(Jay's POV)
The drive back from the abandoned house was very quiet. My heart was still beating fast from everything that had just happened. Keifer sat next to me in the driver's seat of our black SUV.
His hands were tight on the steering wheel, and his face looked very serious. Just a few minutes ago, he had knocked Professor Alejandro out and taken his phone. Then, his phone had rung. The name on the screen was Edrix.
Keifer had answered it, listened quietly, and then hung up. He told me he finally knew who was behind the whole island scam, but he did not tell me the name right away.
The suspense was making me feel very anxious.
"Keifer, please tell me," I said, looking at his handsome face. "What did Edrix tell you about ? Who is the real boss behind Professor Alejandro?"
Keifer sighed and turned the SUV down a bright street. He looked at me with soft eyes, but his jaw was still tight. "The person behind all of this is Clyde," he said softly.
I blinked and stared at him. "Clyde?" I repeated the name out loud. It sounded familiar, but my brain was too tired from all the panic and the car chase to remember right away.
"Who is Clyde again? Do we know him?"
Keifer kept his eyes on the road. "Think back, Jay. Think about when I first came to this city because of inheritance when I had to left Philippines behind me. Think about Watson Enterprises."
As soon as he said those words, a flash of memory hit me. My mouth fell open as it all came back to me. Clyde! Of course. He was the exact same man Keifer had to deal with back in London at Watson Enterprises.
When Keifer first got his inheritance, Clyde was there, causing trouble and trying to take power.
But that was not all. I remembered something else that made my skin go cold. A few months ago, Clyde had actually approached me in secret. He had looked at me with mean eyes and a fake smile.
He had warned me in a very scary voice to stay away from Keifer. He told me that being with Keifer would only bring me danger and pain.
At the time, I did not care what Clyde said. Keifer is my whole world. He was the man who took care of me, the man who made me hot chocolate and baked fresh cookies for me when I was scared. I loved him more than anything, so I chose to completely ignore Clyde's warning.
I never even told Keifer about that meeting because I thought Clyde was just an angry businessman who wanted to scare us."Oh my goodness," I whispered, holding my hands against my face. "It was Clyde. It was him the entire time. He hired Professor Alejandro to scare us with those fake, creepy stories about Ulopong Island."
"Yes," Keifer said, nodding his head. "Alejandro was just a puppet. Clyde wanted us to get so terrified of the private island that we would sell it back to dealer for a very cheap price."
I felt a mix of anger and confusion inside my chest. "But Keifer, why would he do this?" I asked, turning my body toward him in the seat.
"The London drama was over. He already lost at Watson Enterprises. Why would he follow us all the way here and create this giant, crazy plan just to steal our island?"
Keifer pulled the SUV into the driveway of our home. He turned off the engine and the car became completely still. He unbuckled his seatbelt and reached over to take my hands in his warm palms. He gave me a small, brave smile.
"Maybe he did it out of jealousy, Jay," Keifer said, his voice deep and calm. "Or maybe he just hates seeing me happy and successful. But we cannot know his exact reasons just by guessing." Keifer squeezed my hands gently and looked deep into my eyes. "The only way to know the truth is by paying him a visit, very warm visit you know wifey."
Hearing him call me "wifey" made a little bit of the fear go away. No matter how dangerous things got, Keifer always made me feel safe. He was my protector, just like this morning when he blocked the professor's hand and punched him to save me.
"Are we going to see him now?" I asked, looking out the window at our dark house.
"No, not tonight," Keifer replied, reaching into his pocket to pull out the professor's phone.
"The police are handling Alejandro at the abandoned house right now. Tomorrow, we will use this phone to find Clyde's exact location. Tonight, we need to rest. We have had a very long day."
I nodded, feeling the heavy weight of tiredness finally hit my body. We got out of the black SUV and walked up the steps to our front door. Inside, the house was warm and quiet. It felt so strange to be back in our peaceful home after a wild day of angry professors, punches, and car chases.
As we walked upstairs to our bedroom, my eyes fell on my backpack lying on the floor. Inside that bag was the empty notebook where our five-page university assignment should have been. I let out a weak laugh.
"What is funny?" Keifer asked, turning around as he took off his jacket.
"We still never wrote that paper for class," I said, shaking my head. "Professor Alejandro screamed at us and tried to hit me because of that forgotten paper, and now he is in jail for fraud. I don't think we will ever have to finish that assignment."
Keifer laughed, and the sound was like music to my ears. "I think you are right, Jay. You don't have to worry about school papers anymore. And you don't have to worry about fake island ghosts either."
He walked over to me and wrapped his strong arms around my waist, pulling me close against his chest. I buried my face in his shirt, smelling the familiar scent of lavender and clean clothes. Clyde had tried to tear us apart with his threats and his scary scams, but it had only made us stronger.
"Tomorrow, we finish this," Keifer whispered into my hair. "We will go to Clyde, and I will make sure he never bothers my wife again."
I closed my eyes, feeling safe in his arms. I knew the morning would bring a big confrontation with Clyde, the man from Keifer's past. But as I looked up at Keifer's determined face, I knew we would win. We broke Clyde's plan once in London, and we were going to do it again here. I was ready to face whatever came next, as long as Keifer was by my side.
(Next Morning)
The next morning, the sun was bright, but we did not have a peaceful start. Before we could even leave the bed, a loud crash shook our front door.
Keifer jumped up instantly and put on his shirt . He ran downstairs, and I followed him right away.
Four big men in black jackets had broken into our living room. They were Clyde's personal security team. Clyde had realized that Professor Alejandro was caught by the police, and he wanted the professor's phone back before we could use the evidence.
"Give us the phone!" one of the big men shouted, stepping toward me with an angry face.
Keifer moved fast and stepped right in front of me, entering full protector mode. He did not say a word. He dodged a wild swing from the first man, grabbed his arm, and threw him hard against the wall.
Another man rushed in, but Keifer kicked him in the chest, knocking him straight into the coffee table. The remaining two men looked terrified of Keifer's strength. They grabbed their hurt friends and ran out of the house.
"They are trying to get rid of the proof," Keifer said, breathing hard. "Clyde is going to run. We must go now."
We ran outside to our black SUV. Keifer took the professor's phone and used the tracking data to see Clyde's live location. The screen showed that Clyde was already moving fast toward the local airport. He was trying to board a private jet to escape the country.
Keifer called the police while he drove. He told them everything about the fraud, the scam on Ulopong Island, and the attack at our house. "We are going to the airport," Keifer told the captain on the line. "Meet us there."
The drive was fast and tense. Keifer steered the SUV through traffic like a pro. When we finally pulled up to the private plane area at the airport, we saw Clyde. He was walking fast on the tarmac, holding a briefcase, heading right toward a small silver jet.
"Clyde!" Keifer yelled as we jumped out of the car.
Clyde stopped and spun around. His face went completely pale when he saw us. His eyes went wide with fear, and he looked around for his guards, but they were not there to help him this time.
"You are too late, Keifer," Clyde screamed over the loud noise of the jet engine. "You cannot stop me! That island should have been mine!"
Just then, loud police sirens filled the air. Three blue police cars rushed onto the tarmac and blocked the silver jet. Officers jumped out with their hands on their belts.
Keifer walked up to Clyde and held up Professor Alejandro's phone. "It is over, Clyde. We have the recorded call. We know about the fake stories, and we know you paid the professor to scare us."
Clyde looked at the police, then at the phone, and finally at us. He knew he was completely trapped. He dropped his briefcase on the ground and held up his hands. The police walked over, pulled his arms behind his back, and put him in metal handcuffs.
As the officers led Clyde away, he looked back at me with pure anger. But I just held Keifer's arm tightly and smiled. Clyde had tried to use fear and old secrets to ruin our lives, but he had failed. Keifer was my whole world, and together, we were safe.
The drive back home from the airport felt very good at first. We were holding hands, and we thought the nightmare was finally over. But our peace did not last very long. Just as Keifer parked the black SUV in our driveway, his phone started to ring. It was the police captain.
Keifer put the call on speaker so I could hear too. "Keifer, I am so sorry," the captain said, and his voice sounded very stressed. "Clyde had help inside the airport. Two fake officers tricked our men during the transfer, and Clyde got away on a different secret plane. He has flown out of the country."
My heart dropped for a second, and I looked at Keifer. But Keifer did not look scared at all. His face was calm and cold. He hung up the phone with the police and immediately called Edrix.
"Edrix, Clyde broke out," Keifer said into the phone. "Use our private satellite system. Track his plane right now."
We waited in the quiet car for just one minute. Then, Edrix called back. "I found him, Keifer," Edrix said. "His secret plane just landed for fuel, and he is changing to a commercial flight. Clyde is running to Singapore."
Keifer thanked Edrix and ended the call. He turned his body toward me and took both of my hands. I looked into his eyes, waiting to feel the familiar panic, but the fear never came.
Instead, I looked at Keifer and smiled. A few months ago, Clyde's threats would have made me cry. Yesterday, the professor's fake stories about Ulopong Island made me panic all night. But everything was different now.
"Are you worried, wifey?" Keifer asked softly, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb.
"No," I said, and my voice sounded very strong. "I am not scared at all."
We both knew the truth. Clyde was running away to Singapore because he was terrified of us. He was running like a dog because his plan had failed completely. He had no more tricks left. We had the professor's phone, we had the recorded calls, and we had all the proof of his fraud.
More than that, Keifer was a billionaire with Watson Enterprises behind him. We had money, we had the law on our side, and we had Edrix tracking Clyde's every single move. Clyde thought he was being smart by running to Singapore, but he was actually walking right into our trap. He could hide in a new city, but he could never hide from Keifer's power.
"He cannot do anything to us anymore," Keifer said, a confident smile growing on his face. "He lost in London, he lost at the airport, and he will lose in Singapore. We are the ones in power now."
I nodded my head proudly. Keifer was right. We were no longer the scared university students who forgot their homework. We were a strong team. We walked out of the SUV and entered our warm home, feeling completely safe and victorious. Clyde was on the run, but our lives were just beginning, and nobody could take our island or our happiness away.....