by Anna Collins
"What's going on guys?" I asked with my eyes spinning wide. They had turned the living room into a casino. Rick, Danny, and Kate were sitting around the beige coffee table and were playing cards.
Well, Rick and Danny could do that, but the presence of Kate with them shocked me. My so called sophisticated and uptight friend was sitting in her shorts and Tee and was sipping beer with the guys whom she considered to be a menace to the society.
"Hey, Freya! We were just playing poker" Danny reached up to me and greeted me with a hug. This big guy, when I hugged him I felt like I was hugging a teddy bear.
"Kate, what are you doing with them?" I asked curiously.
"Chill Freya, it's a Sunday morning. I am cutting loose and enjoying the holiday. And about accepting them in our place; girl, when I can accept your silly game with that devil Robert Hudson then these two should be called angels" Kate smiled.
Rick and Danny laughed and hi-fived.
"Why don't you join us" Kate proposed, gesturing me to sit near her.
"Ya sis, join us. Kate is losing the game of poker too" Rick stick out a tongue to her that was followed by an angry growl from Kate.
"Don't tell me it's strip poker! Because I'm willing to risk my money, not my eyesight" I said alarmingly and took a seat next to Kate.
Kate raised an eyebrow "Oh I see, and then whose nude body will strengthen your eyesight? Robert Hudson's? Miss girlfriend?" she pinched me.
"Ouch. Ahh, Ahh don't talk about his hot ripped off body" I blinked.
Kate shook her head "well at least, you get to use him. I so envy you" she pouted.
"Trust me, this is the only perk I'm getting out of this and after all I have been through, I deserve this much at least" I frowned.
"Aww, my poor kid" Kate placed my head on her shoulder.
Danny cleared his throat "can we lose the perkiness? Come on girls, let's continue the game. Let's play doubles, Kate and Freya on side and me and Rick at the other. Okay?" he asked.
"Fine" I and Kate answered in unison.
"I guess we will have to wrap, all our chips are finished" I frowned.
Kate squealed with an annoyed face "not done! Definitely, they are cheating!"
Danny and Rick were constantly booing us, it hit our girl pride.
"Freya, do you have something to bet on. I am sure we have the right cards to win this time! She whispered showing me a pack of Jacks.
"They look a bit tensed, which means they don't have much, but I don't have anything. " I spoke in her ear.
"Damn! I need to recover my money" Kate frowned.
Then she scanned me "hey cool jacket, check if you have kept some money in it and forgot it. You do it all the time, remember last time we got a 100 dollar bill from a trouser that you were about to throw away?" she asked.
How could I tell her that the jacket was brand new and I had just entered here from the Hudson Mansion. It felt awkward to tell them that my boyfriend had gifted it to me. I had never done the show-off thingy before.
"Hey, what's with the nervous look? Don't worry, let me check the pockets once" she said and started to roam her hands around my jacket.
"Look, Rick, poor girls, they don't have anything to bet on" Danny mocked.
I showed him my tongue. Poor Kate, she was still searching, she was not even going to get a penny from it. I did not carry any money with me, Robert's driver dropped me home.
"Frey, look what I found. Gosh, I had no idea you owned something like this" she said holding out a ring to me that she had just taken out from one of the pockets of my jacket. Kate was eyeing the ring and I thought I saw a hint of greed in her olive green eyes.
I snatched it away from her. The ring surely was a work of art. It looked like it was made with real gold and had an ancient vintage flower pattern all over it. The center contained a tear shaped navy blue sparkly stone, which I guessed was Sapphire. The stone was enclosed with a thin gold ribbon at its sides.
"Wow" escaped my mouth as I examined it. Enchanting was the right word to describe the beauty of that piece of jewelry.
When I looked at the blue center, it kind of looked like a deep blue see to me. I concluded that it was an antique item, they did not make such masterpieces nowadays. Maybe it was from the 18th century; I had no idea why the ring was alluring me so much. It was almost hypnotizing me.
"Freya! From when did you become so secretive? You didn’t even care to show it to me after buying it" Kate's complaining voice brought me back from the ocean where the ring had taken me.
"You idiot. Do you think I can afford such an expensive thing?" I blurted out in an annoyed tone.
"Let me see it," said Rick, taking the ring from my hand. He continued "bro, this looks super expensive; I don't think anyone of us can buy it" He exclaimed.
"Yes, but Robert Hudson surely can" Danny pointed out while snatching the ring from Rick.
"No, he didn’t give it to me. In fact, I have no idea how this thing got into my pocket" I pouted.
"Wait...you were with Robert and you were not wearing this jacket last night when you went down to meet him" Danny pointed.
"Yes, Robert gave me this jacket," I said hesitantly.
"Ahhh then it's one of the shenanigans of Mr. Hudson.
Knowing the fact that you would have turned it down if he had presented it personally, he, very cleverly slipped it into this jacket and gave it to you. Lucky Bitch, my boyfriend would never gift me something like this" Kate flopped her face.
"That's the only logical explanation," said Danny as he walked up to me and handed me the ring.
"But...I...No! This is not correct. I can't accept it. I will return this" I announced and stormed inside.
Robert Hudson, you monster! How dare you gift me this...beautiful ring that I am loving so much. I frowned, sitting near the window. I was still holding the ring between my thumb and index finger. I was not a greedy person, but there was something about this ring, it was making me want it. Robert Hudson was going to hear a mouthful from me, for doing this to me! That sexy, edible bastard. I bit my lip as his thought crossed my mind. It was something special about him, the way he looked at me, the way he kissed me and the way he sucked my vaginal lips last night. Ufff, I so wanted to fuck him right now.
Calm down Freya! I said to myself while holding my heaving chest. Then looked at the ring, I never knew my monster could do such a romantic act. I called Robert on his personal number, the number which he had given to me and said that I could call whenever I wanted.
But why the hell was it switched off? Ahhh the battery must have drained out. I left a voice message "Mr. Hudson / Monster whenever you get this message you better call me. And I am so not forgiving you for this cheap act of yours" and I ended the voice message.
"It's decided; you are going back to him," I said to the ring. Then I don't know what happened, the ring was luring me to slip it on my fingers. "At least until the time it's with me, I can wear it," I said and slipped the ring on my index finger and it was a perfect fit. It looked like the ring was made to fit my finger.
Robert
"1, 2, 3, 4...Four months? Is this a lowly cheap ass company? Tell me am I paying to a bunch of dumb-headed idiots?" I chided at the warehouse manager.
"Sir, we are sorry but we tried our best to track down the missing boxes..but..." Eliot Gardener, the middle-aged blonde headed man was stuttering during his speech.
"But you failed. 30% of the boxes have been going missing, it's not a joke. Do you have any idea that this incapability of yours can ruin our hard earned reputation? And not to mention the loss that the company has been suffering?" I yelled, clenching my fists resisting my instinct to fly a punch right across his freckled white mouth.
I took few deep breaths, no I must dissolve my animal instincts. It's a moment of crisis and it should be handled calmly.
"Listen, send me the detailed reports, I will go over them. As you guys are totally impotent, its time that I take the matters into my own hands. Now
disperse, before I do something that I will have to pretend to regret" I declared, pushing away the file that he had brought.
"I will send the reports right away. I'm ..."
"Just Leave!" I barked.
He was sweating uncontrollably when he picked up the scattered pieces of paper and got out as soon as he could.
I punched the table in frustration "Who the hell is daring to steal from my company? I will find him and make him pay for his betrayal."
I called up to the reception "Riley, ask uncle Joe to come and see me right now."
After a while, Uncle entered into my office he was wearing a cool and composed smile on his face and that was enough to piss me off.
"Hey son, how are you doing?" he took a seat opposite me.
After checking me out "you look disturbed. Your face is gloomy like the brown colored waistcoat you are wearing. Be cheerful like the blue color of your shirt" he said in a poetic way.
Till now his nonsense bunch of words had given me a bad case of twitchy palm. "How could you let this happen?" I demanded.
"I don't understand, calm down son, what are you talking about?" he asked.
"You know that I can't tolerate any mistakes. You are man in- charge of the activities of our warehouses, how could you not realize that 30% of those export boxes were being stolen?" I asked.
"Son...I knew it and was trying to figure out a way to catch the thief" he replied nervously.
"Mr. Joseph Hudson I cannot run my company on your failed attempts. I am not a loser. You know what, you just keep trying, I will get it done on my own" I stated rigidly.
"Robert, please don't be angry" he requested.
"Thanks for your time, you may leave," I said turning away. The fact he was my father's cousin, had bounded my hands, if he was my regular employee I would have fired him long ago.
"Well I hope you get hold of the wrongdoer" and then I heard him going away.
"What do you mean that the CCTV cameras are damaged? I paid a lot of money to install and maintain them" I stormed on the surveillance guy. Jeez! was it even for real? my whole system had turned upside down. The boxes went missing, the tracking system had gone out of order and now these cams. Fucking Hell! I should not have trusted uncle Joe with this. He did not pay attention to all these and now every freaking thing was a complete mess. I had my word with the delivery guys and the truck drivers and as expected they were clueless about the whole thing. I was doing useless things, there was no way a thief would confess on its own unless I trapped him with a well-constructed move. I thought to myself.
Elliot brought me a cup of coffee as I went through the delivery reports in the warehouse manager's office. "Sir, I am extremely sorry," he said in a barely audible voice.
A part of me wanted to yell at him but the other part managed to calm me down as Freya's words produced a ring inside my head "Why do you hate people so much? Instead of making them suffer you can easily kill them that will make it easier for them."
She really thought that I could kill someone? Was I that bad?
"Sir...please don't fire me, I have a family who depend on me" Elliot's words of pleading interrupted my process of thought.
I straightened the wrinkles on my forehead "okay, I am not going to fire you. But you have to be double efficient in your work and will handle your responsibilities properly. Can you promise that?" I asked in my regular uptight tone.
He smiled, showing his full set of teeth "sir I promise, I will never let you down. Thank You so much" he uttered happily.
And I felt myself smiling too, and it felt good to make someone happy.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Freya
"This ring looks so beautiful on you, are you sure you want to return it? If you don't like it you could just gift it to your extremely gorgeous friend, who would cherish this thing forever" Kate said blinking her eyes at me.
"Gorgeous friend? where is she?" I smirked. Ah this thing I had learned from Robert, I loved his naughty smirks and half smiles.
"Very Funny!" she pouted and then continued "Freya, if he has gifted you this ring then he must have been up for something serious" her face looked a bit tensed now.
"Ahh, no way! guys like him can't even spell commitment. I am sure he is not thinking something like that" I shut her up, casually.
"Hmm, maybe you are right. Okay sweetie, I am going for some shopping, wanna come?" she asked.
"No, I am not feeling like. Where are Danny and Rick?" I asked.
"Those two idiots are off to the laps of their girlfriends" she informed.
The whole day I was wondering about Uncle Joe, what if he was the one to send me that note. And who was that girl? I thought of logging into Joe Hudson's facebook profile to know more about him. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I was not being able to take my eyes off from the ring.
While I was sitting and taking a closer look at the blue center and was trying to find out why I had seen an ocean there, I saw something else. I wiped out my eyes to clear my vision because I was seeing the reflection of people in that ring!
"No! no Freya you are just imagining it" I kept saying this to myself out loud.
No matter how much I wiped out my eyes or pinched myself, the reflections wouldn't go away. I saw a room where many boxes were lined up, wait... was it seemed like the same place where I saw Joe Hudson killing that hooded guy. Then I saw someone tied to a chair, Shit, Shit Shit! It was Ben Wyatt, what was he doing there? Ben Wyatt was struggling to get out of those binds. He looked extremely miserable.
Oh God! What did I see? was it for real? or was I hallucinating?
My hands rose up to my head, there was only one way to find out if all this was true. I needed to call Emily Wyatt, and I needed to do it now!
She picked up the call right after a single ring.
"Hey Freya, how are you?" she said in a sing-song tone .
"Hi Emily, umm...can I talk to your dad?" I asked biting my nails. What was I doing? I was acting crazy, God! maybe they would force me to a mental asylum. But how could this be an illusion, it seemed so freaking real.
"Dad? sorry but he is not at home, in fact, he has not returned home from last night. Maybe he is off to some official trip. I will ask him to call you when he comes back. For now, I need to hang up, I have a date, so bubye" she said casually and cut the call.
What kind of daughter was she! Her dad didn’t come home from last night and she was going for a date?
"What should I do? what if Ben Wyatt's life is really in danger?" I said to myself while pacing around in my room.
No, I would not let anyone die, maybe I could save him. Whatever! what's wrong in checking?
"Help me please, please, " I said in making it sound as much desperate as I could but Kate being a stubborn prick was still not ready to budge. She just rolled her eyes and moved away from me. Bitch! My insides cursed her. At that time I really wanted to yell at her, I mean how ignorant could she be! I was only asking for a little help.
Calm down Freya, just keep in mind that you are the one in the problem and you need her. So I took a deep breath, took a hold in my anger and continued making my pleas.
Kate huffed "Freya, listen I want to help but it's totally foolish. Magic ring? In what world are we living? Are you narrating a story from Arabian Nights? With due respect, I can't participate in this mad mania of yours" she snapped. But the breath of defeat and her eyes told me that she was sorry.
I twisted my lips, "Oh come on, I am only asking you to come with me to that old building. See Kate, we can save someone's life and we both will be able to make out if I am mad or not. Do this for our friendship" I pleaded. God, please melt her heart, I prayed silently and checked for her reactions.
Kate frowned and was going to say something but I was fast enough to cut her off. I got up by holding her hand, dragging her to the couch to sit beside me. Taking both of her hand in mine, "Kate, I know you must be thinking that I have gone crazy, I don't blame you beca
use I am also thinking the same. But what if Ben Wyatt's life is in danger? He has not come home from last night. There is nothing wrong if we go over there and just check if they have kidnapped Mr. Wyatt?" I asked.
I could sense that she had started to slightly accept the idea and then I brought up my Ace card, my awesome skill to shed fake tears; Ahh, I had done that a lot to convince mom and dad for several things and had a huge practice of acting it out perfectly, from my childhood. I started weeping and said "ok, I get it don't help me. I mean why do you have to do this? It's my life after all. Huh! My life, which apparently has only a few days left" I kept saying the emotional dialogue and kept looking at her face to detect any signs of softness. I let go of her hand and sighed, sitting back on the couch. I took some tissues that were kept on the coffee table and started wiping my invisible tears.
"Ah! Stop it. You are such a drama queen. I will go with you, but only to prove that the whole thing is just a segment of your imagination and we are going to consult a psychiatrist after this. Clearly, your brain is too stressed and that's why you are imagining things" She said.
I stomped "Fine!"
"I can't believe you convinced me to join you in your stupidity," Kate complained with furrowed eyebrows, while her eyes were fixed on the road and hands on the steering wheel.
It was not her fault, we were driving on the highway, it was dark and the generous layers of fogs were almost giving us a blurred vision. Stupid me, we shouldn't have done this, it was totally vague and unthinkably stupid thing.
On the other hand, my phone was ringing at regular intervals but I was too hyped up to get it. At that time my only mission was to survive the disaster that I had put myself into.
"Stop whining Kate, you are making me nervous. And it's your fault too, you could have stopped me but you chose to join me instead. Now live with this!" I snapped.
She gave me an are-you-kidding-me look while I was busy in hiding my eyes from her. God! She was going to get so mad at me. I clutched my own hand for stability.
