Marie’s feet tore across the road, she had long lost her shoes and hadn’t even thought of stopping to pick them up. She knew the pain piercing her feet was nothing to be compared to what she’d feel if Zed or Sandra caught up with her. Her mind reeled with panic as she thought about what to do next. An entire stack of text messages had revealed that Zed had at first tried to bribe Cadence through Agent Smith. If she could get this to Steven before she was caught by either of them, then maybe Stveen would know where to look when she got missing.“Marie! Slow down and hear me out.” Sandra’s voice boomed from behind her. She had seen them coming and duck behind a shrub. From where she was crouched, she could see where she had parked. All she had to do was get to it, unlock it, and hope like hell that they missed her. Sweat matted her raven hair, forcing it to cling to her face as she took out her cell phone and emailed the screenshot to her private email. She was just about to email it to
Steven tried to take a deep breath and failed as the limo cruised along the street. He had barely caught a wink of sleep on the flight to London. His mind had been so preoccupied with thoughts of how his meeting with Mr.Kaito would go. At first, he had been upset with Marie.She trusted Sandra too much and had probably let it slip to her best friend that they had backdated their wedding and it was as though he had never even been married to Sandra. Slighted, Sandra had probably tipped off someone who had then fed off the information to Mr. Kaito. He had people looking into it to find out if Sandra had been involved. He hoped for her sake that she wasn’t unless not even the money she had been paid would be sufficient to get her through what she had coming.Then Steven had gotten irritated with Mr. Kaito. Why on earth was marriage so important to him? Had his marital status affected his ability to run the account? The whole thing had felt quite cultic but Steven had been eager to prove
“Now, Steven, I’m more than happy to renegotiate as your email said, but I was under the impression the retainer wouldn’t be up for review until the contract expires. So what gives?”If there was one skill Steven had perfected over the years, it was letting the other person lead the conversation. But he was just as confused as he was at the beginning of the conversation. Was money the reason the contract had been put under review? He pulled out his cell phone to check again and realized it had run out of juice. Mr Kaito was, however, expecting an answer. He decided to wing it and see where the conversation led.“You’re right, Mr. Kaito. But I was under the impression that your company had called for a contract review?”“No, we only issued a response to the email by your Account Director citing additional costs and asking for a review.”Had someone tried to renegotiate the contract with Kazuko Inc. without running it by him first? A muscle jerked in Stven’s cheek as he thought of the n
Steven pushed the giant doors of Graceville Memorial Hospital, running towards the front desk.“Looking for Marie Blair Watson…” He hollered, barely stopping to catch a breath.“Okay, please one moment.” The kind looking nurse said as she scrolled through a tab.“I can’t find a Marie Blair Watson here…”“I’m pretty sure she’s here. She just got admitted. She’s in a coma?”“Nope.” The nurse said, barely sparing the tablet a second glance.“Do you have a Marie King?”The nurse looked through the tab and nodded this time.“I do. Who are you?”“Her bloody husband! Who do you think I am? Where’s my wife?”“Please, keep your voice down, Mr. King.” She said, glaring at him. Steven clenched his fists and followed her. She took him round a corridor and pushed back a curtain. Immediately Sandra saw him, she flung herself into his arms sobbing.“Oh Steven! What are we going to do? Oh Marie…” She said,Steven stumbled forward to the bed where his wife lay. She was hooked up to a ventilator with h
“Sorry, I took so long.” Sandra said as she barreled down the stairs. He was still glued to the spot with the takeout in his hand when he turned to face her.“I thought you said Marie didn't make it to your house, Sandra?” He asked.“Yes, I did. She never made it here.”“And the Mexican food made it? How do you explain that, Sandra?”She glared at him for some seconds before throwing her head back in laughter.“Are you crazy, Steven King? You think I did that to her? What did I do? Run her over with my car?”“I'm just trying to make sense of what's happening, Sandra. How come the food made it to your house and my wife didn’t?”“If you must know, Mr King. Zed came over to my house after work today. You can call him and confirm. Did you stop to think of why Marie was bringing me Mexican food? Because I asked her to! And I had already asked Zed to ask well! And shame on you for thinking I would hurt my best friend!” She screamed, waving her hands around her.“Sandra…”“No, Steven. I don'
“Is she going to be alright?” Sandra asked“Of course, Sandra. She’ll be alright. In fact I think she’ll wake up in the morning and ask us why we worried in the first place.”Sandra let out a shaky breath as Steven squeezed her shoulder before heading out. He stopped at a deli to pick up some sandwiches for James before heading back to the hospital.James took one look at him and let out a whistle.“I don't want to hear it, James. I'm tired. Here, have a sandwich and leave me alone, please.”“You're doing that stupid thing again, aren't you City Boy?”Steven's features hardened as he turned away from James. He wasn't ready to have this conversation with him.“You can turn your face away all you want but you know I'm right.”“Uh huh.”“You cannot possibly blame yourself for this, Steven.”“You're the only one that seems to think so, James. Alden blames me. He thinks I messed up and brought this upon her.”“He’s angry, City Boy.”“But that doesn't make any sense. He barely knows Marie.
“You know, I haven’t thought about that. I think I left it at the scene of the accident. I was just so focused on getting Marie here. When the ambulance came, I jumped in and didn’t think about anything else.” Sandra replied.“Okay, but did you see it at all?” Steven asked,“I didn’t. But honestly, that wasn’t at the top of my mind. Why? Do you think there’s something on it that can help us?”“Maybe,” Steven said as he dropped into a chair.“I mean it’s my neighborhood, so I could go look for it. James can come with me if you like?”“There’s no need. I’ll get people on it. I just needed to confirm you hadn’t seen it.”She shook her head sideways and muttered an apology before taking a sip from her Sprite can. Steven cast a longing glance at the bed, but there was no response from his comatose wife. James offered him a watery smile before sitting at the other end of the room. All three took turns napping as they waited for an update on Marie’s condition. In the evening, the doctor appe
“The next time he calls, we’ll be ready to trace it,” James said, as he hovered around Steven. Steven, who suddenly felt exhausted nodded his head and downed the rest of the hot chocolate.“You need to eat something, City Boy,” James said to his friend.“You haven’t eaten either, James. Quit bugging me.” He retorted as he ran his hand over his face.“I’ll see Sarah about fixing something for us to eat. Meanwhile, you should take a nap and then a shower before we head back to the hospital.”“I’m not hungry, but I’ll try to take a nap.” He said as he headed towards the elevator.Steven felt the heaviness in his shoulders with every step. He climbed into his bed and opened his email. He scoured through, searching for the email Mr. Kaito had spoken about but couldn't find it. It was obvious that whoever had sent the email hadn't passed it through his desk. Was this connected to the leaks and his ongoing investigation? Would finding the person in the team who had sent the email to Mr. kait