Chapter 683 - Talk with Darla Hamler

~ New York ~

It's late in the afternoon, Aiden and Sarah are in the coffee shop which Darla (aka Katherine) visits almost every day after work.

Aiden was playing with Sarah's fingers while holding her hand on the table and his eyes fell on the engagement ring. That reminded him of a topic they need to discuss: "Now that Regina's is out of the picture, Jeff will make a move on Heaven's family businesses. He said that he will be ready in two to three days. What do you want to do with the diamond mine? If we don't make our claim, it will be left without a Boss. Jeff said that he wants to be free for the honeymoon and he is not interested in taking it on at this time because it requires someone to go there in person at least few times."

Sarah nodded. "I remember. If we want to take it over, we will need to go and remove corrupt managers who are exploiting workers. But I'm not clear on what else needs to be done besides that even after Sophia's explanations... Tonight, let's talk with Sophia again. After that we can decide…" Her voice trailed off.

"Here she is." Sarah gestured toward the door.

Darla entered the coffee shop.

"Off I go…" Sarah stood up and queued in the line to make an order behind Darla.

She used an excuse to ask for a suggestion in order to get her attention, and then injected her the truth serum when Darla was distracted.

Sarah praised JoAnna's improvements. Now people don't even notice that they are being injected. It seems that JoAnna added some numbing component which works right away.

While waiting in line, Sarah observed that Darla threw few glances toward Aiden while looking through the shop. It seems that Darla finds him attractive. Well, nothing unusual about that, but that does not mean that Sarah likes when other women ogle at her fiancé. On the other hand, she can probably use that to get Darla to sit with them willingly.

"Hello Miss, nice to see you again.", coffee clerk greeted Darla.

"Not as nice as seeing you, Mitch!", Darla's face shifted. She was wondering why she said that.

Sarah told herself that now she knows why Darla frequents this coffee shop: she likes the clerk. Sarah checked him out… well, he is good looking. But not even close to her Greek God.

Darla got her beverage, and Sarah tagged along after her. She offered Darla to join them at the table, and just as expected, Darla didn't reject to sit at the table opposite Aiden. She gets her coffee with a view! And who knows, maybe even more?

"Hello, handsome!", Darla greeted Aiden.

Aiden threw an half-annoyed look from Darla to Sarah and Sarah was not sure how to respond to this. If Darla likes Aiden, she will flirt with him no matter what, because of the truth serum. The only thing they can do is to get information they need as soon as possible and leave Darla with her truth revealing words behind.

Sarah sat next to Aiden and heard his icy voice: "What was that?"

"What?" Sarah tried to play it cool, but her eyes where shifting. 'Did he see me? Come on, it was only for a second or two!'

"You checking out the clerk…" Aiden confirmed her suspicion.

Sarah held her breath for a moment. "Research purposes… it's not like I'm interested in anyone other than you because no one comes even close to your awesomeness."

Sarah saw that his expression softened and decided to face Darla and get straight to the point: "Darla, about six years ago, you were hired to sleep with a young lawyer, Mark."

Darla frowned while wondering: 'How does this girl know this?' But she could not stop herself from answering. "Not to sleep. I got to spike his drink, make sure he ends up in an empty room, and to be there when he wakes up while pretending that we did it."

Sarah suspected that maybe nothing happened, but it's still a shock to know that everything was a lie. "You didn't sleep with him?"

"Of course, not. I'm an actress, not a hooker." Darla looked offended.

Sarah had to confirm one more point: "Didn't you have his baby?"

"I was never pregnant. That was just part of the script."

Aiden's ears perked up. "What script?"

Even if Darla wanted to keep something hidden, it was impossible. Words just poured out of her: "My role was to pretend that we slept and I'm pregnant. When mission is accomplished, I get to disappear. Well, not real me... the Katherine dies, and I move out of the area for few years. The man was very generous… but the money ran out eventually, and now I'm back doing odd jobs while waiting for my break. I'm sure that my last audition went well, I'm still waiting to hear back from the…"

"Stop, stop!" Sarah interrupted Darla. She was getting off topic. "You said when mission is accomplished… what was the mission?"

"Mark needed to break up with his girlfriend."

Sarah blinked few times and was happy to confirm that Aiden is recording this. She will need to listen to it again later. "All that just to break up two people? Don't you think it's too much?"

Darla shrugged. "It's not up to me to think if it makes sense. I got a role and was paid well to perform it. And I did great."

While Sarah was processing all this, Aiden got to the point that Sarah missed: "You mentioned a generous man. Who is he?"

Darla flashed a smile. She was happy that the handsome guy is talking to her while girl next to him is distracted. "He never said his name. And he always contacted me."

Aiden ignored her flirting. "How does he look like?"

"Average height, brown hair… nothing standing out."

Sarah was thinking about this… some man paid three hundred thousand dollars to Darla in order to break up Mark and Sophia? So, the goal of this expensive and elaborate scheme was for two people to break up? A man hired her, someone powerful enough to completely wipe out bank account history… Who would go to such lengths? Who would go above and beyond to meddle into their lives? Love lives… An idea flashed into Sarah's mind.

Sarah got her phone and showed King's photo to Darla. "Is this the man?"

Darla frowned. "This man's hair is slicked back, and he is wearing glasses. Even if it's the same one, I can't tell."

Sarah took her phone back and scrolled until she found photo of King from the Las Vegas. He had no glasses and his hairstyle was different. "How about this one?"

Darla observed photo with interest for few seconds before responding. "It does look like him. It could be. It was long time ago." She didn't sound very convincing.

Sarah showed next photo, and next one, and one more… with each next photo Darla's confidence increased. Man who hired her is King.

Sarah kept her phone away and asked one more question: "When was the last time you were in contact with that man?"

"After my funeral was staged, I got my second payment, and left New York. I never heard from him again."

Sarah nodded and tugged Aiden's arm. "Let's go. We are done here."

"Hey, hottie, I was hoping to have a chat with you... more…", Darla grabbed Aiden's free hand as he stood up.

Aiden frowned and got his arm out of Darla's grasp.

Sarah leaned closer to the woman. "If you try that again with my man, I will break you apart."

Darla made a face but didn't try to get close to Aiden or to speak to him. Sarah is scary.

While they walked away, Sarah held onto Aiden tightly.

"Are you OK?" Aiden could not miss unusual clinginess which obstructed his walk.

Sarah shook her head and admitted: "No, I am not OK. The fact that King meddled in Sophia's relationship with Mark means that they didn't approve of it and they made sure it does not happen. We need to warn Anna and Jeff. What if they try to prevent the wedding?"

Aiden thought about it. "Why didn't they do something already? Maybe they approve of Jeff… and me?" Well, he can hope.

"I don't know." Sarah admitted. "We need to think about this and find out more information. But if there is a chance that they will come in between us…" Sarah sighed and tightened her hold on Aiden. "We must be vigilant."