????HIS BALLERINA????
THEME: {What the heart sees}
✍️Written By Precious Pinky✍️
???? Chapter Sixty ????
~The real target~
????NARRATOR????
“What are you doing here?” Nelly asked sitting down opposite from Marco.
“Is that the right way to greet your partner?” He raised a brow at her, smirking.
Nelly rolled her eyes, pouring herself a glas-sof red wine. “You hardly show your face around, Marco.”
“I know.” He grabbed the bottle of red wine and gulped from the bottle, earning a de-ep frown from Nelly. “What, I just want to see why you are so addicted to it.” He shrugged, taking another gulp. “Hmm. It’s quite refreshing.”
She took a sip from her gla-ss. “You still haven’t told me why you are here, Marco. Do you need me for something?”
“Actually, we both need each other for something.” He dropped the bottle on the table and pulled a docu-ment down in the table, sli-pping it towards Nelly. “That docu-ment contains two things…one, the papers of your sister’s husband properties and Ballerina’s medical report.”
Nelly dropped the almost finished glas-sof red wine aside and snatched the docu-ment from the table and went throu-ghit. “How did you get the papers of Stephen’s properties?”
“I have my ways, Nel.” He answered, taking another gulp from the bottle. “It’s high time we do as planned.”
“You do not want to kill this kid, remember?”
“Well, yeah. But not anymore. The immunity is over.”
Nelly chuckles lightly, dropping the docu-ment down on the table and leaning back against the chair. “What’s going on, Marco? Was your little baby caught?”
“You know me too well.” He clic-ked his tongue.
She shrugged. “You made yourself very transparent.” She sighed. “What do you intend to do? Go to the palace and shoot her dead? Or what?”
“Fabricate her medical report and use it against her.” He replied.
“What about her real medical report, doesn’t that help?” She took another swig from her red wine.
He shook his head. “Nah.”
“So how do you intend to fabricate her medical report?” She asked, raising a questioning brow at him.
“No one will want a mentally disorder person to rule them, what do you think?”
“Wait, you want to make her look insane?”
“I have no other option, Nelly. I can’t let my daughter be a maid to that bit-ch for the rest of her life!”
“Well technically she won’t be a maid to the princess forever… I mean, she’s jobless now.” She smirked.
“I never said she is jobless.”
“You don’t need to tell me for me to know that, Marco. Only a stupid person won’t be able to make that out.”
“How about the papers you got in your hands? You’ve always wanted to take over Stephen’s properties and now you got them, all you just need is your sister’s signature.”
“Actually, it’s my nephew’s.”
“What?”
“The signature I need is Ace’s not Naomi’s.” She responded, dropping the empty glas-son the table.
“Wow. I didn’t know that. So what should we do? Kidnap Ace and make him sign the papers?”
“Nah. That won’t work out but there’s something else we can obviously do.” She crossed her left thighs over her right.
“And what will that be?” He questioned, confused.
“I can be his mother, remember?”
Marco furrowed his brows a little, still confused but slowly, everything became very clear to him.
His wide-ned his eyes in shock and bewilderment. “You bit-ch !”
Nelly laughed, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m desperate, you know.”
“Desperate situation calls for desperate measures.”
“Exactly. You do whatever you want to do with your niece…ah, I mean step niece while I focus on my nephew.”
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????BALLERINA????
“I didn’t even know about this place…why the hell didn’t aunt tell me?” She mumbled under her breath, looking around the place.
“She probably wanted to keep you away.” Paulo suggested with a shrug.
“Keep me away? Why?”
“You can’t be asking me that, right?” Paulo questioned.
She let out a de-ep sigh. “Forgive my manners. I mean, how the hell are you going to know that.” She huffed. “I just… I’m confused. Every single thing here is very important to me so why did she keep it away?” She asked no one in particular, grabbing a pink teddy bear from the cradling chair positioned at the end side of the room.
“If this is really the heart of the palace she was talking about then maybe she wanted you to figure it out yourself.” Paulo said.
“I know but that doesn’t explain why she kept my childhood stuffs away!”
“She must have her reasons, Belle.” Ace said, coming to stand beside her. “We just need to look around for the footage.”
“Hmm.”
They began the search, looking around every corner for the damn footage but they couldn’t find anything.
It’s over an hour now and yet…nothing!
Ballerina let out a de-ep breath, sitting down on the floor, holding the pink teddy bear in her arms.
“This is hopeless.” She leaned her head against the cold wall, shutting her eyes close.
“I second the motion.” Ace said, as he dropped the empty can he had picked up earlier.
“But we can’t give up. This is the only clue we need now.” Paulo stated, looking in between Ballerina and Ace.
Ballerina opened her eyes and look up at Paulo. “I don’t want to give up, Paulo…I really want to find this fu-cking murderer and make him or her pay…but this is just so hopeless. Why will aunt Claire hide it away like this? Why will she…” She gulped. “She should have talked to me. She should have told me something. Just a little clue, at least. She wouldn’t have told me about this clue if I didn’t overheard her talking.”
“But Doctor Charles….”
“Doctor Charles wouldn’t have said anything too… it’s even still a surprise to me that he gave you this little piece of information.” She said, getting up to her feet. “And it’s still a surprise to me that my aunt died without telling me anything.” She dropped the teddy bear on the floor and started walking towards the exit.
“Where are you going?” Ace asked her, getting hold of her wrist.
“I’m…” She ran her tongue over her dried li-ps, sighing. “I just need to sit and rest, Ace. Everything is just so…”
“What happened to your hand?” Ace cuts her off, looking down at her bruised palm. Ballerina tried to pull her hand away from his grasp but couldn’t. He grasp was too strong. “What happened to your hand, Belle? Did Heather harm you?”
“I’m fine, Ace. Let’s just…um, search around for this footage.” She tried pulling her hand again but he wouldn’t budge. “It’s just a…”
“Why is this thing eyes like this?” Paulo’s voice interrupted them, making Ace let go Ballerina’s hand. Both Ballerina and Ace went closer to Paulo to see what he was talking about. “Is this how the eyes is?”
Ballerina grabbed the pink teddy bear from Paulo and stared down at it. “No. The eyes were the same. I can remember it vividly…it was a gift from dad.” She said.
“But why is it different now?” Ace questioned no one in particular, tapping his index finger against the left eyes.
Paulo collected the bear and tried pulling the right eyes but it didn’t come off, he tried the left side and it came off, revealing a footage.
“This is it.” He smiled.
Ballerina collects the footage from Paulo and stared down at it. “I can believe I’ve been with the footage since I got in here but didn’t realize it.”
“You weren’t patient enough, princess.”
“What should we do now?”
“What else? Of course we have to watch what’s in this thing and see who the real culprit is…was it Naomi…or Nelly? We need to find that out.”
“It was neither.” Ballerina said in a whisper, surprising both Ace and Paulo.
“What?”
“I might not have told you guys something…” She paused. “Um,,,I might have gotten back my full memories.”
“Wait, what?” Ace questioned.
“You might have, or you already have?” Paulo asked.
“I have.” She replied. “And, Naomi and Nelly wasn’t the murderer….it was someone else.”
“That can’t be right.” Paulo stated, shaking his head calmly.
“I know it’s not convincing but rather confusing. And yeah, I heard the bullet but it wasn’t Nelly neither was it Naomi.” She sighed. “And as for who killed my parents…um, it’s my uncle. More like step-uncle.”
“How do you know that?”
“Heather told me. Marco, my step-uncle is Heather’s father. And I think he’s related to the case as well but what I don’t know is if he’s working with Nelly or if he’s doing everything on his own.”
“We need to figure it out then.” Paulo said, walking out of the room alongside Ace and Ballerina.
“Where is your laptop?” He asked Ballerina as soon as they walked into the living room.
“I’ll be right back.” She went upstairs, leaving Paulo and Ace.
She walked inside her room, grabbed her laptop then went back downstairs to only meet Paulo.
She looked around in search of Ace but he was nowhere to be found.
“Where is Ace?” She asked, setting the laptop on the table, in front of Paulo.
“He left.”
“Left? To where?”
“His mother called. It’s quite a surprise because last thing we know is, she was missing.” He stated, inserting the footage in the laptop.
“She was missing?” Ballerina repeated.
“Yeah. But seems like she escaped or her sister decided to let go of her.” He shrugged. “But,” He looks up at Ballerina. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
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????ACE????
He drove into the large compound, parked in the parking lot, clambered out of the car then went inside.
As soon as he walked in, he was met with his mother, sipping from a glas-sof red wine.
She was wearing a red se-xy gown, black shoes, her black hair was neatly brushed to the back just a few strand was in her face. She was seated on a single couch, her legs crossed while sipping from the gla-ss.
This is… different.
Ace thought to himself, approaching her quietly.
His mother would never drink…never.
In fact she hated alcohol especially red wine. So what the hell is going on right now?
Why was she acting so different and strange?
Was this really his mother?
*They are both alike. And you can hardly tell them apart.* His mother nanny’s voice rung in his head, over and over.
Wait, could this be…?
“Nelly?” He questioned, standing in front of her.
She smirked, still sipping from her gla-ss.
“You are Nelly, aren’t you?” He questioned.
“Tsk, I shouldn’t have drink this, right?” She looks up at him, smiling. “We haven’t met in person.”
“What are you doing here?” He asked angrily.
“I’m here to see you.” She replied, getting up to her feet. “I thought you won’t be able to tell your mom and I apart…but, you did. You must be very close to your mother.”
“We aren’t close.”
“Oh, really! Why?”
“That’s none of your business.” He sneered, glaring ha-rd at her. “Why?”
“What?”
“Why are you doing all this? Why did you kill my father?” Ballerina had told him and Paulo that neither Naomi nor her sister killed his father…he doesn’t doubt Ballerina or her memory but maybe he can pretend not to know anything and accuse Nelly of killing his father just to get the truth from her, right?
Nelly raised a brow at him, taking a sip from the gla-ss. “I loved your father.”
“Naomi loved him too, didn’t she?” He questioned.
“If you didn’t get in the way, they wouldn’t have end up getting married. I want to blame you actually. But it will be useless doing so.”
“Does that explain why you killed him?” He questioned.
“I didn’t kill him.” She said.
“Then who did? Naomi?”
“You think I’m going to tell you what I know? Why didn’t your own mother tell you anything?”
“Probably because she was afraid of you.”
“Naomi? Afraid of me?” She clic-ked her tongue, laughing. “That’s very funny. I would have fall for that lie if I didn’t know my sister that well.” She tilted her head to the side. “She wanted to protect me…well, according to her.” She shrugged.
“And you?”
“What?”
“What do you want to do to her? If she wants to protect you so much even at the verge of losing her own son then you might also want to protect her also, right?”
“Why should I protect her? Huh? She brou-ght every misfortune upon herself. She should blame herself for everything and not me!” She dropped the empty glas-sin the table. “And I’m not here for all this shit, okay?” She grabbed some docu-ments from the couch and handed it over to Ace. “Sign those papers.”
“What papers?”
“Your father’s properties, I want you to sign them over to me.” She said.
“Is this all what you cared about? His wealth?”
“I loved Stephen, okay? His properties meant nothing to me until_”
Ace walked away, going upstairs.
After a while, he returned with a brown envelope and handed it over to Nelly. “If my father’s properties is all you wanted then you should have just said so instead of killing him!” He yelled angrily.
Nelly opened the envelope and brou-ght out a docu-ment, she went throu-ghit, her eyes wide-ned in shock.
“What the…”
“That sister you hate so much and wish death…wants the best for you. She signed all of her properties to you! I might not be in good terms with her but I don’t think she’s the bad person here. She admired you and have always wanted to be like you but I find it stupid because anyone who admires someone like you…will end up very badly.”
“How…how is this possible?” She whispered to herself, staring down at the docu-ment.
Ace brou-ght out a pen and collected the other docu-ments from Nelly and signed it. “I’ve signed my father’s properties to you. Isn’t that what you wanted? Isn’t that the reason why you killed him in the first place? Take it then. Your ha-rd labour has finally paid off.” He turned to leave but her next words made him stop and turned back to face her.
“I didn’t kill Stephen.”
“Then who did?”
“I…why should I tell you?”
“The question here should be, why haven’t I called the police? Why am I acting foolishly like Naomi?”
“What?”
“The murderer of my father is standing right in front of me holding the papers that contains all of my his properties and here I am doing nothing about it!” He stepped closer to her. “I might hate you and your sister but do you know who I hate more?” She didn’t say anything. “My father…I hate him for getting involve with the both of you! He wouldn’t have gotten killed by the woman he loved so much if he had stayed away from you and your sister!”
A tear sli-pped down to her face as soon as he said those words. “I didn’t kill him.”
“You can say that to him… I mean, he would believe you. But as for me, I don’t and i wish you could just disappear from my life and sight just like how your sister disappeared.” He huffed. “You said you hate the old Naomi who was so annoying, greedy, mean, selfish…but trust me, you are worst than that old Naomi. And if my father should be given another chance to choose between this new Nelly and the new Naomi…he would choose the new Naomi over the new Nelly ten million times,,,because you are nothing but a murderer who killed him.”
“I DIDN’T KILL STEPHEN! MARCO DID NOT ME!” Nelly snapped out, furiously.
“Marco?” Ace repeated the name again, taking a step back from Nelly.
*Heather told me. Marco, my step-uncle is Heather’s father. And I think he’s related to the case as well but what I don’t know is if he’s working with Nelly or if he’s doing everything on his own.* Belle’s words echoed in his head.
Marco was his father’s murderer… Belle’s step-uncle was the murderer.
He was the real culprit.
Ace head started aching making him gro-an in pain, he kept taking some steps away from Nelly.
He could see flashes…
He could hear voices…
He could see some blurry faces…
He could hear the beeping of a machine…
What are all these?
Memories?
He clenched his fist, trying to fight the pain.
Nelly just stood still, watching as Ace battle with his pain and fear.
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????PAULO????
“Marco killed Ace’s father?” Ballerina whispered to herself, watching the video.
Paulo backward the video for the sixth times, with the aim of getting things right.
He heard the bullet and then followed by Mr Reyes gro-an.
“Why will your uncle kill Mr Reyes? What could be the reason? Do they by chance know each other before?” He asked himself, pausing the video.
“Maybe they know each other.” Ballerina said, shrugging.
“This isn’t right. I mean..,” He played the video again and backward it, starting from the point when the gun was fired.
In the video, he saw Mr Reyes staring at something behind a drum, Paulo’s gaze darted to that spot and he saw Marco pointing a gun towards that little gathering but his gaze wasn’t on Mr Reyes.
If a gun is being aim at something…then the gaze of the shooter should also be on that something, right?
So why wasn’t Marco staring at Mr Reyes? Why…?
“No way.” Paulo muttered under his breath.
“What is it?” Ballerina asked.
“Ace’s father wasn’t the target.” He said.
“Then who was?” Ballerina questioned.
Paulo trail the gaze of Marco which led him to someone else…the real target.
“You.” He stated.
“What?”
“Ace’s father died while trying to protect you, Princess. You were Marco’s target and not Mr Reyes.”
Paulo’s phone started ringing, disrupting the intense situation.
Paulo dug out his phone from his pocket and answered the call as soon as he saw the caller ID to be Ace.
“Ace, what’s…”
“I know their hideout.”
*
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#To Be Continued….
what do you think should happen to Marco? Well, for me…I hope that useless man suffer unbearably for everything he has done. He doesn’t even deserve death. He deserve something worse than death!
Do you think Nelly will ever forgive her sister and change?
Do you think Ace did the right thing by signing those papers?
How do you think Ace get to know about their hideout?