Chapter 29 Chapter 28:
Devon:
“What was Arya’s reaction when you said you were the one that gave her the chocolates?” Daphne asks me as we stride out of the elevator, we both pick out of the box of chocolate together, it turns out Daphne knows about all the brands.
Few people greet us while smiling and I nod, tugging at the edge of my tie. “I didn’t tell her.” My voice is simple and Daphne shoots me a very hard glare.
“Why?” she asks, her voice dripping with accusation. At first, Daphne tried to convince me to write a heartfelt note on the box, but I just couldn’t.
I shrug, “I don’t know, Daphne. It’s hard.”
“For someone who commands hundreds of companies abroad, it’s hard for you to tell a woman you sent her chocolates? What’s your deal, Devon?”
It’s just a simple gesture, yet I can’t bring myself to tell her that it was from me.
“I will tell her when we get home.” I say, as we continue down the lobby.
Daphne shakes her head, clearly irritated. “You really should tell her. Don’t try-”
The sound of footsteps approaching us halts her words mid-way. Theo saunters towards us, his eyes gleaming with his smug smirk. “Mr. Brookes, what a fine morning.”
Has he overheard our words? There’s a flash of something in his eyes that I don’t quite like, it makes me stiffen. I don’t like dropping my guard whenever it concerns Theo because I still don’t know to what extent he will go to become the next CEO. Now that Lawrence Jones withdrew from the election, we are only three candidates. When he quit, he said he wanted to pursue something different in life, weird because he has been with Brookes Technology for a very long time.
Before I can respond, I catch a glimpse of Arya walking into the company with her colleague, Wanda, each gripping paper cups of coffee, but I have no doubt that Arya’s own will be pumpkin spice.
“I have to go, they are here to pitch the other part of the proposal to me.” Theo turns on his heels, striding effortlessly to Arya and Wanda, Daphne and I stare at him.
“Hello ladies,” his voice increases an octave. “Arya. I trust you enjoyed the box of chocolates I sent over?”
What? My blood freezes in my veins, How dare he fucking lie?
Arya’s face lit up with a bright, surprised smile, her gray-blue eyes sparkling as she glance at Theo. “Oh, those were from you? Thank you Theo, that was very sweet of you.”
He smiles, basking in her gratitude. Daphne clenches her fist beside me, glaring daggers at him, I know she’s about to march there and accuse him, she’s about to blow.
I hold one hand out, telling her not to do whatever she’s planning to do. “Don’t.”
“Are you just going to sit back and watch him lie to her?” Daphne’s voice, always calm, is dripping high. “That was you! You sent her that chocolate.”
Fuck Theo Duncan, he knows that I wouldn’t be able to do anything, to him. This is all a game to him; he looks towards our side, his eyes gleaming.
“I have to meet with Maryanne’s sister now.” I say quietly, before walking over to their side, Theo might think this is funny to him, but this is barely a reminder that whatever he’s playing at. I am ready to play with him. I tap his shoulders lightly, speaking slowly into his ear. “Game on. Theo Duncan. Game on.” I relish in the shock that washes over his face as I step out of the company, he’s going to regret ever lying.
As I enter the French bistro, I spot Maryanne’s sister at the far end, a light coat draped over her shoulders, a dress peeking underneath. She waves immediately when we lock eyes and I smile gently at her.
“Hello, ma’am.” I say, taking a seat. She already went ahead and ordered two glasses of red wine for us. Maryanne’s sister looks good today; at least she’s smiling brightly at me.
“I prefer if we are formal with each other, please call me Hailey.” She takes her glass and sips gently. “It’s time for me to move on.” She laughs hoarsely, but there’s sadness in her eyes.
“I am sorry,” I say.
She waves her hand, shutting her eyes. “Our parents are dead. I am her only living relative, so all the money goes to me, but I don’t know what to do with millions of dollars, so I am planning to give some away to charity.”
“That’s very kind of you.” It’s a blessing that Hailey is giving some of the money away, maybe this is what Maryanne would have wanted, she would have been so proud to know her money is being used for a good purpose.
“Hailey!” We hear a croaked voice and we both crane our heads to see a woman with gray hair approaching us, another woman in her twenties is walking side by side, guiding her gently by the arm.
The smile on Hailey's face drops immediately.
“Mrs. Kelly, lovely to meet you.” Hailey says sharply.
The woman in her twenties with ginger hair smiles sadly, “Hello, this is my grandmother, she was neighbors with Maryanne. Such a pity what happened to her.”
“Yes, yes.” Mrs. Kelly stretches her bony hands, “It must be very disheartening that you saw Maryanne the night she died, I mean. How could you have known that the moment you left was when she was going to die?”
“What?” I sit up straighter, unsure of what I just heard.
Hailey crumples her face, frowning, “what do you mean?” her voice is much sharper. “I came on the day of the funeral.”
“No, I saw you. You saw me. You told me you were here to see your sister.” Mrs. Kelly insists, shaking her head as if she wants to prove a point.
“Grandma, you were with me that whole night, remember?” Her granddaughter says softly, before turning towards us. “I am so sorry about my grandma, her memory jumps in places a lot and she tends to make up false stories. I was thinking of enrolling her into a retirement home, living alone has not done her any good.”
“I am not making up any false stories!” She shrieks, “I might be old but I know what I damn saw, it was before I came to your house!”
“Grandma, I think you are late on your meds, let’s get you home right now.”
Mrs. Kelly steps back a bit, pointing a finger at her granddaughter, “I know what I am saying.”
“Okay, ok.” Her granddaughter says softly, as if talking to a ten year old, “Let’s get you home right now.” Gently, she grabs her by the arm, turning towards us, she says, “I am so sorry for disturbing you, we just wanted to grab a drink, it’s very clear that she needs to lie down, I will see you both another time.”
We watch as her granddaughter leads Mrs. Kelly away, that was very weird. There’s something strange in the way she kept insisting that she saw Hailey on the night Maryanne died, it feels very impolite to ask if really Hailey was there, so I don’t.
“Old women tend to sputter nonsense a lot.” Hailey says, her voice sharp. She looks up at me without a trace of a smile. “She’s weird; I don’t like her one bit.”
“Okay.” I say calmly.
Her phone on the table lit up with a text, but she hurriedly grasps it before I can take a peek at the sender, her face pales when she stares at her phone. Grabbing her phone, she stands up. “I am really sorry to cut our conversation short, Mr. Brookes, but I have to go right now.”
She does not look sorry to leave at all, but I keep my straight face, “of course, no problem. You are leaving tomorrow, right?”
“Yes.”
“Shall I accompany you to the airport?”
“No,” she stiffly says, “I am alright, good day, Mr. Brookes.” She ambles out of the bistro rather hurriedly, not even sparing me a backwards glance.
\--
Barbara:
Humans are the most evil species.
Greed drives us to do evil things. There aren't good or bad people, people only mistake the bad that they do as good just because they are blinded with either greed or anger. Trust me, I am not greedy, even if I am, I just want power, to rule and to command.
Since little, being in control has always been the thing I have cherished. There’s just something so great about having people kneel at your feet, you feel stronger. You feel like a god playing the people like puppets.
Like right now, with Maryanne’s sister, Hailey seating opposite me, I already feel like a goddess.
We are in a private lounge, I come here anytime I want to make bargains with people, I don’t pay with credit cards so no one can track any transaction here, the damned manager knows that he will be dead if he spits any information out. The place is silent except the ticking of the clock and the sound I make by tapping my feet against the floor.
Picking up a glass of scotch, I take a gentle sip, looking at her pale face through the glass, this is what I like, make them wait. Make them grow impatient, and make them suffer with doubt.
“You asked to meet me?” Her voice is calm, but I can see through her fucking facade. No one can fool me.
I drop the glass back, “Let’s get to the chase, Hailey.” She flinches slightly when I mention her name. “First of all, you are such a goddamn liar, putting in an act for everyone that you and Maryanne are so close. Why don’t you tell them the truth?”
Panic washes over her face and it feels so good to watch her get scared.
“W-what a-re you talking about?” She stammers her way through, grabbing her bag. “I will not stand here and watch you sputter nonsense, Maryanne would have hated this.”
“You killed Meg, Hailey.” As expected, she stiffens a bit, releasing her grip from her bag handle. Sweat breaks out in her forehead, hands trembling like a fish out of the water. I almost want to laugh.
“Words are powerful, to everyone. You sputter a bunch of words trying to shape reality the way you want it, why didn’t you tell them that ever since Meg left for the U.S, you had never spoken with her. You haven’t spoken to your sister for almost twenty years, because the last time she saw you. You were messed up with drugs, mixing with the bad people.”
“How do you know all this?” Her voice trembles, tears gathering at her eyes.
“It doesn’t matter,” I snap angrily. “What matters is that I know what you did.” I take another sip. “One day, after so many years. You show up in her house demanding money, she doesn't want anything to do with you. You both yelled at each other, calling yourselves names. You had a knife, you were very angry and you slit her throat by mistake.” I scoff.
A tear slides down her eyes.
“You were so scared, you had no idea she was going to die, but you were greedy, didn’t want to go to jail. So you dumped her in the bathtub, wiped your fingerprints away from the knife and placed it in her hands, making it look like a smooth suicide.” When I am done, she bursts into fat tears. “Very impressive, Hailey.”
She cries harder, trembling so hard, when she looks up at me. Her eyes are red and puffy, “I didn’t mean to kill her, I swear!”
“She’s dead, whether you didn’t mean to or not. You killed her, Hailey.”
“Please, don’t report me to the cops. I will do anything.” She sobs harder, she doesn’t seem the least bit affected that she killed her own sister but she’s scared of jail? People never cease to amaze me.
“Thankfully, Maryanne was going to die anyway, you just beat me to it. So, thank you. I had my men make it look like a popular mafia organization killed her, so you have nothing to worry about.”
She cleans her face, taken aback. Shock and surprise flashes in her face. “That’s it? You are going to keep this a secret?”
“Of course, you inherited all her money, you are rich now. Just go back to the Philippines like nothing happened. Okay?” She nods her head hurriedly, even though I can still see how scared she is. “Before you leave, I need to know if there’s someone who saw you that night.”
She hesitates for a bit.
“Tell me!” I yell angrily, running out of patience.
“A neighbor of Maryanne’s. She was heading over to her grand-daughter when she saw me; she asked a few questions before leaving. She’s in her eighties and her memory jumps around a lot, they won’t believe her even if she tries.”
“I don’t fucking care, that’s still an evident.” I sigh. “Don’t worry about her; I will take care of her.” I have a way of making deaths seem like an accident.
Hailey’s face shines with a smile, what a fucking coward. She stands and bows. “Thank you so much for everything, Mrs. Brookes. I am indebted to you.”
“Of course, you fucking are.” I say under my breath, low enough for her to hear. When the door shuts and she’s gone, I keep in my smile and dial a number, the person on the other end picks up immediately.
“Hello, Mrs. Brookes?”
“I need you to do something for me. Visit a certain old woman for me and make her fall seem like an accident, like she slipped because she’s old. It happens a lot.”
“Okay, anything else?”
“There’s a certain Hailey leaving for the Philippines tomorrow. Kill her and dump her body in the river, leave no traces behind, make it seem like she’s in the Philippines having the best time of her life.” I have a speciality, making people vanish from the surface of the earth without any trace is actually what I do best.
“How should we kill her?”
I smile widely as the words leave my mouth. “Slit her fucking throat.”