Late update, I'm aware of that... Sorry? I mean, I DID spend Christmas and New Year's in a hospital...
Anyways! Enjoy reading :)
"The baby is doing great, Mr. Stone." The OB-GYN on Lucy's case said; "It's responding quiet and growing, considering the circumstances."
"And Lucy?" The old man asked desperately; "Anything new about her condition?"
"The brain bleeding had stopped but she's still unstable;" Lucy's main doctor replied; "It's hard to tell right now when she might wake up."
Edward rubbed his temple in misery; "Is there a chance she might not wake up? Never?"
The doctor sighed; "Cases like this, the ones that are not settled or stable... It's hard to predict what might happen. Anything can happen. But I assure you that we will be prepared for all possibilities."
There was a knock on the door and the short latino, that has been Edward's personal pain in the ass, entered.
"Good morning." Carlos greeted as he approached the three men.
"Good morning, Agent Garcia." Edward nodded.
"How is she doing?" He asked sympathetically; "Is she doing okay?"
"The bleeding had stopped." The doctor supplied; "We're hoping for the best, there's nothing further we could do."
"She'll get better, hopefully." Carlos said and turned to Edward; "I was hoping if we could talk?"
"We'll leave you two alone." The two doctors excused themselves, leaving the two men in the room.
"Anything new happened?" Edward asked as soon as he heard the door click into place.
"Something had happened indeed, but it's not exactly new." He handed Edward a file; "Can you take a look at these?" He watched as the older business man put on his reading glasses, going through the documents with a neutral expression.
"I don't understand." Edward replied finally; "What do I have to do with anything?"
"Excuse me, sir. Your daughter was with James Diamond, on his motorcycle on that night." He said, frustrated; "The same James Diamond, Jeffery Diamond's son. The man who you took his land and dream from."
"Are you trying to say that James is taking his revenge from me through Lucy?"
"What do you think?" When the DEA agent received no reply, he continued; "Your daughter was also in a relationship with Wayne?"
"I already told you before, I don't know! Maybe I saw him once or twice with Lucy and that's it." He forced a smile on his face; "We already met and talked this out nicely, because it's your job and I don't want to interfere but it's my duty to help. But that doesn't give you the right to keep popping up, accusing Lucy with false assumptions! You should be aware who you're talking to, and what's our place in this society."
"Oh, I know very well, Mr. Stone." Carlos replied; "Maybe I should've done this officially and asked to interrogate you but I assure you that the only outcome of that would be the news being all about you and you won't gain anything but a scandal!"
"Are you threatening me?"
"No, I'm not." Carlos said; "I'm just doing my job and interrogating you is one of my own rights to get this case done and over with. This is my right and if you don't know that; your lawyer, Lucas Evans, can confirm it." He sighed and shook his head; "Anyway, keep the documents; maybe they'll refresh your memory."
He smiled sarcastically and strutted towards the door, slamming it behind him and leaving the old man gritting his teeth once again.
Stephanie leaned against a yellow motorcycle as she dialed the number that was written on the card. When she heard the ringing, she pocketed the small slip of paper and ran her hand over the leather of the motorcycle seat.
"Hello? Dak?"
"Hi, I'm Stephanie King. A friend of James."
She chuckled; "Yes, the owner of the motorcycle business, that's me."
"So you called? You want to sell the motorcycle?"
"Okay, when would be a good time to stop by and take a look at it?"
"Alright then. I'll be there."
"Take care, Dak. I'll see you."
Stephanie sighed again as she pocketed her phone, just as Annie, her secretary approached her.
"Stephanie, Mr. Valentine and Mr. Rocque have been waiting in your office for a while in your office."
"Okay, I'll follow." Stephanie eyed the yellow motorcycle she had been leaning against; "Hey, can you get that motorcycle outside? And prepare me the keys."
"It was sold?"
"No." Stephanie smiled as she walked towards the staircase; "I just want to take it for a spin."
She took the stairs two at a time and entered her office to see Gustavo and another man, who she concluded was Richard Valentine, sitting by her desk.
"Hey, Uncle." She shook hands with the old man, who had stood up upon her entrance. She turned to study the 30 something year old business man next to him. "Mr. Valentine, I suppose?"
"Richard Valentine." The man introduced himself, shaking her hand firmly; "Pleased to finally meet you."
"Have a seat." She said as she walked to her own seat behind the desk.
"Mr. Rocque has informed me beforehand that you didn't accept my business offer." He started; "Can I know why?"
"Because I don't need co-owners, at the moment." She answered; "Simple as that."
The man nodded; "But that wasn't your answer to James Diamond."
"James had known of my love for motorbikes since I've meet him. He came to me with the idea and we did it." Stephanie smirked; "I can't just steal his idea now, can I?"
"But you did take him as a co-owner."
"He came to me with the idea, I studied it and found it would be pretty successful. And we did it."
"Splendid." Richard commented and handed her a file; "Maybe you should study our corporation too, then decide whether you decline, or not. But when you realize that the market isn't that big and that we are in control of it, I believe you'll accept."
"And who exactly are you?"
He pointed to the file on her desk, specifically to the logo that adorned the top left side of the first page; "Griffin's corporation."
Stephanie nodded; "Anything else I can help you with?"
"Can I stop by soon?"
"Absolutely, whenever you please."
Valentine nodded. He was about to get up and leave but he stopped and looked back at Stephanie; "We've talked with Mr. Diamond before, by the way." He said; "He probably ran out of time before he could tell you that we wanted to buy his on-paper share in King's motors." He smirked when she averted her eyes, turning in her seat to look through the large glass wall that overlooked the first floor of her business. "I'll see you soon, Miss. King."
Stephanie stayed in her seat, hearing the door click into place and watched as the man left. She turned again to face Gustavo; "I need to know who the hell is after that guy!"
"I told you everything I know already." Gustavo replied; "You should just read over their file and presentation."
"Damn, Camille! That's smells awesome!"
"Explains the crazed look in your eyes."
Logan chuckled as he sat opposite her; "What crazed look?"
"Oh, you know." She smirked; "Those cartoons where there's a bear or... whatever. And it's starving and it stares at a something and it turns into a deliciously cooked turkey with like, lines of deliciousness coming off it. That's exactly how you're looking at your plate right now."
"That's an interesting way to put it. And it's not my fault you're an awesome cook!" He said as he leaned against the counter, watching her cooking in his kitchen.
For him.
"You should be thankful for that." She said as she checked the oven once more; "Otherwise you'd starve and die."
"How did you learn to cook, anyway?"
"Well, my dad studied culinary arts in Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh." She answered; "My mum used to hate how he'd invade the kitchen to experiment, but I loved it, he always ended up with delicious goods. We would actually wait until mum left for whatever reason and we'd both hang out in the kitchen and all that."
Logan nodded, a sad smile adorning his face; "Seems like a good parent."
"He is the best." Camille confirmed; "So, Boss, can you please tell me how the hell did you manage to work with Lucas Evans? I mean, honestly, just looking at him disgusts me."
"My ignorance and unawareness. Probably even my blindness to what he was doing with me."
"You? Unaware and ignorant?" She chuckled; "I find that hard to believe with all those books you read, you have a ROOM for your books, boss."
"It's not about how many books I've read, Cam." He replied; "You could read one book that might literally change your life, it depends on your perspective and how you see things. The unawareness I'm talking about can't be overcome by reading and education. You can say that Lucas fooled me completely, he brought out every potential I had; just aimed it in the wrong direction. You know?"
Camille nodded; "And what made you wake up and listen to you conscience or whatever?"
"When I caused damage to my best friend."
"James?"
Logan nodded.
"Can I ask you something else?"
"Go for it."
Camille smiled softly then turned to walk towards the oven so they would avoid Logan seeing the unmistakable blush on her face; "Why are you still single?"
"Uh-I-uh-" She heard him stammer; "Wha-What?"
"Why are you still single?" She repeated as she looked into the over, sighing and closing it again, turning back to him; "I get that feeling that there's someone you just can't move on from. You send off that vibe that you're a hopeless romantic, yet I've never actually heard you talk about someone." She made the walk back to the counter; "Was it Lucy?"
Logan looked down, running a hand through his hair; "Can we just...not talk about this?"
"I just want to see you happy."
"I'm okay." He argued. He was about to argue further when the oven finally dinged, and Logan pushed his sleeves up his arms, grabbing the cooking-mits before she could. He walked to the oven and took out the tray; "That smells really good." He murmured.
Camille nodded and grabbed their plates and utensils and followed him out to the dining room. Logan discarded the tray and sat down while Camille passed him his plate, a fork and knife.
"Nice tatt." She commented as she observed the tattoo that she hadn't noticed before. But then again, she was starting to notice a lot of thing about her boss.
The tattoo was that of a heart, pierced with an arrow. She traced the delicate art with her eyes, watching how the heart was actually split in an even pattern with a knife diving in. The arrow was also broken.
"It means that-"
"I know." She interrupted him; "The heart stands for love and it's position clearly declares that you wear your heart on your sleeve. A heart with an arrow through it; it explains why love is both pleasurable and painful. The knife with the slashed heart stands for the loss of love, most often of a spurned or rejected lover, and the pain of this. It's like a broken heart, just more brutal."
He nodded; "Right. Brutal."
Dak walked through campus, clinching and unclinching his fists. He walked towards the fountain that was located near the gates, throwing his bag down as he sat on the small benches.
He glanced up just in time to see Ryan Mitchell fast-walk his way to him.
"What's up, dude?" Ryan asked, "You kind of stormed away in the middle of the section..."
"I blew it, I messed up the entire experiment." Dak said as he pinched the bridge of his nose then looked up to his best friend; "Looks like it's going to be another miserable two hours to redo it or something."
"Naaah," Ryan said as he sat down next to him; "I highly doubt it. I could help and we can get it done within an hour, tops."
"No, no. I can do it myself, no need to bother you."
The brunette, who looked like a younger version of his older brother with the addition of the thick-rimmed ray bans, chuckled; "Don't be stupid, D. Come on, let's get this shit done and find something better to do. Something actually productive." Ryan sighed, the small dimpled smile disappearing from his face; "Is this about James? Is that's what's distracting you?"
"Among other stuff." Dak replied; "How was it when Logan was forced out of your life?"
Ryan stiffened; "He wasn't forced out of my life; I shut him out of it."
"Keep telling yourself that."
"If you weren't my best friend, I would've probably kicked your ass by now." Ryan smiled when he got a faint chuckle out of Dak; "Seriously speaking, though, let's get back and get that damn experiment of yours done; we don't need you failing class, bro."
Dak nodded and allowed Ryan to pull him back towards their shared class.
Wayne looked from the cop behind the desk, then to who once was his teacher in low school; Lucas Evans.
Lucas had the calmest smile on his face as he kept a close eye on Wayne. He knew Wayne was worried out of his head, because Edward Stone's name was brought up in the investigation, and they had to explain how Wayne and James started a project on a land that wasn't their own.
Wayne was panicking.
This wasn't part of their deal.
But then again, Evans was the one who told everything about how the camp came together, it wasn't Wayne's fault.
"Suspect will be released due to insufficient evidence." The cop said as he leaned back, after interrogating Wayne, he turned to Wayne; "We need an address where it's guaranteed to find you...?"
"He's staying with a friend." Evans came to his aid; "A lawyer, Logan Mitchell." He turned to Wayne; "Give the address."
Wayne nodded and grabbed a pen and paper, writing Logan's address down; "So, sir; when can I return to the camp?"
"The camp has been locked up, it's the followed protocol in cases like these." The cop said; "What do you want from it now?"
"Nothing." Wayne replied as a sad smile graced his lips; "I just miss it. I spent years looking for a place where I can gather with my mum and best friends. And when we finally got the camp, things had already gone south with a lot of my buds; I never really got to enjoy it." He shrugged; "That camp is now my home, sir." He threw a meaningful look towards Evans; "And that's why I'd never thing about letting it go that easily."
"It's not the time, Wayne." Evans instructed him with a glare.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Wayne." The cop replied anyway; "It looks like James Diamond and those friends you're talking about are not the good people you thought they were."
Wayne shook his head; "That's not possible, sir."
Logan was finishing sending the last of his emails. He had a lot of cases under his responsibility but he didn't find it in him to continue working on them. He was directing all of his clients to other lawyers, who were friends of his and were up to taking over his cases. He was sending emails with the cases files and documents attached, with the exception of the Bitter's case.
It was almost over, anyway, and he was sure he had it in the bag.
"Boss?"
Logan tore his eyes away from the laptop's screen, a wide crooked smile breaking out on his face; the awkwardness of their lunch long forgotten.
"Yes?"
"Mr. Knight is outside, waiting for you. There's a woman with him."
"Probably Jo, his wife." Logan explained; "Let them in, please."
"Absolutely."
Logan grinned as the two entered; his assumption proving to be right when Jo trailed behind her husband.
"Hey, you two!" Logan exclaimed, noticing the grim expressions on his friends' faces; "Okay, why the long face? Are you two fighting again?" He directed his next question to Jo; "What did that asshole do?"
"Sit down."
Logan raised his eyebrows as the two moved towards him, standing on either side o him; "Guys, I really appreciate the gesture but I'm not into threesomes. And I won't be used to spice up your boring sex life." He joked.
But it didn't work.
Kendall pushed him down on his chair, leaning forward to shut the laptop. "Just wait." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, searching through it; "You need to see this video."
"Porno?" Logan blinked; "Dude, your wife is right here!"
"Logan." Jo started; "Please stop joking."
Something about the tone of her voice had Logan looking at her in wonder. He Kendall shoved his phone in Logan's face and played the video he received on his phone just the day before.
The lawyer could hear the sniffles of his friends as he himself shed a few tears at the brutality behind his best friend's death. He kept biting his lower lip, in an effort to stop the tears.
When the video was done, Logan hit the replay button, unable to tear his eyes away from the scene; "How did you get that? It was filmed through a camera in a police car."
"A friend sent it to me, I'm not sure how it got to him."
"Whoever. Tell him to delete it and to pass the message to whoever sent it to him and so on."
"Delete it?!" Jo exclaimed as she rounded the desk to stand right in front of them; "What the fuck do you mean delete it?! Everyone should see this, everyone should be aware of what happened to James!"
"We have to." Logan replied; "Everything should take its course of time, we can't rush it. If we turn this video as it is, we will be charged with faking it; there should only be one video. Only one."
"What are you planing to do?" Kendall asked.
"We'll turn it in. We'll turn the tables, like they did to James and claimed he was a dealer. We'll prove he's innocent; I'll file a homicide case against the cops that lead the bust. We'll find the one who spread the video; he must be one of them; he'll be our prime witness besides the video."
"But a video like that..." Kendall shook his head; "If it got to his family... Logan; they are already messed up. Dead inside. This will just break them even more."
"What do you want him to do?" Jo asked; "Shut up about it?"
"I didn't say that!" Kendall shouted; "But we should be sensitive about this."
"Calm down, guys. Calm down so we can think rationally." Logan said, finally stopping the video. "Kendall's right; we have to keep a low profile on the video. But at least Jeffery has to know. He has to; I have no other option. It has to be one of James's relatives to start the case up; I can't do that on my own." He looked up at Jo, his eyes full of promise and agony; "We'll get them back for what they did; this won't go unpunished."
Dak and Ryan were leaving their class together. As promised, Ryan helped Dak through the experiment and together, they got it done in a little less than an hour.
They were walking out of the building when Jennifer Woods was going in. Dak turned to Ryan and asked him to wait so they could car-pool home; not waiting for a reply as he caught up to Jennifer.
"Jenny!" He called; "Can we talk for a few, please?"
"Hey, Dak." Jennifer greeted, half-heartedly; "How's it going?"
"How's it going? I've been calling and calling for two days straight, no answer." He frowned; "And you skipped a class and I didn't know who to ask."
"Sorry, I was sick."
"So why weren't you picking up?"
"I-I though... I'd see you here anyways!" She struggled through her answer; "How was that section?"
"I just finished it; Ryan helped." He shrugged, noticing the awkwardness surrounding them; "You always helped me with that."
"Ryan is great."
Nodding when Jennifer missed the memo, he tried again; "Maybe I can wait until you get done and we could grab a bite? How about that?"
"I can't make it today, actually." She replied, adjusting the strap of her messenger bag; "Maybe tomorrow? We could call up Ryan, Toby, Taylor and Sammy and we could all hang?"
"Ryan, Toby...? What?" He blinked; "Since when do we go on dates with them?"
"Well, we don't, but-"
She was cut off when some of her colleagues approached, on their way to the building.
"Jenny?" One of the girls called; "Come on, we're going to be late!"
"Well, Dak; I have to-"
"Jenny, wait!" He called; "I'm not stupid; I know something is up. So just tell me now or I'll keep bothering you until you do."
"Nothing is wrong, okay?" She replied; "I just think that it would be best if we just...took a break for a while; that's all."
"You think or your father thinks?"
"Dak, I just-"
"Is it James? And his case?"
Jennifer was silent for a moment as she ran a hand through her hair; her silence offering all the agreement she felt; "I'm sorry, okay? I should really go, don't want to be late for class."
Dak watched her go, feeling Ryan's hand on his shoulder as the latter dragged him away to the parking lot; saying something about taking his mind off of all the crap that's going on.
Alrighty, please review and let me know what you think. I'll try to get the next update as fast as I can.
-J
