"Come on, pick up," Courtney urged as she peered over Alejandro's phone and saw Heather's name on the screen. "What are you waiting for?"
Alejandro swallowed as he felt a wave of nervousness in his stomach. Holding his breath, he picked up and put his cell on loudspeaker so Courtney and Duncan could listen in too.
"Heather, mi amor! Where are you?" Alejandro exclaimed. "Did you get my calls and texts? I've been so worried."
On the other end of the line, Nathan had also put Heather's cell on loudspeaker mode. Heather let out a nervous laugh as her gaze shifted to the knife Nathan was holding in his hand. "Yeah, sorry, um, my phone died and I didn't get a chance to charge it. I'm at my sister's place right now."
Alejandro frowned. "Your sister?"
Heather bit her lip. "Yeah, my older sister Amanda...she just went through a really horrible breakup so I'm going to be staying with her for a few days for moral support."
A lump formed in Alejandro's throat. He didn't know how to respond. "Right," he slowly said. "Is- is there anything you need?"
Heather swallowed as she continued to stare at the knife in Nathan's hands. "Um, yeah...could you bring me my work laptop? I'd like to get some work done here. I'll text you the address."
Alejandro felt his heart drop. "Okay. I will."
"I love you Al," Heather suddenly said in a soft voice. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
Alejandro instantly froze, the knot in his stomach tightening. "I love you too, mi amor," he gently said. There was silence for a few moments, before the call ended on Heather's end.
"Well, it sounds like she's fine," Duncan said, stifling a yawn.
"No, Heather is not fine! She's been kidnapped!" Alejandro immediately exclaimed. "And I bet Nathan is behind this! He probably wants her laptop so he can steal confidential work information."
Duncan raised a brow. "Dude, are you sure about that?"
"Yes," Alejandro firmly replied as he began pacing up and down. "This whole conversation just then was so suspicious. She said she's with her sister right now, but I know she's not close with her siblings. Even if she were going to visit her sister, she would definitely tell me beforehand. And aside from that, she called me Al, and she knows that I hate being called Al. This must be her way of telling me that she's in danger!"
A look of surprise flashed across Duncan's face. "Wow, that's some good detective work."
"If I can't figure out when Heather is in danger, I don't deserve to call her mi novia," Alejandro replied. "And also, it's actually kind of obvious that something's wrong."
"So we call the cops, right?" Courtney frantically said. "What are we still waiting for?"
"If Nathan sees the cops, what if he overreacts and does something dangerous?" Duncan argued.
Alejandro continued pacing up and down, his emerald green eyes flickering with determination and anger. No one hurts my Heather, he thought to himself. I must figure out a way to rescue her without sacrificing Illuminate's company secrets.
"I say once we find out the address of where Heather's at, we blow the place up," Duncan added. "Simple and effective."
Courtney rolled her eyes. "Blow up the place Heather's also inside? Nice going, Duncan. Not to mention you'll just end up in jail. Again."
"Isn't it technically self-defense this time though?" Duncan innocently said as he scratched his head. "Besides, we can somehow lure Heather out, right?"
"You're hopeless," Courtney muttered as she shook her head. "We need to just call 911."
Alejandro ran his fingers through his hair again as he listened to Courtney and Duncan speak, feeling frustrated and hopeless as he tried to come up with a solution to this mess.
At that moment, his phone lit up with a text notification: it was a text from Heather's number, with the address of where he was supposed to drop off her laptop. Typing the location in Google Maps, he immediately frowned; it was an address of some old, abandoned house.
He quickly texted back 'I'll be on my way', before an idea formed in his head. Courtney and Duncan's conversation might actually have just given him a little inspiration.
Alejandro turned to face them both, an unwavering look in his eyes. "I have a plan. And I'm going to need your help with something."
"I'm all in, bro," Duncan replied.
Courtney nodded. "Me too."
***
"I need to use the bathroom," Heather immediately said as soon as Nathan hung up the call with Alejandro.
Nathan let out a grunt. "Fine, but no funny business," he said as he walked over to her and undid the straps that were tying her to the chair. Heather simply rolled her eyes.
"The door is this way," Nathan then impatiently remarked as he gestured towards the door.
"I know where the door is," Heather snapped as she followed him.
"Remember, don't try to escape," Nathan sneered. "Not that it's in your best interests to do so. After all, José and I both have a recording of Alejandro's little confession and if you try to pull any stunt, I'll instantly send it to the press and post it on the internet."
Heather rolled her eyes again as she continued to walk ahead. She wanted to yell at him, to kick him and punch him but she knew it was probably best to just play along and let Nathan think he was getting the upper hand. She only hoped that Alejandro had gotten the hint that she was most definitely not at her sister's house.
Once Heather arrived at the bathroom, she immediately checked the inside of her jacket. Her eyes widened when she saw that the object Patricia had placed there was the tiny black recording device. She frowned. If Patricia knew that José and Nathan already had a copy of the recording, why would she give this to me?
After using the bathroom and washing her hands, a sudden wave of realization hit her. Oh my god, why didn't I think of this before?
"Are you done yet?" Nathan impatiently asked from outside.
"I'm coming," Heather snapped. The next moment, she pressed the 'play' button on the device and carefully slipped it back inside her jacket.
Once they were both back in the room, Heather willingly co-operated as Nathan redid the straps that tied her to the chair. She figured that if she complied, there was a higher chance that Nathan would open up and right now, she just needed to get him to start talking.
"So, Nathan, what is the meaning of this, huh?" Heather cut straight to the chase as she glared at him. "I gave you a job and this is how you repay me?"
Nathan clenched his jaw. "Don't take the moral high ground when you haven't been the most moral person yourself."
Heather rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you're referring to. I've never stolen anyone else's ideas or kidnapped-"
"I'm not talking about that!" Nathan suddenly loudly snapped.
Heather raised a brow at his sudden reaction. "Okay, whatever, Joe," she sarcastically responded. "And yeah, by the way, I know Joe's actually your real name, you loser and poser."
Nathan took a few deep breaths. "You think everything's about you, huh?" he seethed. "You think the world revolves around you, oh my god, look at me, I'm Heather, I'm the Founder of Illuminate and I'm so much better than everyone else."
Heather scoffed. "What happened to you? I'm actually genuinely curious. Because just several months ago, you were asking me out on a date. If this is because I rejected you for Alejandro, then you seriously need help."
"This has nothing to do with that," Nathan growled.
"Then what?" Heather rolled her eyes again. "If this is because Gwen-"
"How do you know I know Gwen?" Nathan swiftly interjected.
"I saw that photo of you with her," Heather scoffed again. "Who keeps a photo of their ex locked up in a filing cabinet, creep?"
Nathan let out a shrill laugh. "Gwen is not my ex."
"Aw, so you were rejected by goth girl too? How sad," Heather said in a sarcastic tone.
Nathan took another deep breath. "Look, I'm just going to tell you because you're clearly so curious about my life. Gwen is an old but close friend of mine. I haven't seen her since high school."
"Get over yourself, I couldn't care less about your little friendship with her," Heather snickered. What I do care about, though, is your connection to RFG Jewellery. How about you just confess all your dodgy activities right now?"
Nathan smirked. "The two are related. Guess you're not as smart as you think you are."
Heather froze. Oh my god. Gwen. RFG. The 'G' in RFG stands for Gwen.
"Guess you finally figured it out," Nathan suddenly said, as if reading Heather's mind, his voice low and deep. "Well, I might as well start from the beginning then," he added, whilst he
pulled a chair next to Heather and sat down.
Heather rolled her eyes. Great. It's story time with psycho Joe.
"I grew up in an unstable family," Nathan began. "My mom was an alcoholic and my dad was a gambling addict. We'd often move from city to city so I never really had a chance to settle down anywhere. That year shortly after my sixteenth birthday, my dad accumulated a large gambling debt and one day he just packed his things and left. I haven't seen him since. After that, my mom pretty much would never come home and when she did she'd always bring a different man with her."
Heather raised a brow and leaned slightly forward in her seat.
"One time at the supermarket, I ran into Gwen's mom. It turned out that her mom and my mom used to be really close friends back in college," Nathan continued. "She found out about my situation and offered to let me temporarily stay at her house. So I ended up living with Gwen's family for about a year."
Heather eyed him closely. "If you stayed with her, how come I never saw you at school?"
"Because of my situation, Gwen's mom suggested that I be homeschooled, which is why I didn't meet you until college," Nathan replied. He then paused for a moment. "But I certainly heard a lot about you and your reputation at your school," he added in an icy tone.
Heather swallowed as she put together the pieces and realized where this was going. "You only tried to get close to me in college so I'd give you a job at Illuminate. Your ultimate plan was to bring down my business because you wanted revenge. For Gwen. RFG. That's what it stands for."
Nathan let out a piercing laugh. "Took you long enough to figure that out. That was the plan, at least, initially. In fact, the only reason I studied business was because I heard you wanted to go to business school too. I changed my name from Joe to Nathan so I could have a fresh start in college, away from my past. And I studied extra hard so I could make the Dean's List every year, so that you would notice me."
Heather glared at him. "You really did all of that just because of some stupid high school feud? You really bring a whole new meaning to the word pathetic."
"Gwen was the only close friend I had," Nathan flatly said. "She and her family were the only people to have shown me kindness when my own family abandoned me. So how do you think I felt when I found out that you were the one responsible for reading her diary out loud to the whole school? Or when you kissed her boyfriend Trent in front of her and everyone else, one week before Spring Formal? Or all the other times you made her want to cry and hide? And not just Gwen, but all those other girls who you also tormented."
Heather gave him a once-over. "Constipated?"
Nathan scoffed. "You're really unbelievable. To think that at one point, I did have feelings for you and decided to forget about my revenge plans. That at one point, I even sacrificed my own reputation for you. But then Alejandro came into the picture and looking back, it was a blessing in disguise because I saw you for who you really are: an ungrateful, spoiled brat."
Heather clenched her jaw. "You don't know a thing about me. And on a scale of one to crazy, you're a psychopath. I actually feel sorry for you and I don't mean that in a sarcastic way."
"It's a shame you couldn't extend that same sympathy to Gwen and other girls when you did those things to them," Nathan curtly replied.
Heather clenched her jaw. "Does Gwen even know about this? Your so-called little revenge plan on her behalf."
"No."
Heather stared at him in disbelief. "Yeah, you really are psycho."
"It doesn't matter what you think," Nathan casually shrugged. "I just want you to experience the feeling of having something that matters to you taken away."
Heather instantly felt her blood boil at his words. "Oh, and you think my life has just been smooth-sailing?" she snapped. "You think that my whole identity only revolves around being the popular mean girl from high school? Yes, I've made mistakes and done some things I regret. Yes, I'm not perfect. But you don't get to act like some referee about me when you-"
At that moment, Heather was cut off by the sound of a doorbell ringing.
"Looks like your boyfriend's here," Nathan stated, a layer of sarcasm in his voice. "Guess you'll never get to finish your sob story."
"Go rot in hell," Heather spat.
Nathan sent a text to José to tell him that it was his turn to keep an eye on her. He then walked outside the room and made his way to the front door. When he opened it, Alejandro was indeed standing outside.
"I didn't realize Heather's sister was even uglier than the Grinch," Alejandro sarcastically remarked.
"Where's the laptop?" Nathan growled, ignoring Alejandro's comment.
"You're not getting this until you let Heather go," Alejandro firmly said, gesturing to the laptop case behind his hands. "And yes, we can stop playing pretend because I know you kidnapped her."
Nathan rolled his eyes. "I need to check that it is actually Heather's work laptop with the product designs saved inside."
Alejandro took a deep breath. "Fine. But I want to see her first."
Nathan smirked as he opened the door and gestured for Alejandro to walk inside. "Be my guest."
Alejandro held his breath as Nathan led him towards the room where Heather was inside.
He immediately kicked the door open and felt a stabbing pain in his chest at the glimpse of Heather inside, tied to the chair. "Heather, mi amor, oh my god," Alejandro breathed.
"Alejandro!" Heather's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of him.
As Alejandro immediately stepped inside towards her, he suddenly froze in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice. "Hola, hermano."
Turning his neck, Alejandro froze at the sight of his brother standing in the corner of the room. For a moment he was genuinely surprised, but that initial shock was quickly replaced by anger. Waves and waves of anger, like a torrential tidal wave. "José? You're involved in this too?" he spat, rage and disgust overtaking his entire body.
"It's like a nice little family reunion, isn't it?" José smirked.
Alejandro took a deep breath, remembering his plan. "I will deal with you later," he growled under his breath.
He then walked towards the corner of the room and carefully placed the laptop bag down. "By the way, the police are on their way here so if you both want to escape before then I suggest you leave. Now."
Nathan let out a laugh as he walked over to where the laptop bag was placed. "Yeah, right, you're not fooling anyone, bro."
"Suit yourself," Alejandro casually shrugged. He then turned to glare at José, who was now standing next to Heather, as if trying to block her from Alejandro.
Alejandro took a deep breath. "Hermano, whatever you do, please don't go and check the laptop."
José raised a brow. "Who are you to tell me what to do, Al?" he sneered. He then began walking towards where Nathan was standing with the laptop.
Alejandro took this as his cue to lightly tread across to where Heather was seated. He placed a finger to his lips, signalling for her to be quiet. Heather let out a tiny nod. Alejandro took out a pocket knife from his pocket and used it to quickly and seamlessly slice off the straps that were tying her to the chair.
He then cautiously peered over back at Nathan and José, who had just opened up the laptop and were pressing a few keys.
He took a deep breath, knowing that it would be happening any second now.
Three, two, one...
The next moment, Alejandro immediately grabbed hold of Heather's hands and protectively stood in front of her, using his body as a shield as a sudden loud bang erupted from the laptop, causing the laptop to blow up into flames.
"Oh my god," Heather gasped as she took in the sight in front of her and felt Alejandro's warm, protective hands around her.
"What the fuck, Al?" José growled, as he and Nathan both tumbled onto the floor.
"Courtesy of Duncan Nelson," Alejandro calmly replied, after making sure that Heather wasn't hurt. "Don't say I didn't warn you, hermano. Although I must say reverse psychology is quite powerful indeed."
"Y-you- fuck," Nathan muttered as he struggled to stand back up.
Heather immediately pulled Alejandro into another hug, tightly wrapping her hands around him, not wanting to let go and taking in his scent, his everything.
"Shh, I've got you. You're safe now," he whispered, kissing her forehead and gently stroking her hair.
At that moment, the four of them suddenly heard loud and rapid footsteps coming closer towards them.
Nathan, José and Heather immediately turned their heads to the source of the sound whilst Alejandro stood there unfazed. "And don't say I didn't warn you that the police were coming," he added.
Too physically weak to stand up and escape, both José and Nathan simply let out a loud groan and cursed under their breath.
Moments later, the door immediately kicked open. "Freeze! This is the RCMP!"
Alejandro frowned as he turned around. Courtney called the district police, so who called the RCMP?
Heather watched in satisfaction as several officers handcuffed José and Nathan, who had both now finally managed to stand back up on their feet. She then turned to face Alejandro. "You called the RCMP?"
"Courtney called the district police, so I'm not sure who called the RCMP," Alejandro replied.
"I did," a different voice suddenly called out from behind.
Everyone turned their heads around to see a blonde woman in a yellow minidress.
Patricia.
Alejandro blinked. "Patricia Smith? What are you doing here?" He stared at her, confusion flashing across his face.
"I'll explain later," Patricia offered.
"I'll get you for this, Al," José spat. "And you- you traitor," he hissed, whilst glaring at Patricia.
Patricia simply smiled and waved at him.
"You did this to yourself, hermano," Alejandro calmly replied. "I genuinely hope you can take the time in prison to reflect on yourself."
"You'll regret this," Nathan growled at both Alejandro and Heather.
"And that's what the pathetic TV villain always says," Heather said as she rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Have fun in prison. So long, losers."
At that moment, Courtney and Duncan suddenly barged in through the door, with a few more district police officers following after them.
"Heather, oh my god," Courtney said as she immediately rushed to pull her best friend in an embrace.
"You guys- all came for me," Heather breathed out.
"Of course we did," Courtney assured her.
"I'm glad you're still alive," Duncan added.
Heather rolled her eyes at Duncan's remark, but a tiny smile still tugged at the corner of her lips.
As everyone then watched José and Nathan being dragged away into police cars, Alejandro protectively put an arm around Heather. "It's all over, mi amor," he gently whispered to her, before placing a tender kiss on her forehead. "No one can ever hurt you again. I'll make sure of it."
The word 'diamond' comes from the Greek word 'adamas' and it means 'indestructible'.
And in that moment, as she gazed lovingly into Alejandro's emerald eyes, Heather knew that their bond was unbreakable.
***
"I'm so hungry," Heather groaned as she stepped outside the police station, with Alejandro, Courtney, Duncan and Patricia following after her.
All five of them had just gone through extensive questioning and provided their statements to the police and RCMP. Heather had given a copy of the recording of her conversation with Nathan, and Patricia had also confessed all of Nathan and José's detailed plans, including how José had approached her. Whilst there was still the official court sentencing process, it was safe to conclude that both Nathan and José would be going to federal prison for a long time.
"Me too, I'm starving," Duncan mumbled.
"How about we go back to mine and Courtney's apartment and Alejandro can cook for us," Heather said.
"I'm always down for free food," Duncan smirked.
Mi amor, I want alone time with you though, Alejandro mouthed to Heather, a sulky expression on his face.
Heather smirked. There's plenty of time for that tonight, she then mouthed back.
Te amo, he mouthed to her.
"You know, if you want to say something, you can just say it out loud," Courtney suddenly said.
"Qué?" Alejandro said, choosing to play dumb.
Courtney rolled her eyes. "Stop playing dumb and doing that flirting thing with your eyes to each other," she said, causing a flushed expression to form on both Alejandro and Heather's faces.
"Well, I should probably get going," Patricia said, as she turned to leave. "Don't want to intrude and fifth wheel you guys," she added, letting out a light chuckle.
Heather watched her and hesitated for a moment. "Hey," she then called out. "You're welcome to join too if you like."
"Thanks," Patricia smiled.
"So...I'm curious, what changed?" Heather then asked. "I mean, what made you switch sides."
"I saw the look in your eyes when you talked about Alejandro and something within me suddenly just changed," Patricia admitted. "What José and Nathan were doing with the whole kidnap and blackmail thing was wrong. I guess I was just too caught-up in wanting to get revenge that it clouded my judgment. But I realized I didn't want to be on their side anymore."
"Well, thanks for giving me the recording device," Heather nodded. "And for calling the RCMP and confessing to the police just then."
"I'm sorry for trying to screw you guys," Patricia smiled sheepishly.
Heather paused for a moment, thinking back to her own life and everything that had just happened over the last couple of hours. "We can't change the past and the mistakes we make," she eventually said. "But we can choose to acknowledge them and actively shape our future."
"Wow, is this Heather being deep?" Duncan pretended to look shocked.
Heather rolled her eyes. "And I say we're even now," she continued as she turned to look at Patricia. "So what do you say if we start afresh?"
Patricia held her out her hand and smiled. "Hi, my name's Patricia Smith and I'm the VP at Luxe Jewellers. It's nice to meet you."
Heather returned the smile and shook Patricia's hand. "My name's Heather Kasuga and I'm the Founder of Illuminate." She paused for a moment and then turned to Alejandro. "And this is my boyfriend, Ryan," she added, a smirk on her face.
Alejandro sighed. "Why do I have a feeling this is going to be an inside joke from now on?"
The others let out a light chuckle, before all five of them started walking off together.
And in that moment, despite all the craziness, Heather couldn't be feeling more grateful and content.
--
A/N - hey guys!! If you've made it this far, you are seriously amazing and you all get a marshmallow for sticking with me and my crazy plot ideas and twists :)
And yes, Gwen had zero involvement in Nathan's scheme - I deliberately threw in a red herring in the previous chapters 😅
THOUGHTS / FEELINGS / EMOTIONS??
There is one more chapter to go and it's one you don't want to miss! It's one with wholesome content and there are no more crazy surprises :)
On a separate note, I'm excited to announce that I am planning another Aleheather story! I hope to share more details soon, but for now here's a little teaser ;)
See you soon for the final chapter of Sparks Fly <3