Mistaken by the Billionaire Marquess

CHAPTER 13: Hidden Wife

– KELLEON –

I sip my black coffee after sitting down on the sofa. While feeling the warmth it gave to my throat, I stare at the metallic door where my mom entered a few minutes ago.

Behind that, I’m sure that mom is already talking to Dennise. Knowing my mother, she will take her time interrogating Dennise until she confess the truth.

But I also know Dennise. She’s a cunning and manipulative woman. I think mom will have a hard time making her confess to the things she did.

I let out a deep sigh. If I only used my brain at that time and not let my heart to blind me, things wouldn’t go this way. Maybe… if I listened to my parents about their hunch about Dennise, we would not experience this kind of pain. If I only let myself know her more together with her perfection and flaws, I wouldn’t have to be stuck in this situation.

I was in the middle of deep thinking when I heard my best friend called my name.

“My lord,” Cloud spoke while bowing his head. I saw him carrying bunches of papers and some folders. I think those are the investigation files that I asked him.

I nodded and motioned him to sit on the sofa across me. He immediately sat down and put the papers and folders on the table between the two of us.

“These contain the information I found out about the woman I saw on Dennise’s house,” he started talking white pushing the black folder foward using his pointing and middle finger. “Her name’s Jhoanlyn Doromal.”

“I stalked all of her social media accounts, and even the accounts of her close friends. However, I didn’t see anyone named Dennise in the list,” he added.

I raised my eyebrows. “I can hear a but,” I said. His tone sounds like he is not going to say a bad news.

“But, I found photos of a woman that looks like Dennise,” he motioned me to open the black folder.

I opened it. At the first page was all texts of the detailed information about that Jhoanlyn. It was almost complete. It contains her recent and previous addresses, universities she went to, current and previous jobs, and more.

I flip through the second page. My eyes almost widened when I saw a photo of group of people. They were inside a certain restaurant. There were six of them.

But the thing that caught my attention is the woman wearing a gray hoodie. She looks tired and sleepy at the picture but she did her best to smile at the camera. She posed her hand to a ‘thumbs up’ sign.

That woman was Dennise.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

The fact the she was in the photo wasn’t the reason I was somehow shocked. It was because of the outfit she has.

In our years of relationship, I never saw Dennise wore a hoodie. She’s more of a dress girl. There was a time I remember that I put my coat over her because of the cold temperature in Spain. However, she removed it saying that it will ruin her look.

I flip to another page. On the next one, I saw Dennise again. She’s wearing a white tube topped with a black blazer. Her bottoms is a black flare-cut pants that also covers her shoes. There’s two other woman in the photo that I don’t recognize.

The next page is also a picture of Denisse. She’s wearing a black graduation suit with a green hood. She’s carrying a rolled paper with red ribbon in her one hand while the other one has the graduation cap.

My eyebrows wrinkled. Dennise told me that she wasn’t able to finished college.

“Most of the photos we’re uploaded from 2020 onwards. It looks like her account was just made on that year,” Cloud explained.

“That’s the year where Dennise left me. I think it’s too much to be a coincidence,” I said, remembering what happened during that year. “How about the other close friends she has?”

Cloud pushed another folder. This time, it’s dark blue and slightly thicker that the first one.

“This contains the information about Jhoanlyn’s close friends. I also stalked their accounts, however, all of them set their accounts to private,” Cloud responded.

“I found the account of the woman who looks like Dennise,” he pushed another folder. “Her name is Maria Mahalia Mendoza.”

I stared at him, waiting for the other information he has aside from her name.

“I checked her account, but it’s also set to private. I ran a short background check on her and I found out that she is a criminal profiler for almost two years,” he added. “I asked Clint to investigate on Ms. Mendoza’s whereabouts from 2018 to 2020.”

I nodded. “Aside from her job, did you find more info?”

“Yes, my lord,” he responded. “I checked her flight and travel records, thinking if she has records on going in and out of Spain. However, she never left this country since birth.”

I sighed. Those kind of information can be easily deleted if you have the power to do that. We can’t rely on that information. I need more.

I was about to ask more when the door from the room where Dennise is suddenly opened. It revealed my mother, massaging her temple.

“Mama,” I called her. “Are you alright?”

I walked towards her and gently grabbed her arm. I assisted her in sitting on the sofa and ask Cloud to get some water for my mother.

“She said that she’s not Dennise,” my mother said when she already sat down on the sofa.

“That’s what she also said to me, Mama,” I replied.

My mother sighed. “She said that she’s not Dennise,” she repeated. She stopped for a little bit before speaking again. “But she looks like Dennise.”

“I’m sure that she’s lying, Mama. That’s what she’s been doing since I met her,” I replied and clenched my jaw as I remember how she successfully got away from the lies she told me… us.

Mom shook her head. “That’s what made me confuse. Mi hijo, when we were talking earlier, I can sense that she’s not lying.”

My eyebrows furrowed at what my mother said. I didn’t expect her to say that.

“You know me, mi hijo. I can easily say that a person is lying just by looking at them. But earlier,” she stopped, as if she was reminiscing what happened inside the room. “I can sense that she’s telling the truth. Even if the effect of the drug is still evident, her words are true as I listened to them.”

Cloud arrived with the water in his hand. He extended his hand and gave the water to my mother. Mom received it and took a small sip.

“Before I left her, she told me something,” she said, catching my attention.

“What is it, Mama?” I asked.

Every word that came from that woman must be analyze thoroughly. It can be a lie or a real information that can help us.

“She said that Dennise is already married to someone.”

I was not that shocked on what I heard. I can still remember the letter that Dennise wrote before she left me.

She went for another man who’s willing to marry her regardless of her success in life. A man who is willing to make her a trophy wife.

“How did she know that? It’s suspicious, Mama,” I said firmly. “We can’t even find Dennise or any information about her. It’s impossible that other people will know that, unless they’re connected to her.”

Mama closed her eyes for a couple of seconds. When she opened it, she spoke. “I know. But she told me to ask Chynna about it. I’m thinking that she got that information from Chynna.”

“And you believe her?” I asked. “Mama, of all the people, you’re the one who’s difficult to manipulate. Please, think of it again.”

My mother faced me. “I know, mi hijo. But she told me that Dennise is married to Count Alejandro Estrada.”

My eyes widened. I suddenly can’t process what she said.

In the middle of thinking of what my mother said, Cloud spoke.

“There was a rumor in the Grande of Spain that Count Estrada is already married, but the wife is hidden,” he stated. “I don’t know if this is a coincidence, but that rumor started months after Dennise disappeared.”

I stared at Cloud. That’s right. I remember that rumor, but I didn’t think of it that much.

“Her statement is supported by that rumor. You know the Grande of Spain, most of the rumors that started there is true,” Mama said. “It will not harm us if we will look on it, too.”

Hearing that, I nodded. Mama’s right. If we want to solve this as soon as possible, then we have to look at every possibilities that we can discover. We can’t miss any little information, any detail. We have to look deeper at everthing, even if it’s just a rumor.

I turned my head to Cloud. As if my stare is enough for him to know what I am going to say, he nodded. He received my message as if we have a wireless connection between our brains.

“Yes, my lord,” he said. “I will investigate Count Estrada and his hidden wife.”