Claire confirmed it again.
Gabriel was on his way to her son's house and he definitely wasn't going there for some merriment.
According to the security personnel she employed to keep an eye on Gabriel, after he had trailed his way to Charles's house, he purchased explosives from a black market.
One thing was crystal clear though. Gabriel wasn't aware that Charles and Isabella were not at home and that made things easy for Clarie Oxford.
She would be able to get a hold of the careless and vengeance-driven man without much loss.
In preparation for the fight ahead, Mrs. Oxford used her connection to temporarily evacuate the occupants living in that street to a more conducive environment and that happened without much complaint.
While she observed Charles's house from a safe distance, a walkie-talkie on her lap that kept dancing with impatience, Mrs. Oxford wondered if Charles was at that moment face to face with his real father.
Truthfully, she could no longer recall what Rodrigo Ordinaz looked like, but she could never forget how cunny he was, and how manipulating he could be.
And since it was certain that at some point, Ordinaz would exhibit those deadly traits in front of Charles, she prayed that her son would be able to handle the situation.
"Ma'am, Gabriel is on the move," a thick southern accent announced from the device and she threw a nod towards the man in the driver's seat.
"Get the men ready. Is the dummy in place?" The man replied in affirmative and Claire sighed.
"He has gained access to the house and is making his way to the bedroom. I believe he will be sighting the dummy soon."
"I hope the whole scene was carefully packaged. He must not sense that something is wrong," she said, her mind racing.
"We made sure everything was set right, ma'am. Gabriel is installing the bombs now and he is quite fast about it. He must have done things like this a lot in the past."
The woman darted her head towards the driver's seat. She didn't wish to see the visuals of Gabriel's activities on the laptop screen but she could not help but wonder about the speed the man was talking about.
Minutes later, after rapid reporting of the crazy man's actions which majorly disturbed Claire - an instance was the part where he sniffed Isabella's clothes after setting up his revenge materials- they all waited patiently for him to come out.
And he finally did. After walking a few distances away from the house, he took out a little item that Claire believed to be the trigger.
"Get ready," she ordered the driver, and actively, the man informed the people on standby.
Already having knots of fear and desperation inside her, Clarie watched as Gabriel tilted his head a bit towards the sky. It was unclear what he was doing, but the next thing Claire Oxford knew, her son's house was blown apart, flames maliciously devoured the environment, and Claire was once again glad that no one was around.
Just as Gabriel made to walk away, suited men rushed towards him. They circled him and soon had him in an inescapable situation.
Claire got down from the car and walked toward the men who had now successfully tied the man up.
"Make him stand," she ordered while she looked down at the man with no pity in her eyes.
"I knew you would try to stop me," Gabriel cackled. Claire scoffed and walked closer. She could feel the heat from the distant flames. "You are late though. You are really late."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her face devoid of emotions.
"I just finished Charles. I blew him up." Gabriel laughed loudly again and Mrs. Oxford had her arms crossed over her chest. "I told you I was going to make you suffer."
The woman smiled softly before taking one more step so that she could glare properly into the man's eyes. "Gabriel Manifold..." She motioned to the men to let him stand on his own. "You didn't think you'd get away with this, did you?"
"I will. It is all over now. Isabella has no one to protect her, you can't do anything..." Gabriel's head did a small spin, his smile growing wider. " I don't see how I won't get away with this."
"Oh, you won't. I promise you." Claire faced the men. " Grab him and put him in the van."
"To... to where? Where are you taking me?" The man had a bit of fear in his voice and that pleased Claire.
Still wearing no emotion, her eyes darted to the side as she replied, "We are going to a place where your soul will be tortured."
"Wh-what? What are you going to do with me?"
Claire gave him an unfriendly smile after signalling to the men behind the restless man. "When we get there, you'd know." That was all she told Gabriel and soon, she was walking away, feeling even more knotted as the whole thing she had planned raced through her mind.
~
Isabella was tempted to burst into laughter in reaction to the ridiculous thing Rodrigo Ordinaz uttered but she didn't yield.
They had all left the mind-indulging scenery outside and were all seated in a large and exquisitely furnished room
Both she and Charles were facing the man who had earlier dropped some sentence about being the reason they met again.
"Would you care to explain?" Isabella tore her eyes from the approaching maid as Charles broke the long silence that they had been bathing in.
"Do you want to know why I did it? Or how I did it?" Rodrigo's smile still bothered Isabella who instinctively moved closer to her husband. While she did that, she inwardly acknowledged how comfortable the couch was.
"Both. I guess," came Charles's voice which had become thicker.
Ordinaz cleared his throat and set aside the smoking pipe in his hand. "Honestly, I didn't want to do it at first, but I wanted you to come to see me. I have studied you for years, Charles. Thanks to my observations, I am well aware that if you had not met Isabella, you would have gotten less and less enthusiastic about getting a wife to fulfill my wish."
"So what?" Charles's hands floated midair in anger. "You manipulated things so that Isabella and I will meet again?"
"Yes. That's what I did. I organised that charity event and all I did more was to plant the idea of attending the event in the most inconspicuous way possible."
Charles chuckled. "You are making no sense."
"Do you know why I asked you to get a wife?" The man leaned forward and quirked his brow as though asking for an answer. When all he got was the sight of Charles's clenching jaws, Rodrigo let out a small laugh before saying, "I just wanted you to. I felt it would be nice to see you settled before coming to see your real father."
"You felt it would be nice? So what, you wanted to play a little game with me? "
"No," Ordinaz simply answered, his eyes darting to the ceiling. " I just wanted to see you get settled."
"And that means, you were trying to play a game with me. By telling me to get a wife, by orchestrating my meeting with Isabella, you have done nothing but try to mess with my life. What on earth did you think you'd get out of it?" Charles scoffed. " Uh?"
"I got you to be with the woman you love regardless of what you say," the man answered.
" So, I am supposed to thank you?" Charles squared his shoulders.
"No." Rodrigo Ordinaz had his eyes falling on his son's. "I expect you to listen to what I have to say."
"You really want me to listen to you?" The man nodded, and Charles created a pause as he wore thoughts on his face. Seconds later, he said, "Go on then, what do you have to say?"
"Lately, I have been having some issues and only you can help me. You are the only son I have that isn't dipping his hands in dirty things." Isabella and Charles shared a look. " I want your company and Isabella's to form a connection with one of mine."
Charles broke into a deep chuckle, his shoulders jerking hard. When his little, sinister-like mirth ended, he wore a smile, the side of his eyes wrinkled and he said, "So this is a business meeting."
"It is majorly a father-son meeting. But yes, it is also a business meeting."
"In that case..." Charles grabbed Isabella's hand and had her on her feet seconds after he got up. "I am afraid we have to leave."
"Hmm."
Isabella noticed how menacing her husband's eyes looked for a second. Charles narrowed them at the seated man and said, "I don't have time for this. And I certainly don't like what I have heard so far." He shook his head. "Nothing impressive has come out of this meeting."
"So, you're leaving?" Charles didn't look back to answer the man, and nor did Isabella look behind to see if Rodrigo Ordinaz wore any reaction.
But when their steps brought them to the large double door entrance, they were greeted by the noses of three guns which caused them to take a step back.
Then, they faced Charles's father who had now left his seat.
"Are you going to threaten me with guns now?" Charles asked.
"Why would I threaten you?" Ordinaz signalled to the men and the door slammed shut. Isabella noted how Rodrigo's eyes wore determination. She sensed the same thing in his voice when he said, "Shall we start our meeting all over?"