Patricia hurried out of the villa, a soft wooly scarf wrapped around her neck. The cold rain this morning was unexpected as she had somewhere to be. Luckily, it had stopped and her guest was still waiting for her at their destination.
She pushed some strands of hair away from her view and hastened her steps, heading towards the car park to charter a cab. This made no sense. Driving her cars would have been better but how could she do that when Morris had installed a tracking device under all of them?
He thought she didn’t know that, obviously. If she wanted to meet with her lawyer, she had to do it the safe way.
Even without using her cars, Patricia had a feeling that Morris was watching her but she didn’t know how to avoid it. She had to meet up with her lawyer today and talk about ways to get her company back.
Why couldn’t she just talk to her lawyer on the phone or through a video? Well, she just realized recently that Morris was listening in on her phone conversations. His bodyguard did it by his order, of course! She almost fainted when she realized her call was being recorded. She was just glad she discovered it before she spilled her secret of getting the company through the phone.
Whew! That was close. She hoped he wouldn’t be able to figure out what she was about to say before she cut the call.
She didn’t know what it was but there was this nagging feeling inside of her telling her to be extra careful today. It made her terrified. She rarely felt like this. Should she just turn and go back to the villa? Should she cancel the appointment with her lawyer?
She had been so nervous lately that she had not taken some time to listen to the recent conversations between Morris and Judith. And it only got worse this morning. To ease her worrying mind, she handed over all the previous important recordings between Morris and Judith to her nanny, Juliet.
Holding the hands of her middle-aged nanny, she had whispered this morning “Juliet, promise me that by all means if I don’t come back today at all for whatever reason, promise me that you will hand over these recordings to George and Rachel. Promise me that you will not allow these recordings to fall into the wrong hands.”
Thinking about it now, Patricia wasn’t even sure why she had said those words. Halting in front of the car park, she boarded a taxi quickly.
She got down when she got to her destination, paid the fee and made her way inside the building in front of her.
The largest cafe in this area was still as beautiful as ever since the last time she came here. This was one of her favorite places to relax. She walked forward a little and noticed a woman with brown wavy hair sitting at the left end of the cafe room. The woman waved at her and Patricia stepped forward to meet the woman who would help her get Imperial Hub Limited back in her name.
She didn’t know how any of this would turn out at the end but she would be a weakling if she didn’t try at all. For years, she had been an absent mother to George, always putting his father’s feelings first before his. For each and every mistake she had made, she was willing to pay for it.
But first things first, she had to get her company back and have it finalized in George’s name as the rightful owner. Even Arthur Reeves would approve of her decision if he was here. He definitely wanted his revenge against Morris too.
“Mrs Patricia, it’s good to see you again” the lady rose to her feet and they shook hands. Setting down, she signaled towards the opposite chair “Please, have a seat”
“Thank you. It’s good to see you again, Mrs Katherine”
Katherine chuckled “Oh, it’s nothing. I was wondering what would make you want to see me in person suddenly. You know, it’s been a while and your company is clearly doing fine.”
“Well, I just need to sort out something. It’s quite a serious matter and I just preferred a physical meeting over talking on the phone, you know?” Patricia laughed, trying to reduce the intensity of how nervous and worried she really felt.
“Hmm, I see. Well then, let’s get started”
“Have you gone through what I told you about last time? Is it possible?”
“Sure. About that, since Mr Morris clearly went against the contract he signed years ago stating that George would be the final CEO, that is his first mistake. Also….”
As they talked on for minutes, through the side of her eye, Patricia noticed a young man walk into the restaurant and settle at the opposite end of the cafe.
She didn’t know why but he looked familiar. Where had she seen him before?
Something about the young man creeped her out, she couldn’t place it….
Especially with the way he would cast glances over and over at her table section.
Patricia shivered as a thought crossed her mind. The young man was Morris’s eye….
Morris was watching her through him. Didn’t that mean he already knew what she was up to?
~~~~~*~~~~~
“Any update? What is it?” Judith yawned as Raymond stepped into Morris’s library. The weather was still so cold even though it was already afternoon.
Morris clicked on his laptop, browsing through some digital files and at the same time, keeping his ears open for what Raymond had to say.
“Sir, Patricia left the villa in a hurry about an hour ago, heading somewhere to meet with someone. I have assigned one of the other guys to keep an eye on her as you instructed”
“Meet with someone? In a hurry?” Judith asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Yes. She didn’t use any of her cars but fortunately, I already had someone following her” Raymond said
“Hmm…seems like she knows you are tracking her cars. She’s smarter than I thought” Judith chuckled, glancing at Morris.
“Anything else? Who is this person she is in a hurry to meet?” Morris asked, looking away from his laptop.
“I’m not exactly sure but it seems to be a lawyer”
Morris suddenly felt like ice cold water was poured on him. He pushed the laptop aside and raised an eyebrow at Raymond “A lawyer, you say?”
“Yes sir”
“That doesn’t sound good!” Judith stated
“I have the recording of her most recent call with the person she is to meet up with. During the call, she suddenly hung up midway. It seems she realized her call was being tracked” Raymond reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small black recorder.
“Play it, let’s hear it” Morris stated.
Morris folded his hands together, preparing for what was to come. He had a bad feeling about this. What else would Patricia be meeting a lawyer for if not…
The hairs at the back of his neck stood up when the recorder played the sentence before the final cut. Though her sentence was incomplete, even a deaf man could tell what she was going to say next if she didn’t cut the call.
“Unbelievable, Morris! She wants to get back this company!” Judith yelled in rage “I knew it right from the start. I knew she would try something like this. You were supposed to end her a long time ago. We always have new obstacles because you never finish things off neatly, Ugh!”
Morris placed a hand on his head. Patricia couldn’t just end things between them in peace. She wanted war and that is what he would give her. He tapped his knuckles on the wooden table, something he did when he was thinking deeply.
Patricia was a quiet but stubborn woman. That was something that everyone knew. Her stubbornness was passive and quiet, she wouldn’t shout or make any noise but she would get through with any decision she had made.
He knew that no matter what, she wouldn’t back down. If she wanted her company back, she would try by all means to see her plan through to the very end. Patricia would try everything until she breaks him just the way he had broken her.
He didn’t care about that. He wanted her out of the way, right now! It was time to put an end to the ‘hold’ of Patricia and his parents on his life. He owned this company now, it didn’t matter how he got to his position. It belonged to him!!
Anybody who had a problem with him being in charge here could as well rot away.
“So, she is meeting up with her lawyer so she can find a legal way to ruin me and get this company back?” Morris chuckled, a wicked grin on his lips. “Ah, Patricia. What a joker you are”
“You must not overlook this Morris. This is your only chance to put an end to all of this. How many more obstacles do we need to face before we do what’s best for us?”
It was indeed time to do what was best for himself and his plan. With James CEO ceremony coming up, he wanted everything to go perfectly, which means he had to clean things up quickly. If not, Patricia would be a nuisance.
Turning his chair slightly, he glanced at Raymond standing by his left side.
“Get rid of her”
Raymond blinked “What exactly do you mean sir?”
“End her before she steps her feet into this villa today. Let it be like a random bullet hit her. I want her dead today”