“Mrs. Bamford, before Mr. Bamford went to the office, he said that we have to take your temperature when you get up,” one servant explains.
“Take my temperature?” Leilani asks.
“The body temperature before ovulation is generally just below 36.5 degrees centigrade first thing in the morning,” a nurse says, “After ovulation, the body temperature increases by 0.3-0.5 degrees centigrade, and this increases lasts for 12-16 days. If the high-temperature curve exceeds 18 days, it indicates pregnancy.”
“After taking your temperature, you should take this with you when you go to the bathroom,” another servant says.
Leilani looks at the servant and sees that she’s holding a box of pregnancy tests on a tray. Leilani presses her finger to her temples.
“Everyone gets out of here!” she orders.
The servants don’t know why Mrs. Bamford is so angry, and they leave as quickly as possible. Leilani closes her eyes and tries to slow her breathing. She was startled by the sound of someone quietly clearing their throat nearby.
“Mrs. Bamford, do I also need to get out?” asks the last remaining servant.
“Yes!” she snaps.
“But Mr. Bamford said your previous mobile phone doesn’t work because of the outdated system,” the servant explains in an injured tone, “This is the phone you used before, and Mr. Bamford asked me to give it to you.”
Suddenly, Leilani raises her head to look at the tray the servant is holding. The couple’s phone Waylen gave her sits atop the silver tray. Leilani sighs and reaches for the phone. She’s sick of being unable to communicate with the outside world and she’s willing to compromise her privacy if it means she can finally have a phone again.
“You can leave now,” she tells the servant.
The servant sighs with relief and walks out of the room, grateful that Mrs. Bamford didn’t lose her temper again. Leilani sits on the bed and takes her old SIM card out. She frowns as she looks at the phone in her hand.
“Waylen tampered with my last phone so it could only receive texts but never send them,” she thinks, “He did it just so I’d use the couple’s phone, and it seems he’s getting his way.”
Before she puts the SIM card in she hears a phone ringing. She looks at the phone in her hands in confusion and wonders where the ringing is coming from. Suddenly, she recalls Gabrielle’s mobile phone. She opens the drawer on the bedside table and pulls out the phone. The caller ID displays the name: Amnesia.
“What a strange name!” Leilani thinks.
She mutes the ringer but allows the call to ring through to Gabrielle’s voicemail. She doesn’t want to intrude on Gabrielle’s life and she has no idea who the caller is. A few seconds later the screen lights up and the phone begins to buzz. The same person is calling again. Leilani stares at the phone and weighs her options; finally, she answers it.
“Hello, is that Miss Peters?” a severe voice asks, “I’m with the local police department. Your man has been accused of disturbing residents, and we need you to come here immediately.”
“There must be some sort of mistake,” Leilani thinks.
“You’ve got the wrong number,” she said coldly.
“Wait, is this Gabrielle Peters?” the police officer asks, “The man we have in custody said that you’re his legal guardian.”
“Guardian?” Leilani thinks, “What on earth did Gabrielle do behind my back?”
Leilani’s head spins as she walks to the bathroom. She wonders if it’s the news about Gabrielle or because she’s still weak from her ordeal in the darkroom. When she brushes her teeth in the bathroom, she feels sick and wants to throw up. She gags and clutches the counter around the sink. Gastric juice splatters the fine porcelain and stings her throat. Leilani wipes her mouth, and a terrible idea comes into her mind.
“What if I’m actually pregnant?” she thinks.
When she gets to the dining room, she still feels sick.
“Is it because she ate too much cake last night?” she wonders, “There has to be some logical explanation for this.”
“Didn’t you sleep well, Mrs. Bamford,” a servant asks, looking concerned, “Pardon my saying this, but you look haggard.”
Leilani shakes her head and tries to fight the urge to gag again.
“Could it be a coincidence that I’m showing pregnancy symptoms today?” she wonders, “Perhaps, I thought about it so much, my mind has started to play tricks on me. Besides, it seems too early to be showing these symptoms.”
Leilani runs upstairs and searches the cabinet in Waylen’s bathroom, but she can’t find any of the pregnancy tests. She knows that if she asks Dr. Walter to check, he would report his findings to Waylen. She rubbed her temples and tries to think everything through. She knows she didn’t take any sort of birth control when she made love with Waylen at the Peters’ villa.
“I need to deal with this ‘Amnesia’ situation first, and then I’ll go to the hospital to have them do a pregnancy test,” she thinks.
Deciding on a plan helps settle her stomach and she rushes to the garage. She waves the driver away and gets into the driver’s seat herself. The policeman told her that the man in the apartment Gabrielle rented had seriously disturbed nearby residents. She goes directly to the luxury high-rise at the address the officer gave her.
She walks through the marble lobby and takes the elevator to the 19th floor. Upon stepping out of the elevator, Leilani immediately sees the uniformed policeman. He’s standing at the door to one of the apartments and having a very serious conversation with a man. The man talking to the officer is tall and dressed in loungewear. He leaned casually against the doorframe, but even leaning he stands a full head taller than the officer.
His gray and slightly curled hair covers his eyebrows, and he wears a white diamond earring in one ear. His skin is white and he has rosy lips and even white teeth, which gives him a slightly feminine appearance. When the man hears Leilani’s footsteps, he raises his gaze and gives Leilani an arrogant look.
“You called me,” Leilani says to the officer.
“Miss Peters?” the police officer asks
“I am,” Leilani replies.
“She is not,” the man interrupts.
The policeman looks confusedly at Leilani.
“Gabrielle’s mobile phone is here with me,” Leilani explains, “She’s tending to some urgent business and couldn’t make it here today.”
The smiles disdainfully at Leilani.
“This gentleman said that Gabrielle Peters is his guardian, but if you’re her representative, I suppose I can explain the situation to you,” the officer says.
The policeman tells Leilani that the man’s downstairs neighbors complained about the noise the man was making while redecorating his apartment. The officer suggests that Leilani and the man have a conversation with the resident in person to clarify the situation and foster goodwill in the building. According to the officer, the resident is threatening to sue the man for disturbing the peace. The officer leaves with a polite nod at Leilani.
The man still leans against the door and looked disdainfully at Leilani.
“Tell Gabrielle, that if she doesn’t come over herself, I’ll sue her for hit-and-run,” he threatens.
Leilani looks at him in confusion. She has no idea how Gabrielle knows this man or how he came to live in an apartment she’s renting. Last time Leilani checked, Gabrielle was living in the Peters’ house—it makes no sense for her to have a secret apartment. Suddenly, Leilani remembers the conversation she overheard between Gabrielle and Katherine—she recalls Katherine trying to blackmail Gabrielle about a man.
“She can’t come over,” Leilani says flatly.
The man doesn’t seem to respond to this statement. Leilani looks at his beautiful features and frowns.
“By the way,” the man said, “You should also tell her I maxed out her credit card.”
Leilani desperately wants to know why Gabrielle is keeping such an arrogant man. She knows that the Peters family gives Gabrielle a pitiful allowance. Her sister often has to work as a private nurse to earn extra money. She wonders why this man is behaving so ungrateful and selfish.
“Why did you max out her credit card?” Leilani asks coldly, “I’m pretty sure she could sue you for fraud.”
“Well, let her sue me herself,” the man says, slamming the door shut in her face.
Leilani scowls and begins to knock on the door with a loud, angry rap, but the man doesn’t open the door.
“What kind of man did Gabrielle mess with?” she wonders, “Why did she rents an apartment for him and let him max out her credit card? I never thought Gabrielle could be so easily fooled or taken advantage of, but here’s the evidence right under my own nose.”
She continues to pound on the door, but the man ignores her. She hears the elevator ding behind her and high-heeled footsteps clack in the hallway.
“It’s noisy!” a familiar voice complains, “Do you really want me to sue you?”
Leilani turns her head and sees Leonie standing outside the elevator. Leonie is wearing loungewear and her hair is tied up with a messy bow. Leilani resists the urge to gape at her. Leonie is typically well-dressed and put-together when she goes out. Her casual attire can only mean one thing.
“You live here?” Leilani asks.
Before leaving the Bamford estate in the morning, she heard some servants gossiping that Leonie had been forced to move out. She assumed Leonie had gone back to her family’s estate, but it seems she rented an apartment instead.
“You must be thrilled to hear that I was kicked out of the Bamford’s house,” Leonie says bitterly.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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