The Happy Lights in your Window

Chapter 36

Kas

Drake pats the chair next to him, "Come here Dorrie". Dor who is sitting beside Kas makes a move to get up. Kas puts a restraining hand on her elbow. He watches Drake get visibly angry as Dor stays put next to Kas. "You know I won't talk till you come here", Drake almost spits the words out. "Don't talk" Kas intercepts calmly on Dor's behalf, his hand still on Dor's elbow, feeling the tension in her body. "Don't tell me you want her. She's not that good in bed. In fact, she is quite useless in that department. Believe me, I'm speaking from experience." Drake gives a nasty knowing smile. Kas doesn't bat an eyelid, retorting smoothly, "You are making me curious." He turns to Dor and gives her a teasing smile. "Now I am really interested. Are you really that boring? When will you give me a chance to find out?" Drake stares at both of them and then shrugs. "You haven't been sleeping with him. That's good. Dor, promise me you will come home and I will tell you everything I know. 

"Kas replies on Dor's behalf almost immediately. "She promises to come home". Drake nods and says "Not much to say really. At the party all those years ago, I actually saw that boy Zander putting the little girl in his car and driving off. That's all. I can testify if you like. "Who else was with Zander?" Kas asks urgently. "No one. Just the Bernard boy. After that, everyone started searching for her. That's it". Kas looks at him questioningly "Why did you keep quiet all this while? You knew how desperately Kas and Dor were looking for Kaya?". Dake grunts, "And become an enemy of the Bernard family"?. Kas stares at him "Then why mention it at all after all this while? This is just a desperate attempt to keep Dor, isn't it"? Drake gets up heavily, his cane taking the brunt of his weight. "Come on girl" He waves out one hand to Dor. "Let's go". Kas and Dor stand up. Kas walks towards the entrance of the bakery and nods to Dor, "Let's go". Dor, carefully avoiding Drake's extended hand, joins Kas at the entrance. Drake looks infuriated. "You promised to come home". Kas replies "This is your home, not hers. This is a place where you kept and abused a young orphan girl with no place to go. She is finally going home".

 He takes Dor's hand in his and they both walk out, leaving Drake yelling after them. In the car, they both sit quietly. "What if he doesn't testify?" Dor's voice is fearful. Kas leans back wearily and closes his eyes. "Drake is not trustworthy. He is not going to testify. He is just desperate to keep you. He really doesn't have anything else going for him at his age. I won't let you ever see him again". They sit quietly for a few minutes and then he hears Dor saying softly "This is exactly how I imagined my grown-up Kas to be. If I don't look at you and just listen to you, it's just like Kas is next to me." Kas smiles, his eyes still closed.

Kas

"He's making a pretty good recovery. Faster than what we expected". He zooms into the image of Zander picking up little Megan Bernard from school, the smile on his face showing how much he cares for the little girl. Neil nods. "After the initial moping around for a month, he's been putting all his time and effort at work and caring for his little girl." Kas feels the bitterness rise up in him again. "A smiling Zander. Well, we can't have that, can we"? Neil looks a bit taken aback at Kas's vicious tone. Call Alice Bernard. Time to make some plans".The next day, Alice is sitting in front of him again. He is surprised by how easily she agrees to meet him. "What can I do for you?" She asks bluntly. "I want you to leave Zander Bernard." He replies, matching her tone. "I've been wanting to leave for a long time. But my dad, my family"? He nods understandingly. Ryan Bernard has been controlling a lot of people through family blackmail. 

"Neil, meet Ms. Alice's father and check his requirements. See that we match what he is getting currently. In fact, better it."He smiles at Alice encouragingly. "File a divorce case. We will arrange the lawyer. State adultery as the primary cause. We have to prove Zander as a bad influence on the child and get complete custody of the child. She nods. "I know everything about Zander. But I don't have evidence "Kas and Neil exchange a smile. "We have enough evidence for you to divorce him at least a dozen times." She leaves with a relieved look on her face. Kas turns to Neil "Kevin is out. Soon Alice and the child will be out. Get a complete detailed report from our sources in the house. I want all possible details on the third pig." Neil looks at him in confusion "The third pig?" Kas nods "Jackson. That guy is the wild card. He doesn't belong in there. What keeps him there all these years? Let's figure him out."