His hands held his phone tightly as if begging the phone not to slip from his hand.
The news he just heard threw him out of balance, and he held the center table for support, his eyes spinning in his head.
"You mean you didn't find any information on my ex-wife?" He asked, his voice shaking like he had drunk hot water.
"No." the investigator said from the other end." The only information I had was the woman who committed suicide, and she's unknown. "
He was shivering and once again what Mike told him at the bar hours ago came into his head.
What if she was actually kidnapped, and she fell off while running from the kidnappers, or maybe they pushed her?
He had several scenes from movies he had watched flashed into his head.
"No." He shook his head. It just couldn't be possible. Besides, his father had told him she had ran away with 10% of the company's revenue. That was a lot of money.
"Are you there ? Hello ?" The investigator called.
"Yes, yes," he said, sorry. I was a bit distracted. I will call you tomorrow."
"No issues, then if I find any information concerning your wife I will let you know. "
"Thank you." Raphael said, his voice very low." I will speak to you tomorrow. "
He was as confused as hell, different thoughts and questions ran into his head. Why would Annette steal from the company? He asked himself.
Did she find out that he had persuaded her into signing away her father's company away?
The more he thought about the accusation, the more it felt so unreal.
He could believe the other story, that she had run away with her lover, definitely not stealing from the company. She wasn't as smart as that.
He was still deep in thought when his door was pushed open. He turned around and found Roxanna in his room smiling sweetly at him.
"Raphael." Roxanna called
"Roxanna, please not now. I'm trying to gather myself together and I'm kind of confused here. "
"Oh? Really .'she said, "But I'm not here to add to your confusion." She moved towards him .
"You need to focus,we still have a lot of things in our hands." She folded her arms."Now that we have the company,it's time to start earning money from it."
Raphael looked at her like she was dumb,he hated what he did to Annette but then he could have a lot of money if he went on with Roxanna's plans.
"What will I get from all this?"
Roxanna laughed.
"Money,lots of money,you will be more wealthier than your father.So don't feel remorseful, okay.Its for your benefits."
Though he wanted that badly, he needed enough composure and his thoughts cleared for him to tell Roxanna how much he wanted
"I will do as you say if you don't snitch on me, Roxanna." Raphael said thoughtfully.
"Come on this is business,no trust issues," She turned him around facing her." Just do as I say and we will have the company,50- 50."
"Nobody will find out about this,we have to be smart, okay. Annette is out of the way,all I want is the money."
"You see, you are calm now." she said grinning.
"I just called the private investigator like you told me to, and we didn't find anything about Annette."
Just then RoxannAnnette'sas facial expression changed, and she felt suddenly angry.
" I have told you to forget about that silly wife of yours can't you get that into your thick skull? She had run away with her lover."
"I know." Raphael said, his voice very low.
"I'm worried that she might be back. That is why I am confused about all this ,what if she gets back and finds out that we made her sign the company away unknowingly. You know what would happen, Roxanna. "
Roxanna clicked her tongue.
"Oh, please spare me all that, how can an uneducated girl know she signed away her father's company, who wants to tell her her about all that ? dead parents when she meets them in the land of the dead? Oh,come on."
Raphael froze."I don't understand what you are saying? What do you mean by land of the Dead?"
Roxanna gave him a short dirty look and turned away, staring out of the balcony and down at the city of Barcelona.
She sucked through her teeth and folded her hands across her chest.
Raphael wasn't that cruel. Even though he had wanted Annette's father's company, he didn't want her to die.
He rushed to Roxanna and held her. "What did you do to her? "
"I did nothing, "she said, taking her hand from his grasp.
"I told you she sent me a message that she had plans to running away with her lover, so we got into a fight." Roxanna lied and immediately Raphael believed her.
"You both got into a fight?"
"Yes, "Roxanna said, lying
with confidence ."I also found out she stole some part of the company's money. I had to defend you and your father, so we started fighting and she' took out a knife. I was quick to dodge, but it hit me on my upper arm. "
She said and pushed her long sleeves to show a long red mark which was just like a bruise.
Raphael's eyes opened widely. He had wholeheartedly believed everything Roxanna had said.
He held her hand, staring at the small injury, while Roxanna stared at him and laughed in her mind.
While Raphael stares at bruised arm and she thought of something else to say.
"She almost pushed me. "
"Look, Roxanna, I think you went too far. You shouldn't have pushed her down that height. "
"I didn't say I pushed her." Roxanna said, immediately defending herself.
"But you mentioned something about the Land of the Dead."he said, sounding foolishly.
"Yeah, it's just ...I don't know, but I ran away before Annette could get hold of me again. "
Raphael sighed in relief.
"You know I didn't want to get married to her in the first place. It was because of the company. I was just infatuated with her."Raphael confessed.
"And then we find out her father was once your father's business associate and the foolish, naive, uneducated girl didn't know her dead father had a company. " Roxanna completed .
"We did no wrong in taking the company from her. Besides, what did she know about handling a company?
"It was better she had ran away with a lover. I really don't want her to die." Raphael said stupidly and Roxanna nodded.
Roxana had her eyes fixed on him as a thought run over her head and she smiled.
She was so smart, very smart. Now
there was still one more person to get out of the way and then she will have it all
The money and power to herself.
And that person was Bernardo Esteban her husband.
One down, one more to go.