Mia held up a calming hand. "I know you just want the best for me, but I have let go of Henry and you should too. If you cause trouble for Jaime, I'm afraid you'll end up in trouble. After all, she is his beloved sweetheart." She added in a bitter tone.
Taryn crossed her arms and huffed, "I know that it's practically suicidal to fight them, but am I supposed to stay quiet and watch that wretched, lying, cheating bitch snatch what was supposed to be yours? I just can't!"
"And that bastard Henry? He was the one who chased after you once Jamie dumped him. No matter how others tried to persuade him, he didn't even listen to them once. And now that he married you, he actually forgot all the promises that he made to you."
A bitter smile crawled up on Mia's lips. She clutched the coffee mug in her hands and then whispered, "Maybe I should have thought things through. If he didn't listen to his good friends when he was chasing me, how could he listen to me after losing his memories? It was me who stupidly chased after him."
"You were not stupid. You were just doing what you thought was right; it is Henry who doesn't deserve you." Eyes shiny, Taryn looked at Mia as she banged her hands on the table so hard that the entire thing rattled. "Don't you dare call yourself stupid; you are not stupid —"
"Breaking news! Famous Director Wills has been apprehended and brought to prison for attempting to drug well-known actress Jaime XXX. It is believed that he was trying to pressure her into sleeping with him to get a role in his newest film. Fortunately, the actress was rescued by her agent and is currently in the hospital seeking treatment.
CLANG.
Mia couldn't believe her ears as she heard the words from the newscaster. The coffee mug in her hand and the brown liquid spilt all over the wooden surface. She looked at the screen of the television, her eyes popping out of their sockets.
"This cannot be…"
Her face paled as all the blood drained off her face. She obviously did not believe that her father would do such a thing; he was not the kind of man who would lust after women. If he was, then he would have brought countless women to their home, but he didn't.
He was far too deep in love with her late mother that he took bringing another woman into their life as a disrespect to her mother's memory. So, the chances of him doing such a despicable thing were impossible.
She got to her feet and then rushed out of the cafe; she needed to make sure that her father was alright and—
"Mia!" Taryn caught her wrist and pulled Mia back just in time as a car drove past them. The driver looked out of the window and hurled a myriad of curses at Mia, but she couldn't feel anything at that moment other than crippling fear. This one single emotion was spiralling out of control and gripping her heart so hard that it was on the verge of exploding.
"You need to get a hold of yourself," Taryn helped Mia as she flagged down a taxi. "If you start running here and there like a headless chicken, who will help Uncle?"
"My dad—Taryn, my dad would never do such a thing," Mia spoke with a stammer. "He respects women so much that he never even meets with someone without their agent being present. How can they accuse him of something like that?"
"Take a deep breath and calm down. It could just be a misunderstanding," Taryn patted Mia on the back before stepping inside the taxi.
Throughout the taxi ride, neither Mia nor Taryn spoke; it was only when they stepped out of the taxi that Taryn called a few of her contacts and finally arranged for the meeting with Toby.
The two of them didn't know why but the police officers refused to let them meet or talk with her father, which was weird, as his crime was yet to be proven.
"Dad!" Mia rushed to the glass wall when the officers brought her to the long corridor where the family members of the criminals could talk to the prisoners.
"You have twenty minutes." The officer looked at Mia and then Toby before taking his leave.
Mia nodded as she picked up the receiver of the phone and then said to her father in a hurry, "What's going on, Dad? How—how come they brought you here and locked you up already? Your crime—is it proven?"
"No."
"Then why—"
"Because the said victim is Jamie."
Mia felt her heart dip a little as she clutched the receiver to her ear and questioned, "What? Jamie? How did you meet with her?"
Toby smiled at Mia as he shook his head and said to his daughter, "It's not that I wanted to meet with her, sweetie. It's because I was played by them. That woman and her agent bribed Dean so that he would lie and give me a wrong name."
"The one I was supposed to meet was Adriana and not Jamie—but when I arrived at the private room, that woman was already sitting there, drugged and stripped to her bones. Before I could turn around and leave, her agent came running and blamed me for drugging Jamie."
He closed his eyes when he realised how easily he had been fooled by a woman half his age.
"It was a trap," Mia sucked in a breath as she realised what had gone down and her father gave her a sad smile.
"That's right," Toby sighed. "They asked me to sign the contract with Jamie or else they would file a complaint."
"You refused." It was more of a statement than a question because Mia knew her father too well. He was a stubborn and honest man; with not a single bendable bone in his body, it would be a surprise if he were to agree with Jamie and her selfish demands.