Deeper Healing

57| Warning

Nikolai Coleman

Carlos and I got into the car right after my lunch meeting with the investors of the Elite Project.

It'd been as successful as I'd hoped, but torturous to some extent since my mind was set on discovering more about what was happening in Leilani's life and knowing what else Carlos had found out.

"Mrs. Jennifer Edwards attended a charity function the afternoon of the incident at the holiday house and she was wearing the shoes," Carlos informed me as I buckled up, scrolling through the pictures on his iPad.

I nodded attentively, confirming what he was saying.

"Later that day in the evening around nine, she had dinner with friends and was still wearing those shoes," he added, showing me another set of evidential pictures.

"She planted the shoes," I concluded in certainty, sitting back in my seat with a soft sigh. "But still, that doesn't rule out Isla from the puzzle. I have a gut feeling she had a part in this."

The bigger part, from where I was standing. If Jennifer, someone known for being careful and barely making any mistakes with schemes, could be as sloppy as leaving a trail of clues with her name written all over it from the Bryce issue, then it could only mean one thing.

She was doing it purposefully to cover her daughter's tracks.

Certainly, it was beginning to tire me out, running around and searching for facts when the culprits were right before me. I wished it was as simple as asking them to their faces and getting the truth as it was.

"Antonio came looking for you at the office while you were having your meeting," Carlos informed me. "He didn't say why."

I softly hummed. "He knows what's really going on, how it started or even where it's going," I said deep in contemplation. "He just can't pick a side and stick to it and we can't force him to either."

This involved the people closest to him, his mother and his sister. He was bound to feel some sense of duty to protect them, but from how Leilani told me about their interactions, I couldn't help but notice his suppressed feelings of affection and care towards her.

I was convinced he wanted to help her, but he was still conflicted and not yet fully in. After all, we wouldn't have known about the holiday house if he hadn't attempted to take Leilani there in the first place.

I heard Carlos take a deep sigh, drawing me away from my thoughts to pay attention to him.

"What?" I asked him, my heart softly thudding. "Did something happen?"

Lately, anything was possible and my heart wouldn't stop racing at the thought of anything bad happening, especially to Leilani. I didn't want anything bad to happen to her and everything I was doing was to make sure she remained safe or at least know where the attacks came from.

"I got a notification from security at the penthouse."

What could possibly happen there? I'd never had security issues before.

"Isla tried to get into the penthouse," Carlos told me.

"But she failed," I said certainly. "I changed the passcode weeks ago."

At some point, we were close enough to share apartment passcodes and she could come and go as she pleased, but we just weren't that way anymore.

She hadn't been to the penthouse since Leilani moved in and I'd changed all security measures since. I'd never felt happier about a decision. Who knew what she wanted to do in there without telling me beforehand?