In The Midst of Trouble

Chapter 8

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this sooner, but this is the best place to find any clues relating to Jack surreptitiousness. I mean, it is his home, and if my research was correct (by research I mean the many crime documentaries I’d watched) there had to be something here that could be suspicious.

I started with his bedside drawers, but found nothing out of the ordinary, except for the condoms. There were business cards there too, some letters and photos of us together. Next, I went into his closet and patted down all his suits, shirts and even his shoes but still found nothing. His special case of watches and glasses also held nothing. But did I really expect him to be hiding something in our bedroom? That would be too obvious. Jack is intelligent and very subtle.

The next place to search would be his home office. The only problem was that said home office was usually locked and there would be a guard along that hall ever since we moved here. I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me that there was something wrong with that. I just figured it was because he didn’t want be snooping around his business or getting involved with his cases.

However, that didn’t stop me from leaving the bedroom, heading downstairs, and going straight to the hallway in the left wing. For the first time, I found it empty but also to my chagrin, it was locked. I never could pick a lock, but my brother could. If only he was here to help me…

“Do you need something, madam?” one guard asked, tall as hell, dark skinned and intimidating asked heading towards where I was standing. I’d been caught let handed, my hand on the freaking doorknob.

I retrieved my hand and then joined it with the other one behind my back, trying to feign innocence. “I was looking for something and thought it would be in Jack’s office, but it’s locked. Would you happen to have a key?” I asked coyly, even batting my eyelashes like a toddler.

His face remained impassive. “Mr. Hirano said nobody should ever enter that room without his permission. Only a few of us have the key, but I’m in no position to say who has it,” he replied tersely before sliding between me and the door. He really seemed unfriendly, and I wouldn’t get any information out of him.

Sighing, I walked away from him and went outside to the patio overlooking the infinity pool. Dammit, I was starting to feel that loneliness again. How could Jack just bring me to a place I have nobody I know? Maybe I should stop sulking around and make friends…but I hadn’t done that in such a long time. I’d only had like two friends in college, and I was never a social butterfly. What the hell am I gonna do?

For a while, I just sat on the chaise lounge, pondering about how my life was becoming like a cycle. It felt like I was the female lead in that ultra-cliché movie 365 days because Jack bringing me here to Texas does kinda feel like a kidnapping. But he hadn’t forced me to love him, I fell in love with him all on my own. My life is nothing like that shitty movie.

 

Unlocking my phone, I dialed my mother’s number. I hadn’t talked to her in a few weeks because she along with the rest of my family were mad at me for just abandoning them. After a few rings, she finally picked up. “Hello, Genevieve,” she said blandly. Oh boy, she is still not happy with me, she even used my full name!

“Hi mum,” I said barely above a whisper. “How are you?”

She sighed. “I’m alright sweetheart, you know how being a high school principal is. I’m surrounded by a bunch of hormonal teenagers who I have to keep in check, whilst I simultaneously lose my mind. How about you? How’s your new life in Houston?” she asked bitterly. “I still can’t believe that man took my daughter away from me like that. I never liked him, not when you introduced him to us a few years ago. Your dad is still so furious with you, and he hates Jack. As for your brother, you’re lucky he’s currently deployed, or he might have convinced the entire navy to annihilate that husband of yours.”