Chapter 211: Second Thoughts

Words : 1510 Updated : Oct 8th, 2025

Chapter 211: Second Thoughts After Jamal’s conversation with Abigail, Jamal sat at his desk and briefly considered acting on his own and getting Abigail and Josh far away from Ryan, or talking to Tom and telling him he couldn’t keep waiting for them to make a decision. He wouldn’t let Tom or anyone convince him otherwise to keep them here. Before he could make up his mind, Tom’s call came in and he frowned, wondering if Tom had gotten his friend to hack his mind too and could read his thoughts. He walked away from his desk and stepped out of the office as he received the call. "I was just thinking about calling you..." "We found Karen Combs. Ryan did. We let him lead us to her." Tom’s tone was grave and it made Jamal pause. He could tell there was more to what Tom was saying. Was that the reason Ryan had made an impromptu trip? He had given Ryan the number after he announced his trip to Abigail, so how did he find her so quickly? "Why do you sound like you’re upset? Did something happen? Did you find out what Karen knows?" Jamal’s tone was low as he looked outside the glass window at the end of the hallway. The area was the most private on their floor and no one could hear him. Tom let out a deep breath. Ever since Barry sent him the conversation between Ryan and Karen he has been torn. He didn’t know all the details, but from the little he had heard, he had gotten the picture. It wasn’t greed that had driven Ryan as they had all thought. It had all been a well targeted revenge plan and that made it a really dicey situation. What made it worse was knowing that Hunter Quinn’s son, Callan, was connected to Ryan. He ran his finger through his hair. Honestly, part of him couldn’t blame Ryan. Leaving sentiments aside and the fact that Abigail was related to him, he’d probably do worse than Ryan did if anyone laid a hand on Lucy. He’d burn the whole world and not care about a single soul. Or maybe not, but he’d never know. One could never really know what they were capable of, until they experienced something painfully devastating enough to bring out the monster in them. And that was exactly what he guessed had happened to Ryan. No, he wasn’t pleased with what Ryan had done. He wasn’t even supporting Ryan. But he understood. And that was what made the whole situation worse. Jamal’s frown deepened when Tom remained silent. Was it that bad? "Tom? Say something." Tom rose from his seat in his study and paced around, feeling very confused. Although it was barely 6 a.m., and his wife was in bed, oblivious to all that was going on, he had been awake from the moment Barry called to inform him that Ryan was on the move to see Karen and to ask if they should intercept the meeting so they get to her first. Tom had asked that instead of intercepting the meeting they let Ryan talk to her so they could find out what they needed from the conversation between them, since it would be easy for Karen to lie to them if they talked to her, but they’d get the truth from listening in on their conversation instead. They’d known it was possible that Ryan might attempt to kill Karen but it was a risk they’d been willing to take since it would give them evidence to use against Ryan, besides, Karen was a shitty person. "He shot her." Jamal blinked. Shocked by what Tom had just said. "Ryan killed Karen? Why? Did you find out what they have between them? Did he kill her because he realized Genevieve wasn’t his daughter?" Jamal thought about Callan’s search for his mother. This wasn’t good. Not good at all. "She’s not dead. He shot her but we were able to get her medical help in time. Jamal, I’m afraid this situation is a little more complicated than we thought and we might have to change whatever approach we had in mind." "Tom, what’s going on? Talk to me. Do I need to get Abigail and Josh out of here before Ryan gets back? Did you see my text? The DNA result came back negative. Genevieve isn’t Ryan’s biological daughter." "Yeah. I saw your text. I didn’t call back because I figured it was late over there, and I didn’t want to text either. I’m thinking we need to get you three out of there before things get messy." Tom didn’t want to give Jamal all the details yet. He wanted to talk to Harry, and then possibly reach out to Hunter and tell him what was going on with his son. If he were in Hunter’s shoes he’d want to know. And Maybe Hunter would find a way to break the news to Callan before Ryan showed up unannounced in Callan’s world. Jamal frowned, wondering why it seemed like Tom was keeping a lot of information to himself. What could have happened? Why wasn’t Tom giving him any real detail? "How do you plan to get us out of here? When? What do you plan to do? What did Ryan discuss with Karen?" Tom sighed deeply. "I think it’ll be best we have all three of you kidnapped. I’ll tell you all about the discussion between Ryan and Karen when I see you in person." "Kidnap us? When? What about Genevieve? She’s supposed to visit Stefan this weekend. I don’t think Ryan will let her out of his sight if we disappear. And you know she’s instrumental in proving everything." Tom was silent for a moment. "You have a point. I’ll let you know as soon as I arrange for it to be done. We will keep our eyes on Ryan. He’s in Havilah at the moment. I need you to stay put until you hear from me. We might not be able to wait until the physical family meeting this weekend to make a decision." "Whatever you plan to do, act fast," Jamal said, and then hesitated, "Will she be okay? Karen Combs." "The doctor said the bullet didn’t hit any major organs. She will be fine although hospitalized for a while." Thinking about Callan, Jamal decided to ask. "Where exactly is she?" Tom raised a brow. "Why? Do you want to pay her a visit?" Reminding himself that Callan didn’t want Tom to know about, Jamal didn’t say anything for a moment. "Jamal?" Tom called, wondering if Jamal knew something, since he knew Jamal was Callan Quinn’s best friend. That was precisely the reason he didn’t want to give Jamal too much information over the phone. "Can I tell you something, and ask you for a favor? You have to keep it between us. Please." "Is keeping it between us the favor?" "No. Uhm, it’s about Cal. Callan," Jamal said, not sure if he was doing the right thing. Tom’s brows pulled together. It seemed like Jamal already knew something. "What about Callan?" "Uh...m, he reached out to me, needing him to find someone named Karen Combs. He heard she worked as Ryan’s maid. It’s important to him but he doesn’t want anyone to know about it. Could you tell me where she is so I can let him know? I believe he just wants to ask her a couple of questions." Tom narrowed his eyes. Callan was searching for Karen Combs? His brows drew together as he tried to figure out why and then it occurred to him that if Karen had abandoned Callan, then the young man was likely trying to find his biological parents. Beginning to feel his head throb, Tom shook his head. He didn’t want to make any decision right now until he spoke with Harry and Lucy. "I’ll get back to you on that. I need to go." Tom hung up the call before Jamal could put in another word. Jamal stared at the phone. Something was wrong. Tom didn’t sound as he usually did. It was clear that whatever Ryan had discussed with Karen had unnerved Tom. What exactly could he have heard? What did that mean for Abigail’s revenge plan? He started to return to his office but he recalled that he had promised to give Mari a call and he decided to do it now because he wasn’t sure he’d have the time for it later. It seemed that a lot was going on that they couldn’t see, and he was beginning to get scared. All he wanted was to keep Abigail and Josh safe. As much as Jamal wished Ryan would pay for everything he had done and all the pain he had inflicted on Abigail and Genevieve, he wished that Abigail would just run away with him and leave behind everything with Ryan if that was what it would take to keep everyone safe.

Chapter 211: Second Thoughts

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