Chapter 338
Melanie’s Enemy
“We still couldn’t lay a finger on Melanie. Another dead end,” one man muttered, rubbing the dark bruise along his jaw. “The lady’s not going to spare us.”
They sat shoulder to shoulder on the basement’s cold stone floor, backs propped against the door that doubled as their prison.
Both men kept their eyes fixed on the stairs leading up to the single exit. Every creak overhead made them flinch. They had planned the crash down to the minute when they had braked in front of Melanie’s car. It should’ve ended with Melanie in a hospital from where they would have taken her. Instead, two strangers in black masks had torn onto the scene and seized both Melanie and Melody. And like the other onlookers, they too had thought that these people were going to take them to the hospital so they had been totally shocked when they heard what had gone wrong..
“Wrong” hardly covered it. Those other kidnappers vanished with Melody while Melanie returned unahrmed, and the lady had taken her anger out on them. Or rather, imprisoned them to take her anger out later on them.
The hatch at the top of the stairs opened and the two men looked up to see one of their own comrades, call out to them, “Up. Both of you. The lady has asked you to come out”
The pair exchanged a wary glance. They were being released? Maybe. Or coudl it be they were being moved to another torture room with sharper tools. Still, hope pulled them upright. They limped up the steps, squinting as daylight shone into their eyes.
Outside, with the harsh light behind her stood the woman they answered to flanked by her subordinates, her hands clasped behind their backs. The two men dropped to their knees at once, foreheads nearly brushing the dirt.
“Lady,” they echoed, voices cracking. “Thank you for your grace. We’ll fulfill whatever task you give. Please spare us.”
The ’lady’ said nothing at first, letting the silence feel heavier with each passing minute until she finally spoke in a cold voice. “This is your last chance. You know, Melody has been taken.”
They nodded in unison their hearts drumming hard. “Yes.”
“You will find her.” The two men nodded hurriedly, already deciding to bring back Melody but then were stumped when the lady continued, “You will make sure that she does not return home.”
One man risked raising his head as he asked in confusion. “You mean-we prevent any rescue attempt from Richard Thomas, Adam Collins, the police—”
Before he finished, a boot slammed into his chin. Another strike folded the second man over who was only kneeling with his head bowed. The subordinates stepped back, just as fast as they had stepped forward and the lady spoke again,” Do not touch Melanie for now. Not a threat, not a bruise, not a shadow. Your usefulness lies elsewhere. Identify Melody’s location. Report to me. And make sure that she does not return. Am I clear?”
Blood trickled from split lips as the two men accepted their order with a croak and repeated nodding of their heads.
She turned without another word, heading toward the waiting black car parked at the edge of the estate. Her subordinates flanked her as she walked, while the two men scurried away, clutching their ribs and barely daring to look back.
At the car, the driver opened the door wordlessly. She slid inside, and the door closed with a quiet finality.
Once the engine started, the man behind the wheel glanced at her through the rearview mirror. “What is this, sister?” he asked, his voice low and filled with disbelief. “You’re sparing Melanie… and going after Melody? The daughter you raised yourself?”
Marianne Thomas smiled as she looked up at her brother, the man who had been her loyal ’driver’ and silent companion through every scheme for so many years and gave him a small, knowing smile.
“Do you take me for a fool?” she asked in a teasing tone. “Why would I go after Melody? The foolish girl I have raised all these years under my own roof, with my own hands?”
Her brother frowned and gave her a look that was clearly puzzled. “But just now… didn’t you order those people…?”
Marianne let out a quiet laugh, “I ordered those people to ensure that Melody does not return. That is true. But, my dear brother, you must understand-my education, my guidance, my shaping of that foolish girl… it has not gone in vain.”
He stared at her, still not catching up. “What do you mean?”
She turned slightly toward him with a deep smile on her face. “Melody never truly disappeared. It is Melanie who is missing. The world is looking in the wrong direction. And that, my brother, is because my dear daughter-clever, impressionable Melody-has taken her place.”
He blinked, taken aback. “You’re saying… Melody is pretending to be Melanie?”
Marianne’s smile widened into something closer to amusement, but there was a sharp glint in her eyes. She leaned back against the soft leather of the car seat, folded one leg neatly over the other as if the truth she had just spoken were nothing more than idle gossip.
“Yes,” she said simply. “Melody is living as Melanie now. She has stepped in and made my job easier by replacing Melanie. And why? Because she is hopelessly, pathetically besotted with Melanie’s husband. That man… Adam Collins.”
Her brother let out a breath as the full implication sank in. “She did all this… just to be near him?”
Marianne tilted her head slightly and smiled, “Yes.”
“And you are going to let that happen? What about your plans for Melody?”
“I’m watching closely, dear brother. If Melody succeeds, then we gain something much more powerful. If she fails… then she will have buried herself.”
“Either way, I don’t have to dirty my hands to handle her. Once Melanie is taken care of by whoever has taken her, mistaking her for Melody, we will take care to use Melody as we need and then when she has ben exhausted, we will reveal Melody’s deception to Adam. He will take care of the rest… Such a perfect plan. Even I could not have executed it better.”