by Carter Blake
I glance everywhere, not seeing any sign of a safe, before I start tapping my fingers on the walls to see if there’s something there. I should have got this information before I started on this crazy mission, what the hell was I thinking? Why am I so unprepared? Oh yeah, because that asshole Oliver decided to try it today.
The painting! Of course. I already realized that it was a ridiculous size when I first laid eyes on it, and now I know why. It’s covering something up, it has to be, and as I tug it, and it swings open like a door, I realize that I’m right. Now I just need to figure out the code. Shit, of course, I have no idea about that, and why the hell would I?
I grab Wesley’s diary, tugging through the pages to look for any important dates, and I type them all in as quickly as I can, hoping and praying that each one will be right.
‘Dad’s Birthday’ I see written, with a heart next to it, so I type that in quickly. Of course, as well as I know Wesley right now, I should have guessed that it would be this very date. Of course, he loves his Dad, he doesn’t understand fully what he did.
With that, I grab all the paperwork that’s inside, no longer caring about being smart and picking only one, and I tuck it all under my arm. It’s going to be obvious what I’ve done, right away, especially considering I have a note confessing everything, which I’m going to leave on Wesley’s desk, so I can’t see any point in being sensible anymore.
I just want out.
Then I race down the hallway, towards the fire exit, which I’m sure will lead me into the dark alleyway where Oliver has informed me that Dad will be waiting with a car.
“Did you get it?” Oliver hisses, catching up with me. “Did you get the formula?”
“I assume it’s in here somewhere,” I gasp to him. “Now let’s get the fuck out of here.”
We race until we see an old banger parked up, where we jump into it rapidly. As Dad pulls away, grinning proudly at me as if I’ve done him a great service, I can’t stop the sinking sensation in my chest. Not only am I leaving Future Pharmaceuticals behind, and the only job that I’ve ever been good at, but I’m losing the only shot at real love that I ever think I’ve had.
While Dad and Oliver congratulate one another, as if they have pulled off a serious criminal heist, I regret everything, but of course there’s nothing I can do now. It’s far too late. I wish I could turn back time, to never do any of this, but that’s impossible. I think now, to get over this, I’m going to have to move away, to leave all of this life behind. I don’t think I can stay here and live with what I’ve done, however much it helps my Dad.
I’m sorry, Wesley, I think sadly to myself. I’m sorry for what I’ve done to you. I never meant to hurt you directly, I just wanted to make my Dad happy. I never meant to get mixed up in this. I hope that one day you can forgive me, even if I never will.
“So, what now?” I finally ask my Dad coldly. “What is your plan for what happens next?”
I know for a fact that if he answers this, he has known what he wants all along, and that I really have just been a game piece.
“Ah, you’ll see, my sweet little Naomi, don’t you worry about that. The world is my oyster now, as it is for all of us.”
As they both laugh I allow anger to bubble up inside of me. For him, and Oliver too. I feel like I have nothing left inside me. But that’s what you get for allowing revenge and anger to dictate your life, I suppose. You end up like this, like me, with nothing.
Chapter Eighteen
Wesley
This is bad… this is really bad…
Ever since the fire alarm first went off, my head has been all over the place. I just have this horrible feeling that something is up, and now that I can’t see even one flame flickering up from the building, that feeling is confirmed. This is a plot, this is part of a plan, and I’ve walked right into their hands.
“Is everyone here?” I yell over the mass hysteria that has gathered in the car park. “Is anyone missing?”
People look among themselves, trying to scan for any faces that might not be there, while I do the same.
“Amber,” someone yells. “She isn’t here.”
“She’s off work,” I reply quietly, already spotting something suspicious.
Naomi is nowhere to be seen.
Where is she? why can’t I see her? Was I wrong to trust her all this time?
“Oliver…he’s not here, definitely, and I saw him earlier today,” someone says beside me.
“Naomi,” I scream loudly. “Naomi, where is she?”
When no one answers me, I take off, tearing back inside, shoving the fireman out the way. One of them yells at me, tells me to remain outside until they can confirm that there is no fire, but I pay no attention. I already know that there isn’t one. Something has happened, my business is in jeopardy, and that’s all there is to it.
I tear through the hallways, knowing there’s only one place she will go, and although I’m pretty sure I left it locked, I might have forgotten to do so in all the chaos. Or maybe, if this has been a plan, there was a way to get in whether I locked it or not. Maybe, if this has been going on for a long while, I never stood a chance.
Why did I trust her? Why didn’t I listen to my mother, and to Amber, the people who have been in my life for years? Why did I allow my heart to rule my heart? I just feel so fucking stupid.
The one person that I have ever let into my heart, has back stabbed me. How will I ever be able to trust my own judgment again?
Of course, my office door is swung open, and as I skate inside, moving my body faster than I ever have done before, I notice that the safe is open too – the place I keep all sensitive information, past projects, current formulas, future endeavors…everything.
All of Future Pharmaceuticals is in that safe, and if it’s gone, I find myself left with nothing. I will have let my father down, my mother down, never mind myself and all of my staff members. This really could ruin everything, and I feel sick to think that if I’d just listened, I could have prevented this.
Everything going on here, this is all my fault.
Before I can bear to glance into the safe, I click onto the security camera’s feature on my computer, but what I see is nothing more than a blank screen.
“Oliver…he’s not here, definitely, and I saw him earlier today.”
Shit, Oliver is in on this too. I mean I have only kept him on staff because he was a good friend to my Dad, and now he’s betrayed that too?
What the hell is wrong with people? Why can’t they just be trustworthy?
It has to be him, he’s the one person who isn’t here who could actually pull this off.
My heart sinks in my chest. I feel so despondent and hollow, that I know it won’t take much more from me to look inside the safe and to see everything else gone.
Of course, it’s empty, just as I knew it would be apart from a large wad of cash, which proves everything that everyone else thought. This was about revenge, nothing else, and I fell for it all.
I’m clearly a fucking idiot.
My Dad should never have entrusted his business to me.
As my eyes fall to the ground in disappointment, I spot a gleaming white envelope with my name scrawled across it, in a handwriting I know very well. I don’t want to pick it up, I don’t want to read it because I don’t want to hear what she has to say, but I’m aware that I’m going to have to provide some sort of explanation to everyone else. I might not want to know why I’ve been betrayed by someone I opened up to, but this isn’t just about me. There are jobs on the line here, people that need to know what’s going on so that they can make an honest decision about their future, and I owe it to them.
I grab it, sighing deeply, allowing a sickness to swirl around in my stomach and I tear it open to read it.
‘Dear Wesley…’
Oh God, did she really have to begin such a life destroying letter so formally?
‘I know that you must hate me for what I’ve done to you. I b
etrayed you. I sacrificed the feelings that we had between us…’
That almost has me laughing aloud.
What fucking feelings? If there was really anything between us, she would never have done this. If she felt as strongly for me as I did her, she couldn’t have acted so coldly.
‘…and I’m sure that you don’t know why. Well, maybe you can guess. You know who my Dad is now after all. I guess that I’ve just spent my entire life seeing my Dad struggle, seeing him grow increasingly miserable because his life hasn’t gone the way that he planned. At first I assumed that it was because he loved my Mom, and it killed him to lose her, which of course I felt responsible for. Then, as I grew, I started to realize that it was because he lost his place in the business. He made sure I knew about it, he used to moan about it all the time.’
I couldn’t ever remember my Dad mentioning Michael, but maybe that was because he came out of it a winner. He got what he wanted, and despite everything that went down, I assumed that it would probably still hurt Michael… not that it excused any of this.
‘I decided to get revenge early on, and I spent all my time working towards that. I felt like my Dad had given up everything for me, so I wanted to do the same for him. I wanted to make him happy all over again. I scarified having friends, having any long-term relationships, having any kind of life, all for this.
But then I got the job with you, and everything became a little too real.
I know that you might not believe me now, but my feelings for you were real. Everything I ever said to you, did to you, that was because I liked you so much. I liked you so much that I almost changed my mind more than once. But I can’t…in the end I can’t, because I don’t have anything else. My Dad is depending on me, needing me to get this done, and that’s really everything I have left.
I’m sorry, so sorry, I wish things could have been different. I wish that neither of us were born with this burden, I wish that we could just be other people, and that we could just be together. But as things stand, you will never see me again.
Naomi.’
The temptation to tear this piece of shit up races through me, but of course, I need it as evidence first. I need to contact the police, to tell them what has happened…a thought that becomes even more apparent when I check the computer files to see that all the backups of the information she stole are gone too.
“Fucking hell, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
***
“So moving forwards, we need to come up with some new strategies…” Shit, I’m really falling apart now. After contacting the police, and speaking to them, I have called a team meeting to talk everything through my staff, with the one thought of moving forwards. I’m emotionally exhausted and could really use a sleep, but I have to do what needs to be done first, that’s the main role of being the boss. “Maybe we could have a brainstorming…”
But as I glance around the room, I can see that everyone looks about as despondent as I feel. No one looks ready for action, willing to move forwards, but we just don’t have any choice. I cannot let Naomi, Michael Norton, and Oliver win.
“I am going to begin with calling a press conference.” However much that idea fills me with dread, I know I need to do it, just to get things moving in the right direction.
The public will find out what’s happened soon enough anyway, so I might as well get in there first and acknowledge all of our problems.
I could really use a good PR manager right about now, to help me tackle what’s going to be such a difficult topic, but of course she’s off God knows where, doing God knows what with my company’s information.
“I want the information to come from us, not anyone else.”
“Why did she do it?” someone asks. “I mean, I know why Oliver would be involved, he was always moaning that he wasn’t paid what he assumed he was worth, but Naomi? She seemed to like it here…she seemed to like…everyone.”
“Her Dad was one of the founding members of this company,” I admit, deciding to tell the truth now because there isn’t any point of holding it back for any longer. “And because of an argument with my Dad, about the pricing of the pills, he was forced out. I don’t know too much about it, it was before I was born, and before Naomi was born too, but it seems to have festered much deeper than I ever assumed that it would.”
A thick silence fills the air as everyone tries to digest this.
“Did… did you know?” Chris pipes up, his intense glare staring right through me.
“No, I didn’t.” I don’t want people to lose faith in me, I don’t want them to know that I could have prevented this because I need them to be on my side, I need them all to work with me. “But honestly, I don’t think that’s worth focusing on now. I think that we need to concentrate on moving forwards, on making the best of what I know is a horrible situation.”
“Will it affect the launch? That’s supposed to be happening soon.”
“I hope not,” I reply, maybe a little too honestly. “It won’t if we play it in the right way. It just depends on what we do over the next few days.”
A low murmur breaks out, which means people are finally starting to come up with ideas, allowing me to breathe for just a second.
Of course I’m aware that the press conference will be a million times more brutal, but that was really challenging. The questions that need answers really suck, and they are really testing my patience. I don’t know why certain people have acted the way that they have, I can’t understand their motivations at all, but I’m going to have to try. I’m going to have to explain that away, tell them what our future plans are, and try and maintain trust in our company too.
I’m not qualified for this, this is something that my Dad would have been much better at. It’s a shame that he isn’t here. Then again, my Dad would never have allowed things to get this messy, he would have to put a stop to it before it got out of control.
Chapter Nineteen
Naomi
It isn’t until we get inside my father’s home, that the truth of what my Dad actually intends to do starts coming out. I begin by only half listening to what him and Oliver are discussing, because I’m trying to come to terms with what I need to do next, but as soon as I hear the words ‘sell the formula’ and ‘restructuring the company’ my interest is well and truly piqued.
“Wait, what?” I ask, frowning.
“Now that I have to formula, I’m going to sell it to Elite Meds,” he starts, stunning me to my core.
“Elite Meds? Aren’t they known for ripping off customers? Aren’t they hated for screwing over people that are dying?”
Why would my Dad get on board with those guys? They are everything that’s wrong with the medical industry.
“Why aren’t you going to use it? I thought that was the whole point of this? I thought it was your formula and that you were actually going to create some drugs and start your own pharmaceutical career. I thought that you wanted out of teaching?”
“I do,” he growls a little aggressively. “And it is my formula, so I can do whatever I want with it. I want to sell it to Elite Meds, then when the stocks of Future Pharmaceuticals fall dramatically, which they will because Elite will release this before Future can. However far along they are, they’re much bigger, much better, with much quicker systems.”
He sits back in his seat, smirking at me as I pace the room in distress.
It’s as if he can’t see any of my emotion, either that or he really doesn’t care.
“Then when Future is worth nothing, I will buy it, fire everyone that’s there and me and Oliver will build it from the ground up into something entirely new. The profit machine that I always wanted it to be. Hell, you’ve done a good job here. You can come along too if you want?”
Come along?
Can he not hear himself? He wants a medicinal company for profit? He wants to make money out of the chronically ill, the sick, the dying. How messed up is that? If he had this attitude before, I’m starting to see why Jo
hn wanted him out.
For the first time in my entire life, I can see through the façade, and I’m starting to realize that maybe my Dad isn’t a hero after all. Maybe him being forced out of the business was the right decision.
And I just inflicted revenge, I just supported the wrong side.
Oh my God, I could be sick.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I insist, hoping that with one last ditch effort I might be able to actually do some good and change all of this around. “Wouldn’t it be better for you to just do something with the formula? Or maybe…if you have to sell it, then do that, but don’t bother with Future Pharmaceutical’s. You might not like the Montgomery family, but there are some good people who work there, decent people with families and lives of their own–”
“They chose to work for the devil, they should live with that decision,” he interrupts sharply.
“And what are you on about,” Oliver interjects, smilingly. “They’re all assholes there, the lot of them. The scientists are stuck up pricks, the receptionists think they rule the fucking world, the accountants are boring as shit, Amber stalks about the place like she’s some sort of fucking goddess, someone much more special than she actually is.”
Oh, okay, maybe money isn’t the only motivator. Maybe Oliver has picked up some grudges along the way too.
“Fuck the lot of them, they don’t deserve anything,” Oliver sneers.
I can’t reason with a man like that, and I have no desire to do so. He’s an idiot, and my Dad has more control anyway, so I shake my head and turn back towards the man who is supposed to have loved me my entire life.
“Look Dad, I will help you with this. Just create the drug yourself, make your own money. Leave everyone else out of it.” I’m growing desperate now, and I know that I actually will stay if needs be, just to ensure that no more damage is done to Wesley or Future Pharmaceuticals.
