Lily Wyatt was sitting in the garden of her manor—garden, which Clare had beautifully created. She was sipping her Sambazon Acai juice while reading the newspaper. From the past five days she had been reading it regularly to know what had happened to Daryn Silver and his wife, but there was no news. Today also there was no news. She puffed, "No news means good news!" Surely she was dead by now. However, curious as she was, she picked up the phone and called Helena.

"I haven't heard anything about Dawn. If she was dead, then the news should have been covered with that information. Not a single channel shows that she is dead!" she barked on the phone.

​​

"It's quite possible that the Silver House is keeping this under wraps. Today my people are going to find out about it. I will call my person planted in their office," said Helena. "The last I called he said that the husband and wife haven't come back from their honeymoon so far."

A chilly smile formed on her lips. "Okay, keep me informed." She folded the paper and reclined back in her chair as she watched her daughter walk across the fountain and sit down on the edge of it. "This is what you get if you mess with me Dawn." She looked up at the sky and grinned. "Keep her the way you want or better send her to hell." She giggled. Her day had become brighter. There was no way that anyone could prove she ordered the killing. All of it would go to Helena and this was the best way to get rid of her—the leech.

Lily Wyatt rose from her chair and sauntered to Anne.

"Mother!" Anne said. "You look happy today." It was rare to see a smile on her face these days.

"Yes," she nodded. "I was thinking of going to take you, David and Cecilia for a vacation to the Maldives. It's been long since our family has been together."

"That's a wonderful idea, Mother!" Anne said excitedly. "Should I get the tickets booked? Also we must take Jason and Helena with us."

Lily's eyes narrowed and became cold. "No, we will not take Helena with us."

"Why not Mother? She has been an integral part of our family."

"On this vacation, I want you to bond with David. I feel that the two of you are drifting apart a lot," Lily chided.

Anne scoffed. "We have come to the point when none of us can reconcile. David has gone on a two days vacation with his mistress Rose, and as for me, I don't care."

Lily's eyes became wide. "You should have stopped him!"

"Why?" Anne shrugged. "I don't care. He can go with whoever he likes." She started to leave. "As long as I have you, Cecilia and Helena with me, I am good!" Saying that Anne walked in the house.

Lily stared behind her daughter. She pitied her greatly and admired how she had found happiness in the close family. In a way she was thankful to Helena for being a good friend of Anne. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Later, after a nice walk in the garden, she went back to her room to get dressed for the office. Dawn occupied her mind again.

With the jewelry store chain gone, Lily's bitterness had increased. Her car passed through the same street where the store was located. The business was usual over there. In fact there were more customers than ever. Her expression turned heated and she thought she was about to panic when she goaded her driver, "Can you drive fast?"

Her mind wandered to Starfish Refineries. She thought that now that they mustn't have heard from Dawn, the whole scandal had gone frigid. She couldn't help gloat about the feeling that she had sent Dawn to the depths of hell and with her out of the picture, so many things promised to become better. Now Starfish Refineries would breathe. They had plenty of time to recover it.

Office was welcoming. There was a lot of pending work and of course she waited for the news from Helena. There was a meeting with few vendors for the golf course and Helena was supposed to be present, but she hadn't come to the office. Sometimes, Lily was annoyed that Helena arrived late, but her excuse was that she was dropping Anne to work. The meeting was supposed to start within the next half-an-hour, so Lily decided to make reservations for the family in a resort at Maldives. She was choosing the dates and then had booked six flight tickets. She was already mentally celebrating Dawn's death. Her reverie was disturbed when her intercom buzzed. Her secretary was on the line, "Mrs. Wyatt, someone is here from the civil court. He says it is urgent to meet you."

Lily frowned. What was a man from civil court doing in her office? "Send him in," she said. Was it about Starfish Refineries?

The man opened the door and peeked inside. She didn't get up from her chair. Placing her hands below her chin and supporting her elbows on the table, she waited for the man to come in.

The man adjusted his spectacles and walked over to her table. "Good morning Mrs. Wyatt. I am from the DA's office. We are here to serve you with a notice."

No answer. Only a cold glare.

Without sitting, the lawyer took out a folder from his bag and slid it to her. "Ma'am, these are the legal documents. Mr. Daryn Silver has filed a defamation lawsuit against you for posting false information about his wife, Mrs. Dawn Wyatt in your social media platform."

Lily's knees became wobbly and her skin tingled with unknown fear. She had just booked tickets to go to Maldives.

"These are the documents related to it," said the man. "Mr. Silver is claiming financial harm from the defamatory statement."

"Financial harm?" Lily's eyes were wide. "What financial harm? Are you mad?"

"Well, I don't know ma'am. You will have to look at the details in this document. It contains all the evidence."

Lily's body trembled like a dry leaf. "But— but Dawn is—" she wanted to say that she was dead.

The man stared at her through his glasses. "I am sorry, but what are you saying?" he asked.

Lily bit her tongue. She shook her head lightly. "No— nothing!"

"In that case, I will take your leave. Please sign here."

Lily signed and the man left. Her phone rang. "Helena!" she croaked.

"My man saw Daryn and Dawn. They have joined the office," Helena's disbelieving voice came. "Azura is missing. No one has been able to trace his location. Jason just informed me."

The phone slipped down from her hand. Did this mean that the Silvers would come after her? She stared at the computer screen blankly. The flight tickets were booked. The resort's pictures that looked so inviting a few minutes back looked like a horror film now. The little bitch was alive. All her plans had failed. That cunt was supposed to be dead by now. Helena had assured her. Jason had assured her. They all were banking on Azura.

"Hello?" Helena's voice came twice and then the phone went dead.

The intercom buzzed again. "Mrs. Wyatt, there's another man from the civil court."