Almighty Jonas: ‘Waiting outside.’ I smile and grab my bag to walk outside. “Bye!” I tell Ira and Natalie. “Enjoy!” Natalie says without taking her eyes off Ira’s laptop. I shake my head. I am sure they are off their online research on Mikolaj and Jonas right now. Whenever a topic starts, they love to dig for every information available online. By information, I mean genuine things. Not just gossip, but achievements, scandals, lawsuits. Odd choice of entertainment. Natalie has a nag for snooping too. A hacker trait? And she is being a bad influence on Ira. … I walk out of the Dorm building and look around to spot Jonas. My eyes fall at a Porsche Carrera GT. He roars the engine loudly and all heads turn at the car. I open the car door and whisper shout at him, “I have friends here Jonas and they talk!” He laughs. “Oh Riley… They already think you are dating me. Let me show you off a little.” My cheeks turn red with embarrassment. Once we started working on our projec
I prod my finger into it and pull it out. My jaw goes slack when I see what’s inside. It’s a small gun drawer. There are two handguns and an assault rifle. There are some files too. A small laptop along with two hard disks. A fancy looking flash drive grabs my attention. It’s tiny. Do people still use that? I think to myself and pick it up. “WHAT THE FU-K ARE YOU DOING?” A voice roars behind me and I flinch. …. I think I peed a little. I put the pen drive back and shut the drawer close. When I turn, I see an angry man striding towards me. He is in a freaking towel. Where the hell are his clothes? He covers the distance in 2 seconds. I yelp and step back in surprise. My back hits the wall. “I… I am sorry.. I shouldn’t have…” I tilt my head to look at his raging face. My first realization. It’s Mikolaj Josef. He is tall and my head barely reaches his shoulders. My second realization. I fucked up bad. Such a terrible first impression. Little did I imagine, it was only
10. Panic.> .SLAP!My face tingles with warmth where her palm landed. It takes all my strength not to grab her by the hair and set her in place.I turn my face and fix my gaze at her. I can see uncertainty in her eyes as realization crosses her mind. “You can't ask me to do that. No one has any right to ask this of me,” she says in a quivering voice. Her big round eyes are simmering with tears. It doesn’t faze me. I have seen many cunning personalities hidden behind innocent faces. Does it work so often that Garrett has sent his own daughter into a Lion’s den? I will make him pay for this. “You are standing in my office with my safe compromised. I will decide what to do with you, Little Riley.”She lets out a little gasp.“You know me,” she accuses. “Yo-You know I came here with Jonas…” Her plump lips tremble as she fumbles, trying to form words “Th- then why-““Shut your mouth,” I tell her in annoyance and move away from her. I think hard. Of course, I got the
11. Ride>It takes me a while to get the goddamn keys of the conference room. I didn’t know it could be locked. I guess it’s a cue to get a detention room in this building for such cases. After today’s incident, we are upgrading security and changing protocols, anyway. I unlock and open the door, but don’t see her inside. A chair is away from its spot. I walk towards it and see a small figure curled up on the floor on her side.“Fuck,” I mutter and rush toward her. “Riley!” I put my hand on her shoulder to shake her a little. She doesn’t bulge. I put my fingers on the base of her neck to feel her pulse. It’s slow. She is in a deep slumber.I brush her hair aside to see her face. Her skin is cold to touch and her makeup is smeared with tears. I sigh and sit next to her with my back on wall. It’s pointless to wake her up. I am sure I am the last person she would want to see. But do we have any choice?I remove my jacket and put it on her. Then I put her phone on the ta
12. Olive Branch>When I get out of the lobby to get into my Uber ride, I notice the car assigned by Mikolaj is still waiting for me. A middle-aged man gets out and walks towards me.“Ms. Riley,” He says and I instantly feel bad about the man.“I had told Mikołaj I won’t need your car,” I justify myself. Why is he even waiting?He smiles and nods.“I wanted to inform you that I have been instructed to escort your ride till you reach home.“Oh. His loud voice clarifies that he wanted the cab driver to hear this. I don’t protest and get inside my ride. It doesn’t make me feel great. But Mikolaj was right. Accepting his help in the middle of night would have been a better idea. But after what he did, I am not willing to accept any olive branch from him.I fall asleep in the cab and the fact that someone is escorting this car makes me feel a little safe. …I reach my room after an hour, then slump into my bed. The room is empty. Looks like Ira and Natalie didn’t come back.
13. Compensation > A door knock brings me out of my slumber and I realize I dozed off. I close the yearbook in my lap, then drag myself out of bed while rubbing my eyes. “Coming… Give me a minute…” This room is a mess. Ira will be pissed when she realizes I didn’t do shit the whole day. I throw the year book inside the luggage bag, then zip and push it underneath the bed. I could still make it to the last two lectures. I must. I open the door, expecting Ira or some girl, instead I see a man in a crisp gray suit standing in front of me. I blink in confusion. “Yes?” “Miss Riley. I am James Patterson.” He forwards his hand and my mind screams not to shake it. His expensive tailored suit, trimmed gray hair and neatly shaved face gives me a sense of foreboding. It’s all too familiar. Just like Mikolaj fuckin Josef, this man is scary. Not in looks, but in personality. Also, I can tell he is an attorney. My dad is one, so I know when I see one. “How can I help you?”
Now you know. > Next morning I wake up early with Jessica crying. I get out of my bed half asleep and walk towards her room and see her nanny, Hazel, trying to calm her down. “Oh my girl…“ I call her out and she opens her arms towards me. Her face is smeared with tears. Just like me, she looks tired, and is half asleep. I take her in my lap and pat her back, trying to soothe her down. “She slept very late last night and kept looking for you.” Hazel tells me and my heart clenches. “Why didn’t you call me?” She gives me a sympathetic smile. “It’s my job. Just when I thought I would call you, she fell asleep. But kids this age have significant memories… She also has bad separation anxiety due to-” I give her a hard look, and she stops herself. I know what she was about to say. ‘Because of her mom,’—Bullshit. Rose had hired her. So I understand Hazel has a soft spot for Rose on this whole matter. I wipe tears from Jessie’s face and murmur, “It won’t happen again..
15. A Kiss>“I wish you had told me earlier.”“Well… Now you know.” I give Jonas some time to contain himself. To understand the stakes. Meanwhile, I try to evaluate.I had skimmed Riley’s phone last night. It seems she does not know about the fucked up history of our families. It is a genuine surprise.Is she pretending to be clueless? Her tears.. Her rage… Was it all fake? There is no way she could have predicted last evening’s events. Unless it was an elaborate scheme. Until I get my hands on Emma, I cannot say for sure.“You have spent quite some time with Riley in the past few weeks. Right?” I ask, and he nods.“Do you think she knows about us?”Jonas scratches his stubble and shakes his head.“Mikolaj, she is so... I never felt she was vicious or vile..”I quirk my brow at him. “Has she wrapped you around her fingers already? I absolutely cannot afford that, Jonas.”He frowns and looks at me.“Don’t worry, I will handle her. Now that I know who she is… I won’t le