I'm In Love With My Bestfriend's Billionaire Fiance!
Chapter 27: A Problem Shared...

Chapter 27: A Problem Shared...

Jace

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I sat in my chair, my heart beating dully in my chest as I listened to Casey narrate everything that had happened back at the dining hall and the measures Joan had taken so far. When she started speaking, I kept quiet and allowed her to do her thing without any interruptions. At first, she started off slowly, however, the more she spoke, the freer she became and soon, it wasn’t just a simple narration anymore. It was more like a plea. She was getting in way over her head, dealing with forces that could destroy her life. I couldn’t imagine how terrifying it must have been for her.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I watched her, she seemed to be tethering on the edge of breaking down. It hurt me badly to see her in such a state. She believed that we were in danger of being exposed and that gave credence to what she was saying.

I got up from my seat and came to kneel beside her, my initial anger at her was gone as I took her hand, "Babe, you don’t have to be scared. I won’t let anything happen to us."

She shook her head as she wrenched her hand from my grip, "this might not be something that you’ll be able to stop. We still don’t know what those guys saw last night. All they need is good deductive skills and..."

I placed a finger over her lips to silence her, when I retracted my hand I shook my head slightly at her, "Babe, I can assure you that nobody followed me to the King’s Boulevard last night. I’ve lived with paparazzi and stalkers long enough, so avoiding them is second nature for me. Many times, even when they’re not there, I still imagine they are and take evasive measures. You have to believe me when I say that nobody followed me there. Our secret is safe, babe."

She looked at me, her eyes were misty, "It is?"

"Of course... would I ever lie to you?"

She looked away then, shifting in her seat as if she was trying to increase the distance between us, "I want to believe you, trust me, I do. But you’ve also not been entirely honest with me."

"Come on... this is not about Lena, right?"

Her eyes blanched, "what? Fuck no! I’ve got bigger problems than that. And whatever it is that you’ve got going with her, it’s now none of my business."

I felt a huge pain in my chest as if I was stabbed by her words, "You don’t mean that. Nothing is going on between Lena and me, how many times do I have to tell you this?"

"That’s not the issue right now, okay?" She said pointedly. "What I want to know is your movement for last night. I checked in with Ethan and also the footage back at the security outpost. After you left the dinner hall, you went straight to the hotel for a change of clothes and also to fool Ethan into thinking you were asleep. You left not long after, but it took about two hours before you got to King’s Boulevard. That was a trip that would have taken nothing less than thirty minutes, no matter how bad the traffic was that night. Where did you go, Jace?"

I stared at her, then with a sigh, I got to my feet and stepped away, "I don’t see what that has got to do with anything."

I couldn’t tell her where I had gone just yet, least of all when I knew she was still yet to fully accept us for who we could be. I didn’t want to give her another reason to hate me. Maybe when we finally solved this issue, I would bring her up to speed.

"It has everything to do with it! Don’t you see? What if you were followed there? Or you were followed from that place to King’s Boulevard. You wouldn’t have been expecting it, would you?"

"Babe, I understand what you’re saying, I know the gravity of all this. However, you have to believe me when I tell you this; where I went last night isn’t important. You and I, our secret is safe, as long as we keep it between ourselves."

She stared at me for a long time, then with a pained sigh of acceptance, she looked away, "You’re right, it’s none of my business."

I shook my head in frustration, "Casey..."

"We have to talk about Kira," she said flatly, changing the subject. "We know for a fact that one of the stalkers was outside her room last night."

"But how the hell was someone able to camp outside the room all through the night and security had no idea?" I demanded. The entire thing made no sense.

Casey looked blank for a few seconds, "I don’t have the answer to that either. I guess we’d have to talk to Joan about it. She’s the one keeping me abreast of the entire situation."

"You’re damn right I’ll talk to her! But back to the matter, between you and I, do you think Kira has any problems? What exactly could the stalker have seen?"

"I don’t think they would have gotten anything noteworthy from her." Casey told me. "She would have spent the entire night indoors, and if the stalkers did see someone, they would have seen me leave her hotel room, because I was the last person to see her that night. Also, she doesn’t have a boyfriend, so I don’t think we should be scared of her causing any scandals."

I looked at her as I nodded, she had finally said what was bothering her, "Is that what you’re so scared of? A scandal? You think one would happen if you choose to let yourself be free with me?"

"Come on, Jace... please stay on track! We’re not doing this again! We have more important things to talk about!"

"Well, I’m sorry if the woman I love is more important to me than all these other things!"

"Jace... my career is important to me as well. My best friend is important to me! If I lose my job, I won’t have billions in my bank account to tide me over till I start my next company. If I lose Kira, I just won’t forgive myself. We’ve been through so much together, I see her as my sister! With the way you keep going through all this, we’re going to get burned."

"No." I told her flatly as I returned to my seat, "You just don’t wanna trust me to handle things. You don’t wanna trust me to take care of you. I’m sorry for taking us off track, let’s get back to more important stuff like my fiancée."

She opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped herself, rearranged herself in the seat, and then spoke again, "I feel that we should tell Kira what is going on."

I stared at her in horror, "are you insane?"

"Listen, we won’t tell her everything. We simply inform her that the stalker had camped outside her hotel room last night. This way, we just might be able to work together towards catching the culprit. Hopefully, catching one would lead us to all their accomplices."

I thought about it for a while, I knew that Kira deserved to know and we were definitely going to tell her. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to the reason Casey wanted her in the loop. I just couldn’t place my finger on it. But I was certain that with time, I would figure it out.

"Okay fine, you tell her. She’s your bestfriend! But then, in light of all these developments, I might have some not-so-happy news."

I saw her shift uncomfortably in her seat, "we can’t do this alone, babe. Not even with Kira in the loop. We’d have to tell Ethan about everything as well. He has a history with the Police Force and he also has some friends that can help us out. He’ll be the right person to handle this and track down these stalkers, once and for all."

Casey shifted, "it’s okay, we can tell him. The same thing we’re telling Kira. Just only the things he needs to know."

I pinched the bridge of my nose for the second time that day, "Babe... it would be nothing like what we’re telling Kira. If we want him to work with us and get to the bottom of this matter, we’d have to confess everything. He needs to know what’s at stake here, so he must know all the details going in. We must tell him that we’re dating. And that we spent last night together!"

At once, she surged to her feet as she stared daggers at me, "fuck no! Over my dead body! We’re not telling Ethan, no matter what!"