Ch. 316..320: Fatal Kiss Of The Vampire Chapter 316-320
Chapter 316: You’ve Still Let Me Down
As Kylie got off of the couch, she slipped Stephen’s phone out of pocket, and then she went up to her room. Once she was alone, she opened it up and saw that the last call that he’d made had been to Lucas, and he’d still been on deck at the time. He had told her that he’d just gotten off the phone with his parents, but he’d lied. Of course, she didn’t like being lied to, but this lie was particularly disconcerting to her because it seemed to lack purpose.
Frowning, Kylie closed Stephen’s phone and picked up her own. She’d been playing Candy Crush lately when she was bored and alone, and so she played that for a little while. It wasn’t long before she grew bored of this, too, though, so she opened her Skype application. She found William’s Skype ID right away and added him as a friend. She hadn’t expected him to be on the line at that moment, but he was, and he accepted her request almost immediately – which made her smile nervously. For some reason, her intuition told her that he had answers to some of the questions that Stephen wasn’t answering.
Before Kylie could write anything, William wrote, “Damn it, Kylie! What are you up to?!?!? Have you forgotten that I am your husband?!?”
Kylie almost laughed at that. Everywhere she had turned. Lately, there seemed to be at least one man who was ready to step forward and claim her as their own. “Be serious,” she replied. “Am I even married? I don’t think so!”
“Of course, you’re married!” William replied. “Ours is a secret marriage. How could you have forgotten it? You were the bride!”
Kylie: “How long have we been married?”
William: “Less than a month.”
Kylie: “That can’t be. It would be best if you were mistaken. I have been married to Stephen for over a month!”
William: “That’s impossible. Even if you weren’t with me, then you would be with Ethan, but you would never be with Stephen!”
Kylie: “Is Ethan nice to me?”
William: “He has always been very nice to you, and while you were missing, he barely slept at all. Although I love you very much and I am your husband, compared with the deep love that Ethan has for you, my love is nothing but that of a teenager consumed by a kind of weak puppy love. If I were a woman, he is the only man that I would ever want to marry.”
Reading William’s words, Kylie could not help but believe what he was saying. That being said, she felt more confused than ever. If Ethan loves me so much, she wondered, then why am I married to William; and if I am not married to Stephen, then why did he tell me that I am? And why can’t I remember any of this for myself?
Kylie felt like she was going insane. “Since you are telling the truth,” she wrote, “I will try to attend your father’s memorial.”
William: “Thank you very much! I look forward to seeing you there!”
William had wanted to say more, but Kylie had logged out without even saying goodbye.
***
When Stephen finally went up to the bedroom, he was surprised to see that Kylie was still awake. He gave her a curious look, and she said, “It is very strange, but I feel very tired when I am on the set. Then, when we get back to the hotel, it is as if my body rejuvenates itself. Also, your idea has really gotten me thinking.
Stephen smiled when he heard this. The longer he could keep her out of the acting business, he figured, the sooner she would forget her former life and all of her old friends – until, finally, he was the only man that remained in her life. When he went for his phone though, it was not where he’d left it, and his smile turned upside down. Scowling, he turned to Kylie and asked her what she’d been doing with his phone.
Kylie just looked at him and shrugged as if it were no big deal. “I wanted to call your parents,” she said. “I told them that I would love you no matter what my career is and that I wouldn’t change it for their sake.”
As Kylie spoke, her eyes fixed on Stephen, and the tension in his eyes gradually disappeared, and his smile returned. Before he could speak, though, she added, “I wasn’t able to, though. I thought that I could retrieve their number from your call history, but you lied to me when you said that you’d just called them…”
Stephen’s face turned red when he heard this. He definitely felt that she’d caught him, but an explanation came quickly to him. “I used a video call,” he replied. He opened his Skype, pointed to an image, and said, “I called them – see!”
“Whatever,” Kylie sighed. “You’ve still let me down.”
With a worried expression on his face, Stephen knelt by the side of her bed and said, “What’s the matter? Did I do something wrong?”
Kylie snorted. “You said that you would play on your phone with me and help me level up,” she hissed, “but you are a big liar!”
Stephen smiled at that, and he said, “Let me make it up to you. Why don’t we stay up all night playing games on our phones? I promise that I will have you leveled up by morning!”
Kylie happily jumped off the bed, put on her slippers, and said, “It’s a deal!”
“Where are you going?” Stephen wondered.
“You go prepare a midnight snack for us,” she replied as she rushed into the bathroom. “I want to take a bath before we start.”
After closing the door behind her, Kylie took a long deep breath. Her mind was racing. After talking with William, she felt trapped. She knew that if she didn’t find some way to escape soon, it was inevitable that Stephen would want to have sex with her, and if she refused, she knew that he would become suspicious of her – after that, she had no way of knowing what would happen…
Kylie stood under the shower and gradually turned the temperature up until it was scalding hot, and the air was filled with steam. In the end, the air was so thick with steam that she was completely unaware of a man’s approach until he drew the curtain partially open. Seeing him, she wrapped her right arm across her breasts and lowered her left to hide her pubic mound.
“Who are you…” Kylie gasped.
Chapter 317: You Belong To MeAs Kylie stood in the shower, she tried to hide her privates from the man who’d barged in on her. This was her knee-jerk reaction, but, in fact, she had very mixed emotions about what was going on. On the one hand, she knew that she should be screaming. On the other hand, like a delicate flower, she longed to open up to him. Her better sense won the day, and she back away from him, but he – disregarding the fact that he was fully dressed – leaned into her, until she had her back firmly pressed to the wall.
The man’s arms stretched out. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his arms. “You don’t remember me,” the man laughed, “but your body does.”
“Bullshit!” Kylie hissed. “You are nobody to me. What do you want? I’ve never seen you in my life!”
Kylie’s mind was racing. I must reject this man, she told herself. Even if I want him, which my body tells me I do, I cannot have him. I am a married woman. Just these thoughts alone are a kind of betrayal to Stephen.
Kylie looked upon the man and grieved for what could never be between them. It was such a sad thing that she almost felt like crying. “Let me go,” she finally said, “or I will shout for help.”
“Go ahead,” the man laughed. “I would like to hear you scream.” The man pressed his face to her neck, and he began to kiss and lick her. Whispering into her ear, he said, “I haven’t heard your groaning for a long time; not since the last time we had sex.”
Kylie’s face, neck, and chest turned red, and her heart began to beat fast. His voice was sexy and charming, undeniable, and dangerous. In an instant, she felt her nipples go hard, and there was a tingling sensation that ran through her clitoris, and nether lips that nearly made her pant want him inside of her.
The man smiled graciously at her and said, “If you want me to leave, just say the word and I will – ”
Suddenly, it was all too much for her. She had no control of her body as she leaned forward and cut off his words with her mouth. Kissing him, she dropped her hands and began to undo the belt that held up his pants. Once her pants were undone fully, she pushed them down with his underwear, and his swollen member popped up like an insane Jack in the box. “I want you inside of me,” she moaned.
Then, like an obedient serving boy, he helped her out of the tub, lifted her up, and fucked her hard against the wall. They were near climax when, much to their dismay, there came a knock upon the door. “The midnight snack is ready,” Stephen called.
Up until that moment, Kylie had been moaning but, with Stephen outside, the man put his hand over her mouth and began to ram his cock in and out of her cunt for all that he was worth. It was in that moment, with the man’s hand over her mouth, she finally realized who she was fucking, and she was ashamed. The man was none other than her husband’s brother, Ethan!
***
When Kylie didn’t respond, Stephen began to worry. Kylie, he knew, was prone to fainting spells. “Kylie,” he cried. “Are you okay? Answer me. If you don’t answer me, I will have to break down the door.”
Kylie was very nervous, but Ethan did not seem to care. “I’m fine,” she cried, in a somewhat awkward tone of voice.
“Why does your voice sound strange?” Stephen asked. “What is going on in there?”
“I’m fine,” Kylie hissed. “I just want to have a long shower. Is that a crime?!?!”
“Fine,” Stephen sighed, “but I’m waiting for you outside this door, so don’t take too long.”
When Stephen finished talking, he sat down, leaned against the door, and picked up the mobile phone to play Farmville. Inside the bathroom, Kylie was almost going crazy. She had had her orgasm, and her brother-in-law had finished in her mouth, but now they were trapped. “Maybe you can go out the window?” she said.
“I don’t want to go,” Ethan replied. “Who cares about Stephen? I am a better man than he is. I just want to fuck you whenever I want. And besides, you don’t belong here. You belong to me!”
Kylie scowled, and he slapped her hard across the face. Kylie bit her lip hard so as not to make a sound. She felt angry and ashamed, but she had to admit that her private parts were getting hot and bothered again. In fact, every cell in her body was screaming, “Make him fuck me by force.”
Ethan saw the invitation in her eyes, and his thin lips rose in a beautiful arc as they opened. “Here I am,” he said, and then he moved on to her. Seeing his intent, Kylie could no longer control herself. As he drew her to himself, she bit into his shoulder and drew blood. Then, after licking her lips, she bit into him for a second time – and the pain fueled the fires of his lust.
It wasn’t long before he had her on her knees, face down and ass up, in preparation for his cock to invade her butthole. He spread her cheeks and finger-banged her cunt until his hand was dripping with her ejaculate. Pulling his fingers out, he used the fluid to lubricate her anus.
Then, just before he split her in two, she pulled away from him. Turning, she met his eyes and said, “This is no good. We can’t do it. Stephen will catch us!”
Ethan touched her cheek gently then and said, “No, my pet, you must have your final climax before I let you go.”
“Final climax?” Kylie laughed. “If you were capable of bringing me there, you would have done so by now! In truth, you aren’t half the lover that Stephen is!”
Hearing this, the man’s eyes bulged in rage, and he dared her to say it again.
“I’m sorry,” Kylie sighed, “but he is the better lover.”
“I’ll show you,” Ethan hissed as he pushed Kylie to the ground. Having done that, he grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her neck, and slowly cut off her air supply as he anally fuck her hard against the floor. It wasn’t until after, as she was gasping for air that she smiled and admitted that she’d been teasing him all along. “It has never been like this with Stephen,” she admitted. “I just wanted to see how far we could go… my love.”
Chapter 318: I Found Michael
Kylie stepped out of the bathroom naked as the day she was born and offered Stephen a hand up off of the ground. He had to wait anxiously for her outside the door with many angry questions on his mind but, when he saw her walk out without any clothes on, all thoughts fled from his mind; and he took no notice of how Kylie casually closed the bathroom door behind her, and he failed to notice the man that had been in the bathroom with her.
Kylie led him to the bedroom and allowed him to dress her, and she said nothing if he “accidentally” touched her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. This was her gift to the man in the bathroom. She was keeping Stephen distracted so that he could make his escape.
Once she was dressed, Stephen brought out some horderves for them to share while they played on their cell phones. After only a short while though, Stephen noticed that she was distracted. “What’s up?” he wondered. “Is the food not good? Are you not enjoying the games? You were the one who wanted to play this game. If you changed your mind, we could play something else, or even just go to bed…”
“No,” Kylie sighed. She felt guilty about what she’d just done and sorry for Stephen too. She smiled. “I am just thinking about things on the set today,” she told him. “Maybe I am not good enough to be an actor…”
“Don’t say that,” Stephen replied seriously. “You were just watching yourself on TV. If you weren’t good, you wouldn’t be on TV, nor would you have received an award for your work!”
“You may be right,” Kylie admitted, “but maybe my time has come and gone. That is also a possibility…”
Hearing this, Stephen took her hand and stared into her eyes, sincerely. “I know you like acting very much,” he said. “If you want to continue acting, I will support you. If you decided that you wanted to try your hand at hotel management, I would support you in that too. You and I, we are a team.”
Looking into his eyes, Kylie felt like crying. There was so much sincerity in his eyes, and yet she knew that he was a liar. We are both liars though, she reminded herself, and perhaps I might actually thrive as a hotel manager… Who knows? Smiling, she said, “Since your parents want you to get back into the family business, I will go with you. I must finish this last project before I move on, though.”
Stephen was somewhat flattered by her words, and he stood up excitedly to call for his housekeeper. Once the man arrived, Stephen shared the good news with him, and he jumped up with joy. Once things settled down, they had cake and milk to celebrate, and the housekeeper offered to call Stephen’s father for him.
After the celebrations, the housekeeper went off to make his phone call, Stephen went into the living room to watch TV, and Kylie went up to their room to play on her phone. It wasn’t long before she felt incredibly tired, though, and it seemed that something was wrong. “Stephen,” she called out, “Help me…”
Even before Stephen had reached the stairs, Kylie had passed out cold. She had drunk the milk innocently, like a lamb drawn to slaughter. She had had no way of knowing that the housekeeper had slipped in his very special “medicine.”
Stephen stood over Kylie. He was not happy with what he saw. He called his housekeeper, and when he arrived, he demanded to know why he felt that he had the authority to do what he’d done.
The housekeeper looked at him with a blank expression and said, “Young master, her situation is still unstable. She has to take her medicine. If she does not, you will lose her. I guarantee it.”
Stephen was so mad that he clenched his hands to his side. “She is none of your business,” he hissed. “I will decide when she needs to be drugged, and when the time comes, I will be the one to drug her!”
***
Just as Lucy finished her the last of her housework, she heard the sound of a car’s engine in the yard. She rushed out and saw Ethan coming in. His clothes were wet, and he looked disheveled. Seeing this, she smiled awkwardly and went to fetch him a towel when she returned. He took from her gratefully. When he saw the curious look on her face, he shrugged and smiled. “Freak rainstorm,” he laughed. “What can you do?”
“I know what I can do,” Lucy replied cheerfully. “I can cook ginger soup for you, it will help you to warm up, and it will prevent you from getting a cold.”
Having said that, Lucy walked into the kitchen and began to cut vegetables, and Ethan went to his room to have a bath. “Life is good,” he whispered to himself as he thought about him and Kylie together. He hadn’t had sex with her for a very long time, and it had been very satisfying. That being said, it was also bittersweet. Had they been home, they could have kept it up all night. It was also bittersweet because he’d had to leave her with Stephen. He didn’t know what was going on with Kylie or how Stephen had managed to get her under his thumb, but he was determined to find out and break the spell that he had over her.
As Ethan climbed out of the tub, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, saw that it was Nate, and accepted the call. Then, without exchanging a single pleasantry, Nate shouted, “Brother, since when did you acquire the powers of a Spider-Man? I bought you 100 million dollars worth of insurance. Since I am the beneficiary, I believe you should have no further opinion on the matter we discussed.”
“Don’t give me your shit,” Ethan hissed. “I have no idea what you are talking about when you call me a Spider-Man, so just get to the point.”
Nate: “I found Michael!”
Chapter 319: I’m Back On My Feet
A few men drank together in the comfort of a private room inside a luxurious nightclub. A middle-aged man with a beer belly held a Russian girl with one arm and a bottle of beer in the other. He pointed the tip of the bottle at Nico Cole and said, “Don’t forget – we rely on you to make us rich.”
A bald man nodded in agreement. “Since you’re on vacation,” he said, “we haven’t pushed the matter, but we have had our eyes on you.”
Nico looked the two men over. Nico was in his fifties, but he was in good shape, so the men were not able to install any kind of fear in him. “Thanks to our MUTUAL boss,” he said, “I’m back on my feet. I will help you get rich, but I will not hand wealth to you on a silver platter. You must be prepared to work for whatever you want.”
“We’re not afraid of death,” the fat man said, “so don’t worry. We will do what is necessary. I would rather die now than retire poor.”
The bald man scowled at that. “What you’re alluding to a thing of the past,” he argued. “The job we are talking about is scrubbing. Shouldn’t Nico be the one to handle it for us?”
When the Russian girl heard the word “scrubbing,” she flinched, stood up, and went to stand beside Nico. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Nico, let me massage your head. I’m good at it.”
Nico looked at her lustfully. Grinning, he grabbed her tit and laughed. “I would much rather have you polish my knob,” he replied.
“Oh, you are a bad boy,” the girl replied as she sat down on his lap and casually began to stroke his cock over his jeans.
The fat man smiled, embarrassed. He knew that in order to get the most out of Nico, he had to cater to him, but he hated doing it at the expense of his own dignity.
The bald man looked at the girl and chuckled to himself. “Take care of that one,” he told her. “You could do worse for a baby-daddy.”
The fat man rolled his eyes. “Oh, shut up,” he said. “The man already has a child!”
“That being said,” the bald man argued, “he has still not found her.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Nico growled. “The two of you are ridiculous. If it weren’t for the fact that I owe the boss a favor, I wouldn’t even give either of you the time of day.”
At that, the bald man and the fat man both shut up. They finished their drinks, and Nico led them into the lounge. As they passed the bar, though, they were stopped by a crowd of people. At first, it seemed like nothing, but then a skinny man with rotting teeth emerged with a gun in his hand. He pointed to the Russian girl and said, “If you valued your life, you would not have your hands on my girl!”
Nico took one look at the gun, though, and he laughed. “If she was really your girl,” he argued. “what was she doing in the back room just now, if not stroking my pecker?”
The skinny man frowned, and he pointed his gun in Nico’s face. The bald man was so scared that his legs were trembling, and the fat man pissed his pants, but Nico remained unmoved. Raising his hand, he brushed the gun out of his face as if it were nothing more than a stray hair. “The girl ain’t nothin’ to me,” he concluded. He put his hand on her lower back and, in a gentlemanly manner, directed her to stand at the skinny man’s side. Smiling, he said, “No need to make a mountain out of a molehill. This is a good girl you’ve got here. No harm/no foul. If you force the issue, though, I will make your girl my own!”
The skinny man was young, though, and his pride was too easily wounded. With a grimace on his face, he turned to the ugly kid at his side and said, “Take care of this son of a bitch.”
Hearing this, both the fat and bald men squealed, turned around, and ran for their lives. Seeing this, Nico rolled his eyes and shrugged. Their cowardice meant very little to him. It was unlikely they would have been any use to him anyway.
Before the ugly kid could make a move, Nico’s hand stretched out whip-quick and grabbed the skinny man’s gun hand by the wrist. Quick-quick, he twisted his arm behind his back, snapped his wrist, and plucked his gun out of his limp hand. Only a moment had passed, but everything had changed. The power had shifted. Nico twisted the skinny man again so that they could face each other, and Nico forced the pistol into the man’s mouth.
Despite the obvious pain that the skinny man was in, he held his dignity and remained silent, which was much more than could be said of his gang of friends who were freaking out. Nico turned to the Russian Girl and winked at her. “I suppose the spoils of war go to me…”
“I should hope so,” the girl laughed as she returned to his side. “What are you going to do with Jimmy?” she wondered.
It was the first time he’d heard the skinny man’s name Nico realized, but it meant nothing to him. He released the safety on the pistol, and he was just about to send Jimmy’s brains through the back of his head when a familiar voice behind him gave him cause to pause. “Who is causing so much trouble in MY PLACE?” the man laughed.
Nico kept his pistol safely holstered in Jimmy’s mouth, but he gave his head a slight turn to see who had joined them. It was Ken. He was wearing a fancy suit and seemed to not have a care in the world. Even though Nico was the one who had a gun, Ken walked without fear in a manner that suggested invincibility; and Nico, who had the gun, felt fear for the first time since he’d sat down with his associates.
Not only was Ken strong, but he was also unpredictable.
The ugly kid, though, was naive, and what some might have mistaken in him as courage was actually stupidity. The kid looked at Ken and spat at his feet. “This place might have been yours once upon a time,” he scoffed, “but those days have passed. You went to jail. Your day is done. It is our time now. So, if I were you, I would get out while the getting’s good!”
Ken backhanded the kid and dared him to “say it again.” The kid had no sense, though. He rubbed the spot where he’d been hit, and he said, “Look around. We’ve got the numbers. Hit me again, and we’ll kill you here and now!”
Ken smiled, a genuine smile, and, from out of thin air – or so it seemed – he produced a switchblade. Then, before anyone even knew what was happening, he ran the knife through the boy’s cheek from his earlobe to his mouth. At that, the boy’s confidence failed him. His hands grasped the wound on his face, and he fell to the ground screaming as he begged for mercy.
Ken calmly cleaned his blade on another man’s sleeve and returned it to his pocket. He looked around the room, and after a moment of silence, he said, “I trust we have an understanding.”
Very quickly, the men began to nod and find somewhere else to be, until the only ones left were Ken, Nico, Jimmy, and the Russian girl. Jimmy still had the gun in his mouth, but Ken motioned for Nico to let him be, and he did. It wasn’t the skinny man’s death that Nico had been invested in; rather, it had been his own life.
As Jimmy got to his feet, Ken asked him his name. “It’s White, sir,” Jimmy replied humbly. “Jimmy White.”
Ken looked at White as if he was appraising the value of an old car, and after a few minutes, he looked him in the eyes. “I’m in grave need of a General,” he said. “Would you be willing to follow my orders loyally? I won’t threaten you into it. If it doesn’t suit you, you can walk away. If you accept the position, though, it will be worth your while.”
The skinny man rotten teeth grinned and accepted Ken’s offer. Once that was done, Ken gave Nico his blessing so that he could find a nice quiet place to play with the Russian doll that he’d won earlier.
Chapter 320: It Will Clear Your Mind
When Kylie awoke the next morning, she felt as though she’d lost a part of herself while she’d slept. She’d dreamt of Ethan, which was weird because they barely knew each other. It seemed that, in her dream, they’d know each other very intimately – it didn’t really matter though, as, minute by minute, the dream faded.
At breakfast, she had a hard time focusing. She heard voices in her head that she didn’t recognize, and it scared her. She asked the butler where Stephen was, but he told her that Stephen was out. At that moment, she felt alone, but not just alone. She also felt lost. Just then, though, she remembered about her responsibilities to Garcia Entertainment. After she showered and dressed, she found the butler and said, “When Stephen arrives, please tell him that I’ve gone to work.”
The butler smiled, and he asked her if she was finally ready to resign.
“Why would I resign?” she demanded.
The butler frowned, and he said, “Why, just yesterday, you told me that you were going to resign and go to work with Stephen in the hotel industry with his family…”
“Why would I want to do that?” Kylie wondered.
Annoyed by the question, the butler took a step forward and put a glass of milk in front of Kylie and said, “You love Stephen very much, and you want to be with him all the time. You want to please his parents. You want to work for his family business – or at least that is what you said…”
Kylie’s pupils suddenly dilated, and her expression glazed over. Then, in a manner that suggested she’d been brainwashed, she repeated his words: “I love Stephen very much, and I want to be with him all the time. I want to please his parents. I want to work for his family business.”
The butler slowly raised his head in satisfaction and said, “Good girl. Now drink your milk. It will clear your mind.”
Kylie smiled as she thanked the butler, and then she drank her milk. Then, as she put the cup down, the butler leaned into her and whispered into her ear: “You will never betray Stephen. If you do, you must run a blade through your very heart.”
Hearing his words, Kylie’s eyes glazed over, and like before, and she parroted them back to him. Once that was done, the butler snapped his fingers in front of Kylie, and she returned to some semblance of her previous self. Blinking her eyes, Kylie frowned and asked if everything was okay. “I feel quite queer,” she added.
“Nothing seems out of the ordinary to me,” the butler laughed. “Same old – same old. I heard you and Stephen late into the night. Perhaps you are just tired…”
“Maybe,” Kylie replied noncommittally, and she tried to put the matter out of her mind.
After thinking for a moment, Kylie pulled her phone out of her pocket and told the butler that she needed to call Stephen. Kylie went into the living room and, once she had Stephen on the line, she asked him if he was busy. He said no, and he asked her if everything was alright.
“Everything is copacetic,” she explained, “but I’m going to Garcia right away to terminate my contract, and I was hoping that you would be willing to join me.”
“That would be no problem,” Stephen replied. “You know where I am. Come and get me when you are ready.”
“See you later, then,” Kylie replied. And then she hung up.
***
The staff at Garcia Entertainment greeted Kylie with warmth and respect as they welcomed her back. They asked about her personal well-being, attempted to talk shop with her, and vied for her attention, and, as she made her way through the building, she nodded in the appropriate places and offered mostly one-word answers to the questions that were thrown her way.
Seeing all of her co-workers, Kylie suddenly felt very uncertain about her resignation; not just uncertain, but also uncomfortable. I love Stephen more than I make my career, she thought to herself, but why can’t I have both?
Once Kylie and Stephen reached Laurence’s office, they were invited to sit down. Laurence wasn’t happy to see Stephen in his office, but he chose to say nothing about it for the moment. He hadn’t seen his daughter in a while, and he had no desire to kick off their reunion by starting a fight. “How are things?” he wondered. “Is there something that you need?”
“Dad,” she replied, “I’m sorry if I’m letting you down, but I’d like to get out of my contract with Garcia Entertainment.”
Laurence looked at her curiously. “But you are a natural-born talent and leader,” he replied. “Why would you want to give that up? I had thought that one day the company would be yours…”
Seeing the confusion in Laurence’s eyes, Kylie said, “If terminating the contract is difficult for you, could you give me at least a year off. I want to take some time off to reevaluate my life.”
Hearing that, Laurence was somewhat relieved, but he was still confused, not only about this but about her relational status. Last he’d heard, she was with Ethan, but here she was with Stephen – he looked down at her stomach and said, “You aren’t pregnant, are you?”
Kylie frowned at first, and then she began to laugh. “Dad, let’s not get the cart ahead of the horse! I’m not even married yet!”
“Ah, well,” Laurence sighed. “Take your year off. Your job will still be waiting for you when you return.”
***
As Kylie exited her father’s office, Faith grabbed her by the sleeve and led her into an empty office. Then, before Kylie could even ask what was going on, Faith hastily explained the situation. “We need to talk about Ken,” she explained. “He answered a call yesterday. Then, around midnight, he went out, and has not yet returned… The police are looking for him, and I am afraid he might have skipped town!”
“Did you call him again today?” Kylie asked.
Ken had just gotten out of jail, and already he was a wanted. Kylie couldn’t believe it. The man just didn’t seem to care about the law, and he was absolutely fearless.
“I did call,” Faith replied, “but his phone was off. I’m afraid something bad has happened to him. Can you ask Ethan to look into it? I know that he is well connected.”
Kylie frowned. As well connected as Ethan might be, she did not feel well connected to him. Everyone around her seemed to think she had a good relationship with him, though, which put her in awkward situations.
“If I see him,” Kylie replied, “Then I’ll ask him. I can’t promise you anything, though… You can still call me if you need anything.”
“That is the problem, though,” Faith said weakly. “Whenever I call your number, I get a message that says your number is inactive…”
Kylie laughed when she heard that. “I’m sorry,” she explained. “I changed my number. I will give you my new number. After that, I should go. We don’t want anyone to see us in here and get the wrong idea…”