A Kinky Marriage Arrangement

32. A Stalker

But what is a diamond ring doing here? Is it Irene's? Did she drop it?

As I took a closer look as the ring, another realization hit me. I had seen this ring before on the news.

Around 2 years ago, there had been a robbery at a jewelry store. A pack of 6 diamond rings was stolen.

I was certain that this was one of the stolen rings. I was sure because when I had seen the six rings, this one had caught my eye.

I had wished that I could gift it to Nova. And that's why, this ring still sits in my mind.

Wait a minute. There is a stolen ring in the house! A ring that is probably worth millions! What on earth?!

"Callum?" Irene called as she stepped down the stairs. I turned to look at her and she smiled cheekily at me.

"Sorry for sending you here alone. I know this place is a mess and that you're probably having trouble cleaning it alone. So I've come to help you."

I gave her no reply and just stared at her. "What's wrong? Are you still mad about Rose?" Irene asked.

I raised my hand and showed her the ring. Irene had a face of confusion.

"Is that diamond?" she asked and I nodded. "For me?" she asked surprised. I shook my head. "I found it while cleaning" I said.

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "A diamond ring in the basement?" she asked. I nodded. "Are you sure its–"

"And it's a stolen one" I cut her off. She looked at me puzzled. Then, she realized it. "Callum, I swear I'm not a thief! I promise!" she said.

I knew she wasn't a thief. "I know. But do you know how it reached here?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I rarely use the basement. It's mostly dad who makes use of this basement" she said. "Harry?" I asked, even more confused now.

Irene seemed to be in deep thought. "But dad wouldn't....wouldn't steal right?" she asked. I gave her no reply.

Why would Harry steal? He owns a million dollar company. But then again, if he can harass someone, he might also be stealing.

"Callum!" Irene's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Sorry, I was thinking something else" I said.

"It's alright, forget it. Let's go to the police and return them the ring" she said. I immediately shook my head.

"If we do that, we might become suspects of this robbery" I said. "We'll just tell them the truth" she said.

"What truth? We don't know anything about how this ring got here" I said.

"Umm, we'll just tell them that we found it while cleaning our basement and we don't know how it came there."

I sighed. "Irene, that's a terrible reason. If someone said that to me, I wouldn't believe them even if my life depended on it."

"But it's the truth!" she tried reasoning with me.

"Think about it. Why would the cops believe that we found a ring that was stolen 2 years ago, in our basement? The first question they would ask, is that why haven't we cleaned our basement in 2 years. That question itself would put us at the top of the suspect list." I said.

Understanding seemed to wash over Irene's face. "So what do we do?" she asked. "Maybe....ask Harry about it?" I suggested.

"No, my father's not a thief!" Irene said. "I'm not saying he's a thief. I'm just saying, maybe he knows something."

She shook her head again. "Don't make baseless accusations against my father" she said, her voice threatening.

Well, there goes all my side of the fight. Once Irene gets in her dominating form, I can't do shit about it. It's just natural instinct to submit.

Just then, a phone rang upstairs.

"The flip phone!" me and Irene exclaimed together. It's been so long since someone has called us on that thing. We both rushed upstairs.

"The kitchen!" Irene said and ran towards it. She was the first to reach, so she picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Irene started talking as she put the phone on speaker. "Irene" the one with the voice changer said.

"What do you want!" Irene almost screamed, losing her cool. I placed my hand on hers to calm her down a little.

"I see you've found the ring in your basement."

Both our eyes went wide on hearing that. "H-How do you know?" I asked. I was getting scared now. It hadn't even been 15 minutes since we found the ring.

"We have our sources" the feminine voice spoke. "What do you want?" Irene asked through gritted teeth.

"Were you the ones who kept the ring there?" I asked. Maybe these people were the thieves.

The gruff voice broke out into a chuckle that sent shivers down my spine. "No, we didn't. But we know who kept it there" the voice said.

"Who?" Irene asked. It was clear that she was frustrated and impatient. The combination did not go well together.

"Harry" the reply came. "BULLSHIT!" Irene screamed. "Stop shouting. The truth won't change" the gruff voice said.

"I don't believe you one bit! Why would I believe a random stranger over my own father? Never!" Irene said.

"Not even after seeing the photo we sent you?" the feminine voice said. "Have you ever heard of photoshop?" Irene asked sarcastically.

A sigh came from the other side. "Irene" a new voice spoke. "It's still me, I've just changed the voice changer to a softer one" the voice said.

"Look darling–" "Don't call me that!" Irene cut the voice off. The line went silent for a while.

"Listen here little miss. One more word from you and I assure you, the result will not be good!" the gruff voice returned.

I looked up at Irene to see her completely stiff. "Irene?" I called softly, to make sure she was okay.

"What did you call me?" she asked in a whisper. "Doesn't matter" the gruff voice replied.

There was water forming in Irene's eyes. I immediately went up to her and pulled her into a hug.

"You okay?" I asked as I stroked her back. "I'm not" she replied, her voice barely there.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She sobbed in my chest, not saying a word. I looked at the phone to see that the call had been cut.

"Irene please, talk to me" I said. "T-that person called me l-little m-miss" Irene started crying harder.

"What's wrong with that? Maybe she's older than you" I said. But Irene vigorously shook her head.

"My mother used to call me that when she was angry at me" she said. Oh.

"Shh, it's okay" I said and kissed her head. But now a new question was roaming in my mind.

"How did they know what my mother used to call me?" Irene voiced out my question.

She looked at me, the tears still prominent on her cheek. "They seem to know everything about us" I said.

A shiver ran through me at the thought. All my life, somebody has been watching me. A stalker. Might even be a killer. Oh god!