Light filtered rudely into Steven King’s room, tugging at his eyelids until he was forced to open them. A quick glance at his watch revealed that the time was 7 AM. Ever since his proposal to Marie, he had been battling several thoughts that were stuck on a loop in his mind. Today was Monday, and that meant that he had to put away any doubts he had and made his romance with Marie seem believable. It also meant that he had to take sniffing out the mole in Alden Kings Inc. more seriously. At first, when proposed ideas and insights had begun to leak, Steven had waved it aside but over the past few months, the frequent occurrence was beginning to rankle him. He had placed Zed Norton in charge of finding out who was sabotaging them but Zed’s efforts had turned out nothing. The leaks were the only reason he was being forced into the situation with Marie. It was the only reason why instead of spending time working on productive campaigns, he was thinking about how to smooth over ruffled f
Steven watched calmly as a panicky Marie paced back and forth in his office. The poor girl was so frightened that a part of him wanted to call the whole thing off. So what if he wasn't married? How did that affect his ability to run the company? “Marie, calm down. What are you so nervous about?”“But they were meant to be here by 1PM. 1PM. It’s barely 11 and they show up. What are we going to do?”“I won't tell you to calm down again, Marie. Breathe.”Taking a deep breath, Marie dropped into the chair beside him.“So, how do you know they're here? Did you see them?” Steven asked, taking a sip from his cup of iced latte.“I was nervous about not knowing the exact time they would show up and so I asked Lara and Thelma to be on the lookout for them. Lara just texted them that two men fitting their description walked in and were logging their details at the front desk.”“Okay, okay. So what's the problem here?.”“I don't know, Steven, do you think this would work?” Marie asked, the fear
Marie’s fingers flew across her keyboard as her thoughts flitted in different directions. Her heart was still slightly racing from Steven's kiss.Touching her lips, her body shivered with pleasure as she remained lost in the sweet memory of the kiss. Just this morning, over five people who had never spoken with her had come to chat with her. Marie could see through their plastic friendliness and knew they were only doing it because of the favors they hoped to get. What hurt the most was the people whom she genuinely liked and cared for who were now awkward around her. With the way Steven had looked at her before kissing her, Marie wasn't so sure it was pure acting anymore. Or was she so naive that she was seeing things that weren't there? But she hadn't imagined the comment about her cardigan so what game was he playing at?“Marie, get in here.” Steven's voice butted in, interrupting her thoughts. What did he want now? Wiping her clammy palms on her pants, she covered the short dist
“Hello, hello, hello!” Marie cried as she walked through the door and dumped the things she was carrying on the dining table. A brief inspection around the room revealed that nothing material had changed since the last time she was here. It was so like Sandra to move at a snail pace.“Hey you.” Sandra said, walking towards Marie with a white bra and a blue palazzo pant. Sniffing the bags holding their takeout, Sandra's eyes lit up in delight.“Hmm, this smells yummy, Marie. Chinese?”“Yes.” Marie said, giving Sandra a quick hug and heading to the kitchen to get wine glasses. “Babes, your phone is ringing,” Sandra called out from the living room.“I swear to God Babes, if it's Godzilla, I’m flushing your phone down the toilet. One of these days, you’re going to have to put your feet down. You can't come running every time he calls.”Reappearing with the wine glasses, Marie handed them to her and took the offending device to the kitchen. But it wasn't Steven or Alden who was calling,
Marie tried again to dial Steven King’s number. The last six times she had called, it had gone straight to voicemail. Clenching her steering wheel tightly, Marie tried to focus on getting home. Her mind seized with panic as he recalled the words from the text. Did she know this person who seemingly knew the truth and was now threatening her? And why wasn't Steven answering his damn phone!Pulling into the driveway, Marie gathered their purse, and the carrier bag and alighted from the car. Great, her neighbor had parked his car wrongly. Again. Deciding to deal with the issue in the morning, Marie headed to her front door and unlocked it. The thought of someone waiting for her flashed through her mind but she squelched it. This was the home she had lived in for several years, she was not about to start being afraid of being in it. Tossing the things she was holding aside, Marie kicked off her shoes and plunked down on the sofa. Rubbing her aching toes with one hand, she reached into he
“What I meant was that I would have felt better if I was getting married for real. To a man who loves me.” She said, as she dusted invisible specks of dust off her dress.Relieved, Steven let out a sigh. The last thing he needed was Marie getting attached to him. The only Marie he wanted in his life was the one who wore awful cardigans, and did her job well. “I asked because that's what you can expect the press to ask. You do know there will be interviews once we go public?”“Hold on Steven, you never said anything about going public. You said it was fake!” Marie spat.“ Fake, Marie. Not hidden. And the fakeness of it stays between us.”Her recurring terror was beginning to get on his nerves. If she had agreed to do this, why did she keep acting up?“I would feel better if we had this conversation with you sitting across from me like you always do.”“Nothing doing, Marie. I'm your husband now, you have to get used to being with me in close proximity.”“I thought that was in public wh
Reclining in his seat, Steven closed his eyes and massaged his temple with both hands. It was ironic that the woman who had started this whole act was beginning to act like a woman scorned. Was he the one who had walked up to her in a room full of people they worked with and entangled him in a passionate kiss? It was becoming annoying that he had to seduce her to get her into character, and that he had to deal with her tears and tantrums.He picked up his phone to text her when he saw Ellen, Head of Events at Alden Kings Inc. walk into his office with a worried expression on her face. “Sorry to bother you, Steven, I don’t have an appointment but I swear I heard muffled sobs as I walked past the bathroom just now and I think Marie is hurt.”“She is?” Steven said, injecting the right note of alarm into his voice as he stood and followed Ellen to the bathroom where Marie was crying.“Marie, honey. Are you hurt?” Steven asked as he knocked on the bathroom door. “No, thank you, Steven.
Marie saw the way Ellen had turned on Steven and bit back a laugh. Served him right for the way he had treated her earlier today. But if she was being honest, he had more than made up for it with the public announcement. Feeling sorry for him, she moved closer to him, poked his hair playfully and said,“Men. This one right here is in a class all by himself. Can’t even remember his social security number. But I don't mind. He pays me back in other ways.” Ellen’s look softened as she smiled at Marie.“I know what you mean. Been married for thirty years and he still can’t tell the birthday and anniversary apart.”“Just doesn’t come as easily for us.” Steven replied as he chuckled.“You know what Ellen, let’s do it.” Steven said, ignoring Marie who was shaking her head in disapproval.“Wow, that leaves me about three days. There’s so much to do but I’ll pull it off. Don’t worry, Marie…”“You really don’t have to…”, Marie began“Shhhhhhh baby, let her do this for us. You deserve it.” Stev
“What?” Steven asked in a voice so phony that everyone turned to stare at him.“Is that blood, uncle Steve? It is. There's blood on your shirt.”“Shhhhh, buddy. Don't make a big deal about it. I cut myself.”“You did? Cool! Let me see.” Rick exclaimed, as though he was being given front row tickets to a fun show.“Richard! Get back to class!”“But granny…”“Now!” Amelia boomed as a disgruntled Rick turned in his heel and headed towards the stairs, waving to Steven as he went.“You may want to get that cleaned up before leaving.” Alden said to him as he wheeled himself into his room.“Hand it to me.” Amelia said.“Oh? I didn't actually cut myself.”“I know. I’m not stupid. Alden keeps sneaking off in his wheelchair and I've seen some funny looking characters hanging around. I don't want to know what all this is about but I hope you're both not being stupid. And he's finally getting the exercise ”“Ah.” Steven replied as he took off his shirt and handed it to Amelia. He walked with Stev
Maybe it was the fact that the guy was a psychopath who had put his wife in a coma or the fact that he had such a punchable face but Steven didn't stop until Smith stopped laughing and started to cough.“Oh, I could go on for hours. I'm only just getting started.”“Kill me, please. I’d love to see how you get the answers you want.” Smith saidSteven snarled as he shook his knuckles.“Oh, make no mistake, Smith. You are going to die. You're going to pay for what you did to Cadence. I’ll make sure about that even if it's the last thing I do.”“I keep telling your stupid old man. I didn't kill Cadence Steele.”“The same way you didn't run my wife over?”“Exactly. I mean I know about it, make no mistake. But I neither authorized nor did it.”“You know what Smith, you're full of crap and I'm tired of doing this with you, so start talking. There's no use stalling too because you're not getting out of this till I'm satisfied.”“Look, I know you think I'm the one you’re looking for but I'm no
“What do you mean?”“I mean I've never seen you so affected by anything, Alden. Not even when your own son got into an accident.”Alden’s eyes hardened as he grunted.“That wasn't an accident. It was a stupid decision made by someone who should have known better.”Steven fought the urge to roll his eyes. Of course Alden would say that about his father. Alden had never cut him any slack.“Right, but you're deflecting the question. Why do you act like she means so much to you? What's this about?”“The only person that can give you the answers you want us is your wife, Steven.”What did that mean? Was there something about Alden and Marie he didn't know?“I don't understand what you mean, Alden.”“Are you ready to leave now?” Alden asked, pushing his chair backwards as he averted his eyes from Steven. Steven sighed and walked ahead of his grandfather. It was funny that Alden would rather die than let Steven touch his wheelchair while he allowed Amelia to help him all the time. He also kn
“Where are you?”“Hello to you too, Alden.” Steven said as he honked at the driver in front of him. Did people drive with their brains turned off these days?“I'm at your house and Dr. Terence tells me you’re not here.” The accusation in his tone spoke volumes but Steven chose to ignore it.“If you’d let me know you were coming over, perhaps I may have been ready to receive you.” Steven answered in a cool tone.“When you asked for this leave, you did say it was so you could remain at your wife's side, not gallivant around town.”“What do you want, Alden?”“No, listen to me young man. You're the one who’ll get down here fast if you want to hear what I have to say.” He answered before hanging up the phone. Steven exhaled as he massaged his temple. The last thing he wanted was Alden sticking his nose into how he was caring for Marie. Twenty minutes later, he pulled into the house and headed to the room where Marie was. Alden was in conversation with Dr. Terrence and didn't notice at firs
Dr. Terrence met him outside Marie's room and was about to say something but Steven held up his hand to forestall any comment.“I need everyone to leave for a few moments.”“Okay, Mr.King but if I may…”“Now, please.” Steven repeated as frazzled nurses began filing out of the room. He wasn't sure if he could stomach any more bad news so whatever Dr. Terrence had to say would have to wait.Dr. Terrence nodded and exited the room. Steven looked down at Marie and smiled at her. Even in a coma, her beauty took his breath away.He let out a long sigh and sat beside her bed before taking her hand in his.“You know, for the past few weeks, Marie. I’ve been mad at myself. Thinking about where I went wrong and how I could have failed you so much.”He squeezed her hand and checked to see if there was any reaction on her face. Her eyes remained blank and unfocused as they had been.“I’ve been mad at myself for letting you go through so much pain. For the fact that you're stuck somewhere between
Steven's mind whirled with thoughts as he heard the sound of Zed Norton's car backing out of his driveway.He ran a hand through his hair as he thought about what had transpired between Sandra and him. How on earth was he going to explain this to Marie when she came out of the coma? He could just imagine the look on his face.“You know when you were stuck in a coma fighting for your life? Yeah well, I slept with your best friend. And I don't even remember doing it.”He let out another curse and Sarah tossed him a concerned glance. He let out a sigh and plunked into the chair.“Any special orders for lunch, Sir? The chef wants to know…” She askedThe thought of having any food right now made him want to puke. Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was Cadence lying in a pool of her own blood.“I'm not hungry, Sarah. I’ll head out and probably eat something.”“Okay, Sir. Do I make any provisions for Ms.Rakes?”“No, Ms. Rakes wouldn't be returning anymore.” Steven replied as she
“What are you doing?” Steven whispered as he jerked away from Sandra. His head was reeling from pain. Had she really kissed him?“Sorry. I don't know what happened…You looked so sad and I wasn't thinking.” She said as she abruptly got on her feet and cleared her plate. She grabbed the glass and was about to take the bottle of wine with her when Steven dragged it from her.“You can't drink the whole bottle, Steven.” She said in a quiet voice.“Get out.” He said, in a voice harsher than he intended. She glared at him for some seconds before wilting and walking out of the room.He took a swig of the bottle and sighed. Did she deserve such hostility from him for a mistake? She had only been trying to help him after all. It seemed all he was capable of these days was messing up on a grand scale. His actions kept hurting the people he called friends and family even when he didn't intend for them too. Tomorrow, he'd apologize for being bitchy to her. For now, he had only one thing on his min
“Thank you for calling me. I’ll drive him home. The last couple of weeks have been very hard with his wife being in a coma, you know.”Steven could hear Sandra talking to someone. He tried to remember calling her. Had he done that himself or had Tony called her? What time was it? She was looking at him now with something akin to disappointment on her face. Well, he didn't bloody care.“Come on, let's get you home.” She said, as she tried to help him to his feet. Steven chuckled as the both fell back on the leather seat. What was she thinking? That her tiny body could support his weight?“Is something funny, Steven King? You should be ashamed of yourself. You’re drunk. No one's been able to reach you all afternoon. James and Joanna left after breakfast and have been trying to get across to you. Your cell was switched off. And then I get a call that you're wasted in a bar!”“Arghhh. Stop talking in my face.” He mumbled. Her voice was beginning to give him a headache. He wasn't that drun
After Steven got off the call with the 911 operator, he thought about what to do next. He couldn't go home to Marie in this state, knowing that her suffering was caused by him. Nor was he in the mood to face either James or Joanna. He couldn't go to Alden's as that meant endless lectures he wasn't ready for. He knew the only thing likely to get him through the next couple of hours. He turned off his cell phone and drove off. Thirty minutes later, he parked outside Ziggler’s. The tiny, nondescript bar was exactly as he remembered it. He hesitated for a minute before heading in. He had promised James that he wasn't ever coming back here and for over ten years he had kept that promise. But there was no turning back now. A woman was dead because of him, another was in a coma fighting for her life. He needed this, if only for a few minutes. He opened the door, alighted and walked in before he could lose courage. Inside the tiny bar was exactly as he remembered it. How long since he had sat