FLASH MARRIAGE; CHARMED BY THE RUTHLESS BILLIONAIRE CEO - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: The Spy Bug

Amelia entered her bedroom, fuming and cursing under her breath. She couldn’t believe her father would doubt her after years of an unbreakable father-daughter bond.

He always trusted her to be completely honest with him. How did he suddenly change under two weeks of absence? Or was he secretly in cahoots with his wife and her evil daughter?

‘But Blaze never mentioned him as a beneficiary of her trust fund.’ Amelia recalled, sniffling. She angrily wiped her streaming tears, as her reddened eyes scanned her neatly arranged princess-like bedroom. Everything was intact like she left it except for her missing laptop which she usually left on top reading table. She didn’t need to guess where it was.

As her eye fell on her favourite antique blue opaline glass vase which Gwen gifted her last year’s Christmas, a deep hatred surged within her.

Without giving it a second thought, she picked up the vase and angrily smashed it on the marble floor, the loud shattering sound attracting her aunt who was just a few inches away from her bedroom door.

“Amelia!” Aunty Judith and Stacy hurried into her bedroom thinking she had hurt herself. But thankfully they saw her standing a few inches away from her bed, glaring icily at the broken shards of blue glass on the white polished floor.

“Amy…” Judith carefully avoided the shard of glass on the floor as she hurried over to her niece.

“Aunty Judith, wait.” Amelia raised her right hand up as her gaze fell on a small round black object in contrast to the blue shattered glasses on the floor.

“Amy, be careful,” Stacy warned as Amelia navigated her way through the broken glass and crouched to pick something.

“What is it?” Aunt Judith made her way to her niece, curious to know what had caught her attention.

“A mini spy audio bug,” Amelia replied, her narrowed gaze becoming even darker as she imagined her private life being the object of someone else’s amusement for a year.

“I’m not surprised.” Aunt Judith hissed. “For all we know, this entire room could be bugged with these spying gadgets and even micro cameras.”

The door to Amelia’s bedroom suddenly pushed open and her father walked in, his eyes widened at the sight of Amelia standing on broken glass.

“Amelia, what …”

“Why are you here Dad?” Amelia cut her father off while glaring at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be with your second daughter? Please go away, you are not welcome.”

Senator Gregory’s already furrowed forehead deepened with a slight glint of anger in his eyes. “Amelia, don’t talk to me like that. I’m still your father.”

“I will talk to you however I dim fit, Dad.” Amelia walked up to face her father while Judith and Stacy watched from the sidelines.

“Tell me, did you really love me as your daughter or you’ve been pretending all these years after mom died.”

“Amelia, don’t talk like that. You know how much I care about you. You are my daughter and I love you with every bit of my heart.” Senator Gregory tried to hold her but she pushed his hands away.

“No, you don’t,” Amelia said coldly, ignoring his heartbroken gaze. “You have made it clear to me that you do not care about my feelings after you allowed Gwen to take my place in my absence.”

“I didn’t have a choice. You were nowhere to be found.”

“Of course, you had a choice, Dad.” Amelia spat out between clenched jaws. “You could have called off the wedding. You could have informed everyone that your daughter has gone missing. You could have employed the services of efficient investigators to track me down. But you did none of that and it makes me hate you.”

Senator Gregory lowered his head, tears falling down his eyes as he said. “I’m sorry Amy. I failed you and Fiona. I’m a bad father. Please forgive me.”

“You are not sorry, dad.” Amelia felt more miserable watching her father cry and listening to him call her mother’s name. “A while ago, you accused me of pushing Gwen even when I told you I didn’t. How can I ever trust you again? You and the entire family betrayed me.”

Amelia turned to leave, but her father caught her by the wrist, “Amelia, please, don’t leave. This is your home. Whatever it is that happened, we can resolve it amicably.”

“No, it’s too late Dad,” Amelia said avoiding her father’s heartbreaking gaze. “I can’t stay here. But before I leave, I will tell you what happened to me on that night.” She freed her wrist from her father’s soft grip and moved away from him still backing him.

“After I left the bachelorette party to go meet Jerry. I was kidnapped by someone who was already inside my car. They were going to take advantage of me and kill me but I escaped.” Amelia turned to face her father only to see pure shock and horror in his eyes.

“I escaped but ended up in an almost fatal accident. But I survived only to find out that my sister had taken over my life. But it ends today.” She dropped the black spy bug on her white reading table for her dad to see. “You can tell your people to stop spying on me, I won’t be staying in this house any longer.”

Amelia ignored her father’s dumbfounded expression, as she strode into her gigantic walk-in wardrobe and picked some of her important stuff.

“Aunt Judith, Stacy, let’s go,” Amelia said holding a small suitcase.

“I will help you with the bag, Amelia.” Stacy hurried to her bestie’s side to collect the suitcase.

“Thank you, Stacy.”

Senator Gregory slowly picked up the mini spy bug on his daughter’s reading table, his gaze turning cold. “Are you going to your penthouse apartment?” He suddenly asked as Amelia neared her bedroom door.

“No,” Amelia responded dryly.

“Then how do I contact you when I need you? Can I use the number you texted me with?”

“Yes.” Amelia turned the doorknob and unlocked the door. She was not surprised to see her uncle Matt loitering outside her bedroom door and she could guess what he was doing.

“Amelia are you all right?” Matt asked with fake concern etched across his brows.

“I’m fine, Uncle Matt.”

“Amelia, the staircase is this way,” Stacy called out to her friend wondering if she had forgotten the layout of her own house.

“I know. I just need to get my laptop and some of my other stuff from Gwen’s bedroom.”

“Oh!” A smile spread across Stacy’s lips.

“Are you allowed to do that?” Matt asked, a hint of panic lacing his tone.

“Of course Uncle Matt. Gwen is still my sister and she has been pretending to be me for the past two weeks. I’m sure you know that.” Amelia replied sardonically as she walked past her tongue-tied uncle.

Five minutes later, she came out of Gwen’s bedroom holding a black bag.

“I’m ready.” Amelia walked back to her uncle, whose eyes were glued to the black bag she was holding.

“Uncle Matt, please be a darling and inform Gwen that I have retrieved my things from her including a few things of hers which I need to verify. Tell her to see me at LiLa Savvy tomorrow to collect her stuff.”

Matt was about to follow Amelia out of the house when he heard his elder brother call him.

“Matt please I need your help with something.”

“Anything brother.” Matt concealed the anger in his voice as he tried to smile.

“I have to go to the hospital and check on Gwen. But I just found out that Amelia was kidnapped on the night before her wedding. I have already contacted the investigation department to discreetly look into the case. Can you help me oversee this investigation while I attend to other pressing matters?”

“With all pleasure, brother. If what you said is true, then someone will have to pay dearly for kidnapping my niece.” Matt promised.

“Thanks, brother. I know I can always count on you.” Senator Gregory patted him gently on the shoulder before leaving.