Back at Salvine City, life has never been so sweet and beautiful for all the schemers who plotted to steal Amelia's inheritance.
With the highly talked about celebrity wedding behind them, they moved on to the main task of sharing their loot.
After the signing of the wedding certificate, with Gwen perfecting her stepsister's signature, the old corrupt barrister in charge of Amelia's trust fund wasted no time in carrying out his duty to the newlywed.
The trust fund was liquidated with some of the assets sold to the highest bidder.
In line with Fiona's instruction, ninety percent of the liquidated assets went to the bride and ten percent to the groom.
While it was rumored among the elite that the newly wedded billionaire bride had travelled out of the country with her prince charming for her luxury honeymoon vacation, Gwen returned to being her true self, managing all of her stepsister's businesses and assets.
Subsequently, Gwen, now the sole benefactor of billions of dollars worth in assets and cash, wasted no time in distributing the funds amongst all the major players in the plot excluding her father and grandmother.
While the senator thanked his second daughter for preserving her sister's inheritance and businesses, Gwen perfectly played her card of deception, gaining her father's trust. The assets she couldn't covet in her name were immediately disposed of with the help of a mysterious buyer.
In the eyes of Gwen and her mother, Amelia was history. Every attempt at searching for her, dead or alive, was met a dead end. According to their source, the other three criminals responsible for abducting her had also disappeared without a trace. So Regina slowly relaxed and eased into the life of a multimillionaire.
Senator Gregory on the other hand felt miserable and guilty. All his genuine search for his first daughter yielded nothing but more heartache. After almost six days of discreetly searching both within and outside the country, he was forced to accept the inevitable. It was either Amelia was dead or she had run away with no plans of returning.
Having made a huge blunder of not declaring his first daughter missing on the night before her wedding and allowing Gwen to replace her, the senator was forced to live a life full of lies and cover-ups.
The only genuine people who were initially searching for Amelia were her maternal aunt and her best friend, Stacy. However after both ladies were anonymously contacted by a strange number at different intervals, they stopped searching and went about their normal lives as if nothing happened.
After five days as promised, Stacy received an anonymous call from the same person who advised her to stop searching for Amelia. The caller gave her a series of instructions and ended the call.
Taking a leap of faith in search of her bestie, Stacy left her home around 6:35 PM. She first stopped at the shopping mall as instructed and pretended to be grocery shopping.
Afterward, she took a cab to the train station where she purchased a train ticket for the next city. In less than an hour, she arrived at her destination.
Thankfully, the streets were still busy as darkness slowly blanketed the sky. She made her way to the busy street and got into a cab instructing the driver to take her to the Blue Haven pub house.
From her phone's GPS, the location would only take ten minutes. However, after almost twenty minutes of driving, with the car now heading out of the city, Stacy began to panic.
"Excuse me, sir, you supposed to take me to Blue Haven pub house. It seems you've missed it." Stacy said in a quivering voice.
"I know, Miss Stacey." The driver said calmly, staring at her through the rearview mirror.
"You do?" Stacy felt goosebumps all over her body. "H-how do you know my name?"
"You can relax, Miss Stacy." The cab driver said, without taking his eyes off the road. "I'm not going to hurt you. I was the one you spoke to earlier. I had to take precautions to ensure you were not followed. We will be with your friend in a short while."
"Okay..." Stacy nodded her head, wiping off the tears that had gathered in the corner of her eyes.
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Back at the hospital, Amelia slowly opened her eyes after almost two hours of sleeping soundly.
Unlike her former disoriented self, she was looking calmer though defeated and heartbroken. Her slightly reddened face bore marks of dried tears and her once brilliant eyes were filled with emptiness and sadness.
Her nostrils picked up a familiar scent and her body tensed as she felt his intimidating presence.
Although her back was turned on the person seated beside her bed, Amelia knew who he was.
"What do you want?"
Amelia's voice was barely a whisper but Blaze heard her. He could feel the emptiness and pain in her voice. As much as he wanted to scold her for destroying his expensive iPad and also insulting him in the past, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He wasn't supposed to feel sorry for her, knowing how much he hated her family. Nevertheless, he didn't like seeing her this sad and drained of life. He would rather have the feisty and troublesome lady he met a few days back.
"Amelia..."
"Go away, please." Amelia sniffled, tears streaming down her eyes, soaking her pillow. Her body shook with grief as the weight of her family's betrayal fell on her afresh.
Blaze felt a bit hurt hearing the sound of her broken voice again. He reached out to touch her arm but stopped in mid-air, his thoughts conflicting.
'What the hell are you doing, Blaze?' He chastised himself. 'You shouldn't feel anything for her.'
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, he withdrew his hand back to his side, turning his face sideways.
His phone vibrated, indicating an incoming call. Swiping the phone to the right, he said.
"Speak."
"She's here, sir." The person on the other end said with reverence.
"Send her in." Blaze ended the call.
Amelia overheard Blaze's short conversation amid her tears. She couldn't help but guess who he was referring to as, 'her' until the door to her VIP ward opened.
Blaze stood up and walked out of the room, only acknowledging Stacy's presence with a curt nod.
Stacy couldn't believe her eyes as they fell on the incredibly handsome but dangerous-looking man keeping her friend company. His face looked very familiar but this was not the best time to be inquisitive. She rushed over to her best friend's side, her heart filled with immeasurable joy.
"Amelia."
"Stacy!" Amelia slowly turned her head, unsure if she just heard the voice of her best friend in the whole universe.