***A Marik section... it's about damn time. 8 million apologies about how short it is, but don't worry. His next section is longer and sooner. He's going to become a regular part of the story from here on out.***
It's done. It's done and I'm exhausted. It took a lot of bribes and schemes and deals, but there's one more village saved and it's worth all of the weariness I feel. I sat in a hotel room. The scotch is cold in my hand and I press the glass against my throbbing forehead.
Rishid's in a chair opposite of me, a table in between us. He gave me a look that let me know that he had bad news, but business news and not family news, so I'm not too worried. As long as my siblings are okay- I can deal with any other problems the gods throw in my face.
"We need to talk," Rishid said.
"Sure." I lowered my glass and sipped from it.
"There's a leak in the funds. It started small, but it's gone up to half a million dollars in loses."
"What?" I set down the glass.
I almost dropped it when he said half a million. that was… a bit worse than I would have imagined. Rishid showed me his laptop screen with a list of dates and numbers and accounts. I saw the pattern right away. A pattern every one else would have missed. All the money was in one's and zero's. It was a little binary game created by a nerd- a thief and a stealer of my fucking money. I guess he missed me more than he let but on over the phone. A huge smile cut across my face and Rishid stared at me like I was insane.
"What do you make of it?" He asked.
"It's a love letter." I looked up at him, then back down.
I grabbed the napkin beneath my drink and a stray pen and started writing down the letters the binary spelled out, but I kept the message to myself. Wasn't long before I was blushing.
"It looks like theft to me," Rishid said.
"Yes. It is. How else would a thief write a love letter?"
"Do you mean it's him?" Rishid asked, finally understanding.
"Yes. Rishid, please prepare my jet."
"Not the yacht?"
"No, I don't have time to sail. I've made him wait long enough."