Bound By His Daughter

Prologue

Two Months Ago.

Ceaser paced back and forth in his spaciously well decorated living room, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. He had woken up this morning to Tom – his private investigator – telling him he had a lead and was going to check it out. It was all by God's grace that he hadn't had a heart attack.

He’s been married to Beatrice for over two years. Eight months after they got married, she disappeared into thin air. She had been behaving weird just a few days before she had vanished and no one knows where she is.

Beatrice, he thought, the lovely girl he met at the charity gala just months before they were forced together. Well, she was forced to marry him. It was a necessity for him seeing as it would have made Palmer – Beatrice’s father; a man he wanted to go into business with – pleased. She was very sweet the few times they had met and when they started dating, her true nature began to show. She was temperamental, quick to judge, always jumping into conclusions and many other things that pissed him off. He could see all the warning signs not to get married to her flashing in neon lights but he ignored every single one of them. After they got married, things only got worse for him because now she figured she owned him. He began to stay the night in the office which only made things worse because she thought he was cheating on her. That was when the weirdness began, she became oddly quiet and only talked when he asked her a question which he seldom did.

Ceaser combed his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily.

That’s why he hired Tom who had been on the case for over a year. His thoughts went back to the day he last saw her, remembering the last thing she said to him before she walked out of their house. She lied straight to his face saying she was going to stay with her mum for a while. He had offered to give her a ride but she declined saying she would have a few stops on the way. Even though he knew the latter part was just an excuse, it was typical of Bea, she always did things her way not caring about the repercussions and no one could stop her. So, he let her leave. No questions asked.

That same day after he got home, he called Bea’s mum - Mary - who said she hadn't seen Bea since she had visited two weeks ago.

his thoughts and making him

He answered

Mr. Thompson, and she doesn’t look

a frown on

call and fell into one of the

door as she tried to keep the groceries from falling to the ground. She finally got the door unlocked and nudged the door wide open. Entering her 600square-foot house, she kicked the door shut behind her walking briskly but carefully through the medium-sized-all-white parlour into the kitchen. She dumped everything on the kitchen counter then began sorting

Today's the day.

its way to her lips, she was excited and nervous at the same time. Today's the day she gets to know the verdict. The odds seemed to be in her favour

work to prevent herself from breaking down until she realized it wasn't right and her parents wouldn't want that for her, they would want her to be happy. So, a year ago, she made the best decision to go along with her old plans. She has always loved children and somewhere between babysitting for neighbours and family friends in her teens through to college, she decided she was going to adopt a girl when she was ready.

and last relationship of two years in College ended tragically, which put her permanently in the single ladies’ section of the population, it had taken her a very long time to get over catching her boyfriend - at that time - cheating on her...with her roommate...in her bed...on her

 Taa-daa! Happy

swore off men since then, they just brought havoc into her

there, done that.

rang. She placed the carton of milk in her hand on the counter and picked it up her phone.

She

"Jules." It was her lawyer – Bethany.