Chapter 13

**Lily**

“Did you hear?”, Will asked as soon as I entered my office. He got up from his chair and walked over to my office. I shrugged off my coat and started unpacking. “No? What should I have heard?”, I asked him. It was Monday morning, I mean there wasn’t much that could have happened, right?

“Noah is looking terrible.”, Zara said as she joined us in my office, carrying a few cups of coffee. “Did you hear?”, Will asked her. Zara nodded. “Yes, Monica told me. Poor woman, she almost had a heart failure.”, she said. I wasn’t really paying attention to them. “What did she say?”, Will asked Zara curiously. “She mentioned that this guy has been coming to threaten Noah every day last week. I mean, Noah was looking worse by the day, so you could see something was happening. She mentioned that he hit Noah in the face last Thursday, and he came out with a split lip and a black eye. I don’t know what they are fighting about, but it is bad!”, Zara started sharing in hushed tones. “No way! I missed that!”, Will said. “It isn’t even the worst!”, Zara added. Will shut up immediately. “Apparently, this guy stopped by again Friday late. The fight they had was the worst up to that point, and then she heard a gunshot!”, Zara concluded. Will was in shock, and so was I to be honest. Someone shooting a gun in this office?! That can’t be real right?

“Monica said that no one was heard, but there is a bullet hole in the wall behind Noah’s desk now.”, Zara concluded. “Do we know who did this?”, Will asked curiously. “Monica didn’t say, but I saw this guy last week a couple of times. You know, the hot guy that joined us in the elevator? The one with the tattoos? You remember him, right? Lily?”, I looked up. “What?”, I asked, I heard the gunshot, but then I lost focus again. Zara just shook her head. To her it was unimaginable that someone wasn’t fully invested in the office gossip.

“The hot guy in the elevator, with the tattoos?”, she asked again impatiently. I nodded. “Tommaso, you mean?”, I added to be clear. “If you say so.”, Zara said. I guess it wasn’t interesting enough.

I didn’t know what to think anymore. Everything I thought I knew, has been turning out wrong anyways in the past few weeks. So, I better not think about anything anymore. My mom who never hurt a fly turned out to be a criminal laundering and stealing money from someone. I always thought Noah was this safe, decent, somewhat boring guy. Yet he turned out to be involved with some sketchy people. I thought I would have a moral compass when it came to people I trust, yet I somehow seem to trust these sketchy people. And finally, I always believed that I liked safe, decent, and boring. Yet I got excited being intimate in public places with assholes.

Before my meeting, I had only seen Noah in passing. Zara didn’t lie, he was truly looking horrible. His complete demeanor was dark. His body was completely tensed, he walked around hunched forward to avoid any contact with anyone, he had black bags underneath his eyes, so he looked like he hadn’t had any sleep this weekend. Yet every time he caught my gaze, he narrowed his eyes and looked like he wanted to hurt me. His look gave me shivers all over my body, and I averted my eyes as soon as I could. I just had no fricking clue why he seemed to hate me all of a sudden.

My meeting with Noah got delayed until after working hours. Reluctantly, I packed my stuff and walked towards his office. It felt unnerving, the floor was almost empty by now, because most people left to go home already. The automatic lighting in the offices was also not triggered by people anymore, making it dark as well. I don’t know whether he had planned it this late on purpose, but I felt a chill running down my spine. If this was the forebode, it really wasn’t looking good for me.

I knocked on his door because Monica had already left as well. I waited for his response before I entered his office. Because of the gossip, the first thing I looked for was the bullet hole. People were not lying, it was there. They hadn’t even tried to cover it up, and it just added to the unsettling feel that I already had in my stomach.

I looked at him as I was going to sit down, but when he narrowed his eyes and looked at me with a sickening glare, I decided to keep standing. I got the feeling in my gut that I needed to be able to run away.

“I wanted to talk to you about the accounts you flagged.”, he said, without any friendly word to begin with. I just frowned, because I thought this was already dealt with, and we were going to talk about the meeting with Esposito SRL later this week.

“I want you to reverse your actions on the accounts I asked you before.”, he stated calmly, almost emotionless. His behavior confused me, the glare was gone now. It was like he was trying to set aside whatever grudge he suddenly had against me.

“Noah, you know I didn’t make a mistake. Zara and I checked together, and she was going to take it up with you.”, I rambled to explain myself. The topic had me agitated. I knew I was right in this matter. And I wanted to get a ‘You were right’ from him for some stupid reason. I got lost in the argument and forgot that it wasn’t the old Noah in front of me.

“Stop it, Lily. I want you to reverse it.”, he said coldly, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Noah, you can’t be serious about this! They are flagged in accordance with all rules and regulations!”, I said loudly. I started to raise my voice, trying to get Noah to listen to me. I was scared that he was serious, and I was angry at the same time that I wasn’t able to get through to him. I desperately wanted to find the Noah I knew in this person in front of me.

“I don’t care Lily! I want you to do as I say! Reverse it!”, Noah shouted, and I jumped at the loudness of his voice. Noah gets up from his seat and starts walking towards me. I started backing up to keep him out of my personal space. I didn’t want to be intimidated by him.

“What is wrong with you!”, I shouted, even though I tried not to. I heard a little tremor in my voice as well, and I clenched my fist at my side to try to contain my anger. “Don’t be difficult, Lily.”, Noah said. His tone of voice changed, and his glare was back. I saw by his fists and tension in his neck that he was angry, but his voice sounded threatening, and villainous. “No, Noah. I will not break the rules.”, I protested again, but I was scared now. I didn’t recognize this man in front of me. This man that had backed me up against the wall.

“You bitch!”, he shouted, and punched the wall right next to my face. I closed my eyes in terror, and trembled. “Like you have a problem with breaking rules!”, he said menacingly. His hand closed around my throat.

“Noah, please! I don’t know what you are talking about!”, I pleaded. His hand started to squeeze my neck slightly, and I clutched my hands around his, trying to get his hand off. I felt tears forming in my eyes. “Don’t play dumb with me, Lily! Do you really think I would see you accessing database info?”, he sneered. His eyes narrowed. “I can kill your career in a second.”, he said, squeezing further. I continued fighting against his grip on my neck. “I don’t care.”, I whispered with all the breath I could get, in an effort to be brave. “Of course, you do, Lily. Miss perfect breaking the rules and having a criminal mom.”, he almost whispered now, his voice no less threatening. “My mom was not a criminal!”, I breathed out.

“Yes, she was, and so are you now.” It was like something snapped in his body after that. The anger came back tenfold, and the look in his eyes became murderous. The force in his hand was closing off oxygen quickly, and I started seeing black spots already. I struggled as most as I still could to get away from him. My hands clawed at him where I could, but he was so much stronger than I. It felt hopeless, and I felt tears flow down my face.

“You will do as I say from now onwards. Or I will kill your career, and if needed I will kill you!”, he said quietly. There was no teasing or playing around here. He was 100% serious, and no doubt in my mind he would kill me. I nodded, and he let go. I fell down, my legs were not able to support me anymore, and I slumped against the wall.

“Get out of my face!”, he shouted in my ears. I cried, as I stumbled out of his office.

I ran to my office as fast as I could, and I cried. Who was that monster?