She was never going back!Valencia thought in exasperation as she slammed the receiver down, hard enough to jar the telephone. She wondered how he had gotten her work’s number then she shook her head at her stupid thought.Of course, he could get whatever he wanted. He was Apache after all. She tried to bury her head behind her computer to avoid giving Laura, the secretary anything to pick on.The new secretary was good at what she does truly but Valencia couldn’t help but think that the lady was too inquisitive for her good.Maybe it was because Valencia had not been one that makes friends, she thought but she could almost feel her eyes crossed when Laura had been talking to her about nail polishes and asking personal questions like boyfriends and stuff after her first week at work.She supposed the girl was okay. In the overly bubbly way that some girls seemed to have naturally. No one could call Valencia bubbly for sure. She had once been called stiff as a corpse.“Maybe that was w
“Woah there,” Jordan said easily even as he wondered what made her so jumpy. “What’s up?” he asked with a grin.“Oh sorry, I didn’t see you there” she replied with an uneasy smile.“Welcome sir” Laura chirped brightly with her signature smile in place as she stood up to greet Jordan.“Hello, Laura. Hope the books are getting balanced?” he asked with a smile.“With me here, you have got nothing to worry about sir,” she said with a huge grin. That had become her regular answer since Jordan joked that he slept easier with her around.“Awesome” he replied with an answering smile “And as you know; with you here?”“You slept easier sir” Laura completed for him.“Good, you carry on. Do not let me distract you” he replied with a wink then turned to Valencia who was half looking at them and half looking at the system. “See me in my office, rookie”“Yes, sir” Valencia answered with a smile.Jordan had taken to calling her like that since he agreed to accept her as his apprentice.As he entered h
“A different new task?” Valencia repeated like she suddenly couldn’t understand regular English. In truth, she was wondering what kind of task Jordan could have for her, especially since he just asked her about what she knew of drug lords. “This could not be good,” she thought to herself. Jordan raised his brow at her as she gaped at him without replying to his answer. He wondered why her eyes had widened like that. She did not even know the task he had for her yet. Then he answered her “Yes, Val. A different task,” he said with a teasing smile “Your reaction almost makes me think you know what it was already. Are you using a crystal ball now?” Valencia forced a smile as she shook her head “No, I just… I thought I heard wrong and just wanted to confirm” she lied, hoping Jordan wouldn’t call her bluff. He didn’t even though he gave her an askance look before saying “No, you did not” he leaned back on his chair expecting a reply. When she said nothing but only stared at him, he sai
Lance Dickson. Seated with assurance in her boss’s office the day she took up the task, Valencia had no idea that she would be taking a turn down the roads she was determined not to tread. Lance Dickson, the current ASP of the Baleria Police Department was a dirty man. Right up to his shiny, baby face, the man was up to his neck in corruption. What frustrated Valencia was that even though he looked slick and stupid, he was slippery too. She had been on his tail for over a week now and had never been able to catch him in any incriminating act. At first, Valencia had thought that Jordan was just paranoid because all the research she had done on him had validated the man clean. Maybe too clean in her opinion but a man couldn’t be faulted for having a clean record after all. His public record had shown him as a model citizen and an upright policeman who steadily climbed up the ladder through pure hard work and determination to his current position. ASP Dickson, a magazine interviewed h
The club was packed to the brim when Valencia entered. With people milling about, girls out for action and guys ready to give them. Gangsters and regular people alike twisted and turned on the dance floor so packed that she wondered how anyone was able to breathe at all. One would think that a party that belonged to a police officer would be free of people on the shady side of the law but the opposite was the case in Felix's lounge that night. The place was crawling with them. Valencia could pick out the bulge of guns in some’s pockets as they danced, and stood around smoking while some smooched with their partners. Distaste filled her mouth as she looked around furtively trying to catch a glimpse of the birthday boy but the smoke-hazed room almost made it impossible to pick people’s faces out. The atmosphere was cloying with the smoke of weed, grass and the occasional cigarettes. For a police officer? This was beyond outrageous. She wondered if he did not care about what the publi
Jordan couldn’t remember the last time he had gotten so angry, especially over something that had nothing to do with him. He was known for being calm no matter how nerve-wracking the situation was after all. It was one major reason why he became the youngest sheriff in the history of Rova county, why he was so good at being a policeman and why he was a damn good private investigator, after all. But he saw her looking so damn sexy in that ridiculous getup she had on in a club filled with a pack of bastards who would as soon ravish her as blink their eyes. A few paces away from where he spotted Dickson earlier, another capital asshole who wouldn’t mind adding any new morsel to his long line of conquest, he just lost it. “Are you out of your mind?” he asked in anger as he ignored her jibe at his momentary job. “What on earth do you think you are doing here by this time of the night in that?!” he said jabbing a finger towards her slinky clothes. Her hazel eyes fired up and she drew in
Valencia wished the ground would just open up and swallow her, but since that would mean more humiliation in the presence of her nemesis, she simply opened her momentarily closed eyes and bent down to salvage what she could from the wreckage on the floor. A futile move, but she would rather do that than face..."What? You are just going to ignore me now?" The voice said, as the person who called her earlier sauntered to her front.He stepped on the pieces of glass in front of her and crushed them hard with the heel of his black, sophisticated boot. Valencia had no choice but to swallow her anger and embarrassment as she lifted her head to look at Bastion Issachar.Well, she at least knew that he was the person behind the domino mask. “Okay, what the hell is with the masks?” she thought momentarily in anger as she was forced to be in a weak position in front of the most hateful person she had ever come across. Her stepbrother.But then she remembered how dangerous her situation was, an
The headlights stayed on for a moment without dimming.“Who is that?” Valencia called out in anger. She had no idea who could be playing such a prank on her, but she was certain that it couldn’t be Jordan.When nobody answered her, she removed her hand from her face and turned to leave. She wondered how she had not realized that assholes lived in her building. Not that she had been here long enough to know anyway.The lights went off suddenly, and she looked back again to see Bastion getting out of the car. Her eyes were still adjusting to the lights, but she could see him clearly.“What the hell is wrong with you?” she yelled at him, even as she realized that her cover had been blown. She couldn’t go in now, so she thought fast as she changed her direction and moved towards him.“That is a question for you, bitch,” Bastion answered as he removed his mask. “You back-biting bitch. You are rolling with the enemies now, eh? You are going to regret this, baby sister,” he said as he came a