"Come with me let's elope," she sprang from his student sized bed, smiling as the idea made more sense to her. Her brown teeth shone under the light.
With his hands tucked underneath his blond hair, Otis watched her from under his lashes in his oversized shirt with her long legs peeking out till eternity.

She was an all round beauty. Every time his heartbeat quickened at the sight of her, all chirpy and sexy before him, there was nothing else he could wish for. She was his. A rare but true thing.

"C'mon snail let's go somewhere worth spending time at like the Caribbean, or the secret water falls in the south. What do you think?"

His smile widened at the use of his pet name 'snail' she'd called him that the first time they met and when he asked why, she'd said he reminded her of a snail. How slow, quiet yet invaluable they were to the society. She said Otis was like that, invaluable to his boss even if he was a bit dull and brooding. He didn't mind at all, as long as it was a compliment from the girl he'd admired for a long time.  And when they made love, that was all she called him, in whispers and in between kisses. Otis loved love.

"Did you even hear me Otis!" She frowned when he snapped back to reality, seeing that she was already pissed by the sound of his name, harsh on her tongue.

He sat up on his elbow. "Sorry Fi, I got distracted again."

"With what?"

"Y-your beauty," he admitted shyly. A smirk found it's way on her face pushing away any remnants of anger.

"Let's go to the Caribbean or south of here, I want to see the oceans or the big big places of the earth."

His face scrunched into a mask of confusion. "But the Caribbean is far and-and expensive. We can't afford that." He reasoned.

"Before, but now we can." Fiona said elated.

"How? Did you make some money?"

She nodded, and hid a smile. "We can finally leave this hell hole, find a new place together and travel the world. What do you think?"

"Urhm, I don't know how much you think that cost and how much you made but I only have two thousand in my savings and it goes mostly to my mum."

"What if I told you we could spend much more than that now?... like ten thousand?"

His eyes flared open, "what?!! How's that possible... nah, you're pulling my legs." He shifted from the bed but Fiona was quick to straddle him, placing wet hot kisses on his lips. Otis seemed to soon forget about their conversation until she pulled away.

"I'm serious snail, let's leave here. The only reason I get to spend day time with you is because the master hasn't been around for a while and it's eating at our relationship. Let's go away. Drop your resignation letter for him tonight and let's leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" He cried.

"Yeah, I've already dropped mine off, don't care if that old lady sees it on time or not." She made an eye roll but palmed his face for emphasis. "I have money now, lots of it so we can finally stop working at the Brick  mansion like we're begging for crumbs. I'm tired of hiding our relationship, stealing glances from afar, watching you serve that ungrateful bastard who has little regard for you, for people like us."

"B-but he's not that bad?"

"He is! He treats you like a nobody, he barely acknowledged my existence this afternoon and I loath the sight of that his lap dog... that old wench!"

"Fiona!" Otis exclaimed hoisting her off his laps, he stood to match her height. Well, she was a bit shorter than him. "You say that like he's the worst guy in the world, you don't expect a man of his radar to condescend to our level? It's normal for someone who pays you to see you lesser and with his known personality."

Fiona frowned harder, unable to understand where he was coming from. "I don't care if that's what it is, I'm tired of working here. It's exhausting and full of hypocrisy."

"How did you get the money?... the ten thousand?"

Her lips shut under his scrutinizing gaze. "You know, I did some job."

"What kinda job?"

"Some kind, look it doesn't matter how okay? What matters is that we can finally be free."

"No! Fi, it does matter to me how my girlfriend who is a full time gardener suddenly makes ten thousand dollars! That's suspicious."

"Is that all there is to me huh? A damn gardener?"

"Yes that's it, unless you stole it, did you?" His eyes flared in suspicion.

"No I didn't!"

"Then how?... how Fiona?"

Her hands spread out by the sides as she came to a conclusion. "I did a dirty job for a big name okay, it's done I'm done with them, free as a bird," she flapped her hands by the side mimicking a flying bird. "But if you think I'm going to regret my actions and stay here, with you in this suffocating hole then you're wrong Otis, I'm leaving, with or without you!"

He watched her stride off like she didn't mean the world to him, like the words she'd spoken didn't scream suspicious.

******

You know that dreadful feeling that fills your belly with worry and anxiety when the person on the other line is taking longer than expected to pick up? Otis had been feeling the same way for the past twenty four hours. Hours after Fiona had left, it dawned on him how brutish he'd been to her during their heated exchange. Not so much should be blamed on him, being a bit on the spectrum, he found it difficult to understand people's feelings and reactions to certain situations. He was blunt at her and he had only realized it when she wouldn't pick his call or text back. 

For the umpteenth time, Otis watched the phone ring and went straight to voicemail. He sighed and tucked it away to focus on driving his boss to the office as his schedule required.

Theodore strode out of the building, in a black Giorgio Armani suit and the most expensive jacket Otis had only ever seen on men like him. And as usual he had a deep frown on his face, shoulders stiff as a rock and a brooding yet fearsome shadow casting behind his demeanor.  The man was terrifying at best, it took every ounce of confidence in Otis to work around Theodore Newman. Quickly, he pulled the door open and tipped a bow letting the man settle inside the car before shutting the door.

He hurriedly went around and took the driver's seat. "Sir, no short stops? Just the office." It was a routine to always make sure of their destination before driving off.

"Yes, Otis." He confirmed. His tender heart warmed at the sound of his name. In hindsight, unlike what Fiona had said about Theodore, Otis didn't care about those silly facts. He was okay with his job, the little recognitions from working with a powerful man like Theodore Newman. He didn't treat him like they were buddies but he at least accorded him some form of respect. Otis did his job diligently, was never questioned about his work ethic. His boss was a simple man who expected his employees to make life easier for him.

But simple wouldn't be the words to describe him with when he was involved with you business wise, he tended to bring out the enemy in people, agitate them to the point of hate and vengeance.

"Can you drive faster and stop letting these buttheads overtake you?" Theo's anger laced words throttled Otis, he glanced at him through the front mirror before stepping harder on the pedal. He was so lost in thought that he'd forgotten to change gear. As the speed accelerated, the beautiful N&M logo on the dashboard jingled to life, such little detail reminding him he was now on their regular speedometer.

When they got to the skyline tower where he'd rented one of the floors for his office. Theodore rushed to the elevator, needing to get to his office at best. Dean Abbot had questioned Jemaa and she admitted to having an idea of the suspect.

According to her, she'd bumped into him at the club the night of the incident. But when Dean checked the footages there was no record of Jema's arrival as well. The whole time had been wiped off the CCTV. So conclusively, Jemaa and the suspect Tyler had arrived almost at the same time, reasons why their both arrivals weren't on the footages.

How could he not have seen that?.... The loop holes, the facts... one fact still remained true, which was that Colonel Freeman had a hand in every attempt made at his life.

Theo's mind was set on revenge, a bloody kind. Where blood was drawn, he didn't cower in fear or request legal actions, rather he took pleasure in bathing in that of his enemy's. But first things first, a plan had to be hatched.
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What a chapter, phew