Chapter 539 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Harry raised his head from the file he was looking at when the door opened and Benne walked into the conference hall.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Benne said apologetically to everyone in the hall, but Harry said nothing as he returned his attention to the document in front of him.

“It’s fine. Mr. Jonas explained that you were running late. You’re not the type to show up late for such an important meeting. I hope there is no problem?” Mr. Willoughby inquired politely as he shook hands with Benne.

“I had to run an errand and got stuck in traffic on my way. Once again I apologize for my tardiness,” Benne said, and Mr. Willoughby gave him a nod.

“I’m glad you could join us. We were discussing the renewal of our contract with your company, and we were just showing Mr. Jonas here, our new terms and conditions,” Mr. Willoughby said as his assistant passed one of the files to Benne, and he glanced at Harry as he waited for him to speak and bring him up to speed with their discussion.

Not letting his annoyance show, Harry gave Benne a breakdown of all they had discussed, and even though it was not obvious to the others that Harry was upset, Benne could tell.

He had no idea what bee had gotten into Harry’s bonnet, and as much as he understood that Harry wasn’t the type to be upset without a tangible reason, he didn’t appreciate Harry’s cold attitude towards him.

On one hand, he knew that Harry was probably acting up because he felt he was keeping secrets from him, but he also expected Harry to understand that he wouldn’t be doing that if it wasn’t necessary.

Besides, he wouldn’t have arrived late for the meeting if he hadn’t taken Aaron’s and Candace’s DNA samples to the lab, and he had done that because he wanted to know if Candace was Harry’s missing sister and present that to Harry and Aaron to help them resolve their misunderstanding faster.

After the meeting was over and the others walked away from the hall, neither Benne nor Harry left their seats as was their usual habit.

“What’s wrong? Why are you acting up?” Benne asked, and Harry raised a brow.

“I’m acting up because I questioned your tardiness?” Harry asked, and Benne tried to put a rein on his temper. He suspected that Harry was spoiling for a fight and looking for a way to let out his anger.

There was no need to be upset when Harry was upset too. He tried to put himself in Harry’s shoes and told himself that he would probably act this way too if he felt Harry was hiding something from him.

“Is this about yesterday? Or did I do something I don’t know about?” Benne asked patiently.

“I already told you I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I don’t know what else you want me to say,” Harry said as he stood up, and Benne sighed.

“You know I wouldn’t do anything without putting your well-being into consideration, right?” Benne asked, and Harry met his gaze.

It annoyed Harry that he wasn’t the type to keep secrets or hide how he was feeling from Benne. And no matter how much he didn’t want to talk about what he had discovered last night, he couldn’t help it.

“I found out the identity of the lady we met outside the restaurant yesterday,” Harry said, making Benne’s heart skip a beat.

“How? Did she call you?” Benne asked with a worried frown, not wanting to believe that Sara had ignored Celsie’s warning.

“Why would she call me? And shouldn’t you be asking me who she is, instead of asking me how I found out her identity? Or am I to assume that you know who she is already?” Harry asked with a slightly raised brow.

Jade had been on her way to visit the orphanage home Amos had told her about when she received the news of Jero’s death, so she had rushed down to the hospital first.

“How do you feel?” Jade asked after she returned from the doctor’s office to meet Candace.

“Exhausted,” Candace confessed as she embraced her and just held on to her.

All the fight had left her the moment the doctor had declared Jero dead. Although she still had so much anger and resentment left in her, but what was the point of being bitter at a dead man?

“Why don’t I take you back to the hotel, and then I will make some calls to discuss what is to be done with the body?” Jade asked, and Candace gave her a nod.

“Let’s do that,” Candace said weakly as she let her lead her out of the hospital and to the parking lot.

“You know, I realized how futile it was to have stayed back here with him. Imagine yelling at a dying man. They must have all thought I was crazy,” Candace said with humorless laughter after they were seated in the car.

“Did staying back with him make you feel better or worse?” Jade asked as she started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

“I don’t know. I’m indifferent. Maybe I stayed back because a part of me wanted to watch him suffer. Or maybe it was because I wanted answers. I wanted to know why he was that way. I don’t think I feel better or worse,” Candace said, and Jade sighed.

“Everything will be okay. And you can return to Jamal now that Jero is dead,” Jade said with a small smile, but Candace shook her head.

“I can’t do that until I’m sure everything is over. I want to see the cartel lords go to jail. I want to be able to start afresh with Jamal and Andy without worrying about them showing up,” Candace said, and even though Jade didn’t exactly agree with her decision, she decided not to say anything about it for the time being.

“How did it go with Matt yesterday?” Jade asked, wanting to change the subject, and to her surprise and relief Candace smiled.

“He was quite the gentleman as always. Did you invite him here?” Candace asked, and Jade shrugged.

“That was two days before Jero was hospitalized. I wanted him to talk you out of your dangerous plan,” Jade explained, and Candace smiled sadly.

“You must have been very worried about that,” Candace said, and Jade gave her a nod.

“Yes. I was. Look how things turned out. I guess we were both just worried about things that were never going to happen,” Jade said with a smile, and Candace smiled back at her.

“Thank you for being here, Jade. You have no idea how much it means to me,” Candace said, and Jade gave her a nod.

“It’s fine. By the way, do you know anything about the orphanage being run at Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Westside?” Jade asked, and Candace looked at her curiously.

“Yes. That is the orphanage home where I was raised. Why do you ask?” Candace asked curiously, but before Jade could respond, Candace’s phone started to ring and she hesitantly received the call when she saw that it was from an unsaved number.

“Hello! Am I on to Candace?” The male voice at the other end of the line asked, and Candace turned to Jade as she placed the call on speaker.

“Yes, this is Candace. May I know who I’m speaking with?” Candace asked without responding to the question.

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