“Woohoo! Yeah!”The champagne popped open, foam flowing freely from the mouth. Layla laughed freely, pouring into the tall tulip glasses for each of them. She downed one glass in excitement and their reactions only made her burst in her unladylike laughter, at least so her mother had often described.Well to her it was. But to Alistair, it was probably the sweetest sound he'd heard…“To Layla”, Nathan's deeply sensuating voice pierced through the silence. Layla poured herself another glass and clicked her glass with Nathan's.“To mee”, she said giddily but this time sipping out of the glass.“And to Alistair”, she said, turning to him.“For getting his father's company back, for being ever so loving to Mum and I and for this beautiful job offer. Thank you so much Alistair”“It's nothing”, he said, taking up his glass as he smiled, a bit taken back that she'd known it was him. Not for long though. He could already guess from Nathan's awkward behavior of avoiding contact as soon as she
The men came to the door. One looked down, looking to see the shadows of their feet against the light. With a nod to the other, he opened the door.The door squeaked slowly, givings space for the men to enter. One adjusted his suit, straightening it at the end as their eyes scavenged the tool room.The leader of the two did a hand signal towards the cupboard at the interior while he proceeded to search the adjoining room. Nathan held his breath, gripping harder the crow bar in his hand.He watched the footsteps as they walked closer, stealthily, closer…Layla adjusted the strap of her Zara heel - it's constant loosening had been a plus one headache of the night. But when she looked up, she didn't see the boys.“What the … where the hell did they disappear ?”, She asked herself, observing with her eyes, the rest of the restaurant. They were nowhere to be found.“I should call Alistair. I'm too exhausted for these games”, she said, taking her phone as she slowly walked away from the tab
“Uhh…”.“hmm…”“Uhh..”The sounds were unmistakable.The maid's eyes widened, her expression clear from her covered mouth. Her cathoclism was most reverent to her at that point as she did the sign of the cross. Transfixed for a while, she didn't know if to knock on the door or turn around.If she took the latter option, she had no fantastic lie to tell Mr. Charlie. The more she stood there, the more irritated - Or say tempted, she was.A soft knock soon came on the door.Oliver's eyes widened in a alert.“Shit!”, Oliver exclaimed in fear, rolling over quickly.“Uhh”, the girl breathed in both relief and exhaustion.“What the *@#@ are you doing @#$#?! Hide quickly!”, He ordered in a sharp harsh tone. The girl struggled with the covers, trying to drag them away from the seemingly hard tucking. He struggled to buckle his belt as well as the knock persisted.“What the @#$@ are you still doing?!”“I’m going”, her light voice wailed, as she rolled in the cover, quickly stepping into his cup
“Two months?”“Yeah, it's… quite unbelievable”“I don't even know what half of the business is about. I still have a lot to learn”“We can negotiate for more time but… I doubt if we would get it. The system here doesn't really make decision making easy”Alistair, looked at the printed copy of the memo in his hand.Just then, one of Nathan's junior colleagues burst through the open door of Alistair's office. Saved by the desk from falling, he panted for a while, having had to take the stairs all the way up from his floor.“James, what's going on? Why'd you…”“Mr…Mr. Nath…”, he said, an exhausted, panting tone.“What the hell is going on?”“Mr. Alistair… Charlie's called for a board meeting”“Two months is just too much to wait!”, Charlie shouted, banging the table.“It's too little time in my opinion, Charlie. We agree the boy is completely a novice. But all things being fair, we have to agree that he'll need more time to learn before making any big moves. Two months is too little time
“I agree with Mr. Dougles”, the lady director of administration said.“I also agree”“It's fair”“I agree as well”“It's absolutely unnecessary!”, Charlie's voice rose above the others.“The election dates will be rescheduled, Mr. Charlie.”, Mr. Dougles stern voice said, looking Charlie in the eye.“And communicated to everyone”Charlie sucked in, anger burning through his veins like a lit gas pipe. He settled into his chair, a sly, irritating smile at the corners of his lips.“Congratulations Mr. Alistair. You have yourself three months so do well to make the most of it. Thank you partners, shareholder and directors for being here. This meeting is adjourned”, the chairman said with a note of finality, getting to his feet. The others stood up after him, leaving with their various personal assistants. Alistair had delayed Layla's resumption, feeling a little guilty that she'd been dragged into his new life of uncertain danger. Well, good thing he had Nathan.Charlie stood up to leave,
The Rolls Royce stopped at the bottom of the stairs.“Welcome sir”, Steve, one of the doormen greeted as he opened the door of the Rolls Royce. Alistair patted his back, giving him his watch and phone as they proceeded to go up the stairs. The door was swung open before he even got to the lady step and he entered, the doorman behind him.Layla was in the living room.“Hey”, she said, in a calm, soothing way, rising from the sofa.She walked over to where he was and they hugged.“How was work?”“It was great.”, He responded, looking around and wondering why there were boxes everywhere.Layla noticed his distracted expression. “Oh those came earlier today. They said they were from the old house”“Oh yeah. My parents’ things”, he said, remembering suddenly.“What exactly?”“Framed pictures, some of my father's old things I guess. Mostly pictures though”“Ohh …”“It was all moved to some warehouse actually after my parents died. I'm guessing courtesy of my Uncle Charlie”There was an awkw
“So what do you say, Alistair?”Alistair looked at Layla with eyes that he had admired right from childhood. He pulled her into an unexpected hug.“Woah”, she said laughing, patting his back the way she'd usually do.“It's okay big baby”“Thank you Layla. You and Nathan…”“Me and Nathan what?”“Have been there for me right from time”, Alistair said, but not with the expression he'd planned in his head.“Oh of course we will. We will always have your back, just as we promised when we were kids, remember?”“Yeah…”, Alistair responded. He looked at her funny.“Thank you. Thank you guys so much. ”“Awwn. It's so nice to see you be all cheesy”“Oh please.”, Alistair laughed. “ It's all part of the act”“Lies… lies… lies”He laughed lightly again.“What lies?”“You were being cheesy for about five minutes.”, She said, confronting him as she came right in front of him, stopping him from going down the stairs.“That couldn't have been an act”“I know”, he said, coming closer. She attempted to
Layla dressed up in the black body hug dress, checking herself out in the mirror as she stepped out from the adjoining closet room.Her first reaction was disgust.“Uhhh”“What do you think?”Alistair didn't hear. He was too engrossed in looking at how appealing she looked in the dress. He just knew it would fit.Her curves, her slender kegs, her arms, they just…“Earth to Alistair”, she said, snapping at him.“Sorry”, he said, shaking his head and shaking off his thoughts.“What do you think… I don't have time”“You look sple… uhh… you look good”“What were you going to say?”“Nothing”Layla narrowed her eyes at him in a playful way. “Okayy”She tapped her phone screen.“I'm running late”, she said, taking her purse from across where he stood.“Layla… are you sure you wanna do this?”“Yeah. I mean it's the only way we are gonna find answers”“It doesn't have to be, we could find other options. Maybe ask the police to look into it”Layla smiled, taking a step back. “You are worried”“