Day Three…
~~*****~~
Aiden and Stephen bent forward to get a better view of Abigail's picture. The two surveyed the photo critically, most especially Aiden. After a while, a loud gasp escaped his mouth.
"Holy Crap! She's Abigail Scarlett, am I right? The new rising actress!" Aiden asked Nathan for confirmation as soon as he recognized her face.
Nathan frowned for a moment as though puzzled by Aiden's exasperated reaction. "Do you know her?"
Meanwhile, Stephen just watched them silently, clueless about Abigail's identity. Among the three men, only Aiden was very familiar with the actress.
"Don't tell me she is one of your ex-girlfriends," Stephen innocently asked Aiden which brought another deep frown to Nathan's face, his mouth twisting in displeasure.
Fortunately, Aiden immediately shook his head, denying it. "Of course not! I just often heard her name from one of my exes who was an actress. Many of the actresses in the show business circles hated her!"
"Why is that so?" Stephen felt intrigued.
"Because of competition. Abigail Scarlett is a new rising star. Her career is booming recently, bringing her name to fame. Of course, they felt threatened by her existence." he explained.
"Women's jealousy and insecurity I guess," Aiden added, shrugging his shoulders.
Nathan and Stephen both nodded their heads as they understood what he meant.
"Do you think she's like those other actresses who climbed into someone else's bed just to get more resources and projects?" Nathan suddenly posed this question which naturally came into his mind.
Aiden burst out into a peal of laughter when he heard that question. He felt so amused as he recalled something. Aiden waved his forefinger from left to right, telling them it was a big "No".
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I heard she's not that kind of an actress who would exchange her body just to get famous and have support from influential people. There was this incident where the former CEO of Shen Tian's Company offered her an indecent proposal to become his mistress but she blatantly refused it.
"The funny thing was she screwed that old man's fat ass by revealing it to the press, destroying the former CEO's reputation and image. Hahaha." Aiden spoke spontaneously with his blabbering mouth. "She's cool, isn't she?" he mumbled, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
"Hmm, she's an interesting fellow, huh," Stephen blurted out, rubbing his chin. There was a wide smirk on his face as he continued to listen to Aiden.
"But wait! Isn't she the one who committed suicide just a few days ago? How come she became my assignment? And how did you know her? What do you want me to do with her? Find the reason why she committed suicide?" Aiden threw more questions for Nathan to answer.
Stephen was also all ears on Nathan, wondering why Nathan had Abigail's files. He could tell that he already conducted a background check on the actress.
"The woman whom Ethan is claiming to be his future wife… is her," Nathan said, pointing his finger at Abigail's photo.
Aiden: "..."
Stephen: "..."
The two men were at a loss for words for a moment. They had never seen it coming. But in fairness, Abigail was a young and charming woman. No wonder Little Ethan was smitten by her angelic beauty. But the question is… how did Ethan meet her if she was confined in the hospital after her alleged suicide attempt?
As if Nathan read their minds, he spoke again to explain, making things clear. "Abigail Scarlett claimed that she didn't commit suicide. She's no longer in the hospital. Ethan and Abigail met a few days ago. Ethan ended up bringing her home. Now, she's staying at our mansion… with us."
Aiden: "WHAT?!"
Stephen: "Huh?"
Nathan's statements kept surprising his two best friends. The two were still trying to digest his words when Nathan picked up his wine glass once again, taking a sip of his wine.
"So… what do you want me to do as my assignment? Break those two apart? Letting Ethan realize that they are not meant for each other? That they can't be together? Are you going to use me to break my godson's poor heart?" Aiden said dramatically.
Stephen could only shake his head helplessly. Aiden truly had a unique way of seeing things. His thinking and wild imagination were beyond their understanding. Sometimes, he was wondering how Aiden became an Engineer. Nathan was having the same thought while eyeing Aiden in disbelief.
"I'm gonna need your expertise in dealing with women. Befriend her and find out if she has a hidden motive for approaching Ethan and me. Though I already investigated how they met, I still have this nagging feeling that she's not an ordinary woman and she smells trouble to me. She is very suspicious." Nathan confided with them.
"What made you think that she is suspicious?" Stephen asked Nathan curiously.
Nathan fell silent for a moment. His expression grew hard as he remembered last night's incident as well as Butler Li's statement and the CCTV footage.
"How can a mere actress escape from a room where she was locked up and was able to roam around the facility that has a high level security system without getting caught by guards nor the CCTV cameras? She even managed to crop and delete the original footage."
Nathan gave them brief information about what happened to him yesterday, omitting the 'dreaming' part. He just told them the reason why Abigail was brought to his private medical facility which was managed by the Syphiruz.
"Eh? Abigail Scarlett did all that?" Aiden yelped in bafflement. He couldn't believe that she was capable of doing those things. Was she a spy?
"I'm starting to like her. She's cool," Stephen mumbled, letting out a soft chuckle. "It seems that my godson has a good taste when it comes to women," he added, praising Ethan. Nathan didn't make further comments on Stephen's remarks.
Aiden, on the other hand, raised his fist and said, "Leave this to me, Nate! I will try to gain her trust and find her secrets. It's an easy task for me! As you said, dealing with women is what I'm good at." Aiden was so confident in himself.
"Nate, do you want me to share some tips on how you can make her talk and reveal her deepest secrets and desires with you?" Aiden spoke again with a mischievous smile on his face.
Nathan just arched his eyebrow while pursing his lips. He was not interested to hear him out as he knew that Aiden would only speak of nonsense.
It was Stephen who replied on his behalf. "Okay, tell us."
With a silly expression on his handsome face, Aiden picked up an item inside his back pocket.
"Use this!" Aiden showed them metal handcuffs. "This is woman's weakness," he added, winking at his best friends.
"Damn, Aiden. You have a fetish…" Stephen didn't finish his sentence, just staring at Aiden with disbelief.
Aiden was about to say another word when he was stopped by a flying couch pillow! Nathan had thrown the pillow straight into Aiden's face.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Ouch!" Aiden grunted. "Why don't you believe me? I promise… it's effective!"
*****
[ At Sparks Villa… ]
Abigail got bored just doing nothing while staying at the mansion. Bam-Bam had disappeared again and she didn't know when he would show up. He was just popping out of nowhere like a ghost. Very unpredictable.
Without someone to talk to, she spent her time thinking about what she would do next. Nathan was not around so she didn't have a chance to interact with him. She wondered where he went as he hadn't returned yet. Subconsciously, she was waiting for the devil to return home.
In the end, she didn't leave her room as she decided to take a nap. Her body was still feeling weak because of the aftereffects of her gastric ulcer.
Fortunately, the medicine prescribed to her by the doctor helped alleviate the pain. But she felt sleepy because of its effect. After fighting the drowsiness for several minutes, Abigail finally drifted off to sleep.
*A few hours later*
The faint creaking sound of the door opening was heard. Someone was silently and cautiously sneaking into her room, footsteps approaching her bed.
A large figure suddenly bent down, holding Abigail's hands. In her sleepy state, she tried to open her eyes when she felt the cold metal binding her wrists.
Click! Click!
The drowsiness dissipated into thin air the moment her emerald eyes met his scrutinizing blue eyes. "Nathan???"
She was about to sit up straight only to find out that her hands were tied with metal cuffs over her head. 'What the heck?!' she cursed inwardly.
She tugged her hands while glaring at Nathan. "What do you think you are doing?" She yelled at him angrily.
Nathan's lips curled up into a devilish but seductive grin and said, "Making you confess."
Before she could further complain, Nathan already locked her handcuffs to the headrest of the bed.
'What the fuck!'