Rose's POV For the second time in less than a week, I spotted David walking out of the police station free escorted by some cops as he and two other guys walked towards a high-class Mercedes parked a couple of meters down the streets.It was all over the news and blogs as they made reports about it, some people speculating that he had gone there to begin the proceeding of what they think is an investigation.On one hand, I was glad that they were all focused on David because it gave Donald and me some reprieve from being talked about on major channels.However, I wasn't too happy about it because it seemed like David was much smarter than I gave him credit for.For every avenue, he foresaw it and made provisions in the event that things would not go how he wanted and I'm a little bit jealous about that…if only I was smart enough to also do that.If I was smart, I wouldn't be here eating 3 days old loaf of bread and baked beans that I was pretty sure were about to expire for the secon
Donald's POVAfter my conversation with Nalini, we spoke at length about the measures to take and how to go about it, and she promised to give me feedback within the week.With each day that passed by, I kept waiting, working myself into anxiety. It was tough but I managed to hold on for a while at least until I saw David's appearance on the television once again. I was busy working on a file that the company needed for a merger with another minor bank when the news caught my attention.Interested, I turned it off listening to the reporter drone on about how David was brought in for questioning for the second time in a week and how he also managed to go unscathed.My teeth ground against my jaw in anger and I banged on the office table, exclaiming in frustration. “Damn it!!”How was it that our law enforcement agencies were this inept in investigating someone? The answer is clear as day that he was the one who did this so why aren't they locking up somewhere and throwing away the key
David's POV It turns out that the media can't get enough of me.News of my arrest for the second time has been circulating, with each person twisting the story into what it is the longer it goes on.My apartment building has been constantly flooded with reporters, journalists, and some people who want to get their two seconds of fame.By the third day, I was fed up with receiving calls from different strange numbers, some news station wanting me to come down and have a little chat with them, explaining my side of the story.The thing is, I want to remain as low-key as possible but it is quickly becoming a problem since my face has been splashed on every news outlet in town. I reached out to one of my guys intending on getting an apartment but with my new fake identity.The reason why I want a new apartment so that I don't have the Press finding me. I just want to remain low key until this entire thing blows over.Thankfully my guy was able to pencil me in for a meeting and after req
Rose's POV Just when my hopes were raised really high that things would finally turn around for the better, they dropped like a bag of bricks.I was woken up rudely by my phone beeping like a crazy person.Flustered and wondering who could be calling my phone, it had actually been silent for the past couple of days. I reached for it on the nightstand and muttered drunkenly into it, “Hello?”“Oh, hi Rose! You picked, I thought you wouldn't.” The high-pitched voice of Lauren Grey, one of the women on the board of directors of the company rolled through the phone.My eyes flew open immediately, the vestiges of sleep draining away from my eyes. “Lauren? Um, Lauren…” I repeated, unable to get over the shock.What the hell?“Hey, Rose, I know this must come as a surprise and I'm so sorry that I haven't reached out to you ever since the whole incident happened. You know I can't take sides on this but I was wondering if we could meet… I have something quite interesting I think you might wan
Donald's POV I had to let Nalini go because there's nothing else she can help me with and she seemed a little bit spoked by my willingness to go the extra mile hunting for information on David. Even though I had tried explaining it to her the other time, I knew it wasn't something that she could understand unless she had been directly affected by David's actions.I was disappointed and agonized over my decision for the next couple of days, wondering what I would do about this.Nalini was the best hacker that I could find, especially one who wouldn't leave a digital footprint behind when digging up dirt on David.Mulling over my decisions and choices- despite how narrow they might seem- I couldn't stop replaying David's footage of him leaving the station.It was on a constant loop that I couldn't seem to get out of my head. By the third day, I was minutes away from driving myself crazy when an idea popped into my mind.If Nalini wasn't going to do it, then why didn't I take it up?I
Rose's POVLying in bed, contemplating my next move with my hands behind my head, I wondered if I had made a mistake.Since Lauren opened up to me about me being taken off the board, and suspended for some time, I couldn't stop thinking about… everything.Did I make a mistake?Granted in hindsight, I would have made better decisions than I did so that I wouldn't end up here.Stuck, in limbo and with nowhere to go to.Now that I knew better, I should have never taken the advice of my friends, I should never have gone against Donald who was probably the sweetest, nicest man that I've ever known and I should have blocked David's number the first time people texted me that he was coming back to the country.So many regrets.It was all I could do anyway, regret the trajectory my life took.I sold some of my expensive clothes and jewelry and the money was what I used to survive while I was looking for a job.Although at this point, I was gradually losing hope of ever getting a job, now that
David's Pov Convincing Rose to come over was only a step of my plan…in a very long and detailed list.I got the brilliant idea when I moved back into my house, checking out of the motel after a very peaceful stay of two weeks.Thanks to Boone and my well-intention bribe to the reporter, the entire circus had died down and the media had moved to fresh meat…another scandal trending in the city.While it might take some time for people to stop looking at me when I went out to get things or whispering and muttering about me anytime I was in a public place, at least I know had my privacy and a semblance of my life back.It was good to be around my space and my house once again and I spent the next 2 days unboxing items that I had boxed up in preparation to leave the country but apparently that isn't impossible until I've been cleared of the charges levied against me.I might as well sit here and enjoy my hard earned money.However, unlike the motel where I could flirt with the receptionis
Donald's Pov “Arghhhh!” I slammed my laptop closed angrily, shoving my hands into my hair as I pushed it through allowing to stick up in tangled ends. I've spent 3 days at my desk shoving processed food, soda and caffeine down my throat just so I could keep my brain active, trying to power through this believing I could hack past firewalls.Unfortunately I severely underestimated my abilities and how good Nalini must be at her job to crack through the firewalls in less than a week. I mean, I have been doing this for over 3 days and I haven't even passed the first stage and there were seven more to go.At the stage, I will could probably be done with a half of it in a month.I tried to be positive and work harder, allowing the next 4 hours the pass by but sadly it yielded no results and I was back to square one.No results, no information and David still roaming free.My landline rang, it's loud sound bursting the silence that I enveloped the house for the past couple of days.It was
Donald's POV The ‘beep beep’ of the monitors woke me up from my deep slumber.I open my eyes slowly to meet the white, sterile ceiling of a hospital. I knew it was a hospital because it had that familiar disinfectant smell to it…also because it makes sense, given the fact that I was shot at three times a couple of hours before and yeah, I remember every bit of that story.It was like a clip of a very bad movie except this happened to me, the distant yet eerily familiar feeling of being shot invaded my senses and I had to inch my hand up to see if I could check out the wound. “I wouldn't advise you to do that.” A pretty blond nurse wearing scrubs walked in, a clipboard in her hand.“Hel…Hello..” I croaked out, realizing that my throat was as dry as a desert.She must have come to the same realization because she walked over to my bedside, reaching for a cup of water and she handed it over to me.I greedily slurped it down like a greedy man dying of thirst, only stopping when I emptie
David's POV Just like I expected, the media circus around Donald's death blew out of proportion.As I'm packing my bags, the entire area in which Donald was shot had been taped off by the police.Apparently they were opening a case into the incident, searching for who shot him.I would like to feel relaxed on that point but it's just my luck that the homeless guy I usye turned out to be something else.For the rest of the day, I kept on trying his number but he never picked up soon enough, the number became unavailable which I took to mean that he had either discarded of it or he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. When Boone asked me about the progress report, I lied to him stating that I had taken care of the homeless guy but I knew it was just a matter of time before the police found him and he blurted out the truth…which was why I was booking the next available flight and getting the hell out of this cursed city.The moment I left the borders of the city and I was on my
RoseTo think that it was Donald's death that brought me and my family together, it was mind boggling to say the least.I received the call from my sister early the next morning and to say I was surprised, is an understatement.“Hello, Tanya. Wh-hat's going on?”She was breathing heavily which made me worried. “Have you seen the news, Rose?” She asked.My brows furrowed in confusion. “The news?” I repeated. “No. What news? I'm just waking up!” I say, flipping the covers away from my body so I reach for my laptop.Suddenly the speaker went mute as I could only hear muffled words float through. it seems like she was talking to someone else.I ignored her, checking up on the latest news.I quickly scanned through a number of them, realizing that no one stood out to me. “Tanya, I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at here but nothing is making sense to me. Can you talk to me and tell me what happened? Is it Mom or Dad? Are they okay?”Immediately, my mind jumped into the worst sce
RoseI knew the exact moment I fell for David all over again was when I heard the words, ‘you’re free to go’.That faithful Tuesday morning, I was laying face up on my cot, thinking of new ways to distract myself from a boring and predictable day when the buzzer sounded.Unlike the last time when I ignored the guard, I turned around to look at him but this time he wasn't holding a tray of food in his hands.He had the bunch of keys in his hands and he was walking slowly towards my room, an unpleasant in his eyes.“Hey, you. Get up!” He boomed loudly, startling me.“I was already up…” I grumbled, flipping my legs around the tiny cot. “Where's my food?”He didn't respond, only grunted and shoved me not too gently toward the bars, handcuffing me. “Move!” He ordered and I obeyed, shuffling my feet.We did the same walk routine, similar to when I visited Donald but this time…it seemed different.“Where are we going?” I twisted my head around to ask him but he just shoved my head forward.W
David's POV Contrary to what Donald thought, I was right there behind him the whole time.He was so easy and gullible. Just one mention of Rose and he came running exactly like I thought.All I needed to do was play the pity card and he sucked it up like a starving man drinking water.It was quite hilarious if I was being honest.I wanted the first location, simply because it would be easier to dispose of him when the homeless guy was done with the job but Donald being a hard ass…he insisted we change it, probably suspicious of my actions. Well, at least he was smart… just not too smart to avoid dying though.My phone buzzed with a text.Donald: Where are you?Me: I'm right behind you. I'll be there soon.When I sent the text, I burst into laughter, muffling the sound.I kept checking my watch, waiting for the homeless guy to show up. This was not the agreement. He was supposed to be here a couple of minutes ago, do the job the moment Donald showed up and get out of here.I gritted
Donald's POV I was woken up by my phone buzzing needlessly.Groaning, I twisted around in bed to reach for the phone only to see a name I never thought I'd see flash across my screen.Immediately my eyes flew open, sleep deserting my mind and I nearly jumped out of bed.Wait, why the hell was David calling me?To make matters worse, shortly after the call ended he dropped the text followed by another.David: Hi, I know I'm the last person you want to talk to right now but I need your help. David: Please respond, it's urgent.I debated, responding, wanting to shrug it off but I sat up on the bed so I could think logically.From the little I've known and observed about David, I know that he's a snake and he's very cunning, always thinking three steps ahead of everyone else which is why it bothers me so much that he's texting me.What the hell does he want from me?While I was contemplating on whether to pick up or respond to his text messages, he sent another.David: Please.Because I
David's POV “Hey guys, do you have any news yet?” I asked barging into the basement. All through the night, I could barely sleep a wink as I tossed and turned, my brain producing new ways on how to help Rose.After I went to visit her, I became spurred on to double down on my efforts and for the past two days, my team and I have been up through out the night, working tirelessly on breaking into David firewalls.At this points, I didn't care about whether it was illegal or not, all you wanted to do is to get Rose out of that filthy place.“We don't have any leads yet.” Shawn spoke up. “We still haven't gotten those parts that we needed and decrypting the messages by hand is taking us way longer than it should. At this point, we'll probably get done by the end of the year.”Groaning, I slapped my hands over my face. “That's not going to work. You're sure there's no other way to get this going faster?”If I could get my hands on some incriminating messages that David exchanged with his
David's POV Popping a chewing gum, I sucked it back in, tapping my feet impatiently on the brakes.I decided to make use of Boone's advice, doing the extra work to cement the plan that I have already started and that begins with…A loud honk from a passing car jolted me out of my thoughts and I popped my head out, raising my middle finger as a response.“Fucking asshole!” I muttered under my breath, stealing a glance at my watch. It's been over an hour and this guy is nowhere to be found.He's got to know that he's playing with his life.I am a gentle and mannered man until I was pushed to the wall forced, to do certain things…one of which is to make good on the threats I told him.A couple of days before I decided to meet with the homeless man who placed the tip in the police station for the cops to find, I spent some hours out of my day to watch him and like clockwork he always appeared at the same time every day.It was tad boring and predictable but it saved me time to look for h
RoseThe minutes turned into hours and the hours into days, each day more horrible than the last.My nightmare of being trapped in here was slowly coming to pass and I was too helpless to do anything to stop it.Reaching out to my family wasn't an option and none of the guards agreed to let me use their phone to make one more call to Donald, leaving me stranded.The food was probably the good thing about the place.I don't know who the chef is but he's doing a really good job of keeping me happy…temporarily though.I sighed for probably the hundredth time, staring vacantly at the ceiling.You know, when you first have your freedom taken away from you, you think that the first few hours or days at the worst but it's not. It's actually quite easy because there is a list of ways you can distract yourself but as the day grows longer, that's when reality sets in and the sadness begins.The possibility that this could become your new normal starts to haunt you and in as much as your mind w