"I'll send you the information through text" Devin said to Mallory.
"Thanks" Mallory smiled.
"About what you said earlier, I wasn't allowed to speak of it. My father would've hated him if I said something especially because it would put his work at risk." Devin said explaining about why he didn't say Roman was stealing lands from Ezekiels family.
"I know it's not your fault or your father's. It's my father's corruption and ambition. My father got just what he wanted, the land, to see Ezekiel unhappy, and to keep me away from him" Mallory shrugged.
"Liam told me something about what happened, I'm sorry about that" Devin said.
"Have you spoken to him?" Mallory asked him. "I spoke to him at the ball, I've been busy with school and so I haven't had much time to hang out with him or Liam" Devin nodded.
"You don't make time for your friends?" Mallory asked Devin. "I do but it's different now because we all attend different schools and have different schedules. And not only school I'm actually helping my father at his firm. You got into Oxford right?" Devin asked.
"Yeah"
"I thought you wanted to attend Chicago" Devin said.
Mallory shrugged.
"Well I should get going" Devin said. "Wait I'll come with, I actually have to go somewhere and can drop you off at your hotel" Mallory smiled.
~
Mallory knocked until the door was open. "Mal" Colton smiled.
"Can I come in?" Mallory asked. "Yeah, come in" Colton said as he moved aside and she stepped in.
"I didn't know you were in the city" he said as he offered her something to drink but she declined it.
"Yeah I went home for the weekend and now have to fly back to Oxford. I just wanted to make a quick stop and talk to you about something" Mallory said.
"Do you want to go to the living room?" He asked. "No, I'm fine here. I just wanted to let you know that during the weekend I was rushed to the hospital because i had a miscarriage" Mallory said. "I was about three weeks pregnant" Mallory added.
Colton looked at her and was speechless. He started doing the math in his head and it concluded to the time they had last slept together. "How are you feeling?" Colton asked.
"I don't know" Mallory answered. "Why didn't you call me? I mean why didn't you tell me?" He asked
"It's precisely what I wanted to tell you, I don't know if it was yours or Ezekiels" Mallory lowered her voice as she said Zekes name.
"You were with him too?" Colton asked.
Mallory nodded, "I'm sorry for not saying anything, you have every right to be mad but I just wanted to say that I think I did it because I wanted to get over him but the actual reason is that I liked the way you were treating me by giving me your attention, almost in the same way he did when I met him. I'm sorry" Mallory looked at Colton.
Colton nodded, "so what does this all mean? Where do I stand? Where do we stand?" He asked.
"We don't. I think I need time for myself and that's only going to happen by staying away from you and him. I just came here to say goodbye" Mallory said.
~
The following weeks Mallory continued attending school. She said she wanted to stay away from the guys but she couldn't help to pick up her phone quickly every time it rang in hopes that it was Ezekiel calling her.
It was usually her parents trying to speak to her who she had been ignoring as she was having the detective that Devin put her in contact with investigate all about her missing aunt Brooke.
Mallory and Noelle decided not to go home at least until their winter break which was only three days away but all they were worrying about was their exams.
Mallory had begin to meet up with Noah in the library only to study as they had calculus together. She liked that things weren't awkward between them and that he was an actual good friend. Every time she hung out with him she tried to imagine what it would be like if his brother Elijah was there with them.
Nobody had ever been more excited to get into Oxford than Elijah. She liked that Noah had applied to see what Elijah was so excited for when he would always say he didn't plan on going to school after high school. She came into realization that things did happen for a reason and maybe Elijah's passing was for the well being of Noah's future.
~
"I'm going to shower than meet up with Devin and his friend" Mallory said to Noelle as she knew the chauffeur was listening to their conversation and didn't want to say she's be meeting up with the detective.
"I'm going to take a bath and a nap" Noelle said as she yawned. "That's if grandfather doesn't have any plans scheduled for you" Mallory said as she locked her phone and put in on her lap.
~
Mallory let Devin and the detective step into her apartment. She liked that the detective was a woman and felt that she was potential.
"Have a seat" Mallory said to them but Devin said he could wait outside.
"That's not necessary, you know more than enough about us. Stay" Mallory smiled and Devin nodded as he took a seat beside the detective.
"To get straight to the point this is everything I could find on Brooke Merka" the detective said as she set a portfolio on Mallorys coffee table for her to look at. Mallory looked at two pictures of her, one that seemed a passport photo and the other one that the detective had photographed.
"Is this her?" Mallory asked as she looked at the women that seemed just a bit younger than her mother. "That's her" the detective nodded.
"Who's that?" Mallory asked as she pointed to a man standing besides her aunt.
"That would be her husband, Austin Smith, they've been married for almost seventeen years"
Mallory looked at the picture but the man's face wasn't very clear. "Are these the only pictures you have of them both?" Mallory asked. "No I have a section about him too. He has no criminal record and health records show that he's healthy and has been clean just like her their entire life"
"What do they do for living?" Mallory asked. "He's a technician and wins 26 an hour. She's works for her local police department"
Mallory laughed, "she's a cop? The irony. Where are they living?" Mallory looked at the detective and so did Devin who was now invested.
"Barcelona Spain" the detective answered. "Why Spain?" Mallory asked.
"They have a home there, the address is-"
Mallory interrupted her, "09692 Canicosa de la sierra" She said out loud.
"That's exactly the address" The detective responded. "Is it?" Devin asked to see the address and it in fact was.
"How do you know the address?" Devin asked Mallory.
"Bellami is the owner of that property, when we were little our parents took us to spain where Bellami was literally almost abducted and I guess it wasn't the first time. The point is she was so traumatized at that age she was like four, she promised to never go back to Spain and she hasn't gone back. A few years later my father gifted her that house or at least thats the address of that house and we all thought it was absurd since we all knew she was never going back there" Mallory began putting the puzzles together.
"So maybe they did give her away to your parents" Devin said.
"No. They've been living there for how many years?" Mallory asked the detective. "Nineteen almost twenty" She answered.
"Bellami's age. Oh my god that piece of shit!"
"Who?" Devin asked.
"My father! Ezekiel isn't the first person he has done it to. They believe that property is theirs but it's now Bellami's which means my father stole it from them and they don't even know it, right?" Mallory looked at the detective who looked back at her and Devin before nodding.
