CHAPTER 230: CALCULATED MOVES

Jamal was deep in sleep, his breathing slow and steady, one arm tossed over the pillow beside him. His phone lay facedown beside him on the bed, buzzing quietly until the vibration was followed by a sudden ring.

He stirred, groaning faintly as he blindly reached for the phone. He silenced the call as he squinted at the screen.

His eyes narrowed when he saw the caller ID. Emily.

His brows furrowed. Why was she calling him at this hour when she knew the time zone difference? He wondered as he checked the time. It was past 3 a.m.

He turned on his side, considering letting it ring out. He was exhausted and had slept really late. He could always call her back in the morning. But just before the final ring, something in his gut nudged him to receive the call. Emily wouldn’t be calling unless it was important, and maybe she was in trouble and needed his help with something.

He accepted the call. "Hello?" His voice was thick with sleep.

"Jamal," Emily’s voice was urgent. "Ryan is here. He is in Husla."

That jolted him upright. "What?" he asked, blinking rapidly. "What do you mean Ryan is in Husla? Did you see him? Did he come to meet you?"

Emily didn’t miss a beat. "Yes. He had a Cardiac arrest. He’s in surgery now."

Jamal swung his legs off the bed, wide awake now. "Wait—wait, slow down. Are you sure it’s Ryan?"

"Yes. Ryan Harris. He was brought into the hospital from his private jet. I caught a glimpse of him as he was wheeled in."

"You’re saying Ryan had a cardiac arrest?" Jamal asked in disbelief.

"Yes. He was brought into a couple of minutes ago. What should I do? I heard they’re trying to reach Genevieve but she’s not taking her call."

Jamal’s mind raced. "Let me call Tom. I’ll call you back, okay?"

"Okay," Emily whispered, and Jamal ended the call.

Without wasting a second, Jamal opened his call log and tapped on Tom’s name. The line rang just once before Tom answered.

"I was just about to call you," Tom said grimly, no greeting necessary. "We have a problem. Ryan seems to have figured out the connection between you and Callan. We didn’t think there’d be any pictures of you on Callan’s social media. We’re not sure yet how much he knows now or what’s he’s up to. He’s gone completely silent. No sign of activity on his phone."

Jamal swallowed. "That’s why I called. I just heard from Emily. Ryan’s at the hospital where she’s doing her residency program. He had a cardiac arrest and is in surgery."

"What?" Tom’s voice sharpened.

"She said he was brought into from his jet some minutes ago and was taken into surgery," Jamal explained.

There was a pause, then a curse from Tom. "He was looking through Callan’s Instagram before the jet landed. He must have been so shocked by the pictures he saw."

Jamal felt his pulse spike. "So he knows."

Tom sighed. "Yes. We don’t have much time. I hate to say this, but it’s a good thing his heart gave out when it did before he could make any move. It buys us time to get you all out of there. We have to move fast."

"What do we do now?"

Tom didn’t hesitate. "Stefan should be there soon. The moment he gets Genevieve out, a car will be there to pick up you, Abigail, and Josh. You’ll be taken to a secured location with full protection. We’re already heading for the airport and will be there to get you ourselves."

"Can’t we just book a flight and leave now?" Jamal asked, pacing his bedroom.

"No," Tom said firmly. "That’s too risky. We don’t know who’s watching or how far Ryan’s reach goes. That’s Westend not Ludus. We need to be very careful especially now."

Jamal rubbed his forehead. "Alright. I’ll let Abigail know."

"Ask Emily to keep an eye on Ryan and update us if anything changes," Tom said, and Jamal nodded.

"Alright. I’ll keep my phone close."

"Be good," Tom said before hanging up.

When the call ended, Jamal didn’t waste a second. He dialed Emily’s line and after relaying the message to her, he dialed Abigail’s number.

Abigail, who was sound asleep with Josh snuggled against her, woke up with a jolt when her phone rang, and she quickly picked it up so it wouldn’t disturb Josh’s sleep.

"Pete?" She asked in surprise when she saw it was Jamal.

"Can you open the back door? We need to talk."

There was a pause as Abigail checked the time on her phone. She frowned, wondering why Jamal was taking such a risk to talk to her when Ryan could be listening. "Is everything alright?"

"I’ll explain when we meet in the kitchen."

Abigail quietly slipped out of her room, careful not to wake Josh. She didn’t turn on the hallway light. She used her phone’s flashlight to shine the light on her path as she padded down the stairs.

When she got to the kitchen she unlocked the back door to let Jamal in. He stepped inside swiftly, shutting the door behind him.

"What’s going on?" she asked, her brows furrowed, arms folded tightly over her chest.

"There’s been a change of plans," he said.

Abigail’s face creased in confusion. "Why do the plans keep changing? What now?"

Jamal took a deep breath. "Ryan had a cardiac arrest. He’s in the hospital."

Abigail swayed slightly on her feet, and Jamal reached forward, steadying her just in time.

"He what?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Is he okay? Is he dead?" She asked, her face pale.

"No," Jamal said quickly. "He’s in surgery."

Abigail let out a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness," she muttered, and Jamal wasn’t sure why she looked so relieved and was thanking goodness.

Wouldn’t it be best for everyone if he died? Cause he honestly thought so and wished he wouldn’t make it out of surgery. That had to be the meanest thought he’d ever had.

"That’s not all. It seems he had the cardiac arrest after seeing pictures of me and Callan together. He may have figured out the truth about me and my reason for being here."

Abigail’s hands flew to her mouth. "Oh my God..."

"Yeah. Tom thinks this is our only chance to leave before he regains consciousness. Stefan should be here in a couple of hours. The moment Genevieve is out, someone will come to pick us up. Tom and Lucy are on their way here."

Abigail nodded slowly, trying to absorb all the information. "I need to pack a bag—"

"You don’t need to. Whatever you want can be gotten," Jamal said, but she held up a hand.

"I just need the basics for me and Josh. How much time do we have?" She asked, thinking about something else she’d like to do before leaving.

"A couple of hours I guess."

"That should be more than enough time," she said with a nod.

Jamal narrowed his eyes. "Enough time for what?"

She smiled faintly and brushed past him. "It’s better you don’t know. Just trust me. I’ll be ready when the car arrives."

Jamal watched her go, uneasy but knowing better than to argue. Whatever she had in mind, she believed it mattered.

And right now, they needed to move fast. Because once Ryan Harris opened his eyes, everything would change.

As Abigail approached her bedroom, she dialed Dr Diana’s line. Just as she walked into her bedroom the call connected.

"Finally, I get to hear your voice again. I was just beginning you forgot all about me," Dr Diana said cheerfully the moment she received the call.

Abigail went into her bathroom and shut the door so she wouldn’t disturb Josh. "How can I possibly forget about you? I hope I’m not calling at a bad time. I know..."

"I just got into my car. I’m on my way home from work. The time is as good as any. How are you doing? Is it safe to talk now?" Dr Diana asked pleasantly.

"Yes. I’m sorry I’ve not called you all this while. A lot has happened since I left. I finally found out all about my identity. I need your help urgently," Abigail said softly.

"You did? That’s great. Sure. I’ll help as much as I can. What do you want me to do? And what did you find out about your family?" She asked curiously.

"It’s a long story. I’m going to tell you all about it the moment I’m out of here and settled. But I was hoping you could help me get the birth certificate for Josh with my name and his biological father’s on it? You know my Da... Ryan made them put his details on the one with him. I need to take Josh away and I need proof that I’m his birth mother. You once told me you knew someone at the records office and could help me pull some strings," she pleaded.

Dr Diana was silent for a moment. "Did you finally find his biological father?"

Abigail laughed. "Yes, I did. I told you it’s a long story. I’m not sure a phone call will do justice to it, but I promise to call you on video call and tell you all about it."

"Alright. How soon do you need it?"

"As soon as yesterday?" Abigail said, and Dr Diana laughed.

"It’s almost past office hours. I’ll see what I can do. I’m sure Shawn can make it happen," she said, referring to her husband.

"Thanks. I can finally take off the mask. I love you, Diana. Thank you," Abigail said, before hanging up.

She knew that there was every possibility that Ryan was going to listen to the conversation later if he really had her phone bugged, but she wasn’t bothered by that.

He was going to be too busy taking care of the trail of problems she was going to leave for him to have time eavesdropping on her phone conversations.

She was glad he didn’t die. She didn’t want him to die. No. She wanted him to live to see everything he had worked for completely destroyed.

Next she opened her text box and composed a text. [If you have something to say to me, now is the time do so. Call me let’s talk. I know I’m Dawn Hank.] she sent the text to the number that had been texting her all these years and waited for a response.

After sending the text, she returned to the bedroom and took out her laptop as she calculated her next moves.

She wanted to trust Tom and the others to handle things, but she couldn’t. The plans kept changing, and seeing as Ryan almost died, she didn’t want to take any chances.

They could save her and Josh, but she wanted to make sure Ryan had nothing to return to. They could take it up from there after she was done.

She was tempted to take off her mask now, but she didn’t want to do that until Genevieve left.