020

"Where's the doctor and why are you here? I remember asking Lincoln to leave just now and I didn't send for you . Have you been standing here for long, Jeremy?"

Draco growled, anger visibly written all over his face. He felt Jeremy was eavesdropping on him and funny enough, he hated that attitude and didn't even know why he thought of that.

His cold eyes fixed on that of Jeremy, who was seemingly stammering.

"My Lord....eerm, the doctor is done and...and I wanted to call you sir. He says he's leaving, My Lord " quivered Jeremy.

Still, Draco couldn't believe it immediately.

"What did you hear, Jeremy?"

"I heard nothing, my Lord. I'm being sincere " Jeremy mustered all the courage in him to reply to his boss whose grey eyes seemed to be peering into his soul.

"Tell him to go, I'll speak with him via phone call later in the day " he trailed off and immediately banged his door, not allowing Jeremy to respond or speak further.

Pacing forth and back in his large bedroom, Draco started to put first and last, his moves and next actions in his head. Ray was proving stubborn. He has to show the young man that he is still his father and still has control over him, he should do his bidding .

He sent a picture of Lorna to the Godfather immediately. While bearing in mind his list of activities, he signed some deals with a weapon trader from Russia online and the next thing he did was to announce an emergency meeting on the community via zoom call , concerning his retaliation .

Then, he called his son's personal account manager.

"I need to know the account balance of my son. Be swift with the checkings " Draco ordered the manager and remained on call until the man was done.

"A total amount of nine hundred million and four hundred thousand dollars, Sir. He withdrew some cash this morning though " the manager responded, though surprised with the order.

"Mr Manager, I want you to disable that account so that he wouldn't be able to deposit or withdraw from it for like five months. The money should remain intact and let this information be added to his statement as soon as possible". Draco expressed.

The manager was shocked, but he simply had to obey the Mafia Lord.

The plan was for Ray to get the notification after everything is done. He would surely be tensed up and soon get frustrated.

"Alright sir. I'll do that right now " was all the manager replied.

With that, Draco hung up and smirked.

"Let's see how it goes from now " he muttered under his breath.

It was no longer news that Lorna was missing in the college where she attended. After the day they had their practical test, none of her coursemates had seen her again. Ava, her best friend, had visited her mom's place to ask after her , but the woman simply told her that Lorna traveled. Traveled? and she didn't tell her. That was impossible.

Ava went as far as asking the neighbors, who told her they saw Lorna last, on the day she went from the practical test.

With these, Ava concluded that something was fishy about Lorna's disappearance. Her mother knew something, but didn't want to disclose it.

Dave himself seemed to be more worried than Ava. He had involved the cops, but for three days, none of them could find her. He had been calling her , but her line was always off.

Ava missed her best friend and to think her birthday was in two days time, made her more sad because she was ninety percent sure that they wouldn't see each other. Where on earth was Lorna?

However, while she was still thinking of it in her bedroom, her phone rang.

Upon seeing the caller ID as "Bestie".., Ava almost screamed and immediately picked up the call.

"Hi..Hello Best. Where have you been, Lorna? Oh my....I'm happy to hear your voice again!" she giggled, joyful tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm happy too, Ava. This call is gonna be brief though and I've missed you too, bestie" Lorna replied, though in a whispering tone.

Ava sensed something was wrong from the way Lorna responded. It seemed she was hiding to take the call or maybe, being monitored.

"Lorna, are you alright? Are you under some captivity there?" she blatantly asked, feeling concern for her best friend. She wasn't sounding too excited as she should be.

"I'm....I'll, I mean, I'm fine, Ava. I'll talk to you when I come to school alright. I just...I just wanted to hear your voice, you know, it's been a while " Lorna suppressed the urge to shed tears.

She was indeed under captivity. She didn't even know when she would be in school again.

But then, she must speak to Draco about it.

"When, Lorna? You don't sound alright. What's the problem? Please talk to me, baby girl. Where are you? Your mum said you travelled, are you even here in the US? " Ava kept asking, not really giving Lorna space to reply one after the other.

"Yeah, yes, I'm still here. Ava, I don't really know if I can say this and how I can explain it. But , I'm not free here. I'm not!" she sobbed quietly, trying hard not to make noise.

Ava was confused, scared and curious at the same time. She knew her best friend wasn't okay and the statement "I'm not free " really got her. Plus, she was sobbing.

"Lorna darling . Talk to me, does your mom know where you are ? C'mon love, spill it out. You're even crying, gosh! Talk to me, Lorna"

Ava was worried indeed.

Just as Lorna was about to explain to Ava everything in summary, she heard the voice of Ray yelling from the lower floor and it seemed he would be up soon.

Frightening, Lorna immediately said,

"I'll see you when I see you, Ava. I need to hang up now " she was quivering and before Ava could try to pester her more, she hung up.

Confused and scared, she rushed to the drawer and calmly kept her phone in there.

Minutes later, Ray wasn't upstairs, but she could hear his voice with that of his father.

*****

I decided to go downstairs and know what the problem is. Not like I was interested, I was just curious.

While I was in the elevator, I heard Ray say;

"What the bloody hell do you mean our marriage is in two days? Father, I'm not gonna marry that whimpering weakling of a girl upstairs. Is this why you froze my account because I know you did that?"

What did I just hear ? I thought to myself . I didn't want to believe or understand what Ray just said. Maybe I didn't hear right.

"Not only your account, Ray. The hotel has been temporarily closed, order from me to the Utility Authorities. And once you don't marry Lorna the day after tomorrow, it'll be permanently closed. I'm the Don, Ray and I'm your father. You simply obey!"

Okay now, I was sure I heard right and I was sure I understood the whole topic now.

Does it mean I would be a wife in two days time? On my 20th birthday?

I didn't even realize the elevator had stopped.

All I knew was that the whole thoughts made me frenzy. I noticed the elevator open, but before I could look up, I passed out.