Red Princess

53. Friends?

Kaidon

"NO. FUCKING. WAY!"

"But sir..."

"I am NOT partnering up with that woman!"

The executive from the staffing department on the other side of the call went silent. I could hear her gulp. I often tended to have that effect on people these days. I was literally just two more motherfucking moments away from shooting someone in the head.

"Sir, the president has-"

"Is this his idea? Tell him I will be working alone!"

"I-"

"Scratch that! I'll talk to him myself."

I hung up and then scrolled through my contacts for my father's number. I wasn't sure what was up on that old brute's mind. While he vehemently protested my relationship with Alice, he had no problem sending me on missions together with her fake look-alike.

My finger momentarily hovered over her contact. As payback, I had saved her number under the name 'Mentally Challenged Adult' because she clearly had an inane sense of humour.

I shook my head and pulled up my father's number instead.

"Dad, why am I-"

"Son." He heaved out, and I rolled my eyes.

I started calling him that after the accident. I had gotten more comfortable with the word, but I guess he still needed time to accept the reality. He always paused to savour the sound of that term before addressing me as 'son'.

Every. Single. Time.

Sometimes that made me wonder if I acted too harsh with him. If it was me who broke our family apart.

He was there for me all the time; he never said a word, but his presence was still solacing. He helped me with everything, whether it was conducting DNA tests or assessing the crime scene. He never stopped me and went to great lengths to help me get the closure I was seeking. If this was his pathetic attempt at getting me to 'move on', he might as well shove a stick up his ass.

She is not my Alice.

Hell, she isn't even mine.

"Why the hell did the staffing team call me just now? You know I work alone!"

He exhaled a long breath as he responded, "And now you don't."

"I will NOT work with that woman! I will fish my eyes out and feed them to the piranhas before I work with her!"

"Her name is Ariel."

"Her name can be 'Ariel' or 'Aurora' or 'Cinderella', or whatever the fuck you want, but I am NOT working together with her!"

"You didn't say, 'Alice'."

Huh?

"What the hell are you saying?! Look, Dad-"

"You didn't count the name 'Alice' in your list. What if her name was 'Alice'?"

I stiffened. I clenched my phone so tight; if I wasn't careful, I might have hurt my hand just as I did the other one in the morning.