Friends and Enemies

Depression and melancholy

Sebastian

It had been an hour since Mike had called me to tell me Emily was missing. Mike was the bodyguard assigned to Emily. He was discreet and to my knowledge Emily had never figured out that he had ever been watching her. Four hours since she was last sighted. I was frightened for her. Rebecca had sat and eaten with me. Ever the “supportive friend.” I hadn’t eaten much. And by much I meant I hadn’t eaten at all. I wasn’t hungry, I was scared. I knew from the look on Rebecca’s face after Mike’s phone call she was behind it. After pushing my food around for a bit in its container I got up and went back to my desk. I expected Rebecca would excuse herself, but she didn’t. She remained seated on the settee in my office. I had taken to ignoring her. Finally, Rebecca decided to pipe up.

“Why don’t you call her? I mean, this is just like the car accident all over again. She’s clearly attention seeking. Maybe she has just gone to visit her family?” I could hear the gloating in her voice. Rebecca knew as well as I do that Emily has no family. Her mother had died of cancer the year we met. The diagnosis was why Emily had gone into nursing. Picking up my phone I followed Rebecca’s advice. It rang for a while. I was starting to think it wouldn’t be answered when the call connected. Holding the phone to my ear I said nothing and just listened. I could hear a road and cars but not much else. Finally, someone spoke.

“Mr Kavanagh.” The guy’s voice set my teeth on edge. I could see Rebecca smirking in my peripheral so I cut him off before he could make his demands. I knew what this was. Rebecca was getting rid of her competition. No matter what was said here the outcome would result in Emily’s death if I didn’t find her in time.

“Look if this is another stunt for attention from you Emily I’m not interested. I’m not signing those papers; you are MY WIFE.” I was letting out my anger on the wrong person. I had to make them believe Emily wasn’t of consequence to me.

“Mr Kavanagh, your wife is in a very delicate situation, we have her hostage here and we will not release her without ten million pounds transferred to our account. I’ll send you the account details shortly. Once received Mrs Kavanagh will be released safe and sound to your care. Failure to send the money to me within the next 72 hours and Mrs Kavanagh will be returned in pieces to you.” My heart skipped a beat. Then I heard Emily. She was laughing hysterically. I guess she was beginning to feel as hopeless as I was. And then she spoke. The first time I have heard her voice in 6 months and every word she said caused another fracture through my heart.

“Ten million? My life is worth ten million? Well once you idiots start chopping bits off me to return to my husband, I guarantee he will re-negotiate the ten million.” She genuinely thought I hated her. I could hear it in her voice. My beautiful wife had lost hope in our marriage.

“I want proof that this is not another attention seeking episode from Emily first.” I stated emotionlessly. Although on the inside I was dying, I knew with Rebecca overhearing every word if I showed I cared she would have them kill her quicker.

“Mr Kavanagh I can assure you the situation with your wife is dire. We will send you proof and leave it to you.” And with that, they guy hung up. A moment later a photo came through to my phone which showed my beautiful Emily bound to a chair, drenched and dirty. Her long blonde hair around her shoulders and she was still in her scrubs. They had taken her straight from work. No wonder Mike hadn’t seen her leave. Rebecca sauntered over to me. I could see the gloat in her eye.

“Just forget about her, you have me now. I have always been by your side; I always will be.” She had sauntered over to me, swaying her hips in what she believed was a seductive manner. She glanced at the picture on my phone and her smile deepened. I could feel my blood begin to boil. How had things come to this. How had I let this woman in front of me worm her way so subtly into my mind turning me against the one woman who had supported me. I grit my teeth and take a deep breath to calm myself as much as I can. Turning to look at Rebecca I took another deep breath. I grinned at her suggestion whilst I felt like I was dying inside. The divorce paperwork was sitting in my top drawer taunting me. Just knowing if I had signed this earlier Emily would not have been in this situation.

“You should go.” Rebecca turned to me with suggestion in her eyes. “I still have some work here to finish up.” I told her as calmly as I could.

“What will you do about Emily?” Rebecca was fluttering her eyelashes at me like she wasn’t implicated in this at all.

“She and I have nothing to with each other. I’m not sure what king of trouble she’s got herself into, but I will not be helping her out of it.” My heart ached saying those words but judging by the smile adorning Rebecca’s face it was exactly what she wanted to hear. She turned flipping her dyed blonde hair behind her and started walking towards the door. Looking at me over her shoulder she winked at me and said, “I’ll see you at home.” And left my office leaving my door ajar. From where I stood, I could see her pull her phone from her bag and make a phone call.

I quickly typed out a message to Mike letting him know what had happened and collapsed in my chair exhaling all the air from my lungs. s**t! This was worse than I originally had thought. I needed to find Emily before anything happened to her. I already had a lot of guilt for what had happened between us, and this would just finish me.

Mike was trying to triangulate the signal from Emily’s phone, and this meant we would have to wait to narrow our search area down. Looking at our wedding photo on my desk and tears came to my eyes and I felt despair engulf me. My office which was now empty looked to big without her personality warming up the room. The fresh flowers she had placed on the coffee table were now long dead and wilted. They looked how I felt. The huge window behind my desk showed the night heavy with rain from the storm. I was consumed by melancholy. Dejected, weak and helpless now.

I clenched my fist and brought it down as hard as I could onto my desk. A glass shattered from the impact jolting me out of my depression. Blood was tracking down my arm, staining my white shirt red. For a moment I sat and watched before my body recognised the sting from the pain.

“Hiss” I sucked in air through my teeth and pressed the phone for my assistant. “Bridget, bring me in a towel.” A moment later, Bridget entered my office. Her hair greying and coming loose from its normally neat bun from the long hours she has been working for me recently. When this was over, I was going to ensure she had a long holiday. Bridget had been with me since the start of my business. She was in her late 50s and had a few grandchildren. She was like a second mother to me. When we first started this business together, I had been fresh out of university. Bridget had been in her 40s and her children were older. I would always go to Bridget for advice and wondered why she had never warmed up to Rebecca. Bridget’s warm blue eyes met my cold ones and she “tsked” me. Wiping the wound on my hand she pursed her thin lips.

“What happened Sebastian?” I looked at her face seeing how much she had aged for the first time. I had been in a bubble with rose tinted glasses unable to see what was going on. Taking a deep breath in, I held it and counted, one, two, three and release. Looking into Bridget’s eyes I told her what I knew. Everything we had discovered. I watched as tears tracked down her face wiping the makeup away and her disappointment that came to her eyes. My own tears were falling by the time I had finished, and Bridget pulled my underserving self into her arms where I sobbed.

“Sebastian, Emily is a strong young woman. She loves you very much. I cannot express how foolish you were to believe that awful girl.” I could hear the admonishment behind Bridget’s words, but it was too late.

I looked up at Bridget and took another deep breath to centre myself. I needed to get myself together if I was going to help Emily.