Helena was pacing Anne's office. Only a day was left and Dawn hadn't withdrawn neither the defamation case nor the one she had slapped for Starfish Refineries. She was muttering curses and innuendos under her breath. "You couldn't even convince that girl to withdraw the lawsuits? What the hell have you been doing all this time? I have left the home in order to convince her that she was safe and secure with you and yet you didn't make her feel like that? Damn it! Anne, how incapable you are?"

"That's utter nonsense!" Anne pounded the table, feeling as agitated as Helena was. "I visited her office yesterday and she assured me that she would withdraw. What else do you think I can do? Gut her intestines out and strangle her with those?"

​​

"Well if I was there instead of you, I would have done it," Helena hissed. The sand of time was slipping through her hand every second. Worries were growing, mounting over each other and stifling them like pythons. Could it be any worse? She began pacing the office again. Suddenly, she faced Anne and said, "Call her right now!"

"What? Are you mad? I can't show my impatience to her. She will start suspecting and not proceed with what she promised yesterday."

Helena gritted her teeth. "Call her, for God's sake. This is a matter of urgency. We are running out of time. There is no place for dignity or suspicions left now. Just call her!" She raised her hands up in the air, exasperated as hell.

Anne pursed her lips. Helena did have a point. She tapped Dawn's name on the phone and her phone buzzed at the other end with the tune,

"Hello, is it me you are looking for?"

Lionel Riche's song went on for sometime until the phone was picked up at the last ring. "Hello aunt Anne?" came Dawn's dulcet voice. "What can I do for you?"

Helena's gazed pierced Anne's with peaked interest.

Anne stilled her riled emotions. She said in a quiet voice, "Umm… Dawn… I was just wondering—"

"About the lawsuit?" Dawn completed the sentence for her.

"Yes!" Anne breathed out.

"Oh! I dropped the defamation case against you. Haven't you received the news?"

"You have?" Anne said in the most relieved voice. "Oh my God!" She felt so light that she thought she could float in the air.

"Yes!"

"Thank you Dawn," Anne's voice was like a purr. A huge weight was lifted off her chest.

"You are welcome aunt Anne," Dawn said with a chuckle and disconnected the call.

Anne looked up at Helena who had raised an eyebrow in question. "So?" she asked, waving her hands forward. "What did she say?"

"She has dropped the defamation case against us," said Anne, feeling victorious.

Helena nodded. She narrowed her eyes and said, "What about the Starfish Refineries litigation?"

Anne blinked at her like a fool. "I— I d— didn't talk to her ab— about that," she stuttered.

Helena closed her eyes. Cold water was thrown over her hopes. Whatever little excitement she felt in her chest was dampened by Anne's statement. When she opened her eyes, she glared at her. "Call her again," she glowered.

Biting her lower lip, Anne called her again, but Dawn didn't pick up the phone. All of a sudden, Anne broke into panic. "What do we do now?" There was sweat on her forehead. Her hands were so sweaty that the phone slipped out of her grip.

Seeing her situation, Helena rushed to her and gave her a glass of water. Then she stroked her hair to calm her. "Shsh… Don't worry." There were two more days to go. If Dawn didn't withdraw the case by tomorrow, she knew what to do.

It took an hour for Anne to settle down. She was looking with puppy eyes at Helena. "What are we going to do now?" she asked.

Helena's eyes were wicked than ever, which meant that she was cooking up a plan in that evil head of hers. "When Cole comes tomorrow, we don't let him walk out of the house and bargain with Dawn. We won't let Cole know about it and make him stay in the manor for as long as required. We will free him only when Dawn agrees to us. That is the only way left."

Anne nodded. It seemed like a great plan. They could do it. "What about his security?"

"I will ask Jason to tackle them as soon as Cole is in the house, okay?"

"Okay!" Anne nodded vehemently. Tomorrow she would go all out to put the bitch down.

Helena wiped tears from her cheeks. "Now cheer up!"

She giggled.

---

It was almost 2PM and Lily was frantically waiting for Cole to come. Anne had called her and told her about the plan. Although Lily wasn't that happy with it, there was no option left. Anne had also mentioned that she had been trying to call Dawn to ask her about the progress but she wasn't picking the phone.

3PM – but Cole hadn't come.

The courts were supposed to close by 4:30PM.

Lily watched her wristwatch for the fifth time in the past one minute. She grew restless. Unable to eat a morsel since morning Lily didn't feel hungry. She rubbed hands on her arms and looked around wondering what would happen now. At least Dawn had withdrawn the defamation case. Lily just wanted one opportunity. As soon as Dawn would drop the case, she would seize the opportunity. She recalled all her plans to ease down her anger.

Anne called her, "Mom, has he come?"

"No," she replied, growing irritated. Her muscles strained.

"Why don't you enquire about him?" Anne suggested. The way time was slipping, it was only adding to their anxiety.

"Okay," she replied. Next instant she called Cole.

An automated reply came, "Don't fuckin ever call me!" Lily gasped.

4PM.

"Cole hasn't come," Lily informed Anne. "He isn't picking the phone."

Anne was about to get another panic attack. Helena was still like a statue. Her mind was numb.

4:30PM.

Courts had closed for the day. Their plans of taking Cole a hostage and bargaining with Dawn Wyatt were flushed down the drain.

Lily sagged back on her sofa, a dull ache in her heart.

Their only hope—did Dawn withdraw the case?

Slowly Anne lifted her phone and stared at it blankly. With shaky fingers, she called Dawn. The ringtone greeted her again for the twentieth time that day.

"Hello, is it me you are looking for?"

-- By Lionel Riche.

Dawn picked the call. "Hellooo Aunt Anne," she said in a melodious voice.

Anne was so shocked that she had picked the call that for a moment her mind and tongue froze. "D— Dawn…" she paused again. She didn't want to ask her the question, fearing the answer.

"Yes Aunt Anne," Dawn asked.

Anne willed herself to speak. Her voice was hoarse when she said, "H— have you withdrawn the case?"

A long, agonizing pause followed. "Umm… Sorry Aunt Anne, see you in the court tomorrow."

Anne screamed. "B—" itch! But the line went dead.

Dawn Wyatt had played on them big time.

Helena brought her hands to her hair, fisted them and pulled them. The cunt had played all of them. And so sweetly. She dropped the defamation case only two days back, to keep them off guard, to keep them occupied with their lust for more, while in the background, she wielded a double edged sword.