Chapter 5 - The Difference

While Blaze stayed by Amelia's side patiently waiting for her to regain consciousness, Marcus became his ears and eyes outside the hospital world.

Following his boss's rigid instructions, Marcus employed the services of a ghost team made up of a tracker, a hacker and a ferocious hunter.

This lethal team were given two major pieces of information - the plate number of the escaping BMW car and the location of the crash site - to carry out their mission. They were funded and set loose, to track down the three suspicious criminals responsible for Amelia's almost fatal condition.

Within hours, the abandoned BMW was tracked down to Fin City, 100km north of Hilbor County.

Upon further investigation, the tracker discovered that they were not the only ones looking for the escaped criminals. Another equally funded group were searching for their target.

Turning the table around on the second trackers, the leader of the ghost team discovered something interesting about their competition. They were receiving their directives from someone in Salvine City.

Further hacking into the database of their competition revealed more interesting facts about an elite security agency run by a woman. This name and the details of the operational location were forwarded to Marcus.

Marcus who was currently gate-crashing a celebrity wedding using his boss's connection, re-sent the same information and the picture of the woman to his patiently waiting boss. He also sent more pictures of the just wedded bride and groom, the ecstatic Shawls family, and the Shawls family lawyer carrying out his first and formal duty to the married heiress.

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"Lin Fox..." Blaze darkened grey orbs glimmered with a hint of derision and rage. "...how interesting."

Everything slowly became clearer on how Amelia was abducted without anyone raising a feather. A specialized and government-approved security agency was also functioning as a cleaning service company, operating in a dual capacity.

Ironically, this elite security agency handled all of the internal and external security of Senator Shawls, making the abduction not only flawless but also convenient.

Scrolling through more of the pictures received, Blaze's chilly gaze came to rest on that of the imposter bride. With one single look, he could tell it wasn't her. He knew her face like the back of his hand.

Probably from years of plotting his sweet revenge, or the fact that she dominated the cover of every celebrity magazine for either gracing a charity ball, launching a new cosmetic line or simply being Amelia, the fashionista.

Call it infatuation or simply studying your enemy -in this particular case, your enemy daughter- at a distance, yet close range, Blaze knew her.

The imposter bride was nothing like the elegant Amelia. He could leisurely spell out the glaring differences between both ladies.

While Amelia had a small and delicate nose tip with a slight upturn, the impostor her short, thick and stubby nose. Another glaring difference was the shape of their face. Amelia's had a perfectly sculptured sweetheart face while the imposter had an oval face. Surely the makeup and the wedding veil didn't do much to cover this variation. And then, there was the eyes.

Blaze recalled how he thought Amelia had the most sexy hazel eyes he had ever seen. They looked like a pool of warm honey and amber hues blended in perfect harmony. But even with the contact lenses of the imposter, it could never compare to nature's perfection.

"How dumb can people be? Have they suddenly gone blind?" Blaze pondered. "Can't they see that the lady standing beside that good-for-nothing shithead is a phony?"

Disgusted and enraged by the callousness of this greedy family, Blaze dialed Marcus' number.

The sound of music, merriment and loud cheering greeted him when Marcus received the call.

"Boss, please give me a few seconds while I leave this noisy place." Marcus pleaded from the other end in a slightly quavering voice. Even though he was miles away, he could still feel his boss's dangerous aura from his eerily calm breathing.

Blaze remained silent, tapping his fingers on the armrest, his icy gaze never leaving the face of the unconscious beauty.

"Boss..."

"Have you found out who the fake bride is?" Blaze said impatiently, his anger evident in his spine-chilling deep voice.

"Yes, boss. It's her step-sister, the one called Gwen Shawls."

"Gwen..." Blaze's handsome face contoured. "That rotten daughter of the shameless mistress?"

"The same manipulative one, sir." Marcus also expressed his disgust for the new bride.

"How original." Blaze scoffed. "The rotten apple doesn't really fall far from the tree. Like mother, like daughter, both scums of the twenty-first century."

Blaze rose from his seat, anger bubbling in his veins like molten lava. He felt like punishing someone for the pain Amelia was currently going through. Taking one pitiful look at her battered face, fury swelled in his heart like a raging storm.

'How could she have been so blind all these years? Surely, there must have been a sign or something to tell her that her family never loved her.'

Blaze felt like punching a hole through the wall. But then he remembered that the Shawls were very good if not excellent at manipulating people. If Gregory could deceive his father and rip him off years of hard work, leading to his stroke and untimely death, then deceiving his own daughter wasn't a difficult task.'

Blaze exhaled deeply releasing all the anger in him. He slowly walked back to her bedside and sat down beside her, staring blankly into her peaceful face. A weird smile formed on his lips as a thought crossed his heart.

Everything happening in Amelia's life seemed like deja vu. First, the mistress steals the limelight, wasting no time in taking the golden spot of the true heiress of the Shawls family, after her death. And now, the illegitimate daughter displaces the real daughter of the true heiress in other to steal her weakling of a fiance and her fortune. The perfect cycle of life for the filth of the earth.

But in their greed and selfishness lies their karma; a pushover male, wealth and power. Take these three things from them and they will be left handicapped like toothless dogs chasing after their tails.

"The perfect antidote to the Shawls' poison. Blaze muttered under his breath, chuckling bitterly.

"Did you say something, boss?" Marcus asked.

"Huh... no." Blaze forgot that Marcus was still on the phone. "What about the dickless f**ker who calls himself her fiance?"

"Acting a bit weird, boss. He seems a bit uptight for someone marrying the girl of his dreams. If I didn't know any better, I would say he's aware of the replacement."

"Of course he is?" Blaze scoffed. "Keep a tab on the asshole and keep me posted on any new report. I will talk to you later." Blaze ended the call.

At that same time, he received another call from his dearest mother.

"Son, where are you?"