Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 294 - 32

Chapter 294: Chapter 32

Far away from the island, in Mirage Mesa City, inside the skyscraper building of the Mirage Mesa Field Office, the FBI office was unusually quiet because Will Parker’s assistant was keeping it that way by frowning at anyone who came near Will Parker’s office and putting a finger to his lips to silence them so he could hear what was being said inside the office.

Inside the office, two of the Thompson sisters stood by the far wall, watching Will Parker get his key witness ready for the investigation into their stepbrother Alvin Thompson’s murder.

They’d all been called to the FBI office this morning, with the news that Alvin’s decomposed body had been found under the soil of one of the Thompson properties, which was under Liam’s name and given to him in their father’s will.

It hadn’t come as much of a surprise to them as they’d expected something like this after Liam had threatened to kill Alvin in front of them one evening after one of their many fights.

Though they couldn’t believe he would have killed a family man who also happened to be his stepbrother and theirs, they’d hoped somewhere in their hearts that Liam would be innocent of the crime. But now, they had too much evidence to prove he was the killer to believe otherwise.

The witness sat in Will’s comfortable swivel chair behind his desk. In front of him were a pencil and a pad of paper with a few phrases to help him during the phone call he was about to make. This call was meant to lure Liam Thompson back to Mirage Mesa since they couldn’t reach Rayne Wallace or him.

The witness’s mother sat in front of Will’s desk, twisting a handkerchief in her lap. Her beautiful face was stricken with grief over her husband’s death, and she looked dazed as she watched her son, Milo prepare to trap her husband’s killer.

Will perched on the corner of his desk. "Are you feeling okay, Milo?"

The handsome thirteen-year-old looked at him, swallowed, and nodded.

He was tall, slim, and well-built for his age. He wore his dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie with the relaxed air of a privileged kid who was just as used to wearing suits as jeans. In that way, he was just like Liam at that age.

"Take another drink of water while I go over this one more time, okay?"

"Okay, Mr. Parker."

"Please, call me Will. Do you think you’re ready for this call?"

Despite his visible anxiety, the boy nodded, then nodded again with more conviction. "He may be my favorite uncle but he killed my father. I’ll do whatever it takes to get him here."

"I know you will," Will said, smiling a little because at that moment, sitting behind Will’s polished desk in his executive chair, Milo Thompson looked more mature and more in control than a boy his age would.

If anyone could get Liam running back to Mirage Mesa in hours, it would be his favorite nephew, who from what Will had heard, was more like a son to him ever since Alvin Thompson had died.

Liam would do anything to see that the boy got whatever he wanted.

"Okay, let’s go through it one more time. All you have to do is tell Liam that your father’s body has been found and his killer has confessed to the crime—"

"I understand."

"Then you’ll tell him your aunties and your mother have taken the news very badly, and you need him to come back here because you’re really scared."

"All right," Milo said. Then he added, with a touch of innocent charm, "I know I can do the last part, Will, because I am—really, really scared."

"Try to be as convincing as you can about all of it."

"I definitely will. I’ll get him here in no time." He smirked with a teenage arrogance despite his claim of being scared.

Satisfied, Will leaned across the desk to his telephone and pressed the intercom button.

"Make the call." Trying not to do anything to make the teenage boy more nervous than he already pretended to be, Will reached slowly behind him and turned on the tape recorder.

Then he glanced at his watch. It was 1: 40 PM in Maranta, and according to their informant yesterday, Liam Thompson was in his hotel suite.

---

In the hotel suite Liam was staying in, he called his driver to bring his work to the hotel, trying to make time pass more quickly and distract himself from thoughts of the ordeal Rayne was facing. He was now working on something important on his laptop before Rayne would come back and they could check out of the hotel together.

When his phone rang, Liam continued typing away on his laptop with his right hand and reached absently toward his phone on the coffee table with his left, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"Uncle Liam, it’s me. It’s Milo," the boy clarified needlessly in a voice so shaken he was nearly stuttering.

"Why do you sound like that, Milo?" Liam asked, rising slowly to his feet in anticipation of very bad news.

"It’s my dad—" Closing his eyes, Liam waited for what he’d known he would hear someday. "They’ve found his body buried on the property you named after me..."

"I’m so sorry," Liam said hoarsely; then he opened his eyes and shook his head to clear it. "What? The Milo land I promised to give you when you turn eighteen?"

"Yes, his rotting body was found there; he was murdered. He was shot in the head."

Afraid to say the wrong thing, Liam waited helplessly for the boy to say more. "Go on, Milo, I’m right here. I’m listening."

"The land caretaker shot him. He... he confessed. That filthy old piece of shit did it, and he admitted everything to the FBI when all the evidence pointed to him. That worthless old fuck, he shot my father to death! Please, Uncle Liam, can you come home?

"Aunty Katie and Ori are not picking up my calls, and my mom has locked herself in her room. Me and baby Jelly are left alone. I’m scared..."

"I’ll come home," Liam promised.

"Tonight? Please say you’ll come tonight. I’m trying to be brave and be the man of the family, like you’ve taught me to be, until you get here and take care of things." His voice broke, and Liam’s heart squeezed in sympathy as he couldn’t imagine what the young boy must be going through in such a situation.

"Uncle Liam, I’m really scared for my mom. She has a knife up there in her room and she isn’t answering me or Jelly. Jelly’s been crying nonstop." He sobbed, referring to his little sister who was currently sleeping at home with the nanny.

"I’ll be there."

"Will you leave right away?"

Liam glanced at his watch. "I’ll leave here around six, that’s four your time. I should be there by nine."

"Okay," he said meekly. "Uncle Liam?"

"What, son?" Liam said.

"I want you to know that I really, really love you. Much more than my father. You make me so proud to be a Thompson."

Liam swallowed over an unfamiliar constriction in his throat and stared out the window. "Thank you for telling me that. I will be there before you know it."

In Mirage Mesa, Milo leaned back in his chair and grinned broadly at his mesmerized audience.

"How did I do?" he asked, tapping his pencil on the yellow pad like a drumstick on a drum. "It was a bunch of nonsense, but I think it did the job, don’t you? I thought the way I improvised about the land caretaker had a nice touch. The poor caretaker’s ears must be ringing by now. Poor bastard." He chuckled in amusement.

On the other side of the office, Ori Thompson, Lily’s mother, suppressed a shiver and avoided meeting her sister’s eyes.

"You did amazing, Milo," Will said proudly, and stood up. "You are absolutely amazing."

---

Back in the hotel, Liam began to arrange his things to leave. There was no question that he needed to leave for Zen immediately and lend what moral support he could to his stepbrother’s children and wife for the next few days.

Once he explained to Rayne why he needed to be in Zen, she would understand and forgive him, he knew that without a doubt. She was so kind and soft-hearted that she couldn’t bear to abandon an injured stray dog, so she would instantly realize that he couldn’t abandon those innocent children despite his differences with their father.

It was his responsibility to be there for them, just this one last time before he would leave the country in a week with Rayne, if she would be willing to move with him and agree for him to help her get back the chain of restaurants she wanted so badly to buy back. That way, she wouldn’t have to burden herself with the one in Zen when she could put someone else in charge of everything.

But for now, he had to go back home. He could fly back and forth between Zen and Maranta for the next few days while the FBI cleared up everything and ensured the children were in good hands.

It was only a few hours each way, and he could get the sleep he needed on the plane. However, the idea of leaving Rayne behind in another hotel, just as her boyfriend had done, was untenable.

She’d mentioned that she’d like to tour the entire island, he remembered, and the best possible solution suddenly occurred to him—he could arrange for her to tour the island with the yacht he’d ordered to be brought for him.

She could cruise the islands on the yacht during the day while he was gone. She’d enjoy that. In a few days, Mia and Neil would be back, and she’d have her friend to keep her company while he would be away attending to his family matters, Liam decided, already reaching for his phone.

His first call was to his pilots, instructing them to be ready to leave for Zen at six o’clock.

His second phone call was to the hotel’s front desk, notifying them that he would be checking out immediately.

His next phone call was to Neil in New York.