Standing at the floor to ceiling window, Melissa crunched tight the anonymous letter she had received.
The new year held a promise of good things to come.
Living happily and contented with her new found family, she thought all was over. With Moses rotting in jail and Diana's death, the Johnson's and the Edward's lived peacefully but their happy day's didn't last long.
Melissa's company suffered a great loss when a shipment worth hundreds of million worth good's went down. They lost so much in one day, and after all the investigations, the insurance deemed the company at fault for overloading the ship.
Melissa knew this was not true since she double checked all the documents but there was no way of proving it. With the debt at hand she had only two choices, to either sell the company or close down and liquidate all their assets.
Soon after the Edward's security company was hit. Day after day their contracted companies were robbed forcing them to temporarily shut down operations as the investigations went on.
With no one to stand by her not even her husband who was fighting his own legal battles, Melissa considered going through with the request.
She love her family so much and for them she was willing to lay her life.
"If you want to end all these battles against your family, meet me at the bridge." She read the letter again and again.
Holding the piece of paper in her hand, now she realized what was happening. All the problems they were going through were all because of her. She let Mark go once to keep him safe and now she was going to do it again..
"Please don't hate me love, I have to do this to save our family. If I don't go then you will loss everything. For our family I will go to hell and behold."
She wrote on a piece of paper with tears in her eyes. She had no idea who was behind all that was happening to her family but she had to face them. Not knowing if she would ever come back after this, she went to Tommy's room.
He was taking his afternoon nap. Watching him sleep Melissa could not stop the tears while thinking of how hurt he will be when he does not see her when he wakes up. Kissing him goodbye felt like tearing her heart a part. Her little boy was her world. Wiping the tears she couldn't stop, Melissa left the room with out looking back.
The villa was well guarded, if she was to walk out by herself, they would alert Mark and knowing him he would never let her do this. With an overall on, her hair tucked in her cap. Melissa followed the garbage truck. She blended well with the men carrying out garbage who were so engrossed in their conversation they didn't notice her until they got out of the villa.
"Thank you for the ride." She thanked the men who looked at her in shock as she got off.
The person wanted her to go back to the bridge they had an accident a few months back.
Since the day she had the accident none of them had come back here. Stepping down from the taxi, she touched her belly remembering her child. This is the place I lost my baby. She thought looking down from the bridge.
Melissa has been trying to stay strong but at times she couldn't help but think how her child would be if it had survived.
"I see you come." A soft voice come from behind her. Turning, Melissa looked at the person wearing a mask over her face.
From the voice and her slender body Melissa felt it was a woman.
"You said you will stop all this happening to my family." Melissa held the letter in her hand. "Who are you? What have we done to you for you to do this?" Melissa had briefly thought it was Sasha but after investigating she found out Sasha was still abroad. She so much wanted to tear that mask and see the person powerful enough to break her family.
"Remember this place? It must be special right." The masked person said getting close to her like a predator stocking its prey.
Melissa's instincts were to turn around and run but she stayed rooted to the spot. She had to finish what she had started.
Yanking her hair the person pushed Melissa into a van that stopped beside them. Looking at the van she thought of Diana. The police report after days of forensic analysis, concluded that Diana indeed was dead.
The man beside her put a cloth over her face causing her to lose consciousness, waking up later in a big room with her hand's tied to the bed.
The last time this happen she was in shock. She had no idea what to do but now she was ready to fight back. She knew Mark would find her all she had to do was try to stay alive.
As the door opened she stopped tagging on the rope. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" Melissa asked the masked person as the person got closer.
"It's a pity you never missed me all these months. Oh Melissa you thought you could have a happy life didn't you. Ha ha ha not when I'm still breathing." The person leaned towards Melissa making her shrink back on the headboard.
"Diana?" With eyes wide open and eyebrows raised Melissa asked with fear in her heart.
"Ha ha ha..." The mocking laugh stopped as the person took off the mask.
"Diana? I thought you died? How...how is this possible?" Seeing the face before her, Melissa couldn't believe her eyes.
"You didn't think I would die without you did you?" She smirked raising one eyebrow.
"What are you going to do, try to kill my family again?"
"Kill them? If wanted to I would have killed all of you on that new years reunion. Killing them was what my grandfather wanted but now he is dead. Oh you didn't know?" Talking of her grandfather's untimely death Diana didn't look remorseful at all. How wrong was she to feel sorry for her. How wrong was she to think that this cold hearted person would ever change. "All I wanted was you to suffer, yes killing them will make you suffer but I won't do that. I want you to watch as your life becomes mine." She said pulling down a curtain revealing pictures of her family.
"Mark, he is the love of your life willing to do everything for you." She smiled touching his picture. "I can do away with all the others but note him. I'll make him mine and all that is yours Melissa, will all be mine." She leaned to kiss Mark's picture.
"Your are sick Diana, Mark will kill you the very day you show your face. Let me go you sick bastard, let me go." Melissa shouted trying to break free.
"Calm down love, I'll make your stay here comfortable and don't you worry about me because he won't see Diana when I show up before him but his new secretary Maria. Someone who looks just like you. Someone he will never say no."
"Damn you Diana, don't you go near my family."
"Ha ha ha what will you do about it? Just accept I worn. Ooh poor baby, enjoy your miserable live as I live like a queen with Mark by my side. Ha ha ha."
"I will kill you Diana, I swear I will kill you. Diana let me out of here." Melissa swore as several men and women in white come into the room.
"You may start." She ordered walking out of the room with the last cold look shot at the woman straggling on the bed.
"Stop, don't touch me. What are you going to do? Stop stop leave me. Diana, Diana stop this. Diana....."
.....
Maria stood outside the door eavesdropping on the men conversing in the office. "I don't know what to do about this? How could I loss control and betray my wife?" Mark asked more to himself massaging his temple.
"It's been two years now since Melissa died, you have to live, you have to love again." Robert said seated in Mark's office.
"So you got your secretary pregnant?" Andrew asked like his mind was not grasping their conversation.
"It was a mistake, though years have passed, Melissa is still a live in my heart. I can't love another woman not in this life." Mark gulped the drink in his hand letting the alcohol drown his sorrows.
"Bro getting yourself drunk won't solve anything. You have to think about your child. I know how much you and Melissa had tried to have another baby after the accident. Take this as a blessing, you don't have to marry Maria just let her stay with you till she has the baby." Jason said taking the glass from him.
"What? We are trying to get him out there yet you think of such advice?" Andrew shot Jason a questioning look.
"Jason is right, give this a thought first don't rush it." James who had been quite all along advised.
Standing outside, Maria clenched her fist hard her nails dug into her palm. She had tried so hard to get James away from Mark and now when she finally succeeded he's talking him into abandoning her. All his friends were okay with her marrying him but he had to keep fighting for memories. Melissa was long gone but he still couldn't let go.
As his secretary she had managed to drug him. That night pretending to help solve some work problems with one of the hotels she had secretly created. Maria managed to get him alone and with that she fell in bed with him. Waking up beside her naked in the hotel room he obviously thought that something had happened. With James seeing her walk out of the room with a towel wrapped around her, there was no way to deny her. Though he asked James to transfer her to another department, now he would definitely take her home since she claimed to be pregnant with his child.
.....
"What this I hear you are getting married to Mark?" With a bang Sasha walked into Maria's apartment.
"Can you lower your voice? Your scaring my baby." Smiling she touched her flat belly.
"I got you to Mark so you could help me and my company not you marry him with this fake pregnancy." Furious Sasha shouted some more.
"Are you disappointed I got what you couldn't?"
"Who are you kidding? Mark Johnson can only love one woman and that's Melissa, so don't think I'm stupid to believe that he slept with you."
"Think whatever you want, the whole world will know I'm carrying Marks child and soon I will be his wife. I will make him forget that moron." She smiled sitting back on the coach with a wine glass in her hand.
"Over my dead body will you marry Mark. If you don't stop this I will tell him you are Diana and show him all the evidence I have that can prove Melissa is still alive. You may change your hair colour and wear makeup to look human but you are just some low life with no heart."
"You are in on all this, don't forget it when you open your mouth to speak." She warned walking towards Sasha who stopped at the door on her way out. "Count all you have done as paying me for rating me out and destroying all my businesses. And Sasha, I don't have any use for you anymore. So if I were you I would hold my tongue." She lightly slapped her cheek twice with a warning.
When the vehicle fell off the cliff more than two years ago, Diana opened her eyes with pain all over her body. Running the car off the road, she was ready to die as long as Melissa went with her but that didn't happen.
With the nasty fall and the loud blast they didn't think she would survive. Dragging herself from the car moments before the blast, she lay a few feet's in agonizing pain until her men got to her.
It is said with money you could buy anything. With people in the team carrying out the forensics, she was able to buy her death.
In the shadows she watched the Johnson's and Edward's planning her revenge. Her grandfather was her only liability but after a short visit to his prison cell, she was able to finish what Mr White couldn't. She would have taken him from prison but he had spilled everything in a moment of weakness.
Now Sasha was the only person alive with knowledge of whom Maria really was. With her accomplishment, Sasha was just a loose end.
"Bring me the evidence and get rid of her." Puffing the white smoke through her mouth she ordered over the phone.