CHAPTER EIGHT-SEVEN

The moment Amara reached her office, she walked over to her desk, threw her bag on it, and sat down

in her seat.

After sitting still for a while, she reached into her bag, took out her vibrating phone, and saw Axel's

name blinking on the screen.

The instant Amara accepted the call, she heard Axel say, “Where are you?”

“What is it? Why do you sound so serious?!" Amara asked with a frown, and yet her eyes bore worry in

them.

“This is not the time to play stubborn, sister! Now, tell me where you are!” Axel said in a sharp tone.

“I'm at the office! Now, are you going to tell me what's going on, or are you going to keep lashing out at

me?!"

"Plan three will be in motion a few hours from now, depending on how accurately Richard carries out

my order. I need you to grab your passport and get out of here!"

"Brother…"

"Amara, listen to me! Your job was to get Rome involved with the company and keep him entangled

with it for the longest for this moment!"

"I…"

"Now it's about to manifest, you can not be in the country when it happens, or else that will ruin

everything we have worked so hard to achieve and get you into some serious shit with Rome! Got it?!"

The line grew quiet as Amara's brows furrowed as she frowned. Then she ignored the annoyance she

felt and mumbled, “I understand. I will leave now and book the next flight back home.”

"Thanks for not being headstrong on this," Axel said from the other end of the line. Copyright by Nôv/elDrama.Org.

There was a brief pause. Then Amara eyes bore worry as she mumbled, "Brother,"

"Yes," Axel uttered in a calmer tone.

"Don't you think plan three is enough punishment for Mr. Ford? Do you have to go through with plan

Four?"

"Amara, just to refresh your brain! That man ruined our lives, and we were just kids when it happened.

He deserves what's coming to him!"

Biting her lip, Amara wondered in her thoughts for a while. Then she held her breath for a second and

said, “Okay. Do what you have to do to appease your thirst for vengeance.”

The silence in the office got interrupted by her buzzing phone, and Catherine looked down at her

screen.

It came as no shock to her when she read Richard's text on her screen, "Hey, where are you?"

Sighing, Catherine picked up her phone and wrote, "At the office. But I will be leaving very soon to visit

our grandfather at the hospital. A couple of seconds passed. Then a message came in, " If you still

have a heart left in you, can you please meet me at the Dallas cafe, not far from the hospital?"

A sense of hesitation overwhelmed Catherine for a moment. Then deciding not to read too much into it,

she replied, "Okay."

The next three seconds went by in silence, and afterward, a new message flashed on her phone

screen, "I will be waiting for you inside the cafe."

Drawing a breath, Catherine tried to calm her thoughts as she intensely stared at Richard's text. Then

she tossed the phone on her desk and mumbled, "It's a popular cafe. What could he do to me in such a

public place?"

By one-fifteen on the dot, Catherine left her seat, wore her coat, and walked out of the office.

At two o'clock, the vehicle made a stop in front of "Dallas cafe," and Catherine stepped out of the car.

With her eyes centered on the yellow building, Catherine took in a deep breath, looked at her

bodyguards, and said, "Wait out here for me. I don't want to make our conversation more awkward than

it's already going to be."

Then she approached the cafe, and after she walked in, Catherine immediately froze as she stared at

the almost empty room with the seven robust men, glaring at her.

One look at the gun on their side and in their hands, Catherine's heart began to hammer in her chest

as fear made her eyelids widen and her breath cut.

"Utter a single word, and we will bloody these tiles with your blood." One of the men said with a stare of

death in his eyes.

Keeping still, Catherine swallowed hard, darting her eyes left and right, and then she felt a knot in her

throat when her gaze landed on Richard.

“Now, move toward us slowly, and don't you dare make a sound. Got it?!” Another one of them

aggressively mumbled.

A rush of panic coursed through Catherine as she took a step towards them, breathing shallowly while

struggling to hold her tears in her eyelids.

After reaching the men, one of the guys pulled out a handkerchief, hastily grabbed Catherine by her

neck, and pressed it against her nose.

Then a few seconds later when Catherine passed out, he lifted her in his arms and carried her out the

back of the cafe with Richard and the five other dudes following him.

When they got outside, he carried Catherine to a black van, and Richard and the others joined him in it

before the driver drove off.

It was two-thirty when Rome gazed at the wall clock in his office. Then a faint smile surfaced on his lips

as he reached for his phone and mumbled, "I wonder if she's already at the hospital."

After scrolling through his call log for a second, he stopped at "My wife," and dialed Catherine's

number.

Her phone rang for a couple of minutes and then the call cut off.

"Why is she not answering. Is her phone on silent?" Rome mumbled out loud as he dialed Catherine's

number again.

After a couple of rings, he got no answer, and his heart started to pound a bit faster.

"Pick up, babe," Rome whispered, trying not to give in to his intrusive thoughts.

When he got the exact response again, his chest slowly raised, then fell as his fingers trembled.

Then Rome sat still for a moment before mumbling to himself, "She has never taken this long to

answer, except if she is mad at me. But we didn't quarrel, and she is not angry with me, so why isn't

she answering?"

Listening to the silence, Rome clenched his fist and then whispered, "Even though there are a lot of

things going on, there's no need to be negative, Rome. She might have just misplaced her phone."

Yet an uneasy feeling kept coursing through Rome, even after his little pat-talk.

After a few minutes went by, he sensed an intense wave of panic mixed with fear coursing through him,

and a frown surfaced on his face.

Immediately, Rome stood from his seat, grabbed his coat, and picked up his phone, leaving his office

afterward.

The moment he arrived in the hallway, he dialed William's number and waited for him to answer.

“Where is Catherine?” Rome asked the instant he answered the call.

“She's inside 'Dallas cafe,” William's voice came out of the phone speaker.

"I thought she was supposed to be at the hospital!"

"We made a stop at the cafe because ma'am wanted to have a chat with her cousin."

"Which one?"

"Richard."

Shaking with fear, a sharp pain course through his head, and Rome paused for a moment and then

said, "Get out of the car, William, and go check on my wife!”

“Yes, boss!” William hastily uttered.

After ending the call with Rome, William rushed out of the vehicle and hurried into the cafe.

Then he froze in his tracks and mumbled, "It's empty! Where is ma'am?"

Because of fear, William froze for a while. Then he shook his head to snap himself out of his thoughts

and rushed to the back of the cafe.

“Boss is going to kill us,” William whispered, staring around with a look of desperation in his eyes.

At that moment, his phone started buzzing, and he looked at the screen and saw words, “My boss,”

blinking on the screen.

“Ma'am is missing,” William mumbled in fear.