CHAPTER 11: Sudden Idea
His lips rested on the side of her throat. She started to be afraid not from him, but from the new feeling that surged within her
"Kiss me Candy. Let me show you everything I've been wanting to tell you," said Neal.
"Oh!" She tried to push him. "You should be ashamed...," she said trying to sound angry. But instead her voice was shaky, she hated it.
"I know I don't deserve you. I'm ashamed of myself." To her though, he sounded more like a man in love rather than one who's ashamed to himself.
She felt her breath surged unsteadily, competing with his. His grip got even tighter.
"Candy," he whispered, "just one kiss."
Her heart beat so hard, her brain started to plunge into chaos. When he slowly moved his lips closer to hers all she could was helplessly let him bury his mouth into hers. Soon she tasted the warmest hungriest kiss she had ever felt in her entire life. It's burning. The longing was both deep and obvious. Her breath raced, her heart pounded as hard has his. She wanted to push him and slap him, he deserved it!
But above all she wanted to pull him closer to feel him and bury her mouth deeper into his. She felt love! Abundantly! It felt so good that she wished time would stop still so she could enjoy it endlessly…
Tap... tap... They heard someone's footsteps.
"Neal they're coming," murmured Candy.
"Yes." He released a soft groan. "I know." He held her both cheeks tightly with his hands refusing to let her go, for him to eat her voraciously just a bit longer.
Bang! They heard someone slam the door wide open. They're back.
"They're still kissing. It's real," said one man.
"Love birds, we'll lock you here until our boss says we can release you." They left and slammed the door closed.
Candy and Neal heard the sound of the door being locked from outside.
They sat awkwardly in silence. He wondered what she'd do next. Would she slam him, would she mock and look down on him for being a jerk, would she humiliate him for falling in love with her?
To his relieved, she didn't ridicule him, instead she said, "Neal, I'm afraid."
He felt so relieved. She had such a golden heat. She didn't make it difficult. He loved her even more.
He took her arms and gently put her on his lap. He hugged her in silence, rested his head on her shoulder, feeling relieved and happy to finally able to have her peacefully in his arms.
"Don't be afraid. Trust me. Just wait for a while."
After a moment of silence, he asked, "Tell me, truthfully. Has anyone ever kissed you like that?"
She slowly shook her head. "No," she answered softly.
Honestly, she never experienced such a convincing statement from just one single kiss. It was the most overpowering kiss she had ever experienced, broke all the benchmark, set a new record high, left all other kisses in the dust.
"I love you, Candy. Do you believe me now?" Neal asked even softlier.
Before she could respond, in a flash, he stiffened and said, "Shh...!"
Neal heard a car coming with a distinct horn sound that made hair on the back of his neck stood up. He understood cars very well. Only a few cars could have sound as familiar as that one.
He sat straight right away. He then heard a woman's voice which sounded equally familiar. It wasn't clear, he couldn't catch what she said. Others might not be able to identity her. Without the sound of the car engine, he might not either. But the voice with that sound of car engine together enabled him to identify whose voice that was.
Elisa...?, he thought in horror.
Candy noticed his face turned white and his warm grip turned icy cold.
"Neal, what's wrong?" Candy asked worriedly.
Suddenly he got an idea of what's going on. Eois who suddenly befriended Elisa, the council..., and William. The ideal appalled him.
My sister, oh good god, he thought to himself. He's so scared thinking about her especially the possible danger and consequence that might fall on her.
"Neal?" whispered Candy again. She shook him a little. "Neal, say something..." His entrenched figure frightened her.
"I have an idea," he said slowly with eyes looked far behind the wall. "But first, we need to get out from here. It's dangerous here. Try to look calm, walk normally just like we're a pair of love birds. Oh Candy, you have to look calm, really really calm. Very calm."
His face was pale, his lips trembled.
"Neal," said Candy gently. "I'm calm alright. You're the one who are not..."
"Yes, I need to calm down. I need to calm down... ," he said.
He didn't look too good, shaken badly. She felt sorry for him. She realized that he's the only one who gave the family hope to find Albert. In sympathy, she reached out to him. She clasped her hands on both sides of his cheeks and kissed him tenderly.
Her action shocked him. The shock sobered him.
"Candy, you're an angel." He hugged her for awhile absorbing her energy to regroup himself. They then heard someone unlock the barn door. Soon there's silence. It seemed everyone outside had left.
"Finally," he said, "We have to go now, hurry."
They walked hand in hand silently trying their best to look like a relaxed couple in love which was not that hard for them. Truly in love, he put his arm around her waist, she leaned her head on his shoulder, and they exchanged kisses a couple of times.
They reached the car, he drove normally, not speeding. Closed at home, he pulled to the side of the road. He pulled her toward him and kissed her tenderly.
"If not because of William, I would have kidnapped you to my room right now," he whispered.
He took off his wig and hers. His hand came to her head, tenderly fixing her hair.
"Will you be alright?" Candy asked.
"Yes. I'll take you home first then I think what to do next. I'm afraid, we are running out of time."
"Neal, this is getting dangerous," said Candy. "I'm worried..."
"Don't worry, I'll save William."
"No, I meant to say, I'm worried about you. I am so worried about you," she cried.
"Candy," Neal said gently. "Are you really?"
She nodded tearfully.
He pulled her and gently kissed her tears away, one by one. "Thank you. But, don't worry, my love. We will be fine, both me and him."
They kissed one more time and he took her home.
oOo
Neal went directly to Elisa's office to confirm his theory. Dearest sister the woman who he never had disagreement with throughout his life, except about Candy, the one who he always supported and listened to. Too bad, now she had to listen to him. He had to make her stop collaborating with Eois and joined him instead.
As soon as he entered her office, he closed the door right away.
"Where do you keep William?" asked Neal directly to Elisa. He fixed his eyes hard on her.
"I don't know what you're talking about," answered Elisa avoiding his stare. Seeing his unusual shabby shirt, she sensed he was up to something.
"You don't know?" asked Neal dryly.
He slowly pulled the wigs from his bag and put them on her table. "Do you know what they are?"
"That vagabond was you?" asked Elisa.
Neal nodded. "You see the connection?"
"The woman must be her, Candy."
He grinned, nodded again.
"You go against me because of her!" shouted Elisa in rage. She banged her desk and stood up right away. If her eyes were fire, he would be burned to dust already.
"No! Because I don't want you to end up in jail," he shouted equally loudly. "This is a conspicuous crime! We beat them using business not crime."
Their eyes looked at one another competing whose stronger. He let go his first with a sigh.
Using a normal voice he asked, "What did they offer you?"
"Be a member of the new council, get 20% of the Ardlays family shares."
"The Leagan enterprise is much bigger than 20% of the Ardlays family share."
"It's easy for you to say. William gets all the Ardlays family shares, dad gives ours to you, while I get nothing. Nothing! Just because I am not the first born son...," Elisa hit the table in front of her again, harder. "How unfair!"
"There's a purpose for that, to prevent the company from breaking apart..."
"I don't care what the reason is. All I know is I want it too!" she screamed loudly angrily wiped several books and the wigs off the table hard to the floor.
"Dear sister, that's beyond my control. It has been outlined legally for generations. But I promise, as long as I live, I will divide all I have with you. I'll help you to make your own company. It will be bigger than 20% of the Ardlays family share."
She looked at him, dubiously.
"Don't believe me?" he asked. "I wish I could explain this in a more appropriate setting. Until then, you just have to trust me," implored Neal.
He sat in the chair in front of her, putting a relaxed calm look. In a tone that are both soft and placid he talked to persuade his younger sister.
"In spite what you think, I don't just hang out with girls in Florida. I study and work, hard." He explained. "I started by doing internship, then I invested using my own money. One and a half years ago, I set up my own company. It did well. Our last name is an asset, for sure. It gives free publication. We got well known quickly and received people's confidence since day one."
He grinned. "Just last month, the county honored me emerging young entrepreneurial award."
Elisa gave no comment. It's hard to believe that her brother was this good. He sensed it.
"All is the truth sis, otherwise I'd have graduated this year like Nichole. I don't, because I work and go on to graduate school." He gave an honest looking face and opened wide his arms as a gesture of honesty.
One thing he didn't tell her was what motivated him to work hard. Seeing how hard Nichole worked made him ashamed of himself. It spurred him to do something more constructive rather than just sitting on a dock looking into the ocean wasting time.
At that time his purpose was to fill time to forget Candy. To his surprise, he became to love it. He had so much fun carving his own career. The success gave him self confidence which he never had in the past. He loved the feeling of success and treasured the respect he earned. It felt different from the kind of respect he got just because he's the son of his father. It's deeper and had pride came with it, the kind that couldn't be bought with money but had to be earned.
"What about Candy? Will she be with you? If so, I don't want to be in the same team with you," Elisa said coldly. "She thinks she'll be a matriarch by marrying you and she'll look down on me."
"She's not that kind of person."
"I hate her."
"I have decided that I'll marry her or nobody else. You should start to accept this fact," he said softly. "We shouldn't become enemies just because of her. I'll make sure both of you never have to cross the same path. You don't need to meet her ever if you don't want to, in any occasions."
Seeing her silence he understood it as she's considering his offer.
"Be on my side, Elisa, before it's too late. If anything harmful happened to William, no matter how much I wanted it, I would not be able to help you." His tone was calm but determined. She had to know that he's not willing to back off and she had to comply with him.
She's silent... Quietness fell on the office room only the sound of the clock ticking was heard.
"Let me take you to meet William," Elisa said, finally.
Neal was relieved. But he didn't show it. He simply nodded, coolly.
Elisa took Neal to drive in the direction of the barn which he went with Candy this morning. They passed the barn a bit and made one right turn after that. Almost like magic a farmhouse suddenly appeared behind the trees. She told him to stop at the farmhouse. The place was actually quite closed to the barn, but it's hidden by natural obstructions. The trees, bushes, the road curve and the lower ground level location made it invisible from the barn.
They got off from the car. Elisa glanced at the spot where Eois and his men usually put their cars. It's empty, there're no cars there.
"No one is here," said Elisa unsuspiciously.
She took a key from her pocket and put it in the key hole to unlock the door. She opened the door. No one was inside.
"No guards here?" said Elisa mostly to herself.
Elisa then entered followed by Neal. Inside, Neal saw a door lead to one room. Elisa went to that door. She was about to put a key to the key hole when she observed that the door was slightly open.
"The door is open!" said Elisa, surprised. Weird!, she thought.
She then turned around to face her brother.
"William is tied inside," said Elisa shortly, grouchily.
Neal moved forward. He knocked at the door gently. "William? It's Neal. Neal Leagan. Could I come in?"
But no one answered. Neal knocked again harder, but again, no one answered.
Finally, Neal opened the door widely, slowly, carefully with full of anticipation. He held his breadth expecting to see Albert inside.
But...
It's empty! What he found inside was just an anti climax, the room was empty. There's no Albert inside.
"Empty!" Neal said. "William?"
"What? Empty?" gasped Elisa. She hurriedly walked past her brother and entered the room to examine it herself.
"Eh? William is not here!" Elisa exclaimed. She paused momentarily. "B-but Eois said he'll move him tomorrow not today. H-he was really here not long ago," stammered Elisa. "I-I saw him."
Elisa looked at her brother. "You heard me outside the barn! That wasn't a long time ago, was it?" she asked.
Neal looked at her not sure if he should believe her or not.
"Don't give me that look," snapped Elisa. "I am not cheating on you, William was taken somewhere else without my knowledge. We can check the barn."
They went to the barn but it was empty, too. No one was there including Albert.
"I-I'm s-supposed to meet William here at one o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow! I'll a-ask Eois," said Elisa, panicked.
"No, you shouldn't," Neal said. "Just pretend you don't know, let it move the way he wants it to be. You go to the barn at one as planned tomorrow."
"Damn, must be Eois. Cunning man! He wants to take all of the Ardlays family shares for himself," said Elisa.
Neal stayed silent, not sure what to believe.
-To Be Continued-
My deepest gratitude to all the readers who are still reading :D It's a super light mystery story just for entertaining purposes. Don't expect a heavy complicated one. Hopefully it brings some adrenalin running, no, I mean crawling… :D