Just as Alex promised, he returned Stella discreetly back to the mall after spending less than two hours with her.
Even though Alex was unhappy about Stella's decision not to accept his help, he made up his mind to continue protecting her from the shadows. He also put some men in place to monitor all of Valerie's activities and movements.
After Alex left the mall, he made some calls and contracted a private investigator who could dig into the history of Matilda's past life and Valentino's late wife.
Alex was eager to know why Matilda was unwilling to leave Valentino even when he was abusing her daughter.
Alex had a weird feeling that Abby could be Valentino's illegitimate daughter.
On his way to the meeting location with the private investigator, Alex received a call concerning the man who had bumped into Stella at the cinema. He was given the name of the man and the last place that man was seen entering.
