Chapter 7: what Viv knows.
1279 Words
The elevator door opened on the fortieth floor,Amelia stepped out slowly.
The corridor was definitely the same as the last time she was here. Dark woods,clean lines,one light was on at the far end of the corridor.
She walked towards it,her hands were steady,her face was composed. She stopped outside his office door.
Through the glass wall she could see him standing at his desk,his jacket was on and his phone was in his ear.
His ice blue eyes moving across something on the monitor. Chad had not seen Amelia yet. Amelia stood outside outside the glass wall and looked at Chad Henderson for a moment,she actually really looked at him the way she did not allow herself to look at him at the elevator and when he called her to his office the first time.
Amelia turned around and walked back to the elevator,she pressed the button and walked in and the door closed.
She pulled out her phone and typed a message to Viv.
‘I'll be there tonight by eight o'clock.’ she typed.
Amelia put the phone in her bag and watched the elevator number descend. She breathed out a sigh of relief.
Viv lived in a second floor apartment in Brickwell,it had things her office did not. It was warm,slightly chaotic. She had books on every surface,a throw blanket on the couch,a photograph on the wall,a picture of Viv and her mother,Viv at someone's graduation. She also had a photograph of her somewhere coastal with her hair out and her head thrown back in laughter.
Amelia stood in the doorway.
“You came," Viv said from behind her.
She was in the kitchen already pouring two glasses of red wine.
" I said I would,did you not get my text?” Amelia said. She came in and closed the door.
“sit,” Viv said.
Amelia sat on the couch. Vivienne came out of the kitchen and handed her a glass and sat across from her.
Amelia held her glass,staring at Viv.
“I need you to understand something before I say anything else" Viv said.
Her voice was completely different here than it was in her office. A slight terror was evident.
" What I am about to reveal to you I have been carrying alone for eighteen months. I have not told anyone,not even my mother" Viv paused.
“I also need you to know that the reason I am telling you now is because you are my friend and I cannot keep this from my friend."
“Okay," Amelia said quietly.
Viv took in a deep breath.
" Eighteen months ago, I was assigned to do an internal audit on the archived server,” she said.
“It's an administrative work, reconciling old files,making sure archives are clean" Viv turned her wine glass slowly in her hands
“i was three hours into it when I found a folder that had been buried inside three other folders inside a directory that hadn't been accessed for over four years” Viv looked at Amelia.
“You don't bury a folder inside three other folders inside an untouched directory by accident,Amelia. That was done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing.”
“What was in the folder?” Amelia asked.
Viv set her glass of wine down.
" An acquisition file” she said. “A full documentation of the hostile takeover Henderson capital executed approximately five years ago. A small investment firm family owned it, twenty years in operation" Viv folded her hands on her lap.
“The acquisition was structured to look legitimate on the surface,standard competitive offers,standard due diligence documentation. But going through it thoroughly,the way the target firm's assets were valued,the timeline of the offer, against the timeline of certain information Henderson capital should not have access too” Viv stopped
“It was a fraud," Amelia said.
“It was a fraud," Viv confirmed
" The document was signed by…” she looked at Amelia
BUZZZ BUZZZ.
Viv phone rang.
It was sitting on the table between them faced up, and they both saw the screen. It was an unknown number.
Viv went very still. Viv had the fear of someone who knew who was on the other end of the unknown number.
" Viv,” Amelia said carefully.
Viv reached out and turned the phone face down on the table.
“The signature,Viv" Amelia said, her voice coming out low. " You were about to tell me about the signature”
Viv looked at Amelia, her mouth opened and she asked about speaking.
Her phone vibrated again. Viv pressed her lips together,she picked up the phone and looked at her screen. She stared intently with those brown eyes. She stood up from the couch.
" Give me a minute,” she said. She tried to control her voice.
“I just need…just give me a minute Amelia” she said.
She walked to the kitchen,Amelia sat on the couch with her wine glass in both hands.
Amelia tried to listen to the call Viv took,she couldn't hear the words,just the most murmur of Viv's voice.
The call lasted for forty seconds.
Viv came back to the living room,
She stood in her doorway between the kitchen with her phone held at her side.
" Everything okay?” Amelia asked.
“Fine, it was nothing," Viv said.
Amelia looked at her.
Amelia dropped her wine glass that was now half full,the throw blanket was slightly away from Amelia. The apartment that was once warm now had a tension of something neither of them could explain.
“Viv,the signature?" Amelia said again gently.
Viv sat back down on the couch,she looked at her hands.
" Not tonight,Amelia,” she said sadly.
Amelia was taken aback by her sudden change in attitude.
“Viv.." she called out
" I'm sorry” Viv looked up at her.
Viv looked frightened,it was a feeling that Amelia could not put together to understand.
“I'm sorry,Amelia. I want to tell you, I am going to tell you” she paused sadly
" Just..not tonight. Give me a few days,let me figure things out first." She said,
“Figure out what? What are you talking about Viv!” Amelia snapped.
Viv didn't answer. Instead she picked up her wine glass.
" Stay and finish your wine,” Viv said.
Her voice softened back into normal.
" Tell me something that has nothing to do with Henderson capital, tell me about your mother,tell me about your father. " She looked at Amelia
Amelia looked at her friend,she looked at the fear she was trying so hard to hide.
Amelia sighed and told Viv about her father,the bad sung kitchen ones,she told Viv everything about her father.
Viv listened with her legs pulled up on the couch.
They both stayed till eleven.
Amelia walked to her car she had just hired.
Amelia sat in the car,she did not start the engine,she thought about the folded buried inside three other documents.
The acquisition file, the hostile takeover.
Amelia thought of her father sitting at the kitchen table not speaking a word for three days.
She thought of the phone call that had made Viv change into a frightened little girl.
She started the engine,she drove into the Miami night towards Wynwood,she told herself she was going to forget about all this tonight.
Amelia's phone lit up at the passenger's seat.
She glanced at the message,it was a text from Viv number.
‘Be careful Amelia,things are not always what they seem’ the text from Viv said, warming Amelia, but she ignored and kept on driving.
- Writer
