Mistaken by the Billionaire Marquess

CHAPTER 14: Stare

– KELLEON –

Cloud left after I gave him the instructions. Those were a lot, though the common denominator of those tasks is to investigate about Count Estrada and his hidden wife.

“Mi hijo, I will talk to you father about that matter,” Mama said after we talked about the information that ‘Dennise’ gave to us.

I nodded. “Si, Mama.” I gave her a reassuring smile.

“By the way, did she tell you more?” I asked, pertaining ‘she’ as the Dennise inside the interrogation room.

My mom blinked for a few times and moved her head, as if thinking again of what happened inside the room.

“Well, she told me that she’s not Dennise,” she started talking. “She told me her name.”

I leaned my upper body closer to my mother, waiting for her to say the name of the woman.

Cloud said earlier that the name of the woman who looked like Dennise is Maria Mahalia Mendoza. If the name is matched, it will somehow strengthen her narrative.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

However, I can’t just base everything on her words. There are a lot of possibilities that can happen. She can change her name and create a new identity just to run away from us.

But I can’t also erase the fact that the woman in the interrogation room, that we suspected as Dennise, is a victim, too.

“If I remember it right, she told me that her name is Maria Mendoza,” she answered, looking at her left. “I think she has a second name. I just can’t remember it quickly. My mind is too clouded that time.”

I nodded at her. “It’s okay, Mama.” I grabbed the folders from the table and handed it to her. “Here are the information that Cloud got from his investigation. You can use this while talking to Papa.”

She received the folders and we stood up together. I walked with her until to the gate of the house.

“Call me if anything happens, okay?” Mama reminded me before going inside her car.

“Yes, Mama,” I responded. “Please text if you already arrived at Papa’s office.”

She hummed a yes and nodded. She kissed my check before heading inside.

The car started driving away and I stood at the gate, waiting for them to slowly lose from my sight.

When I can’t see her car anymore, I headed inside the house with a deep thought.

The name that Mama said is matched from what Cloud discovered. I just need to know more about the Maria. It’s just suspicious that her social media account was made on the year the Dennise disappeared. That fact makes me think that she just changed her identity.

If I can see just only one photo or evidence that can prove that she was existing before Dennise came into the picture, then I will believe her.

Right now, I have to ask someone for information.

OPENING the basement’s door, I saw Clint sitting across the bloody woman. He’s throwing his knife up, catch it with his right hand, and throw it again up in the air.

“Did you do something, again?” I asked Clint when I stopped behind him.

He stopped throwing his knife and titled his head up to look at me.

“Nothing, my lord!” he answered while smiling widely. “You told me not to hurt her anymore. Who am I to disobey your command?”

I nodded at him. “Good,” I answered and walked beside Chynna.

“Yes, my lord. I’m a very good butler,” he stated arrogantly. “I’m you best butler.”

“You’re my only butler, Clint.”

“I won’t correct what I said, my lord.”

I turned my head to Chynna. The wound Clint gave her stopped bleeding and it was already covered with a huge band-aid. Did Clint do this? I didn’t know he could be this caring.

“Let… me… go…,” Chynna said slowly with a weak voice. “Please.”

I grabbed a chair and sat beside her. Not so close that our bodies will touch, but not too far that I can’t hear her whispers.

“I will, but you have to answer my questions first,” I responded to her.

Hearing that, she looked at me. I can see from her eyes that she’s very tired. Maybe because of being tied up for too long, or maybe because she lost a lot of blood from yesterday.

Honestly, I don’t want to resort on this kind of things. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I need information, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get them.

“Is Dennise now married to Count Estrada?” I asked her.

Her eyebrows furrowed a little bit. She didn’t answer me right away. She just stared at me and later on, looked at her left side.

She’s thinking. However, I can’t say if she is thinking of what is the right answer, or if she is thinking of a lie that can cover the truth.

“I…,” she started talking, her voice is slightly louder than earlier. “don’t… know…”

I sighed heavily at her answer. She is Dennise’s only friend, base on our investigation. This Chynna was never introduced to me when Dennise and I are still in a relationship, but she knows me and that Dennise is my ex-girlfriend.

The possibilities are Dennise didn’t tell her about Count Estrada, or she’s just lying about it.

“Who is… Count… Estrada,” she continued her words.

I looked at her. “You don’t know who he is?”

She nodded slowly. I squinted my eyes on her, scrutinizing if she’s lying or not. But from her situation and look, it’s difficult to tell. Tiredness covers her whole body that I can’t see any other emotion.

“But Dennise is now married, right?” I asked her again, trying to improve my question.

She nodded again. So it’s true. I’m sure that whoever Dennise is married to is someone who has influence and connection, like my family. That’s why he was able to hide her.

“She’s married to who?” I questioned Chynna.

She breathed heavily. Clint was just watching us, but from his posture, I’m sure that he is itching to hurt this woman if ever she didn’t cooperate.

“Alejandro,” she answered. “The surname… is also Estrada… but I don’t know… if he is… a count.”

Her statement confirmed my suspicions. I don’t need to investage and find who this Alejandro Estrada is. Just by thinking of influencial people in Spain with that name, I am already a hundred percent sure that it is Count Estrada.

“That’s all I need,” I stood up and walked towards Clint.

“What is it, my lord?” he asked.

I leaned closer to him and whispered. “Treat her and fix her up. After that, send her back to Spain.”

Clint looked at me, surpised at what I said. “My lord, you’re gonna let that woman go and be free?” he asked.

“Yes, and no,” I answered. “I’ll let her go. I don’t need more information from ger. But she’s not going to be free.”

Clint looked at me with focused eyes  waiting for what I will say.

“My lord, I know that look you’re giving,” he said.

“Follow her. Check every place she will go and every person she will talk to. Report it to me,” I told him.

“Can I torture her if she did something that’s gonna hurt us?”

“Abduct her first and give her to me. Then I’ll decide after that.”

“Aww, bummer,” he pouted. “Okay, my lord. I’ll do it.”

I nodded at him and left the room. I thought of resting for now, however, I still need to talk to that lady Mendoza.

When I opened the door of the interrogation room, a small snore greeted me. There’s only one person inside, and I’m sure that the snore is coming from her.

Looking back, I never heard Dennise snore when sleeping. She’s very quiet and never even moved a little when asleep.

I sighed and walked towards this woman. When I am already close to her, I observed her face.

When I kidnapped her in Spain, she told me various differences of her and Dennise. I didn’t believe her. I was blinded by anger. My mind is so focus on punishing her for what she did that her words didn’t register in my head.

I stared at the mole under her right eye. I’m sure that Dennise doesn’t have this kind of mole in her face. Dennise’s face is clean from moles, wounds, or scars.

I extended my fingers to her face and gently touched the mole under her eyes. It is small and you can’t even feel it.

I scratched it a little bit. It made her groaned and she moved her head as if she wants to remove my fingers from touching her.

I chuckled. I remember her challenging me to scratch her mole just to make sure that it’s real. That’s funny. I mean, who will ask another person to do that? It’s insane.

My eyes lingered on her curly hair. I touched her head and slowly caressed it until the tip. Her hair is black on the top half while the lower half is brown. Now that I observed it much closer, I noticed that her hair is much thicker than Dennise’s.

I bent a little bit to see more of her face. This is the face of the woman I loved for years, but it’s also the face of the woman who wrecked me for her own good.

I want to get angry at her, but my heart can’t. Instead, it is beating fast and loud that I can hear its beat in my ears.

I noticed the little mole on her upper lip. She also told me about this difference. I wasn’t able to see this that time, but now, it’s very clear to me.

The mole is cute. It suits her.

I chuckled at my thought. I placed my finger over the mole to feel it. It is soft, and like the mole under her eye, you can’t even feel it.

She unconsciously pouted her lips, like she was trying to push my finger away.

I was in dazed. My eyes focused on her pouting lips. Something was pulling me towards it. It was enchanting. It was seductive. It was beautiful.

A loud screech from the outside woke me up. When I was back on my senses, I noticed that our faces are just a few centimeters from each other.

Just one wrong move and our lips will touch.

A part of me wants that to happen. This part was sad by the fact that I wasn’t able to flinched towards her lips when the I heard the loud sound.

I cleared my throat and removed that thought from my head. I stood up. I want to wake her up and ask her now, but I don’t have the heart to do it.

She’s sleeping so peacefully.

Sighing, I walked behind her and removed the ropes from her body. This might make you a lot comfortable while sleeping.