Arthur took in a breath and let it out. He was about to do something he wasn't sure whether he would regret or not, but he was going to do it either way and hope with all he had that he would not regret it. With one last deep breath he pulled back softly to let Mabel know he was trying to disentangle and sit back. Mabel felt his pull and she loosened her grip and watched him sit back looking like he had something serious to say. Oh no! Had her game suddenly made him all touchy-feely? Was he going to give some sappy speech about how he loved her? How was she going to wriggle her way out of that? She would just hear him out first and decide how to act along the way."Look babe, there's something important I have to tell you," Arthur said with his head bowed as he looked at his hands in his laps. "All isn't really well with me. I'm flat out broke and I'm in a lot of debts which I need to figure out how to pay," Arthur finished and quickly raised his head to look at her and watch her rea
Mabel cleared her throat and looked up at Arthur. She wondered briefly if she was about to make a decision she would regret in the long run. Oh well. She would rather make the decision now and deal with the consequences of it being wrong later, instead of being alone and without help at the moment. "So, you're broke huh?" she said and realized that was an awkward way to start this conversation. Hell! Now that she thought about it, she had never been one to have these types of conversations. She scrunched her face at a loss of words. She unfolded her arms and dropped them on her thighs and suddenly not knowing what to do with them, she began to drum on her thighs lightly. Arthur must have misunderstood her confusion and thought she wanted to bail his "sinking financial ship" but didn't know how to, because he let out a defeated sigh and his shoulders drooped slightly. "It's fine Mabel," he said as he looked down at his palms in his thighs. "I get it. No one in their right senses wo
"What do you want to see?" Arthur asked as he picked up his remote. "I don't really know what kind of shows you enjoy," he said. "Anything will do." Mabel replied and Arthur scrolled for a while and stopped on a football match. "Anything but that. I'll never understand why a bunch of grown men wear those hideous outfits and those ridiculous helmets and chase a ball around a field." "Here you go," Arthur said and handed her the remote "Pick something out yourself then," he said and picked up his king-size cheese burger. Mabel scrolled through different stations and eventually settled on a movie station then they watched and ate in silence for the next number of minutes. When they were done eating they decided to just finish the movie before proceeding to their planning and strategising even though they both knew they were just stalling because neither of them had a good enough plan yet. Eventually the movie ended and Mabel paused the ending credits and cleared her throat to s
"OK then," Mabel said as she cracked her knuckles. "Let's start with establishing the obvious fact," she paused and looked at Arthur who raised his right eye brow at her. "Which is?" he asked when she didn't continue. "We obviously can't get the money we want from our normal 9-5 jobs," she said and made a "duh" expression and rolled her eyes. "So, moving on" she went on when he said nothing "you couldn't possibly have just been pouting without trying to come up with an idea," she paused and caught his eyes again. "Let's have it. What ideas did you come up with before I arrived?" she asked maintaining eye contact. "Well, I had only come up with two ideas before you came," he paused and looked away from her "one of which I'm sure you'll throw out the window before I can say "Jack"" he finished and gave a shrug and turned back to look at her. She looked confused. "OK?" She asked with her brows furrowed in confusion. "Let me hear these ideas," she finished with her confusion stil
Arthur McDoyle and Mabel Sanders sat in silence for a while with Arthur's last words hanging in the air between them. Chris Bolton. He was obviously the obvious best victim. Michael Bolton was a freaking billionaire and if one considered recent events, it was quite clear that he loved his son, Chris Bolton and he would do anything to ensure his safety. The more Mabel Sanders thought about it the more she realized that she was thinking too small. Michael Bolton would gladly give two hundred million dollars without flinching to save his son. In fact he would gladly part with three hundred million dollars and it wouldn't make a dent in his account. Matter of fact, they would just begin negotiations from half a billion dollars and then they would refuse to go below three hundred million dollars or the least they would go would be two hundred and fifty million dollars. Blinded by greed and oblivious to that fact, her mind spun with calculations. She would be a freaking millionaire. She c
Chris Bolton sat in the office of the CEO at GLAM and played with a fountain pen. He had just come out of a meeting and he wanted nothing more but to leave and head home and just chill and unwind with Monica, Rose and Sarah. He would have been on his way home had Merlanie not met him after the meeting to inform him that Mabel Sanders had met her and expressed an interest in seeing him before he left. Well where was the woman? He was getting impatient. He had spent the last three weeks and two days sitting in attendance of one meeting or the other and he had planned things to get an early day of on that day so he could hang out with his dysfunctional group of three ladies and he wasn't pleased with Mabel Sanders delaying him at all. Between these seemingly endless meetings and having to oversee the changes that had been implemented in the mansion in a bid to tighten security, Heaven knew he had earned a break and Mabel Sanders was delaying it and he wasn't in the least bit pleased abou
Chris Bolton registered the breath Mabel Sanders had noisily in the sucked in and he fought back a smile. He could see the sudden fear and uncertainty in her eyes as she tried but failed to regain her initial disinterest and composure. He had established that the tables had turned and he, Chris Bolton was now in charge in their little game and battle of having the upper hand. Without letting go of her hand he leaned in as he maintained eye contact which he broke when he shifted his head to the right so he could whisper directly into her left ear. "That dumb, old doormat Chris Bolton, whom you and your lover could push over and walk all over," he paused and let out a light breath gently. "He's gone. He no longer exists." He said then leaned and in the same sudden movement let go of her hand quickly like he was suddenly irritated by the feel of her skin on his, then he turned and walked away back to his side of the table and left a completely disoriented Mabel Sanders on the other sid
"Rose?" Chris started after a few minutes of silence. "Are Monica and and Sarah at the mansion already?""Yes, Sarah arrived a few minutes ago" Rose responded."Good. Good." Chris said with a nod. "We won't be going out today." He continued. "No ice cream parlors, no bars, no clubs, no restaurants. None of that today." he finished."Oh?" Rose asked as she caught his eyes in the rear view mirror."Yes." Chris responded shortly then after a while added "I was thinking we could just hang around at home and relax." he said with his face looking thoughtful "We could maybe go out into the garden and have one of the maids, or maybe two of them bring us a tray of juice and snacks and just take the rest of the day slow and just let it pass," he finished and turned his head to catch her eyes in the rear view mirror. "What do you think Rose?" he asked with a small smile."I guess we three will be fine with whatever you choose for us to do. It's not like we actually had anything specific pla