Claire confirmed it again. Gabriel was on his way to her son's house and he definitely wasn't going there for some merriment. According to the security personnel she had employed, Gabriel had purchased from a black market, explosives after he had trailed his way to Charles's house and the very hangar his private aircraft was usually kept whenever his work made him remain within London.

One thing was crystal clear though, Gabriel wasn't aware that Charles and Isabella weren't home and that made it all easy for her. She would be able to get a hold of the careless, vengeance driven man without much being lost.


In preparation, she had used her connection to evacuate the occupants around to a more conducive environment which happened without much complaint because, who doesn't like to have a taste of a better life once in a while?

From a safe distance with a walkie talkie on her laps that danced with impatience, Mrs. Oxford wondered if Charles was at that moment face to face with his real father. Truthfully, she had no idea what the man looked like, but she could never forget how cunny he was, how manipulating he could be.

And since it was certain that at some point, Ordinaz will exhibit those traits in front of Charles, she prayed her son will be able to handle the situation.


"Ma'am, Gabriel is on the move," a thick southern accent said from the device and she threw a nod towards the man seated in the driver's seat.

"Get the men ready. Is the dummy in place?" The man replied in affirmative and Claire sighed. Charles would get so angered when he finds his house in ruins.


"He has gained assess to the house and is making his way to the bedroom. I believe he will be sighting the dummy soon."

" I hope the whole scene was carefully packaged. He must not sense anything to be wrong," she asked, her mind racing as she looked out of the window.

"I made sure nothing was wrong ma'am. He is installing the bombs now and he is quite fast about it. He must have been done things like this a lot in the past." The woman darted her head towards the driver's seat. She didn't wish to see the visuals but she could not help but wonder about the speed the man was talking about.

Minutes later, after rapid reporting of the crazy man's actions which majorly disturbed Claire - an example was the part where he sniffed Isabella's clothes after setting up his revenge materials- they all waited patiently for him to come out.

And he finally did. After walking a few distance away from the house, just as she could see, he took out a little item that Claire believed to be the trigger.

"Get ready," she ordered the man and actively, the man informed the other people on standby. Already having knots inside her, she watched as Gabriel tilted his head a bit towards the sky. It was unclear what he was doing really, but the next thing Claire Oxford knew, her son's house had been blown apart, flames maliciously decorated the environment and Claire was once again glad that no one was around.

Just as Gabriel made to walk away, suited men rushed towards him, formed a circle around him and soon had him in an inescapable situation. Claire got down from the car and walked towards the men who had now successfully tied the man up.

"Make him stand," she ordered as she looked down at the man with no pity in her eyes.

"I knew you would try to stop me," he cackled as two men helped him stand. Claire scoffed and walked closer. She could feel the heat from the flame and she could not help but think that what she was about to do would bring so much more heat. "You are late though."

"What?" she asked, her face devoid of emotion.

"I just finished Charles. I blew him up." Gabriel laughed loudly again and Mrs. Oxford had her arms crossing over her chest. "I told you I was going to make you suffer."

The woman smiled softly before taking one more step so that she could glare properly into the man's eyes. "Gabriel..." She motioned to the men to let him stand on his own. "You don't really think you'd get away with this, do you?"

"I will. It is all over now. Isabella has no one to protect her, you can't do anything..." Gabriel's head did a small spin, his smile growing wider. " I don't see how I won't get away with this."

"Oh, you won't. I promise you." Claire faced the men. " Grab him and put him in the van."

"To- to where? Where are you taking me?" The man had a bit of fear in his voice and that pleased Claire.

Still wearing no emotion, her eyes darted to the side as she replied, "We are going to the very hangar you planned to blow up."

"Wh-what? What are you going to do with me?" She gave him a smile after signalling to the men behind the restless man.

"When we get there, you'd know." That was all she told him and soon, she was walking away, feeling even more knotted as the whole thing she had planned ran past her mind again.

~

Isabella was tempted to burst into laughter but she didn't yield. They had all left the mind indulging scenery outside and were all seated in a large, adequately and exquisitely furnished room, both her and Charles facing the man who had earlier dropped some sentence about being the reason they met again.

"Would you care to explain?" Isabella tore her eyes from the approaching maid as Charles broke the long silence that they had been bathing in.

"Why I did it? Or how I did it?" The man's smile still bothered Isabella who shifted closer to her husband instinctively. As she did, she inwardly acknowledged how comfortable the couch was.

"Both. I guess," came Charles's voice which had become more thick.

Ordinaz cleared his throat and set aside the pipe in his hand which was awaiting some lighting. "Honestly, I didn't want to do it at first, but I wanted you to come see me. I have studied you for years now Charles and I am well aware that had you not met Isabella, you would gotten less enthusiastic about getting a wife to fulfil my wish."

" So what?" Charles's hands floated in the air. "You manipulated things so that Isabella and I will meet again?"

"Yes. That's what I did. I organized that charity event and all I did more was plant the idea of attending the event in the most inconspicuous way possible."

Charles chuckled. "You are making no sense."

"Do you know why I asked you to get a wife?" The man leaned forward and quirked his brow as though asking for an answer. When all he got was Charles's jaws clenching, he let out a small laugh before saying, "I just wanted you to. I felt it would be nice to see you settled before coming to see your real father."

"You felt? So what, you wanted to play a little game with me? "

"No," Ordinaz simply said, his eyes darting to the ceiling. " I just wanted to see you get settled."

"And that means, you were trying to play a game with me. By telling me to get a wife, by orchestrating my meeting with Isabella, you have done nothing but try to mess with my life. What on earth did you think you'd get out of it?" Charles scoffed. " Uh?"

"I got you to be with the woman you love regardless what you say," the man slowly said.

" So, I'm supposed to thank you?" Charles has his shoulders squaring.

"No." Rodrigo Ordinaz had his eyes falling on his son's. They were the same colour as Charles but not as gorgeous and not mesmerizing at all. "I expect you to listen to what I have to say."

"You really want me to listen to you?" The man nodded, Charles created a pause in the air as he wore thoughts on his face before he said, "Go on then, what do you have to say?"

"Frankly, I have been having some issues lately and only you can help me. You are the only son I have that isn't dipping his hands in dirty things." Isabella and Charles shared a look. " I want your company and Isabella's to form a connection with one of mine."

Charles broke into a deep chuckle, his shoulders jerking hard. When his little laugh ended, he wore a smile, the side of his eyes wrinkled and he said, "So this is a business meeting."

"It is majorly a father-son meeting. But yes, it is also a business meeting."

"In that case..." Charles grabbed Isabella's hand and had her standing up as soon as he did. "I am afraid we have to leave."

"Hmm."

Isabella noticed how menacing her husband's eyes looked for a second as he narrowed them at the seated man and said, "I don't have time for all this. And I certainly don't like what I have heard so far." He shook his head. "Nothing impressive has come out of this meeting."

"So, you're leaving?" Charles didn't look back to answer the man, neither did Isabella look behind to see if the man wore any reaction. As soon as their steps brought them to the large double door entrance, they were greeted by the noses of three guns which had them taking a step back.

Then, they faced the man who had now gotten up.

"Are you going to threaten me with guns now?" Charles asked.

"We'll see." Ordinaz signalled to the men and the door slammed shut. Looking Charles squarely in the eyes, he said with a grin, "Well then, shall we start all over?"