Kara thought her life turned for the better. She got a very loving husband, a nice house to live in and her grandpa had stopped bugging her about the company.
Her life was perfect.
It was too perfect that she had to walk with three bodyguards tailing her like lost puppies.
She sighed heavily as she pushed her trolley along the supermarket aisles. They were walking behind her followed by glares from other customers. Some of them even took a selfie from afar either thinking that she was a celebrity or a freak.
She should stay at home. Now she regretted her decision to sneak out from her husband's order.
Stefan had warned her for a thousand times not to go out if it wasn't necessary till the person who wanted to kill her got caught.
So far the police and Tim hadn't made any progress. Stefan only let her going out for work. No date night, no shopping, no lunch out and Kara was bored to the core and today she had decided to visit the closest supermarket to do some shopping. She wanted to cook her husband the new recipe that she found in the internet and she couldn't wait to get home.
She walked briskly toward the parking lot. It was one in the afternoon and the sun was pretty harsh to begin with. But a smile finally was on her lips as she got away from the people that watching her every single move. Suddenly the world looked so much better. And now she wasn't actually mind being tailed by three bodyguards, they had helped her carrying her grocery bags. She stole a glance toward OJ, the youngest and the funniest looking among three. He was nervous.
Well, he always seemed to be nervous. His eyes never stop moving. Kara knew it eventhough right now he wore his sunglasses.
"OJ, are you alright?" she asked, thinking of taking them to the ice cream shop on the way home to reward them over their good behaviour.
She giggled a little.
"I am fine." OJ answered shortly.
Kara shrugged, "relax OJ," she said, wiping the sweat off her temple with the back of her hand before reaching for the car key from her purse.
It all happened in a blink of an eye....
She didn't hear the squeaky noise behind her. All she heard was someone yelling and before she knew what was going on, she was being pushed to the side of the driveway.....
***
Stefan thought everything went according to plan. That their life was back to normal, a happy normal life where he got to love his wife and enjoy their life together till the day he died, but he was wrong. One phone call from the hospital almost sent his soul away from his body.
Why did his wife have to be that stubborn?
Stefan wanted to yell at her but seeing her sitting on the hospital bed with bandage around her head stopped him for doing so. She was paled and traces of tears were on her cheeks. Her face lightened up when she saw her husband came running toward her.
"Baby...." He rushed to her side and carefully hugged her, "are you okay? What happened?"
"I am fine Stefan, just mild concussion and some bruises... but OJ wasn't so lucky. He's in the surgery room right now." Kara hugged him back. "Someone was trying to hit me with his car and OJ pushed me away....."
"Oh god...." His face went pale. He had ordered Tim to keep an eye on Evita just in case she made some moves but she had been quiet and suddenly another attack had happened.
Stefan cursed himself for not confronting Evita weeks ago when he visited Joseph and he promised he would do so as soon as Kara was fine.
"I hope OJ is fine" Kara's voice brought him back to the present time. "That kid saved my life....." Tears run down her cheeks. She was more worry about her bodyguard than herself.
"I am sure he is Baby, I am sure he is....."
"I was bored and just trying to cook you a new recipe, that was why I went to the supermarket. I am so sorry..... If only I had listened to you, OJ will be just fine....." sobbing, she hugged his torso and pressed her head deeper into his chest.
Stefan caressed her hair gently before planting a kiss on her head, hiding his rage inside. He swore he would put an end to this as soon as possible.
***
For someone with bruises and bandage she was still looking beautiful....
Stefan watched his wife sleeping with relieve in his heart. Kara was safe and sound and he was happy for it.
She was pretty upset with the situation and the fact that OJ was now lying on a hospital bed with severe injury had driving her mad. But luckily Stefan knew how to calm her down and finally she was agreed to have some rest and not throwing her tantrum trying to catch the bad guy.
He kissed her forehead carefully and adjusted her blanket before leaving the bedroom.
Slowly Stefan strolled down to the kitchen to talk to the rest of the bodyguards. They had been interviewed by the police and Tim the private investigator but Stefan wanted them to repeat everything just in case they remembered more information that maybe slipped their mind first time.
This situation had scared the hell out of him. Three attempt of murder couldn't be taken out lightly. He thought while waiting for police investigation, he could prevent another attempt by hiring bodyguards, but yet they almost failed and one already down. This was beyond his expectation, and police had admitted that they also miscalculate the event.
A knock on the door stopped him.
"Evita?" Stefan was stunned by his visitor.
"Hi. I heard what happened to Kara. I just want to see if she is okay....." her statement confused him. "May I come in?" she lifted a bouquet of flowers in her hand and smiled at him.
"She's fine." He answered dryly while taking a step back to let her in.
"Thank you." She said, Stefan led her to the kitchen, signalling the bodyguards to be somewhere else before offering Evita something to drink.
"Kara is sleeping right now." Stefan pushed a glass of water in front of his mother in law with a slight disgust on his face. This woman was a fake. Her smile and kindness wasn't genuine. Now he could see it as bright as the daylight. And she had the nerve to come here pretending to sympathized the attack. She was evil Stefan thought.
"Oh... well she should have plenty of rest..." Evita nodded, slightly disappointed that Stefan didn't allow her to see her step daughter. "And how are you Stefan? You are not using crutches anymore. I am glad you have recovered."
"I am feeling so much better. Thank you." Stefan answered shortly. Deliberately showing his reluctance to chit chatting with her.
They stayed silent for a while before Stefan throwing a question, "What are you doing here Evita?"
She blinked in confusion, "I am here to see my daughter. Is it a crime?"
"Oh really? Why don't you tell me who did you send to kill her?" Stefan asked bluntly.
"What?" she turned around to see his face over his absurd question.
"You paid that guy, Bruce to tamper the brake of my car too, didn't you? And attacked Kara here in this house after. Twenty thousand dollars up front. I got someone checked your bank transaction. You withdrew about that much at the same time when the attack happened."
Evita was still very confused by Stefan's interrogation and her face went pale responding to how angry he looked right now. "What? What are you talking about?" she said. "And how dare you going through my finance report?" she frowned.
"Cut the crap Evita. Don't pretend that you don't know!" He closed the gap between them, pushing Evita to take steps backward. His statement confused the hell out of her. "You've planned everything from the beginning. You tried to separate us by inviting Katherine back here to seduce me too, didn't you?"Stefan hissed angrily.
"Oh....." Evita gapped, now he finally made sense.
"Remember that one?" he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Why? Why do you hate Kara? She is your daughter for god sake!" he growled.
Evita took a deep breath, knowing that she couldn't lie anymore. Stefan knew her dirty trick and now he accused her with something that she didn't do.
Evita sat herself to the nearest chair, just next to the kitchen counter and placed her bag on it, her face was still pale, "I admit I paid Katherine to ruin your marriage. But that was all I did. I got nothing to do with the attack. And brake tampering? What are you talking about?" she looked up to see his face.
Stefan pressed his lips, this woman was still trying to deny her sins?
"Evita! Don't lie to me! You know I will do anything to keep my wife safe!" his words were now full of threat.
"I know Stefan... I know....believe me....." she stuttered, her full lips trembled slightly. "I am telling you the truth, I didn't pay anyone else except Katherine. And when she failed, I gave up. It was long time ago... before..... before your accident.... Did someone tamper your brake?" now her terrified mode turned to curiosity.
"Yes." Now Stefan slightly hesitated to his own accusation. His tone changed, he was no longer angry, he was confused.
"Why would I tamper your brake? I know the Jaguar was yours. If I wanted to kill Kara I will tamper her car...." She argued and she was right. "I might do something stupid but I will not do anything to harm that Kara. Katherine was the only one I paid, I swear. I don't know anything about this Bruce guy. Katherine was a mistake Stefan. I won't do it again!"
Stefan sank on a chair, trying to digest her information. It didn't make sense. He was convinced that Evita was the brain behind the attacks, she got all the motives in the world but seemed now that he had to scrap everything off and started again from the beginning.
"Why did you want to separate us?" he asked more gently this time.
Evita stared blankly at him but finally she gave up. She sighed deeply and sat opposite him, "I need money." She simply said.
"What?! Don't you have enough?"
She shook her head. "It was never enough.... Someone had been blackmailing me and he demands more money lately that I don't have."
"Why?"
She was hesitating to answer.
"Talk to me Evita. You have no luxury to keep a secret anymore. This is Kara's life we are talking about."
"You're right. Oh god you're right....." she gasped, realising the importance of her information. She took a deep breath before beginning her story. "Before I became a Singleton, I was seeing this guy named Duncan. One day I met Marco, Kara's father. Marco was handsome, rich and he was interested in me." Evita smiled remembering her past. "My young me couldn't help but trying my hardest to seduce him and made him mine. I managed to ruin his marriage in the process. I wasn't proud of it but I love Marco and I couldn't stay away from him. Soon after, I fell pregnant and I broke up with Duncan. I only told Marco after I gave birth. Marco felt responsible of the baby, so he proposed to me." Evita looked down feeling embarrass.
"I was happy that I finally had everything I ever wanted. Marco also seemed happy, but one thing that Marco doesn't know is, Caleb is not a Singleton......" she continued. "I keep it as a secret. Not even Caleb knows it and Joseph is too blind to see that Caleb looks nothing like Marco. Joseph was too happy that he finally has a grandson. I thought our life would be perfect. I just need to feed Joseph with his belief that man is better than woman. That Caleb is most suitable candidate to inherit the company and I will be fine, I won't need to worry about Caleb's future anymore once Joseph handed in Indigo Pharma. But my happiness ruined slowly when two years ago, Duncan found out about his son and started to blackmail me. He said he would tell Joseph about Caleb and we will be kicked out to the street. I do believe him, you know how Joseph is. So, I give Duncan money every month..... Oh god, I am so stupid." She shook her head. Evita gulped her water and continued. "Duncan was okay with the amount of money that I gave him, but lately he asked for more and I was struggling. I begged Duncan to let me off the hook but he didn't want to. That was when Joseph decided to put Kara as the sole owner of Indigo Pharma because she has a husband. Caleb had lost his chance to own the company and I wouldn't have access to the money I need..." she sighed. "That was why I sent Katherine in. I thought Joseph would demote Kara if you divorced her. I am so sorry Stefan.... "
Stefan dismissed her apology. It wasn't the time for it.
"Finally I told Duncan that I've lost my chance to get the company and Kara would own everything..." she stopped and her eyes suddenly rounded, "Oh my god!" she gasped. "Do you think he was the one sending this hit man? Oh my god!!! I told him unless Kara is gone, Caleb will not get the ownership....." Evita started crying, "oh god... oh god.... Oh god........ What have I done?" clasping her mouth she started panicking.
Stefan was shock to the core. He didn't expect the secret would be revealed like this, that Caleb wasn't a Singleton and that he finally got the answer of who was the brain behind Kara's attacks. "Can you tell me where can I find this guy Duncan?" All he needed to know now was where he could find the bastard and end him.
"I don't know where he lives. But I will meet him once he calls to give him the monthly payment...."
***