Miss Pen

Chapter Sixteen

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Yeah? Well, this bitch is about to be blindsided and in need of a trip to the dentist. Okay, something like that...

Revenge may have been a bit outlandish, but surely it could work with the right person on your side.

"Okay, let me get this straight. You want me to key her car?"

"Yes." Rhode and I simultaneously responded to Elise.

"Not happening." She chuckled, her crystal blue eyes sparkling with humor. "Look, I like you guys, but I'm not about to become her next target."

After Joel showed us the security camera footage, Rhode rushed me back up to my desk to come up with a plan of how to destroy Carlita. With our heads bowed close together, not much was planned out besides a few petty ideas, leaving my desk scattered with crumpled up paper balls. When Elise passed by us, I called her over and explained everything, knowing she would be good at handling situations like those. Rhode wasn't too sure about that.

"How do you even know who we're talking about? We didn't mention her name before."

I rolled my eyes at him, amused that he was still hung up on the possibility of Elise being the one who slashed my tire. Even though we saw a few distinctive characteristics of the dark figure, he was still iffy with her around.

"You're right. You didn't mention a name before, but you did just confirm that it was a she. I just happened to take a guess. And based off of how you two described her - and are looking around like she might pop out of nowhere - I know that it's Carlita. Only she can put people on edge like that."

"Damn." He frowned, a defeated look crossing over his features. "You're good, but she's not the only one that can do that."

She laughed, raising a questioning eyebrow at Rhode. His little jabs at her were starting to get annoying.

"Do you want to know what I really think?"

Elise leaned further over the top of my cubicle wall, drawing our attention closer to her. I didn't know what it was about her, but she had a way of capturing people whenever she spoke.

"Okay." I murmured.

"Sit back and let it play out. You said she's carrying around a pocket knife, right?" Her thin eyebrows rose while I nodded. "That's a weapon. Last time I checked, you couldn't carry those around with you in this building. Let's just say that an anonymous tip concerning her possessions, might be dropped to her boss and security downstairs."

"And where might this anonymous tip be coming from?" Rhode asked, a sly smile curling over his lips.

"I don't know," She winked, returning his grin. "but you two need to act like you don't know anything. If she comes to talk to you, don't let your suspicions and anger come out. Also, don't let her know that you know me."

"Why not?" Rhode shifted, studying her face.

Based on the last sentence rushed from Elise's mouth, it was obvious that something was going on between those two.

"We're not on the best of terms, and never will be. You don't need my problems ruining everything."

"Meaning?" He trailed off, posing the word into a question.

Elise sighed, her shoulders slumping. It was quite clear that she didn't want to talk about the situation but most likely saw that Rhode asked as a way to see if she was trustworthy enough.

"Her ex boyfriend dumped her to date me, and now we're engaged. She wasn't sure who I was at first, but she's recently figured it out. Some strange things have been happening to Nick lately, and we know that Carlita is the reason behind them." Elise held my gaze as she lowly whispered. "She's a devious person and I want her out of here before she starts to hurt more people. I didn't want to be involved at first, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is only the beginning with her. Anyway, I need to go, and remember to not do anything stupid."