CHAPTER 04:THE MASTERMIND

"Doctor.. ..the patient is missing!", shouted the nurse that just entered Josh's room,the nurses had been attending him often worried of his reaction after the fire accident,Josh seemed to lost his mind turned into somekind of psycopath ,he shouted at the doctors and nurses as they came in,threw things at them but all these could be understandable ,he just lost his wife and someone just said his daughter died too though he saw his daughter alive,it wasn't an easy thing to bear all that kind of pain.They had thought of transfering him to a mental hospital for further care but before they had to monitor if his symptoms were just temporaly.

The security guards were informed and given details so as to make it easier finding him,one of the guards luckily noticed Josh from a distance, he hadn't made it out of the hospital,he weakily dragged his legs as he walked,he looked like a drunk manor almost you'd say a morden type of zombie,he could hardly lift his head up but tried walking back and fourth taking a peek on the people he bumped into,"I found him..!",announced the guard to his teammates using the two-way radio,he ran and grabbed him from behind but the he had to use all his strength to calm Josh who was trying hard to free himself from the guard's grip."Let me go!.."shouted Josh at the guard,"I have to go save her...she...she is dying there alone,"he explained,the guard cared less about the words from a madman's mouth not in a while a team of medical attendants from the psychiatric department arrived,suddenly Josh felt his body was loosing strength everything was blurr and in a short while it was a black-out.He had just received a drugged shot to put him in a sleep,the drug worked fast enough to put him in a sleep after a short moment,then he was carried back , this time he was taken to the psychiatric ward.

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Edward sneaked slowly off the bed,he didn't want his wife,Nicole to get up from her sleep,he went in the bathroom and picked up his phone that had just rang during his sleeping hours,"I told you not to call me when am at home....",he said with an angry whispering voice then he bit his lips furiously,"What do you want?Did you finish the job I gave you?",he asked while looking out if there was a chance his wife woke up and heard him talk to the phone on such a late hour,"Sorry boss....something went wrong",answered the man in the phone,"The baby is missing...",he finished.Edward widened his eyes with anguished expression,he turned red almost like a shrimp,"What..?", he asked with shock,this time he forgot to keep his voice down,just then he had spoke out loudly he restrained his anger and kept calm.

"I told you clearly that I want no more mistakes,didn't I?",he asked again with a whispering voice,"How could you...You useless idiots!...now we're going to be in big trouble",said Edward,before he could say any word further,a voice behind him startled him,"Honey....What's going on?",asked Nicole with a sleepy voice,she looked like she was sleep walking,"What trouble are you going to get into?Is something wrong?",she kept asking more questions to the half-freakened out Edward who was just standing there terrified wondering if his wife might have heard his whole conversation or just a part of it,Nicole with the sleepy eyes looked straight at her husband,she wondered why he didn't utter a word to her,"Are you okay?",she asked as she gently touched Edward's face slowly moving her palm along her husband's cheeks,Edward had to say something so Nicole won't be suspicious of him,he nodded,"Ofcourse..I....Well,I was..."he was stummering trying to find an excuse,"..my assistant...he made a very huge mistake in the company,so I was saying I will get into a lot of trouble with dad",he said,what a lame excuse?he thought but atleast it was the only way to make Nicole back-off from his issue,Nicole got closer to him and kissed Edward on the cheek,"Hey..", she called out soflty as she held Edward's hands with her's ,"Don't think too much..Am sure dad will understand...he is your father afterall",said Nicole trying to console her husband after believing his lies.Edward and his wife walked back in the room and went back to bed but in his mind Edward kept saying to himself,'I must do something but what should I do?',after a while he fell asleep too.

The next morning Edward got up early and took his bath,he dressed up ,Nicole glared at him and wondered why he was all dressed up like that,the funeral wasn't held yet the family was still in grief then why would her husband dress up for work,she tried but after a while she couldn't hold it in longer,"Where are going this early,You know you can't go to work yet..,"said Nicole,"Your sister's funeral isn't over yet plus our parents still need us here",explained Nicole but her husband didn't seem to listen,he was looking at his image on the mirror fixing his white long-sleeved shirt and wore a black suit-coat on top,after he was satisfied he took up his watch as he put it on his wrist he looked back at Nicole,"I told you,there is a problem in the office and I need to fix it",explained Edward,"....I can't let dad find out about this,he'll be more distressed than he is now",he added.He got closer to the bed bent down and looked into Nicole's eyes , he smirked a little as his hand gently rubbed Nicole's hair and tucked them behind her ear, got his face closer to her's ,Nicole became desperate as she felt her husband's slow breath and the firely look in his eyes,he then softly placed his lips on her and moved slowly with the rhythm just to make sure the moment and flow of motion was not ruined,after a while he the moved back a little at looked at his wife while his thumb softly wiped her chin,"..But promise me you won't say a word to him about this",he whispered to her and kissed her on the cheek then stood back up and fixed his suit,he turned and left the room.Nicole just sat there dazed ,expiriencing the aftermath of the kiss.There was no way she could resist the spell.

He went down the stairs in a hurry,to his suprise he bumped into his parents,'They never get up this early',he wondered plus the funeral was going to be held the next day ,he was dazed but he tried to act cool and see if he could go past them so he could get to solve his issue,"Dad!",he called with suprised tone,"Why are you all up so early,is there something going on?",he asked but his father walked past him with a sulked face without mentioning a thing to him,"Mom...",this time he called his mothee with a low tone,he stood on the last step of the stair-case his mother walked behind her husband after she heard her son calling she stopped and went closer to him,"Why are you all dressed up?",she asked,"Did you also receive the news?",she asked again as she looked at her son's suprised expression'News?what news?'he wondered,Edward looked down at his mom with a questioned face,"What news mom?",he asked.Colleth looked at her son,her eyes had swelled from crying after her daughter's death,she took her son's hands and wrapped them with her's,"Well,God has done us a little favour....",she paused and wiped the tears that flowed contiously down her eyes,Edward still looked at her with a dazed expression,"The hospital called and said that ...that th report about the baby's death was false,only my daughter died but our grandchild is alive!",she then bursted out of more tears,"....but my baby is gone....she is gone forever", she finished and leaned Edward,Edward hugged his mother back.He was shocked,'How did they find out?',he aaked himself Josh wasn't stable enough to talk to them plus there was now way his parents would listen to what Josh said with the way they hated him being their son-in -law.Mr.Hartson came to them,"We are going to see my granddaughter now",he stated very cleary,Edward felt tensed whoever stole the baby knew his secret but now the baby was stolen,if his father wouldn't see his granddaughter he would surely investigate and find out.What could he do to keep himself out of trouble?If they found out,he would loose all that he worked for,he had to keep himself hidden.He can't be found out

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"Mommy,where are we going?",Mimy, a little girl aged four years asked her mother who was walking fast while holding her hand,she dragged her too fast foward so she had to ask so she could know where her mother was rushing to,Miranda had to stop walking,her daughter Mimy had been whining for quite a while since they began the journey, in her hands she held Viviana's daughter carefully she stopped walking and looked back at her daughter,"Sweetheart mom has to take you and your little sister to see your daddy",Miranda softly explained to her daughter but Mimy was sulking,she was exhausted,Miranda noticed this but she had to get out of town before Edward's men trace her,"Do you want to ride on mommy's back?",Miranda asked Mimy,Mimy was a child but she still understood her mother would get tired carrying both of them,"No,am fine with walking",she said and put a fake smile to please her mom.Miranda held her hand and walked to the station and found the train about to leave she run as fast and entered the train.After a while,the train left ,Miranda looked back at her hometown she almost cried but she held back,she had to be strong enough so she could raise her daughter and her best friend's daughter.She promised never to step on that place again."I can't let her go through the suffering her parents faced,I will do everything to make her happy",she said to herself as she looked at the adorable baby girl in her arms.

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Edward was restless,he was worried of what was going to happen next after his father does not find his granddaughter,he thought for a way out...his mind was blank,his brain couldn't think of anything despite being quite a mastermind now he couldn't set any plans his mind was clouded, he was too worried ,'What will happen to his son's future?'.They arrived at the hospital,there was a doctor waiting for Mr.Hartson right at the reception,since he was well known for his fortune and wealthy most people idolized him,though for Mr.Hartson at the moment his fame wasn't any necessary,he just lost his precious princess.They arrived in neonatal intesive care unit, the nurse on duty welcomed them in and walked to the baby's bed,Edward's heart was thumping very fast,he couldn't bear thinking this could be his life turning point where he will have to be an open enemy to his father,this may as well affect his family well-being.They arrived at the bed,there was the baby!Edward was dumbfonded,How is it possible?Until the last few minutes the information he got is that the baby wasn't there,'what's going on?'This was scaring and frosting Edward alive,the nurse looked at Mr.Hartson and smiled,"She had some few problems at first but now she is doing quite well",said the nurse,"You can take a look at her,I'll be checking on other babies",she finished and left them,Edward looked at the nurse as she left,"Dad,Mom,I'll be back in a while....",he said and rushed after the nurse who was now opening the door stepping out of the room.

"Excuse me,"called Edward,"About my niece,who gave you the information?",asked Edward to the nurse,the nurse looked at Edward and puffed her cheeks a little swayed her eyes sideways," Mmmh....actually,I can't tell you that its confidential",said the nurse and excused herself.Suddenly Edward's phone rang,it was a unknown caller,he picked up,"Hellow!",answered Edward,the caller reamained silent for a while then said,"You think your the mastermind of this game?Well,atleast you should know am a step ahead",said the caller who had a scary hoarse voice,Edward drew the phone from his ear and looked at the number but it wasn't a number he knew,He had to calm so he could know,"Who are you?What do you want?",asked Edward,"You even replaced the baby,didn't you?",he was furious now,he wanted to know who this person is, only Josh came to his mind but how would that psycho have such ability?"Hahhahah!Wow your smart as I expected,ofcourse I did do that",boasted the guy,"To save you from your father's claws and fangs ofcourse there was no way you could solve that on your own",added the guy,"....shouldn't you thank big brother for the favour?",he laughed out loud this made Edward completely pieced off,"You...you....",he tried to say something out of anger but before he could finish the guy interupted,"Don't even think about threatening me,I know everything about you,so beacuse I helped you then why don't we make a deal then we'll both have nothing to loose",he mocked Edward even more.Edward had no choice but to abide to this guys wishes atleast until he found his identity so he could threaten him no more.Edward hang up and went back to the Neonatal Intesive care unit.

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