Chapter Nine

After the way Daphne had been humiliated the day before, the last thing she needed was a visitor, but then she realised that if she had a visitor, it would mean time away from the Warden. So, she went to the visitors center and saw someone she didn't recognise with long black hair. Then she realised the hair wasn't natural as she was wearing a wig just like she was. The visitor was also wearing sunglasses, which Daphne thought was weird. Then, in a split second, she knew exactly who the mystery visitor was. She picked up the phone quickly, and the mystery visitor did the same thing.

"Velma!" Daphne said happily. "What are you doing here? Why are you wearing that disguise?"

"I'm wearing a disguise because Mystery Inc. doesn't know I'm here, and I'd like to keep it that way," Velma replied sharply.

In their years of friendship, Velma had never spoken to her that way, which upset Daphne. However, she needed answers.

"What are you doing here?" Daphne asked urgently.

"I'm here to give you a warning," Velma replied threateningly.

Hearing Velma use a threatening tone of voice both scared and broke Daphne's heart, but she did her best not to show it.

"A warning?" Daphne asked. "I'm already in prison for murder. What could you possibly warn me about?"

"The Warden contacted us and warned us about the slutty calendar you posed for yesterday," Velma said. "So, there's nothing we can do about that as it has nothing to do with Mystery Inc. It was your choice,"

Daphne wanted to scream down the phone that it wasn't her choice to pose for that calendar, but she wasn't allowed to do that.

"What's the warning about?" she said, getting impatient.

"Mystery Inc. doesn't want you to do anything embarrassing that will compromise our company," Velma said. "It was the stockholders' decision to stop trying to help as you're clearly guilty,"

Daphne felt a solid lump in her throat.

"Velma, I'm not guilty!" Daphne said desperately, trying not to cry. "You could have found something in the hacked emails from my account! You should know I didn't send them! Why couldn't you find anything that could have cleared me!"

Velma didn't say anything momentarily as she felt sorry for her former friend. A small part of her did believe her, but it wasn't enough.

"Jinkies, Daphne!" Velma said, frustrated. "You were found with the body with blood all over your dress, your fingerprints were on the knife, and you were arrested on the spot. It wouldn't be enough to clear you even if I had found something in your emails. Now, please don't do anything else while you're here. You're no longer welcome at Mystery Inc.,"

Before Daphne could say anything, Velma hung up her phone, stood, and walked out. Daphne cried, knowing she no longer had one of her best friends in the world.

XXXXX

As obsessed as he was with Daphne, he was relieved that he didn't live there and had a house of his own. When he got home that night, he just wanted to go to bed and sleep. But as he walked through the front door of his house, he heard his phone ringing, which was odd as his landline phone rarely rang, but he still had one for emergencies. He saw a number he didn't recognise, so he took a chance in case it was important.

"Hello," the Warden said.

"It's me," Stephanie said. "It's about time you got home,"

"Stephanie, I've had a long day, and I don't need this," the Warden said tiredly.

"I don't care what you need!" Stephanie shouted.

The Warden couldn't believe the way she just shouted.

"Keep your voice down!" he said. "Where are you?"

"I'm in a phone booth in the middle of God knows where!" she replied. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a phone booth anywhere these days?"

The Warden sighed impatiently.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want to know why you had my brother killed!" Stephanie replied.

"I had your brother killed because he touched someone that he shouldn't have,"

Stephanie expected the Warden to deny it but couldn't believe he wasn't.

"Was it Daphne?" she asked. "Is that who he fucked?"

"He didn't just fuck her," he said. "He got her pregnant, but she had a miscarriage, thank God!"

Stephanie began to shake with rage.

"You didn't have to kill him!" she said.

"Yes, I did because he didn't respect who was in charge, and I don't think you do either!" the Warden said, nearly shouting. "Have you forgotten how powerful my family is!"

"No, I haven't forgotten how powerful your family is, especially when it comes to organised crime!" she said, feeling terrified.

"Good," he said. "Now, why did you visit Daphne today?"

"I wanted to see if she knew anything about Charlie,"

"You shouldn't have done that, and don't forget, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't be in Mystery Inc.,"

When it came to her life, Stephanie hated it when people threw things at her face. But when it came to the Warden, she knew she had to be respectful.

"No, I haven't forgotten that," she said.

"Good," the Warden said. "So, how are things going with that gang?"

"Things are good," Stephanie replied. "Especially with Fred,"

The Warden couldn't help but smile.

"How so when it comes to Freddy?" he asked.

"We've fallen in love," Stephanie said. "I didn't think that would happen, but it has. What did he ever see in Daphne?"

"That's not important," the Warden said. "Just keep him distracted, and everything will be fine,"

Stephanie smiled, annoyed.

"I'm not doing it to be a distraction," she said. "I honestly love him,"

The more the Warden and Stephanie talked, the more he realised it wouldn't be long until Daphne was his. The only thing that was getting in the way as far as the Warden was concerned was that Daphne was denying her true feelings for him.

XXXXX

A few nights later, Daphne dreamt that she was in the hallucination she had when she was on LSD. It was in the middle of a field in the 1880s. Fred was there with her, and they were both lying on the ground. They were busily undressing each other.

"I've missed you," Fred said, breathlessly.

"I've missed you, too," Daphne replied, equally breathless.

"I want to have children with you. I want to have a life with you,"

"Then we can start by making love,"

Daphne couldn't believe she just said making love as that was an old expression, but she wanted Fred deep inside her. To give her the pleasure she desperately needed. Fred climbed on top of Daphne and penetrated her.

"Uhhhhhhh," Daphne moaned.

"I love you," as Fred loved the sensation of being inside her.

Fred began to thrust quickly, and Daphne thought she was going to scream at how good it felt to have him inside her again. She craved him for so long. Daphne thrust in time with Fred. But then he screamed in pain and terror. Above Fred was Charlie as he continuously stabbed Fred in the back. Daphne cried when she realised what was happening. Once Charlie was done, he pushed Fred's body off her.

"You just had to forget about me so quickly, didn't you?" Charlie asked savagely. "You lying whore! You don't know what it takes to love anyone, do you?"

Before Daphne could respond, Charlie stabbed her where she lay, and there was nothing she could do about it. He stabbed her over and over again until she breathed her last breath. Once she was dead in the nightmare, Daphne woke up screaming, and there was no way she was going to go back to sleep again that night.

XXXXX

The next day, Daphne was in the break room alone, and there was only the TV for company. She wasn't expecting to see much on the news. Just a reminder, there was a world out there that she could no longer be any part of. But she couldn't have been more wrong. A blonde journalist in her twenties was standing in front of a church with many fans behind her.

"So, here I am outside Coolsville Church where Fred Jones and Stephanie Hannah have exchanged vows for a new life together, and here they come now!" the journalist said excitedly.

Daphne felt tears streaming down her eyes. How could Fred be married to someone he barely knew? They had shared so much more than he could have shared with Stephanie. Yet there they were. Daphne recognised the tuxedo as she remembered the day he showed it to her, and she thought she looked so handsome. Then, as the journalist approached them, Daphne was devasted by the wedding dress Stephanie was wearing. Daphne knew it well because it was the dress she was meant to wear when she was supposed to marry Fred.

"Congratulations on your brand-new marriage," the journalist said.

"Thank you," Fred said.

"We couldn't be happier," Stephanie added.

"So, where are you going on your honeymoon?" the journalist asked.

"We're going to Paris," Fred said.

"The most romantic city in the world as far as we're concerned," Stephanie said. "That's where Fred asked me to marry him,"

And with that said, Daphne's world was shattered. Paris is where Daphne was meant to be going on her honeymoon with Fred, and Paris is where he asked her to marry him. Until then, Daphne only thought her freedom had been stolen from her. Now, it was the love of her life, and she fell to her knees, crying her heart out as she was, above and beyond heartbroken.