"How many tis are you going to stare at that ssage?" Sandro asked, amusent coloring his voice when he stepped into Ewan’s office and found his friend smiling sheepishly at his phone.
"Till you go blind, or till the ssage disappears?" He continued, coming to stand beside Ewan as he set a file on the desk.
He subtly peered into his friend’s phone to confirm his suspicions; chuckling when he discovered he was right.
"Ewan, it’s just a thank-you ssage..."
Ewan hissed in response, gesturing for Sandro to leave his side with a flick of his hand twice.
But Sandro wouldn’t budge, prompting Ewan to take his eyes off his phone and glare at his friend.
"Don’t you have more files to peruse?"
Sandro shook his head. "Not at all. I’m free as letter Z."
Ewan frowned, trying to grasp what was so special about Z, and when he couldn’t, his glare on Sandro intensified. This ti, irritation joined the mix. "Are you done working on the Vernon’s case? The one with the overseas company?"
Sandro pouted, slipping his hands into the pockets of his slick navy blue pants. "That’s a work for tomorrow."
"You can do it today. Procrastination doesn’t sit well with you," Ewan stated, his tone leaving no room for argunt. "Go on ahead."
"And what about you?"
Ewan raised an eyebrow. "And what about ?"
"Are you going to keep staring at Kathleen’s ssage for another hour?"
"Maybe," Ewan said, shrugging his shoulders, a smile playing on his lips again as he returned his gaze to the phone.
"She called ’Father,’ Sandro," He muttered softly, his thumb grazing the text ssage.
’Thanks for the comics, Father. Nathaniel and I love it! Have a beautiful day!’
Oh, he was really having a beautiful day, he mused, the smile on his lips growing wider.
Sandro, watching this display for the umpteenth ti, shook his head. There was a lot of work for his friend to accomplish today, and he was busy reading and rereading an already-read text.
"Ewan, I get that you are over the moon, but you have a eting in the next five minutes!"
Ewan frowned again, looking at Sandro. "I thought I told you to postpone it. I have another eting with Athena..."
Calling her na struck a chord in his heart, one that ca alive with a faint hum. He couldn’t wait to see her, to talk to her, to do things together without anyone else intruding. His hands even shook with excitent.
"But that’s not until an hour or two later!" Sandro pointed out in disbelief, not understanding this side of his friend.
Shouldn’t he be more engaged now, especially since he would be leaving soon, to return, God knows when?
"I don’t want to wear myself out before our mission. I need all the rest I can get..." Ewan replied, reclining deeper into his chair. "Yet, here you are interrupting ... Go away. You’re giving a headache."
Sandro furrowed his brows. "Have you taken your ds?"
Ewan sighed, feeling he shouldn’t have made that last remark. "Yeah, I have." He lied through his teeth, holding back the urge to begin a tap dance on the table.
Doing so would certainly alert Sandro to his deceit. He didn’t et his friend’s gaze either.
Hence, he let out a sigh of relief when Sandro finally gave up, strolled back to the visitor’s chair and sank ungracefully into it.
"Maybe it’s good you postponed the eting till tomorrow...I don’t even have the strength," Sandro piped, throwing his head back on the chair and looking at the ceiling, a myriad of thoughts floating through his mind.
Ewan said nothing to that. Instead, he let his mind wander too, fantasizing about how the upcoming mission would go and how he and Athena would...
Professional footsteps walking into the office jolted the n from their calm states. They both turned to the intruder.
"Perry, is there anything the matter?" Sandro asked the male who also served as his personal assistant.
"Mada Ruby is here. I wasn’t sure if it was okay to let her in, so I ca to seek permission..."
Sandro and Ewan exchanged glances.
"Okay, thank you. I’ll be coming over," Sandro said, watching as Perry gave a slight bow and walked out of the office.
"Handle her," Ewan said imdiately after Perry left, eager to return to his thoughts.
But Sandro wasn’t that easily dismissed. "Handle her? What do you an by that? You never told why she visited you then, and why she left crying..."
"She tried to blackmail ," Ewan answered without hesitation, causing Sandro’s jaw to drop.
"She did what...?" A pause ensued as he swallowed, glancing at the door as if expecting Mada Ruby to walk in, then back at Ewan. "How? What did she want? What was her bargaining tool?"
Ewan exhaled and sat up in his chair. "Sohow, she discovered what happened in the elder’s council regarding Athena and , and she threatened to leak the information unless I directed more shares to her..."
Silence hung in the air for just a few seconds as Sandro struggled to process the information, and then he burst into boisterous laughter.
"What?! She did what?! The audacity!" He exclaid, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "She must think you gullible because you fell for Fiona’s gas..."
Ewan’s hot glare at this statent didn’t deter Sandro from laughing.
He laughed until he was satisfied, and even then, there were still flashes of chuckles as he struggled to contain his amusent. "So, what are you going to do about her?"
"I told her to surrender her shares. Threatening was against the contract..."
"But you won’t do that, right?" Sandro asked, a knowing glint in his eyes.
"No, I still need her network. Still, go deal with her. You know what to do."
This ti, Sandro wasted no ti. He bid Ewan well, stood to his feet gaily, chuckling to Ewan’s chagrin, and walked out of the office.
Ewan’s attention was drawn next by a ding on his phone. Was it ti? He wondered, picking up the phone and furrowing his brows when he saw two ssages. One was from Athena. The other was from Spider.
He opened Athena’s first.
’et at the Dixons in five minutes.’
Ewan frowned, looking at the ti. Had there been a change of plans?
Next, he opened Spider’s text.
’All ready, boss.’
Right on ti, he thought, getting to his feet as his mind wandered, for the umpteenth ti, to how Athena had obtained Spider’s contact.
Spider had talked about the remarkable hacker who referred her to him; Ewan hoped that whoever this remarkable hacker was, he or she hadn’t managed to collect any truths before Spider had secured everything with a cyber-lock.
He wasn’t ready for another battle in muddy waters with his wife.
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