Chapter 3 The Hunt For Jacob

Simon Harland stepped in front of the line of young men with a smile on his face.

Attempting to analyze him, everyone had their eyes on him.

Who was this unfortunate and unremarkable man who had chosen to be stuck with Lisa Francis.

Mia remained in the corner of the hall room, glancing at the man who had just won her hand in marriage.

Lisa was one of these people who attempted to analyze Simon.

He was a very conventionally handsome man... a lot younger than she expected, Tall, dark hair, and in a perfect black suit.

Lisa was frankly glad it was him and not an unattractive older man.

But she still felt uncomfortable, I mean, did she really deserve a man as handsome as Simon in her current state?

"Don't be rude Mia, go meet the man you'll spend your remaining... however long you have left, with" beckoned, Eleanor, scoffing.

At this point, the other suitors had left the hall room, and Timothy looked on as Mia slowly rolled her wheelchair towards him.

Lisa let out plenty of heavy coughs, caused by the cancer in her lungs.

Simon looked on as Lisa coughed her way towards him, as at this point, the other suitors had left the hall.

Lisa tried her best not to think of her current situation, she didn't have long anyway, her cancer was terminal, so perhaps it was okay that she had basically been sold off for her family's benefit.

At least her new husband would relive the family of some debt.

"Well well well" said a man coming from behind the hall room, slowly clapping.

"Now this is a very sad sight to see, I can see now why your father didn't even bother to attend" said a voice coming from behind Lisa.

This was Roy, Lisa's older cousin, who seemed to gloat in his cousin's misfortune.

Lisa didn't respond, just bowed her head in shame, which caused Lloyd's anger to rise.

"So you are the unfortunate man that finally swept my cousin off her feet?" asked Roy, his voice filled with mockery and hubris.

"Treat my little cousin well, okay, as you can see, she probably doesn't have long for this world, so treat her like a queen, okay" He added laughing lightly.

Simon aggressively brushes past Roy's should, nearly knocking him down, to comfort Lisa, who had started crying.

"It's alright Mia" whispered Simon into her ears,

his voice was strong, yet soothing, and smooth.

He continued as he slowly lifted her chin to meet his bright, blue eyes, "I can see you've been through a lot, I can see you're in a lot of pain"

"But I promise you Lisa, all that ends today. I'll protect you and be sure to take every bit of pain you have away.... I promise".

Lisa was completely smitten by the good-looking man in front of her, but as much as she wanted to believe him, she knew it was an empty promise.

Despite this, she felt she could trust him, there was an air of familiarity and comfort around him, something she hadn't experienced in years.

Eleanor, seeing Simon's affection towards her daughter, scoffed.

Simon was certainly dreamy, she thought, tall dark and handsome, too bad he was a pauper.

At least the family won't have to deal with the embarrassment of Lisa any more, and Simon would be able to reimburse some of her debt, at least the amount a pauper like him could afford.

Simon went behind Mia and effortlessly swept her off her feet, which shocked Lisa slightly

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Timothy replied with a smile as they stepped outside the Francis compound, "Somewhere nice for you to spend the night"

Simon they would reach Simon's black limousine, and the driver would open the backseat.

Simon would then effortlessly place Lisa on the wheelchair before entering the car as well.

"Where too sir?" asked the driver

"Take us to Mirland, Ivan, Lisa here needs a good place to spend the night" replied Simon, as he glanced at Mia who sat beside him.

The name Simon Harland was one he had used before for many covert operations.

It was a name no one in this city should know,

That he was actually Dean Bradson, the boy whose life she had saved 15 years ago.

The boy whose life had cost her... her legs.

Dean would brush such negative thoughts out of his mind, he was going to make sure he also removed any doubt in Mia's mind that she made the right decision to save his life on that fateful day.

.......

Mirland was by far the largest and luxurious estate in all of Hilburg, in fact, it was one of the most luxurious estates in the entire country.

It covered some fifty thousand square feet of land and had every amenity you could think of, from a massive swimming pool to a mini golf course, squash court, and even a casino.

It was were the wealthiest people of the country congregated, and this would be Lisa's home for the foreseeable future.

He hadn't planned to meet Lisa the very day he returned to Hilburg, much less bring her back to the estate with him.

But after everything that had happened that day, he was now even more glad that he had acquired a private suite.

His suite was custom made for him, with jade marble finished, and customized ivory furniture, it cost over a 100 million dollars.

He didn't want him or Lisa to be disturbed.

Lloyd carried Lisa effortlessly from the limousine to her room, some two floors high, Lisa had been through a lot already, so he didn't want her to Labour.

Lisa was shocked that he was so strong, and blushed heavily all the way through.

In the end, Lloyd placed Lisa on the bed, before affectionately kissing her good night.

Lisa was embarrassed throughout this whole ordeal, as Lloyd was so caring, she almost felt like a child.

Yet here Lloyd was, he had treated her with nothing but care and respect.

She had expected that he would drop the charade once they got into his limousine, but so far, Lloyd had remained caring and respectful towards her

"I'm sorry" said Lisa in a very saddened voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Lloyd.

"I am a failure, nothing but a burden, and you haven't even been with me for a day and I have been nothing more to you"

"What a ridiculous statement Lisa, you're not a failure, you're just a woman who has been through a lot, you're a woman in pain, and I will be here for you" was Lloyd's reply.

"Why..." Lisa asked, with a stammering voice, as Llyod turned to leave the room.

"Why are you doing this for me?"

Lloyd smiled, a genuinely loving smile that a man as hardened as him rarely got to show, "beacuse you deserve it" he replied.

Tears of joy streamed down Lisa's eyes.

Ever since she learnt she had cancer, her family had abandoned her, seeing her as nothing but a failure, about to die.

She had long since accepted this fate, and beloved no man would ever love her, she was prepared to spend the rest of her days with a man who hated her, but here Lloyd was, showing her that she was not abandoned.

She looked around the room in pure amazement, it was so beautiful, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Seeing Lisa's tears caused Lloyd to immediately rush to her side "No Lisa, dry your tears, don't cry any more" said Lloyd, lifting her chin to look into her tearful eyes.

"I promise you your life isn't going end anytime soon, we'll beat this together" Lloyd added.

Lisa was confused, the doctor said her disease was terminal, yet here Lloyd was saying he could save her.

She wanted to ask questions, but his words were so confident that she allowed herself to be lost in hope.

He had been so good to her, better than anyone else she'd known, so she felt she could trust him.

"I have to go now, but I'll see you again tomorrow" were Lloyd's final words Mia, as he left the room.

Once out of Lisa's room, both Ivan and Lloyd head to the parlour to relax for a bit, as it had certainly been a long day.

Pouring a bottle of scotch for both of them, Ivan would sit opposite his boss, as both men elegantly sipped their drink.

"I suppose today didn't go as planned, eh boss" said Ivan with a slight chuckle.

"could have been worse" responded Lloyd. "Im glad I got to meet her when I did though, before it was too late"

"So when are the two of you going to make things official" asked Ivan, smiling lightly.

Lloyd smiled as well, he knew Ivan was being sarcastic, but still decided to talk about it.

"I'm not sure that there will even be a ceremony, prehaps if Lisa wants it, but I'll see to it that our marriage is registered as soon as possible"

"And her... Condition, sir?" asked Ivan.

Lloyd sighed, he knew that this was the real question Ivan wanted to ask, hence his joke earlier.

"im going to have to deal with it as soon as possible, seeing Lisa continue to suffer for her decision to save me is unacceptable" replied Lloyd, grating his teeth.

Ivan smiled, his Boss, as the dragon duke was also the master of medicine, there was very little in terms of illnesses he couldn't remedy.

But could he cure cancer?

The determined look on Lloyds face made Ivan realize that his boss would at least try.

Suddenly, Ivan's face lit up, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar object

"Oh, I just remembered, you dropped this when you first carried Lisa from the car"

Taking the object from Ivan, Lloyd begins to explore it, and sees that it's the wallet that was dropped by the taxi driver who brought him to the Francis family house.

This time, Lloyd decided to open it to see if it had an ID, which he could use to return it from the address, but he was not prepared for what he saw.

The wallet did indeed contain an ID, but the face on the ID was not one of a stranger, it was one that Lloyd knew so well.

It was Jacob Stillman.

One of his childhood friends had tried to kill him.