ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY
DYLAN'S POV
It was shocking to finally get to know the horrendous things that my mother had done in trying to eliminate my wife. Her case became seriously complicated. The police had somehow linked one of the money bags in Israel's bag to the de Milo Group. The way it happened was; when the money bag was emptied, right at the bottom of it, there was an invoice; and it had my mother's name and signature on it. That invoice was very old, and it was clear that it had landed in the bag by error. Grandfather; father to my mother, came in to defend his daughter. The presence of the invoice, he said, could not have meant anything, because a lot of people could have access to things signed by any of the de Milos.
As a family, we all knew that mother was highly involved in the whole case, but then grandfather, who happened to be a ruthless politician, stood up and took the front row in the whole issue. He swore, telling dad, that there was no way his daughter was going to go to prison while he watched.
There was no tangible evidence to incriminate mum. The only evidence present was what she was saying by her own mouth; and those words were not heard by many. No police officer got to know what she was saying. She spoke about it too many times, and she repeated it over and over again.
Mum was still having lapses; whereby when she was awake she would start talking about the scenes from before. From her talking, we managed to know that she was the one who helped Israel to escape from prison; for she had a mission for him; a mission to murder Logan.
The case became very messy. Detective Fraser refused to let it go, although he was not aware of all the crimes committed by mum. Most of it was well hidden within the family circles.
In the end, mum was on house arrest for six whole months; reporting to the police three times a week. If Israel had lived; he probably would had shed more light to the cases; but knowing how Israel behaved, I could swear that the man would have died before he uttered a word. Mother was not to travel out of Lakeworld; and all her traveling documents were confiscated . My grandparents had taken mum to stay with her, while dad asked to be officially on separation.
The reason why, after six months, mother was set free, was because no one found enough evidence to crucify her. Her phone was taken, and yet nothing whatsoever was found in it that could have proved her to be guilty.
Anisha and I moved out of our mansion, and went into our other place which was situated very close to the beach. It had a private beach of its own, a part of the beach which we rented out from the city authorities, and no one else except us had access to that space.
The Group appointed an acting CFO. We just took mum's assistant; for he was a very hardworking, capable man. It was a very trying period for us all. The world had to be kept out of the family business, and that on its own was tough. Employees needed an explanation as to why doctor Shimmer de Milo had suddenly resigned. In the end, they were told that she had totally failed to accept the death of her daughter; and she needed a big break in order to get back to being herself.
The same excuse was given to the staff at Clear Opal. While it was impossible for mum to just disappear without an explanation, it was also impossible to stop the staff from gossiping about it. They were told that she needed space; and she needed to be with her own mother while she grieved.
My dad moved out of Clear Opal, stating that it held too many memories of Ciera. And it held memories of mum too, the woman that he loved so dearly; yet he had never known her true colours. Carl went with him.
As for Keith Junior; the man was totally broken. He failed to do anything, and slowly, even his company started to feel the effects. He hardly ever reported for work. The fact that he lost his wife and child was too much for him.
That was the moment when Anisha offered to step in and try and help. K JNR PRODUCTIONS was collapsing at a seriously fast rate. There was a crack at the centre; and it needed quick intervention. Although KJ maintained the position of CEO, he did not do anything which was expected of him.
Anisha had her own plans; for she had always dreamt of opening her own film production company. I wanted her to start on it, but she chose to assist KJ. She stated that to her, seeing the big company crumbling down was too painful to watch. Someone had to intervene and do their best to help; and my wife believed that she was that person.
Anisha was busy, for she was also running House of Ani-Lan while working on her masters degree. But she did her best to help KJ. She had a passion for the film and music industry. My wife had a true passion for production.
My mother, after regaining all her senses, narrated to dad us all the crimes that she did. She spoke about everything that concerned Anisha, starting from the reasons why she cancelled our family visits to Olga Children's Home, and later on cancelled the donations all together. She narrated her involvement in the attempted rape by Logan, and the events leading to his death. She spoke about the scandal between Carter and Lisa, stating clearly that Anisha was the target of it all. She said it all, how she looked helped Israel to escape; how she looked for Delicate Zamara, and how she almost accepted Anisha, but ended up deciding to have her killed instead. Yes; she told us everything about her meetings with Toast as well as with Bassard.
My wife and I hardly ever spoke about mother. After she went to stay with her parents, she told us plainly that she wanted nothing to do with Anisha. In her speech, she mentioned that I was welcome to visit her if I wanted, but then, she did not want a part of me: Anisha. I wanted her to love her, or at least to just accept her.
Little Liam had settled in well, and we were living as a very happy family. Iris joined us, her job being specifically to take care of little Liam. Mrs Silva remained in her position as the chief maid at our mansion. It was all flowing and moving as per our plan. We were happy. We did speak to the Woodruffs here and there; they had a little son who they named Liam.
Anisha never laid openly her thoughts and feelings towards my mother. She said she feared her; for she was not sure when next she planned to attack. We had bodyguards with us everywhere we went, and the security was very tough. No one was allowed to enter through our gates, regardless of who they said they were. They had to be verified by either myself of my wife. We could not afford to take any chances.
House of Ani-Lan was doing very well, attracting all the rich people of Lakeworld, and some from Hallowcave. Anisha was not fully involved in it, for she hardly ever had time to go there. The boutique was in good hands, anyway, for Valentina was highly involved with it. Valentina came back to Lakeworld. She called one day, crying in desperation to Anisha, for she was failing to make ends meet. Her boyfriend David had cheated her into using all her savings, in the name of investment. Valentina joined us in Southrain, working at Ani-Lan boutique. She was doing a good job, Anisha was very happy with her.
The reason why Anisha chose to go full time with K JNR PRODUCTIONS was that, the company auditors picked that the finance team was stealing some money from his business, and that further struck the entire business down. K JNR PRODUCTIONS fell seriously behind in everything, with all the good actors and actresses resigning, cancelling their contracts with the company. It failed totally to get any award, the company was not even mentioned as a runner up to anything.
SOUTHRAIN CITY NEWS ONLINE
…the national film awards were presented last night. Many new players joined. Of interest however, is K JNR PRODUCTIONS, which recorded all negatives in the competitions. The company, which received eight awards last year, went home with no awards at all. Following the death of Mrs Ciera Octavia slightly more than two years ago, the company's CEO, Mr Keith Junior Octavia, failed to cope. The company ran on autopilot for a long time, resulting in some monies disappearing without trace. The acting CEO, together with four employees from the finance team, were found guilty of misdirecting funds to their personal accounts. Actors and actresses were not paid on time, and most of them resigned to join other film producing companies.
***.
SOUTHRAIN CITY NEWS ONLINE
Mrs Anisha de Milo has been appointed as the acting CEO of K JNR PRODUCTIONS. Speaking at her appointment, the new CEO promised to take the company to its former glory. A lot of mixed emotions are running within the industry, with many people speculating that Mrs Anisha de Milo will not be able to raise the company. Although she has successfully run the House of Ani-Lan, film producing is a totally different industry. However, a few industry gurus believe that Anisha de Milo might be able to raise the K JNR PRODUCTIONS. A holder of an honors in Music, Theatre and Entertainment Management, and a masters in the same field, Anisha de Milo proved her abilities academically by getting all distinctions in all her papers. She is currently studying for her PhD.
Everyone is waiting to see how K JNR PRODUCTIONS will perform in the awards next year. Will Anisha Meyerton take it back to its former glory, or will she drag it even deeper into the mud?....
***.
We decided as a family, to come together to celebrate three years since she left us, Ciera. My beautiful sister, who had a beautiful smile, yet she hardly ever showed it. She was stingy with her smile, as I always used to tease her. She was very particular, paid special attention to detail, and always worked to perfection. We all gathered to have a special lunch to remember her. Ciera, our beautiful sister who left us way too early.
Many things had happened, many things good and bad. Arianna and Pete were blessed with a little son, a little brother to Amanda Janine. They named him Hayden Junior. By the time of the celebration, the little boy was only four months old. My parents were still on separation. The relationship between my wife and her biological mother had also improved greatly, although personally I could tell that she still felt closer to Ms Meyerton.