8. THREE WOMEN; A HARD SEARCH

CASPIAN

I watched her go, torn between going after her or not. There was something soft and broken about her, and I had a feeling that she needed help. 

Help that my foundation for abused women could offer to her. But I was late for a meeting, so I called Hugo, my assistant. “Find out who that woman is.” 

Hugo nodded. “Yes, Boss.”

Hugo followed the woman as I was driven away. 

Hugo called later. He couldn't find her. He had searched the entire hospital, but he met one dead end after another. 

I put her out of my mind, believing I would probably run into her again. I went into my meeting. 

When I was done, I headed to Grandma's house. My thoughts veered to an abominable thing I had done weeks ago. I had molested a woman thinking she was my ex girlfriend, Laura, who had just broken up with me that morning. 

Laura had sent me photos of herself on the beach in Italy the very next morning so I knew it couldn't possibly be her. 

My friends had drugged me, getting me drunk at the party and when she had stepped into the room, inebriated, I had done the most terrible thing. 

I had hired a private investigator to find this woman, but she had remained elusive. As the thought hammered in my head, my driver pulled into grandma’s estate.

She was already having her evening tea. She kissed my cheeks and waved for the housekeeper to serve our dinner. 

“Grandma, I'm only dropping by for a few minutes today. I have another meeting before the end of the day.”

She frowned at me. “Nonsense. You'll have dinner with me. I barely get to see your cheeky face otherwise.” 

She pulled my cheeks. “Tsk tsk. Come seat. You have lost flesh in your cheeks. I wonder if you even have time for dinner with how hard you work.” 

I  chuckled, kissing her warm forehead. “I will eat. But not too much.” 

She heaped my plate herself and I indulged her, after all she was the only family I had left.

Grandma was the matriarch of the Finnick empire.

She owned half of Infinity Corps, our family company;  one I stood at the helm of its affairs. Even when cancer was nearly killing her, she was still beautiful, with pink cheeks and gray hair. 

In her youth, she had been a beauty queen. She was the most important person to me and I treated her as such. 

“Finish what's on your plate.” She said firmly. “It will help me eat too.” 

I caught her hand and held it as we ate. I grazed my fingers over her knuckle, asking the questions I wished I didn't have to. “What did the doctor say?” 

She rolled her eyes, pursing her lips. “Doctors will always have bad news, especially at my age. Doctor Campbell says I am very healthy. I will live twenty more years at this rate.” 

I nodded.  “I believe so too, Grandma, but I will ask Doctor Campbell for his true report if you do not tell me the truth.” 

She giggled, smacking my arm softly. “When did you become so diplomatic?” 

I laughed with her. “Since you became more tricky.” 

She sighed, her eyes glossing over with sadness. “I have five months left at most. He says nothing more can be done, the cancer has spread faster than they expected.” 

I clutched her fingers tighter, swallowing the swell of tears clogging my throat. Grandma patted my cheeks softly. “I'm sorry to leave you alone here. Forgive me.” 

How could she be dying and still more worried for me than herself? I shook my head at the selfless woman. “Do not say that, you will not die.” I told her firmly. 

“Soon, death will come for everyone, Caspian. But tell me, have you found the girl? Have you found Aria?” 

Aria Stanton was the daughter of my father's bodyguard Her mother had lost her life protecting my father. We had searched for her Aria, but she was nowhere to be found.

“No. It seems she does not exist.”

Grandma gulped. “I wish I never gave Aria to her father. I vowed I would protect her, but now it seems I will die without fulfilling that vow.”

“Don't say that, Grandma. I will find her.”

Grandma lifted her tablet and handed it to me. “My men found this picture. It's Aria and her mother just before she died.” 

The young girl in the picture was smiling up at her mother, who was holding her up. She was holding the necklace her mum had around her neck, proudly. 

The woman was calm but there was a look of satisfaction in her eyes like her world was complete. 

“Aria is wearing mother's jade necklace” I whispered. 

The necklace had been one of mother's signature designs from her last exhibition with father. Mother had never designed jewellery after father's death.

“Yes. Aria's mother liked it and your mother gifted it to her. She wore it only on the most important occasions.” Grandma said, our voices quiet as we remembered the dead. 

Grandma clutched my fingers tightly. “You have to find her, Caspian. I have to repay her for her mother's sacrifice before I die.” 

By the time I left Grandma's house, my head felt heavy. I had to find three women; the one I hit that morning, the woman I molested,and Aria, to fulfill Grandma's dying wish.

I had people digging for details and clues that'll lead to these women, but nothing substantial had been found yet.

Would they ever be found?