Chapter 28

Almost four months ago…

Kelly: The next morning, I wake before him, I know this is the only way, so I slide out of bed, get rid of the condom, fix my hair and get back into bed.

When he eventually wakes up, the sun is shining and we are lying in bed, alone and together. This is a dream come true. I love waking up next to him, it makes me feel like we are married. He looks at me very surprised and then he asks me if we had sex. My spirit is immediately dampened. I am hurt and offended but I keep my pose and say yes. "Romeo, we didn't use a condom". He jumps out of bed and starts frantically looking for it. I lie there, worried and paralyzed. I am astonished by how well I know this man. It is a good thing I hid the dirty condom in Derek's chest of drawers. He will never look in another man's underwear drawer.

Mr. Heslop's POV: (Kelly's father)

Mr. Heslop: "Rita, that young man is perfect for Kelly, we need to fix things."

Mrs. Heslop (Rita): "I know George but what would you suggest we do, he left making it very clear that he was not going to marry our daughter and she is in her bedroom, probably crying her eyes out."

George: "why don't we call his parents, set up a meeting, maybe they agree with us."

Rita: "It's worth a try, should I call right now?"

George: "Yes, before he gets home."

Rita: This feels extremely inappropriate but I make the call anyway. I am waiting and waiting and it just rings. "Georgie, there is no answer."

George: "That's it, these people can't think they will do as they please, take away my daughters' innocence and not pay for the damages, we are going over there right now! Get your coat sweetheart." I get the keys and tell Rita that I will start up the truck so long so it can warm up the engine and I will meet her outside but when I reach our porch, I see Romeo's car. Why is he still here? I walk to the car but the driver's door is standing open and he is nowhere to be seen. What is going on? Rita comes outside and I suddenly see his car keys lying on the floor along with his cellphone, something isn't right so I scream to Rita, "Sweetheart, call the police, right now."

Rita: "Georgie what's the matter?"

George: "Get inside the house and do as I say! Right now, honey, run!" I am in a complete panic and I move as fast as my legs can take me. I make sure not to touch anything and when I get back inside the house, I lock up and make sure to close the curtains, Rita is calling the cops and Kelly comes running down the stairs. She looks scared too.

Kelly: " Dad, what's wrong, why are you screaming?"

George: "something has happened to Romeo; his car is out front with his keys and cellphone and his nowhere to be seen."

Rita: "the police are on their way"

Kelly: "I have to call his parents"

George: Kelly runs upstairs and all we can do is wait. I get my gun, just in case these suckers are still on my premises. Rita is making tea, she always does that when she is either angry, scared or sad. Kelly comes down the stairs and tells us that his parents are on their way, oh, so they take her call but not mine! I feel petty now being angry about that when Romeo could be hurt. The pregnancy can wait for now.

30 minutes later- Romeo's parents show up but the police is still not here. I open up the door for them and invite them in, his dad says that he went to the car and the keys and cellphone is still lying there so they didn't come back. He also explains his lawyer, Jake is on his way and then he apologizes for missing our call. He was in the shower and his wife, Lisa was downstairs. It is only when Kelly called their housekeepers, Ana and Solly that they were alerted to the trouble. Eventually the police show up along with Jake.

The police question us for what feels like hours and his mother is crying so much, it breaks my heart. Their lawyer keeps hugging Kelly and telling her everything is going to be ok, which is a little strange but right now nothing is making sense, Mr. Edward Kale is a rich man so the police and Jake are trying to keep this quiet and away from the press but the police are saying we need all eyes and witnesses and as much exposure. This is a nightmare; Edwards cellphone rings and the whole room goes quiet. The police tell him to put it on loud speaker so that they can listen in.

Edward: "Hello"

Kidnapper 1: "Mr. Kale, we have your son."

Lisa cries even louder and the police and Edward walk away from her.

Edward: "What do you want?"

Kidnapper 2: "Money, Justice, your life…...we out to ruin you!"

Edward: "you can have anything, just tell me where to meet you"

Kidnapper 1: "it won't be that easy Kale. We are going to play a little game."

Edward: "we don't have to drag this out, I have what you want, I have money and you can have my life in the place of my son's life, just let him go."

Kidnapper 2: "What about justice, Mr. Kale?"

Edward: "Justice for what?"

I am sitting at the edge of my seat, this is like a movie. In the meantime, the police have set up devices and there is an investigating officer telling Mr. Kale to ask as many questions as possible to keep them on the line. Their lawyer Jake has been sitting with a laptop and I have no clue what will happen next. My wife is making tea for everyone and I want to tell her to sit down. No one wants tea right now. My house is full off people and the neighbors have started gathering. This will never go down quietly.

Kidnapper 2: "All your sins Mr. Kale, you see your life hasn't been a simple one so the kidnapping of your son won't be simple either."

Edward: "Please you can have anything, just tell me what to do?"

Kidnapper 1: "we'll be in touch."

There is a loud skin to skin bang and I close my eyes as nobody anticipated the smack Lisa would give her husband, she screams that this is his fault and she will make sure that he pays for this once her son is safe.

Edward's POV:

It was the situation every parent fears — we have managed to keep this on the low down, with the help of the Heslops' because they could have run to the newspapers but they didn't yet. We had to pay them to be quiet and I can't believe they used this moment to extort us for money but I don't care, I just want Romeo back home. We have all been on lockdown, no on has left the yard in the last two weeks and of cause no one is speaking to me. Lisa has moved out of the room, Miles and Dillan give me dirty looks and the girls are always with their mum. I feel like a failure and what's worse, we haven't heard from the kidnappers again. Jake has basically moved in with us, he goes between our house and the police station and I can't take this any longer.

Kelly's POV:

It has been two weeks since Romeo's disappearance and I feel horrible. My parents are starting to question why I am not showing, why I don't want to go see a doctor and on top of all that, Derek, Romeo's best friend found the condom and said he would tell on me. He called the night we found out Romeo was kidnapped and in the heat of the moment I said, "so what if I faked my pregnancy, nobody cares. At that point, I didn't really care, I was scared for Romeo and hurt for his mother, but now he knows the truth and I need to plan or figure something out and quickly. The last time Romeo and I had sex I remember feeling so insulted and unwanted and I just wanted the shit between us to end. Then I think about the night Romeo came home and told my parents I was pregnant, I hear his voice clearly: "You have always known how much I have loved Lilly, yes, I was never ready to be with her but I am now, things were finally ok between Lilly and I and I won't let this mess things up between us. I am sorry Kelly, don't be mad. I have to go now, I will fetch you tomorrow, we can talk and we can go see a doctor ok." I wonder if Lilly even knows, I hope the bitch doesn't, I hate her.

Derek's POV:

I left home for two weeks for a small job that my dad needed my help with, we packed a few things and hit the road, when I came back, my room had an awful smell so the next day I cleaned, threw out everything and even decided to repaint.

No one was home during the two weeks when we were gone for work and the rest of the house was fine but my room, it just had an off-smell. I never expected to find what I found. I am sitting on my bed, after puking and gagging like a little girl, and I am trying to figure out, one- why would I put a condom in my drawer? And two -could it be someone else's?

I vomit again, the thought of it being someone else's….shit! Romeo and Kelly was in my room that night. Asshole, I will kick his ass when I find him, this is a sick joke. I called him and when he answered my call he denied everything and told me they didn't use a condom because he was smashed, he hung up on me because he said he was dealing with Kelly at the moment and we would catch up. It took me a few hours but after sanitizing myself and my room for an hour, I put two and two together. If Romeo said they didn't use a condom but he didn't deny they had sex in my room that night then it must have been Kelly trying to pull a fast one on my homie. Fuck that! I download the phone call recorder app and I call her; little hoe will learn not to mess with my friend.

Jake's POV:

Kelly has been calling me every day for the last two weeks. At first, she was very concerned about Romeo and wanted an updated every hour, Mr. Kale said I could keep them up to date because he didn't want them running to the media with this and they were extorting him for money, I think that is very low but I know this was all Kelly's fathers doing and she has nothing to do with it. She is sweet and drop dead gorgeous. Our phone calls were brief but the last three days we have had longer conversations, she first asked me how I was doing, I mean, no one has ever done that? It was sweet, you know. Something unexpected but really great then happened, we fell in love.

I've been at this job for a total of around 2 years. My bosses love me, I'm repeatedly told how my work is excellent and I'm a great employee and a great lawyer, so this is out of character and very unprofessional, but when I saw her for the first time, I thought what any guy would. "Daaaamn. That girl is FINE!"

It start with a little small talk and I should add that when she was crying over Romeo, she kept leaning into my arms and I had to hug her, I couldn't just stand there that would be rude, then she took off her glasses and got me hook, line, and sinker. I'm a sucker for gorgeous eyes and a nice smile. She has both. Our conversations went from, "any news?" to everything I now know about her. She's from the same town as me, graduated college (which by my estimate would make her a few years younger than me), she's has a real nice personality, is fun to talk to, and definitely beautiful. After all the late-night secret phone calls and chatting, our last conversation got me real anxious.

Lisa's POV:

I don't know if I will ever forgive Edward, this time his sins and his life style, it just went too far. Things have been so perfect between us lately but his past will always come back to haunt us…...FUUUUCCCKKKKK! I hear him screaming and I start running, I am praying to God that this isn't about Romeo but I am in a complete panic! "God please don't let them hurt my son, God, please, let Romeo be ok" I am crying frantically already and when I get to his office, he says "Jake and Kelly ran away together, he just resigned."