My Wife Is A Stranger

Chapter Eleven - Alone

Claire was stunned at what she heard, it was like Arthur planted a bomb and it exploded right inside of her mind.

She couldn’t say a thing, all she could do was cry because she was upset, she was livid, emotions were all bottling her up on the inside.

Arthur caught her before she could fall on her knees and wept, the last time she saw Karyl and Adrian was during their wedding day.

“I couldn’t tell you, we have to lay low, one meeting with them would risk our safety, especially our daughter, so I never told you,” Arthur bit his lower lip and squeezed her arms.

“But our people tried to protect them, especially Timothy, he was livid that he failed at it,” He added, so she just listened to him.

The Crestfallen Kingdom was grateful to the Zaveri’s, so despite the fact that they’ve fallen, a lot of their people looked after them, especially Timothy.

He offered them to be part of the mafia to protect themselves since Zaveri’s relatives were killed, including Karyl’s.

But Timothy didn’t make it to the time that they were ambushed, he got the wrong information from the attack and killed his informant.

Timothy only found one survivor from the ambush and he did everything to take good care of him and build him into a strong man just like his father who sacrificed everything not just to his family, but to his friends and relatives.

“Right now, all I know is that their firstborn was safe and is currently managing his own company,” Arthur informed before kneeling before Claire.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you, but I just couldn’t risk my family’s safety,” He whispered, so she just raised her head before hugging him.

“Y-You did nothing wrong, you just did what you thought was right,” Claire reassured him, so he raised his head at her.

He still feels guilty by the fact that he kept this from his wife, they’re good friends and she had the right to know.

But knowing his wife, he couldn’t stop her from visiting the funeral of Karyl and Zaveri if he ever informed him earlier.

“I just hope Karyl doesn’t hold any grudges at me, I didn’t attend their funeral,” She cried once more.

“We can make it up to them by looking after their son, he’s a grown man, probably three or four years older compared to our daughter,” Arthur claimed, so she got excited for a moment.

“Oh, could we match him up with our daughter? It’s probably a good match, the genes of Adrian and Karyl are running through his veins!” She happily clapped her hands, so he glared at her.

“Our daughter is just 18 for goodness sake Claire! Our daughter will not get married yet!” He furiously exclaimed, so Claire just laughed because her husband is getting overly protective of their daughter.

“Think about your daughter’s future too, it’s about time that she meets someone,” She suggested, but Arthur shook his head.

“It’s still early, I’m not going to be approved of it,” Arthur crossed his arms against his chest, so she laughed out loud.

“She’s over the moon today, let’s just hope tomorrow would end well,” Claire mumbled before Arthur hugged her intently.

***

Clara's graduation day came by peacefully. Claire and Arthur were excited as well as their daughter.

“I-I can’t wait to graduate mom and dad,” Clara almost teared up, so they both just smiled at her and gave her a long tight hug.

“We’re so proud of you kiddo, words couldn’t describe that properly,” Arthur whispered before he kissed his daughter on the forehead.

“Are you both sure that you’re not going to come with me in Julie's car? She already approved of you two coming,” Clara tilted her head at them, but they shook their heads.

They received a letter from someone that there would be a sniper at Clara’s graduation, they’ll kill her after she rises to the big stage.

Arthur wanted to prevent it, so he had to do whatever it takes to stop Vladimir from hurting his family.

He wasn’t sure how they found out about their fake identities, but now it’s the moment of truth if they’ll be able to protect their daughter again from those people that are doing everything they can to make them unhappy.

“We're going to be alright kiddo, we wanted to surprise you before we come there,” Arthur smiled before patting her head.

Clara pouted because she’s thinking about what kind of surprise they are trying to give to her, just by being there is the greatest gift she could ever receive.

Graduating is the greatest gift she could give to her parents, she wanted to let them know that all of their hard work paid off from raising her properly into the woman that she had become now.

“I finished ironing your graduation dress! Come here sweetheart and we’ll take a picture!” Claire ran towards those two as Arthur watched Claire attach the cape to their daughter.

“Both of you look so beautiful,” Arthur whispered while smiling at them intently, Claire and Clara then just pouted at him.

“Don’t be too dramatic, dad! Save that for my graduation later!” Clara laughed, which forced him to hug them both.

It wasn’t long until Clara was fetched by Julie, Arthur and Claire bid her goodbye as they watched her sit on the back seat together with Julie since her parents were on the passenger and front seat.

“We’ll see you later, sweetheart, we’re so proud of you,” Claire smiled while tearing up, so Arthur gave her a hanky to wipe her tears away.

Clara felt something wrong before she decided to go out and gave her parents a long, tight hug, “I don’t know why I feel like I don’t want to go to my graduation day without you two,” She whispered before breaking her hugs to them.

Both of them just looked at each other while shaking their heads, “We’ll be there, sweetheart, now off you go or you’ll be late,”

Clara then just nodded before bidding them goodbye, “Congratulations too, Julie and Mr. & Mrs. Rose,” Claire greeted with a smile, so they winked at her.

“Thank you, we’re just so proud of these two,” Mrs. Rose almost teared up, so everyone just laughed when Mr. Rose told her her makeup might smudge.

After they left, Arthur and Claire immediately dressed up and went to their car hidden in someone else’s garage, their car was given by Timothy.

At first, they didn’t want to accept it since they’re just fine with commuting, but it would be a perfect time to give this to their daughter as her graduation gift.

“Do you think she’ll like this?” Claire worriedly asked, so Arthur just nodded at his wife before smiling.

“She’d be over the moon, she never told us what she wants her entire life, so giving this to her would just be right,” He claimed, so Claire agreed with him.

“Alright, let’s get going before it’s too late,” Arthur mumbled while fixing up his necktie, Claire went to his front to help him before kissing him on the lips.

“I love you Arthur, no matter what happens, just know that I didn’t regret choosing you,” She smiled at him, so he was stunned while shaking his head.

“What's up with you two acting like we’re never seeing each other again? Relax we’ll be fine,” Arthur reassured her as he kissed her on the forehead.

After they entered the car they drove off to the university when they realized that someone was following them from behind.

Arthur noticed that as he ordered Claire to take out the gun from the compartment, “There’s no gun here,”

“Why wouldn’t there be?” He wondered before stepping on the pedals harshly, “Have you checked on the back?”

Claire decided to check on the back, but her eyes widened because there was nothing beneath the chair aside from a bomb that’s about to blow.

“Arthur! We have to get out of the car!” Claire worriedly exclaimed, but she noticed that they’re in the city and a lot of people might get hurt.

Plus the fact that there’s someone following them from behind, it feels like that car knew that a bomb was planted here and if they get any ideas on getting out, he/she will bump into them.

“Text Timothy, inform him of the mess we were into, our car was bugged without us knowing, how could I be so careless?” Arthur almost cursed himself, so he stopped when Claire reached out to squeeze his hands.

“We’ll be alright, we’re together,” Claire reassured him, so they both just stared at each other intently before kissing each other on the lips.

“Text Timothy, our daughter would probably attend her graduation alone, tell him to look after her,” Arthur closed his eyes while driving the car away from the city.

Both of them knew that there’s no way out of this, it’ll be a disaster if they tried to fight them off, if they stopped the car, the one who’s following them will know.

While they’re on their way to pass the bridge away from the city, both of them receive a message from an unknown number.

“I didn’t stop looking for you both, I ended the lives of Zaveri’s, you two and your daughter are next,” Even if they didn’t ask who sent that text, there’s already a person running into their mind.

After the bomb ticked, the car exploded, leaving the car to ashes, glasses shattered into pieces and their bodies nowhere to be found.

On the other hand, Tristan Jay Zaveri was at a university as Timothy secretly sent him a message that he has to finish off someone that’s hiding on the top of the gymnasium where the graduation will be held.

“Where the f.uck am I going to look for this sniper?” He hissed while walking casually in the hallways.

He glared at the hallways he’s trying to walk past while wearing a mask, he’s easily distinguishable so he had to have a disguise.

There was this man that was always sending him letters about numerous information, he trusted him since all of his information was accurate.

It helped him through a lot of tough times alone, after he turned to the right hallway, he bumped into something.

He looked from below and saw a woman that was massaging her forehead, “O-Ouch, sorry about that, but I have to go now!” Clara exclaimed before running to the gymnasium since she’s about to be late.

Tristan hissed while brushing off the dirt on his formal attire, “What a careless woman,” He whispered before pacing toward the staircase that he saw.

After he arrived there, he saw a man fixing his sniper while looking from the gymnasium. He looks like he was plotting to kill someone.

He didn’t make a sound while walking behind his back and he wanted to laugh because that sniper doesn’t even notice him from behind.

Tristan gazed from below and noticed someone giving a speech on the front stage, it was the woman he bumped into a while ago.

She was beautiful, she had fierce sky blue eyes and fawn-colored hair, he shook his head because Andrea would be livid if she ever found out that he’s getting attracted to a woman unknown to her.

She’s probably younger than him, he thought before taking out his gun, he shot his gun with a silencer attached to it without a warning.

The sniper dropped dead as he took a picture of it and sent it to the unknown number which he couldn’t track even if he tried.

“Crap, I have somewhere I need to be,” Tristan whispered before leaving the rooftop while calling Leviticus, Luke, and Genesis to clean up the remaining mess he made at the university.

After the graduation ended, a lot of policemen came to the university to look for Clara, they eventually found her and heard about the tragic news about what happened to her parents.

She was so shocked that she couldn’t even move to the place where the police decided to tell her what happened to them.

“T-That can’t be true, you’re lying,” Clara bit her lower lip, but the policemen just lowered their heads.

“M-My parents are around here somewhere, they listened to my speech, it’s about them and how they managed to help me to step to that stage,” She whispered.

They didn’t say anything and gave her a ziplock bag that contains familiar things, “Here’s their things that were left on the blown car, it was an accident, the car lost its brakes and bumped into the bridge and exploded,” The policeman informed.

“N-No, you’re both lying!” Clara bit her lower lip before closing her eyes, so Julie’s parents spoke with them to deal with the mess.

To be continued…