For The Love Of Chéri (CHAPTERS 1-112 REWRITTEN)

Chapter 175 : Marcel Helped Plan The Structure..

Her phone rang over the noisey cabin of the plane. She opened her handbag and took her phone out. At first she thought it was her beloved husband, whom she missed dearly and was expecting a call from, but it was a withheld number.

"Hello..?" Monique asked, and then she listened a moment before she shook her head and looked concerned, "A message? From who? What do you mean 'saying goodbye'? Who is saying goodbye?"

She listened to the strange female voice with a strong Spanish accent on the other end of the phone. The voice then just started rattling off a confusing list of instructions, at a rate that Monique struggled to understand.

"Money? What money?" Monique asked.

The voice slowed slightly, and informed her that they were only a messenger, and that if she received money, she was to ask no questions. She was to use it as she saw fit, but she was not to speak of it to her American husband, or any of his offspring.

"Wait! Who is this?! What's going on?!" Monique said desperately, and rather loudly, making those in the aeroplane seats around her turn to look, as the line went dead.

A tall man walked back to his seat beside her and sat down.

"What's up darlin', you look like you seen a ghost."

He was tall at around six foot four, with greying golden blond hair that touched his shoulders and he had the most unusual, rather large eyes of a strange, deep blue.

Monique turned to him, "It's alright, Travis. Just, another strange phone call.."

"Look, I know you didn't wanna tell Merrick cause he's unwell, and cause he wouldn't let 'cha go, but what are we flyin' to Spain for, darlin'?" Travis asked.

Monique stared out the window, "Because my eldest son is in some kind of danger. Strangers call me and give me snippets of information."

"Soo... am I like the muscle on this trip? As, you're actin' on the word of some foreigner on the phone?" Travis asked.

"Not just that. I've also been receiving cryptic messages from my step son, until just recently, that just...never seem to make any sense. It seems like...something has our whole family in its grip.."

Travis raised an eyebrow, "Oh, your step-son, was that the anorexic one? He, is a freak...always has been. He barely speaks to his own family, and has exiled himself to Spain for years doing God knows what."

Monique covered her forehead with her hand as she leant against the window, "No! He was always troubled, and misunderstood, and... you are one of the only people who knew that he had been in communication with me on and off for years."

Travis looked down at his hands, "Yeah.. I support you like you wouldn't believe. But that man, your step son, also seems to have unexplained, bottomless pockets. Didn't his sister tell you that he bought a massive Chateau in the south of France?"

"Yes. He is a very successful man. I've often asked to meet him.. but something always came up, and he flatly refused to meet any of my children. I've not seen him in person for decades."

Travis nodded, "Yeah, but all of those kids had problems and abandonment issues. They all resented your biological children because their own mother walked out on them! And they blamed you for leaving when you met my eldest brother."

"Only because of the lies their father told them." Monique said, "I had quietly asked to see the children, and he always refused. He always made things so difficult."

"Ohh yeah, their father was some piece of work! It took you how long to get a divorce outta that old creep? I met him twice... and that was enough! That weird, spindly, bad tempered old man, who actually looked like a mortician!" Travis said.