INSANELY FALLEN

GET OUT

ISABELLE’SPOINT OF VIEW

“The staring competition’s over. See you later, tomboy.”

John gave me a surprisingly proper salute, and I smirked a little before shifting my attitude back to normal. Yup, a frown. Even though I was agitated at hearing Miller’s sarcastic welcome, I decided to cut down my arrogance by a notch. Since I have already come this far, I do not want to lose the opportunity by being extremely bitchy.

“Hello, to you too.”

The person sitting behind the large L-shaped table looked livid for some reason. But his foul mood didn’t prevent me from appreciating his magnificent office. The three walls except the side of the door were made of glass. Even the floor was transparent and the entire fourteenth floor could be observed from here. Can they see us too? And who on earth would walk through such an unstable floor? Didn’t he get any tiles or granite or anything more secure?

“The glass is tinted, and it’s safe to walk even for a boar.”

Wow, he just sounded like a mind reader. Maybe he gets it all the time. Hiding my fear effectively, I strode towards him with a solid face.

“I don’t care.”

He shrugged nonchalantly and bent down to pick up a file from the last drawer.

“Please be seated. Lucas and I will have a meeting within an hour, and I require you to be with me. It will provide you with a further insight into the situation.”

I occupied the chair and sighed shakily before dragging the file towards me with two fingers. I opened it, only to see another picture of the monster himself. Shutting it promptly, I counted one to ten to clear some stress.

“No opening, no details, nothing. And you expect me to start right away?”

“Yeah.”

Can a person be more controlling? I bit my lips and moved my torso a little forward, so that I could get face to face with him.

“For a start, I cannot be anywhere near Lucas. He’ll know something’s up. So I recommend an alternate strategy.”

He looked pensive for almost a minute; meanwhile, I peeked down and noticed people dealing with cash. So it’s the finance division, smart guy.

“Okay. Then time for Plan B.”

I stared at him questionably.

“And that is?”

“You can remain here while I am in the meeting room. The CCTV cam is linked to my computer and you can watch and hear everything from here. I am certain you will get the basic information by listening carefully.”

“That sounds... Yeah, okay... We have no other plan, after all.”

Actually, that was an excellent scheme. But if I say that out loud, I am sure his ego would rocket up to another height. Which is impossible, by the way.

Miller got up from his seat, which revealed his whole posture. The grey suit had served him fair justice. It was a proper fit for him by projecting off his muscles and clinging to his toned arms while flexing. I am sure he has a fair number of women throwing themselves at his feet. In fact, the recent survey of eligible bachelors had his name among the top five. Guess he has enough reasons to be such an egoist.

Adjusting the computer to face my direction, Miller connected certain cables and a typical white meeting room of about sixteen chairs was displayed on the monitor. Walking towards a set of switches, he pressed a red one. The whole floor, I mean the entire floor, was enclosed by a white granite-looking shield. I felt like jumping up while it passed under my foot. I grasped the chair handle harder, expecting it would support me if I fell. I didn’t know technology advanced so much.

“So the employees don’t know about the glass floor, huh?”

“No. And you are expected to keep it that way.”

I nodded, surprised that he showed his business secret to a complete stranger like me and trusting me on it. Not at all like a Miller thing. There was a double knock on the door and a smiling John popped in.

“Sir, Mr. Redfield is here to see you.”

One sentence and it was like the entire past fears collapsed on me hard. Redfield is here. And I am going to be with him in the same building, same floor. What if he does something? Will I survive? Again? Maybe listening to Ben would have been a good idea. This whole thing is impossible. I can never defeat Lucas. I can never destroy my ‘destroyer’. He could kill me in the blink of an eye. Why did I even think I could do this?

“Are you okay?”

The words brought me back to the present, but it was difficult to focus on my surroundings with blurry vision. I blinked several times and tried to level my breathing. Once I got a better view, two concerned-looking faces greeted me. John was handing me a glass of water while Shawn was so close to me, rubbing circles outside my palm. After gulping the whole glass with the help of trembling fingers, I found my voice, which went for a picnic all this while.

“What... happened?”

I asked, glancing at John, as Shawn’s face was to my side and it was too much hard work to tilt my head.

“You were under a panic attack.”

My eyes widened. s**t, it’s back. What if dad gets to know about this? He is definitely going to freak out. And Ben? God, he will lose his mind shouting at me.

“You are doing it again.”

John shook me a little violently, and I was back to reality. I can’t reveal my weakness in front of two complete strangers, although the damage has already been done. My reputation was at stake here, and I prayed to the universe that my voice wouldn’t break when I spoke again.

“I am fine. Really it’s okay.”

John seemed to relax a bit at my statement, but Shawn looked at me doubtingly with still a bit of concern.

“I am okay.”

I asserted with as much boldness as I could muster right then, to stop him from looking at me like that. It felt like he could see straight through my fears, and it made me want to cry. However, Mr. Dumb head wasn’t buying any s**t.

“John. Out.”

John hesitated for a second, but being the newly recruited he was, scurried off from the room. I couldn’t blame him, though. Shawn’s sound meant business, and he didn’t leave any room for an excuse.

“You don’t want to do this. You are scared.”

I averted my eyes from the closed door to Miller’s piercing ones. It was not like he was accusing me, but I saw pity in those captivating orbs. s**t! His statement triggered something deep inside me. I am still afraid of Redfield. I wished for the ground to swallow me. I have never been this weak in front of anyone other than Dad, not even my brothers.

I held my head as high as I possibly could, dying to prove him wrong. It’s now or never.

“I am not afraid, Shawn. Just some old memories. And you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

…………………….

MILLER’S POINT OF VIEW

She was trying to act brave, and I could sense it from her eyes. But who am I to stop her? If she wants it, she gets it. Pouring her another glass of water, I left for the meeting room without another word. Though when she called me Shawn, it tugged something deep in my heart. We were not even acquaintances, and I would have snapped if anyone else called me by my first name. What was special about her?

Before closing the door, I looked at her one last time. Some unwanted memories clouded my brain seeing her in that position. Jane. She used to be just like her. Tough from the outside, but petite by heart. Blocking the chain of thoughts, I headed towards my nightmare in disguise.

All the others stood up when I went inside the white hell, except Redfield, of course. His smiling face made me want to strangle him with the tie he was wearing. After everything he did to me and my family, he has the audacity to smile at me like nothing has ever happened.

“Good morning, gentlemen. Please take your seats.”

I took my usual Managing Director’s spot and glared at Lucas.

“Let’s talk business.” He smiled at me once again cruelly and continued.

“Okay Miller. I am ready to buy all your businesses and investments for ten billion. Deal?”

Is this man crazy? I wanted to yell at him for being stupid to even consider my fifty billion dollar company to be sold for ten billion.

“I hope you are in your right mind, Mr. Redfield.”

I might break my teeth if I continued to grit my teeth the way I am doing now.

“Oh, I am Miller. And I hope you miss Jane so much.”

Yes, a tie would be the best idea.

“Do not dare bring her into this. You are here to talk about business, and business is what you will be speaking about.”

The room temperature suddenly dropped and everyone tensed up, seeing my anytime-attacking-posture, except Redfield. In fact, he was smirking. Maybe he was expecting me to act this way. Composing myself in record time, I faced the maniac again.

“I apologize, Lucas, but I really prefer to keep the topic related to business.”

He started clicking the pen on the table purposely, which annoyed me to the core.

“Isn’t Jane the business?”

That was the limit. I sprung up from my chair, and with one swift movement, grabbed Lucas by his collar. He didn’t foresee my actions, and a shocked expression masked his face. Did he seriously think he could toy with me just because he had the upper hand right now?

“Do whatever you want, you sick bastard. Sue my company, take Jane away from me, destroy my family. I don’t give a s**t. But I will get everything back, and that day will be the end of Lucas ‘freaking’ Redfield. Now get out of my building.”

Without waiting to hear his response, I partially ran out of the suffocating room and took a few deep breaths before entering my office.

Isabelle was in my chair, maybe to get a better view, and her focus was fixed on the screen. I was about to tell her to get up from my chair, but halted when I saw her scribbling something hard on the poor notepad, without even noticing that the papers were tearing apart because of the force. She was furious. I found red veins in the white of her eyes, and she was shivering. The display showed Redfield, who was shouting at my security and walking out of the room, after being refused to see me.

“He’s gone.”

She jumped a little hearing my voice, and the pen fell down, causing a little ‘click’ sound.

“He’s a heartless bastard. He would do anything for money. Is Jane your girlfriend?”

She didn’t move from my chair, and something stopped me from telling her to get up. So I took the opposite one which she occupied earlier.

“Jane is my stepsister.”

“Oh. And Redfield has her?”

“Unfortunately.”

“You should report him to the police.”

Her tiny nose flared, and her eyes became redder. She is cute when she’s angry, though that’s her normal expression.

“There are complications, Stapleton, and you will know about them later. Right now, I believe you are hungry.”

....................

ISABELLE’S POINT OF VIEW

His sudden change in mood got me off guard. If I remember correctly, he was not really fond of me before, and now he is asking me out for breakfast? I know it’s not a date, but then again, no strangers have asked me out, even for a friendly chat for the past few years. Even if they did, I threatened them I would take off their sacred parts. But I, instead of voicing my thoughts, looked at him seriously.

“There’s no time to eat. We have to come up with a plan.”

“That can wait, Stapleton. You need food now.”

He stood up from his position and opened a medium-sized box which was placed on top of the table.

“Do you pity me?”

I was so angry at the thought of getting sympathy from some stupid billionaire who had a box full of luxurious car keys. Yup, that was what the box had in it. I noticed that some of them were Ferrari, Bentley, and Lamborghini and so on. Taking out the key for Porsche, he studied me for a second.

“I don’t pity Miss, I just crush.”

He emphasized the point by crushing the paper on which I had been badly scribbling for all this while.

“Now come on. We can plot something at the office canteen.”

With that, he exited the room without even waiting for my reaction. Dude. Can he be any more arrogant? I was planning to continue sitting in the same spot when my stomach rumbled. Traitor.

Sighing annoyingly, I followed the smug business man out.

He was awaiting me in front of the elevator which I used before. I stood near him, but he pointed his finger at the other elevator.

“You can use that one.”

“We are going to the same floor. Then why use two?”

I know this one was used only by him and his family, but still I felt a sudden urge to annoy him. But it wasn’t working. Not bothering to answer, Shawn stared at the elevator door. I was about to ask again when another voice interrupted mine.

“Going to grab some breakfast?”

John asked, pressing the down arrow of the normal elevator. I nodded, a small smile escaping. Wow, that’s new.

“Me too, Ninja girl”

I shook my head, hiding the grin on hearing his nickname for me.

I turned to look at Shawn, who was still staring at the closed elevator door.

“Forget it. I’ll come by that one.”

He didn’t acknowledge me and I didn’t expect him to.

“Got some room?”

Well, that was a very lame question on my side. Because only he was there in the whole box.

“I’ll make you one if needed, Ninja. Now hope in.”

Grunting, I entered the confined space, and he pressed button 7.

“Ninja?”

I asked, and he grinned at me, which could actually be called cute.

“Yup. You look like you’ll chop off my head anytime.”

I shook my head again, this time amused by his observance.

I may feel like I am smiling, but my brothers have told me several times that the outcome is actually the opposite. It’s like I forgot how to smile around outsiders.

A ‘ding’ announced our arrival, and I followed John to the office cafeteria that was buzzing with young and old workers. Everyone was very well dressed, and again, I happen to be the odd one here. But another ‘ding’ and the place went silent like a graveyard.

I glanced at my left to see Shawn heading towards a two-seater table, which none of the other employees occupied. If he was going to use the office cafeteria, then why bother taking the car key? Was he showing off?

Midway, he turned to look at me and motioned at me to follow him. Now all the prying eyes were on me. Great, what’s with everyone and poking their nose into others' business?

Trying my maximum not to exhibit the irritation, I took the empty chair opposite to Shawn’s. Though everyone went back to their normal routine, each one among them was uncomfortable. They didn’t know how to act around their employer. Quite natural. But Shawn was oblivious to all of this, or so I thought. He ordered a classic Greek salad, and the server turned to me for my order. Once it was done, I searched for John, but he was already busy flirting with some other girls.

Half way through my pancakes, Shawn leaned closer to my side, leaving enough personal space and maintaining his gesture.

“I will shorten the story. Lucas has my stepsister, whose existence is unknown to my mother and father. She is the daughter of my stepmother who ran away with an actor. Dad later married Mom. Jane was an unwelcome surprise to Linda. She tried to abort her, but it was already late. After ten years of tormenting, Jane ran away. She knew everything about her past life and about her real dad. The police found her later and she was given to foster care. Unfortunately, and fortunately, it was Lucas’ sister who adopted her. Unlike him, she was a charming woman. Even after knowing everything, Maria did not say a word to Lucas. I was seven by then. We went to the same school. After a few years, Jane found out about me and talked to me. I couldn’t believe everything at first, but we had our own resemblances, and she had proof. We became very close from then. She was like a real sister to me. A year ago, Jane and I were meeting secretly, as usual, when one of his minions saw us. They thought that we were in a relationship. But Lucas knew me better. He dug deep and spilled out all the beans. He always wanted to destroy us because of some old rivalry.

If Dad and Mom came to know about it, I don’t know how they would react. Dad had just started his business when Linda ran away. So no one in the industry knows about her. For everyone, my Mom is his only wife. Also, Jane could be used as a weapon in many ways, because she is his actual heir. I have another elder sister, but she is two years younger than Jane. Also, she’s uninterested in the business and has passed it over to me. Redfield is now using Jane against me. He wants my company or will end her.”

He took a sip of his coffee and peered at me.

“So, what do you think?”

I tapped my clipped nails on the table thrice and then faced him.

“Well, the story isn’t short.”

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