Chapter 35

ADRIA'S POV:

"The man who kidnapped me was Daniel Blake, Connor Blake's father", everyone was shocked when after hearing this, especially me. I had so many questions in my mind.

"Daniel Blake, a very well known politician. I was very happy in the past to know that my daughter was dating Connor Blake, Daniel's son. But Daniel was not as clean as he showed the world. He had many connections with the mafia and people doing all sorts of illegal business. And that's how he knew Jake Cranford.

Connor meeting Adria was a mere coincidence. But when Daniel saw her he mistook her for Andrea. Being Jake's friend he already knew everything about one of his lost daughters. He could have informed Jake immediately but he had different plans for me.

When he kidnapped me, he told me his connection with Jake. He threatened me saying that he will take Adria back to Jake. I was very scared at that time. I promised your mom that I will keep you safe and I could see myself failing", he said the last part looking at me and Andrea.

"I thought that it was the end of our happiness but Daniel had different plans for me. He researched about me thoroughly and got to know how I was able to hide myself and Adria from Jake which impressed him a lot. He needed a skilful and secretive man like me to get one of his work done"

"And that work was getting confidential information from our company?", Augustus guessed.

"Yes, you are right", dad agreed.

"But he had other options. I am not saying you are any less skilled but there are other men he could have hired. Why you? Moreover, I don't remember my company having any business or rivalry with Daniel Blake", Austin butted at this time.

"Yes, I agree that he had other men he could have sent as a spy in your company. But I was a safer option for him. He already knew that if you catch me, I will be a dead man and me being dead would bring no harm to him. Also, he had my secrete and he was confident that he could control me and silence me by threatening to go to Jack. There was the least risk if I did the job for him. Also, you are wrong about not being in any business with him. Do you remember what data I stole from you?", he asked Austin.

"The file that contained information about the land we were going to buy. The one on the outskirts of the city. You also took the pen drive that contained our blueprints and presentation. We lost the deal because the TGN company presented the same thing as we prepared that too before us. We also lose a big sum of money that we invested in planning. The land was not much important for me but I became a laughing stock at the meeting cause I had nothing to present and lost the project to a newbie. That's when I realised that there was a bug among us and I caught you sooner", Austin said.

"Knowing you, I already knew that I was going to get caught. But I had to do the work that Dan told me to do", dad signed.

"But I still don't see any connection that Daniel Blake got with TGN", Augustus was the one who asked this.

"Dan practically owns the company. All the money that he made through his dirty jobs was used to build this company. The people who pretend to be the owners are mere puppets that Dan control. And as per the value of that land, it may mean nothing to you but for a small company like TGN, it was way valuable. Also, it would mean a lot to them if they won from you", Dad explained.

"Besides you were not quick enough to catch me. I made you trust me so much that it took you a lot of time to find out that it was me who stole the data from you", dad said smirking. I looked at Austin and could see him hold his anger.

"While you were finding the person that betrayed you Dan already arranged a place and another job for me. And that is why I had to leave my old house and shift to a new place. I also tried my best to run from Dan but his men kept and a close eye on me. It was a difficult time for me. Besides, he was getting all the updates from my daughter"

"What do you mean by that?", I asked confused.

"Conner was supporting him all the time dear. Conner is as evil as his father", he said looking into my eyes. I believed my dad. I could see the sincerity in his eyes but my heart refused to believe everything. Connor could be nothing like his father. He is a good man. I know him.

"He wouldn't. He loved me", I said instantly. Just when I finished the sentence we heard a loud sound. Austin had banged his hands hard on the table. He looked scary, his eyes burning with anger.

"Are you alright?", Andrea asked him while rubbing his arm. He just nodded in response.

"Conner had a liking for you, yes. But it wasn't as much as his greed. As soon as his father got to know about you he told Conner everything and since then he was involved in every plan made by his father"

"But you used to talk to him whenever he video called me?", I cried.

"Why do you think I entered your room while you video called your boyfriend. I wanted to protect you from him. I knew he was a bad guy but I couldn't tell you anything. The father and son had me wrapped around their finger. They threatened me that if you get to know anything about them they would straight away hand us over to Jack", he explained.

"But he saved me", I whispered my doubt. For the nth time, my mind was in havoc. It just couldn't comprehend all the information and my heart couldn't take the betrayal.

"Everything was going according to their plan but then Austin found us. Dan and Connor thought that if Austin ever finds me he would either kill me or beat me and try to get the information out of me but all that happened was unexpected. Austin mistook you as Andrea and took you awa.."

"He what?", this time it was Andrea who spoke. Dad stopped mid-sentence and now was confused about whether to continue or not. His one daughter was already heartbroken and now his other daughter was going to be hurt too. For Andrea, Austin is the best human who can do no bad but she just doesn't know what all he had done.

"Andrea", Austin said holding Andrea's hand. "You are about to hear some horr.. really bad things now. I don't want to hide anything from you. I already confess that everything is true and I am sorry for every action of mine", even though he was talking to Andrea his eyes were on me. He asked dad to continue.

"All I have to say now is that Austin mistook you as Andrea and took you away. It would be better if he tells you the remaining part himself. Besides, I don't really know what all happened after that cause I was in a deep slumber thanks to a certain group of assholes", he said looking angrily at Austin and Augustus.

Andrea was looking at Austin. Her eyes asked him to explain everything. They held hope in them. Hope that he didn't do anything wrong.