"Good morning sir." I looked over my shoulder and saw Shirley standing at ease with a large brown folder clutched in her grip and a firm smile plastered on her face. As she made her way towards my desk, I grabbed my daily dose of morning coffee while I pulled my other arm out of my pocket to receive the document from her, "What is this?" I asked, my brows crocked. Gently, I placed the mug on my desk while carefully opening the folder up and then scheming through it.
"The documents you requested for last week, in there contains all the information you need to know while considering taking up the idea of going on with the investment plan with Dyna-fintech group."
"Oh …" I nodded in satisfaction, "Good job." I placed the folder on the desk and grabbed the coffee mug. Halfway through to my lips, "You weren't at the emergency board meeting, what was that about?" I asked with my head gently jerked forward and my eye contact firm.
"I— I was busy at the administrations office today assisting with the new soon -to- be interns." She stuttered.
"And since when did that become a criteria for your job?" I slowly took a seat in my chair.
"My apologies sir." She bowed slightly.
"Never forget I could easily have you replaced. A stunt like that could cost you your job."
"My apologies sir." She bowed slightly with her knees bending forward.
"Also, have you heard from Devine?"
"Not since last week sir."
"Good… good." I placed the mug gently on the table and rubbed my fist gently in my hands as my mind clouded with thoughts of relief. Since Devine hadn't reached out in quite a while, it meant the scandal had completely died down and the world must have moved onto something or someone else's business. All that mattered was that I had gotten the police off my back coupled with some jobless strangers.
"Sir if you're asking to know the sit-rep of the scandal, Devine mentioned to me that we have nothing to worry about." Shirley added.
"Perfect. Although, you should have mentioned this to me earlier instead of waiting till I ask."
"I'm sorry sir, I assumed he had already told you all about it."
"Please leave now." I said and watched her humbly walk away.
Having that heavy weight lifted off my shoulders was the best feeling I've had in a long time, now that I wasn't on the verge of watching my entire career go down the drain, I grabbed my coffee and took a little spin on my chair with my gaze buried in beauty of the bustling streets of Los Angeles. my mind was flooded with so many ideas, ideas and plans that were put on pause to make sure my entire empire doesn't go crashing down. A lot of time, financial resources and effort were put into making sure the scandal was sealed, it all paid off and things could now go back to normal."
A moment later, I was interrupted by my ringing phone. I pulled it out of my pocket, "Unknown caller…" I mumbled under my breathe with arched brows, "Hello? Micheal Donovan on the line." I answered.
"I know your secret." Said by some sort of automated baritone. That was odd, I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the screen in utter confusion, "Who is this?!"
"I know your secret, I have evidence to prove that you were really involved in the theft of what was left of Leonardo Fibonacci's company and also I know and have proof that you were involved in his murder attack."
Hearing those words, I had completely forgotten how to breathe for a few second, I was short of words and instantly hung up the phone and angrily threw it against the table after I figured I had spoken too soon about this case. Literally few seconds ago, I was basking in relief, Who was this nitwit and what do they know?
I sprang off my seat and paced around the room, left to right, the tip of my thumb rubbing against the edge of my chin while I tried to wrap my head around what all this could be about. I grabbed my phone once more and noticed I couldn't even call back, immediately I dialed Devine's phone number.
"A beautiful morning, Mr Donovan." He greeted, sounding overly cheerful over the phone.
"Have you heard any news on the Fibonacci scandal?"
"The Fibonacci scandal?!" He lowered his tone immediately, "Not at all, successfully that matter has been swept under the rug, the investigators have closed the case. The folders have been buried… You have nothing to worry about."
"How sure are you about that?"
"I'm certain, Donovan. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." He repeated firmlyx
"Hmm…. Are you by any chance in the city?"
"Donovan— why did you call me? Really."
"I just received a call from an unknown person who mentioned that he has evidence to prove …" I stole a glance at the door and then at the camera hanging at the edge of the wall. I took a step closer to the floor-to-ceiling window and lowered my tone, "… Evidence to prove I had something to do with Fibonacci's decease." I whispered.
Almost immediately, Devine burst into loud laughter, "Sorry about that." he winced, "it's just funny how you received a call from a random number who said a bunch of stuff and you're already being paranoid—"
"I'm not being paranoid, I'm just being careful here, you know what I have on the line. I'm not sure how this is funny to you."
"It could be a dumb kid who's just trying to scare the shit out of you, and it's definitely working."
"What are you saying Devine?"
"I'm saying you're paranoid and you should ignore it."
"Hmm … alright, I'll call you if anything comes up." I hung up the phone, letting the curiousity eat through me deeply. Before I could even put the phone down, the same caller was calling back, I glared right at my phone screen, contemplating on whether to take the call or not, "Who is this?!"
"You will have to find out yourself."
"Stop calling this number."
"You have to meet up to my conditions… unless you're okay with living the rest of your life in jail."
I was mute, short of words, I was uncertain of what to think.
"Your time is ticking, Micheal … you're running out of time." They said in a musical tone.
"What do you want?" I said through my gritted teeth, feeling the pressure coat me like a robe of weakness.
"Meet me at the storage company at avenue street if you really want to know who I am… I mean that's your choice, if you're uninterested then I'd just assume you badly wanna go to jail. It's 9 o'clock, Micheal. Just one minute late and I'd assume you wanna have a taste of prison and before I forget, come alone."
"What d—" before I could finish the sentence, I was cut off. This person must have some nerve. At the same time I thought, chances of this being a prank caller were very slim. I was already starting to feel agitated, how did they get my phone number in the first place!
I couldn't risk loosing everything I've worked so hard to achieve all these years. In that minute I made up my mind to find out what they really wanted. At this point, I was willing to
do whatever it took to keep their mouth shut. I made up my mind to meet up with them.