Chapter 8: Marcus

Marcus was getting tired of listening to Emma's spiel. Sure, the threats were creative, but you could only go through so many ways of saying, "I will kill you if you hurt so much as a hair on Vivian."

He managed to divert her attention by bringing up Carina. Marcus was aware that Emma would know who they were and probably the basics that Vivian must have told her. Either way, Carina's family was well known in the upper circles and Emma's family would be the ones to know the most. Emma was also made aware of his plans and she promised that her family wouldn't interfere.

With everything settled, he hung up the phone and turned to look at Vivian. She seemed to be enjoying herself under the shade and he could see from here, the slight smile dancing on her lips. His own mouth was tugging up but dropped when he saw a person approach her. Marcus sat up straighter, alert. Pocketing Vivian's phone, he began walking towards her.

He could see her smile at the other person and take their hand, letting them pull her up. A gust of wind swept over the area, dislodging some leaves. A few were ensnared in Vivian's hair and they helped her pull it out, laughing.

Marcus couldn't help the prick of jealousy that hit him. Then he remembered that he shouldn't be feeling this way. But no one would know. So he allowed himself to feel.

Vivian turned, and noticed him looking in their direction. She said something to the person and jogged back to Marcus.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting." Vivian said, "Did you finish talking?'

"Yeah." Marcus handed her the phone, glancing over her head at the retreating figure. "Emma's a good friend."

Vivian beamed, "Yeah, I'm glad I could meet her again."

Marcus nodded, "It's getting late now. Need me to walk you home?"

She shook her head, "It's fine, the sun is still up. And my house is not far."

"Oh, alright then." Marcus said hesitantly.

Vivian waved and turned, "See you around then, maybe?"

"Yeah, bye."

Marcus stopped by his parents' house on the way to his apartment. HIs father appeared to be showing signs of withdrawal. Complaining about headaches and trouble sleeping, his mother grumbled. "If your father had quit before, we wouldn't be having all these issues now."

They began regular treatments at the hospital. It was lucky that when Marcus's dad was diagnosed, the lung cancer was still confined within the lung and hadn't spread anywhere else. Surgery wasn't possible, so his father was undergoing radiation therapy five times a week.

"How are you feeling?" Marcus turned to ask his father.

He grunted, "Eh, I could be better." his father stretched on the couch. "I feel a lot more tired all the time now." his sentence was punctuated with a loud yawn.

"Go to sleep old man." his mother teased. "He's been taking naps a lot so I get to watch TV." her eyes crinkled mischievously

"I'm glad you two are feeling alright." Marcus was relieved to hear that at least one of his actions was going well.

"What about you?" Marcus's mother sipped her cup of water. "Business isn't too stressful?"

"It's going okay. Starting a new project." he answered vaguely.

"Remember to sleep earlier, don't stay up too late. And eat three meals a day and come home once a week so we can have dinner together." his mom badgered.

Marcus smiled, "Yes, I got it Ma." Before, he would have been annoyed that she was so pushy, but he understood now how lonely they might be feeling. Throughout college and then the rest of his short life, Vivian had always been with him, so he was never really alone. But returning to his empty apartment now, it was unbearably isolating.

Seemingly satisfied, his mother nodded and didn't push further. Marcus did end up having a late dinner with his family and spent some time with them before leaving.

When he got back to his apartment, he checked his laptop and saw a few emails but he ignored them, opting to focus on the single one sent by Adrian.

It's complete.

Marcus snorted at the dramatics. Scrolling down further to find the actual report, he found the details and smiled when he got to the end. Looks like his plan was a success.

The next morning when he got into the office, he was immediately chased down by Adrian. Grasping Marcus by the shoulders, Adrian shook him. "I can't believe it fucking worked. You're absolutely insane."

He grabbed Adrian's hands and pulled them off his shoulders. "Of course." Marcus waved at his employees as he walked to his office, Adrian trailing behind.

"Wouldn't this be blackmail?" Adrian settled in the armchair opposite Marcus, tugging at his earring.

"It's news." Marcus stated. "And they paid us to take it down."

"It was a million dollars." Adrian said in awe. "And that wasn't even the worst of what you made me look into."

"It's a start. Good job." Marcus fiddled with his pen. "You should take a couple days off. Spend some time with your boyfriend. Noah, isn't it?"

Adrian's eyes widened. "Are you for real?" His face broke into a wide grin. "You can't take it back."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "I won't. I'm not that mean."

"I take it everything went well with Vivian then?" Adrian asked, propping his feet on Marcus's desk.

Marcus shrugged. He opened the company budget and began adjusting it for their newly acquired funds. This was going to give a nice boost to his company. It was vital that he grew as fast as possible, not only for his father, but to make sure that he can protect those close to him.

Adrian sighed, "Well, you can't have everything I guess." He got up and gripped Marcus on the shoulder, "If you need to talk, I'm open to listen."

Marcus patted Adrian's hand, "Thanks man. I might take you up on that sometime."

"Alright them I'm going to head out. See you Thursday."

"Yeah, bye." Marcus waved to Adrian as he shut the door behind him. He was lucky to have Adrian working for him. They had been good friends in college and Adrian was the first one to follow Marcus as he started his business. It pays to be the younger sibling that doesn't have to live up to their parents' expectations.

He pulled up the folder that contained the results of Adrian's research. It wasn't going to be likely that he would be able to use all of the information since he knew his actions would change the course of events. Already, he was getting notifications on Camilla's falling stocks and the public has become skeptical of the company.

This was temporary though, and it wasn't going to be enough to take them down, but Marcus was patient. He could wait. The document was an outline for bigger events, but he filled in smaller things that while not impactful before, could be leveraged against Camilla this time. His cards just need to be played at the right time.

"Now, when should I expose this?" Marcus tapped the track-pad, looking at the highlighted bullet point on the screen.

A knock on the door drew his attention and he closed the document. "Come in." he called.

He was expecting one of his employees. Or maybe Adrian, who might have forgotten something. And in his wildest dreams, maybe Vivian. But instead, it was a nightmare.

"What are you doing here, Carina?" Marcus gritted out through clenched teeth.

She settled herself on the armchair that Adrian had been sitting in earlier. Marcus made a note to sanitize it afterwards. Also, hire more security.

"How could you lie to me?" Carina pouted. "You were acting kind of suspicious yesterday so I did a little investigation. How's your ex?"

He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. Marcus wasn't sure whether he could restrain himself from launching her out the window behind him if he didn't stay away from her. "So what?" he asked, "I still won't date you."

She pursed her lips. "I don't get it. Literally everything about me is better than Vivian. And I can help you achieve what you want. What about me is so bad that you won't accept me?"

Marcus raised a brow, "Really? Let's start with how you decided to look into my personal life when it was really none of your business. Not to mention the fact that you would chase me around for months even after I started dating Vivian, and then you would harass her when I wasn't around. Is that enough for you?"

He remembered those times when Vivian would have to replace textbooks, or ask professors for new handouts when she said she lost it. Marcus never believed her, and day, he caught someone who was rifling through Vivian's bag in the library.

They finally fessed up that Carina was the one who paid them to do it, she would never do the dirty work herself. There wasn't enough proof for Marcus to report it, although the incidents did stop after that.

Some days, Vivian would knock on his room door and burrow her way under his sheets. He didn't need to be told that she was having a bad day, and they would spend that night cuddling, letting the soft sounds of a movie play from his laptop. Marcus grilled Emma and Luca on what was happening and when he brought them with him to the dean, he claimed that there was nothing they could do without evidence.

Marcus hated how people catered to those with money and status. At the time, he swore not to become like them, but in the end, he went down the same path.

Carina looked taken aback, "I didn't think it was that bad. My dad was the one who told me all of that."

"And you're going to blame him for not seeing the wrongs of your actions?"

She bit her lip, conflicted, "I will have to think about it." Carina stood up to leave. "I'm sorry if my actions hurt you or Vivian."

"You should be apologizing to her, not me." Marcus said.

Carina nodded, then left.

Marcus exhaled, sinking back into his chair. He pitied Carina for being brought up that way, but he wasn't going to forgive her actions. How would he do that anyways, when he couldn't even forgive himself?

Mindlessly, he worked through the rest of the day, going through the motions. How did he ever find work so compelling that he would have to stay late nearly every day? Marcus yawned, stretching his arms up and twisting to relieve his muscles. Poking his head out of his office, he saw the last trickle of employees packing up to leave. He should be heading back as well.

While he packed up his laptop, Marcus's mind drifted.

In the past, it would have been unthinkable for him to leave early, and rarely did he ever leave at a normal time. He would even work on the weekends. Marcus groaned, no wonder Vivian hated him now. She wasted so much time staying with him, and he couldn't even be bothered to make time for her.

Marcus got into the car, slouching over and resting his head on the steering wheel. The yellow street lights made halos on the empty asphalt.

"I'm such a shitty partner."