Meanwhile, Danielle's father Charles Diamond is seen lying in a hospital bed with a drip attached to his body.
"Find my daughter! What do you mean she's disappeared? I want her found before the morning. I am Charles Diamond and I summon power from half of America. Stop the train stations, stop every local and international flight, and investigate the car parks and the roads. No one comes in or out of New York by my order." Mr Charles Diamond, without no care for his present condition, shouts at the top of his voice to his best security men.
" Sir, I think that would not be necessary anymore because there have been hundreds of movements in New York in the past five hours. It would be impossible to know where they are heading since Miss Danielle made sure she had no way to trace her." The head of the security team explained but instead, he received a punch on his face from Mr Charles Diamond.
" Nonsense, you speak nonsense, My daughter can not be gone without my permission, I am her father! She can not survive without me. " He yelled, looking restless and frustrated.
The doctors present were all afraid of what could happen to Mr Diamond's health even though he didn't care one bit that he had just experienced a chronic heart attack earlier on.
" Mr Diamond, please, please, you have to calm down. If you persist, your blood pressure will rise and this time we might not be able to revive you. " The senior doctor pleaded but Mr Diamond growled more angrily.
" Let me die! My daughter abandoned me to die, so why should I care about living? Find Danielle and bring Jake Devon to me, dead or alive!"
" Now, get out! Get out all of you!" He instructed, quickly dismissing the men and the doctors and they took to their heels.
As they opened the doors that led out, Lucien Stone was right behind the door, quiet, and sitting in his wheelchair, feeling unbothered by the present condition of the missing heiress. Mr Charles Diamond upon seeing him, stood up swiftly from the hospital bed with fear in his eyes.
" Lucien," He whispered.
Lucien rolled his wheelchair towards Mr Diamond in silence. He stopped a few steps away from him and raised his head slowly to look at him. Mr Diamond felt a cold breeze sweep over him as Lucien's aura and presence were both intimidating and deadly.
He cleared his throat slowly and Mr Diamond fell to his knees immediately. " I have my best men in search of Danielle, the wedding will still hold. My daughter will soon return and she must be your wife. Please, Lucien, I will fulfill my promise. I beseech you not to go back on your words." Mr Diamond begged.
Lucien moved one step towards Mr Diamond and crossed his arms. " You almost died today, Charles. Get some rest, you are of no use to me if you die so I have to keep you alive no matter the cost." He said to him.
" I shall do everything within my power to make sure she summit and I will make sure Jake Devon and my daughter never cross paths in this life or the next." Mr. Diamond vowed but unfortunately, Lucien didn't seem to be moved.
" Do not touch her, Charles. Let her be. " He said plainly.
He pulled his wheelchair back and signaled one of his men to his side. " You have broken a promise, one you made to my late mother. "
" Lucien, I am sure we can work this out, my daughter just needs a little bit of reset. " Mr Diamond tried to plead but he was hushed by Lucien immediately.
" Enough! Your daughter is in love with another man, we can't have that now, can we? Maybe if you had prepared her earlier as a child to become my wife all of these would have been avoided." Lucien continued.
" For not keeping your word, and for as long as she remains your daughter and heiress to this Diamond family inheritance, I own you and you are indebted to me up until your very last breath unless you choose to decide otherwise on what to do about the situation." He continued and Mr Diamond stuttered.
" Please, I beg of you. I can not give up the Diamond Empire. This empire goes way back to hundreds of years. I would be a failure to my lineage if the Diamond Empire left my bloodline. " Mr Diamond explained, but Lucien didn't seem to care as his wheelchair was rolled and turned by one of his guards.
" It is a shame and I'm deeply sorry but that is the price you have to pay. We are done here, You will be hearing from my lawyers soon, Charles. " He muttered but Mr Charles in turn said something he never believed he was ever going to say in his whole years of living.
" Wait!" He said, stopping Lucien from leaving the room. " For choosing a mere fairytale path that would lead to the demise of all that the Diamond family has built for hundreds of years, I strip Danielle, my daughter, my only child of all power and access to this family. As we mark today, she no longer bears the Diamond family name and she will never be recognized as a Diamond only if she marries into the Stone family would she be able to reclaim her position as heiress." He announced.
" We should put that down on paper, Charles. In a nutshell, what do you mean?" Lucien asked, now more interested than ever.
Mr. Diamond sighed heavily in defeat. " I disown my daughter."
*********************************************************
Five years later
The scent of vanilla and candles filled the penthouse as Danielle was seen sliding the last dish onto the table. It was a simple dining table with flowers adorned around that filled the air romantically.
It was five years of her marriage to Jake Devon and she was so excited to celebrate it even though it had been the toughest years of her life but she didn't care because, to her, great responsibilities can only bring forth great blessings to her marriage.
She arranged the silverware with her trembling fingers as she brushed the imaginary dust from the white linen. Just beside her was a mirror, she stood and stared at herself. So many years have passed by and Danielle couldn't even recognize herself anymore.
She looked pale and malnourished, and her eyes were swollen. Her once-shining blonde hair looked dull and unkempt. She couldn't remember the last time she dressed her hair.
Danielle sighed as she made sure that every detail was perfect, from the champagne chilling in the silver bucket, the roses spilling across the counter and the lasagna she had spent all day cooking from scratch with a few disastrous trials.
Tonight mattered so it was all worth it. Tonight, Jake would remember how good they were together even though he had been acting strange since last year. She thinks part of his change of attitude was her fault because the pressure from his family about her not being able to conceive over the past years was alarming.
To make up for it, Danielle made sure Jake had everything he wanted. She even went as far as to secretly get in contact with some old contacts from the Diamond Empire just to turn him from a struggling artist to one of the fastest-rising artists in Florida.
All of these she did just to make Jake and his family happy with the hope that they would at least reduce rubbing her infertility on her face. Unfortunately, it didn't work instead, as days went by, they began to poison Jake's mind that she was just after his money.
The same money that she helped him make with her connections. Danielle swallowed every bit of the ill treatment and she vowed that tonight, he would remember why he married her.
She wiped her palms on her dress and glanced at the clock. 7:15 p.m. He was late, but that wasn't unusual lately. Jake has been spending more time at the art gallery, at least that was what he told her.
She smoothed down her red dress and sighed. " Everything's going to be okay, Danielle. Tonight is your chance."
And suddenly, The front door clicked and her heart leaped. She spun toward it, a bright smile breaking across her face. " Welcome home, Shade of my heart."
Jake stepped inside, his brown hair damp from the rain, expensive leather shoes squeaking against the floor. But he wasn't alone. Helena, his ex, the woman she had befriended just to please him over the years was with him, and worse, Helena's arm was looped through Jake.
Danielle froze.
Jake's eyes flicked to the candles, the food, the celebration she had set out, and he grimaced. " What is this?" He questioned.
Danielle decided to ignore what her eyes were showing her. Today is supposed to be perfect and absolutely nothing was going to ruin that. Danielle tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears and smiled sheepishly. " Happy Anniversary, babe. I know you have been busy and you definitely won't have the chance to plan anything so I did it all myself." She squeaked joyfully.
Jake and Helena both stared at themselves and suddenly burst into laughter. Their laughter made Danielle's stomach churn and she felt quite embarrassed. " Why? Why are you both laughing? Did I say anything funny? " She asked and Helena's eyes grew wide.
"Oh, shit," Helena whispered, pulling away from Jake like he was hot iron. "You didn't tell her yet."
Jake dragged a hand through his wet hair. " I am sorry, I just didn't get the chance."
"Tell me what?" Danielle heard her voice crack, thin and too small in the vast, echoing space of the penthouse. She felt like laughing or maybe screaming her lungs out.
Jake sighed like she was a burden he was tired of carrying. He brought out a document from his suitcase and handed it over to Danielle.
" I need you to sign this right now. We're getting divorced, Danielle."