After I was done bathing, I dried myself with a clean, white, dry towel then changed into a light, simple night gown before coming out.
"You are done?" Isabella who was still seated by the edge of the bed said.
"Yes," I responded as I approached and sat beside her.
"Can I serve you your food now?" She asked, rather too excited about it.
"Okay," I smiled and watched as she stood up and went and brought the tray from the table to the bed.
As she served the food onto a plate the smell of well seasoned steak and sweet aroma of spaghetti sauce hit my nose in a pleasant delight. I can't wait to have them dancing in my mouth but first..
"Have you seen that new kid Marcel brought to the mansion?" I asked.
"The boy?" She raised a brow.
"Yes, his name is Kyle from what madam Yesenia called him and I think Marcel is keeping him here against his will just like me," I said with a slight frown.
"That's terrible."
"Yeah really terrible but we can help him," I said and she looked confused and a bit curious.
"How?"
"I can take him along with me when you help me escape here," I said with hopeful eyes but Isabella didn't look too excited about that.
"I don't know about that. The plan is only for you to escape. I don't think it would work out for two people. It will be too dangerous," she said but my conscience wouldn't allow me to leave without the boy.
"We can make adjustments to the plan so it can accommodate just one more person. You can relate it to your friend from the outside that is willing to help. I am sure he will also want to help the kid. He is just a boy. Please, we have to help him," I said pleadingly.
"Okay. I will talk to him about it but I am not promising anything. My sole priority remains to help you and you alone escape," she said and I smiled faintly.
"Thank you, I appreciate your help."
"Alright then I should let you eat your food now," she said then stood up.
"Call me when you are done so I can come clean up," she added and I nodded.
Once she was gone I took a bite of the steak and it tastes exactly how it smelled. If there is anything I will miss when I leave here it would definitely be the food....
*
After leaving Ella's room Marcel went to the dining hall to have his meal. Taking his seat at the center of the table a female servant walked up to him and started serving his food onto a plate.
"I thought you were punishing her or is carrying her on your back part of the punishment?" Eden said to him, his voice carrying a measure of sarcasm.
"Yes I did punish her and as you can see she was exhausted as a result of serving the punishment dealt to her but a sleeping person can't find their way around so I had to carry her to her room," Marcel replied.
"Then what's the point of punishing her when you end up helping her at the end?" Eden said and Marcel smiled faintly.
"You should understand there is big difference between punishment and torture even a father punishes his child. She made a mistake and she has faced her punishment anything other that becomes torture and I don't do that," Marcel said and Eden kept quiet.
Marcel took his eyes to Kyle who was struggling with his food he had barely eaten anything.
"What's wrong, boy?" He asked but Kyle was intimidated by his presence; he could barely speak.
"I..I.."
"You know you ain't a prisoner here, right? You are free to leave anytime you like if you feel you don't want to be part of this family. No one would stop you but I will be happy if you stay," Marcel said, his tone warm and sincere.
"I..I am free to leave?" Kyle said with a mixture of disbelief and excitement.
"Yes, anytime you want but I will insist you sleep here for the night, it's already late. You can leave in the morning if you still feel like leaving, I will hand you a little envelope that will sustain you and my driver will drop you off at your chosen location. And that's a promise," Marcel said and for some reason Kyle knew he could trust him.
"Thank you." He said from the depth of his heart then he started eating his food eagerly as he suddenly had an appetite, warranting a smile from Marcel.
All the while Eden was having an indifferent attitude towards the whole situation but he really didn't understand why Marcel was so concerned about the boy, probably because Kyle is reminding Marcel of himself when he was a young boy since he was also an orphan like Kyle or it could be something more deeper. Anyways Eden didn't see it as his concern so he didn't pay much attention to it.
"Alright then. Catch you later," Eden said standing up.
"Where to?" Marcel asked.
"I am taking my beautiful pumpkin here to go watch a movie," he said with a smile and just then Jane stood up. She was also smiling.
"Have fun then," Marcel said with a faint smile.
"Let's go baby,," Eden said and Jane went with him.
"Do not bother waiting for us. We won't be coming back tonight," He further added as he walked away causing Marcel to smile faintly....
*
"Two shots of tequila, please," Mike said to the bartender who nodded his head and slid two small glass cup in front of Mike and the person with him, who happens to be the detective James.
Both men held on to their cups as the bartender filled it up with the transparent liquor and after filling it they downed the whole thing in their throat rather forcefully, squeezing their faces at the end as they felt the burning sensation in their throats.
"Ah.. this is the stuff," the detective exclaimed.
After the passing of a few seconds…
"So why did you ask to meet here? Have you been able to find that Nigerian prince? Has he told you what he did to my fiancee Ella?" Mike asked.
"That's the reason I asked for us to meet," the detective said with a low voice.
"Okay." Mike paid attention.
"I have used up all my resources to find this Nigerian prince but it seems he is a ghost," he said and Mike's dilated.
"A ghost?"
"Yes. Almost like such a person does not exist," the detective clarified.
"But Gloria said he has been in contact with Ella so he must be real," Mike pointed out .
"Yes that's what she said, isn't it?" the detective said with a bit of sarcasm, causing Mike to frown.
"What do you mean?"
"I am saying we only have her words and nothing else to prove his realness to say," the detective said and Mike narrowed his stare.
"Are you saying she made up the Nigerian prince? Why will she want to do that. Ella is her best friend. It doesn't make sense," Mike said with a rather perplexed expression.
"I am not saying anything. She could be telling the truth and it could be that the Nigeria prince actually is the one using a false identity. There are many cases of these, where criminals poses are royalties to defraud unsuspected individuals," the detective said.
"Are you saying the prince is a fraudster, an imposter?"
"Could be but let's assume he is for a moment his objective will be to extort money from your fiancee and not abduct her," the detective explained.
"What if he is a kidnapper and not a thief?"
"Then you should have received a call asking for a ransom," the detective said and Mike looked kinda frustrated.
"So what exactly are you trying to say?" He asked and the detective paused for a while like he wanted to say something then
"Nothing. I will continue with my investigation. All I know is that there is always an intention or motive behind every crime. People always want what others have," the detective said but Mike really didn't understand what he was trying to say.
"What does that have to do with the African prince or the finding Ella?" Mike asked.
"Nothing or everything but that will be all for now," he said, then stood from the stool and started walking away. However he paused and turned around.
"Sorry, I know this isn't none of my business but you and your fiancee best friend are really close right, a little bit more than friendship?" He said and that question took Mike off guard as he swallowed, struggling for words.
"W..Well.. actually.."
"Did this involvement starts after or before your fiancee went missing?" The detective asked, helping him out of his misery.
"What does this have to do with anything?" Mike frowned, feeling embarrassed to share.
"Just answer the question," the detective pressed.
Sighing weakly. "It started after Ella went missing," he said but was quick to defend himself.
"We were both distressed by her disappearance and just needed some form of closure and I guess we found it in each other's arms but I can assure you it was not something planned."
Detective James smiled. "Have a good day Mr Mike," he said before walking away leaving Mike with mixed feelings.
He was confused, embarrassed and also had a stinging feeling of guilt in his heart as he pounded carefully on the detective's words and his affair with Gloria…