Chapter 230 - Nosy Fellow

As the private investigator organized the documents and pictures in front of him, he made up his mind that he was going to retire from his line of business after submitting the information to the dangerous men who had abducted him three days ago. 

He had done his findings on the men and had found out that they were members of the legion gang, and he didn't want to be involved with them in any way. They had given him only three days, and thankfully he had gotten all the information they needed. He was only now waiting for them to come over and pick up the information he had gathered. Once they did that, he was going to move out of this apartment and travel out of the country to somewhere far away to start over. 

His instincts told him that if he continued like this he was going to either end up in big trouble or end up dead, and he didn't want any of that. He had made enough money by digging into people's lives, and now it was time to stop and enjoy all the wealth he had amassed.

He quickly tucked everything into a brown envelope and turned to the door when he heard the lock being picked from outside. Couldn't they at least knock or use the doorbell? Why did people keep breaking into his apartment? He wondered irritably and stood up just as the door opened. 

A tall and handsome-looking man, with cold gray eyes, stepped in. He was dressed in black jeans trousers and a blue long-sleeved shirt. His low-cut hair was covered with a black face cap, and on his feet, he was wearing a pair of black tennis shoes.

"Oops! You're home. Sorry, I broke in," he murmured with a grin that revealed his crook teeth when he noticed the presence of the private investigator.

For reasons unknown to the private investigator, the smile sent a cold shiver down his spine and he involuntarily shifted on his feet. He looked the man before him over, wondering why he looked kind of familiar. Was he a member of the gang? Or was he someone he had seen elsewhere?

"I'm here to pick up the information you gathered on Candace Roberts. I believe that is what you are holding," he said, jerking his head towards the envelope which the private investigator was holding. 

"Are you one of them? Did they send you to pick it up?" The private investigator asked doubtfully.

"Would I be here if I wasn't?" The intruder asked back as he held out his right hand for the envelope to be handed to him.

"What proof do you have?" He asked tentatively, and the man in front of him smiled again. But like the first time, the smile didn't touch his eyes. He soon realized that it was a warning smile. 

"Don't make me repeat myself," he warned as he took off his face cap.

The private investigator's eyes widened slightly when he saw the jagged scar that ran through the right side of his face from his hairline to his eyebrow and remembered where he had seen him. His picture had been in the file which they had given him for the job. He was Candace's boyfriend. Jero.

From what little findings he had made, Jero was in jail because Candace had testified against him, and members of the gang had let him take the fall, so Jero being in his house right now, and asking for this document wasn't going to end well for him either way. If he handed the information to Jero and the members of the gang came, they were likely going to kill him, and if he didn't give it to Jero, the man was also going to kill him too. 

"I see you recognize me. Now hand it over quickly," he ordered quietly as he took a step closer.

"How did you know about this? And why do you want it?" The private investigator asked with a frown, wondering just how Jero knew that he was with information concerning Candace. Had he been following him around? If so he wouldn't need the documents as he would already know where to find Candace. Then was it one of the gang members who had snitched to him? If so what did he want with the information? Was he trying to find Candace himself and protect her or did he want to harm her? What did they all want from the lady? 

"I don't like answering questions or repeating myself," Jero muttered in annoyance as he reached for a gun with a silencer which was tucked in the waistband of his trousers, and without saying another word he fired it directly at the private investigator.

The private investigator's eyes widened in shock as the bullet sank into his forehead and he dropped to the ground.

"Damn nosy fellow," Jero muttered as he snatched the envelope from the dead man's hand before his blood could stain it. He looked inside the envelope to confirm the contents, and once he saw a picture of Candace with his little boy, his lips pulled up in a smile as he returned the picture into the envelope and walked out of the apartment.

**********

Jade walked into the living room she shared with Harry and raised a brow when she saw that he was still busy on the phone. With the way he had been receiving call after call all morning, one would think he was the CEO of the company and not Tom.

She watched as he paced around the living room, and judging by how tense his facial features looked, and how he kept taking in deep breaths before speaking, she could tell that he was trying really hard to control his temper and not snap at the person he was speaking with. That told her the person was important, likely one of the company's shareholders calling again. 

It was difficult not to feel sorry for him. Here he was trying to help her solve her problem, and now he also had to deal with helping Tom and Lucy clear up what was going on with them.

She walked over to the minibar, poured some wine into two glasses, and then walked over to where he was standing and handed him a glass, "Take it easy," Jade muttered to him and patted his shoulder gently.

"Thanks," Harry mouthed to her distractedly as he continued with his phone call.

She hurried back to her bedroom with her glass of wine when she heard her phone ringing, and she quickly picked up the phone and received the call when she saw that it was her mother, "The world's sweetest mom!" She greeted fondly to cover up her guilt over not calling to check on her this whole time.

"What are you so excited about? Have you seen what's going on with your brothers?" Evelyn asked Jade impatiently.

"My brothers? What is going on with them?" Jade asked, wondering if something had happened that she wasn't aware of.

"Bryan just got dumped by his fiancee on the set of their reality show! It's all over the news. And Tom's girlfriend... They say she is a murderer!" Evelyn said with a hysterical sob.

"Bryan got dumped by Sonia? How? Why?" Jade asked, ignoring her mother's reference to Lucy.

"I don't know! People took pictures, and everyone is talking about it. To think that both girls are best of friends! They are out to ruin my boys' life! Tell your brother to break up with that girl immediately!" Evelyn cried.

"Mom! I'm very disappointed in you! You of all people should know better than to say things like that! If you know the kind of kids you raised, then you should trust their choices. I'm hanging up now," Jade said with a disapproving tone as she hung up the call.

She wondered how Bryan was doing. At first, she had doubted their engagement, but after watching a few clips of their reality show and speaking with Sonia, she knew for a fact that they genuinely loved each other.

She dialed Bryan's line immediately, but the call failed to connect. When she tried several times and it didn't work, she called Mia instead.

"Hey, Mia! I'm trying to reach Bryan. Is he alright?" Jade asked immediately Mia received the call. 

"I don't think so. Sonia ended things with him earlier. I wonder why she had to go that far knowing she would hurt herself too," Mia said with a sad sigh.

"What happened? Where is he?" Jade asked in a worried tone.

Mia quickly explained all that had happened, "...So I went to drop Sonia off at the airport and by the time I got back, I didn't meet him. I went to his apartment and he wasn't there either," Mia explained.

"Alright. Thank you," Jade said as she hung up.

Just a few days ago she had been thinking that her brothers were getting all the fun and romance in the world that she was lacking, and all of a sudden they were both facing so much hardship at the same time. How was she going to help them? Jade wondered as she walked out of her bedroom.

She returned to the living room in time to see Harry hang up the call. She watched from the doorway as he gulped down the entire content of the glass and gently dropped the glass on the table before heading for his room. Jade watched him curiously as he walked away, and then she followed him so she could see what he was going to do.

Once he got inside his room, he dropped the phone on the nightstand and lay on his bed face down, picked up his pillow, and placed it over his head before screaming into the mattress. 

Jade who had followed him, and was watching quietly, could only imagine just how frustrated he was feeling to resort to such measure to let it out. It was just one stupid move from an equally stupid person that was causing so much trouble for everyone. 

"Did something happen again?" Jade asked curiously.

Harry sat up and tried to compose himself before turning to look at her. Before he could respond to her question he received a text message notification, but his phone started ringing before he could check the text message.

He picked up the phone once he saw that it was one of his men calling, "Yes?" He asked once he received the call.

"We found the person who made the first post on Twitter."

"Good. Send me the details of the person."

"One more thing," the man added before Harry could hang up.

"What?"

"The private investigator was found dead in his apartment an hour, and Jero was captured going in and leaving his apartment before then. I asked one of the men to tail him. And I sent you the pictures already."

"Alright. Thank you," Harry said before hanging up the call.

"What?" Jade asked curiously.

"Is this person Jero?" Harry asked, showing the picture to Jade.

"Yes. Why? Where is that place?" Jade asked curiously as she looked closely at the pictures.

"That is the private investigator's apartment. He was found dead in his apartment," Harry informed her with a sigh.. Too much stuff was happening at the same time and it was all beginning to get to him.