80
It was two days later before they left Gem Hills. Mabel had been lucky enough to sustain only a first-degree burn on her left foot. She had also inhaled a lot of smoke but that had been purged out of her, leaving her with a croaky voice.
Nate on the other hand did have a burn on his leg and his skin stung from the heat of the fire but he was lucky to have gotten out with just that much. Especially considering the fact that he was naked at the time of the fire. It could have been worse given that he had been rescued seconds before the roof came crashing down. Rachel supported Nate as they walked to the car with Tom in front. Once again Tom had his proud father smile for Rachel.
He assisted her to get Nate into the car and did the same for Mabel. Behind them was James, Nate’s head of security, and two of his colleagues, ready to go with them to the airport.
Tshepo had wanted more security men to go with them but Nate had made him see reasons why that would attract more attention than they were supposed to. So they had settled for just three men.
“To the airport, Tom,” Nate ordered.
It was the early hours of the morning. Tshepo had wanted them to leave early to easily avoid detection.
Rachel held on to Nate’s hand and he squeezed her fingers.
“This will be over soon,” he promised.
“I know,” she said softly hoping that he was right.
“What about Larry? Is he safe?”
“I am sure he is. I don’t think Jacob considers him a real threat,” Mabel said from the front passenger seat. “I spoke with him the day of the fire.”
“Oh, and he is okay?” Rachel asked.
“Let’s hope so.”
It wasn’t long before they got to the airport. Tshepo had told Nate to call him when they got there and to call him every thirty minutes interval to make sure he was safe. Rachel had smiled at his over-the-top concern over Nate but she knew he owed Nate his life which was why he protected him the way he did.
Since they were using Nate’s private plane they were driven to the private hangar and Nate called Tshepo to assure him of their arrival.
But as soon as they got out of the car, James and the two men with him suddenly dropped to the floor, the blood spilling out from beneath their suits indicating they had just been shot
Rachel opened her mouth to scream and no sound came out.
Beside her Nate cursed under his breath as he realized what was happening.
Out of the darkness of the hangar came a form she was all too familiar with and beside him were two men with their guns pointed at them.
Jacob laughed. “This was the plan? To live Gem Hills to Gabore? What a stupid plan.”
Nate pushed Rachel behind him to protect her. “Stay behind me and run when you can.”
He did the same to Mabel and Jacob laughed again at his actions.
“Nathaniel…dear old brother of mine…you do know I am your half right? Did Fredrick tell you? Or maybe you saw it written in that will that you stole?”
He came out fully into the light. His gray eyes. “Playing the knight in shining armor to my wife now who once again you stole from me. How much do you want to keep stealing, Nate?”
“I didn’t steal anything from you.”
“You didn’t?” he raised his brows in mock surprise. “Hmm, let’s see.” He reached into his pocket for the old sheet of paper Nate recognized, it was the will of Fredrick, the torn page. “It says here that I, Fredrick Madden, of a sound mind do sign off my properties, with my diamond fields and mansions and stock included, to Jacob Madden of the maiden name Jacob Madden.” He looked up. “That sounds like me. Although, I couldn’t wait for the bastard to sign it before I poisoned him but look! You came in and stole the show. You, Nathaniel Madden, finished off Fredrick. I can’t blame you, he was a bastard who thrived off of fucking his own sons. Did he fuck you too?”
“You killed him? You poisoned him?”
“Of course, I did. Sadly the only mistake I made was tearing out this page of the will making you the sole heir to his properties.”
Rachel’s heart was beating heavily in her chest. The only people who could save them were lying in pools of their of blood on the floor. She could see the bulge of James' gun in his pocket. If she could distract Jacob long enough so she would dove for it that would be nice. But there was nothing she could do when he and his men were armed.
“You are such a bastard,” Nate cursed.
“Yeah, we Madden men are one of a kind. And you, Rachel, you never seem to know when to stay out of trouble. It’s too sad that after two attempts you still refused to die. Well, this time it’s for real.”
He raised his gun and at that moment Nate jumped for James' gun at the same instant that Jacob pulled the trigger. Rachel screamed, throwing her hands over her ear. Another shot rang through the air and a scream pierced the air. It was Jacob who had screamed. When she opened her eyes he had dropped his gun and his hand was bleeding.
But it wasn’t Nate who had shot him because he was on the floor clutching his leg where Jacob’s bullet had hit him.
It was Dana.
When Jacob’s men aimed to shoot at her they suddenly dropped to the floor much like James and the other two. Suddenly a couple of armed GHIA agents came running out of the shadows to scan the area.
Tshepo was among them.
“You bitch!” Jacob screamed as he was thrown to the ground.
She shook violently only dropping her gun when Eileen Smith, the GHIA agent who had come to recruit Rachel for the undercover job took it from her hands.
“I had to betray you you monster. I couldn’t watch an innocent woman suffer anymore. I couldn’t watch those girls suffer anymore.” She dropped to the ground in a messy heap. “You are a monster.”
“You will pay for this!” Jacob swore.
“Yeah I am sure she will when we raid your Island of sex trade,” Eileen deadpanned. “That’s right, Henderson. We have a list of your clients and your trade record. We just pulled a Jeffrey Epstein on you, sucker.” she patted Dana. "You should have come to us sooner. Sadly you are an associate of his so we will be taking you away."
Rachel rushed to Nathaniel crying as she did. His bullet wound bled profusely and she put her hand over it to try to suppress the bleeding.
“You have a thing for getting shot at don’t you?”
He could only groan.
Tshepo came to join them and he took a small towel out of his pocket and squatted to tie Nate’s lap.
“You are lucky we came right on time.”
“You had this planned?” Nate bit out.
“Yes, you were never going to leave Gem Hills. Dana came up with the plan to trap Jacob into thinking you were. We ran a little late but luckily you are safe.”
Rachel couldn’t believe her ears. She looked over at a shaky Dana. Dana looked at her too and smiled sadly.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “For everything that happened, I am so sorry.”
Nate reached for Rachel’s hand as Tshepo helped him up. She began to cry again as she hugged him.
“It’s over,” she cried. “It’s all over.”
Nate hugged her closely believing her. It was over. They had Jacob, they had enough to nail him. Dana would testify against Jacob. It was all over.
