"May I know the reason you were crying though?" Clara asked concerned. "Oh, don't worry about it, it is nothing too serious." Lila said brushing it off. Clara shrugged, "If you say so. Come on let's get you inside." Clara told her stretching out her hand to help Lila out of the car. Lila took her hand and they walked into the house.
*****
Jonah stirred, his body warm against Elliot’s. He opened his eyes to find Elliot’s face inches from his, a soft smile playing on his lips. For the second morning in a row, they had woken in each other’s arms, a small comfort in the midst of chaos. The memory of their passionate encounter from the night before brought a blush to Jonah’s cheeks.
“Good morning love." Elliot whispered, his voice husky with sleep.
"Morning, babe” Jonah replied, his voice equally soft. They lay there in comfortable silence for about half an hour.
"We have to do this,” Elliot said, breaking the silence. “We will get the money, drop it off, and then we would figure out how to catch this bastard.”
"What is the assurance that we will catch him before he destroys us?" Jonah asked .
“Shhhhh, we will get through this, we'll catch him one way or another." Elliot reassured Jonah. They rose from the bed. They showered, dressed, and got ready for the day.
"One million dollars,” Jonah muttered, shaking his head. “This is insane.”
"We’ll get it,” Elliot reassured him. “I will transfer it from my account. We would make this drop, and then we’ll find a way to end this.” They drove to the bank in silence parking at the back. Elliot entered to withdraw the money, the bank manager followed Elliot out, some other staff loading boxes of dollar bills into the trunk of their car. Elliot and Jonah stood watching them with grim looks on their faces.
They arrived at the post office, the familiar sadness returning. Jonah entered ignoring the teenager again and walked straight walked to the P.O. box, his hands shaking slightly as he tried to move with the three heavy boxes stacked in his hands. He deposited the money, trying to force the three boxes to fit. They eventually did but the box could not lock properly anymore. Elliot watched from a distance, his heart aching for Jonah.
Jonah sighed, tired with this whole charade as he walked back out to meet Elliot tossing the key at the teenager, "I could not lock it." Jonah muttered to the teenager. “Back again?” he drawled, his eyes flickering between Jonah and Elliot. “Making another big drop?”
Elliot could not help but be amused by the teenager "Just mind your own business, kid, adult stuff." He said, his voice laced with a hint of amusement trying to be serious. The teenager ignored Elliot and turned to face Jonah.
"Who is your friend?" He asked.
"Didn't you hear him?" Jonah asked referring to what Elliot said. "Mind your business." Jonah told him. "Whoa, you have been grumpy recently and I am just trying to lighten the mood. Not that you weren't grumpy before, it's just worse now. You get me?" The teenager said trying to defend himself.
"Well it is clearly not working." Jonah said turning to grab Elliot's hand and leave. The teenager turned squinting his eyes at Elliot.
"You look familiar." He said pointing to him. "I remember now, you are that rich guy that people lied and said you were gay and you were dating..." The teenager said in a loud voice of excitement. Elliot swallowed as he tried to calm the teenager down. He turned to Jonah his fingers still pointing, his eyes wide as a light bulb went off in his head.
"You!" He exclaimed. "Yep, they said you guys were dating." He added. Elliot cleared his throat trying to do some form of damage control, "Obviously those rumors have been long debunked, we are just good friends and business partners."
Jonah, however, was in no mood for games. “We need to speak to your uncle." He said, his voice firm. “The manager.” The teenager shrugged. “He is not here right now. He has got some personal stuff to deal with.”
"Any ideas on when he would be back?” Jonah asked, his patience wearing thin.
"I do not know,” the teenager replied, his smirk widening. “Maybe never.” Jonah’s frustration boiled over.
"Listen, we need to talk to him. This is important.”
"Yeah, yeah, whatever although he seemed pretty pissed the last time you spoke to him sooo I do not know how that is going to workout for you.” the teenager said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand. They left the post office.
"Everybody is starting to seem guilty Elliot, I do not know who to blame or who to trust,” Jonah said, his voice heavy with disappointment. Elliot comforted him with his hand on Jonah's shoulders.
They returned to the car, “We most definitely will figure this out,” Elliot said. “I promise.” Jonah nodded, his eyes filled with a mixture of gratitude and despair. “I hope so,” he whispered. "But you were being pretty mean to the teenager today." Elliot said a light smile painting his face as he recalled the scene in the post office.
"I just didn't have time for his jokes today." Jonah said. "But you could have entertained him and probably even gotten a laugh out of it." Elliot said. "Maybe but I just wasn't in the mood." Jonah said scoffing. Elliot maintained his silence. They drove back to Elliot’s house, the somber mood hanging over them. As they entered the house, Jonah’s phone rang. It was the blackmailer. “Well, well, well,” the voice said, its tone laced with happiness.
"You have been busy. But you are not done yet.”
"What is that supposed to mean, you already have you what you want. Just leave us alone." Jonah said anger visible in his voice.
"Aren't you tired of the same script and back and forth each time I call you?" The blackmailer said nearly laughing. “What do you want now?” Jonah asked, his voice trembling with anger. “Ten million dollars,” the blackmailer replied, his voice cold. “And you have twenty four hours.” “Ten million? That’s outrageous!” Jonah exclaimed, his voice rising in panic.
"For you, Yes. But for your billionaire boyfriend I am sure that would not be a problem." The blackmailer said. "You are not getting any penny from us ever again and you'll rot in jail." Jonah said.
"You’ll find a way. Or… you know what happens.” The line went dead, leaving Jonah and Elliot staring at the phone in disbelief.