Abducted

CHAPTER 22.

Marina stayed in her cramped, stooping position, behind the piano, for what felt like hours. The tears had begun to escape. Pent up rage threatened to spill out of it's prison.
To avoid making a sound, she had pressed her palm flat against her O shaped scowl. This was all a nightmare, she thought. She hoped that someone would come along and wake her soon.
When the coast was clear, Marina vacated her hiding place.
She wasted no time!
Grabbing her coat, she raced outside. Oblivious of the shocked faces, which turned her way, Marina kept on running until she reached her car.
"Marina!" her mom called, running after her, but, Marina paid her no mind. Fumbling with the keys, she opened the door and flung herself into the driver's seat. Barely giving herself time to close the door, Marina sped off, leaving a shower of pebbles in her wake.

Her mom's shouts went in vain
Marina was too bewildered and hurt to care.
Her fists pounded at the steering wheel.
The startling revelation had numbed her senses.
First her daughter's disappearance.
Senior Mr. Hartland's sudden passing.
Isabella and Tommy's secret liaison.
The Detective stating that Geraldo was not her daughter's father.
Geraldo's untimely death.
Now this!
It was too much to grasp in such a short space of time.
All these years and she had never suspected.
Her eyes were suddenly wide awake to what she had not paid attention to before.

Marina realised that she had missed it all along.
Mr. Romeo's uncanny resemblance to the twin and his devout interest in Mrs. Hartland senior.
One question kept turning over in her mind.
How could her late husband be sterile, when he was the only man whom she had slept with all her life. The same man who had gathered her baby girl.
Making a mental note to stop by Mr. Rousseau's office the next afternoon, she tried to concentrate on the road.

Marina did not feel like going home. The house represented too many memories, which she was not prepared to face.
Sighting the four star hotel up ahead, she decided that she would rest her aching body in one of the rooms, for the night.
The car park was filled. Marina had to circle for almost a dozen times, before she could have occupied a space. Suddenly, Marina jerked to a stop.
"Why was Isabella's car parked here?". It was almost hidden from view, by a brown SUV.
"Why had Isabella left the church so hurriedly?"
Another mystery to be solved.
With pounding temples, Marina realised that the next few days would be very, very busy as she would be seeking to find answers.
Deciding not to go into the hotel, Marina switched off the engine.
Luckily , she had gotten a full view of the entire reception area.
Marina relaxed her head against the headrest and waited.
Thoughts of deceit and lies, swirled in her exhausted mind.
Enough was enough, she resolved.
"Let the games begin!"

Watching the entrance, barely daring to blink, Marina hadn't a clue that she was also being watched.
The unknown stranger, with the cane had followed her straight from the Hartland's mansion.
Parking his rented vehicle, he settled his aching limbs into a comfortable position and kept a close watch on Marina.
For it was his duty to do so!