“Family?”
Ice was glowing red as he answered me. “Maca Ariana. She’s his godsister.”
But he never told me about her. How could this be?
“Sir Kaiser just wants to protect her, so he allows her to come to the office to look for him whenever she needs him. Excuse me.. Let me just take a breath..”
Ice took a deep breath and faced the wall. I realised this was his solution for his nervousness. Once he wasn’t facing me, he was able to talk more efficiently.
“She is beautiful, but she fell into bad hands. Someone abused and broke her, as Sir Kaiser puts it. And recently, her abuser has shown his face again. That is why she came today to seek help from Sir Kaiser.”
When I heard Ice mention what had happened to Maca, those ‘lost’ feelings of kindness seemed to resurface inside my heart. I had not known myself to be capable of such emotions.
“And what happened?”
Ice stuttered. “I… I’ve spoken too much. I have to get back to my duties.”
…………………………………………………………..
I walked around the villa in silence. After six months of being Kaiser’s lover, I wasn’t sure what to believe. I had embraced each day thinking that I would never allow myself to fall for anyone again, but after seeing him stroke that girl’s hair, the sight had completely consumed me.
Ice’s words simply conflicted with my thoughts. When Kaiser did eventually come to look for me, it was already past eight at night. He didn’t say a word to appease me after how silent I was with him that night. Instead, he said warm-bloodedly. “I want you.”
I let him fondle and kiss me, but everything that happened that night felt so desolate. Like I was a hollow trunk of a tree. He was as horny and passionate as he was those other times he made love with me, but my heart and intentions just weren’t there. That was the part of having failed in love so many times. I considered myself a fool for even developing feelings for that person who I least expected myself to.
“You’ve been strangely silent tonight, baby.”
I said nothing. The sounds of his thrusts filled the entire room, but I wasn’t into moaning or feeling thrilled by the sex. My body responded to his teasing like it always did, but it was like part of my heart died away. The other part blamed myself for ever getting into this situation. Even though I didn’t admit it at first, I depended on Kaiser for my emotional support and wished he would reciprocate my feelings. He was that miracle that I thought I could never love again.
“Piper?”
He whispered into my ears and gave my ear lobe a little nip. Normally, I could barely withstand the heat of my arousal, and often gave in to the temptation. But that night, I just slept.
“I guess you’re sleeping.”
And that was just what he was going to say? Had Ice not reported to him what transpired in our conversation today? Was he not concerned about my feelings or that I was worried about that girl who was his godsister?
In City X, the term ‘godsister’ was commonly used for illicit relationships. A godfather could have sexual relations with a girl who he termed his goddaughter, and the same went for godsiblings, since they weren’t related by blood. Hence, my concern was valid.
“Good night,” he eventually gave up and pulled the blankets higher above my chest. I felt a lone tear descend my cheek as he switched off the lights. Even a fool could sense something was wrong about me when I wasn’t actively responding to his teases. Neither was I pitching in any effort or showing any interest when he made love to me vigorously. I just lay still like a log.
In the darkness of our bedroom, I suddenly thought of Jacques. It wasn’t fair how I never was able to feel love for him during the three years we spent together or the almost five-year duration of knowing him from the day we befriended each other at Lin Corporation.
He had done a lot for me, and I was still never able to love him. I satisfied him in bed, but it was my heart that I wouldn’t give to him. Even in marriage, he had my body and my person, but not my heart.
It was for the same reason that I didn’t tie him down by registering our marriage internationally and just let him go when May Jensen disappeared from the world.
But right now I was Kaiser’s woman, and I knew what were the consequences of ever doing anything to cheat behind his back. He was just as severe in this as he was with any employee at KK Sols. With my long break, he hired three more newbies to take on solicitation.
I told myself, I still needed this revenge. I could not sit idly while Lenard Lee and Lee Jung had the time of their lives. My mind was decided. I wanted them to suffer until they begged for mercy, and even then, I would not give it to them. In my mind, I imagined Lenard Lee like he was in my dreams, gutted and left to be devoured by beasts, and Lee Jung debilitated by a cancer that took over his strength and reduced him to a haggard state.
I had no intention to grant them an easy death. I wanted them to suffer a fate worse than death and see them beg to me for me to end their pathetic lives for once and for all.
Maybe I was already becoming a sadist after watching Kaiser punish others severely, that it made me no longer feel any sympathy.
Kaiser left for his business trip that very morning. He hadn’t asked me to accompany him or to wait for him to come back. He just said his goodbyes to me and gave me a tender peck on my forehead. Then he whisked his small luggage out with him and left for the airport.
I had never been so lonely ever in my life than I did on this day. I no longer knew what to expect, and all I could do was think of revenge. I went on the internet and looked for ways to kill.
Just then, I remembered the secret computer Kaiser had shown me before I moved in, and it dawned upon me that maybe I would be able to find out about any relevant updates on Lenard Lee’s triad’s latest involvements. But I was also confident that Kaiser would have employed surveillance measures for him to know someone had attempted to enter his ‘special room’. Even his cousin and secretary knew naught of it, according to what he had told me.
Yet, I was that ‘unique person’ who he allowed entry. Did that equate to meaning he allowed me to access the room and use its special facilities? I hesitated, unsure how Kaiser would react if he learned I utilised that room’s facilities without his permission. Would he get rid of me, or would he punish me?
But I didn’t even know when Kaiser would be returning. I closed my eyes and inhaled and exhaled a few times. Then I counted to five to calm myself. It was one of Dr Soleil’s techniques to calm anxiety.
I had memorised his eight-digit passcode for accessing the room. I keyed it in on the digital door panel reluctantly, fearing that the unexpected would happen; that it would deny me entry or worse still, explode at me for unauthorised entry. However, that didn’t happen.
Instead, the password-operated door just flashed twice with a green light, indicating a correct password, and unlocked itself. I took another deep breath and turned the door knob to enter the room. The room was just as I remembered it to be that day six months ago. There was no visible change and everything was arranged as it was before.
I halted just at the computer that Kaiser had turned on for me then. It looked expensive with a super large screen and a complete set of peripheral devices. There was also a fingerprint scanner on the computer, which I presumed was how he gained entry. Due to this, would I be able to switch it on?
I took another deep breath and touched the mouse to the right of the computer. The screen returned to life, making me realise that it was turned on all the while and Kaiser had just left it on idle mode.
I immediately clicked on the icon to enter the system. The software opened easily without the need of a username and password, and I looked at the past search results. There were four names:
“Jacques Jones”
“Jacques Jensen”
“May Jensen”
“Piper Taylor”
I further noticed that he had been running searches on these names a while back. It was just the day after I answered his question about the man in the photo frame.
I typed in Lenard Lee’s name and watched as the animation of the globe on the screen started rotating. I prayed under my breath.
Immediately, the screen displayed a range of results from me to choose from.