The Lifeguard

Chapter 11

"I give up," I whined.

"It's only been an hour, yet you're already giving up?" Jace chuckled, giving me a look. Jace and I started our business duties. While he studies the new plan for the expansion of their business, am studying all our hotels and other businesses. He suggested that I should start from the bottom, and work myself to the current.

I sighed. "How can I do this if I'm not even interested into learning any of it? I don't want to be involve with our company or any of it."

"Yeah, you have a point." Jace opened another folder, and he started reading through it. "Was Chloe Anderson your sister?" he asked.

My eyes bug out when I heard him say her name. "She is," I answered. "Why? What is it?"

"There's an article here that says she's the one who was suppose to take over your family business before she," Jace looked at me, and I was just waiting for him to finish his sentence, even though I already knew how it ends. "Died."

"Yeah. She wanted to take over someday, but she lost interest– of course, people don't know that she did because my father was furious."

"I'm sorry." Jace closed the folder he was holding. "I didn't know."

"Yeah. My father did everything in his power to remove any articles that involves her death. He didn't want anyone talking about it," I explained, shrugging. "But why does he have that?" I asked out loud but I only meant to ask myself.

"If he has a copy of one article, he probably has more." Jace handed me the paper. I took it from his hand. The phone suddenly rang. Jace answered it. It only took him few second before putting it down. "Sean and Ava are here," says Jace as he sat back on his chair.

I scoffed. "If you wanna impress Ava, you probably should clean up your room a bit before they come in. Put those papers away, you might bore her if she sees all those."

Jace rolled his eyes at me. He started putting his papers on each folders they belong. He closed his laptop on the desk, when someone knocked on the door. I was about to stand up, when he stood before me. "I got it." I nodded, and Jace opened the door.

I turned around to face the door. "Hey," I greeted the two of them. They greeted me back as they both sat down on the couch. "You know what, I should get going. I have a thing to– hm. Yeah, this thing I have to do," I mumbled.

The three of them knitted their eyebrows, confused. Sean was preventing himself from laughing. "And I will help Zoe with her thing," Sean chuckled.

"A-Alright," says Jace and Ava.

"Yeah." I nodded.

Sean followed me out of the door, and he shut the door behind us. "The thing, huh?" he chuckled. I rolled my eyes at him. "What's that on your hand?" he asked me.

I looked down to see the paper I've been holding. "Oh this?" I took a deep breath. "It's an article about my sister's death. Jace found it in one of the folders my Dad gave him."

"Why would your Dad give him this?" He looked at the paper.

We entered the elevator. "I don't know. He probably misplaced it. Jace thinks he might have more copies of articles about her death."

"That's weird."

"Yeah. I know." I shrugged. The elevator opened, and we both walked out in the lobby.

"No. I mean– it doesn't say here how your sister died. There should be a cause of death, or something. How did your sister die?"

Sean gave the paper back. I looked at it once again. "She was sick or at least that was my parents said."

"What do you mean? You're not sure?"

"I don't know. It's like there's something that they didn't tell me. I mean how can she be sick without telling me or us? She was fine when she left so I don't know."

"Well aren't you curious about what really happened? I think it's worth confirming the story."

As we were walking, I spotted Connor walking towards us. "And how am I suppose to do that?" I asked Sean. I hid the paper behind me.

"Hey," greeted Connor when he came over.

"Hi," I greeted back. "Have you met Sean?" I asked Connor. Sean introduced himself. "This is Connor," I told him. The both of them shook hands.

"You okay? Looks like you've seen a ghost," Connor scoffed. "Everything alright?" he asked.

"What? Everything's fine." I fake smiled.

"Okay. I should get back to work," says Connor. "Will I see you later?" he asked me.

"Of course." I tried to smile again.

Connor nodded, and left. When he disappeared in the lobby, Sean walked in front of me. He gave me a look. He rose his eyebrows. "You're dating a lifeguard? I didn't know you have a thing for lifeguard," he mocked.

I rolled my eyes, as I crossed my arms. "Are you downgrading a lifeguard?"

"What? No. It's just a question. Don't be too defensive."

"I am not."

"You're not dating him, or you're not being defensive?" he asked, raising his brows again.

"Both."

I rolled my eyes at him again, as I continued walking. Sean and I headed to the bar outside by the open area. He took a sit beside me, as he ordered us drinks, non-alcoholic of course. As the time drops, Sean and I continued talking about finding out more about Chloe's death.

"Do you know any of her friends?" Sean asked. "They must know something. Maybe they could answer your questions."

"She mentioned a name before. Emily... Emily Cortez," I told Sean. I remember the night Chloe and I were on the phone, her friend Emily barged into the room, and she introduced me to her. She even sent me a picture of them. "That was during her first year in University. Do you think Emily is still here after all those years?"

"We'll never know if we don't try to find her."

"And how are we gonna find her?" I asked.

"What University did she go to?" Sean asked.

"U of M."

"I'll take care of it then." He smiled.

"How?"

"Connections. It will be easy to find her when you know many people. Don't worry."