Fated to the Ruthless CEO

The next day, Amber woke up to the non-stop ringing of her phone. She checked the time. It is way too early for her alarm to make some sounds. ‘Who could be calling her at this time?’ She tried to reach for her phone but could not go further as Devlin’s arm was tightly hugging her. She had to move his arm carefully to not wake him up.

By the time she reached for her phone, the call was already off. However, it quickly started ringing again only to show an unknown number. With hesitation, she answered the call.

“Got a special gift for you, Mrs. Wesley.” Then the call ended. That quickly sent shivers to her spine. The deep voice of a man sounded robotic. It was a flat tone yet it scared Amber to the core.

That call could never be a prank call. No one did that to her. And besides, she used two phones. One for her business transactions while her personal number was only shared among trusted friends. And that call went through her personal number.

She checked the time and it is just past 5 am. She doesn’t want to wake up Devlin who is sleeping soundly beside her. She had so many things running in her head that she could not bring herself to go back to sleep.

She went to their mini kitchen and made a cup of coffee for herself. Her hands were shaking while holding her cup. She was still thinking about the creepy voice of whoever was on the other line who called her a while ago. This is the first time that she experienced getting a threat. It is scary, especially that they still don’t know who their main guy is.

She kept replaying in her head what the caller told her. There is a special gift for her? She is scared to even think about it. She needs to tell Devlin. This is no time to overthink. Or she will get crazy quickly.

She didn’t know that she had been in the mini-kitchen for more than an hour, just thinking to herself.

“Babe, what are you doing here this early?” It was Devlin’s voice that broke all her thoughts about the creepy caller.

“Hey, is something wrong?” Devlin came forward to her and kissed her forehead.

“I couldn’t go back to sleep.” She said almost a whisper.

“You looked terrified. Did you have a bad dream?” Devlin wanted to know what’s going on with his wife. He was staring at her earlier right by the door for a couple of minutes before he called her attention. She was in deep thoughts. Something is definitely bothering her.

Amber only shook her head before she took a deep breath.

“Earlier, someone called my personal number.” That got Devlin’s attention and he pulled a chair in front of her.

“It was the voice of a man. His exact words were – “Got a special gift for you, Mrs. Wesley.” Devlin hugged her tightly. She was shaking.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Devlin inquired with a concerned voice.

“It was very early. You were sleeping soundly. Besides, we are in the house. This place is heavily guarded.” She said blankly. It is like her reason was enough to not bother waking him up.

“Listen to me, babe. What happened to your line that we are in this together? You should wake me up anytime, especially since this is a very serious matter.” He said with a serious voice. He wants to know everything that is going on with Amber. Sometimes, she has this attitude that she keeps things to herself. And worst, she would overthink things.

“Will you please promise me that you are going to tell me everything, especially things like this? This is a serious threat. And I am not going to let no one harm you.” He hugged her tightly while closing his eyes. He could not begin to imagine the worst things that could happen to her.

“I am sorry. Promise, I will tell you everything.” Her soft voice calmed him down. He hugged her tightly once more.

“Babe, I have something to tell you. And I hope that you agree with me on this one.” Devlin said each word with emphasis, trying to make sure that he got Amber’s attention.

“What is it?” The look of concern and alarm appeared in her eyes.

“I mentioned to you before that I am going to bring you with me to Seattle.” He paused, hoping he would not scare her more. But he needed to tell her everything.

“Aside from the growing interest of the media about our marriage, our enemies have been escalating their threats against us. You have no idea about it since everyone involved in our security made sure that those threats would not reach you. However, the call this morning means that they are targeting you directly this time to make me more worried.” He looked intently at Amber to make sure that she is still fine from his revelation.

“And it is better for us to go to Seattle to face this once and for all. If you agree, we will immediately board the private plane. You don’t have to worry about your company here. I made sure that I hired efficient and trusted people for you.” Amber’s eyebrows crossed.

“Wait a minute. I didn’t know that.” Amber wanted to know what Devlin exactly did.

“The secretary that you just hired, she is not a regular secretary. She has worked in my company as my operations manager. So, she can actually help you a lot in running your company here. And before you say anything, I didn’t force her to work for you. It just so happened that she wanted to relocate here and was about to resign from my company for personal reasons. And the timing was right. You need someone to take care of your company while you are with me in Seattle. We can discuss the details later on. For now, we have this pressing matter to finish.” Amber simply nodded at Devlin. She couldn’t be upset at her husband. And it is high time to get back to Seattle. The problem all started there.

“I understand. When will our flight be?” She asked while drinking another cup of coffee that Devlin made for her.

“Tonight. We need to get home tonight.” Devlin’s intense gaze at her made her shiver. She felt like something very bad was about to happen.

Devlin left after they spent breakfast together. He needed to make some important arrangements. Meanwhile, Amber was left in their huge mansion. She saw the guards just roaming around outside. She felt much better that the whole place is well guarded. However, one of the maids came to her to give her something. It’s a box that is simply wrapped in silver.

“What is this? Who gave this to you?” She asked the maid.

“Ma’am, it was the delivery guy who gave this box. He was waiting just outside the gate. The guards were ignoring him. I was at the front yard to help clean up. He saw me and asked me to take the box as it was addressed to you from a relative in California.” The maid politely said.

Of course, she only has marmee from California. No one would send her any package from anywhere. Then, she remembered the call this morning. She immediately dropped the box. She called one of the guards to check the box.

The box was brought outside the house. Suddenly, a huge dog appeared to sniff the box before the guards decided that they could open it.

Amber was surprised to see an old photo album inside the box. The head guard checked each page of the photo album while someone checked further if the box had any item left.

The head guard showed her the album. Inside were some black and white pictures.

“Is there any note that you found inside?” The head guard only shook his head. They were all aware about the call that Amber got very early in the morning. One of them immediately called Devlin to inform him of what happened. Amber heard Devlin asking about her.

She took the photo album with her. She does not understand what is the connection of the old photo album to the caller this morning. She checked the pictures but she does not know anyone. She saw a lot of group pictures of kids. They must be from a school or something. She couldn’t point out where exactly the pictures were taken.

An hour later, she saw Devlin getting inside the house. He immediately came to her and hugged her.

“Babe, what happened? I have been trying to call you but you were not picking up. The guards told me that you are just here in the living room, taking your time looking at the photo album you got.” Devlin saw the photo album on her lap.

“I don’t understand why someone would send me this old photo album with a bunch of black and white photos of young kids. If this is the thing that the caller earlier said, well, it doesn’t make sense to me.” Amber looked tired and worried. Devlin sat beside her. He also checked the album. And just like Amber, he doesn’t understand why someone would send them some old photographs of kids.

“Forget about it for now, babe. We need to get ready. We are leaving in an hour.” Devlin announced readily.

“Oh…I thought we were leaving tonight.” Amber looked closely at Devlin who looked tired and frustrated just like her.

“Something came up at the company. I need to be there first thing in the morning.” He briefly said. Amber did not ask further since she knew that something was bothering him. She will find that out soon.