Later that evening Alec went to Ricky's bar for drinks.
"Alec" he heard Ricky call him. With a deep sigh, he prepared himself for the undesired conversation.
"How are you holding up?" Ricky asked.
"Fine."
"Did you talk to her?"
"No"
"She wants to talk to you buddy." Ricky was concerned.
Seeing Alec didn't say anything Ricky continued, "When will you call her?"
"I don't know" Alec tried to keep his words limited.
"You have to reconcile some day. She is your wife." He tried reasoning with him.
"She lied, Ricky." His voice became grievous.
Ricky was well aware that Alec resented liars.
Taking a huge breath he decided to take the blame on himself for Michelle's sake.
"She did it because I asked her to."
Alec raised his eyebrows out of surprise, "You knew?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Alec was vexed.
"Because I didn't trust you." Ricky looked in his eyes and said the truth without any guilt.
"What could I even tell you Alec? That the woman you married is actually 'Michelle Ford'. The woman your 'dear brother' 'Dwane' intends to kill."
"I couldn't bring myself to tell you that because I thought you'd tell Dwane. You guys even toasted to her corpse in front of her."
Alec remembered El's reaction to Dwane's words on the day he arrived. She was way too restless and Ricky comforted her. Guilt built up within him as he recalled all incidents when Dwane talked about hurting Michelle in front of her.
"I need to go." he said and hurried out.
Alec's POV
Returning back I couldn't help but recall the incident that happened twelve years ago when I was only fourteen years old.
Flashback
I was leisurely strolling inside Ford's Mansion in Barnesville. I used to visit Barnesville with my grandma every alternate year for holidays.
Other times, Grandma Alexandra would visit us back in South-Hills with her granddaughter Michelle.
Suddenly, I saw ten year old little Isobelle outside, she was about to jump into the pool.
"Isobelle STOP" I ran towards her.
"Brother Alec, Michelle.." she anxiously said and pointed to the pool. Seeing Michelle struggling inside the pool, I jumped to save her without having any second thoughts.
They were lucky that I saw them in time and was able to save Michelle or even Isobelle would have drowned in an attempt to save her sister.
During the rest of my stay that summer, Michelle clung to me like a leech, like her life depended on it.
The little girl cried hard the day I left Barnesville. The memories of little Michelle never failed to make me smile even during most grevious times.
I had almost forgotten about this incident but El's words 'Does a person owe to his or her saviour? If yes, then to what extent?'
reminded me of how I saved Michelle.
Even though her conversation with Dwane was plain and unromantic, it still irked me.
I was so engrossed in jealousy that I wanted to get rid of Dwane as soon as possible which made me do something awful which I regretted then and regret it much more now knowing that El is Michelle.
That evening when we returned from the bar, I asked El to head upstairs and made an excuse to stay behind. When she left, I entered Dwane's room.
"If you need anything, and I mean literally anything you can tell me. I mean it." Dwane was on a call, his voice sounded determined.
I heard a woman's voice on the other side of the call.
"Okay, take care and stay in touch." He said and hung up.
"Who was that?"
"Amelia." Dwane answered.
"Joseph Moore's wife?"
"She was in my class in the university, don't you remember?"
I shook my head, nonetheless I was least interested in the trending matters of the 'Moore couple'.
"Did you manage to find Michelle?" I asked getting to the point.
"Not yet, but I'll, soon enough." Dwane was determined. The only way I could think of to keep Dwane away from my wife was to keep him busy with Michelle and help him find her.
"I'll help you with it." I firmly said.
"How?
"I'll come up with something. Let me help you find her, you did ask me this during the time of your wedding, allow me to complete my undertaking."
"Are you sure? Isn't Daniel Ford helping you with your business?"
"Her family abandoned her years ago, Daniel Ford or anyone from her family has got nothing to do with her. Besides, you are my brother, anything for you." I faked a smile.
"But you cannot mention any of this to Ricky or El. I don't want my wife involved in this in any way."
Dwane nodded to my condition.
"What do you plan to do after you deal with Michelle?"
(Author's pov)
Alec's simple question rendered Dwane speechless. For four long years his only aim was to find Michelle. His anger against her had fuelled most of the aspects of his current life.
Dwane wasn't prepared to confront or think about Alec's unexpected but obvious question. A lot of memories of his past flooded his mind.
Noticing him not saying anything, Alec asked,
"Leave South-hills?" Dwane was snapped out of his daze and slightly nodded.
"Yes, leave South-Hills."
Alec's POV
Dwane leaving South-Hills was exactly what I wanted. Getting my desired answer I took my leave.
Stepping out I tried to ignore the guilt I was feeling towards Michelle.
"I'm sorry Michelle, but you owe me for saving your life."
The next day, I hired experts to track Michelle's phone. Fortunately, they were able to track it, however it took a lot of resources and effort. I provided all the details to Dwane about Michelle's location.
A day later, I saw Dwane massaging El's back. The sight enraged me to no bounds, keeping my calm, I called Dwane to my study.
"Did you find her?" I asked coldly.
"Not yet, her location tracking stops at the one particular location." Dwane replied.
"I'll look into it."
I asked Ben to search the location, I guessed she might be living there.
Later that day, I visited grandma Alexandra to find out more about Michelle's whereabouts.
"She lives in Abon city with her husband." She informed me and I passed the same information to Dwane.
Dwane had left for Abon city but came back that evening itself. He told me that Michelle's phone location was at Ford's Villa.
"To Ford's Villa." He instructed his assistant Bill.
"No." I stopped them.
"My wife is there, I don't want any bloodshed in front of her." El had informed me this morning she'll be visiting grandma Alexandra.
"I'm helping you find her and you had agreed to my one condition that my wife wouldn't be involved in your search." I reminded him.
Dwane reluctantly agreed.
During the week I passed on all the Intel I found about Michelle to Dwane. Dwane had visited Abon city twice to find her but to no avail.
During the weekend, El and I visited grandma Alexandra for lunch. She told me that Michelle planned to leave South-Hills with her husband.
I wanted to find more about it, making an excuse. I went upstairs and heard the conversation between Michelle and her husband.
I found that they planned to leave for Starville the next evening. Like always I informed Dwane about it. Finally I'll be able to get rid of Dwane.