BOSS

by Ashley John

  “That’s a copy of the final contract absolving your father of his estate before he signed it over to Ezra Steele.”

  “Okay?” Joshua scanned a couple of the lines but none of it made much sense to him, “Where is this going?”

  Tobias plucked another piece of paper from the bunch and passed it to Joshua. This time, it looked like a page from his will, but again, not much of the content made much sense to him. It was signed and dated at the bottom in his father’s hand, much like the first.

  “Notice anything strange?” Tobias nodded excitedly.

  He knew Tobias got a thrill from finding loopholes and gaps in the law that they could wriggle through.

  “What am I looking for?”

  “Look at the signatures,” he nodded, “don’t they look different to you?”

  He compared them side-by-side but they both looked like his father’s signature.

  “They look the same,” he shrugged, “the one on the contract is a bit messier but that’s all.”

  “Wouldn’t you say it looked weaker?” Tobias suggested, “As if it’d been written lightly by a weak hand?”

  He looked closer and he could see what Tobias was saying. It didn’t look like as much pressure had been applied, which was unlike his father’s usual confident signature.

  “So?” he said, slightly irritated, “Cut to the chase.”

  “I’ve been digging through all of the paperwork surrounding what happened. After I requested it from the company on your behalf, they were happy to hand it over with you being his next of kin. I’ve noticed a pattern with your father’s signatures. The later the date stamp, the lighter and messier his signature became.”

  “He was dying, wasn’t he? I doubt his handwriting was top of his priorities list.

  “Exactly,” Tobias slammed his hands down on the table, “there is your case. There is your way in.”

  Joshua looked at the two signatures in front of him, hoping they would unlock whatever Tobias was seeing.

  “Are you saying my father’s writing has been faked?”

  “No!” Tobias almost laughed, “The writing isn’t what’s important here. The important thing is that your father was dying.”

  “And that’s important why?”

  Joshua was starting to get frustrated. He felt like Tobias was giving him half of the jigsaw pieces and expecting him to figure out the puzzle.

  “Joshua, don’t you see,” he leaned into the glow of the lamp, “if we can prove your father wasn’t of sound mind towards the end of his life, we have a case. If we can prove that he signed everything away, not really knowing what he was doing, it is as good as yours.”

  His mind was running one million miles a second. Collapsing deep into the chair, Joshua stared at the signatures waiting for his father to speak to him. The silence was louder than anything he could say beyond the grave.

  All along, he’d believed everything Ezra had told him. He hadn’t wanted to but he’d believed him. He’d believed that Bill had given Ezra everything willingly but what if that crucial piece of information was a lie? What if Ezra had seen his chance and taken advantage? That’s what Joshua had believed before he found out Ezra’s true identity as the ‘third party’, but he’d somehow convinced him that wasn’t the case.

  Ezra was charismatic and manipulative. He’d managed to get Joshua alone at The Dorchester when Joshua had hated him on first meeting.

  “What were you doing at Silverton Tower?” Tobias crashed into his thoughts.

  “I work there,” he muttered, “I started today.”

  “Wait, what?” Tobias laughed, “You’re working under Ezra? How did you manage that?”

  “I don’t even know,” he shook his head heavily, “it just happened.”

  Whenever I’m around Ezra, things just happen.

  “Are you close to this guy? Does he trust you?”

  Joshua wasn’t going to tell him how close he really was to Ezra. I sucked his dick a couple of hours ago. Is that close enough?

  “I don’t know if he trusts me,” he said, “I think he wants to.”

  “Oh, this is perfect,” Tobias laughed, “this is going to be easier than I thought. We’re practically halfway there.”

  “What do I need to do?”

  “You need to investigate and gather evidence that your father wasn’t in his right mind when he gave everything over to Ezra.”

  He knew that was easier said than done. If Ezra was as clever and devious as he suspected, he wouldn’t leave signed confessions lying around in his office.

  “How do you expect me to do that?”

  “You need to talk to people. Find out what was going on in your father’s final weeks. Find out who was around him and what they saw. Look at the date on that final piece of paper. He signed that over two days before he died. Find out what happened, Joshua. If you want your inheritance, you need to catch Ezra Steele out.”

  As the evening wore on, Joshua hoped things would become clear. Sitting in Violet’s lavishly decorated dining room pushing pasta around his plate, he knew things were going to be more complicated than Tobias expected. Why did you have to get close to this man? He’s clouding your vision.

  “Was your first day that bad?” Violet yanked the plate away from him, “You’ve barely said a word since you got back.”

  “I’m just tired,” he shrugged, not able to look at her.

  “I’m going for a cigarette,” Levi pulled the packet from his jeans, “you coming?”

  “I’ll miss this one,” Joshua edged his head towards the door.

  Levi rolled his eyes and made a joke about knowing when he wasn’t wanted, leaving Joshua to explain everything to Violet.

  “So you’re telling me, you’ve been sexual with this guy in my kitchen and you’re only telling me now,” she narrowed her eyes, “I’m so glad the cleaner came this morning.”

  “Violet, that’s not important,” he sighed, “Tobias thinks Ezra is a snake.”

  Leaning in across the table, she moved the saltshaker and gripped his hands.

  “Fuck what Tobias thinks,” she squeezed hard, “what do you think?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, “does Ezra seem like that sort of guy to you?”

  “You know him better than I do. You want to know what your humble cousin thinks?”

  “Always.”

  She sucked the air in through her teeth as she strongly held his gaze. Oh, God, she’s going to give it to me.

  “I think you’re falling for this guy and that’s why you’re so conflicted.”

  And just like that, she hit the nail on the head.

  I can’t be falling for a guy, can I?

  I can’t be falling for Ezra Steele.

  I hate him…

  But I want him…

  When Ezra knocked on his office door, Joshua quickly jumped behind his computer. His fingers connected with the keys and he tried his best to look deep in thought.

  “I’m heading out for some lunch,” Ezra bobbed his head into his office, “you can come with, if you want?”

  He almost said ‘yes’ straight away but he clamped down on his tongue and swallowed his desires. Staring at the screen, he furrowed his brow and tried his best to look swamped by the little work he’d been given to do.

  “I think I’m going to work through,” he said, “lots to do.”

  “Just leave it,” Ezra laughed, “come back to it after. There’s this great little Japanese place around the corner that I -,”

  “Maybe tomorrow,” Joshua jumped in before Ezra had the chance to charm him.

  Ezra lingered by his door, slight disappointment hidden in his beautiful features. Why is it so hard to say no to him?

  “Everything okay?” Ezra was about to leave but he turned back to him, “Has somebody said something to you?”

  If only you knew.

  “Like what?” he stopped typing to catch Ezra’s eye, “What would somebody have said?”

  Ezra st
ared for a stolen second, before grinning from ear to ear, “Nothing. Want me to bring you some food back?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he smiled, not able to ignore the rumbling in his stomach, “surprise me.”

  “Don’t I always?” with one last cheeky wink, he was gone, leaving Joshua to quickly punch the numbers into his phone.

  “Constance? He’s gone.”

  He waited a couple of minutes to give Ezra time to get out of the building and to give Constance time to truck her mop bucket up to the top floor. Lingering outside his office with his phone crammed against his ear, he had an imaginary conversation as he watched Constance hurry towards him, practically invisible to the other workers.

  “You’re not getting up to no good, are you?” she whispered as she unlocked Ezra’s office door with her skeleton key, “I don’t want you to get fired on your second day.”

  He wasn’t sure he could be fired now that he was there. Ezra wouldn’t be that stupid.

  “I just need to look around,” he casually smiled as a woman he’d spoken to in the lift whose name he couldn’t remember walked by, “you said yourself, my dad wasn’t himself when he was dying.”

  “Nobody is,” with a click, the door unlocked and she stepped back, pleased with her handiwork, “it’s not like in the films. You don’t fade away peacefully in your sleep. It’s hard and painful and you lose yourself before it happens.”

  “Exactly,” he patted her on the shoulder, “now stay here and keep watch. If he comes back, let me know.”

  She nodded and stepped to the side to let him in.

  “Hang on,” she grabbed him on the arm, “how will I let you know?”

  “I don’t know! Make a bird noise? Scream? You’ll think of something.”

  “Right you are,” she nodded, “be quick! I need to do a once over on the fourth floor before I go.”

  Leaving Constance with her cleaning trolley outside Ezra’s office, he slipped into the room. He’d been in there a million times before but he got a secret thrill from being in there without Ezra knowing.

  He had no idea what he was looking for, so he headed straight for Ezra’s desk. All of the drawers were locked, just like they had been the last time he’d tried looking in them. Ezra had taken his laptop with him too so he wouldn’t have a chance to try and crack that.

  He felt under the surface of the desk for the key but he couldn’t feel anything. That’s where his dad used to keep it. The old filing cabinets had gone and they had been replaced with tall plants.

  As he stood in the middle of Ezra’s office, looking out over London, he suddenly felt like a fool. Had he been expecting to find evidence lying around the place? For God’s sake, Tobias, help me out!

  He headed through to the empty boardroom, hoping for a sign from up above. A couple of cabinets dotted the room but after a quick search it was obvious they weren’t filled with anything other than books and old reports.

  On the wall opposite the projector was an old painting of a Victorian London skyline. Joshua had always hated it but he suddenly remembered what was behind it. Tracing his finger across the thick, gold frame, he felt the small button. When it clicked open and the painting swung away from the wall on hinges, he said a silent thank you to his dad.

  Just as he remembered, the safe was there. Joshua would never have known, but he’d broken into it in a similar fashion as a kid, looking for money. He’d guessed the combination on his second attempt back then. His mother’s birthday, November 4th, 1960 had cracked the code.

  Crossing his fingers, he tried the same combination again. 110460. He listened carefully for the satisfying click as he twisted it to 0 but he was listening in vain.

  Frustrated, his fist collided with the metal door. Ezra must have changed it. He twisted it a couple of times, hoping to hear some kind of click but nothing happened. On the verge of giving up, he suddenly had a thought.

  He twisted the dial, expertly bouncing it from number to number. When he finished, the door clicked and it came away from the wall.

  He should have been happy that he’d cracked the code but it left a sour aftertaste. My birthday. Why would it be my birthday?

  Ezra hadn’t changed it after all but he didn’t like the alternative. The father who hadn’t cared about him had put his birthday, February 27th 1990, as the combination. 022790.

  The safe was small and compact but it was filled to the brim with stuff. On one side, perfectly stacked £50 notes called out to him. There must have been thousands of pounds in front of him. He plucked out a handful of the notes, feeling the weight of the money in his hand. How far would all of this get me if I took it and left? Australia for a year? Mexico for six months? Reluctantly, he stuffed the money back. I’m not here to rob him.

  A gun lay on the middle shelf but he decided it was better not to cover it in his fingerprints. Underneath the gun, he saw a thin leather binder. Carefully, he tugged it out from underneath, unsure of what it was. He opened it up to see yet more paperwork.

  He stared blankly at it, slightly deflated that’s all he’d found. More fucking paperwork. He was about to stuff it back in the safe but his eyes landed on his name deep in the text.

  It’s a will.

  It was almost the same as the will in Tobias’ office but there was just one difference. The date. The one Tobias had, had been made soon after his mother’s death to transfer everything over to Joshua. This one was dated March 24th 2014. He thought back to the contract his father had signed two days before his death. What had the date been on that?

  Screwing his eyes up, he tried to remember but he couldn’t concentrate because of the sound of pigeons squawking outside the window.

  “Shut up,” he muttered to himself as he tried to focus his memory on the paper he’d held yesterday.

  The noise grew. Turning to the window, he wanted to pull the gun from the safe to shoot the pigeons out of the sky. He was shocked to see the empty, cloudless sky.

  Shit, Constance!

  He stuffed the file into the back of his trousers, slammed the safe door with the picture and started to panic.

  “Why’s my door open?” he heard Ezra’s voice.

  “Oh, I was just going to do a quick clean for you, Mr. Steele,” he heard the panic loud and clear in her high-pitched squeak.

  “You cleaned yesterday.”

  The unmistakable sound of Ezra’s Italian heels clicked from the hall into his office, leaving Joshua’s exit blocked. He could have made something up if Constance hadn’t just lied to his face. He braced himself to be caught in the act but he heard Ezra settle into his office chair.

  “Cleaning lady,” he called, “what’s your name again?”

  “Constance, sir,” she sounded narked at being asked that.

  “Did you see where Joshua went?” he asked, “I’ve just been to his office but it’s empty.”

  There was disappointment in his voice.

  “Oh, erm, I think I saw him head downstairs. Maybe he’s gone for some lunch? Oh, Mr. Steele, look how streaky your windows are! Who cleaned these?”

  What is she doing? Joshua pressed his face up against the glass door to see Constance dragging her cleaning trolley in. She caught his eye and winked before hurrying over to the window.

  “What -,”

  “I’ll just give them a quick once over,” she was already spraying them, “can’t have you looking at streaks, can we, Mr. Steele?”

  He heard a low sigh come from Ezra’s throat. Two bags of food sat on his office desk. Ezra had brought his own food back too, so they could eat together. Why did that make him feel so guilty?

  “Can’t you do that later, I’m just -,”

  “Is that a crack?” she cried, “Come look at this. Oh dear, I think it’s a crack.”

  “What? Where?”

  Joshua heard Ezra’s weight lift off the chair and he knew this was his chance. Slowly, he pulled open the door to his office to see Constance’s face and hands buried in the window, with Ezra b
ehind her trying to see what she was looking at.

  “If you move your hand, I’ll be able to see,” he batted her hand out of the way.

  As quickly as he dared, Joshua tiptoed across Ezra’s office, wishing it wasn’t so ridiculously huge. When he was in the safety of his own office, he let out a long and deep sigh of relief. Pulling the folder from his trousers, he hid in one of his drawers and headed straight back to Ezra’s office. Constance was still cleaning the windows but Ezra was back at his desk, picking at Japanese food.

  “Knock, knock,” he said as he knocked on the open door.

  Ezra’s face lit up when he saw him and Joshua couldn’t ignore that. Constance spun around and winked in a completely obvious way. Happy that her work was done, she wiped down the window and disappeared with her trolley, closing the door behind her.

  “She has a screw loose,” Ezra rolled his eyes, dropping his fork into his food, “I brought you something back but you weren’t in.”

  “Toilet break,” he shrugged casually, “is this for me?”

  “Yeah,” Ezra pushed the white bag towards him, “I didn’t know what to get you, so I just got you some sushi.”

  “Cheers,” Joshua picked up the bag as his stomach cried out for some real food.

  He really wanted to sit down with Ezra but he couldn’t let himself. You need to keep your distance.

  “You’re not going to eat with me?” Ezra called after him as he reached for the door.

  “I still have loads to do,” he shrugged, “thanks for the sushi.”

  He heard Ezra drop his chopsticks. He turned around to see him folding his arms and leaning back in his chair, with a ‘I’m pissed off’ look.

  “What have I done?” he demanded, “One minute you’re sucking my dick, the next you’re acting like I’m your enemy. What’s the problem here?”

  “There is no problem,” he said, “I just need to get on with this work.”

  “What work?” Ezra laughed, “You’ve been here for two days and you don’t have a job yet.”

  He’d been stumped. Spending the morning re-writing the work he’d shredded hardly counted as important and urgent. The guys in the design team were already working on their concepts for the presentation, they didn’t need Joshua’s input.