“Woah..”The slippery trunk handle slithered through her hand, hitting the ground rather gently than harshly. But not gentle enough for Mrs. Moore. As usual.“Layla!”“Oh .. sorry Mum”, Layla apologized rather too hastily, a distracted apology as her eyes seemed glued to the magnificent building in front of her. She could see the inside already through the glass or rather she could see through the glass that framed half of the building, living room upward.“Get the other things from the car, Layla”, her mother's strict tone lashed at her, snapping her mind out of captivation. Layla's small, quick feet went down the stairs.“Welcome Madam”, the doorman greeted Tricia as she stepped in.“Thank you.”He offered to take her bag from her but she declined.“Oh dear, that wouldn't be necessary”, she said, smiling kindly at him.“Thank you”“Yes ma'am”. He nodded in approval and dashed outside to help Layla.Just then, Alistair came out of his room, headed for the stairs. When Tricia saw him
That was her mother's way of telling her to leave. The seemingly hingeless door closed behind her as she walked out, questioning herself for the hundred and first time why her mother sometimes treated her like a piece of rag. Euphoric really to think that the old woman had started to change back when they'd moved to the countryside.But no. Her mother was just as was worse as before. The energy had returned the day they'd received Alistair's information. The same day she'd dared to ask her mother about her father.Her father. Well, that was another topic on it's own. Tragic that Layla didn't even know a thing about him, talk less of knowing what he even looked like. Her mother had utterly refused her of knowing anything about him and would shut her up every time she attempted to ask. And the day she'd seen those pictures, with the cut out parts and burn patches, she just knew her curiosity wouldn't let her. They were pictures of the younger version of her mother, pictures of her mothe
“Misterr Charlie”“Oh great. You're here too”, Charlie said, sarcastically excited. “Urghhh”“How have you been?”“What does it look like to you?”“I just saw Capuedo on his way out. Looks like your debt's been extended”“Oh please. Your subtle insults are the last thing I need right now”, he said, yet again struggling with the lighter in his hands.“You are right. You need way more than that if you want to fix this silly negligent mistake of yours”“*@ you. This is both our mess”“Right. Because as president of the Voxx Group, I should be keeping watch on snitches. I was the one who should have done a better job. I was the one who should have cleaned up blood traces and picked up the goddamn gun instead of being a bloody coward”“Well maybe you should have. You should have taken the bloody gun, because neither Nathan nor Alistair are supposed to be alive right now!”“Oh shut the @#&@ up Charlie. If you weren't such a freaking coward, they'll all be dead by now!”Arghh!”, He growled
“Sure. Tell her I'll be down in the next… five minutes”, Alistair said, checking his watch to make sure he was time accurate.“No need”, Layla said from behind Regan. Regan stepped aside so she could come in.“I'm here already. Or am I not allowed to see my God brother”With Alistair's signal, Regan nodded and left the room.“Why not?”“Well there's sure a lot of protocol here”“Good morning Layla”“You look nice”“I know right”, Alistair said, taking a step back.“Oh please. Save it”They both laughed. A happy, hearty kind of laughter.“You look really nice too, Layla”“As always”, she said, giving a half twirl.“And this hairdo is my new favourite. God! He does wonders”“Who? The hairstylist?”“Hell, yeah”, Layla said as she moved towards his master bed.“So why did you insist I accompany you today?”, She asked, flunking herself on the bed.“Cause I need your help”“My help?”“Yeah. Your help. I'll tell you more about it at the office”“Okay …”Alistair went over the large mirror to
“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