Chapter 18 - The Unexpected

Sharaina sat bored on her golden throne. Two maidens fanned her with green vines while one held out a plate of berries. Standing on her right side was Wadose.

Vice commander Melonina approached her and bowed down. "My queen, great leader of Dark Star. It has come to my attention that Akirexer needs to feed if she has to progress in her training." She said without lifting her head up to Sharaina.

"I am aware of that. Take her to hunt in Africa. That place is crawling of vampires. I shall inform Commander Ronitte of your arrival." Sharaina authorized.

"Yes, my queen."

"You may leave at once." Sharaina ordered Melonina and she got up and left.

Wadose turned to Sharaina and cleared his throat to capture her attention. "My queen, do you think that she will return? Earth is her home and there are also chances of her going insane after feeding for the first time." he humbly asked with his hand on his chest and head bowed.

Sharaina crossed her legs. "Whether she returns or not is up to her. Fact is that no matter where she goes, our pact still remains intact."

"Yes, you are right my queen. Forgive me for asking such a foolish question. May I call in the maidens again?" he asked after seeing Sharaina wipe her forehead.

Sharaina got up. "No, I am going to take a nap. Do not disturb me."

****

Rose strutted into the office the next morning paying no attention to everyone. She was heading straight to Mr Martin's office. After what she saw last night, she demanded answers. She completely lost her trust in Steve.

"What is your involvement with Danny Packet?" She asked as she stormed into Martin's office.

"Maybe if you calm down and stop attracting attention, I will tell you." Mr Martin answered with a scowl.

Rose turned around and saw the other employees quickly turn their heads away. She forgot that just like her office, Mr Martin's office was made of see through glass. She took a deep breath and sat down.

Mr Martin took out his laptop. He proceeded to play Whitney's sex tape with Kelvin White to her.

"What you see here is the link I had with Danny Packet." he said and not waiting for a response from Rose he continued, "That man was blackmailing the firm. He told me to pay him $500 000 to keep the tape from going viral. He came here to collect the cheque that morning you saw him."

Rose gasped in shock. "So, that's why you fired Whitney."

"You, my co-founders and I are the only ones in the firm who have seen this. I'm going to keep it that way." Mr Martin

permanently deleted the video. "Now, may you please excuse me? I have a lot of work to do."

Without another word Rose left the office. She felt perplexed by everything. Mr Martin, however, gave her an eye-opener. He had proven to not be involved in anything suspicious with the Packet brothers.

Rose's attention was now solely on the Packet brothers. How did they get a copy of Whitney's sex tape? What was their involvement with her and most importantly, were they involved in her murder? How was Steve involved in all this?

Rose needed to know.

Steve and Whitney had a great relationship. It was so good that their break up astonished her. The fact that they remained friends despite everything just showed how close they were. This now made her wonder why Steve would harm Whitney.

"Good morning, Stevie." Rose greeted Steve in her usual flirty tone as she walked past him down the hall. It was best that he didn't know that she knew his dirty little secret. Not yet anyway.

"Good morning Rose." Steve responded.

Rose went straight to Rajat's desk. She leaned over and he accidentally glanced at her cleavage. Rajat broke out into a cough and averted his eyes from the ambush before him.

"In my office now." Rose told him with so much seriousness that he got up immediately.

****

Steve was working on a probono case involving a young man suing his father for defamation of character. Steve spaced out while his ears heard what the man across him was saying. Steve tried his best to concentrate, but he couldn't get his mind off his brothers. He couldn't help but suspect that they had something to do with Whitney's death.

Whitney was found dead in the woods by campers. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises. He knew that his brothers were ruthless rapist misogynists.

Whitney could have given them a hard time so that may have been why she wasn't raped. Steve rubbed his clean-shaven strong jaw.

His thoughts were interrupted when his telephone rang. "Hello Amanda," Amanda was his secretary.

"Sir, a doctor from the St Patrick Hospital would like to talk to you." she formally said in her rehearsed tone.

"Please put him through." Steve permitted and apologized to his client.

Steve listened to the beeping sound at the other end of the line. He wondered why a doctor would want to speak to him.

Did something happen to Asher? I hope she hasn't had an asthma attack. She sometimes forgets her inhaler. Steve flashed a faint smile to ease the awkwardness between him and his client.

"Hello, I'm I speaking to Mr Steve Rodolf?" a frail voice with a thick Indian accent sounded.

Steve cleared his throat. "Yes you are speaking to him." he confirmed.

"I am Dr. Patel Gurmeet. One of my patients, Luis White, is requesting to speak to you." he said

Luis White? "Alright, when can I pass through? Steve asked the doctor, a little surprised at the sudden request.

"He demands to see you immediately. He says that he has something important to tell you."

"Alright then please inform him that I am on my way." Steve hung up. His response was met with a scowl from his client. "I am so sorry Mr Taylor. I have something very urgent to attend to. May we reschedule our meeting to later this afternoon?" to his relief, his client agreed.

After his client left the office, Steve picked up his jacket, told his secretary he was heading to the hospital. On his way out, he caught Rose glaring at him from the comfort of her office.

"What's her problem?" Steve wondered.

"Gosh, I just don't trust him." Rose whispered to Rajat with disgust.

"It could be a mere coincidence that he met up with the Packet brothers last night." Rajat tried to reason with her.

Rose looked at him with her nostrils stretched and lips pulled. "How much more foolish can you be Rajat? Steve is Robert Packet. In fact, I think he had a hand in Whitney's murder."

Rajat gasped and looked over his shoulder. "That is a serious accusation Miss Peterson. You could get in trouble for that." he rebuked in a whisper.

"Oh pish posh. I know that bastard had something to do with her murder. I can feel it in my gut."

"What are you planning on doing? Go to the police?"

"Those idiots won't believe me without proof. We will have to keep digging deeper. As a matter of fact, that thing I placed on Danny's truck is a GPS tracker." Rose said with a grin. "Tracking him down won't be difficult."

Rajat helplessly sat there looking at Rose. He knew that nothing he could say would change her mind. She was so keen to follow this dangerous path that she had chosen to take.

Rajat observed her expression shift from confidence to pain. It was at that moment when he realized that everything meant so much more to her.

"A good friend of mine was murdered and no one knows who did it. After everything I have seen, I can't help but fear that Steve had something to do with it. I must get to the bottom of this." Rose set her dull eyes on Rajat who was furrowing at her. "Whitney deserves justice."

Rose turned on her computer and keyed in commands. A map and a resting red dot flashed on her screen. Rajat was able to see the reflection of the dot beeping through Rose's grey eyes.

"This dot will be my starting point." Rose proclaimed and locked eyes with Rajat. "So, God help me."