My character inspiration for adult Chloe is Angelina Michelle! She is so beautiful, I just can't stop staring at her. Guys! I think I might be in love! ❤ ↑
Also, 350+ Votes and 400+ comments, and I'll update the next chapter earlier! ❤
Tick...
Tock...
Tick...
Tock...
My eyes shifted from the ceiling to the clock and then to my desk which was filled with various documents. Valentina walked in and piled more and more papers on the desk and placed a steaming cup of coffee before me.
I frustratedly raked a hand through my hair, they have been falling all over my forehead. I don't even remember if I brushed them or not in the morning.
"Sir, you have lunch with Mr. Valkov---"
"Cancel it"
"I've been canceling it for the past three days"
"Is Lachlan here yet?"
"No, sir, do you want me to call him?"
I reclined back in my seat. "What about that membership?"
"They said they'll deliver the password and your piece to the given address. It will be delivered to your apartment, maybe in a few hours"
I nodded. "I'll call you if I need anything"
"Yes, sir" she turned on her heels and left my office.
I slumped my head over my desk, the past two days have been complete torture. There was no word from Lachlan and the membership process took longer than I had expected.
Gripping the coffee cup, I got off my seat and walked to the window. My palms were sweaty. My head hurts like a son of a bitch-I could feel it throbbing along to the beat of my heart. I took a sip of the bitter hot liquid, it was my fourth cup since the morning.
The intercom buzzes on my desk, my head whiplashed toward it. "Mr. Lachlan is here, sir"
I sped towards my desk, spilling some of the hot coffee over my hand in the process but I didn't fucking care right now. I pressed the button. "Send him in"
The office doors opened and Lachlan entered, he looked tense, his facial expressions didn't really help my situation. He made it to the coffee table and laid out multiple files and his laptop.
My hand was burning because of the hot coffee, I cleaned it with a tissue as I walked toward him. I scanned the three files resting on the table as Lachlan silently worked on his laptop.
"Well, what is it?! Did you find her? It's her, right? It's Chloe..." my body lost form and my knees practically failed me as I waited for him to answer.
He looked up at me, his expression still giving nothing away. "Axel, are you sure, you wanna do this?"
Why the fuck was he talking to me like I'm some fucking child. I know what I'm doing, I know what I ordered him to do! "Lachlan, I'm paying you, you don't get to ask questions, just do your fucking job and tell me if it's Chloe!"
He nodded and gestured to the couch. "Sit, make yourself comfortable first. You may be paying me, but I still care about you, you son of a bitch"
I sat down and waited for him to fucking say something. He placed a hand over the first file and slid it towards me. I tried to pick it up but he slammed his hand over it.
"Rosalie Miller..." he started. "In this file, is the real Rosalie Miller, according to her birthdate, she is 102 years old and dead"
He finally takes his hand off the file and I immediately flipped through the pages.
"She died of cancer exactly five years, two months, and eleven days ago, aged ninety-seven..." he slid another file towards me. "...and exactly ten days after her death," he tapped the other file. "The same Rosalie Miller, with the same social security number, started working in the Anarchy Nightclub. Unless she's a witch, who got magically resurrected, and then drank the blood of little children to make herself a twenty-three-year-old bombshell again, this doesn't make any sense or she could be a vampire. A witch or a vampire?"
I opened the second file, and abruptly, my insides froze, ice ran through my veins, chilling me to the bone. The face on the first page is the face I know. Even after all these years, even after she has grown, matured, changed, I still know it's her.
Her green eyes looked straight into the camera, her plump lips accentuated with the red lipstick. Her skin was as pale as ever. It seems like she is naked in the picture as she had her arm crossed over her chest, the mole on the side of her neck was on full display. I ran my fingers over her picture. It's her... It's her.
Still, the beautiful, bright woman she always was. Even at sixteen, when she first came into my life, she felt so much more sophisticated than all the girls around her age. My chest tightened, it was suffocating me. My eyes burned with tears, and I don't want to cry, but the sight of her took me back to our little apartment.
"That's not all, Axel" he slid the third file before me. "Chloe Jones has been declared dead long ago, your father held a very public funeral but three and a half years ago, some unknown man asked for her school records. The strange part is, the Richmonte High policy requires you to put in a request, sign some bullshit forms, and even after all that you get the school records within 45 days"
I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "So?"
"This guy never put in a request, he came directly to the school and acquired her school records on the spot" he snapped his fingers. "Just like that!" he leaned back on the couch and gave me a smug look. "You sure you wanna hear the next part?"
He was testing my patience. "Just fucking tell me, Lachlan!"
"Chloe Jones graduated from a night school three years ago, and that night school is only a fifteen minutes drive away from the Anarchy nightclub." He chuckled. "Axel, it's her, man. It's your girlfriend Chloe"
Something happened inside of me when Lachlan said your girlfriend Chloe, something that knocked the wind out of my sails. I felt something in my chest, no... not in my chest, particularly where my heart used to reside. I don't have it, she took my heart with her, but the spot where it used to beat, I feel something there.
I laughed. It's was a nice feeling. I honestly forgot everything around me, I found myself slipping back in time. The time when I first saw her... passed out over a cash register in a store where she used to work. The first time, I asked her out and we went to lunch, and the next day she said she only went out with me because she was hungry. "Don't get any ideas" she had snapped.
Everything...
I finally opened the third file and saw her graduation picture. It wasn't much, just a group photo with some of the other students. She's beautiful, this girl... No, this woman... she is way more beautiful than I had imagined. I often thought about how she'd look all grown up and now when it was right in front of me, I couldn't believe it was real. I couldn't believe she was real.
And then my eyes fell on the guy behind her. He was the same guy from the club.
I'm so sorry, Mr. King but she's Andrew Masino's girl. She doesn't give out lap dances or private performances.
As I said, I can not help you. You can not meet her
I placed a finger over his face. "This guy... I saw him---"
Lachlan cut me off. "Yeah, he is the same guy who came to Richmonte for her school records" he flipped his laptop towards me and played surveillance camera footage of the school. Lachlan paused the video when that man's face appeared clearly in the frame. "The only information I could gather about him was his name, Maxim Hayes, and that he is the manager of like five to six nightclubs all over Vegas. Other than that, the man is a ghost"
I nodded and again flipped through the second file, the Rosalie Miller ones. As I flipped through the pages, her pictures got racier. In one of the pictures, I'm sure she wasn't even wearing anything as she lay on a bed on her stomach.
"These pictures are from her fantasy club's profile, highly classified but I pulled some strings to get them. It's..." he hesitated before he continued. "It's for the clients, who want to... hire her, you know... for her services"
I could feel my blood boiling in my veins. My pulse sped up, my head spun and threatened to explode. "That would be all, Lachlan"
He stood up abruptly, buttoned his suit jacket, and picked up his laptop. "Call me if you need anything else"
He left immediately after that, he knew better than to push me at this time. I flipped through more of her pictures, some were in lingeries, some were in weird racy costumes. Chloe would never wear something like this. She was so shy, so genteel.
I grazed my finger over her smiling face. "What happened to you?"
"Would you stop studying and spend some time with me?" I groaned and placed my head on her shoulder while she read about god knows who. "She looks so boring, baby" I kissed her bare shoulder.
She elbowed me. "She's not boring, she is my inspiration. Her name is Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood"
"That's a really long name"
Her eyes gleamed, the most beautiful smile was plastered on her face as she talked about her. "She was an American attorney, politician, educator, and author. She was the first female lawyer in the United States. She worked so hard for women's rights. Do you know she also worked for the women's suffrage---" she stopped midway and glanced at me. "I'm not boring you, am I?"
I kissed her forehead and pulled her closer. "Nothing you do bores me, Chloe"
I held my head in my hands. "What happened to you? How did you--- what are you doing there?"
And the only person that could answer all these questions was her...
I closed all the files and placed them in my safe. I headed out of my office to get to Charlotte's floor. I strode to her office but her secretary stepped in my way.
"Mr. King, no one is allowed to go inside---"
I sidestepped her and opened her office door, walking in to talk to my sister. The sight before me was downright appalling, Charlotte had her tongue down Jason-from-management's throat. They jumped away from each other as I entered, Charlotte turned away from me, buttoning her blouse and Jason was trying very hard to cover up the tent in his pants.
He smoothed his hair with both of his hands and offered me his hand for a handshake. "Mr. King"
I made sure to give him the most revolted glare I could muster. His hand fell back to his side and he gave me a sheepish smile. Does he even love my sister or is he with her for her money? I sound like dad...
"Jason, I'll see you later" Charlotte had finally made herself presentable.
"Get out," I told him.
"AXEL!" Charlotte snapped, Jason-from-management looked between Charlotte and me and finally decided to leave us alone.
"Charlie---"
"What the hell, Axel. You can not just barge into my office when---"
"When you're in the middle of a make-out session?"
Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to look as bitchy as she could. "Why are you here?"
"I need your help..."
She was clearly taken aback by what came out of my mouth, she scoffed. "Did you just say that you need my help?"
"I need you to cover for me for an indefinite period of time"
She laughed. "Excuse me?"
"Charlie, I wouldn't ask you to do this unless it was important. Don't worry, I'll work with you online"
"Where are you going?"
"Just somewhere?"
"And why are you going?!"
"I can't tell you that!"
"No!" she snapped stubbornly.
"What?" I stared at her with disbelief.
"Tell me first!"
"Tell you what?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Why do you need my help? Where the hell are you going? Why do you need me to cover for you?!"
I raked a hand through my hair. "Because I'm in love! I'm in love, Charlie... I need to go be with her"
She looked shocked at first but then she smiled. "You are? Who is she--- you know what... it's not important, the point is... You are in love again"
I never fell out of love.
"Yes, I am"
"Okay, go, I'll take care of everything. When are you leaving?"
"Tonight"
"To-tonight? Isn't it a bit too early?"
I smiled and pulled her in a hug. "I know you can handle it"
I pulled back and sprinted out of her office, I heard her calling my name. I didn't have time, I needed to see her, I needed to be with her. I had spent so much time thinking that she was dead, I have spent so much time without her, I don't think I can even spend a moment without seeing her. I drove back to my apartment to pack my stuff, I ordered the crew to prepare my jet for tonight.
I pulled up outside my apartment building and headed up to my floor. Once I got to the hallway, I saw Anders standing outside my door, with a bunch of banker boxes. I approached him.
"This came for you in the mail" he handed me a little black envelope, with an Anarchy stamp printed on it.
Perfect fucking timing!
I opened it and took out a metal miniature crown, the password was written inside the envelope, KING. I instantly put it back into the envelope and stuffed the envelope in my suit's inner pocket.
I glanced back at all the boxes. "What's all this?"
"Chloe Jones's case files"
I took a deep breath. The reopening of the investigation means I have to be in California where she was fake murdered. I didn't have that kind of time right now. I needed to go where she was... not California.
I swiped the key and unlocked the apartment, I entered and Anders followed behind, he pulled all the boxes inside one by one.
"I don't have time for this right now, Anders" I turned to go to my bedroom.
"Sir, you might want to hear this"
"It doesn't matter anymore, Anders---"
He cut me off. "It was a cover-up, sir"
"What?"
"It was a cover-up. There were two autopsy reports. You had one of them, the fake one. The real one clearly states that the victim was a blonde, twenty-five-year-old woman. Her identity is still unknown but this case was closed without any kind of investigation. I think it was an inside job, sir"
I stood there in silence, stunned. I tried to shove all of it out of my mind. No, he wouldn't stoop that low, would he? My heart dropped right to my toes, my stomach knotted. I almost lost the ability to breathe.
I didn't want my hate to cloud my judgment but all the things point at him. I honestly don't want to believe it, but... It has to be him.
"Dad..." I whispered. "Dad did this... He staged her death, so, she can no longer be in my life..."
"Sir, I think there might be another explanation---"
"No, he told me that he was doing everything in his power to catch Chloe's killer but they never investigated her death, did they?"
"Sir, I---" he took a deep breath and shook his head. "No, sir, they didn't"
"Anders, no one knew what she looked like except for him, I don't know if he murdered someone. I have no idea how he faked her dead body but he did give me a fake autopsy report to make me believe that my Chloe was dead"
I was having a hard time believing the words that were coming out of my mouth. I didn't want to believe that dad could do such a thing but no other explanation makes sense to me right now. The only person who wanted Chloe gone was him.
"Sir, only someone in the police department has that kind of power---"
I shook my head. "Only he knew where she was, I didn't... No one did... They found Chloe's stuff with the body, the stuff only he had access to because he knew where Chloe was. He did all this, there's no other explanation for this, Anders"
"Sir, do you need me to put this investigation on hold while you figure out---"
"No, inform Valentina to rent out three apartments in Vegas, one for you, one for her, and one for me. We're moving there. I'll work online and I'm also gonna work on this case till I can prove that my father murdered an innocent girl for his own personal gain. I'm not going to rest till I put my father behind the fucking bars for what he did!"
What do you guys think? ↑
A/N
Hey, beautiful people!
I hope you guys enjoy today's update!
So, Axel finally knows everything. What do you think he's going to do next?
Do you guys think Dominic staged Chloe's death?
What do you guys think about the love of my life Angelina? She is so beautiful, isn't she? She's Chloe in my mind ❤
Anyways, if you loved today's update then don't forget to comment and vote and please leave feedback! ❤
I love you all!!
X O X O
JANE DOE