Two Sides Of A Coin

CHAPTER 2

Lyon’s POV:

I saw her from the moment she walked in through the door, admiring the way she walked in confidently, without a care in the world.

Then, to the moment she slipped into a corner to take a call, to when she began drowning herself in liquor.

For some reason, I was worried about how whatever discussion with whoever was on the other end of the phone, made her look distressed.

I noticed how she immediately took to drinking after the call ended. Could she have had a fight with her lover? Or could it have been a distress call from family?

Answers to all of these questions I couldn’t pinpoint. All I knew for sure was that I was mesmerized by this walking beauty.

“Do you know who the lady in red is?” I whispered to Tate, my best man, who had just walked back to me after walking off to make an emergency call.

“There are numerous women in red, my man. So which?” He responded matter-of-factly.

“The most beautiful lady in red is whom I’m talking about.”

“Well, I don’t know Lyon, you were the one who personally sent everyone present an invitation and a permit. How would you not know who she is?” Tate questioned, almost amused.

I thought about what he said for a while. That was true. I, personally, sent out invites to everyone present in the hall right now. So how?

“Hmm, there is something really mysterious about this lady. And I like it.” I smirked.

“Of course you do. That’s always been how you like your women,” Tate chimed with a hearty laugh.

“Go talk to her. Give your mysterious lady a shot,” he added, teasing hard.

“There is no need for that. I doubt she is in a mood to welcome my flirting.”

“Look,” I directed, pointing subtly in her direction.

“… She just came in, and is on her third glass of wine.”

“Wow, she really does drink a lot,” Tate observed.

When she got a refill for a fourth glass, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I had to approach her.

It was my big event after all, which of the ladies here wouldn’t be dying to have herself wrapped in the arms of PeteBurgs’ richest man.

I stood behind her, admiring her back through the open v-line of her backless dress.

Her skin was so smooth and so was her voice as she spoke. It was sharp, rude, and I could hear a faint Irish accent.

When she turned to look at me, I could see her grow instantly pale. Did I look too scary, or did she just not expect it to be me?

I couldn’t make out a reason for her reaction.

“Are you okay, Miss?” I asked, trying to get her out of her sudden trance.

***

Sally’s POV:

“Are you okay?” His question rang through my head as he asked a second time.

“Oh my goodness. Mister Lyon. My apologies,” I said, trying to hide my sudden shock.

“Of course, I’m definitely okay. I just got a little star-struck,” I lied.

“You just look better in person than how the media shows you to look.” I flirted.

I could see his eyes light up.

“Really sorry for how our conversation went earlier.” I apologize, dropping my glass of wine.

“No, that’s okay. You look gorgeous, feisty pretty lady,” he said, with emphasis on ‘feisty pretty lady’, subtly reminding me that he still does not know my name.

“Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Marilyn Timberlake,” I said, stretching out my hands for a shake.

“Oh wow! A beautiful name, deserving of a beautiful lady like you,” he complimented, taking my hands into his.

“Sadly, your name does not ring a bell to me.”

My heart leaped for a second and I instantly covered up by looking confusedly at him.

He noticed my look of confusion, so he added, now letting go of my hands.

“You. Uhm, I mean, I do not remember sending you an invitation.” “I tell you, today is the first time I discovered that such beauty in the person of you exists.”

“But, I received an invitation addressed to be from you, with your seal stamped on it, same with every other person in this hall,” I lied, furrowing my eyebrows.

My heart pounded more loudly in my chest. I just wanted him to get over this part of the conversation. I couldn’t risk saying anything that would uncover my tracks.

“Nope. It wasn’t me,” he said, cutting short my train of thought.

“… Every other person here I can attest that I did invite, but you, however, I don’t think. Who really are you?”

“Hahaha” I burst into a long soft laughter.

“I like your sense of humor, Mr. Lyon, you almost had me with that. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were actually serious,” I said, trying to change the plot.

“You should try acting, though,” I added, batting my eyelids seductively as I giggled.

I could see the look of confusion on his face, and immediately he also began to laugh with me.

***

Lyon’s POV:

I didn’t know who this woman was, neither did I know what she was talking about.

Indeed, if an invitation got to her, then I must have been the one that had sent it.

However, I was a thousand percent sure I didn’t, but it seemed the universe was playing tricks with me.

Quite frankly, I really did like this trick. I wasn’t going to let myself look stupid, so I laughed along with her.

“Silly me. I know I’d make a good actor. I get that a lot. You should have seen the look on your face. I almost had you there.” I lied.

“You sure did.” She responded with a smirk.

“Mind if I walk you round the building?” I offered.

“No, I don’t. In fact, I’d love that.”

I held her hands in mine as I began to lead her towards the door leading to a different segment of the building.

I could feel the eyes of everyone in the hall on us.

The women looked at the mysterious lady in my arms with jealousy, while the men stared at me, envious that they weren’t the ones who were locking hands with this beauty.

We grabbed a glass of wine each, as I proceeded to give her a tour of the building, which was one of my many properties.

We walked into a narrow corridor that displayed a full stock of various ancient paintings.

“You like?” I asked, standing behind her.

“Yes, it is beautiful.” she responded, looking at the painting.

“Fascinated right? That is how I feel when I look at you.”

“Thank you,” she blushed.

I looked at her beautiful face, her lips were drawing me in. My whole body was aching for hers. She was indeed a masterpiece.

I knew we had just met, but she sounded really intellectual. The way she walked, talked and smiled at me.

I knew the feeling was mutual when she had intentionally pressed her behind on my crotch, when I made to open a door for her to go in first.

"Your smile too, it’s captivating," I said, taking a step towards her.

“Thank you,” she said, maintaining eye contact.

Every corner of my brain told me to kiss, and I didn’t hesitate. In no time, I had closed the distance between us and lifted her face.

“Who really are you, Marilyn?” I whispered into her ear.

“What does that matter?” She whispered back to me, while we locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity.

Our lips were about to touch and just then.

Brrrrrrrrrrrnnnnggg!

Her phone buzzed, cutting short our moment.

I watched her take out her phone, and I saw the same look of discomfort and uneasy flash on her face as she looked at her phone screen.

“Let me pick this call, I’ll be right back,” she stuttered, before walking away.

***

Sally’s POV:

“Goddamn it!” I cursed, as I luckily found my way onto the balcony.

I set my glass of wine on the pavement sill, walked back to the entrance and picked up the call.

“Hello,” I whispered.

“Hello Marilyn, I watched you both walk out of the hall. Has the deed been done?”

“Uhm… n-n no, uhm no.” I stammered.

“Why?”

“I haven’t had the privacy to put the substance in his drink,” I answered, peeping behind to see if anyone was nearby.

“And why is that?”

“It’s not as easy as it seems. Excusing myself to be on this call is the closest I have been to being away from him.”

“Hmm. I know, that was the reason I called. Now put the pill in the glass of wine you have with you.”

“What?” I asked, more concerned that he knew all that was going on here, than I was about the instruction he gave.

“Do it now and get him to drink it. I’ll call you when you get that done.”

The line went dead, and I looked around before wobbling to my glass of wine.

I took out the little white container and plopped a capsule into the glass before returning the container to my purse.

“Oh, there you are,” a voice sounded from behind me and I almost jumped.

“Oh dear, you scared me.”

He walked over to me, he still had his glass of wine in hand.

“What took so long?” he asked.

“Nothing, just stood back to watch the stars.” I lied.

“They do look beautiful tonight,” he said, looking up at the skies like it was his first time seeing the stars.

My eyes were fixed on his glass that he had placed beside mine. I needed to swap our drinks.

As luck would have it had a call came in, and he stepped aside to take it.

This is my chance

I immediately swapped the drinks and smiled satisfactorily.

“Sorry, I had some important business call.” He apologized when he walked back to me.

“It’s alright. I can only imagine. Must be hard being the Lyon Durkheim”.

“It’s a lot harder than you think,” he concurred, lifting his glass up to his lips.

My eyes shone in anticipation.

Yes! He was going to drink it, everything was going just according to plan.

“Sir.” a voice cried from the entrance, and Lyon stopped midway.

I almost screamed in frustration as we both turned to look at who had just ruined my entire plan.

It was one of the butlers from the event. He stood hand on his chest, gasping for breath. It was evident that he had been running.

“What is it, Wilhelm?” Lyon questioned the white-haired elderly man.

“Sir! We have an emergency.”

“What’s the emergency?” he asked, setting down his glass and growing impatient.

“Downstairs sir, fire.”

“What?"

“A fire broke out. We all need to evacuate the building now.”

Without wasting a minute, Lyon grabbed me by the hand as we both ran downstairs.

There were indeed blazing flames of fire in the hall. Everyone scrambled and tussled to make it to the door.

My phone beeped as a message came in, and I looked at my phone screen.

Find your way outside the gate, your ride awaits you outside.

I grunted in sheer frustration as we were now outside the building. I needed to escape from Lyon and make my way to the limousine I came here in.

“Goodbye Lyon, it was lovely meeting you,” I said, out of breath as I yanked my hands away from him.

“Marilyn, Marilyn !” He called after me while I ran in the opposite direction.

The gigantic gate was left open due to the fire outbreak. And I didn’t stop running until I was out of sight.

My phone beeped again, another message came in.

Mission failed Miss. Sally. I am disappointed.

I sighed as I got in the limo and slammed the door shut.

“Take me home,” I ordered.