A Cinderella for the sheikh

CHAPTER TWELVE

Chapter Twelve

A Cinderella for the Sheikh.

My blonde friend lazed around the couch as I made him coffee. Kade had come as soon as he could make it and  I for once saw new hope.

"I want it extra strong" He shouted and I rolled my eyes. Placing his coffee in front of him I plopped down on the couch facing him.

"So" He said taking a big gulp from his mug.

"Tell me about her."  He took another sip "I want to know everything about Sophia Edwards."

I took in a deep breath and slumped further onto the couch. Some memories were worth remembering and some were painful to remember and memories about Sophia were a combination of both. Painful yet worth remembering. 

It wasn't easy to take a trip down memory lane. Sophias green eyes still remained transfixed in my brain. Her eyes that I could never forget.

"I was a toddler when we visited New York. It wasn't my first time though, we always came to New York.  It was home  for me but this time we came because of Uncle Edward and Aunt Maya. Uncle Edward was my dad's best friend and Aunt Maya, my mom's. We were visiting New York for a different reason that time and I was pretty excited. Aunt Maya had given birth to a baby girl.

The ride there was filled with happiness and chatter. My mom was very happy,She considered Aunt Maya as her sister and dad was happy too.

The moment I saw the baby I saw her big bottle green eyes. I adored her. As the years passed by I realised that my adoration had developed into a crush. I did what ever it took to make her smile. Though Adel was only a year elder to her she still had a different kind of bond with me, they were not as close as we were.

One day when she was seven her family went on a vacation. They never returned.
They were all declared dead even Sophia even though her body was not found but it was assumed that a six or seven year old could not have handled the strong current. I never believed it though. I never thought that Sophia was dead. I repeatedly asked my father for a thorough investigation but by then the case had been closed and no one willing to look at it again .

I found it strange at that time. How could a millionaires ship which was made in its finest sink so easily,  I always doubted it to be a Conspiracy but no one obviously paid any heed.

Two years ago I hired private detectives to look into the case but till now they came up with nothing. Nothing at all but then a few weeks back at a masquerade , there was a woman who had the exact same shade of eyes as Sophias but she addressed herself as Kiara houssam.

I hoped to see her again, to see if it really was Sophia so I asked to take over the Houssam's deal from my father but when I visited him I found out that the woman at the party was completely different from Kiara Houssam.

When I tried to get hold on clues by getting footage of the party I found out that the original copy was missing. It was then that I remembered about this. " I took out the bracelet from my pocket and placed it on Kade's palm. "The woman at the party had dropped this. I looked at it in detail and found that the bracelet has the Edwards family logo. Only Sophia could have had that. "

"I am sure that woman was Sophia Kade but the problem is she has disappeared And we need to find her within three months if we want to save her and her empire into falling into wrong hands. If Sophia was kept hidden so many years the objective could only be her wealth. Sophia is still the heiress to the Edward empire since her body was never found. You know what people can do for wealth Kade. Her Empire is the 11th wealthiest empire in the world and anyone can get that by forcing her to sign on some papers. Either by force or kindness. But I doubt Sophia even knows that she is a heiress. I don't know where she is Kade and time is running out. We need to find her. Even if it takes more than we can give."

Kade looked at me with sympathy as he gave me back the bracelet.

"I will do everything I can to help."

*********

Another few weeks had passed by yet no clue about Sophia. We now had only one and a half months left to find her.

We followed Mr.Houssam everywhere he went and so far we had nothing. Nothing at all. Kade who was always filled with positivity and enthusiasm had lost all his pompousness. We were an inch away from pulling out our hair in frustration. This was getting way too aggravating.

We were currently outside Mr.Houssams mansion, obviously being the stalkers we are.Not to forget it being 10:00 pm.

Kade had his face pressed onto the window in a most amusing fashion looking bored to death.

After so many weeks I finally saw activity inside the compounds of Houssam's mansion. It was a figure sneaking towards the gates. The guard who was always on duty seemed to be soundly asleep.

A couple of seconds later the figure took a detour and I waited in anxiousness. It could be her.
Kade looked attentive as well as he looked further down the street.

"There!" He pointed at a far corner down the street. It was the same person dressed in a black cloak jogging down the street.

This was my chance. My only chance to know if it was Sophia, but from this far I could not even figure out of it was a male or a female.

"Let's ditch the car" Kade suggested.

"No, No, I'll get on foot and you follow me with the car as silently as you can."

We followed the person who had their face covered in a hoodie down to a 24*7 coffee shop which had very few customers. 

Kade and I entered the cafeteria and found a seat right behind the hooded person.

Later we found out that it was a helper from the Houssams mansion who had sneaked out to meet her boyfriend.

You can imagine how hard Kade and I wanted to hit our heads on the wall.

Just as we stepped outside there was a yell from down the street. Kade and I looked at each other and dashed down the way the shreik came from. 

There were three men in the dark alley way surrounding a woman.

The woman was kneeling on the floor, her face scratched, clothes torn.

As soon as the men saw they had company they fled.

I walked to the woman unassured of what I was going to do. The first thing I recognised was a scarf laying a couple of feet away. Kade was no where to be seen, he had probably run behind the men to get them behind bars for assault.

I handed the scarf to the woman, looking at anywhere but at her. Wondering about the pain and humiliation she must be going through. The scarf was gently pulled out of my hand. She was lucky that we had arrived before things had gotten out of hand. Not that this wouldn't have left a scar, it would obviously be agonising for her to move forward for a while but I knew that the pain subsides.

Time heals everything.

I felt sad for the woman who was silently shaking. Sobs wrecking through her body and my heart went out to her. I kneeled down in front of her wanting to console her since she had covered up. 

"Do you need medical help?" I questioned her, looking at the tears streaking down her cheeks. I really wish I could console her. "We can call an ambulance or I and my friend can take you to the hospital if you want."

The woman remained silent, her eyes tightly shut. I really wished to be wearing a jacket right now so that I could offer it to her but unfortunately I hadn't.  It wasn't that cold.

"Ma'am? " I questioned at her and finally she lifted her chin to look at me.

Bottle green eyes pierced into my soul and I let out a gasp of disbelieve. 

It was the woman I had been searching for the past many weeks.

The woman who sat in front of me, tears streaking her face and eyes which held all the bitterness and sadness in the world was Sophia.

I felt like my world had just tumbled down. I had been searching for her, waiting to meet her but this was not the way I wanted to find her. The image of the broken woman In front of me would haunt me for life.