Chapter 21 Chapter 20:
Devon:
“When do we leave?” I ask Daphne as we leave my office.
She checks her tablet, “In the next thirty minutes, sir.” She replies.
Travelling has always been my job, and this meeting that I am booking with a Canadian company is important for my re-election as CEO. Theo Duncan has been acting strange lately, meeting and drinking tea with the board members, in his eyes, he could easily climb up the rank by rubbing head with those at the top.
My biggest important deal is with Jenna Harper of AuroraDigital. As I heard, she’s quite difficult to please. However, the thought of leaving for two weeks without seeing Vera consumes me. For the first time in my life, I don’t want to leave.
I push away the thoughts, before fixing the button of my suit. We come out of the company; the cool evening air hitting me in all the right places, a figure is leaning against her car parked in the curb, phone resting in her hand.
We cross eyes and she gives me a thin, tight-lipped smile, approaching us. She smiles. “Mr. Brookes. Leaving earlier than usual?” She asks.
Her hair-once deep chestnut is now streaked with silver strands, pulled up into a thin bun that does nothing to soften her features. A woman in her early fifties, wearing a navy suit that hugs her lean frame, her eyes, always cold and calculating, looks at me.
“Yes, Miss. Anderson, I have a flight to catch.” I say, not breaking eye contact. This is Maryanne Anderson, also running for the CEO position. One of my biggest competitors.
“Very well, then.” She replies stiffly, “I will leave you to it.” She enters her blue jeep and drives away. My phone rings from my suit pocket and I pick it up.
“Hello?” I say, “All calls relating to company matters are directed to my assistant.”
“Sorry, sir, but I am trying to get through Mr. Devon Brookes.” The voice says, “It has to do with Miss. Morris; you were listed in her emergency contact,”
I straighten up. “What happened to her?”
“We need you at the hospital; I will send you the address.” The call disconnects and everything turns blurry, stumbling to my car, I swear under my breath as I try to open the door, but it just won’t budge.
The blood rushing into my ears blocks whatever Daphne is saying behind me, the only thing I can say is. “Postpone the meeting; tell them we can’t meet today.” And, I am in my car, driving off as fast as I can.
I push through the door of the hospital, stepping into the lobby, the smell of syringes fill my lungs and the bright fluorescent light adds to the panic clawing deep into my chest. Sighting a nearby nurse, I walk over to her. “Where’s Arya?”
“You must be Mr. Brookes, please follow me.” she softens her voice, when we reach the door, I push it open, stepping into the ward, Arya lays on the bed, her eyes shut tight, her face pale. Seeing her like this brings a punch to my gut.
The doctor enters, a middle aged man with graying hair. “You must be Mr. Brookes.”
“What happened to her?” I ask in anger.
“An ambulance was called from the mall; apparently she fell from the escalator.” The doctor goes on to ramble on how it was an accident, but the constant thrumming of my heart doesn’t let me breathe.
“An accident?” I force myself to look at him.
“Yes, very unfortunate, we have run some tests and she’s stable now, but she will be on bed rest for some days.”
An accident? People don’t just accidentally fall down from escalators, not Arya- she isn’t careless, especially not in a place like that.
No, this isn’t an accident, my mind tells me. This isn’t something I can ignore. When the doctor leaves, I sit at the edge of the bed and bring out my phone, before bringing it near my ear.
“Hello, Leto.” I say, keeping my voice low. “I need you to do something for me.”
“Name it,” she replies, her voice all business.
“Arya fell at the mall; I will get the address and send it to you. I need both you and Xavier to get me the security footage of when she fell from every angle, whether someone pushed her, who was behind her, or if there’s something we are missing.”
“We are on it, I will tell you what we find,” the call ends.
Despite the assurance, I still feel anger shimmering inside me. Someone’s trying to mess with her and whether it is ‘accidental’ or not, they are going to pay for this.
This doesn’t strike as an accident, as I look at Arya’s pale body on the sheets, my jaw hardens with annoyance.
“Nobody will hurt you anymore, as long as I am here.” I tell her, brushing a dark strand of hair behind her ears.
\--
Arya was discharged the next day; she’s resting in her bedroom. I come home early to take care of her, even when she tells me she’s okay. Today when I return from work, I give Vera a kiss on the forehead. She’s intently focused on the cartoon playing on the television, babbling on whatever they are saying.
I smile, moving my gaze towards the stairs, Arya is probably asleep, the painkillers and exhaustion must have worn her out. I make myself an American espresso, hands in my pocket as I stare out the window.
After taking a sip, I walk upstairs to Arya’s room. I don’t even know why I am lingering but I do. She’s sleeping peacefully, her jet black strands coiled around the pillow. She seems relaxed, her delicate features sending a course of warmth through me.
How can someone be so calm while sleeping? For the first time in a very long time, I feel something close to peace, just by standing beside her. I move closer, careful not to disturb her as I walk over to her table.
On the table, beside a stack of papers is a notebook, curiosity gets the best of me as I flip it open, staring at the pages. They are drawings of clothing designs; my brows lift in amusement as I flip another page, seeing another drawing.
“What are you doing?” I whip my head to find Arya standing there, her voice heavy with sleep; she pulls the baggy clothes tighter across her body, staring intently at me.
I place her notebook back on the table, “you drew this?”
“Yes.” She replies, heat creeping up to her face.
“It’s amazing.” I say without blinking, “you draw good stuff.”
“Really?” She smiles shyly, and gosh. She’s beautiful. I am taken aback, with the way she blinks her lashes at me, jet-black hair falling over her shoulders. “You think I am good?”
“Why don’t you start your own line?” I ask, and she widens her eyes.
“You are kidding, right? Starting my own line requires money and connection, which I don’t have, you wanna sponsor me?” She blinks those lashes again and I hold my breath, I can’t just look away, whether it’s that smile or that blush, it’s alarming because I am losing control.
I do not lose control, so why now? Over a smile?
“I don’t mind sponsoring you.” I keep a straight face.
Terror strikes her face and she blinks, “what? No, come on, Devon. I was just joking.”
“Oh.” I sputter, looking around. “Do you joke around a lot?”
“Yes, yes.” She nods her head, making to move forward but her step falters and she’s falling, without thinking, I wrap my arms around her body, a steady gasp comes out of her parted lips as she holds on to my shoulders, her heart beating rapidly against my chest.
“It’s okay, I have got you.” I reply breathlessly, steadying her. Her arm brushes against my elbow and something sharp rushes up my body. “You need to rest, Arya,”
“Yes, I will, uh...Thanks for catching me.” She says, heat creeping up cheeks.
The doorbell rings, jolting us both. That must be Xavier and Leto, they are supposed to come today and give me information on whoever tried to push Arya down the escalator.
I reach for the door, “I will leave now, please rest.”
She sits on the bed, “Have Vera used her drugs?”
I nod my head, coming out of the room. The moment I open the door, Leto grins at me and Xavier just pushes himself into my house.
“Your house needs an upgrade, it seems really dull.” Leto flops on the chair, hauling her backpack onto her lap, she pulls out her laptop meanwhile Xavier walks over to my bookshelf.
“Dude, why do you have so many textbooks here?” He furrows his brow and I sigh, inviting Xavier and Leto to my house now seems like a really bad idea. Meeting at Imperial Restaurant or Golden Retreat would have been better, but I need to watch after Vera.
“You both better not have any guns, because if my daughter sees you right now with that thing. I am walking you out of my house, also no swear words, she’s still in the middle of developing words and I don’t want her picking up any swear words.”
Leto rolls her eyes, powering up her laptop. She’s an ethical hacker.
Right on cue, Vera stumbles into the living room, her dark brown hair in pigtails. I pick her up from the ground and place her on the couch.
“Fuck, she’s so damned cute.” Xavier says, walking over to our side. I shoot him a hard glare, telling him to back off. Leto shifts closer, making what I assume to be weird baby faces.
“Call me Auntie Leto.” Leto holds her tiny fingers.
My daughter giggles, “Leto!” Though it pretty much sounds like lettuce.
“No, not lettuce.” Leto sounds frustrated already. “L-e-t-o.”
Vera ignores her, using her tiny hands to jump off the couch, before walking towards the open kitchen. Leto blinks, acting offended while Xavier looks on bored.
“You don’t have beer in here?” He asks, slumping on the armchair. “Seriously, nothing?”
I divert my attention to Leto who’s looking at the screen, Xavier and I join her at the sofa, she looks at me strangely, “okay, so Xavier and I worked our butt of for this, the security guy was a bit of a challenge, so Xavier knocked him out while I got the footage.” She hits play and I stare intently at the screen.
Thankfully, it’s cut out to the part of the escalator where Arya’s clutching a bag of what I assume to be medication for Vera, sweat gathers on her forehead as she wipes her hand against her cloth, I concentrate harder, and then I see him, all black beside Arya, even from the screen, I can sense the tension, the humping of her shoulders.
She’s uncomfortable around him.
Finally, his elbows brush against her, before shoving her aside. In anybody’s eyes, it would have seemed like an accident, oh look. He accidentally shoved her to the floor. But to me, that’s not an accident, that guy pushed her off the escalator.
“It’s him.” I clench my jaw hard, frowning. “He’s the one who pushed her.”
“Look at this.” Leto clicks the keyboard, making the security footage disappear and another screen appears, it’s the same man again, dressed in all black, even with a black baseball cap. He is wandering around the mall, clearly in search of something. He even had the guts to stalk her around.
I harden my knuckles to the point where they turn bright red, Xavier sees my outburst and sighs.
“Devon, you have to calm down. The first rule is to not show your anger.”
“What now?” I ask, looking at them. “I want all information about him.” They might not know this yet, but I am going to make him pay for what he did to Arya.
“We also found something else.” Crossing her leg, she pauses the video and zooms closer to the side of his neck, there’s a tattoo of a viper snake right at the base.
“What does it mean?” I look at Xavier; it means something for them to show it to me.
“It’s a symbol of a mafia organization, the silver vipers. The mafia group is our rival.” Xavier explains, furrowing his brows. “Devon, if someone from that group is targeting Arya to kill her. Then, this is bad, and no, we can’t just get information on a rival’s member, it doesn’t work that way.”
“I don’t care whether that’s not how it works.” My voice remains calm despite the rage burning inside me. “I want to know why he pushed Arya down that escalator. Is that understood?”
Leto frowns, almost as if she wants to argue with me, but then she nods her head. “Understood.”