Caught Up In Your Darkness

CHAPTER 3 - ALEX

HOLY SHIT!!! No, thankfully I did not say those words out loud when the utter gorgeous specimen of God's creation pulled out the bundles of money from the odd looking duffle bag. Odd looking because its ugliness simply did not look right in her perfectly manicured hands.

She let out a small chuckle which made me check myself and sit up straight, “uhm, what is this for?” I tried to sound skeptical but let's be real, I'm a broke 20-something chick that lives in a shitty apartment over a chinese restaurant in a dingy alley. Obviously I was salivating at the bare sight of all that money, also her, but that's a different topic.

“I'll tell you, but before that I have a few questions for you.”

God that voice.

“Questions? Like what? A test?”

“You ask a lot of questions huh?”. She eyed me in a way that made me uncomfortable but also tingle between my legs, this was not good. Shit.

“Haha very funny, what are you going on about?”. Nice. Handled it like a pro.

“So, do you know my father?”

Huh. this was not what I had in mind when she had questions for me. What did the question even mean? I mean I did know her father, as in knowing that she had one and that he had a lot of money. But other than that, what did I even know about him? What does a person know about their ex-classmates' parents?

“I'm not really sure what you mean?”

She sighed heavily, I could not tell what that sigh meant. “Right. Well what do you know about my father?”

“Besides the fact that he is your father and has a lot of money? Not much. What is this even about?”

“I'm asking the questions right now hun, next question : how good are you at hacking?”

“Umm.. I think that really depends on the case? I mean what do you want me to hack? The whitehouse security system or your boyfriend's phone?” Yes, those last few words came out a little more snappy than I would like to admit.

“Okay, ” she eyed me as she dragged out the okay, “how good are you at acting?”
Again. What the fuck was up with these vague weird questions that did not match at all? “I dont know? I've never tried out for the role of Juliet so I can't tell (Just for context; she had auditioned for the part of Juliet in the school play, got rejected and then two weeks after practice started surprisingly got the role)  What are you on?”

“Wow okay. No need to snap, I was just asking. Speaking of which, last question ; can you lie?”

For the love of all that is holy, someone smack this girl across the face!

“I don't know, Sofia! Why don't you tell me what this is about so I can give you concrete answers!?”

I half expected her to throw me out of the car for yelling at her face, or to at least have her throw a tantrum or a snappy sarcastic remark, but all I got was another sigh, this time an obviously tired one.

“Okay, I'll tell you what it's about but know this - the minute I finish telling you this, that's it, you cannot back down. You'll be in it for good. You'll be fairly compensated for your time and skills,this is just the first little sum.”
She toyed with the edge of her dress but her eyes were locked into mine.

I tried to keep eye contact with her but that was difficult when you realise the woman who is staring at you so intently is one of the most gorgeous women on earth.

I casually picked up the bottle and tilted it into the glass, trying not to spill the damn thing all over the seat and nodded at her, “Yea sure, go ahead.”. Smooth.

She took a deep breath and began telling one of the most deranged stories I had ever heard.

“Okay, so my father, Alberto Manchestes is an investment banker, or so I thought. I knew he had a lot of money and ran a lot of businesses so I knew how important his work was. What I never thought to think was how many of these businesses were actually legitimate.
I know I shouldn't go poking and prodding things where I don't belong, but here's the thing - one day my dad very randomly decided that we needed security and all of a sudden I was surrounded by guards and I literally couldn't do anything without it getting authorized by my dad. What's even more confusing to me is that he's staying home a lot more. Which is very unlike him, also he doesn't get out of his room, he's always in the house holed up in his office, and he won't even let me know what is going on.
So I did the one thing I thought I should do - I tried to hire a private detective but of course they all apparently work for my father and when I managed to get just one that he didn't know, he found out and bought the guy. So all I know is that there is some definite shady stuff going on, I need to know what that is - and I need your help. You're the only person that I know who might be able to do this and we have history so it might not make him suspicious. Please, I really need your help here.”
Damn, what a sight. It's not everyday that you see rich daddy’s princess begging for help. As much as my ego wanted to soak in this moment and take unjustified advantage of my position right now, I knew there were more important things - like the money sitting on her lap.

“Jesus shit. Okay, let's do this, but I have a few demands.”

“Anything! Whatever you want.”

I pushed away the very naughty thought that crossed my head and cleared my throat, “I decide the price, you pay 60% upfront. And in case I die, oh well, I don't know what exactly I'll do but you have to make sure I don't. Also, we have to pull out of this if things get too bad. Okay?”

Her doe eyes suddenly turned cold, “I can do everything but that, we’re not pulling out of this there is something very deep going on here and I need to know what it is about. I am not resting till then.”

Holy shit she had some daddy issues.