Tamed

Chapter 11.

MARIANNA

I pull over in his parking lot and take a little pause to think and rest. With my head placed on the steering, I allow my mind wander to the thoughts of dad. He did not deserve to die like that.

Tears threaten to fall but I hold them back. I am done crying because of Harlot. It is time for her to pay for her sins. Karma is a bitch!

With my new found energy, I get off my car, lock the car and head for his apartment.

He opens the door to his apartment and comes out to meet me.

"Hey." He says, enclosing me in his arms for a warm hug. I love how he scents; reminds me of one of the reasons why I love him.

"Come." Lucas takes my hand in his and lead me to the only other apartment on the floor. Once we get there, he puts in a series of codes and he lifts a red card to swipe it. After that, his eyes are scanned before we are then allowed to gain access.

Wow! I am utterly shocked at the interior of the place. It looks like those tech scenes in Sci-Fi movies.

"Welcome to my private lab, Marie." He grins playfully before nudging me on my shoulders.

"Close your mouth so you won't catch a fly." He says, chuckling.

"Well, there's no fly here, except the robotic ones." He snaps his fingers and the place brightens up more.

"I am in utter shock. I thought you had a neighbour, never guessed it was a lab." I finally voice out and he laughs a little.

"Let us get this done with." He leads me to a place that looks like a wall. As we step on the pad, it spins and we are in a different segment. This place looks like an inner office.

He shows me the video from my confrontation with Charlotte and a different file for the voice recording.

"Now, I have saved us the stress and copied them into this flash. I also backed them up in my personal database on Lethal Cloud, so whatever happens, it's retrievable." He says.

"What more do I not know about you?" I could never have guessed he was into tech too. He concealed this part perfectly.

"You know everything there is to know. LETHAL has rules and as such, I can't divulge anything to you." I guess that's why I did not even go into the building when I went there. He did the whole set up in my car.

"What's the next step?" I ask him.

"Just watch and see." He smirks before leading me out of the lab, back to his apartment.

•••••

"You have a visitor waiting in your office." Lola says the moment I walk into the building.

"Alright. Thanks." With a radiant beam on my face, I head up.

Once I get in, my face lights up even more, looking at the person in front of me. It's been a whole two weeks. I was beginning to think she would never confront me.

"Well, if it isn't the wicked step mother." I laugh, dropping my bag on my table to spread my arms wide for her.

"Won't you hug me?" I ask, not giving a damn about the glare she sends my way.

"Well, never mind." I shrug and walk to sit. I wouldn't have hugged her anyway. Who wants to hug a psycho? Definitely not me.

"Never did I think a day would come when you, in all your elegance, would be seated in my office. You really look out of place, you know." It feels so good for her to be at the receiving end this time.

"Let's cut to the chase, what do you want?" She asks. Such audacity!

"It's simple. I want my dad's company and your immediate resignation." I beam as I watch the anger contort on her face.

"No."

"Then be ready to go to jail." I reply, now giving her a glare.

"Either ways, I still get the company. You should be happy I am even letting you go. If you want to fight this, Charlotte, you'll go to jail. The choice is yours." I shrug. I watch her blank emotionless face. Lord know what is going through her mind right now.

"Fine." She says in a monotonous voice.

"You can take the house, by the way. At least, I am not as evil as you are." I state. She turns her face sideways but I did not miss the look of annoyance on it which makes me smirk.

"And if you think of going back on me. Well, you'll simply wish you didn't." I make sure my voice comes hard and strong to pass across the fact that I am not up for jokes.

"I'll be coming to the office tomorrow. Make sure to get everything set." This woman has chosen to be mute. I guess she never expected the turn of events.

"Now that all that is said, get up and get out of my office."

"I have never liked you. I wish it was you that I killed instead." Her statement sends chills down my spine.

"Careful, there. Issuing death threats to my face? You really have nerves." She stands up, locks her gaze with mine and turns to leave my office.

The moment she is out, the tears that I have been holding falls off my eyes. Just like that, bit by bit, I am a crying mess. What happened to being done crying because of her? I guess it is not as easy as I thought.

"Sorry, I should come back later." When did someone step in? I look up and it is Luego. Instinctively, my hand reaches for the tissue on my table.

"No, it's okay. Just having a rough morning. Please sit." I reply whilst cleaning the tears from my eyes and blowing my nose.

"No. It's okay. What I wanted to talk about doesn't matter anyway." He shrugs and scratches the back of his head.

"No no. It's okay." I sniff again, dabbing the tissue around my eyes.

"Please, speak." I add.

"I wanted to ask you if you're free to have lunch with me during break." He says.

"Okay." I respond after giving it a thought. A distraction could help.

What have I just done?

The lunch date didn't turn out as bad as I envisaged and now, I am back in my office doing nothing.

My phone rings and I peep to see Lucas calling.

"Hi." I say.

"How are you?" He asks.

"Good. Harlot stopped by earlier and I gave her a piece of my mind." I smile, even though he could not see me.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asks me.

"It shook me a little but I'm fine now. I am taking back everything tomorrow." 

"Do you need me there?"

"Of course, do I need to ask?"

"You don't need to, sweetheart."

"I love you, Lucas. Thank you."

"Love you too, pumpkin. You are always welcome." My heart skips a beat at his response. Even though I know it's just in a best friend way, I can't help but wish he actually did mean it in a romantic way.

"See you later?" I ask.

"Sure." He says and ends the call.