Her Suspected Billionaire

Chapter 33

Sheila was running on the street from her restaurant to the building where Sterling Industries was located in. She was barefoot and her hair had sprung free from the bun she’d packed in while she was running, but she didn’t care. She had her phone pressed to her ear trying desperately to reach Alice. Her number was not even ringing anymore. She had just come out from the kitchen with a smoothies for herself and Nathan when Hilda brought her phone to her telling her it had been ringing in her bag that was by the counter for a while now. She hadn’t even known she didn’t have her phone on her. She had 12 missed calls from Alice and a short message that read:

STEVEN IS IN TROUBLE. EDY649 IS HERE AT STERLING INDUSTRIES. I’M GOING UP TO GET THEM.

​The tray holding the glasses of smoothie in her hand fell to the ground with a crash. Nathan had rushed over to her and she had yelled at him to call the police. She tried frantically to reach Steven but his number was not going and she had tried Derrick eventually. Derrick picked immediately and informed her he would be there.

“I can’t see her on the system. Why can’t I see her on the system?” Derrick had asked when she told him about the text message Alice had sent her.

“Her body camera was malfunctioning this afternoon. She was gonna meet Steven at First Bite so they’d come see you to fix it for her,” Sheila had practically screamed into the phone. There weren’t a lot of people in the restaurant at the time and she had told Hilda to take charge while she went to Sterling Industries.

​On getting to her car, Sheila discovered her tires had all been slashed. She called Derrick back and informed him. He’d told her to stay put, but as soon as she hung up his call, she took off the kitten heels she had on, and began racing down the street to sterling Industries, not minding the stares from the people who were going about their business.

* * * * *

​Evan had just locked up his office when he noticed a light shine through the glass door from inside his office. He felt his pocket and realized his phone wasn’t inside there. Sighing, he unlocked the door again and went inside heading over to the side of his desk where the phone lay. The notification light on it kept blinking indicating that he had a message. He unlocked the phone and saw he had a missed call from Alice James. Wait, Alice James? Was he seeing correctly? He opened the message.

​He was out of his door and racing to the elevator after reading the message. The elevator was still out of service and he ran out to the back of the floor to use the stairs. He bumped into Sheila on the stairs and she fell as they crashed. Her feet were dusty and dirty, and her blouse and trousers were stained with dirt and fruit.

“Mr. Sterling!” she yelled. “Alice is in trouble. She’s on the roof!”

“Yes, she messaged me. That’s where I was headed before...” Evan began explaining, but Sheila continued running up the stairs, leaving him behind. She could hear the sound of police sirens when she reached the door leading to the rooftop.

​On the rooftop, Alice was still lying on the floor listening to Clinton spill out profanities from his mouth. From the time he had started talking after smashing her phone, she had gathered that he had been fired from Kings’ Group for embezzlement and mismanagement of company funds as well as harassment of female staff.

“But I don’t harass females, do I now, Alice?” he said with a snicker, laying a hand on her thigh.

“If you touch me one more f*****g time, Clinton...” Alice said, shifting away from him

“I thought you might have mellowed down a bit by now, but I can see you’s still feisty. Hehe.. I’ll work with what I’ve got,” Clinton said, with a sinister smile. He grabbed her by her ankles and began pulling her towards him.

“Don’t touch me! Stop touching me!” Alice yelled kicking and clawing and holding anything in the way to prevent herself from moving forward towards Clinton.

“Alice!” a voice yelled from behind the door. Alice recognised it as Sheila’s voice.

“Sheila! Sheila! I’m in here. The handle won’t...” Alice tried to shout back, until she felt Clinton’s hand clamp over her mouth.

“You shut the f**k up now, before I shut you forever,” he instructed her. Her legs were pinned underneath him and he was holding her left hand with his while his right hand covered her mouth. Alice tried to bite him but he wouldn’t budge. She could still hear Sheila’s voice from behind the door and she could hear the sirens of police cars nearby.

“You called the cops on me, huh?” Clinton said. His voice was no longer sensual but angry and Alice got scared for a moment that the others wouldn’t get to her in time. Clinton raised the hand covering her mouth to her eyes and covered her eyes.

“The handle won’t work! Push!” Alice shouted, before she felt something shock her in her back. She screamed out in pain and flung her legs from underneath Clinton so hard, he shifted away from her. She touched her back with her free hands and felt some kind of sting. Clinton had tried to use a Taser on her, but because she’d moved away slightly, he wasn’t able to stun her.

​The door flew open just then with Evan falling forward. He took one look at Alice and charged at Clinton who was trying to run away from their direction towards the door.

“He’s got... a Taser!” Alice stammered out as Sheila got to her and cradled her in her arms.

“You’re alright, Alice. You’re fine,” she said, sobbing into Alice’s hair. Alice held on to her.

​Evan had succeeded in tackling Clinton to the ground, just beside the person who had been lying there since Alice arrived at the rooftop. Clinton had taken out the Taser to try and tase Evan, but Evan was quicker and grabbed it from him before he reached the ground. He put it on Clinton’s lower back and held it there for more than two minutes while he screamed out in pain before passing out.

​Derrick and Steven appeared at the door just then with about five other armed police officers behind them.

“Steven!” Sheila called out, in between tears. Alice’s eyes flew to the door just in time to see Steven running over to them.

“You’re okay, Steven,” Sheila kept saying as Steven kissed her. Then he turned to look at Alice and held her hands.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Steven said.

“I was so scared he’d hurt you. I thought you were the... Wait, if you’re here, Steven, who’s that over there?” Alice asked, referring to the man the police were now crowding over.

“We think he’s edy649,” Steven replied.

Alice watched as Evan walked over to them.

“I’m so sorry, Alice,” he begun. He had been talking with Derrick and the police officers and the whole situation had shaken him up. He realized that he had been too hard on Alice while she was trying her best to stay alive. He was also shocked that Clinton was going to try and harm her in his own office building.

“Thank you so much for answering, Mr. Sterling,” Alice said. The sting in her back had reduced now, but she still felt really sore.

“Thank you for calling,” Evan said.

“Thanks for coming to get her, Evan,” Steven said, extending a hand to Evan. Evan took it and they shook hands while he replied,

“I’m glad you’re here too.”

“Wait, you guys know each other?” Alice asked.

“Actually we do. Although I know his sister better than I do him. I know him through his sister.”

“Oh wow, a lot of things surprise me today,” Alice said and lay back down in Sheila’s lap.

​The police handcuffed and arrested Clinton Clark while the body of the person there, who was identified as Julian Storm, was taken to the morgue. Alice identified him as Clinton’s nephew who he bailed out of jail a few years back. Julian had lived and grown up with Clinton since he left jail.

​Evan drove Alice and Sheila to the station so they could write their statements and tell the police all they knew. Steven and Derrick were at the station too. Derrick seemed pretty excited about the completed mission, as he kept providing information for any police officer who asked.

​After the questioning was over, Alice was taken to the hospital for evaluation. She had some internal bleeding that was attended to and then she was placed on bed rest and was advised to spend the night there so she could be observed further. Evan paid for her to be upgraded to a private room instead of staying in a general ward with only paper thin curtains for privacy. Alice was too tired to argue with him. Sheila volunteered to stay with her, but Steven said she needed some rest and offered to stay with her instead.

“I’ll stay with her,” Evan quietly offered. Nobody countered him and they said their goodbyes to Alice before leaving. Evan made himself at home on a sofa that sat in the room.

“Seems like you’re gonna need that leave after all, Alice,” he teased. Alice laughed at him and thanked him again. They made some small talk but because she had been given some sleeping medication, she fell asleep in no time.