Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy

Written by BansheeGirl

A/N: Hiya everyone! I am so sorry about the extremely long wait for this chapter! I really hope all of my readers are still out there, and haven't abandoned me in my writing absence! But like I promised, I will never forget about this fic – and so here you have your nineteenth chapter! Do enjoy, and don't forget that reviews are oh-so-lovely!

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 or 2!

Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy

Chapter 19: Kiss Me, Kill Me

Jessie and James pushed through the silver rotating doors into the enormous room of marble, metal and glass that was the Paramount Corps. building's foyer. Beside them an elderly attendant was slumped up against the marble wall, asleep; his snores teamed with the barely audible whir of the rotating doors were the only sounds that penetrated the crisp silence of the spacious foyer. Jessie glanced toward James before inclining her head in the direction of the elevators. Quietly they ascended a small flight of marble stairs and entered the nearest elevator, where Jessie swiftly tapped the electronic number panel. The elevator hummed with life, and began to rise.

"Who is still here at this hour?" James questioned, looking confusedly toward Jessie.

"The offices remain open until eleven o'clock at night, before everything is locked until morning. But there aren't many workers who ever stay so long. I wouldn't be surprised if we found the place empty," Jessie replied. She eyed James, who was looking rather ragged in his snow gear and still carrying his hiking pack. She looked down at her own weathered snow gear, and established that she too appeared extremely out-of-place in the pristine sophistication of the Paramount Corps. interior. Jessie doubted that the building had ever even hosted two people wearing such attire.

The elevator soon halted, and the doors opened at the large reception area of the Paramount Corps. offices. The pair moved out and across into the centre of the patterned marble floor where they slowed. Jessie watched James as he looked to her unsurely.

"Do you… uh, want me to come up with you? Or… should I just-"

"You can just wait over there, if you'd like," Jessie interjected, and pointed to the set of black leather chairs and coffee table at one corner of the room. "I won't be too long. I only have to make a couple of phone-calls, and collect some of my things. Then we'll undoubtedly have to make our way down to the media conference rooms to meet with the police and such."

"Right," James responded, and smiled awkwardly. Jessie felt rather awkward too. The idea of being by herself – even if it was only going to be for a few minutes – was suddenly a very strange concept after having been in constant company for the past three days.

"I'll be right back," Jessie offered quietly, and returned James a gentle smile. He nodded, and she turned her back on him and began to ascend a broad flight of stairs. James' footsteps could be heard echoing off the marble below as he followed Jessie's directions and took a seat in the corner of the reception area.

Just as Jessie had suspected, the rows and rows of worker's cubicles upstairs were completely devoid of any life. Taking an elevator up to her office floor, the emptiness continued into the slightly more lavish offices of Paramount Corps.' higher-ranked employees. Something about being back in this place sent a shiver up Jessie's spine, and she had an odd feeling that that something wasn't simply the eerie quietness of the normally busy environment.

Walking along the long, oak-panelled corridor that led to her office, Jessie thought of James waiting for her downstairs. Quite unexpectedly, she felt tears begin to prickle in her eyes, and she blinked furiously to hold them back. She sighed exasperatedly, and wondered how on earth her whole life had managed to turn completely upside down over the past week. She cast her mind back and realised that it had all begun with one thing: meeting James again after so many years spent trying to forget him.

Jessie abandoned the thought, establishing that she was too tired to deal with any of that right now. She was finally nearing the door to her office, and slowed cautiously as she noted that the door in fact was wide open. She supposed that it was not out of place for someone to have entered her office considering she was thought dead, but still she stepped into the doorway with care. The office was dark, save for the faint silver moonlight that filtered into the room through the glass wall to Jessie's left. The light reflected brightly off of the black leather of the long-backed chair behind her desk.

It also revealed that there was a person sitting in it.

Jessie lifted her hand and flicked the light switch on the wall beside her, illuminating the room. Wordlessly she stood glaring at the person sitting comfortably in her chair, while said person merely peered up at her, smiling in amusement.

"Hello Jessica."

Jessie remained silent as the figure stood up and circled around the desk to lean casually against the front of it.

"And how are you this fine evening?"

Jessie couldn't help but smile in a rather ironic manner. Everything surrounding the affairs of her attempted murder suddenly began falling neatly into place.

"How am I?" Jessie finally reiterated, and went on to answer the question, "Well, certainly not dead. Seems your little scheme failed, Michael."

The blonde-haired executive assistant laughed haughtily at Jessie's swift deduction of events. "Yes, indeed. I was most unpleased to learn that you had survived the helicopter crash."

"I don't doubt it," Jessie replied coolly. She was determined on maintaining her poise, despite the anger that was mounting inside of her. Michael. She should have known. She scanned him up and down, and saw that he was holding no weapon. He continued to lean back against the front of the desk, arms casually crossed and merely smiling amusedly. Just what was he planning to do?

"The place has been in an uproar since your 'death', Jessica. You should be thankful that there has been someone reliable like me to step up and fill the position of CEO," Michael said smugly.

Jessie snorted derisively. "So that's the only way you can make it in the business world, is it Michael? By bumping off anyone who gets in your way?"

Michael raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"You're pathetic," Jessie spat.

"Oh, now come on Jessica. Don't be like that. Really, don't take this personally. I was simply presented with an opportunity to advance my position of power, and I took it. You can't really blame me for that, can you?"

"Don't take this personally? You want me dead, and I'm not supposed to take it personally," Jessie said as if to herself, in an attempt to try and make some sense out of this utter incredulity. "Not only are you pathetic, but it seems extremely dim-witted as well."

Michael sighed almost regretfully, and yet that haughty smile still played across his features. "Oh, Jessica. It's a treat hearing that acid tongue of yours again," he said condescendingly.

Jessie jerked her head back, and shot a scornful look at Michael. Never would he act so patronising toward her if he did not know that he was in control of the situation. As he suddenly took two steps toward her, Jessie stiffened at the ascertainment that things were about to get ugly.

"It has been lovely chatting again, my dear. But I'm afraid, Jessica," Michael began, as he took another two steps forward, "that we don't want to confuse everyone. How do you think the dear citizens of Saunders City will react if they find out you're alive, after mourning your confirmed death for a week? It's enough to make anyone's head hurt."

Jessie glared at Michael, aware that he was knowingly treading on sensitive ground. "No one is mourning my death," she uttered angrily.

The blonde-haired man grinned arrogantly once again. "That may be so. But nevertheless, I think it's best if the job is properly finished." He had pulled the long sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows, and peered at Jessie with an almost maniacal glint in his eyes.

The two stood only a couple of metres away now, and Jessie was quickly finding herself judging whether she would be able to make a dash out of the office doorway to escape. And yet, Michael seemed to be waiting for her to make that exact sudden movement as a signal for him to pounce.

Jessie racked her brain to think of something to say in order to distract Michael. It was in that moment, where Jessie chose to divert her attention to searching for a distraction, however, that Michael leapt forward.

Jessie let out an involuntary cry as Michael came forward to violently snag his arms around her neck. Before she could react she had been thrown to the floor, gagging at the blow to her windpipe.

She rolled onto her back, but Michael had dropped down to kneel on the floor; he pressed one knee down on Jessie's stomach whilst using the other to steady himself beside her. He grabbed both of her wrists with his hands and pinned them down above her head while Jessie struggled unrewardingly under his strength.

Michael leant out over Jessie, inching ever closer so that she could feel his hot breath on her face. "You know, I'm actually rather glad that you survived that helicopter crash, Jessica," he whispered in her ear, while Jessie squirmed in disgust. "You want to know why?" Michael continued, "Because this way I get to have a little extra fun with you before you're disposed of." And with that he leant in and placed a hot kiss on Jessie's ear.

As Michael had taken advantage of Jessie's brief moment of inattention before, Jessie seized this chance to muster every ounce of power she had to throw herself forward just enough so that she could hurl her knee up to slam straight into Michael's most sensitive region.

Michael did not have time to register Jessie's movements; she had rolled out from beneath him as he recoiled in pain at her attack. Jessie pushed herself up beside the floor-to-ceiling glass that comprised one wall of her office, breathing heavily and glancing around the room in attempt to attain some inspiration as to how she would get out of this mess. She was no longer trapped by Michael, and yet despite his current incapacitation he still remained between her and the only escape from the room.

"So… you want to play dirty, Jessica?" Michael offered as he stood up; he grinned hungrily at her, bending over slightly in order to relieve his manhood that was undoubtedly still throbbing with pain.

Jessie didn't move her eyes from Michael's as she leapt toward her desk, safeguarding herself on the side where the long-backed chair was positioned. Michael himself had also leapt forward, but found himself stuck on the opposite side of the desk to Jessie. Just as she had planned.

Michael slowly inched around the desk, but with every step he took Jessie followed suit, inching away from him so that they always remained the same distance apart. Michael continued to creep along the desk, back and forth, but never allowing Jessie so far that she could make a run for the door. At first he seemed amused at the game, but Jessie could see him soon become frustrated, and his grin was replaced with a determined look of anger.

When Michael stopped dead and stared wide-eyed at Jessie, she should have known that something was about to happen. But when Michael suddenly leapt right over the top of the desk, sending pens and papers flying everywhere, Jessie was indeed momentarily caught by surprise. As Michael skidded over the desk he flung an arm around Jessie's throat once again before she had a chance to move.

Jessie was pulled backward by the neck with the momentum of Michael's leap, and both of them hurled into the wall behind the desk. Michael's grip did not falter, and he rebounded off the wall, twisted and pushed Jessie up against the desk. Holding her in a headlock he pushed her head down onto the top of the desk, squeezing his arms tighter and tighter around her neck.

Jessie gripped onto the arm that Michael had fastened around the front of her neck, trying to prise it away so that she could inhale. Yet Michael's grasp was tight, and as her eyes watered she quickly fumbled around on the desk for something to use as a weapon. She let out an empty cry as her hands groped around to find nothing but a ballpoint pen, when finally something else came into reach. It was not the most suited item for the job, but it was the best she was going to find; she grasped it and flung it over her head to hit Michael square in the face with a stapler.

The force of the stapler was more than Jessie had anticipated – Michael immediately released his grip on her neck and fell back against the wall to their right, clasping his hands to one of his eyes. Jessie steadied herself against the desk gasping painfully for much-needed air.

Still fallen down against the wall, Michael removed his hands from a bloodied eye. He looked down to the blood on his hands, and then up to Jessie with an indignant glare on his face.

"You bitch," he spat, and pushed up from the wall toward her again.

This time Jessie was ready. She grabbed the handle of the top drawer in her desk, and swiftly pulled the whole drawer out. Notepads and other pieces of paper flung out onto the floor, while Jessie used all her force to swing the whole draw around to come straight into contact with the side of Michael's head. And just like that, her executive assistant slumped to the floor, unmoving.

Jessie dropped the drawer that was still in her hands; her ragged breaths were the only sounds in the suddenly quiet room. She gazed down at Michael's unconscious body, and after several moments let out a few tearless sobs at having just endured – and amazingly made it through – such an ordeal. In reality it had only lasted a few minutes, and yet to Jessie it had seemed eons ago that she arrived at her office door.

Wanting to get away as soon as possible, she crept around the desk, walking backwards toward the door just so that she could keep her fixed eyes on Michael. Just in case.

Jessie extended her arms outward, so that her hands came into contact with the doorframe when she eventually made it to the door. She heaved a sigh of relief at finally having made it to the point of escape. Looking at her attacker one last time, Jessie made to turn around to flee along the corridor. But something hard and cold suddenly pressed up against the back of her neck, and she reactively stiffened. The unfriendly sound of the safety catch being released on a handgun confirmed Jessie's immediate fear that this ordeal in fact was far from over.

A frighteningly familiar voice came from behind her.

"Get back in that room."

Oh, dear – my first update in who knows how long, only to leave you on a cliff-hanger? I apologise. Actually, no I don't.

/grins evilly/

Anyway, I really will try and update very soon. I don't think I could stand leaving you hanging for too long! Please leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter/story, I do likes them so very much! And big hugs to everyone who reviewed last chapter! You all really make this worth my time.

Well, till next time!

BansheeGirl.