CEO's Runaway Mate and Her Cubs

Gabriel Collier followed the clues Luther had given him, investigating about the matter from twenty years prior. Unfortunately, every trace was already cold.

However, if there was something he was confident about, it was his instinct. He knew Luther was innocent, and he couldn't find anything going against his theory. Unfortunately, he couldn't find irrefutable evidence in his favour either.

Everything was a mess with that family. Starting from the way Gracelyn Clayton would talk about her daughter. It was off: why would that woman chat with reporters about her daughter suddenly after years of silence?

Since he couldn't find any trace about the old crimes, he had decided to investigate what had happened with the Clayton family more recently. Maybe, Steve's new company had been founded with black money.

In the end, Luther wanted revenge more than he wanted to clear his name. What comfort would it give him if everyone knew he was innocent after twenty years in jail?

He had travelled to Sheton and started investigating, hoping that taking a longer road would bring him to the destination. If following Luther's leads didn't bring anywhere, he could start from the other end of the story: the people who had set him up.

He had talked with Gracelyn Clayton pretending to be a tabloid journalist, but she had just offered news from when Lara Clayton was little or a teen. Nothing much from her late years, which made it unattractive even to gossip reporters.

They wanted to know about Lara Clayton's present, not her far past.

Gabriel had then started talking with the other people around them and realised no one knew anything about Lara Clayton's last few years. It meant that they weren't in contact anymore. Which brought him again to wonder: what had happened?

Taking his detour, he had reached a few of Lara's old friends and realised how wicked Grace and Steve Clayton could be.

«She's not a saint as everyone depicts her,» a young woman told him in front of coffee. He had offered two hundred dollars for any information.

She wouldn't have talked without those.

«No?» he chuckled. «Tell me more.»

«You see her act so pure next to Nate Woods now, but six years ago she was a total slut. Just, she knew how to hide it well. Until she became pregnant with a man no one knows. That's when Gracelyn threw her out of home and cut all ties. Now that she's publicly Nate Woods's woman, Gracelyn thinks she can return in her life and ask for favours. But I don't think Lara will accept.

After all, she gave birth to the bastard baby.»

«Did she give birth?» Gabriel frowned while the whole story started to be shaped in his mind.

He wasn't interested in gossip, not one bit. He just wanted justice for the men who had helped him, both of them. For Luther, who had been hurt. And for Robert Woods, through his son.

He couldn't allow a dangerous woman to trick everyone, could he? But he wasn't sure how to connect all the dots.

«I don't know,» the woman said. «I didn't talk with her after it became public knowledge. I didn't want to risk my reputation.»

«I see... What about her other friends?»

«She has no friends,» she shrugged. «Any more questions?»

«No, this is all. Thank you,» he sighed.

So, Lara Clayton was thrown out of home by Gracelyn. He still had to find out what happened later and whether the father of the child truly was unknown. But first, he forwarded the message to one of his contacts.

He was a forensic journalist. He didn't know how to dig up dirt on people as much as some of his colleagues. He couldn't do it alone, this time.

«Hello, I need your help,» he said. «I'm in search of something that can hurt some people but I'm not sure how to proceed. I found a lead, but involves another famous family so... Well, I need your counselling.»

«Tell me where you are, and I'll come investigate with you,» his friend said. «Famous family means sales. Don't even tell me which family because it doesn't matter.»

«I'm talking about the Woods. Nathaniel Woods and his girlfriend, Lara Clayton. Well, I'm investigating the Clayton couple because of some crimes.»

«Oh, that's a hot topic. You can't let it go without me. I'll come in Sheton in a couple of hours!»

«How do you even know I'm in Sheton?» Read exclusive chapters at empire

«I know how you work,» the man chuckled. «You went to the scene of the crime. We'll start there, sure. We can focus on what everyone already knows... Or we could take unexplored routes.»

«Just come here and help me dig out the truth. From Lara Clayton's disappearance six years ago.»

«Disappearance? Well, this is getting interesting. Let me guess, she fought with her family. Now the question is: why?»

«You're rather informed.»

«Everyone knows it in my field, but no one can guess the details. Without proof or a declaration, I can't just publish an article.»

«Well, I'll give you proof. In exchange, you'll help me find proof against her parents. I don't even care which crime, but they need to pay for it.»

«It sounds personal.»

«It is. They... They set an innocent man up to steal his company. That man helped me in the past, and I want to help him now. After twenty years, my name counts something. Now I have the power to do so.»

«Oh, you're fun. Then let's make a deal: you'll have priority on any information damaging the Clayton couple directly. In exchange, Lara Clayton is mine.»

«You should be careful about what you publish, though. You might ruin her life over fake news.»

«Let me do my job,» he repeated. «I don't need your warnings. And she has nothing to fear if she's as innocent as she looks.»

«Innocent? I'm not sure, but I don't think she's an evil woman either.»

«She's a nobody who caught Nate Woods's attention. It's difficult to think she's a deer.»