Hello😀😀😀, I was supposed to publish this chapter yesterday night but I slept off😚 Just woke up an hour ago😎
Please vote to support your girl😁
and fasten your eye-belts (that sounds so wrong), it's going to be a long chapter💃💃💃
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Hunter
"I'm ready when you are, Mr. Stone" Mike from beside me and I take a deep breath before nodding.
"Let's go" I say and follow Mike as he steps out of the car.
We're currently outside Esmeralda's parents home and nerves that weren't there before start to rear their heads.
What if I've been wrong all along?
Can I handle the truth?
There's only one way to find out.
I glance at my wrist watch and notice that it's nine thirty; a pretty inappropriate time to have strangers visiting but I just can't find in me the patience to wait till tomorrow.
In a few long strides, we're at the front door and Mike rings the doorbell. For a few seconds, it seems like no one heard us but footsteps approaching the door halts Mike from ringing the bell again.
"Who is there?" A deep male voice asks.
"We're here to see Mr and Mrs Griffin" Mike responds almost immediately.
"That doesn't answer my question. Who's asking? Provide a direct answer or I'm calling the cops"
"It's Mr. Stone, the CEO of Stone Empire and he's here to see Mr and Mrs Griffin" Mike States calmly and I expect to hear the man's protest but I'm surprised when I hear the lock clicking before the door finally swings open.
What if we were assassins or burglars?
Is this how he would have easily opened up?
Those thoughts die in my head though when I see a shot gun in his hand. Before I can process what I'm seeing, he already has it pointed at me.
"Are you really Mr Stone? Why would someone like that come to visit me?"
"We just want to ask a few questions and then we'll gladly be on our way. Please lower your gun" Mike says discretely reaching for his own gun behind him just in case the man failed to comply.
I definitely don't want this situation to escalate. I have no intention of hurting Esmeralda's "father".
The man's eyes roam suspiciously around as if to check if there were more people lying in wait. When he seems satisfied, he lowers the gun and invites us in.
My mind barely registers the details of his home as he leads us to the living room and gestures for us to sit.
He then asks us to wait while he gets his wife upstairs.
Minutes later, he returns with a woman who looked nervous as hell as she keeps wringing her hands together and is trying her best to look at anything else but us.
They both sit down on the couch facing the one Mike and I are sitting on.
"So, why are you both here?" The man asks and Mike clears his throat ready to speak when a young boy walks in fidgeting with the blanket in his hand.
"Mom, the clown is laughing under my bed again. I want Esm..." The boy starts to say and the woman's eyes widen making her cut him off.
"Go to your room Bastien, I'll soon join you" She orders and the boy's face scrunch up.
"But..."
"Your room. Now" She repeats and the boy finally turns around to walk away.
Just then, I notice how odd the boy was acting for his age. His facial features weren't quite ordinary either.
My thoughts trail off when Mike finally speaks up.
"We have a few questions about your daughter Esmeralda and we hope you can help us out"
"Why? Is something wrong with her?" The man queries suddenly at alert while the woman just looks away.
Something's up with her, she knows something.
"Nothing is wrong but I've been investigating your family for a while now and something is not adding up. With the evidences I have, I'm led to believe that Esmeralda is not your real daughter and that your real daughter died years ago. Esmeralda is similar to a lost heiress in all ways and her family are willing to do everything it takes to find her. If you lie about anything and we find out the truth later, you can get in serious trouble. Now shall we proceed?" Mike voices out and without waiting for a responses continues to talk.
"Is Esmeralda your real daughter?" He asks and the man suddenly flares up.
"What in the world do you mean? I will not tolerate such disrespect in my home! I need to contact my lawy..."
"No. No, she's not" The woman mutters quietly successfully shutting the man up.
He turns to stare at his wife with shock evident on his face.
"Mary, we can talk about this later" he cajoles and she shakes her head with tears falling from her eyes.
"No Bob, we made this decision five years ago, we can't go back now" She responds and as if she's suddenly made up her mind about something, she sits up straight and wipes her eyes.
"I'm ready to answer any question you have" She says and her husband deflates beside her finally resigned to follow her steps.
"Thank you for your cooperation ma'am. Can you please tell me how you got to know Esmeralda since you just said she isn't your daughter?" Mike asks and I loosen my tie a bit because I suddenly feel hot.
"About ten years ago, we passed through this city on a road trip. Bastien was merely three and a half years old then. It was the first time we tried to have fun since our daughter died nine months back. Just when we were almost out of the city, we saw a girl lying beside the road, at first we thought she was a passed out junkie but on a closer look, we realized that she was badly wounded and she needed help urgently.
We couldn't find any car wreck or anything that could have given us a clue as to what happened to her but we knew if we didn't do something fast, she would die.
Without thinking, we put her in our car and drove to the next city since it's hospital was closer than this city's own.
We told the nurses and doctors that we were her parents and paid for all her treatment hoping that we would be able to contact her family once she woke up" Mrs. Griffin pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing.
"However, when she woke up two days later, she didn't remember a thing and since the nurses had already told us we were her parents, she kept referring to us as Mom and Dad." She pauses again as her tears resume falling.
"We decided to extend our stay in that town for a few more days and stayed at a hotel while spending almost all day with her. She reminded me so much of our daughter and when Bastien started calling her Esmeralda, I lost it.
You see, Bastien is autistic and since his sister died, he had basically stopped living. He never smiled, barely ate and even though he was barely three when she died, her death hit him the most because they were so close. She understood him in ways I didn't.
So when I noticed that my son looked lively for the first time in a long time, I became selfish. I didn't want that to stop so we took her with us on our road trip.
I swear I promised I would help her find her family after a while but she grew on me" She pauses since her voice has started shaking. By now, her tears were endless.
"She was so much like my daughter and I just couldn't find it in me to let her go. We moved away from our home to avoid questions from our family friends but five years ago after Esmeralda graduated highschool and got accepted into a college here, my conscience began to kill me.
I know what it's like to lose a child and I just cannot imagine what loosing Esme might have done to her parents. I will always be sorry for that" She breaks down wiping her eyes with the tip of her shirt.
"She was so excited to come here. It seemed as if even though she couldn't remember anything, she was still drawn to her home." Mr. Griffin continues when he realizes his wife was no longer able to let out a coherent word.
"That was when my wife and I made up our mind to move to this city with her in hopes that she would get her memories back and find her family" He finishes and I sink into the couch in disbelief.
It's Daisy, it really is Daisy and she doesn't remember me!
"But what about the pictures of her growing up?" Mike asks
" I'm a graphic designer. It was pretty easy to edit her face into some of my daughter's pictures and documents since they were both withing a close age range." He answers.
"Are you her family?" Mrs. Griffin finally speaks up again.
"No, I'm her fiancé" I answer and she gasps.
"I am so sorry!" She murmurs choking on her tears.
"I'm actually grateful to you for saving her life. It might have taken her away from me for a few years but that's better than her being dead" I say feeling like there's something stuck in my throat.
She might not remember me but I can make her fall for me again.
It's time to win back my girl
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And I oop...🚶🚶🚶
What do you think of Esme's "parents"?
What do you think of this story so far?
Please don't forget to vote, share and comment. It motivates me to write more and update faster (yes, I'm trying to bribe you🚶🚶)
Much love, Yvonne❤❤❤