another question.