Chapter 14: Chapter 14

All the walls Marcus had been building to keep himself from having any more feelings for Jane came crashing down when he saw her that night. That Saturday night. The red cheery gown she wore brought out her perfect hourglass body. Her blonde hair brought out the beauty of her eye and complimented her lips.

"You look beautiful..." Marcus could not help but admit.

Jane blushed and nodded.

Later that evening after Jane made a stop at her favourite cafe, the one Suzan introduced her to before leaving for the party.

The conference room had been cleared and beautified to suit the occasion. The party was flooded with expensive drinks and food. Jane was pissed, angry even. 'How can a company facing bankruptcy spend this kind of money for a party just to congratulate me for doing my job.' She wondered. She was not at peace with the whole thing. She felt like the accountant was wrongly accused and arrested to cover the real culprit. But she was willing to play along until he is innocent or not. Without meaning to, her thoughts drifted to her assistant Emilia. Her siblings had called yesterday and she was forced to tell them the truth. They were all aggrieved by the news, vexed even. They were angry that they were not told of the news and wanted their sister sent to them immediately.

"Emilia is getting the best treatment here, I do not think you will want to interrupt that and risk her life. But if you really want to see her, I guess I will arrange two tickets for you to fly in to see her." Jane was not sure why she did that. She knew she was not a monster like she tries to prove she is but she wasn't good at being nice either.

"You seem very distant, are you okay?"

Jane blinked back to reality and glanced at Marcus. "Just thinking about Emilia."

Marcus sniffed sharply as if the mention of Emilia's name stabbed at his wounds.

"Who could have done such a thing to her and why?"

He slip his hand into the pockets of his pants as he sighted dolefully. "I know that this company belongs to your father and you will do everything in your power to protect its reputation but I think the persons responsible for the state Emilia is in now are tied to this company."

Jane stared at him in a way that suggests Marcus should keep speaking.

"Emilia was stabbed a few days after she began finding information about the company. Did you notice that?"

Jane's eyes were fixed on nothing in particular as she thought about what Marcus said. "I never thought of it that way." She said. " I mean I did suspect that maybe the criminals are from the company but I didn't think that someone will actually want to kill her because of the work she was doing."

"Or else she was getting to the truth!" Jane and Marcus said in union.

"Oh my God, I cannot believe this?!" Jane said pacing the small space between them. "This must be it! I cannot believe I did not think of this." Jane's excitement was evident in her voice.

Marcus scoffed. He then quickly glanced at Jane, forced a smile and left.

"What is with your bodyguard?" Susan asked irritated. "Why is he acting weird?"

Jane too was shocked by Marcus' behaviour. She had no idea why he acted that way but she felt he must have a reason so she lied. "He was confessing his feelings to me, I guess he felt embarrassed when he saw you."

"Oh, my, servants these days just don't know their place anymore." Suzan blunted.

Jane felt funny when Suzan called Marcus her servant.

"Ex- except if you like him to. I totally support you, whatever your decision." Suzan chipped in when she noticed Jane's expression cringed.

"Tis! Why would you think that?" Jane felt the need to clarify herself. She does not want anyone going around thinking she likes her bodyguard. "I mean servants these days are something else. Be nice to them and they think you have a crush on them."

Suzan laughed. "I found some papers in one of the boxes packed from the company's ex-accountant, I think you will want to see them." As Susan was filling her in on details Jane felt frightened. This was exactly the kind of work Emilia was doing before she almost got killed. She feared that the same fate may befall Suzan.

Jane panicked and immediately held tight to Susan's shoulder. "Promise me you will be careful!" She cried.

"Jane, are you okay? What are you talking about?"

"Just promise me."

"Okay, I promise! I will be careful."

Jane gently let go of her shoulder and exhaled. "I am sorry." She whispered her eyes apologetic. "I panicked."

Suzan nodded. "Are you afraid what happened to your assistant will repeat itself?" Susan's voice was gentle and sympathetic.

Jane nodded. She saw no reason to lie to her new friend. Especially if she wants to keep her out of danger.

"Oh, Jane." Suzan took Jane in her arms and hugged her.

Almost immediately, the CEO stood and drew all attention to himself by hitting his glass of wine with a fork. He made a toast to Jane. And after publicly congratulating her and giving her a trophy she thought was useless. The remaining hours were just a blur of her responding to congratulations and shaking hands.

She and Marcus fled the building the moment she got the chance.

"So why did you act weird when you saw Suzan?"

Marcus shrugged feeling a little embarrassed. "I just did not trust her."

"Why, did she do something worth suspecting?"

Marcus shooked his head. "No, it's crazy you just feel like I have to protect anything that has to do with Emilia even the thinnest information."

"Oh," Jane said awkwardly.

They remained quiet during the rest of the drive home.

After dinner in their various rooms, they decided to check Emilia's room for clues. After the incident that day, the maid cleaned the room and since then none had visited the place again.

"I think we will get every information we want on her iPad."

"Yes." Marcus agreed.

After checking the most likely place it should be to no avail, Marcus called all the maids and security. "Did any of you pick the iPad Emilia was using before the accident?" He asked.

They all denied picking it. The maid who cleaned the room a lady in her late teens recalled placing the iPad on Emilia's reading table when she was cleaning. "That was where I left it sir." She replied in her shaky voice.

Marcus sat in Emilia's room after the maids had left to think. The iPad could not have been taken by the criminals. They were caught before they left the building and the police did not find any iPad with them.

"What is that?" Jane asked. Her voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked at where she was pointing and saw a piece of paper sticking from under the bed.

Marcus bent down and raised the bed. There was a whole lot more paper under the bed.

He and Jane took them all out and began going through them.

"These are records of bank transactions and..." Jane's voice trailed off as she laid eyes on details of the company the CEO is starting in Hamburg. Emilia was talking about it to her the other day but she was too stressed to pay attention and before she would have time to ask again Emilia had been stabbed. "This man is literary stealing my father's company. He is stealing our money, our clients, and also our vision."

"Umm... Jane, I think you may want to see this."

Jane turned to see what Marcus was showing her and for a moment she could not feel her heart beating. Her head was spinning. "This must be a mistake. My eye must be deceiving me. Why is there a picture of the CEO kissing Suzan? And most importantly why is Suzan not fighting him, why does she look like she is enjoying the kiss?"