Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 327: Call From an Old Friend

Chapter 327: Call From an Old Friend

"As you said, your granddaughter started to investigate. I’ve already sent her the details. We don’t owe each other anymore, right?"

"What makes you think it was my granddaughter?" Jerome’s voice went cold as he couldn’t bear the voice from the other end.

"Come on now, Jerome. Don’t be cold towards me. I’ve already explained I didn’t know he was targeting YOUR granddaughter. And I tried to be helpful and put the fear of God in that Prince’s heart. He won’t dare to be disrespectful to anyone ever again." Arnold Belfauger chuckled from the other end.

"I don’t want you or anyone related to you to even think about my granddaughter and those of whom she loves. I might be gracious considering my history with you, but the other one won’t be. Mind that." Jerome took a sip of the cranberry juice he was supposed to drink and cringed. This juice still wasn’t as cringe as Arnold.

Of course he didn’t care for what happened with Edward as long as he was alive. His death would create unnecessary mess which should then be cleared by him too.

"Ah, the other one; Arthur - The Bear King! You are very lucky to be surrounded by very talented people who have the utmost loyalty to you. Not to mention your granddaughter Talia is very revered in the open as ’Princess Royal’ and in the dark web as ’The Queen’. My people were frightened realising it was she who was trying to hack us and wanted to retreat. You must be-"

"Stop spouting nonsense, Belfauger. I told you! You cannot even think about my MaryAnn much less say her name. And loyalty should be earned which you never can do. Let’s forget we had contact once more and return to where we were before." Jerome wanted to end the call.

He wanted to use Belfauger to teach a lesson to King Titus that he won’t be always loyal to the crown. He also wanted to punish Belfauger for daring to help attack his granddaughter. That’s why he touched his stocks. This guy contacted him to back off and so he asked him to ’keep’ Prince Edward with him until he is contacted. And without even contacting him, he released that Prince as his granddaughter tried to infiltrate his computers?

What a coward!

"Don’t end the call, Jerome... Please, I’m bored."

"Is he really dead? Because if I ever find out otherwise-"

"For f*ck sake, Jerome! Why would I want to mess with you still? Ralph... I wanted to make him my son-in-law. But he wanted to outsmart me and tried to pit me against you. I kept tabs on him after I let him go and recently found out he died in a ferry accident. I’m not lying. By the way, what vendetta did he have against you?"

"Try and see if you can chew a diamond. That would be an interesting game to play by in solitaire!" Jerome Brunton ended the call and closed his eyes leaning on the chair. The image of a young boy with tears in his eyes came to his mind.

Ralph... I refused to give you what you wanted but provided you with everything else. Still you weren’t peaceful with what you had and ended up living with your heart filled with resentments towards me and ended up trying to hurt my granddaughter. May your soul find peace in death.

-----

Talia looked from the window in her turret and saw Arthur’s car leaving the gates. He seemed worried after she revealed part of the dark past to him. He seemed like he blamed himself for where she ended up. But he was the reason she decided to come out of that dark abyss. And if she is entirely out of that abyss, it is only thanks to him.

Oh, Fred! I love you!

She got back to her computer and checked if the location sent was authentic. It really seemed authentic and it was a warehouse in a port city.

Was he kept in a container? So much comfort for a Prince! That Belfauger must be such a criminal with good connections to pull off something like that. What a terrifying human!

Talia at first thought that she should wait to pass this information to the King to let him suffer more. But then she felt sorry for that old man.

He is not as bad as Edward.

After checking the announcement about the Northern Star from the original document Arthur sent for her, she concluded there was no way to misinterpret the bill. Northern Star is in fact a private company with complete autonomy.

However this means that in case Northern Star requires help in the future, the government cannot give aide.

Whatever! This is for the best!

Talia typed the information about the location of Prince Edward and the official story that should be known to the King. The Belfauger people didn’t want to be known as the kidnappers but as the generous hosts who gave refuge to a depressed Prince (for obvious reasons). They even added CCTV footages to back up their claims and Talia wrote the report as they wanted.

She really didn’t care.

She also added another letter claiming that she thought of the close relationship she shared with Prince Edward and The King as she grew up was the driving force behind her efforts to find that lost Prince and also expressed her wish for the animosities between Rosandale and Esteria to vanish as a new day begins.

Talia felt bile rising in her stomach as she wrote the letter, but since she is someone who should be diplomatic this was all necessary. After checking the letter she wrote with Mr. Ed if it is acceptable, she sealed her letter with the seal of the Princess Royal of Rosandale.

Talia asked Mr. Ed to deliver both the letters personally as she should give the King of Esteria some face.

"Ahh!" she yawned as she felt so tired. She decided to take a walk inside the castle to check all the rooms. Only the West wing that contains her bedroom, bathrooms and entertainment rooms were all renovated and were up to modern standards. The rooms in her grandfather’s side – the East wing, were only restored and it looked as if they were still in the eighteenth century.

She used to visit her grandpa in his room a lot when her mother was alive. But since it has been more than two decades, the memories of these rooms had vanished. She didn’t know why, but she loved her grandfather’s side of the castle more.

Talia forgot the time as she took a leisurely stroll around. But she was called for dinner and only then she realised it has already turned dark.

Mr. Ed returned at that time and he said that the Prince was rescued from there with the help of undercover cops from that country. He said the Prince’s condition was stable, although he seemed to have been traumatised.

Talia didn’t mind that much. As long as he was alive, it would mean that she had completed her side of the bargain.

"Fred’s not home yet?" she asked Mrs. Grey seeing his seat empty. She remembered him saying that he won’t be back for dinner but still she had lost her appetite not seeing his face.

But it is to be expected there will be a lot of days she’d be eating alone even if they live together. Her man has to take care of a Conglomerate and it is no easy feat.

After dinner she remembered Arthur mentioning about Ralph J. Runtley and decided to check up on him. Apparently he was a businessman with no possibility of crossing path with Arthur. There weren’t a lot of information about him, even his picture as if his existence was scrubbed away from the internet.

That piqued her interest and she dug deeper. Of course she assigned Raphael the task of getting every possible detail about that Ralph guy. After searching for a long time, she found his picture and her heart skipped a beat.

Isn’t this the guy who was dressed as a waiter during the State Dinner in A- Country? She remembered him because his eyes held resentment. But then he disappeared.

Ah... so he was there to hurt me? Why? And Fred wanted to investigate about him not because he was a business rival, but because he was my enemy?

Oh Fred, My love!

She sent the picture to Raphael and asked him to track him using facial recognition software while she ran one in her computer to track the last time his face appeared in any of the recordings. She knew it would take a long time and she walked to her bed to lie down.

Her phone rang and with a smile she picked it up.

"Rebecca!" she shouted and her eyes brightened as her drowsiness disappeared. "How are you?"

"It’s me, Joe."

"What is it Joe?"

From the tone of his voice, Talia could infer that he was very distressed. Her smile vanished as panic struck her.

"Joe? What is it? Where is Rebecca? Speak!"

"My Becky... she...hospital...so much pain, Talia...I’m so..."

Talia felt like her soul left her body and her surroundings started to blur.

Rebecca... what happened to you?