“Mark?”Mark knew that voice.Too well.He could never mistake it.He took a deep breath, knowing but yet not knowing what was about to go down.He turned to face her, dipping his hands into his pockets.“Hey”“Hey?”, Fiona asked back like she hadn't heard. Even if she had, she didn't want to believe it. “We haven't talked properly for days and you say hey?”Mark breathed in.“What's going on?”“What’s going on? You don't pick your calls, when you do, you say you can't talk and you didn't even tell me you'll be here.”“I've been… I've been pretty occupied”“Occupied?”, Fiona asked, almost lost for words. “Mark, what's going on?”She attempted coming closer to him and Mark couldn't restrain himself from moving backward. Fiona was so taken aback by his reaction, it showed fully in her facial expression, her hurt and confusion.“Look Fiona…”, Mark started and then stopped, seeing Starling who wasn't so far away. He was talking with one of the shareholders from Voxx. He turned to gesture
“Smile”, he whispered as soon as they came to stand before them. Fiona smiled, her expression choosing to stay plain.“Alistair, meet my daughter, Fiona Starling”“Fiona, this is our acting president, soon to be president, Alistair Bane, son of Voxx Bane”Fiona took the handshake he extended.“Nice to meet you Fiona”, Alistair said, with the briefest smile she'd ever seen. His striking manly features couldn't be denied. The boy was fine.Not that Fiona cared.“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Alistair”, Fiona said, taking her hand back. So he was Voxx' son? Where had he been all this while?Not that she cared.“Quite a vibrant, young man, Fiona. He's currently on a long term contract with the government in his successful Voxx Innovations Project. It's the bigger contract that any company has ever bagged with the government and it's fast making global impact”“That's absolutely outstanding”“Thank you. It's nothing really”, Alistair said, seemingly more interested in the content of his
Dark.It was pitch black.She could feel the ropes around her hands. She struggled, a physical embodiment of panic. It was hopeless but the anxiety eluded, controlling her like a domineering parasite. She was tied to what she felt was a board and the more she struggled with what she thought were ropes, the more she cut herself. Her eyes were wet with tears and her chest heaved till it was heavy and tired. Still she couldn't even see.It was damn pitch black.Like he's @#₦&@#₦ heart.What had she married?!If someone had told her that this was how far her greed would take her, she would have chosen otherwise.The silence in the room began to be burdened by sounds of footsteps. Daphne thought she was hallucinating but the sounds began to get closer and louder and a sudden feeling of doom rested on her. Her panic heightened. She breathed loudly and fast, as a matter of fact too fast for the capacity to which her respiratory organs were known to. It was like she knew who was coming witho
The knife slit her throat and continued to move down her naked body. He was cutting her in a perfect two and even the belt too. Her flesh parted like the red sea, her skin cutting open so easily. They'd had to drug her of course so that her outer layer weared at such a phenomenal speed, it left her bare Mammalian layer. Her blood gushed out like the first trial on a fountain and as Starling cut open her body till her vgs, her blood stained his immaculate white gloves.He stopped at her posterior - the frontal - and withdraw the blade from her body.“Handle the rest of the body parts.”“Yes Boss”, they responded simultaneously.They'd differentiate her body parts, preserve the organs for harvest and distribute the rest… across the world.“I want reports before the end of the day”They took the bloody off his hands, letting it fall straight into the bin. One of the them lit a match and placed into the portable incinerator bin. Starling saw the gloves catch the blue-yellow flame before h
Texting Ethan.Meanwhile, her parents turned coincidentally to her. They gave a shared gaze like they’d both gotten the answer to the question.“What?”, Elara asked, finally noticing them weirdly looking at her. She glanced from father to mother.“You, my darling, are the solution to your father's costly carelessness”Elara raised a brow“And that is how?”, she asked, looking at both of them in an apprehensive yet annoyed expression.“You have to go back to Alistair”Elara laughed at her mother's statement. “Tell me you're joking”, she said, going back to her phone.“It's not a comedy stand honey, so no”, her mother replied, getting to her feet.Elara humphed. “Dreams”Her mother snatched the phone out of her hands.“Heyy!”“Now listen up here carefully. You are not a child, Elara. So quick acting like one. You have to grow up and act maturely. And one of the ways to do that is to do as I say. Do you understand?”“I am not going back to Alistair, ok? Can I have my phone please?”“It's
He'd been at the table as usual. His freshly blended smoothie by his side as usual.A small bowl of his favourite chin-chin snacks as usual.As usual.How things had changed so fast that day, she had not thought to ever be able to recover from.They'd probably emailed the clip to him.And being the proper, arranged Dougles he was, dud most definitely not miss the file.He'd tried to access it’s content directly and his last resort had been to burn it on a disk.It was Dougles. Of course, he always had a burn disk in the CD section of his old yet beloved laptop.It had loaded. She'd seen it herself - the loading bar- when she'd come near to arrange her new favourite sets of vase.It had loaded and Dougles had saved into his files.And then he'd played it.She had been headed for the kitchen when she stopped but her heart had stopped long before her.There was no distinction to that moan. It was hers. And that voice……was Charlie's.It had been a twenty five minutes video but Dougles ha
“Mum. Mummm!!!” , Ethan called as soon as he stepped foot in the house. The whole house was silent. An unusual, uncanny silence.“Mum?”, He called again, heading up the stairs.He knocked on his mother's room door.“Dad?”Ethan placed a hand on the door. The door swung slowly as it opened. His father was in the room, doing what seemed like packing.“Good day Father”, he greeted immediately.“Ethan”, Starling responded, in a slow way.“How are you doing, son?”“I’m great, Dad. Umm… I was looking for Mum”Starling took more than a moment to reply.“Come in”Ethan walked in and the swing hinge door swung closed. There was something that didn't seem quite right about his father's demeanour. He'd seen right. His father was parking. And his mother's stuff were the ones in the box. At least if there was one thing he recognized in that box, it was the uniquely shaped perfume she'd gotten from her trip in Saudi Arabia - the Aladdin lamp. He knew it so well because he'd often stolen a few spra
These days, the clouds greyed on burial days. It was a weather change even the broadcasters couldn't predict. Rumors had it that the government was secretly seeding the clouds.But seemingly nobody ever noticed on time. Somehow, some way, it remained a rumour because they kept the people distracted.Unlike Dougle’s, the burial proceedings of Daphne Starling were short and rounded up. The priest didn't say the usual long speech, the sermon they often gave about the deceased. He skipped the longer prayers too, only offering or rather saying the shorter ones that entailed the response of the audience.Her father hadn't invited a lot of people either. Very few relatives were there and of course - though still few - some of the shareholders from Voxx. Alistair couldn't attend as a result of an urgent meeting he had with one of our partners but he most definitely had sent a large bouquet of flowers in honor and his condolence message. But perhaps there was no time for that too as it didn't
Alistair brought the boat cruise to a stop. Just when he decided to take his mind off the chaos happening. Elara was killed, and he found his way to a hotel room.Nathan, Layla, and Reagan were with him. "I think this is the right time to let the authorities in on this," Layla muttered."Yeah, this was the same thought on my mind as we exited the boat. Tomorrow morning I am going to head back home, gather all the evidence, get Mark involved in this, and report this to the authorities.""Exactly, this is the best thing to do if you ask me. We can no longer contain this. It would have been you, but Elara took your spot.Who knows who would be next? It could be me, Layla, or you. That's more reason you need to get Mark to go with you tomorrow morning. It's time to bring an end to this madness of Mr. Wilde, and his partners."(The next day)Mr. Alistair quickly rushed home and got hold of the files. He already informed Mark about his plans and asked him to wait for him at the police stati
Layla was briefed about what she needed to do by Alistair. Unlike the last time, Nathan agreed to this, he was in full support.The plan was for Alistair to call for a meeting, he made it for Mr. Sterling to attend. Making sure Layla won't have any problem retrieving the document.Layla arrived early at Voxx's Technologies. She waited for him to leave for the meeting. Immediately she was sure he had left. She immediately went into his room, Fiona was at the door watching out for her.Just in case her brother or anyone tries to go in. Layla went straight to the shelf and did just like Fiona explained. The shelf moved away revealing a safe.She smiled, and quickly imputed the code which Fiona gave to her. The safe opened, but to her amazement the safe was empty. She was confused, and immediately she brought out her phone and took a photo.She sent it to Alistair and quickly closed the safe. The shelf went back to its position. She came out of Mr. Sterling's office, Fiona was expecting t
Alistair, Nathan, Layla, Burundi, and Mark stepped out of his study room. Mark came to submit some files of illegal acts Mr. Wilde has been engaged in the past.They were all tired after accessing each case one by one. But none of the cases has to do with Voxx's Group or his father's death. The only information they found useful was the fact that he possessed a certain USB key.They all retired to their different rooms, while Mark went home. Alistair couldn't get sleep, so he brought the file to the dining room, sat down, and went through it once more. Hoping he would find something.Mrs. Tricia, who came out to make a phone call to someone, was shocked to see Alistair seated in the dining room. Before she could retrace her step, Alistair sighted her. She composed herself and walked towards him."You aren't asleep, what's going on? You also look worried, are you fine?"Alistair shook his head, "I ain't fine, a lot of things are going on."She sat down, "Do you care to share what's goi
(Three weeks later)Kathy was present in the office of her boss, Mr. Alistair. She had a little bottle which Oliver gave her to spike Alistair's drink. She was a bit scared, but at the same time, she knew she also needed to be careful.She paced to and fro in his office, waiting for a particular time to do what she had in mind to do. Her gaze was on everyone in the room, all she was waiting for was Mr. Alistair to request coffee or tea."Kathy, please get me tea just before the meeting starts." She smiled at him, but it was a dry smile. "Yes boss, I am on it."She walked out of the office and went straight to her office. She already had the tea made, all she had to do was to pour in the liquid that would spike the drink. She got a mug, poured the drink into it, and poured in the liquid.She did the sign of the cross and walked out of her office heading back to Mr. Alistair's office. She tried to compose herself, she knew how observant Mr. Alistair and Nathan were.If she acts in a sha
Ethan walked out of the bathroom, he was shocked to see the three ladies lying down on the bed.He wanted to shout at them, but then he remembered this wasn't his home. It was just a brothel. He picked up his shirt, phone, and car keys, and walked out of the room.He wasn't watching where he was going, and he bumped into a guy. He got annoyed and was about to retaliate only to find out it was Oliver."Oliver.""Ethan," Oliver called out. Ethan's gaze moved to the lady beside him, "Kathy? Wait a minute, can someone tell me what's going on here?""Man calm down, you don't have to get confused. She's my girlfriend, you know the ethics of the common, you can't date your colleagues.Well, it just happened that we fell in love with each other, and we just couldn't throw it under the bridge because of some dumb organization stuff.""Wait a minute Oliver, for how long has this been happening?"Oliver looked at Kathy, "Two tears.""What? You mean you guys have been dating for a good two years,
(Few Hours Later)"You look really tense, and should I say unhappy, what's going on?" Elara asked as she reached for Mr. Alistair's hands.Mr. Alistair smiled, this was one of his tricks to get her into doing whatever he wanted her to do. "Let's just say I am extremely tired, you know what it means to work as the president of Vox's Group right?"She nodded her head, "Yeah I partially have an idea. There are times when I see my Dad in a terrible state just because of work. That's one of the reasons I said to myself I was never going to work.Not like work work, I mean get into the corporate work. I saw the torment it caused to my Dad, that shit pissed me off. That's more reason I decided to follow the career path of my Dad."Mr. Alistair was taking note of the things she said about her Dad. "Do you think your Dad has something special he's hiding? You know maybe a special property in his safe?"Elara smiled, "I don't fucking have an idea about that. How am I supposed to know if he does
Mr. Alistair turned towards him, "What, and what have you found about it?""Well I have found someone who can be of much help to us," he answered as he stepped out of the elevator."Really? How come I didn't know about this, and what if this so-called person is one of Mr. Wild's loyal fans?"They got into his office, and Layla was asleep. "Come on man, don't you trust me anymore? I did my research, and he has definitely nothing to do with Mr. Wilde. Besides, he's an undercover CIA agent. Trust me when I say he can be of much help.""Wait a minute, did you just say ah undercover CIA agent?"Layla woke up due to the pitch of their voice. "Yeah, you heard me correctly. An undercover CIA agent.""If he's an undercover CIA agent, how did you get to him? Don't you think if you can find him, whosoever he was made to watch won't also have a problem in finding out that he's a CIA agent?"He chuckled, "I think I didn't really explain things to you. Well, there's this friend of mine who I used t
(Few Hours Later)Fiona and Mr. Alistair were seated in the restaurant as they were both having steaks and juice. "What is it, you wanted to tell me?"Fiona smiled, "I know this might sound crazy, but I think this is what we need to do."Mr. Alistair was confused, so he sat up. "What do you mean, please explain."She cleared her throat and reached for his hands. "I know this sounds funny, but I want to propose something.""What's that?""I need us to act. I mean I want us to act as boyfriend and girlfriend. I am tired of my father nagging about getting married to you.Truth be told, I don't like you one bit. But I am just doing this because of my Dad, nothing more, nothing less.""Really? Do you want the both of us to act as couples? Do you think that's the way out?""Yes, that's the way out. If you ask me, it's the only way out. There's no way out than this," she replied, raising her voice."This is the reason why you called me right? To propose this piece of shit to me? Come on, are
Elara sat down on her bed smiling as she gazed at her phone. Her mum walked into her room without knocking."What's with that look on your face?" She asked, resting on her door."It's none of your business, Mum. But if you must know, it's just some random chat with a friend," she replied, her gaze not leaving her phone."A male friend, I suppose right?" She asked as she walked towards the bed."Come on Mum, what's with all this question?""I am glad you asked. Dear Elara, you aren't getting any younger, don't you think it's time for you to settle down? It's high time you need to get married," Mrs. Wilde muttered.Elara burst into laughter, "Mum, is this what you wanted to say? Come on, you don't have to worry about it, I am already working on it.""Wait a minute, do you mean you are already in a relationship with someone or what?"She nodded her head, "Yes mum, but don't ask me for any details. I ain't going to tell you anything, but be rest assured that your lovely daughter is in a r