It was already four days after they retuned from the trip and they were yet to speak to each other. Apparently, Kristine was the one facilitating the silence owing to the fact that Camille already left plenty of voicemails for her friend, who got them but never responded. And whenever she stopped by the house to check on Kristine, she acted like she wasn’t home.On one occasion Camille had coincidentally arrived at Kristine’s just as the later got home. And when she tried talking to her, Kristine went in and slammed the door in Camille’s face.But lately, Kristine felt the urge to call her friend. She had sort of a heavy heart and needed someone to rant to, but when she picked up the phone, a whole new thought creeped in. She thought of what led to where they were now, how childish she had acted towards someone who had been in her life a long time and even when they had fights like this, Camille always still showed she cared about her somehow.Kristine dialed into the phone and it rang
Kristine arrived at the location she agreed to meet Alexander, which happened to be a café. Built within a green area with sparse vegetation, it was designed to fit into the natural landscape. It was surrounded by pine trees and a stream passed by the east side. Kristine couldn’t have asked for a better location.Immediately Alexander set his eyes on Kristine, he was carried away by her beauty. She wore a flower patterned shirt short dress which hung just above her knee, revealing her hot legs.“Hi.” Kristine greeted.Alexander seemed to wake from a trance. He immediately got up from his seat, walked over to her and helped her pull out her seat so that she sat in easily.‘That’s gentleman of him. I’ll give him a pass on that' Kristine though while she smiled and sat in. “Thank you.” She said as he returned to his own seat.“I have to be frank, I thought you’d turn me down.” He opened up.“And I have to be frank as well, my friend edged me on. You have her to thank for my showing up.” K
Kristine looked at her wrist watch, they had been over thirty minutes on the road. It was at that moment she came to her senses and it dawned on her that she was being kidnapped, but then there was no blindfold, no cuffs, no gags, she wasn’t in the trunk. She was fully aware of her environment. She took quick glances at the men who sandwiched her, they acted like she didn’t exist. She tried to get a view of the driver’s face through the rear view mirror to no avail. When the driver noticed what she was trying to do, he adjusted the mirror so that it served the purpose she wanted. It troubled Kristine when she tried to piece everything together. Kidnappers were said to blindfold their victim so they couldn’t take note of routes or get clues about their identities. But these ones went against such rules and didn’t care if she noted their faces. ‘This is weird' she thought ‘maybe it’s a surprise’. In short distances the car made two stops and two Rudy looking men dumped two black bags in
Once they got past the gate, the car climbed up a hilly road lined with pine trees. They took two left turns and came in view of a magnificent gated mansion. It was well structured with defensive positions in which a handful of guards were stationed. The gate to the mansion was at the end of the trees. Immediately the guards at the gate saw the vehicle, they opened the gate so that they drove through.The car pulled up in front of the mansion and the rear doors flung open. The two men alighted and stood guard until Kristine came down too. She looked around and immediately fell in love with the place.There was a fountain across from the house with a standing horse sculpture right in the midst of it. There was a greenhouse to the east and an artificial stream that flowed into the pool. Kristine took her time to admire the environment until one of the men cleared his throat, bringing her back to her reality. Once again, her bitterness took over.“This way.” One of the guys motioned for
"You look stressed.” Camille said to Kristine who continuously paced around her bedroom while chewing at her fingers nails. “And you may have no finger nails left if you keep on like that.”Kristine paused, turned to Camille as if she wanted to say something, and in a blink her countenance changed to that of despair.“Hold on before this develops into something bad.“ Camille then held Kristine, pulled her to the bed and made her sit beside her. “Now take your time and tell me what’s wrong.”Kristine thought about how she could put everything in a way Camille won’t blow it out of proportion. She felt she shouldn’t let her know since her life was also at risk, two of them shouldn’t be running crazy at the same time. But then she had to.“I’m in a mess. A big one.” Kristine said at last.Camille laughed as if she just heard a joke. It sort of infuriated Kristine who looked her friend with disappointment written all over her face. Camille noticed and raised her hands to demonstrate surre
Alexander sat in his office , attending to some document when Martha, his secretary for roughly eight years walked in.“Good morning sir.” She greeted.“Morning.” He replied. “Just in time. How is my schedule for Tomorrow?” He asked.“Let me see.” She replied and scrolled through her tablet. “You have a meeting with Mr. Naoki at 3pm. Other than that, you’re free.”“Hmm. Seems odd.”“What sir?”“Nothing.” He replied. “I’ll be having a visitor tomorrow. Just make sure nothing is added to my schedule. Okay?”“Okay sir.” She replied and started towards the door.She stopped suddenly and turned to Alexander “Mr. Victor wants to see you.”“What? Let him in.” he ordered.She ushered Victor in and once he was inside the office, she left and shut the door behind her.“Cousin.” Victor greeted. He looked more ordinary and human than he did during the deal with Octavio.“My heart kind of skip a beat whenever you cone around.”“Evil people experience that lot.” He teased.“If evil was a person, it’
“Welcome Miss Kristine.” The receptionist greeted. She had this beautiful smile that could charm even the most subtle of people. Its no wonder she got the job here.Kristine wondered how she knew who she was, ‘had Alexander given her photo and name to the receptionist?’ that was her first thought but then she waved it off. He couldn’t be that childish. Its must be because she had an appointment and she came exactly on time.“The boss is waiting. Follow me please.” She said and motioned for Kristine to join her towards a door.The organized nature of the place thrilled Kristine. Immediately the receptionist left her post to take her to Alexander, another equally pretty lady took her place. And attended to the next person in the same warm manner.“This way Ma'am.” The receptionist repeated, snapping Kristine back to reality.They went through a door and into a dull-lit passage walled with thick glasses , shielding some artworks hung on both sides of the passage walls and transparent eno
Alexander and Kristine went down a dozen steps once they went through the door. A wave of emotions took over Kristine as they got to the base of the step. The place was a crypt, a spacious one and it had a lot of artifacts from different ages. The first thing that crossed her mind was Octavio's mission. ‘Could these be the stuff he was telling her about?’ She imagined the worth of the treasures laid before her eyes and how one person could amass such.Alexander noticed how bright her eyes were and how carried away she was by the things she was being exposed to.“What do you think?” He asked her.“Magnificent. They are…” she spun to reality and looked at him, her brows arched. “How did you get all these?” she pointed randomly at some artifacts.“Let me put it this way,” he folded his hands and faced her. She had an expectant look, waiting for an explanation as to how one person could gather such.“I am a collector.” He started. “I always had an eye for history, just like you. The artif