"At least tell us this, Kiara, is there anything in the letters that can give us a hint…I mean, anything that can help shed more light for us as his family, to help us accept his reality?" Jacob asked.
"I am not done reading all the letters, but I don't think so. They were all letters between me and him." Kiara said stubbornly.
Jacob rubbed his hands together, despising the defeat which was right in his face.
"I'm sorry but you may have to leave now. Anytime from now, Travis will arrive." Aletha reminded everyone.
"Ok, we're on our way out. Before I go, Kiara, may I ask for one more favour? May I please see my brother's last letter?"
"Why his last letter?" Kiara asked.
"Because Jeremy drowned himself. Suicide is never coincidental. It is not an accident. He planned it. He knew that he was going to commit suicide, so before he did that, it means that on the day that he wrote his last letter; he knew that it was his last. In it therefore, he must have said what he felt were his last words to you, and I believe that in those words we can find something useful. The man wrote all those many letters, and I know my brother. I know how he was. He expressed himself better and wholly with you, Kiara. In his last letter he must have written something different from his other letters."
"I understand what you are saying, Jacob," Kiara responded.
"So then what shall it be? May we see his last letter? I can take photos and leave the diary with you. Just one letter, please, Kiara? We made a deal, remember?"
"I'm sorry, Jacob. The last letter is the one closest to my heart. From the moment that I read it; I immediately knew that it was my reason for living. Letter number two hundred and fifty-four gives me energy, and a reason to look forward to the next minute of my life. Because of his last letter, I find courage to stand up and tell myself that I can do it. No; I cannot be scared of anyone, I have to fight. I have to stand up for the man that I love, and I will do anything for him."
"Yes, but he is not with us anymore." Jacob said.
"In his last letter; he said he will be with me always. I choose to believe him."
"And from what you have just said, you also choose not to show us his last letter, am I right?" Jacob inquired.
"You are right. I choose to keep all his letters, especially his last letter, to myself. And so that you have peace of mind, he never mentioned your names in all of them. It is all about him and me."
***.
It was less than half a minute after the Rains had left when there was a loud knock at the door.
"Travis?" Aletha called, and waited for an answer.
"Open!" a male voice said from the other side of the door.
"Oh no, it's Gareth," Kiara whispered.
Aletha pointed upstairs, telling Kiara to go and hide. In haste, Kiara went upstairs. Aletha opened the door and Gareth entered.
"It's funny that when we bring money and gifts to this home, you rush to open doors for us; yet when we come to take what belongs to us, you take ages."
"I am sorry, Mr Gareth. I was busy in the kitchen." Aletha lied.
"Tell her to come down. We're leaving now." Gareth said.
Aletha pretended to be blank, much to the Gareth's frustration.
"I said call your daughter and tell her that I am here to take her home!" he barked.
"She…she is not here. She…"
"Don't try me, Aletha. I will start counting down from ten, and don't let me get to zero before she appears here in this room. Ten…nine…eight…"
"Kiara, come down!" Aletha called. Kiara, who was hearing the whole exchange of words, trembled as she descended the stairs to join her mother downstairs.
"I'm here to take you away." Gareth said.
"Will Vine do anything to me? I am scared," she stammered.
"The young master is angry, but he won't do anything to you. Hurry up, lady Pinkerton is the one who sent me here. She said I must get you to a hiding place until Vine calms down."
"Ok, ok I am coming with you. Mamma; I am going with Gareth." She said.
Kiara ran all the way up the stairs and started packing her items. There was not much packing to do anyway, since her bag was already packed. She came down with the bag, and Gareth swiftly took it and carried it to the car.
"My child…will you be safe, my dear child?" Aletha cried.
"I will be fine, mum," Kiara assured her mother. "Since lady Pinkerton herself is taking care of me, I will be fine."
Gareth got into the driver's seat. He immediately asked for Kiara's phone; which he switched off, giving the reason that he did not want Vine to be able to track it.
"Remove your panties immediately," he gave an order.
"What? You want me to remove my pant?"
"Please do so fast. I don't mean to rape you or to harm you in any way." Gareth was becoming impatient.
"Why then should I remove my pant?"
"All your pants have trackers installed on them. We figured you cannot go anywhere without a pant; so please remove it now. And that safety bracelet of yours; remove all that." Gareth was not able to wait any longer. He needed Kiara to be fast.
"Take out your bag. We will take out all the pants in there!" Gareth gave an order.
Aletha was seeing and hearing it all, and she wondered what kind of people the Pinkertons were.
The car was cruising at a very fast speed, and after they had travelled a long distance, Kiara asked where they were going.
"Lady Pinkerton said I must book you in a lodge," he said.
They drove for a very long time until they arrived at a very nice place. It did not look like a lodge at all. It was a beautiful house, and a young maid came to the door to welcome them in.
Kiara was led to a well decorated room, and she was told to make herself comfortable.
She looked around and thought the pace was very cozy.
"Whose place is this? Is it one of the Pinkertons' places?" she asked.
"It belongs to Gareth," the young maid responded.
"Oh," Kiara's mouth remained open.
She started to unpack her bag.
"Would you like something to eat?" the maid asked.
"I would be happy to take a shower first, and then I will eat," she said.
"Oh, that door leads to the bathroom. There is a balcony there, but Gareth said you cannot use it. He said you cannot leave this room because no one should know that you're staying here."
"I understand," Kiara said.
She left the room and took a shower. When she was done, she bathed her son and sat down to eat. The food was served to her in the same bedroom. She had been informed that she was not going to leave the room at any time.
The food was nice, she loved it a lot. Kiara was very happy. She knew that Jeremy was alive; and more so, she knew that lady Pinkerton was caring enough to have Gareth take her to a place of safety; away from Vine.
When she was starting to fall asleep, there was a knock on her door. Gareth came in, with a phone in his hands. It looked like he had received a call and put his phone on hold, and he released it as soon as he entered into Kiara's room. The phone was on speaker.
"Yes…talk to me, Dream." Gareth said.
The person on the other end said, "I was just asking, boss, where are you?"
Gareth laughed. "I am not a fool. Hand the phone over to your master, Dream! I know that he's with you; and you're calling me upon his orders."
"I am not with him…"
"I said hand the phone to Vine!"
Upon hearing Gareth addressing Vine without all the prefixes, Kiara instantly knew that something was amiss. Gareth never addressed Vine in such a way.
"Gareth," Vine's voice came through.
"Vine." Gareth responded.
"Talk." Vine commanded.
"First, do not try and track this call. It's impossible." Gareth bellowed.
"And second?" Vine asked in his usual cold but scary voice.
"Second, let me go. You cannot kill me, Vine."
"Third?" Vine's temper remained under control.
"Third, I have your wife. Or girlfriend, whatever you want to call her. You can guess what the fourth fact is." Gareth sneered.
There was silence from the other end, then Vine finally spoke: "Fourth; you have Vincent Lisandro, my own flesh and blood."
"I have Vincent Lisandro." Gareth confirmed.
"You have messed up with the wrong person, Gareth." Vine said. Wrath could be detected in his tone.
Gareth laughed loudly and disengaged the call.
Kiara, sitting in bed, was very scared.
"What was that call about?" she asked.
"It's about you and Vincent Lisandro. Apparently this son of yours is my hostage. He is my ticket to ensuring that I save my life. Without him, I am a dead man."
"What are you talking about?" Kiara panicked.
"I just said Vincent Lisandro is my hostage."
"Did you and Vine have a fight? And is the fight that bad?"
"Trust me it is worse than you can think of. And the less you know, the better."
"Are you running away from Vine? I would have never thought you would be scared of him." Kiara was full of shock.
"Then you don't know the father of your son." With that, Gareth walked out of the room, leaving Kiara's mouth wide open, with her lower lip hanging so low that it looked like it was going to drop to the floor.