Chapter 97 - Plan

Two days later. Graven returned to the mansion.

Rebecca was standing behind the window of her room when she saw his carriage entering the iron gate. "He's back!"​​

She rushed towards the door and exited her room. She walked in the hallways, down the stairs, and went outside, going to the backyard. When she arrived in the mini-park, Graven and Horace stepped into the ground. The carriage was moving out of the park, going to the stable area.

Rebecca rushed to the men's side. "How it's going!? Did you see the coffin inside the cave?" she asked excitedly.

"Let's talk inside," Graven replied.

The trio entered the house.

They settled on the chair.

"So...what-? Did you see a skeleton inside the coffin? Did you see the mirror inside the coffin?" Rebecca asked them right away.

"Yes and no," replied Graven.

"Huh?" Rebecca was confused. "What do you mean?"

"When we arrived in the cave, the coffin was no longer submerged in water. It was floating. When I took the lid off, we saw that Luke's upper body part has generated flesh...but the lower part starting from his thigh was still in semi skeleton state, with sagging skin and sticking bones. No worms and no bad smell. His chest was breathing, his eyes close. He is alive though but I guess his body regeneration is not complete yet. Therefore his body can not get out of that cave. I guess that cave has some special healing and miraculous power that allows his body to regenerate. He was grasping the antique mirror with both hands," Graven explained.

Rebecca's face erupted into a bright smile, feeling happy that Luke is coming to life. "Wow! Such a piece of good news! Isn't it?" she said. "So...where is the coffin now?" she asked.

"We left the coffin in the cave. If we open the coffin and saw skeletons, we will buy the coffin beside our parents. But since Luke's body is regenerating, healing, and recuperating inside the cave then I decided not to remove his body from that place," Graven replied.

"This is a call for celebration, isn't it! The rebirth of my friend Luke!" Rebecca blurted joyfully.

Graven and Horace were silent.

Rebecca's brows furrowed when she noticed that her excitement does not affect Graven. "Huh? Why you are not happy? It's your beloved twin we are talking about here! Your brother is coming back alive! That's a big reason for a celebration," she said.

"I'm happy of course! My twin brother's resurrection is something that I always welcome and wish for. Just that...we have a big problem..." Graven said.

"What is it?" Rebecca asked.

"The moment Luke's body has completed its regeneration, he will come back to get Laura. Once he will get Laura what will happen to Cooper and the wedding?" Graven expressed his concerns for his two brothers.

"Oh...that..." Rebecca said. She scratches her head. "A big problem indeed!" she said.

They were silent for a moment, pondering about the problem brewing in the distance.

Rebecca looked at Graven. "You are the one in the middle. Torn between two brothers falling for the same woman. If I ask you right now? Who is the best deserving brother that you want to side with? Should it be Luke your real blood brother or Cooper your fake brother?" she paused for a moment then continue. "The wedding will take place soon and once the wedding is over, it's over. If Luke's whole body will complete its regeneration before the wedding - then as soon his whole body parts are completed... he's ready to come for Laura in his physical form. So how it's gonna be?"

Graven released a deep sigh. "There's got to be a better solution for all of this..." he murmured.

"I think even if Laura is already married to Cooper, Luke will still come after Laura. And Luke might resort to violence and kill Cooper just to get Laura for himself," Horace interjected.

Graven and Rebecca looked at Horace.

"What-? Did I said something wrong?" Horace asked.

Graven sighed. "That's a possibility. The reason why Luke hasn't done anything yet to Laura is all because his body is not fully healed yet. His spirit can't manifest in the outside world for a long time. His weak spirit can only stay for a couple of hours outside the cave but can't stay for more than 24 hours. He can only be stronger if he will enter my body but it only happened once, he never did it again," he said.

Rebecca glanced at Graven. "Do you have a plan or a solution now to prevent the tragedy from happening between your two brothers?" she asked.

"One thing for sure, if Luke's body is fully restored he can easily annihilate Cooper. My Lord, your human brother is not a match against your twin brother," Horace spoke again.

"Agree," Graven replied. "I can't let anything bad happen to Cooper, he is my father's only biological son. If something bad happens to Cooper, my father will be devastated. I can't just stay unaffected, I got to do something before Luke will make his judgment," he said.

"So...what are you going to do then-?" Rebecca asked Graven curiously. "If you are planning to stop the wedding... in what way? And how will you do it...? In a way that it would be easy for Sir Nicholas and Cooper to accept? I'm sure you are trying to protect Cooper from Luke's wrath."

Graven tapped his fingers on the table. His mind was busy thinking of a solution. Unfortunately, nothing comes up that is promising.

Rebecca glanced at Graven. "What is it that you want to happen?" she asked.

"I want to stop Laura and Cooper's wedding to prevent angering Luke," Graven declared.

"Okay. So...how to stop the wedding? Something needs to happen. Because right now, Laura is already in the early stage of preparation for the wedding, sooner or later, before we know it, it will be the grand wedding day. If the wedding needs to stop, it has to be done soon before Laura can go to church to ask the priest for a schedule, before the wedding invitation is out, before the body measurements can be taken for the wedding gowns. If we don't have a valid plan yet, we should at least hinder Laura from making any further preparations so that the damage on Sir Nicholas's side is minimal," Rebecca suggested. "What do you think?" she asked.

"Okay, that is your mission, Rebecca. Find a way how to hamper Laura from making preparations," he ordered.

"I can do that, but I can't hold her that long. We need to have a solid plan as soon as possible because Laura was determined to finish finding the right shop and people to hire for the wedding preparation in just one week. Last night she told me that we will go to church today to talk to the priest about the schedule of the wedding," Rebecca said.

Silence descended upon them.

A few moments later, Horace spoke. "My Lord...I have a suggestion..." he said.

"Speak!" Graven said.

"If you don't want the wedding to push through between Laura and Cooper... then why don't we kidnap Laura? That will solve all your problems," Horace suggested.

"Yes, we can do that..." Rebecca agreed.

"But by doing so...you are giving my father a big problem and stress because Laura was entrusted to him by his friend Simon who is Laura's father. Can you imagine the amount of stress that he will encounter if Laura disappeared without a trace under his jurisdiction? I don't want him to suffer that bad," Graven said.

"But My Lord...your father will suffer more if Cooper is the one who will die in the end, killed by your twin brother," Horace added.

Graven took a deep breath - trying to make sense of everything.

"Horace got a valid point...please listen to him, Graven!" Rebecca said.

"We can stage the abduction when Laura is not here...to lessen the impact on Sir Nicholas's guilt," Horace suggested.

"What do you mean?" Graven asked.

"Send Laura home, on the way...when she was nearing their home town, we can stage an abduction. That way, even if your father knows about it, Laura's disappearance can't be attributed to him because she is no longer under his responsibility, his guilt will be less," Horace added more details to his plan.

"So...how to send Laura home?" Graven asked.

"Easy...send a piece of fake news from Hallowpass from her family stating there is an emergency home. She needs to go back home as early as possible because her mother, father, or sister is sick," Horace answered.

Rebecca smiled brightly. "Wow! You are a genius, Horace! I'm impressed!" she rained praises on him with a thumb up.

Horace grinned, being praised by Rebecca is like winning a lottery.

Graven was warming up to Horace's plan. "So...where are we going to hide Laura?"

"In Bay Meadow..." Rebecca suggested. "That is a remote place...a good place to hide a kidnap victim, besides that is where Luke and Laura meet each other when he was using your body to make Laura fall in love with him. A good place for a reunion between Laura and Luke, where most of their sweet memories were created" she answered.

"Do we have to inform Laura that we are the ones who kidnap her?" Graven asked.

Rebecca shrugged. "Well... I can keep Laura company there until Luke's body completed its regeneration," she offered.

"Okay. We now have a plan. But make sure first that Laura is still in love with my twin brother. If she answers yes then we can kidnap her with her authorization. It would be better if she is willing to kidnap by us. We can't kidnap her if she no longer loves Luke, what's the point?" Graven said.

"My Lord, the point is, to makes sure that Laura won't get married to Cooper so that Luke won't harm him. If Laura no longer loves Luke...that's not a problem, to begin with. Since by that time, Luke already had his physical body back then he can woe Laura all his life. I'm sure love is sweeter the second time around," Horace said. "Besides, your twin is handsome, they have a history already. It would be impossible for Laura to ignore him since they already had a short romantic relationship before - it's just a matter of time and they will fall for each other again," he added. "This way, all ends well..."

Rebecca was amused and impressed by Horace's mindset. "I like your thinking, Horace!" she said. "I'm sure Luke will be happy that we prepare Laura for his return," she said.

Graven rose to his feet. "Okay, let's think about this plan for another day. Meeting adjourned," he said and left the table going to his bedroom.

"I'm going back inside the mansion to talk to Laura," Rebecca said and left the house.