When Love Becomes a Cage (Melanie)

Paul was gasping for air, panic clearly etched into his features.

"No, it wasn't me, it was all a misunderstanding, I swear!"

I looked at him and sighed softly.

"Paul, with the experience you got, you could bag a director's job somewhere else with no sweat. We've been colleagues. I know you're not the mastermind behind this. Why ruin your life over someone else's scheme?"

Jade was beside me, signaling frantically. I knew she wanted to call the cops, but I shook my head. Calling the police now would make it harder to uncover the truth and might even tip off the real culprit.

I needed to get more information first. If York was indeed behind this, I needed solid evidence.

Paul squinted, pondering for a moment, then turned his gaze to me.

"Melanie, you're Mrs. Patterson. Can you promise not to call the police?"

"What do you think?" I wasn't about to make any promises to scum like him.

Defeated, he slumped to the ground.

"I'll confess. Kayla put me up to this. She said if I could bring you down, she'd become Mrs. Patterson, and I'd be the director of the Design Department. She bought some design drafts to use under my name. I refused, so Mack took the fall."

"It was you who released the virus and attacked me, wasn't it?"

I watched him without any expression, and he nodded miserably.

"Yes, I was confused. I have evidence of Mack taking money, and after I threatened him a bit, he confessed. But there's someone behind Kayla, I've heard her receiving strategies over the phone."

My interest piqued. So, there was someone behind Kayla.

"Who was it? Was it York?"

Paul shook his head. "She said the Patterson Group would eventually belong to that person. I don't know who."

The trail seemed to go cold, yet it felt like we were on to something.

The Patterson lineage now only had Clyde. If the Patterson Group was to belong to someone else, who could that be?

Jade frowned, sitting beside me, equally puzzled.

Paul looked up at me, his eyes begging.

"Mrs. Patterson, for old times' sake, please let me go. Please don't call the police. Just consider me a bad fart you let out; I swear I won't do anything like this again!"

“One last question, why did you trust Kayla so much? You know Clyde had his fair share of women.”

Indeed, Clyde had been involved with numerous women. Since our marriage, I had seen no less than twenty.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

And that didn't even include the young stars and models he never brought home. How could Paul trust Kayla? Paul coughed awkwardly.

“I... Kayla and I knew each other from before. She used to... work as a whore at a bar."

"What?" Jade exclaimed. I was too shocked to speak.

Paul, as if resigned, spilled everything.

Kayla had been working as a whore even before she graduated, making quite a sum. She and Paul were regulars to each other.

"She quit a couple of years ago,

rumor has it she got pregnant and even has a daughter. That's when we lost touch. But she... she had photos from back then, and she

blackmailed me!"

A sudden realization clicked for me, connecting all the dots.

If the kidnapper had a daughter and was threatened, but Kayla could easily take the girl, something was off.

What if the child was hers, and the kidnapper was her boyfriend?

By the time the police arrived, I had gotten most of my answers.

I had already messaged Jade to call them. The station was nearby, so they arrived quickly.

Seeing the officers, Paul struggled desperately.

"Melanie, you broke your word, you said no police! You traitor, how could you deceive me!"

I looked at him emotionlessly, saying, "Trust you? I'd be mad to trust someone like you."

I quickly relayed his confessions to the officers.

"Mrs. Patterson, we appreciate your cooperation. We'll apprehend the suspect soon. And the kidnapper, Jarvis, has confessed. He's Kayla's ex-boyfriend, and the kidnapped girl is Kayla's daughter."

None of this surprised me; it was almost exactly as I had guessed.

But why would they contact each other again after having a child?

"Did they divorce, or what?"

"They split because Kayla caught Mr. Bill's eye."

The officer's tone was peculiar, and I immediately understood. "Clyde?"

"Not sure, we only know the man's last name is Patterson. We don't have a first name. She left her ex før a wealthy man, then used their. daughter to blackmail him. Jarvis wouldn't have committed the crime otherwise."

Though the officer said this, his eyes told me he suspected Clyde as well.

However, Kayla's involvement was too strange, not to mention the mysterious figure behind her.

“Can you tell me when Kayla caught this big shot's attention? I need to know if it was Clyde.”