The Billionaire's Kept Woman

Chapter 144 - Shining Star

The laser lights in the hall were quite luxurious and the disco ball that Louise would love. Everything was Louise's vision on the release of her album. Instead of broadcasting it with media around, Keira had paid enough for building screens and rented them for twenty-four hours to show to everyone about Louise's creation. Although she's dead, Keira will make her wish come true that a lot of people will be able to listen to it. That's why she even paid advertising from the USA, Middle East, and Europe to play it on their build board screen for minutes until the music video.

The title of the song was Sandcastle that indicates her life and lots of people could relate. It's a six minutes music video. The effects were beautiful enough and simple.

"It'll be great." Johanna stood beside her and smiled at her. Keira nodded as she looked around the crowd. "I'll protect you," Johanna said.

"I am not worried about me. I'm worried about people around me." Keira sighed. "I know~~there are a lot of people who want me dead. I can't even drink champagne with people."

"Don't worry. I'm here to protect you and probably protect them if you want." Johanna smiled at her. Connor approached them with a small champagne bottle drink for Keira. "This came from your hubby."

Keira smiled and took it. There's also a note from her hubby.

"Be there later.-Handsome Hubby."

She removed the seal, opened the cap, and sipped on it. She looked around and noticed that every important person that she invited had come. Even Travis was with his wife, Arianna. One of the big stars of this era. They approached her as the two girls hugged each other. As Arianna greeted Johanna and they chatted. Johanna noticed their subject and so, she let Keira be with Travis and Arianna.

She approached Alessandro who had just arrived in his simple suit. She wanted to end things smoothly and cleanly but there's always Connor who would get in her way.

"Jo," Connor called. She turned her heels and waited for him. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"Stay with Keira. I'll just go to the bathroom quickly."

"Okay," Connor nodded as he met Alessandro's eyes.

"Excuse me." She mumbled and left.

The look in Connor's eyes was full of curiosity and Alessandro tapped him.

"You can follow her. I'll take care of Keira." He mumbled.

Recently, Connor realized that Violet hasn't confirmed yet the data that James gave to her. He had a feeling that Hanna is Johanna. But maybe they had different personalities.

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Johanna pushed the man to the ladies' room. She already made sure that it was vacant and she smirked. She locked the door as the man grinned.

"Secretary Jo." The man smiled at her. She pushed him and was about to reach the knife from his pocket. It's a small one and it could kill Keira enough even with one touch. She also noticed that there's a small bottle in the pocket of his tuxedo. A purple one. Poison. She smirked at him.

"What are you trying to do?" She asked. "You are from the Charles Empire, right?"

The man's eyes dilated as a smirked draw across his lips.

"Now I wonder who you are."

She smiled lopsidedly.

"I'm just someone who protects the people that I want to protect." She pushed her pen to his chest where the vial was located as it broke.

The man fought quickly using his reflexes. But the time that Johanna quickly jumped over him, pulling out her pen's each edge, the string expanded and she wrapped it expertly around his neck as she slowly pulled him to the edge of the cubicle and locked it as the man gurgled… choking. She knew that even with killing him with the string, he might die in a few minutes or seconds because of the poison.

Now, she wonders how many are there to poison Keira. That's why Harvey didn't want her to drink anything or eat anything during the party. Her husband even provides drinks for her.

Her cold eyes stare blankly at the door and even though the assassin is dead. She still didn't let him go until she saw that her fingernails started getting purple. She let the other side of the fountain pen go as the string loses around his neck. She pushed the corpse as she stood. She left the cubicle. A single knock on the door caught her attention and so, she opened it and let Harvey went to the end of the cubicle in a crew outfit.

She washed her hands and dried them.

"Well, done," Harvey said as he entered the cubicle and fixed the man's body. "We have a few more to kill, Johanna. Be watchful."

Johanna didn't answer as she left the comfort room. She was heading back to the party but a strong big hand grabbed her elbow, pulling her. She was about to defend herself but it was Connor. He scooped her face and kissed her.

"Babe, what took you so long?" he asked. "I got worried." Those worried eyes made her confused. Just what did she do this time?

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Keira noticed that Johanna left many times, however, she knew that Johanna was taking care of lots of things and Vanessa was with her. Her husband was exceptionally stunning as few producers and directors greeted him. He's more popular than her since she always kept low-key. But she laughed along with the circle of friends that came to the party except for Zachary and James.

Sophia came with Adamson and she wondered just how much her stomach got bigger. She still looked stunning as ever. Then, Keira stayed close with Arianna and Sophia while the boys were behind them and a few more bodyguards were near to her. In a few moments, Johanna came and smiled at them with a tray of bottled drinks from the Mondragon Distilled.

Keira made a speech after ten minutes as Johanna stood beside her and her husband at the back. Then, the countdown started to midnight and they all raised their drinks as the video and music started playing. Alessandro approached Keira and hugged her from behind as they listened to the beautiful music that Louise Madison created. She even tears a little as they listen to the full album.

At one in the morning, the party ended. Keira felt depressed. She made it alive until she reached their Villa with Johanna and Connor. Louise Madison's rating was on the third one and it had millions of views in just a few hours. Lots of people already anticipated that music video as she did everything to advertise it. Lots of people loved it and there were a lot of music vloggers who showed their reaction toward the songs.

"What's wrong?" Alessandro asked and rubbed her back.

"Nothing." She smiled.

She noticed Johanna on the other side of the van who was quiet and was staring at the window for two hours of their travel. She looked bothered. Connor who was beside also looked worried and she wondered what Harvey told her to make her look like that.

"We are here," Alessandro said as the villa came into view.

The moment that they arrived, Karmina was waiting for them with food and drinks. She hugged Keira and Johanna and greeted Alessandro and Connor cheek to cheek. Then, they went to the table as Keira started munching on the food with Connor and Alessandro. Johanna was so bothered that she stood straight that made everyone look at her.

"I'll retire to my room." She said as she left quickly. Karmina sighed and looked at Keira. "What happened?" Karmina asked.

"She was like that after the event," Connor said as he reached the glass of water.

"I'll talk to her," Keira said.

"Then, I'll prepare the bath." Alessandro stood too. "Goodnight, mom."

"Night, Mom!" The couple left.

Karmina faced him and told him to eat more. He didn't decline her and she reached something on the drawer of the coffee table.

"I'm sorry about my daughter. She's like that when she's depressed. She was silent."

"Depressed?" Connor never thought of it.

"Yes, she was depressed. Something probably happened. But Johanna was one of the brightest girls that I know." She flipped on the photo album that she seemed to treasure and showed him a photo of Keira, Harvey, and a familiar little girl. "This is Jo when she was thirteen years old."

Connor stared at Johanna. She looked so familiar and he wanted it to be a different outcome. Anxiety started rushing through him as he carefully put down the glass and stared at Johanna.

"Do you have a photo of Jo when she was adopted?"

"Yes,"

She flipped through it.

"It's somewhere here. Keira and Johanna loved instacam so much. That's why I bought two for each of them although she was just a neighbor."

His heart started pounding as he got a glimpse of photos of Johanna at an older age. He doesn't know why he's sweating but the last page was a collection of instacam photos of young Keira and Johanna.

"Keira was so little here. Johanna was seven years old at that time. Keira was too talkative at the age of three years old."

"Keira learned to play piano at what age?"

"Like two and a half," Karmina said happily. "She's a bright kid."

The thing that he's afraid of came out as an irony. He doesn't want to lose Johanna and he doesn't want her to be something that would put her in danger. His poor Johanna.