Kiara looked out through the window of the cab and checked her phone again.
"Oh no! no! Vine will kill me! Grandmother will kill me! And Gareth! Gareth will kill me! Oh no what did I do!?" she cried silently in her heart, regretting why she had delayed that much.
From her own calculations, she was about forty-five minutes behind her schedule, and she could not guarantee that by then no-one had started looking for her at the mansion. Fear gripped her. If it happened that someone had looked for her; how was she going to explain herself out? What was she going to say? Was Vincent still asleep? Was the milk still enough? What if the milk ran out, and the grandmother wanted Kiara to wake up and feed the child? Or would she…would lady Pinkerton wake Kiara up? Chances were low. The lady respected and loved Kiara too much…but what if….what if…too many what ifs played in her mind.
Earlier on, Jeremy had insisted on dropping her off at the mansion, but she preferred using a cab. It was too dangerous to have Jeremy anywhere near the Pinkertons; she argued.
The cab was moving at an unbelievably high speed. Due to its speed and also because there was not much traffic, it managed to get to the mansion in half the time that it would have taken on a normal day.
"Thank you," Kiara got down and started moving towards the gate. She knew that there would be a guard, so she pulled her hat even lower and walked on.
"How are you? Where are you coming from this late?" the security guard inquired.
"I'm sorry I was called to come in at this hour. Tessa is off, and the young master's wife is having problems with the child. She needs help."
"Oh, come in. They could have sent for a driver to pick you," the man opened the gate.
Kiara entered and started running as fast as she could, for it was a long way from the gate to the mansion itself.
She tiptoed, entered through the side door, which she had used to get out. That door was rarely ever used, and she had made sure to leave it unlocked, knowing that no one was going to check on it.
Doing her best to dodge all the cameras, she ran up the stairs and quietly slipped into her room. Sighing heavily, Kiara quickly removed the staff uniform and threw it under the bed. She dashed into the bathroom and wiped her entire body with a warm towel. Quickly she hopped into her nightdress, jumped into bed and pretended to be fast asleep.
At that very moment, there was a knock at her door. Kiara did not respond, since she wanted to make it appear as if she was asleep. Vine opened the door and came in.
"Kiara," he called her.
"Hmm," she opened her eyes and yawned. "Oh, you have brought him back? Did he trouble you in any way?" she smiled.
"Not at all. We had a good father-son bonding time." Vine sat on the edge of the bed.
"Good for you. Thank you for babysitting."
"Did you get enough rest?" Vine asked with a smile.
"I did," she took the little one into her hands.
"If you still need more sleep, just feed him and I will take him back with me," he offered, much to Kiara's shock. As far as she recalled, Vine had never said anything like that to her. Of course he was trying to change for the better, but the pace at which he was moving was a bit too fast for Kiara.
"No thanks, I guess you have done enough for the night," she smiled.
"Ok then, thank you for trusting me with the little one." Vine said as he left.
Alone in her room, Kiara failed to believe it. Vine! Why on earth was Vine suddenly very nice. It was the first time she had ever heard Vine saying thank you.
She was feeding her child and the thought kept haunting her. Vine was trying; since the time they went for the trip. But why on that day did it seem too artificial?
It was the way he spoke with her. Vine was never one to avoid anyone's eyes, yet on that day he made it a point to never look Kiara in the eyes. Vine? Vine Lucas Pinkerton? Why in the world would he ever avoid anyone's eyes? Could there be something which he was trying to hide? Had he done something to the child.
"What did your dad do to you?" she spoke to her son, scrutinizing his little body and finding nothing to worry about.
"What does he know? Why was he avoiding my eyes?" she could not help but speak out to herself.
It was already towards morning, when the sun's rays were starting to say hallo to the earth, when Kiara could not handle the stress anymore. What did Vine know? Guilt overpowered her, and she pressed a button to call for a maid. Since Tessa was not there, the button was connected to another maid who was standing in for Tessa.
The maid came in and greeted Kiara respectfully.
"Let me use your personal phone," she demanded.
"I...we're not allowed…"
"I need to call Tessa. You do have her number, don't you?"
"Yes ma'am," the young maid handed over her phone to Kiara.
"What's the contact saved as?" Kiara asked.
"Tessa Boss," she said shyly.
Kiara scrolled through the contacts until she came to Tessa Boss. She went into the bathroom and dialed the number. It rang three times before it was answered.
"Who is this? Can someone please tell me what is happening? Who is this? I said who is this?" a female voice said. The person was undoubtedly crying.
"Hallo? Is this Tessa's phone?" Kiara asked in shock.
"Yes it is, and who are you?"
"I work with her at the Pinkerton mansion," Kiara lied.
"Oh my child, tell me what she did! What did my Tessa do? Why did the take her?" the woman sobbed.
"They took her? Who took her?" Kiara's heart was pounding so badly that she heard its drumming pounding heavily in her ears. What the hell? Was someone inside there, playing drums at the loudest volume possible?
The woman on the other end of the line did not respond, but instead a male voice boomed:
"Hallo, I am Tessa's father. Please tell us what she has done wrong. We will do anything to repay you, if she has broken or stolen anything, we will repay. Please, just bring her back to us. Please," the man pleaded.
Kiara remained silent, processing the words, everything becoming clear to her.
So they knew? They all knew? Oh my goodness! What on earth!!
And wait…if they took Tessa, it meant they were on their way to take Jeremy too…or had they already taken him? Did they know about Jeremy's involvement in everything? Oh dear me…things could never get worse than this….
***.
In his room, Jeremy was over the moon. He flipped through the pages of the diary, and smiled. He brought it to his face, inhaling its scent. He made himself believe that the diary smelled like Kiara.
Jeremy uncapped the pen, the one that came with the diary, and decided to make yet another entry for that day:
Letters to Kiara
Letter 104
I will wait for you, my love. On the day that Vine kicks you out; when he finally frees you, please run back to me and I will gladly take you back into my life. Because that is where you belong. Come back to me any day, my love, I am patiently waiting.
You know what; my love…
Jeremy did not finish his sentence, for his phone began to ring. He checked and saw that it was an unknown number. Since he knew that Kiara was in no position to call him using her own number, he was almost 100% certain that it was her, so he smiled brightly and picked the call.
"Hallo?"
"Jeremy, run! Run as far away as you can, please just run!" her panting voice screeched into his ear.
"Kiara? What are you talking about?"
"Leave everything now and run as far away as you can. They found out, and they're coming for you!"
"Oh no!" sweat balls formed rapidly on Jeremy's forehead.
"Put the phone down and run, Jeremy!"
"Oh no! Where will I go, then?" he stood to his feet and looked around the room, as if he hoped for a secret door to appear and hide him from the whole world.
"As far away as you can. Jeremy start moving now!" Kiara's panicky voice screamed, and the line went dead.
Jeremy jumped off his bed and pulled his satchel. The satchel had mainly his photography things, but inside he managed to throw in two shirts and a trousers. He threw in his bathing towel and a toothbrush. He picked up the book and ran downstairs. He ran towards the gate and ran down the street, not knowing where exactly he was going. He called for a cab, telling the driver that they were to find him on the way. After that he dialed Jacob's number.
"Jeremy? Why are you calling me so early in the morning?" Jacob sounded sleepy.
The moment he heard his brother's voice, Jeremy's tears fell. "Brother, I have messed up! They're coming for me again, and this time they won't spare my life!"
"Slow down, what happened?" Jacob failed to make sense of what his brother was saying.
"I…I was with Kiara. The Pinkertons found out. They're coming for me!"
"Oh no! Jeremy what have you done?" Jacob instantly sat up in bed, resultantly waking Nesisa up.
"Help me, brother. Please help me." the young man begged.
"First don't use your car! I believe they could easily track it. Switch off that phone now, and find your way home. I will help you."
"Thank you, brother!"
He switched off his phone, tucked it inside the satchel and ran down the street. He ran as fast as he could. On his back was the satchel, and in his arms, clutched very close to his chest, was his diary. The same old diary which held so many of his heart's aches and joys; the letters to Kiara.