Everyone woke up from their slumber, after sleeping for hours. They were all groaning and asking what might have happened. Thank God for the drugs; one of the effects is that one's memory might be foggy, and they won't remember the event that happened earlier.
Mrs. Ella came out of her room groaning, while Aliyah was still seated on the couch sipping wine and looking blankly into the wall. Her nanny wondered why.
"Aliyah," she called out for her. "You seem to be lost in thoughts and didn't notice when I walked in."
"Sorry, Nanny; it's nothing serious. I see that you've woken up from your nap."
"Yes, but I can't seem to remember going to take a nap. All I can remember is that I was in the kitchen with you."
"Don't stress too much about it, Nanny; you told me you were really exhausted and that you needed rest."
"I did?" Mrs. Ella asked in confusion.
"Yes, Nanny, you did."
"Is Mrs. Isabella back home now?"
"No, Nanny, apparently not, but she's supposed to be back any moment from now."
"Oh, I should get to making dinner now."
"Okay, I'll be here if you need me."
"Alright," and her nanny left for the kitchen.
…in the guards' lounge. They all woke up with a slight headache, all confused about what may have transpired.
"Guard 1, hey Lucas, do you remember anything?"
"No, not quite; we were all watching the environment. I think we may have slept on duty. This is bad, like really bad," Oliver replied.
"Thank God boss isn't here; he would've skinned us all alive."
"I need to check the guards in the control room, maybe they might know what happened."
"Okay," Lucas replied.
Oliver went to the control room and met them all arguing.
"Why are you three nitwits arguing?"
"Oh, Oliver, you're here; well, we all just woke up from a long nap, and we can't seem to remember anything."
"That's strange," Oliver thought to himself. "Same thing happened to me and the others."
"Did you see anything on camera, or what might have prompted this madness?"
"No, not at all; everything seems cleared."
"OK, can you three do something for me?"
"What's that, Oliver?"
"Until I get to the bottom of this, no one must mention this to the boss or the other residents of the house, because if the boss ever finds out and we can't explain what happened, he'll have our heads. Do you both understand?"
"Yes, Oliver."
"We won't say anything; we all don't want to die yet."
"OK, good; now I'll be in my duty post."
"Okay," they all replied.
As Oliver left, he said to himself, "Something doesn't feel right; I need to get to the root of this madness."
Aliyah was still seated on the couch when she smiled, "No one will ever find out what I did. All evidence has been cleared."
That was when Isabella, Aliyah's mother, walked in.
"I'm so tired and hungry. It smells good here; what's cooking?"
Aliyah came back to reality after hearing her mother's voice, and she went to give her a hug.
"Welcome back, Mama."
"Hi, my princess."
"What kept you so long, Mama?"
"You know how your aunt is, Aliyah; she can be quite overboard."
"Not quite, Mama; she's too much," Aliyah replied, and they both laughed, not until Mrs. Ella came in.
"Oh, welcome back, Ma'am."
"Hi, Ella; is dinner ready?"
"Yes, I just came to ask Aliyah if she will have hers now."
"Yes, Nanny; I will. I'll be eating with Mother on the dining table."
"OK," Mrs. Ella replied.
"Mother, go freshen up; I'll help her serve dinner."
"Okay, I'll be back in a jiffy."
After helping Nanny set the table and serve the meals, Aliyah had dinner with her mother. And it was quite okay; Dad wasn't there to taunt her life as usual, and she enjoyed it. They were done, and they all retired to their rooms.
Aliyah was in her room, and that was when it dawned on her that she needed to see Sophie, Gabriel's friend. At least to find out her agenda for helping her. So Aliyah called Sophie, and she picked up.
"Hello, who is this?" Sophie asked.
"It's me, Aliyah; sorry for calling you this late. So I wanted to ask, "Will you be okay with us meeting and talking?"
"Yeah, sure. So what time suits you best?"
"Let's meet by 1 pm at the LA cuisine bakery."
"Alright, I'll meet you there. Goodbye!"
And Aliyah and Sophie both hung up.
"Oh, my god; today has really been eventful," Aliyah proclaimed as she fell on her bed to sleep. "I wonder what meeting and talking to her will be like." She thought as she drifted off to sleep.
Back in Sophie's house, "I can't believe it. Did she just call for a meetup with me? Has she found out about me and Gabriel? Should I be worried, or am I just being paranoid? I've got to be careful. Well, I just have to wait till when I see her. Though I won't let my guard down."
Luis' mansion...
Luis has been sitting on the couch for a while, sipping his wine, furious. He called Theo and Cruz to come over while awaiting their presence.
"I said I wasn't going to smoke today, but do people have to push my limits? Why are they so stupid?"
As Theo and Cruz arrived, they saw their boss drinking; he looked angry.
"Boss, did something happen? You look furious," Cruz asked.
"Theo, Cruz, what did you both do with Charles' body?" Luis asked.
Theo replied, "Boss, we disposed of it just like you asked."
"When I say dispose, what do I mean?" Luis asked.
"Burn, sir," Cruz replied.
"So, why was his body found?" Luis asked, while he looked angrily at them.
"Uhmm, ehmm… they both stammered.
Luis threw his glass of wine, and it smashed on the floor.
"Did I stutter? Cats got your tongue?"
"No, boss," they both replied.
"Then why can't you both reply to me?" Luis asked.
Theo finally said something. "Boss, we're sorry; some fishermen were approaching in our direction. We both freaked out, so we had to dispose of his body at the riverbank."
Luis laughed hysterically. "You're saying you're sorry? Sorry?!"
And a punch landed on Theo's face, flying him to the ground.
He raised Cruz up by his collar, with fury in his eyes.
"Fix this mess, both of you; they shouldn't find out it was me, or I'll have your heads," he threatened.
He dropped Cruz down and spoke, "Now, get out of my house," and they hurriedly left.
As they left, Theo spoke, "Cruz, we need to fix this. If looks could kill, we would've been dead. I was so scared; let's not fail the boss again."
"You're right," Cruz replied, and they left.
It was already 2 days, and Aliyah was anticipating her meetup with Sophie. She had her breakfast with her mother.
"Mother, I'll be out by 1 pm."
"Why are you going somewhere?" her mother asked.
"Yes, I'm meeting a friend."
"Hmm, what kind of friend?" her mother asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I hope it isn't that guy."
"No, Mother, it's a female. I was thinking, since I don't really have anyone aside from you and Mrs. Ella, why don't I make some friends?"
"OK, you can go, but please be home early."
"I will, Mum."
It was almost 1 pm already, and Aliyah was done dressing. She went to the parking lot and saw Carlos there.
"Carlos, drive me to the LA cuisine bakery."
"Alright, Ma'am."
On Aliyah's arrival, Sophie was already there waiting. And Aliyah went inside to meet her.
"Hello, Sophia."
"Hi, Aliyah; please sit, and call me Sophie. I prefer that name."
"Alright."
"So, Aliyah, you wanted to meet with me; why?" Sophie asked.
"Uhmm, just wanted to ask you some questions, if that's okay with you."
"Yeah, sure; so ask."
"How did you know Gabriel?" Aliyah asked.
Sophie smiled. "I knew you were going to ask that. We've been friends since we were little."
"Hmm, I see. Aliyah, can I say something?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Please don't go through with your plans; don't betray your father, and please marry the man he wants you to marry."
"What?!"