by Linda Verji
“Are you sure the video that Nina Wu posted today won’t worsen our situation?” Aziz Nour, the head of Research and Development, asked.
“There is no proof that the woman in the video is Sharon,” Paul Offerman, the head of PR, answered before Eve could. “However, even the assumption that it’s Sharon hasn’t hurt us. I’ve been monitoring social media and most people believe that her exit from La Belle is a good thing. It seems to have inspired confidence from the public that our future products will be much, much safer without her around.”
“I was checking it too,” Brigitte Palt chimed in. “Apparently, clients from your company Little Eve are really happy to see you taking over here and they’re letting the internet know. They don’t even mind that you’re Sharon’s daughter-in-law.”
Eve answered with a smile. Frankly, she’d been pleasantly surprised when her former clients had flooded social media with congratulations as soon as La Belle had made it officially known that Sharon was out and Eve was taking her place. To top it off, Nina had posted a message raving about how excited she was to see the new direction La Belle would be taking with Eve at its helm. Since so many people trusted her, her approval had increased the public’s confidence in Eve.
The meeting went on for about an hour more before they dispersed. Eve headed to her office only to find a mountain of documents waiting for her to read and approve. Before she could even finish signing them, the marketing department called asking her if she was available to sit in on a presentation for their newest marketing plan. She said she was. Halfway through the presentation, Mona called to let her know that the head of the factory that manufactured their products was waiting for her in her office. And on and on it went. Eve barely had time to breathe.
“I miss my old job,” Eve complained to Benisio as he drove her home later the same day. Though it was now seven and she’d been working all day, there had still been unattended files on her desk when she’d left. “How did Sharon do it all?”
“She didn’t. She made others do it.” His eyes on the road, Benisio added, “Why do you think you had so much work even though you didn’t actually have a title?”
“Ah, you have a point,” Eve acknowledged.
“You should consider delegating more work to the heads of departments.” He advised, “Don’t do it all yourself.”
“I wish I could figure out how to do that. I can deal with the meetings but the reading and signing is what’s killing me.” She closed her eyes and leaned back in the seat. “My fingers feel like they’re about to break and I’ll probably need glasses by the end of the week. How did Sharon sign all those documents?”
“She didn’t. I did,” he revealed. “She taught me how to sign like her then-”
Benisio suddenly stopped talking.
“Then what?” Eve prodded, but he didn’t answer her. His silence was enough to make her crack an eye open. She found Benisio frowning while studying the rearview mirror.
Sitting up straighter, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I think we have a tail,” Benisio said. Ignoring her immediate gasp, he said, “That blue SUV has been behind us since we left the office.”
The exhaustion Eve had been feeling just seconds ago disappeared and was replaced by tension. She turned to see the car Benisio was talking about. Sure enough there was a blue SUV right behind them. There were two men in the driver and passenger seat of the car. Her pulse racing, Eve asked, “Do you think Sharon sent them?”
“Maybe.” Benisio sounded calm as he reassured, “Don’t worry. I can lose them.”
The next few minutes were spent in tense silence as he drove straight ahead while keeping an eye on the car behind them. The light ahead of them had just turned yellow. He slowed down because of that light. The car behind them did the same. However, just as the light turned red, Benisio revved the engine and rocketed forward.
“Oh my God!” Eve screamed when a truck that was coming from the other side of the intersection came hurtling towards them.
Fortunately, the truck screeched to a halt just before it got to them. However, loud hooting followed their race away. The blue SUV hadn’t anticipated them running a red light. It was slow to follow and before it could, cars from the other side flooded into the road blocking it from moving.
“Benisio!” Eve exclaimed once they were out of danger. “What is wrong with you?”
He didn’t even seem fazed by that near-death experience. His expression nonchalant, he said, “Lost them.”
“We could’ve died.”
“No, I had it.” He dismissed her concern with a little wave before continuing from where they’d left off before the SUV interrupted them. “How about getting Mona to help you with some of the reading?”
Eve couldn’t answer him because she was gaping at him. He was crazy. She was riding with a crazy dude. No wonder he’d fallen in with her plan to take out Sharon so quickly. When she’d approached him four years ago, she’d expected resistance. But the man had agreed the moment she’d asked. Now she knew why. He was crazy.
The rest of the ride home was uneventful, but when they got to Eve’s building, Benisio offered to spend the night at her place.
“Are you crazy?” Eve protested. “You think your wife will just let you spend the night at another woman’s house.”
“She knows that we’re just work colleagues.”
“That’s not what she’ll be thinking when you walk into the house tomorrow morning.” Eve scoffed. “If you want to get murdered by your wife, please leave me out of it.”
“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t worried.” His eyebrows came together in a frown. “We were just followed.”
“And we lost them.” She offered him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. This building is safe. We’ve got twenty-four-hour security, CCTV and non-residents can’t come in without a resident coming down to get them. I’ll be fine.”
“But-”
“Go home, Benisio. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.” Eve got out of the car but once she was out, she poked her head back in to say, “Say hi to Jimena and Sofia.”
Before he could say anything more, she shut the car-door and headed to her condo. She’d just gotten into her house when her mother called. She ignored the call. However, when her father called, she answered.
They’d read everything in the papers, seen the videos and now wanted to know what was going on. Eve fobbed them off with the excuse that it was just work stuff and nothing to be alarmed about. It worked for the moment, but she was sure that in a few days she’d likely have to come up with a better excuse. She hung up the phone and headed straight to the shower for a quick wash.
There was one good thing about being so overworked and tired. Her brain was too weary to dwell on Carter. As soon as she was done with her shower, she made a beeline for her bed. Dinner? No way. She was so wiped out that even chewing seemed like unnecessary work.
The moment she turned off the lights, sleep came swooping in.
The next time she woke it was because of the incessant buzz of her doorbell. With a pained groan, she reached for the bedside-lamp’s switch. Light flooded in and she had to blink a couple of times for her eyes to get used to the sudden brightness.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz, the doorbell rung again, reminding her of the reason why she was even awake. Her eyes narrowed, she turned to check the time. Eleven p.m.. Who the hell was at her door at eleven p.m.?
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz, the doorbell taunted her again.
It was probably security. They were so intent on making the new resident happy that they kept stopping by to make sure she didn’t need anything. Last night, they’d dropped by at around this time to apologize for the party that was going on a floor down from her and to assure her that it wouldn’t happen again. Today what would it be?
Irritated, she pushed the covers aside then sat up. It was only when she got off the bed that she realized that she was in a camisole and short-shorts. She had no interest in giving security a
show so she pulled a pair of sweatpants over her shorts and a tee over her camisole.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz, the door called again.
“Yeesh, I’m coming!” Eve grunted padded out of the bedroom.
Sure enough when she checked the intercom’s screen, a familiar face greeted her.
“Yes, Paul?” she greeted grumpily.
“Ms. Linyard.” The security guard gave her a toothy grin as he lifted up a box. “I have a delivery for you.”
“At this time?” She frowned. “You could’ve waited until morning.”
“Someone called Benisio left this at the security office and asked us to deliver it,” the guard said. “He said it was something urgent concerning your work.”
“Oh!” Eve snapped the lock open. If it was from Benisio, then it was urgent. She’d better get it.
In hindsight, she should’ve been suspicious. If Benisio had something to give her, he would’ve called her. But her brain was still foggy with sleep and her dulled instincts assumed that anything that involved Benisio was safe. She opened the door.
As soon as the locks were off the door, something heavy shoved it inwards with so much force that the door hit Eve and she staggered backwards. It took her a second to realize that it was a person who’d shoved the door open… no… people. Several people. They swarmed into her house like bees.
She yelled, “What’s going-”
“Police,” the tall man who was ahead of the pack yelled as he prowled towards Eve. However, all Eve saw was the menacing gun he was pointing at her. Her hands flew up even before he said, “Put your hands up where I can see them.”
Panic and fear shooting through her, she repeated, “What’s going on-”
Even before she could finish the sentence, another man skated past the guy with the gun and grabbed her. Within seconds, her face was planted to the wall. Someone snatched her arms and twisted them behind her until a shaft of pain seared through her back and shoulders. Eve grunted through her teeth and leaned closer to the wall to ease the pain.
“Eve Linyard, you’re under arrest,” the man behind her announced.
“For what?” she demanded shrilly as metal slipped over her wrists.
She didn’t get an answer. Someone called out, “Get her out of here.”
“What am I under arrest for?” she demanded as she was hauled away from the wall by her upper arms. She tried to keep from moving but the two stony-faced men who had their grip around her arms were so strong that they were practically carrying her out of the house. She turned to one of them. This she yelled, “What am I under arrest for?”
Neither of them answered.
As the men hauled her from her house, she fleetingly noted that the other two men who’d come with them were going deeper into her house. The security guard was standing outside with a dazed look and still holding his stupid box that had obviously been just a ploy to get her to open the door. But he was not her biggest concern right now. Her biggest concern was the handcuffs binding her wrists to the back of her body and the two men who were hauling her away.
“What am I under arrest for?” she cried.
“You’ll find out at the station,” one of the cops conceded even as he tugged and pushed her down the hallway.
“That isn’t how it works.” She jerked her body around in an attempt to make them release her. “Let me go.”
But they didn’t let her go. All her yells and protests did was to draw the attention of her neighbors. Several people opened their doors. A few took a step forward as if to help her but when one of her ‘haulers’ flashed his badge, they slinked back to their position as observers.
Even as the two cops forced her into the elevator, Eve kept struggling and yelling. Part of it was panic, and most of it was strategy. She wanted as many people as possible to see her being hauled off. If Sharon killed her, then at least there’d be witnesses who could point to her and her goons.
Yes, Eve was sure that Sharon was behind this.
CHAPTER 16
Carter put off going to see Eve for as long as he could. He’d thought that he wanted to know the truth but now that it was right in front of him, he was too scared to look it in the eye. What if everything he feared was true? What if his mother wasn’t who he thought she was? What if what he now knew was just a tip of the iceberg and there was more sewerage bubbling beneath?
The conditioner scandal had come to light just recently. For Eve to have stolen La Belle, she would’ve needed a lot more time than just a few months. So something else must’ve pushed her into betraying his mother. What if it was something much, much worse than just bribing one person and endangering their customers? Carter didn’t want to be right but his instincts were screaming for him to back away if he didn’t want to be even more disappointed in his mother.
For a few hours, he listened to those instincts. Hide from the truth, they said. So he tried. His plan was to hang out with nephew and avoid his mother because he was afraid that if he saw her he’d confront her. Unfortunately when Jackson arrived home, he wasn’t interested in hanging out with his pitiful uncle. He and his friends had planned a sleepover. Carter wasn’t invited.
After dropping Jackson off at his friend’s place, Carter headed to his favorite sports-bar. At the bar, he settled in for a baseball game and alcohol. Unfortunately, Carter had never been a ‘drink your problems away’ kind of man and today’s game wasn’t that interesting. His mind wandered back to Eve.
What had Sharon done to her to make her this cruel? It must’ve been something really bad. Something that had made her willing to even throw away her friendship with him. What was it?
Soon that question and more overwhelmed Carter’s thoughts until getting answers was all he could think of. Fortunately, he’d already finagled Eve’s new address from Jackson. Before he knew it, he was out of the bar and on his way to see her. It was only when the cab dropped him off in front of the large black gates that led to her building that he realized that it was past midnight.
She’s probably asleep, he thought as he studied the tall building in the distance. I shouldn’t wake her up.
“Sir,” the female cab-driver cut into his thoughts. Watching Carter through the rearview mirror, she asked, “Is this your destination?”
“Ah!” Carter sat up straighter. “Yes.”
When he didn’t get out of the car, the cab-driver arched her eyebrows. “So… aren’t you getting out?”
“Um…” Carter thought over it for another second then reached for the door. “Yeah.”
“You haven’t paid yet,” she reminded him.
“Sorry.” Carter reached for his wallet, took out a couple of bills and handed them to her. “Thanks.”
Soon enough the cab zipped away, leaving him standing in front of the gates. The building’s security office was right beside the gate and two guards were watching as he strode towards the gate. Carter headed to the window that opened into the security office.
“Hello,” he greeted the guard who was closest to the window.
“Hello,” the guard responded. “You’re not a resident, right?”
“No, I’m not.” Carter added, “I’m here to see someone.”
The security guard frowned. “At this time of the night? Who?”
“Eve Welling.”
“Eve Welling.” The guard turned to his colleague and repeated. “Eve Welling.”
The colleague immediately turned to his computer and started typing.
While they waited, the previous guard turned back to Carter. “Does she know that you’re coming?”
“No, but she’s my wife.”
“She’s your wife?” Confusion flashed in the man’s eyes. “Then why aren’t you a resident here?”
Carter wasn’t interested in airing his personal life to a stranger. Fortunately, he didn’t have to because the guard on the computer came back with, “We don’t have an Eve Welling in our building.”
“You don’t?” Carter frowned. “But
this was the address I was given.”
“Given by who?” the nosy guard asked.
Carter didn’t answer. To himself, he muttered, “Maybe Jackson didn’t give me the right address.”
The guard wasn’t just nosy; he had the ears of a bat too because he asked, “Who is Jackson?”
“Never mind,” Carter said right before he turned. However, just as he started to walk away a thought struck him. He turned and came back to the guard-house. “Try Eve Linyard.”
“Are you just testing names or do you actually know who you’re looking for?” Nosy guard asked.
Meanwhile the other guard was typing fast on his computer and came back with, “Found her.” But a second later, he whirled around to face Carter with wide eyes. “Did you just say Eve Linyard?”
“Yes.” Carter nodded.
“Eve Linyard?” Computer guard repeated as if he hadn’t heard it right the first time.
“Yes,” Carter repeated. “Eve Linyard.”
Nosy guard turned to his colleague. “Who’s Eve Linyard?”
Computer guard asked, “Isn’t she the one they just arrested an hour ago?”
Carter blinked several times as shock shot through him. “What?”
Computer guard stood up from his seat to come to the window. His expression concerned, he said, “She was just arrested an hour ago. Weren’t you aware?”
“N-” Carter had to swallow to ease the sudden dryness in his throat. His heart was pounding so fast he could feel its throb in his throat. “N…no. What was she arrested for?”
“We’re not sure.” Computer guard added, “They just flashed their badges and told us to take them to her.”
“I’m the one who took them there.” Nosy guard raised his hand like he was expecting an award for that fete.
You can’t panic. Just find out where she is. Don’t panic. Carter took a deep breath to calm himself before asking, “Do you know what precinct they’re from?”
“I checked their badges and they’re local.” Computer guard added, “I think if you go there you’ll find her.”
