DYLAN
I don’t know why I lied to Brielle about going to New York in the first place.
Thing is, I’ve caused her so much trouble already, and so I wanted to take care of the Madeline problem all by myself, without involving her and putting a further strain on our relationship. I couldn’t do it alone though, and so I had told my best friend, Marin everything, and asked for help, and he had agreed to come to my aid.
Now, if there was anyone who could help me with this, I knew it had to be Marin, hell…
He calls himself the ‘best young black lawyer in New Orleans’,
Let’s see how true that shit is.
So no, I wasn’t in New York.
I was holed up in my apartment with Marin, trying to come up with ways to get rid of the annoying woman without putting RetroCorp in jeopardy.
I had really screwed up though, hadn’t I?
You know, I always hear stories of how one simple easy fuck-up can haunt you for the rest of your life, but I honestly never thought a day would come that I could positively confirm that story,
And really, I’ll probably be regretting it for the rest of my life, because trust me when I tell you that a few hours of pleasure is not worth a lifetime of misery, no matter how good said pleasure is, or in my case,
Was.
“Are you actually gonna be of help, or you’re going to sit there and just keep staring into space?” Marin asked pointedly, snapping me out of my thoughts. I sighed deeply. “I just want all of this to be over man, I don’t know what I’ll do if Brielle should-”
He gripped my shoulder in solidarity, cutting me off in the process. “Brielle isn’t going anywhere, Dylan. We’re going to do whatever it takes to handle this, you hear me?”
I nodded.
We spent the next hour or two carefully combing through the contract, looking for loopholes, but we came up with nothing. It was a hundred percent excellent contract, meaning so long as none of us had broken any rules, the contract was still legally binding.
I got up to stretch tiredly and headed to the kitchen to get Marin and myself a beer.
With the way things were going, there seemed to be no way to get her out of our lives for good.
When I came back to the living room, two bottles of beer in hand, I noticed Marin smiling crazily like a cat that had swallowed the canary. “Have you found something?” I asked, my tone suddenly hopeful.
“I may or may not, depending on how you answer this question.”
“Okayy?”
“You have been saying that the woman, Madeline, seems to have a mental incapacity of some sorts. How accurately can you confirm this?”
I briefly pondered over his question.
I mean, save for a few weird scenarios, she did seem like a pretty normal person, no? “I actually cannot confirm this.” I answered truthfully. I watched my best friend bang his hand against the table in frustration. “Damn, man. That was the only hope we had. Now, the only option left is for you to get her to amicably terminate the contract with you, but...”
Yeah, but.
That was close to, if not already impossible.
What was I going to do now?
*****
BRIELLE
Silvie had finally gone home to get the rest she deserved.
Oh, and did I mention she went home in my freaking car?
Well, yeah.
It was 2 pm now… two hours after lunch, and I was practically starving. I had spent the previous two hours before lunch indulging Silvie, and so I had to pay the price by skipping lunch,
A price I could have easily avoided.
I wanted to go out, but no car. I could take a cab or an uber, but no, so I was stuck with only one option;
Food delivery.
Now, what exactly was I in the mood for?
Chicken and Asparagus Lemon Stir-fry?
Avocado chicken salad?
Sweet potato, chickpea, quinoa veggie burger?
Fried rice?
I lifted the receiver to call the delivery people, so they could uhm… mention their available menus, and help me make up my mind.
Now, I honestly don’t know why, but there was just something about having them mention the various foods available that had it resonating with your senses,
That had you knowing exactly what it was that you wanted, you know?
For me, at least… I don’t know about you.
Anyway, before I could even dial their number, Chloe’s call cut in. I lifted the receiver to my ear somewhat irritated, I’m not gonna lie. “Yeah? What is it?”
“Brielle? You have Madeline Decker here to see you. She says it’s very urgent. Should I send her in?”
Well, I’ll be damned.
“Please send her in, thanks.” I ended the call.
What the hell did she want from me?
I didn’t even have time to carry that train of thought, the lady just barged into my office without knocking. “Well, hello Brielle Renaud.” Her voice was husky, and she looked beautiful as usual in a very snug-fitting floral jumpsuit, but the bitter look on her face kind of cancelled what would have otherwise been a very lovely picture. I stood up, pasting on a smile I actually didn’t want on my face. I was determined to come out of this the bigger person. “Well, if it isn’t Madeline Decker. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?”
She stared at me critically for what seemed like a lifetime, then her gaze flitted to appraise my office. “Such a lovely office you have here, too bad your taste in office furniture is not as great as your taste in clothes.” Her tone was so annoyingly patronising, I just had to clench my fists to stop from lashing out.
“Look, I don’t know why you’re here… but some of us have actual businesses to run.” I smiled cheekily. “Not all of us can milk our ex-husbands dry and steal their business empires, you know?”
The blond-haired woman cackled hysterically. “Oh, I see you’ve done your homework.” She waltzed in gracefully, shutting the door behind her, and then walked over to one of the chairs facing my desk and folded her tall frame into it, her every action lithe and nymph-like. “I must admit, you and I are not that different after all. I have also done a background check on you, you know? And I know who you are.”
I sat down, cocking my head to the side in interest as I adjusted my glasses on my face. “And who am I exactly?”
“Well, I do know you’re Dylan’s girlfriend for one.”
Oh, shit, shit, shit.
“If you’re wondering how I know that, well… a lady doesn’t kiss and tell. Besides, the sexual tension oozing between the two of you is so thick, it’s honestly disgusting. You’re both not fooling anyone.” She seemed thrilled to see the look of surprise on my face.
This was a very uncomfortable development, but I somehow managed to keep my features blank, and my tone neutral. “What do you want?”
“Oh, you already know what I want, love. Leave Dylan alone.”
Okay, so I’d had enough.
I stood up angrily and leaned in, my face almost touching hers, my voice surprisingly still cool despite the fact that I was a raging bull inside. “Okay, I think you flatter yourself too much to think that just because you’re ordering me about, I’d be up obeying your every whim. Get the fuck out of my office.”
Madeline stared at my finger pointing at the door for a long time before slowly standing up and reaching for her handbag. She rummaged through it, as though she were looking for something. “You know what the best thing about being bipolar is?” She asked absent-mindedly causing me to do a double-take.
What?
Fuck, it all made sense now;
How she’d come to the office very happy one day, extremely bitter or angry the next…
“I’M TALKING TO YOU, BITCH!” She screamed in my face snapping me out of my thoughts. I swallowed, fear slowly starting to engulf me, a cold sweat breaking out on my face at the sight of what she had clutched in her hands.
She had a gun.
“Not so mouthy now, are you?” She mocked darkly, the gun still pointing at my face. I trembled slightly, raising my hands in surrender. “You don’t want to do this, Madeline.”
“Oh? Wanna bet? STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!” She pushed back her chair angrily and began to pace. “Stop looking at me like you pity me, I don’t want your pity, I just want you to leave Dylan alone.” More pacing. “We have something going on, fuck I felt it… and then- and then, because of you, it’s all over. Well not on my watch.” She stopped in her tracks. “The best thing about being bipolar is… that I could kill you, right here right now, and just blame it on a manic attack, and no one could tell the fucking difference.” She suddenly burst into laughter, laughing so hard that she had to clutch at her sides in pain. Not wanting to aggravate her any further, I still stood there with my hands raised, shooting a longing glance at the telephone.
“God, you should have seen your face. It’s a toy gun.” She threw it at me, causing me to shriek and immediately dive for cover. Her even louder laughter filled my office. I carefully reached for the offensive tool after a moment of realising it didn’t go off and tentatively examined it.
She wasn’t lying,
It was a fake gun.
But why the hell would—
“As fun as this was, I’ve got to leave. Think about what I said, Brielle.” She turned and headed for the door, but suddenly stopped in her tracks to face me. “I hope for your sake, you make the right choice, cuz who knows… you just might not make it out alive next time.”
With those ominous words hanging in the air, she calmly stepped out of my office even as I still stood there, frozen in shock from the whole encounter.
*****
BRIELLE
“What do you mean she came to your office and pointed a gun at you?” Silvie asked incredulously after listening to the strange tale I had just recounted to her.
“Exactly that, girl.” I affirmed.
To be honest, I was still pretty shaken up by the whole thing. I mean, I had literally seen my life flash before my eyes so can you really blame me?
I was also stuck contemplating whether to tell Dylan about it or not. I mean, it wasn’t really a big deal was it?
The gun was fake after all…
Besides, he had a lot on his plate at the moment and I didn’t want to burden him with silly pranks and whatnot.
I rubbed my hand against my face tiredly, feeling the need to wash away the day’s troubles under a cold shower. I had just come in from work, and one glance at my face had Silvie going into full-on investigative mode to find out if I was okay.
And so I had sat down to talk to her about it over a couple of beers. Heaven knows I really needed to vent to someone. Of course, I had put certain measures in place to avoid the incident repeating itself again,
Like banning her from coming to see me in my office, and reporting the incident to security, but I still didn’t feel safe.
Fuck, relationships were so hard!
Why was it that whenever things seemed to be going very well, something almost always had to come and ruin it?
“Lucia, are you listening to me?”
“Sorry, I was lost in thought.” I apologised. “You were saying?”
“You need to tell Dylan about this, scratch that, you need to go to the fucking police.”
I shook my head adamantly. “No, Silvie. Can’t you see that’s what she wants? For me to be scared? I’m not going to give her that satisfaction, I’m not afraid of her.”
Silvie face-palmed herself in frustration. “Are you listening to yourself right now, Lu? Your life is literally in danger and you don’t want to do anything about it, what is wrong with you?”
“Drop it Syl, I’m not going to the police, and I can assure you that she won’t catch me by surprise ever again.” I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin haughtily. “The next time she pulls such a stunt again, I’ll be ready for her.”