The yells of the football players conquered the former peace of the Finley estate. Men dressed in cotton tops, shorts, and black boots played football on a green field. The man on the ball was Gerrard, progressing down the flank with unbelievable speed.

His dark hair danced in the wind as he progressed down the pitch, covering the distance between him and his opponent's goal. A man with a bald head came to mark him, his legs retreating to keep Gerrard's options slim. He was quick, double-tapping the ball and breezing past him like he wasn't even there in the first place.

Now before the goal, he hit the ball with great force, a loud boom echoing, the ball making a hiss as it shot past the goalkeeper, entering the post. Gerrard's teammates roared with joy, jogging to meet him and shaking his hand.

"Splendid shot, Finley."

"Didn't know you could shoot like that."

"Goodness, how hard was that shot?"

"You're amazing, Finley."

Gerrard took the praises with a smile on his face, his green eyes gleaming with joy. He was flawless after all. He wasn't given the chance to bask in his glory once he sighted his secretary across his field. What was he doing here?

He filled in the distance between them and ran a hand down his sweaty forehead, feeling the sweaty liquid trickle down his face.

"I didn't know you were quite the athlete, Sir," Mr Featherington said with that familiar cold look on his face.

"We all have our hidden talents," Gerrard replied and then collided his sweaty brows. "Why are you here?"

He sighed, holding the bridge of his nose. "We had an agreement, Sir. I would let you court my daughter if you promised she would be safe."

"What happened a week ago was an accident and I had already told you the details of that."

"An accident nothing good came off." Something good did come off it. Now he was certain Ella was indeed working for Robert. And what's worse, she was dressed as a man. That girl didn't have any honour for her womanhood. With the way Robert danced with her at the ball and the way he came racing when he found out she was in a hospital, it didn't take a dumb person to put the pieces together.

Robert was a rake and didn't usually care about how women felt. But this Ella girl, she was different. She made Robert emotional and unable to think properly. If he was in his senses that day, he would've known that rushing into that hospital that way would raise some eyebrows. Gerrard was sure Ella's parents were also shocked to see him that day.

"Your daughter will get well, Mr Featherington."

There was a spark of anger in his cold dark eyes. "Let's hope she does."

"Was that a threat?" Gerrard chuckled and moved closer to Ella's father. The businessman was taller than him and looked down at his eyes, his green eyes turning feral. "Let's not forget you work for me and I won't tolerate threats from someone who earns from my pocket. Do I make myself clear?"

Mr Featherington clenched his jaw. "Yes sir."

"Good." Gerrard smiled. "By the way, you should be making preparations for our journey this evening."

"Yes, sir."

"And Mr Featherington," Gerrard called his attention. "If you ever think of doing anything stupid, remember I know every dark secret of yours. You wouldn't want your daughter to know how much blood you've spilt."

His employee gulped.

"You can leave now," Gerrard said and jogged back to his fellow rich friends who were waiting for him on the pitch.

*****

Robert had finally decided to go to work today but before that, he hand branched into the hospital and dropped a bouquet for her. She was laying peacefully in her bed, her chest rising and falling as she breathed.

"Wake up soon," he had told her before he left the emergency room. Now seated on his office chair, he pondered on what was the best step forward. The obvious one was to go find Emily's parents and he knew he had to be fast about it. If he were to talk a wild guess, he would say Gerrard had already discovered they were searching for them. He didn't know how that would be possible considering they never let him know.

But for the fact that Cowper was killed right after he stole the letter, Gerrard made it clear he wanted his tracks clean. And they couldn't report him to the police because they had no proof he did it.

"I have to say, I thought you were dead," Howard said, settling a brown file on the desk. Robert still had the sleeping bags under his eyes and he knew Howard was teasing him about it.

"I'm glad I proved you wrong."

He gave him a long look before he sat across from him. "Do you realize the mistake you made rushing into that hospital the way you did?"

Robert knew what he was talking about. "There's no way he could figure it out."

"Remember who we're talking about here?" Howard reminded him, inclining his head. "This is a man who was able to steal your letter and on top of that, kill the man who did. We know we have no proof he did that but when you connect all the dots, it all narrows down to him."

Howard was making extreme sense and the fear of that made Robert's heart pace. He had put Ella in danger by going to that hospital that day. If Gerrard didn't have any suspicions before, he was sure he would have some now.

"Well we have to move on and be a lot more careful," Robert said.

"I agree." Howard slid the brown file along the desk to Robert. It was the file Helen collected from Gerrard's office. Robert opened it, bringing out a white piece of paper. On it had the information about Emily's parents; the total amount of money they paid for their rent, the duration of their stay, and their new location.

"Essex," Robert whispered, tracing his hand on the ink.

"I believe we should get our travelling bags ready."

"Aye." Howard left the room.

But Robert didn't forget the fact that going to visit Emily's parents wasn't the only thing that should be on their minds. Cowper was killed and so far, The Captain has been unable to pinpoint a suspect.

Captain Asher had a mole in his Company and whatever they had to discuss about the Emily situation should be held in private.

Bringing out a piece of paper from his wardrobe, he wrote a letter to the Captain, informing him about being more cautious with where, when and how they discussed Emily.

Settling his pen on the desk, he walked out of his office.