The doctor goes around the table, pointing at scratches and different marks on her body, all of which is now purple."You see these ones in particular?" He asks, pointing at some deeply purple marks on her wrists and legs. The three people in the room nod, looking at the point he's stretching his pointing finger at."Those are the most purple marks you can find on her body, which means that they were major ties. She must have been in some sort of bondage... Also, do you want to be here to see me cut her up?" He looks up at them with hazel eyes."No." They all shake their heads immediately."Then you're going to have to excuse me. It's time for the autopsy. You may choose to wait until this is over so I can maybe brief you or you can wait to hear from the authorities."Ashton puts his hand into his pocket and brings out his business card. He extends it to Doctor Forrest."I can't take it, I have to prepare to surgery but drop it over there, I'll pick it up when I'm done."Ashton nods
Mike sits up in his chair, watching the video on the news with anger and rapt attention. "What the fuck?!" He just watched his own brother, Roger, the one person he cherishes more than himself, get beaten by a masked man on the television.He grabs the telephone on the table and proceeds to press in some numbers and then he has a rethink and drops it. He picks up his own hand phone and dials another number."Hello?""Mr Drumlin, what's the occasion that you're calling me this afternoon?" A male voice climbs into Mike's ears from the other side of the call."Hank, we have to meet." Mike responds clean cut without any pleasantries.The voice on the other side also loses the informal tone and changes abruptly. "Yes sir. Where?""Now, in thirty minutes, let's meet up at X club.""A club? By this time in the afternoon?""Don't ask questions. Meet me there."And he hangs up. Immediately, he stands up from his chair and grabs his coat and car keys. He opens the door of his office and steps o
A slightly robust man is pushed to stand in front of Hank in the next few minutes. Hank stands up and walks behind him before kicking him at the heel, making the manager go down on his knees in pain."Ow..."Hank snickers. "Ow? OW? When your most regular and well paying customer was being beaten with a police bat, there was nothing from you and just a kick in the knee and you're already in pain? Do you know what that son of a bitch used to hit Roger?"The manager just clenches his lips in fear."You won't say anything? Well, to spare you the trouble. He used a police bat... And I'll show you what it feels like, maybe you'll still mutter an ow."A policeman hands Hank a thick black police bat and Hank raises it up in the air. "This is what you get for being a disloyal piece of shit."And for the next five minutes, the man endures the worst beating he has ever gone through for his whole life, and with a police bat.Hank stops and casts aside the broken bat. "Now, to the next stage." He
"Hello?""Good morning Mr Wright. It's Doctor Forrest and I have the results of the autopsy for you." He says through the receiver while exiting work.Ashton nods. "Of course. How about we meet at my workplace?""Alright. I'll be there in twenty."It's been twenty four hours since they saw Tiara's body on the autopsy table and the doctor has reached out to Ashton to give him exclusive details on what's going on and what really happened.Ashton dials Ivy's number and gives her the update while she's also at work, shuffling her workplace and visiting her mum in the hospital and then going home.Thankfully, the doctors have given them a specific date when Veronica will be discharged and sent back home. So it will be much less work for Ivy by then because she's been doing a lot lately, trying to cope with everything.Her company and bringing back up to par after it was closed for quite a while, to make her family know she'll always be there for them and still have time for Ashton as well,
There's a slight knock at the door."Please come in." Ashton responds as he rises off his office chair and ushers Doctor Forrest into a chair. "I hope it wasn't hard finding this place?"Forrest shakes his heaf curtly and smiles. "Not at all. The GPS was my lifesaver so it wasn't hard getting here at all. It's a nice building you have here."Ashton smiles. "Didn't take you for a sweet talker."Forrest laughs lightly, taking off his glasses and wiping them. "I'm a young man, I have many prospects. I have to get close to the right people."Ashton nods understandingly. "Tea, coffee or juice?""Fruit juice please. I cut bodies open, I don't think I can handle coffee seeing how much it damages their internal organs and I just hate tea. So fruit juice please."Ashton presses the button on his table and speaks into it. "Two glasses of fruit juice please.""So, why did you choose to be a doctor who autopsies for a living?"Forrest laughs. "We don't study to become autopsy doctors. Just like o
"Do you recognize this lady?""Have you seen her before?""Have you picked up a lady that looks like this before? Probably around a week plus ago?"Ivy sighs as she watches the men ask their fellow taxi drivers as she also goes around asking some of them as well. "Have you seen her before?""Sorry, I haven't."All of the answers have being negative but they have continued with rows and rows of Camry taxis.Why the hell did she think it was going to be easy at first? Camry taxis sounded somehow scarce so she never toyed with the fact that they were going to be so much, although, lucky for her, they are all around for their lunch break so she won't have to come back another time."Have you seen this lady before?""Yes. I recognize her."Ivy's ears snap up in the direction of the affirmative response and she walks fast through over there. "Excuse me please." As she gets there, she stands in front of the man who gave the positive response. "You recognize her?"He nods. "Very well. When I
"So there's an accomplice in this case..." Ashton mutters, taking a big drink out of his glass.Forrest nods. "Anyway, I have done my part. It's a pity she died though. How was she related to you all?""She was my ex fiancee, don't worry, I was the one who called the marriage off. And to my wife, she was her enemy and to Liam, she was a colleague. She managed to get under each and every one's skin."Doctor Forrest chuckles. "Not nice to speak ill of the dead but I understand what you mean. It's sad to say but she probably got under someone's skin and that person did this to her. Although it was probably an accident and then panic dumped her where she really died." Forrest finishes his drink and stands up, clearing his throat gently.Ashton stands up as well. "You've been an enormous help Doctor Forrest.""Please just call me Kyle and it is my pleasure to have being a help so such a person as yourself."Ashton grins. "Still the lobbyist I see."Kyle shrugs and laughs. "I can't seem to
Richard suddenly has a flashback. He had seen Arielle at the club that night and remembered speaking to her but about what, he doesn't remember. How had he paid for his drinks?How had he woken up in that motel?There must have been someone else there who can tell him everything or at least, some fragments of what really happened that night. Without following her gaze that's fixed on something behind him, he knows she staring at the money on the table.Richard keeps on fidgeting and asking himself the same question over and over again. Did I tell Arielle he had two billion dollars?Because if he did, he needs to repair his door soon, and very very soon so he grabs his phone right in her presence and calls the company that repaired it for him in previous times and makes an appointment for the next one hour.She can't possibly get anything done within the next hour.While on Arielle's end, she's still furiously thinking on how she will lay her hands on that money and get the hell out
"Calm down, she'll be fine." "How can I be calm when I can hear her screaming her lungs out here!" Ashton half yells at Grant and then composes himself. "Sorry but I can't help feeling like this when her screams seem to be pushing at my heart right now." Grant smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine." In a little bit, the agonizing screams stop and there's calm. Ashton springs to his feet the third time in a minute. A nurse comes out. "She delivered safely. It's a baby girl. She's been dressed now. You can..." She hears her name being called again and goes back inside, not finishing her sentence and the look she gave to Ashton makes him three times more scared. Ivy is in the labour room, her contractions had suddenly started while on a road trip so Ashton had drove like his life depended on it. Well, maybe because his wife's life depended on it and so did his. The baby had come two weeks earlier than the date she's supposed to arrive which has got all of them
She hugs him gently on the bed and presses a blue button above his head.In about a minute, the doctor with his levy of nurses open the door and come inside. Ivy leaves them to it and steps out for the moment. As soon as she steps out, everyone crowds around her."What's wrong?""Why are the doctors rushing in like that?"Ivy smiles and motions them to calm down. "He woke up just now. I called the doctors for their routine check. We may be able to see him after his checkup."They all sigh in relief and some even hug in relief.She waits with them outside and after a little while, the doctors and nurses finally come out of the room."He's fine now. You all can go in to see him."Without waiting for any other confirmation of any sort, they all push past them like the really big family they are portraying and go inside the room, Ivy goes in last but Veronica gives her the chair so she won't stay standing, tired because of the life growing in her belly.At first, there's nothing but then
The next three hours is a flurry of activities as their families begins to troop in, Grant joining them at a point."Where is he?" Judith asks as soon as she arrives, talking Ivy's in his."They just wheeled him out of the surgery room. I was told to wait outside while they set him up or something."Judith nods. "Oh thank goodness. How did you find him?"She glances at Grant who shrugs right back at her. "I had help from a police officer. He helped me locate him.""Don't tell me it was that one on the news?" Veronica chips in as she comes by, coming into the discussion."Yes, it was him. He just wanted Trust Financials as a reward but I knew he was going to betray me anyway so I didn't really give him.""But the news didn't say you were there?" Judith quips this time."Well, I left there with Ashton and came to the hospital so I wasn't really there. Just popped in and out." She smiles, turning slightly red as she covers one lie with another.Grant laughs and then quickly masks it with
"Grant! Watch out!" Ivy yells as she grabs the gun laying closest to her.Grant whips around and stares right into the barrel of a Beretta '94 that had been left behind by one of Mike's own men.Mike chuckles painfully. He glances momentarily at Ivy who's fiddling with the gun in her hand and scoffs. "You can't even handle it, how can you use it?" He takes his eyes off of her and focuses it on Grant. "So you killed my little brother because he raised the gun at you first? Why am I not dead yet?"Grant rolls his eyes. "Is this one of those villain long talks? I'm sick of them, come on. Just drop the gun and accept your fate. Is that so hard? You lost the fight. Well, leave then." Grant mutters disinterestedly even though he's looking right at a loaded gun.Mike shakes his head. "A fight isn't over until it's really over. Do you know why I took that man? Her husband? After she passed out, I was determined to make him a widower who lost his baby by not letting her to go the hospital on t
Recovering from the gunshot and sudden appearance of Grant, Ivy runs for Ashton's who's very weak and his pulse is irregular. She looks around and her eyes land on a bunch of keys on one of Mike's men's trousers.He smirks at her when he sees her eyeing the keys. "Come get them darling."There's a second gunshot and a glaring hole appears right in the middle of his forehead and he falls to the ground. Wordlessly, Ivy runs for his body and removes the key. Mike's men all flee seeing that one dead. They all drop their weapons and run away, leaving Hank and Mike.The fact that her brother just murdered someone doesn't count at in the current circumstances. She loses the chains that he's been tied down with and he falls limply down into her arms. She holds him up with her strength, not letting him hit the ground, the same way he had cushioned her head that night Mike had hit her in the stomach.He moves ever so slightly and his hand come to rest on her legs before he closes his eyes, a ve
True to his words, Hank calls her in thirty minutes. Reminding her that she has thirty minutes to get there. "Where am I meet you?" She asks him on the call."Grey Street Garage..."She immediately springs up from her chair, grabs all the documents from the table and hisses, remembering that place. She had been locked in a warehouse on the same compound for two nights. She inhales sharply and she's sure she's ready to go there.Not like she has a choice anyway.Anita sees her breeze right by but she doesn't say anything, guessing it's about the call that brought back her appetite momentarily. She sighs, wishing her boss well. If everyone in the whole wide world has to go through such thing, she'd never wish it on Ivy. She's basically the best boss she's ever had.The best of the best.Which is why she wishes her luck silently as the elevator doors close with Ivy inside.As soon as she's on the ground floor, she dashes for her car, checking the time every few seconds. It takes about t
The first day went by...So does the second.On the third day, it has Ivy in a bind, pacing in her office.Anita comes in with a plate of vegetable salad and mashed potatoes, and steak in another plate along with another takeout cheeseburger and fries, even chicken nuggets as well, hoping she would eat one of the many dishes.She hardly acknowledges her entrance as she sets all of them down on the table and looks at Ivy as she paces around her table, her eyes not leaving her phone.Even Anita has no idea what she's waiting for but it seems to have so much importance to her so she can't interfere but she can eat while waiting... Right?"Ma'am, you won't eat lunch again? This is the third day you're skipping your breakfast and lunch."Nobody knows about the baby except her family, his family and himself.She looks askance at Anita and then looks away again. "I'm fine. I ate a lot last night.""Really? I was the one who threw the dishes away this morning."Anita has been the one bringing
"Ma'am!" The officer yells as he bangs his palms flatly on the table. "This place is no joking area. There are conclusive evidence against you, all of this interrogations are simply formalities! Do you accept the fact that you did kill Tiara or not?"Yale scoffs. "Technically, Richard killed her not me."In the interrogation room directly upstairs, Richard scoffs. "That bitch said so? She's just trying to shift blames. She was the one who absolutely killed Tiara. As Ivy said in the press conference, I only aided and abetted. I am well aware of that and I am not denying it. But I really didn't kill Tiara."Downstairs. "He aided and abetted? That rat. He was the one who dragged her body to the car and suggested we dump her in the ocean!"Upstairs. "That whore. She said I suggested it? She hit Tiara over the head and make her pass out which I totally witnessed. Then we thought she had died. Thinking of it now, she had not even seemed any scared at all, she just said we should throw the b
A murmur ripples through the whole crowd.Time seems to stand still.The point exactly was that nobody was expecting that was what she had come to say. Nobody, not even Anita who plugs in the flash drive and the presentation begins.Almost soulless and robot-like, Ivy turns around to the projector behind her that has a picture of cars. Not very specific car but a lot of them.Then she begins her presentation, using the laser pointer to point at the things that matter. "We all know Tiara died and her body had been fished out of the sea. Well, she didn't drown, she was murdered so that means she had been carried or somehow transported to where her body had been dumped. There are things called dash cams..." She uses the laser to point just as the image changes into a car's close up view.There is a small device with a blinking red light and she points to it. "That's called a dash cam and not every car has it but every two of five does. Which is why, from the place she had been killed, I