I promised you all a full chapter on my Birthday... So here it is ❤️
Happy Birthday and Happy Graduation to Samantha Whyte... And Happy Birthday, (fiduciarily) to all of you guys... (Black Rose, I see you right there...❤️ Please find me on F*, please.) And others, your following is noticed. I love you all, I really do. So... Here's the Chapter. * * * That day, Bethany arranges the paper in front of her, laying them out piece by piece, a calculator on her left hand and a pen on her right as she marks some points over and over again. She finally leans up, sighing and drops her pen. "It's all too damn neat, I need the documents from Jade first before I can determine whatever the problem is here." There is a slight knock on the door and Jade opens the door and walks in. "Ma'am, you have a visitor." Something about Jade's demeanor screams it's not someone that she'd want to see with the whole documents and paper around. "Tell them to wait two minutes, exactly two minutes from now, send him in." Her guts tell her who it is and she's sure she knows who it is. And as Jade nods slightly and heads out, she peeks the back of his head standing a bit away, pacing around. Bethany packs all the documents the same way they had been handed to her and folds it back in her envelope, putting it on the shelf behind her table. As she takes her seat and takes off the glasses, the door opens and Kevin Fitzpatrick waltzes in like it is his own place. Infact, she won't be surprised if he's ever sat in the chair she's currently sitting in. "Good afternoon ma'am. Lovely place you have here." "Mr Fitzpatrick, Come on in." She smiles politely as she motions him to have a chair on the hard ones in front of her table. Oh no, she's deliberately not offering him the couch, he's not that much of a person to her that she would offer him the chair meant for people she wants to relax with. His face clouds but he masks it professionally, sitting down. "I came with regards to the documents you asked for." "Oh yes, what about them?" "I was curious to see if you ever went through them by yourself? And your questions and doubts and any criticism or praise you have about how I run the finances department?" "You know, I have been meaning to call you in about that. I really did look through it and the finances are nothing but flawless. I mean, they are perfect. I haven't seen such perfect accounts in all my life, which of course, is still a short one." She laughs and Kevin does too. What better way to confuse a person than to get all hot and cold on them? Or better still, what better way to throw off a person's balance than to let them think they are safe and secure? Kevin laughs as well. "I'm happy to hear that you love what you read. Since I found out what I came for, I'll be on my way. The account books don't fill themselves up, you know?" He jokes and Bethany chuckles even though it's a pretty dry one. "One more thing before you go, Mr Fitzpatrick. I have just a question." "Sure, I'm ready to answer any questions you might have." He replies cheerily. "It's simple really. Up until two years, we had been using Trust Auditing Firm, but after you came into the picture as the Director of Finance, we switched immediately to Unique Auditing..." Kevin laughs humorlessly even though there is a tiny bead of sweat above his ears. "Ma'am..." "I'm not done yet, Mr Fitzpatrick." Her voice has no humor now and is completely businesslike, almost accusing but she does not want him to get any inkling that she's suspecting him for anything. "Why them? Was no digging done on the company?" "We did our research and did not find anything dirty on them, Trust on the other hand had a scandal that year and we lost trust in them so we had to change immediately." He explains, slightly shakily. "I see. The thing is, I heard some news from a fellow CEO that Unique is filled with thieves so I would just advice you to be careful in your dealings with them. If we can switch back to Trust, that will be beautiful. But for now, please be careful with Unique." Kevin Fitzpatrick visibly relaxes, giving himself away and he does not notice but Bethany has noticed, and she notices quite obviously and well. "We'll do just that ma'am, we'll be very careful in our dealings with them." Few minutes later, Kevin Fitzpatrick walks out the door, a small smirk on his face and as the elevator doors close, he bursts into laughter, thinking he has fooled Bethany. But the person who has the other fooled is Bethany Worth.In his office, Kevin heaves a sigh of relief as he sips on tea. "I can't believe she is that gullible. One would have been worried she might have found a problem where there is none but she did not even sense anything. How much observance does she lack?"His secretary knocks on his door and he turns to her. "Yes?""The miss is here to see you."Kevin smiles and nods, dropping the tea just as the tall black woman saunters into the office, dripping with elegance and such business acumen."Miss Yang, please, have a seat. You're welcome to my office once again." He greets, holding out his hand for an handshake.Ana Yang ignores his outstretched hand and makes right for the chair where she sits in.Kevin laughs awkwardly and walks back to his seat as well."So, to what do I owe this visit?"Ana looks right at Kevin. "To what do you owe this visit? Did you forget our agreement already? You were supposed to pay up for the modification of those documents the day I brought them and now you sti
The plane touched down in the airport and the large television-like thing showed that the plane from Washington DC to New York just landed.One by one, the passengers of the plane begin to show up and they walk to the baggage claim to pick up their bags.Amongst one of the notable women that descend from the airplane is one with long chestnut blonde hair that is as long as her shoulder with a slight curve upward at the tip of it. She has light makeup on but just as small as it is, it accentuates her natural beauty.As she picks up the large suitcase, she looks around, and then takes a deep breath, knowing fully well that she's back to New York, back home.Just then, she sights a man in a one piece suit, holding up a yellow placard that read Chara Worth and then she smiled as she walked towards him. As soon as he sees her, he drops the placard to his side and bows deeply. "Welcome to New York ma'am. Mr Botter is ready to see you."Chara slides over her suitcase to him and he catches i
The next morning, Arthur makes breakfast and brings it up to Bethany in bed. She smiles as she sits up to take it from his hands.He kisses her on the forehead. “Did you have a good night?”“A really good one. I spent it here, with you after all.”Arthur chuckles. “I think you’re getting a little too sweet mouthed with me.”Bethany winks and pouts. “I think I learnt and is still learning from the best of them all.”“I’m not even going to ask who your teacher is.”Bethany chuckles as she digs into the toast, eggs and coffee. “Have you had yours yet?”“Yes, I took a couple slices while I made the eggs. I have to leave early today, can’t afford to still be in the air while my contractors are waiting for me.“At least, you’re not been an uncaring CEO this morning.”Arthur stands up and straightens his suit. “And I think my uncaring is starting to take a toll on you. You seem to get up later and later by day.” She opens her mouth to respond but he beats her to it again, kissing her on the
Bethany had left for work as well and was planning to return home quickly just to surprise Arthur by making dinner ahead. In the late afternoon, after doing some underground dealings with matters relating to the finance department, mostly because she does not want to publicly announce her move just yet, Jade comes in with some documents in her hands. "Ma'am, you need to check these documents, and your signature is needed on a few of them. One even came down from the Hospital. Once you sign it, I will proceed with the other arrangements." Jade drops the documents on her desk, standing back up and waiting for dismissal. Bethany runs her hands through few. “Are they immensely important? Can’t be left till tomorrow? I thought I was going to end today's work a bit earlier, I have to go grocery shopping and a couple other things...” “I can totally do that for you ma’am. Its part of my work as your secretary. I can attend to needs like those while you’re at work. Ill just need the list t
Echoes of laughter and footsteps and other people’s conversation fill the air in the luxurious mall, lined with gold and white wallpapers and different shops with different designs, making the place almost unbearably colorful, and amongst all these throng of people checking out the place, Is no other person than Alexa and her friends as they go shopping as if there is no tomorrow.Technically, Alexa would like to call it retail therapy because it really takes her mind off all of the wrong things happening in her marriage, that is if she can even call it that, its all in shambles at her feet and she’s just watching it, watching as it keeps crumbling, she does not even know if she wants to pick it up and try to make it right…"Oh my goodness! I saw this bag online, and I never imagined that it could be this beautiful," One of Alexa's friends, Zoe, comments as she admires the brand name bag, bringing Alexa out of her deep thoughts.Alexa smiles and responds. "The place is just like peopl
Bethany keeps hitting the steering wheel as she returns home at full speed since her driving skills have improved ever since she stopped being married t that douchebag and is now more confident. She had promised Arthur a lovely dinner, but the day had slipped through her fingers like water, coupled with all the happenings and then Daisy’s visit. She had busy taking care of what needed attention in the company and her heart lurched with guilt.As soon as her car drove into the compound, she bolted out swiftly and heads into the living room, removing her long coat as she walks in, draping it over the chair in the process. Bethany pushed open the door to their bedroom upstairs but there is no sign of Arthur. She had not even stayed outside long enough to check if his car had been parked or not. She feels even more guilty now, knowing that by now, the duo should be sitting for dinner by now.“Arthur?” She calls out, hoping to hear him call her back but she is met by the ticking of the la
Arthur kisses her senseless, ravaging her lips and open skin right there, where all the staff are chuckling at the back but their backs are politely turned to give the couple some privacy. Bethany runs her hands through his hair while the other hand roams around his neck, pulling him closer and closer as though the kisses are trying to separate them instead of otherwise.Outside the restaurant where the couple is having their dinner, and possibly more, the voice becomes louder as the waiters at the door try to restrain the intrusion and refuses to let the intruder in. Bethany looks into Arthur's eyes and asks him, a bit confused since he had rented it out, “Did you invite another person by any chance?" Arthur is just as surprised as she is and shrugs his shoulders. "No, I am not expecting anyone. After all, I only made reservations for both of us. Maybe it's one of the staff that is causing the intrusion or something..."He stops talking when he realizes the gap in his statement. Th
In a modern age kitchen complete with an espresso machine and hot plate with its own microwave oven right beneath it, Daisy can't stop pacing around with only one thought in her mind. She sighs again and again, her mind flashing to the meeting with Bethany the previous day.“That damned woman did not even care to hear all I had to say. She had that useless faraway look in her eyes, telling me to hurry up since she has better and more important things to attend to. She has always been rude anyway.” Daisy mumbles to herself, touching her chin every now and then.Her son, Charles is her biggest worry!Certainly, no mother can ignore when her son is going through emotional backlash just because of a good for nothing lady like Bethany."Aaarghhhh!" Daisy groans, knowing that Charles hasn't been fine for days now. He has been miserable all around, causing more damage to his broken heart. Drinking in uncouth places, using foul language, everything he never was.Worst of all is the last time
The fourth day in the hospital after the blast seemed just as bleak as the first three days that had come and gone, waiting for Bethany to wake up and open her eyes to absolutely no avail.Arthur hasn’t left her side.Not once, making sure to make sure that she is attended to every single time and cleaning her unconscious body every morning and night.The nurses have stopped trying to convince him to take a break and go home or something. At this point, he’s more permanent than the IV drip standing by her bedside. Martha comes and goes, bringing fresh clothes, home cooked meals that Arthur barely touches, whispered encouragements he barely hears but nods smilingly at anyway, the old woman already has too much on her neck so Arthur always manages to persuade her to go back home as well each time.He sits beside her now, as he has for four days, one hand curled over Bethany’s motionless fingers, holding them as though he is using his body’s warmth to remind her of the way back to him, b
Time slows.Bethany’s fingers brush the handle of the driver’s side door just as the second beep-beep fades into the air. A bird chirps from the lamp post above the lot. The wheels of a nearby shopping cart squeal as someone exits the pharmacy across the road. Arthur opens his mouth to say something…And the world erupts.BOOM.It’s not just a noise., it’s a force. A living, monstrous thing that tears through air, glass, and metal like paper. The car explodes in a big explosion of fire and shrapnel, its roof splitting, hurling into the sky. The windshield vaporizes in a white hot flash and for the person standing right next to the explosion...Bethany is thrown violently backward. Not a stumble. Not a fall. She is launched into the air like a ragdoll and what goes up, always comes down.Her body hits the ground very hard. The sound is sickening, skin on pavement, ribs crunching, skull cracking and the audible sound of all of it.Then stillness.Alarms scream in every direction. The
The man walks in front of the station like he’s trying not to walk into a landmine, slow, tentative steps. He stops at the top of the stairs, takes one deep sigh, rubs his weak looking eyes and takes the few more steps into the building.He does not take big strides and no waving hands. Just quiet, precise steps through the front doors of the Precinct, wearing a weather beaten hoodie and jeans that have seen better years. His eyes are the kind that don’t blink enough, too haunted to remember how.Or at least that is what it looks like to whoever cares to give him a glance.At the front desk, Officer Laney gives him the once over. She’s halfway through sipping her third iced latte when she asks, “Can I help you sir?”The man doesn’t answer at first, first choosing to check if she is a police officer since she is in civilian clothes, then seeing her badge in her hands, he sighs audibly before responding, saying…“I need to talk to someone. Someone in charge of a particular case here.”L
Rumors begin less than three days later.Apparently, grabbing a cup of coffee with a beautiful female Major is grounds for rumors, and even people whom you don’t know who begin to study your every move. The rumors, with truths in them however, rage on the barracks.They spread like heat on dry bush. Fast, wild and pretty much unstoppable. A Major seen sneaking smiles at a Lieutenant during drills, the same Lieutenant caught slipping out of the officer's quarters too early in the morning.Chara doesn’t as much as flinch when she hears then, she’s pretty much used to the weight of judgment.Chara doesn’t pretend to care, not at all.She keeps her chin high, her stride sharp like the boss lady that she is, like no one dares say it to her face, because they really do not dare say it to her face.But Mason hears it.He hears them and unlike Chara with her own steely indifference, he is not indifferent to it.And it gets harder to ignore, mostly because it is not all about him but her.Mason
It is a new day on the barracks, the morning frills are done and so are evening ones, it’s just past the time for everyone to have dinner but someone is not headed to the cafeteria for food.The knock on the door announces his arrival to his caller.Major Chara’s office is dimly lit but bright enough fir the time of the day, considering she is in the male fields, she knows just how to be careful enough to not have too much light on, not too much to help the stalkers peek through the window at her perfectly figured body. She’s currently halfway through dressing, uniform pants already snug around her waist, boots laced to perfection, but her shirt still hanging on the back of a chair.“Come in,” Chara calls, her voice calm.She doesn’t bother rushing. She knows exactly who it is and why she has sent for him.The door opens, and then nothing.No footsteps. No greeting.Just silence from who it is that stands at the door.Private First Lieutenant Mason Campbell.She turns slightly, still
The courtroom is brightly lit, smells like polished wood and paper and different, different smells of perfumes and cologne.It's still early in the morning, the sun barely slanting through the tall and somewhat dusty windows, but the room is already full, a lot of people seem to be quite interested in the case and other than that, there are also students who have come to just witness one and some other purposeful individuals, albeit, the courtroom is filled. The silence is thick, every cough or chair scrape feeling louder than it should because every sound that is not inevitable is not allowed in the court, it should always be bone silent and they all try to keep to the rule, although the silence can feel a bit suffocating but they can’t help it.At the defense table, John Worth stands stiffly, his head cast downwards staring at his feet or at the floor, either, wearing the same annoyingly orange jumper he has worn to every hearing in the past week.His hands rest by his sides, fisted
Detective Reynolds has never hated walking down this damned hallway more than he actually does now, with what he knows his mission it, he does not look forward to the next few minutes since he’ll be walking down the same hall again.The keys jingle in his hand, cold metal biting into his palm as he squeezes it more than he should, causing himself pain. He passes the front desk, the vending machines, the bulletin board with the crooked missing persons flyer... all of it feeling a little more annoying than usual.For the first time in a very long time, he regrets his job and for once wishes that he was in a position of power to refute the corrupt order that he is about to go ahead and act out. He had spoken to Daisy Worth just some minutes ago before he decided to accept his fate and do as ordered unless he wanted to risk his job, and even if he does risk his job for the sake of his integrity, the five bastards will still get released anyway so there is basically no point dragging out t
The morning sun filters through the trees in the large, green park that overlooks the pretty lake ahead.It’s warm. Peaceful. A soft breeze rolls across the lake, lifting the petals from scattered white roses and tugging at the corner of the prettily covered altar. Everything looks like it was summoned out of thin air, a lakeside setup, simple chairs, a path of white laid across green grass, and yet it all feels perfectly right.They didn’t plan it. Not really. They did not have the time to do so anyway, because every minute now counts.Every. Single. Minute.But love doesn’t always need a plan. Sometimes, it just needs now and that’s how everything was planned overnight, some people who still haven’t slept yet are in the congregation.By the water’s edge, rows of white wooden chairs are arranged in quiet perfection. A floral arch leans over a makeshift altar, the blooms fresh, delicate, almost too pretty to touch. There are photographers present, it is a memorable one, everyone wants
The holding cell stinks terribly of sweat and urnine and not so well taken care of body discharges.Smells disgusting in there.And it is not just the stink of sweat or urine, like the average downtown drunk tank, no. This one also reeks of guilty men dressed up in expensive cologne. Designer jeans and loafers scuffed on concrete, the exact dressings that they had all been arrested in though they do stink now from not having baths for days.Five men, once golden boys in nightclubs and boardrooms, now sit on cracked terrazzo floors under extremely dim bulb lights.Trevor sits with his legs crossed, perfectly calm for someone in such a situation.The others? Not so much, they are relying on him and for someone they are leaning on, he seems a little too calm for their liking.“Trevor, man,” hisses Logan, slick back that is not so slick now, pacing the cell like a caged animal. “You said your dad would never let this happen, you said you’ll never spill our names now look at all of us, sitt