Filed To Story: Finding the Secret Daddy for My Baby Novel
“Hey Imogen, mind if I ask you something? When they knocked you out, did they handcuff you and put something over your head?” Shirley inquired.
Imogen’s eyes sparkled with cunning as she replied casually, “Guess they didn’t expect me to wake up so soon after the knockout, so they didn’t get a chance to cuff me in time. Lucky for me, their oversight allowed me to slip away. You’re not thinking I’m in cahoots with the kidnappers, are you, Shirley?”
Shirley quickly dismissed the idea, saying, “No way, Imogen. I know you like the back of my hand.”
Imogen breathed a sigh of relief. Despite coming from a privileged background, she realized Shirley was somewhat sheltered and naive, making her unlikely to suspect anything. “Thanks for trusting me. This whole kidnapping fiasco is entirely my fault. I shouldn’t have gone for that extra coffee or taken you into that coffee shop,” she admitted, berating herself.
Shirley reassured her, “It’s not your fault. If they wanted to take me, they could have done it anywhere else.”
“I’m sorry, Shirley. This is all because of me. I caused the vice president to worry about you,” Imogen lamented.
“Don’t beat yourself up. Let bygones be bygones. I’ll just be more cautious from now on,” Shirley consoled Imogen.
Imogen hung up, but she couldn’t relax. Shirley didn’t tell her what the kidnappers said to her. She had to find out the answer before she could truly be at ease. After the call ended, Shirley’s eyes twinkled with doubt. Then, she called Roy.
“Hello, Miss Lloyd.” Roy never called her by her first name. She was an important figure, after all.
“Can I make a request, captain? Do you have any footage regarding the kidnapping?”
“If you need it, Miss Lloyd, I can ask the cops to provide the footage.”
“Thank you. I really need them. Send it to my email, please!” Shirley thanked him, hung up the phone, and sat down in silence. Soon, someone knocked on the door. She opened it up to see Zacharias and a table of sumptuous dinner waiting for her.
“Come, let’s eat,” said Zacharias gently.
Shirley looked at him, glad she escaped fast enough. If she’d died in that crossfire, she would never be able to see him again. The thought that Zacharias might marry another woman and fall in love with her made Shirley appreciate her life more. She wanted to stay alive to be with him for eternity. An urge filled her heart. When Zacharias turned around, she darted ahead and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back.
Zacharias was stunned. He could feel the love Shirley had for him, and he held her hand before turning around to face her. The passion in Shirley’s eyes was unwavering. She said, “Let’s date once we get back, Zacharias.”
Zacharias’ eyes went wide, delight filling his gaze. “What’d you say?”
“Let’s date, I said. What? Are you chickening out?” Shirley challenged Zacharias, looking at him.
Zacharias held the back of her head and pulled her into his embrace. “I’d love to tell the world we’re going out.”
Shirley buried her head in his chest, smiling. This means he’s mine now. “Okay. Once we get back, I’ll tell my folks we’re dating.” Shirley was a little sheepish and nervous. She wondered if her parents would be shocked if they heard the news. Their daughter was courting the vice president himself, and she actually did it.
“Okay.” Zacharias kissed Shirley’s hair.
Shirley had dinner with Zacharias. Halfway through, her phone rang. She checked it out and realized she had a new email. Shirley wanted to investigate things later that night. If she wanted to clear her doubts, she had to go through the whole case again, but she didn’t want to tell anyone before she had the answers-not even Zacharias.
After dinner, Zacharias had a virtual meeting with the people back at home. Shirley left him in the lounge and went to her room. Quickly, she turned on her laptop and opened her email. The cops had sent her more than twenty videos. She played the first one.
In the clip, she and Imogen were strolling on the streets, unaware of the coming danger. Shirley didn’t even speed up the clip. She sat on her bed, the silence keeping her mind sharp. She stared at herself in the video, but she was mostly looking at Imogen.
After she saw herself going into the gift shop, she noticed that Imogen was sitting outside, sipping on the coffee they had bought earlier. It was then Imogen took out her phone and checked something. Shirley put on her earphones, trying to see if she could hear anything. It was a message notification from Imogen’s phone.
Is she reading the news, or did someone text her?
She turned up the volume to the fullest and realized it was a text notification. From Imogen’s actions, she was obviously going through her messages. After she was done reading them, Imogen looked at the coffee she was holding, musing about something.
Soon, Shirley came out of the gift shop. Imogen got up and held Shirley’s arm. She told her that the coffee wasn’t nice, so she wanted to get another cup from another shop. In the next footage, Shirley realized there was another coffee shop right across the street, but she didn’t realize this back then. Now that she was going through the videos, she realized they could’ve bought a cup of coffee from the nearby shop.
Imogen took me straight ahead, though. Also, there was a turn at the end, but it seemed like she knew there was a coffee shop there. She didn’t even look around.
Noticing that face made Shirley’s heart sink. This is Imogen’s first time coming to Flor and her first time going down this street, so how did she know there was a coffee place there? Did she look it up? That’s the only plausible explanation, but even so, it seems fishy.
Shirley continued watching. The video showed the coffee shop’s curtains being drawn while she was fighting inside. Fifteen minutes later, Imogen leaped out the window. Shirley kept rewinding that part and realized something was amiss.
The kidnappers didn’t go after Imogen after she escaped, but I heard one of them saying that they wouldn’t let any of us go, so why didn’t they go after Imogen after she ran away? There were about eight of them in the shop. They could’ve sent a couple to go after Imogen. Also, Imogen’s arm was broken after she escaped. The kidnappers would’ve recaptured her if they wanted to, but weirdly, they didn’t go after Imogen.
The more Shirley rewound the video, the more bone-chilling things got. Could Imogen have been in cahoots with those people? What’s the reason for kidnapping me? For ransom? Is she one of them?
Shirley knew Imogen needed money; she wouldn’t even buy skincare products. Back at the base, Imogen would always come to her room and use her stuff. Most of the time, Shirley gave Imogen the skincare products her mother had given her. After setting up that hypothesis, Shirley thought about the days she spent with Imogen and realized she didn’t know Imogen that much at all. There was always a veil covering her. Imogen was only nice to her, seemingly because she wanted to get something out of their friendship.
The one that left the deepest impression on Shirley was the time Imogen gave up on her possible achievement just to help her, but in the end, Imogen was given praise-by Shirley’s father, no less. Now that Shirley thought about it, that could’ve been part of Imogen’s plan. She knows Dad loves me, so she used that to her advantage. Even if she gave up what she could have achieved, Dad would still praise her anyway.
Shirley felt her heart clenching. She had no idea that the one person she thought was her friend was someone she didn’t know at all. Shirley kept watching the videos. When she factored in the possibility that Imogen might’ve been the kidnappers’ accomplice, everything she saw made horrifying sense. There was footage of the crossfire and part of it showed Imogen lying in a tree quietly, her finger on the trigger of her firearm. She was sniping every single kidnapper who tried to escape. In other words, she was trying to destroy the evidence.
Shirley gasped. If I hadn’t seen her true colors, does it mean I’d be in danger at all times? Shirley held her forehead. How should I deal with this? Without hesitation, she wanted to bring Zacharias into this. She got up and opened the door. Zacharias was done with his meeting, and he was having a glass of red wine on the veranda.
“Zacharias, I have something to tell you.” Shirley went up to him.
Zacharias noticed the solemnity in her eyes, and he put his glass down. Equally serious, he asked, “What is it?”
Shirley held his hand. “Come into my room.”
It sounded like a flirty invitation, but Zacharias knew things weren’t that simple. He went into Shirley’s room, and Shirley closed the door. She told him to take a seat on the couch; then she showed him the laptop.
“I think Imogen has something to do with the kidnapping,” said Shirley curtly.
Zacharias looked up in shock. “Does she have something to do with it?”
Shirley nodded. “I asked Roy to give me the security footage, and there’s footage of me and Imogen going shopping. My gut tells me that Imogen has something to do with the kidnapping.”
“Why would she do this?” Zacharias was frowning, taking this seriously.
“Perhaps it has something to do with money. Imogen’s family isn’t all that rich, but she’s an ambitious lady,” said Shirley. She was reminded of when Imogen told her that she wanted to gain Zacharias’ attention. She told Shirley that she’d fallen in love with Zacharias at first sight, and Imogen even hinted to Shirley that she wanted to woo Zacharias. That’s proof of her ambition.
“If she is involved, then we have to deal with her!” Zacharias cursed himself. He had a meeting that day, and Imogen requested to stay back with Shirley. He gave her that permission, leaving a snake by Shirley’s side. “I’m sorry. This is my fault, too. I shouldn’t have let her go shopping with you.”
Shirley wrapped her arms around Zacharias’ neck and kissed his forehead. “It’s not your fault. If I hadn’t gone through this whole ordeal myself, I’d never have realized Imogen is a traitor.”
Zacharias held her in his arms. “I won’t let anyone I don’t trust stay with you ever again.”
Shirley should be glad she went through this, or she would’ve never seen Imogen’s true colors. Simply put, she might even end up in a worse state after this. “We’re keeping this a secret for now. After we go back, we’ll come up with a plan,” said Shirley.
“I can keep her under surveillance right now.”