"How much money is in the package?" Marquilla asked over the phone with her cousin, Alex.

"Four mil." Alex said. He had a recognizable, raspy voice. It was soothing to her. She had heard it a lot growing up.

"Four million…" she repeated, "That's all the money you've made so far?"

"It's been tough. Not being able to get ourselves out there because of Caine… It makes it harder."

"I'm working the hardest I can on it." Marquilla said.

"Your father shouldn't have put you in charge." Alex spat, "He should have left the business with me."

"Look," she snapped, "It doesn't matter what he should have done. It matters what he did. Now, kindly shut up and leave the subject alone. You aren't getting the commanding place. Deal with it."

She snapped her phone closed and placed the envelope full of money in the glove box of her Maserati. She got out and slammed the door, then walked inside the building where she worked.

She didn't to a lot for her foundation anymore. She checked in with it from time to time, wondering how it was going. She met many of the people who were helped by the foundation. She met blind people, deaf people, disabled people. She was kind of famous though. She was on television a lot. She was praised by people, you could say. No one knew of her Brazilian drug life. No one knew of her killings. No one knew of her involvement with the police. It hadn't shown up in the newspaper or anything.

She walked into the air conditioned space and smiled at the secretary on the job, "Tell Asher I'm coming up, please."

Asher Forbes was Marquilla's business manager. He handled everything that Marquilla was supposed to handle in the foundation. All Marquilla really did anymore was make appearances at conferences, dinners, events, banquets and such.

Marquilla went to the elevator and pressed the down button. She entered the elevator, and was alone until a hand caught the door. It slid open to reveal a familiar man.

Brian! No… Ryan… Something like that. Marquilla thought. It was the man she had the one night stand with. He looked flustered. His tied wasn't tightened enough, his light brown hair was slightly messy and the files in his hands had papers spilling out of them.

She wondered what he was doing here. Had he worked here and she didn't even know?

"Hey, you're…" he didn't finished his sentence.

"Yeah." she shrugged, "You don't… You don't work here, right?"

"No, no I don't. I'm here to see somebody. But I know that you run this place."

"Sort of. I have people run it for me." she shrugged.

"You're Marquilla Riaz." he said, moving closer.

"And you're…"

"Ryan Wolfe," he reminded her, still stepping closer. He had backed her into one wall now and they were standing very close. Their chests touched.

"Yeah…" she said. She looked him in the eyes and his files slipped out of his hands. He didn't bend to pick them up, but kissed her instead. She gasped but melted into him. She wound her arms around his neck and he put his on her waist, rubbing circles into her sides. She frantically found the emergency stop button and punched it. They kissed each other with fever, their tongues dancing in one another's mouths and their hands all over each other's bodies.

Finally, he broke away from her and bent to collect his papers. She thought she saw her name and face on it. She was smiling deviously in it. She ignored it though. She smoothed her clothes and hair, and picked her Jimmy Choo purse up, then unstopped the elevator.

He did the same and the elevator traveled up a bit more, then stopped at Asher's floor. They both stepped out and headed in the same direction. Marquilla was oblivious of Ryan heading toward Asher's office.

She knocked on his door and didn't wait for an answer to come it. Asher was signing some papers at his desk. He looked up and smiled, "Your lipstick is smudged."

He handed Marquilla a tissue and she wiped it off. "So, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes. We have a dinner banquet on the eighteenth and a festival fundraiser on the thirtieth. And a few celebrities want to meet with you about investing for publicity."

"Like who?"

"Matt Damon mainly-you know he's a big investor in foundations. I think he's the only one who actually matters."

"Okay." Marquilla nodded. Her mind was frazzled from the kiss in the elevator. And also what she saw in the folder. What was Ryan doing carrying things about her?

"Next month is a mile walk. People join and raise money for the cause they want to. Blindness or deafness or anything else…" he went on with Marquilla not really paying attention. She gave an occasional nod and 'yeah' but didn't make any comments other than that.

"Marquilla?" he asked. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up.

"Yeah?"

"You're out of it. Are you even listening?"

Marquilla didn't lie, "No. Sorry." she shrugged half-heartedly.

"What's on your mind?"

"Nothing of your concern." she said, "Just handle whatever needs to be handle. Put the dates I need to be at places in my Blackberry and I'll be there." she practically flung her phone at him and exited the room, "I'll be right back."

She walked down the hallway and bumped into Ryan again. "Hey!"

"Hey, Marquilla." he said, flashing a smile, "Do you wanna go to dinner some time?"

"Sure." she said. She'd almost lost her confidence. She was acting weird around him. She was acting soft. She recovered her hard shell and accepted the invitation gladly.

"Alright. I'll pick you up Friday at seven."

"Okay." she said airily, "See you then."

She walked on past him and didn't notice him going into the office she was previously in. She returned to Asher a few minutes later, almost surprised to see Ryan in there, sharing some files with him. Ryan covered them as soon as Marquilla entered the room, which got her suspicious again. She decided she would ask Asher about it later.

"Here's your phone." Asher handed it to her, "All the dates are in. I'm still gonna call you each morning though."

Marquilla groaned, annoyed, and took her phone, "Thanks." She didn't show her astounded, apprehensive expressions and went on coolly out of the room, not saying a word to Ryan.

XXX

"So, Asher," Marquilla said on the phone, "What was that guy talking to you about yesterday?" She was talking to him on her Bluetooth while exercising. She was on the elliptical in her exercise room right now.

"Which guy?"

"Brown hair, had a bunch of papers, white button-down, yellow tie." she explained.

"Oh, that guy. He was just asking about you. We were doing business. He wants to invest."

"I know when you're lying, Asher."

"Then deal with the lies. I can't tell you the real reason."

Marquilla sighed angrily, "Whatever. I gotta go."

"Practice motivational speeches for the banquet and stuff. You need a new one."

"Whatever." she had her last word and pressed the button on her earpiece.

After finishing her exercises and making no progress on her motivational words, she did some work stuff then started to get ready.

She showered and put on a white cotton sweater dress that made the darkness of her skin pop and black high heel booties. She did her makeup light, left her hair curly and grabbed her leather purse, then left her house.

She drove around aimlessly for hours, finally settling on the beach. She didn't have anything to do, and that bugged her. Well, she had stuff to do. She didn't want to do any of it though.

Marquilla sat on the sand and took off her shoes. She looked out at the ocean peacefully. Suddenly, a beautiful black lab ran up to her. It jumped on her and licked her face playfully. It was incredibly hyper.

Marquilla laughed and petted it. "Who's this little beauty?" She said to it. She took its collar and ran her fingers along it to find the tag, "Well hello there, Rio! Hmm, where's your owner?"

"He's mine!" someone called out. Marquilla looked over to see a handsome Spanish man and a pretty blonde lady. They were shoeless and the lady had a large bag on her shoulder. Marquilla knew who they were.

"Hey, Delko." she said, taking her hands off the dog. Rio didn't run to Eric and Calleigh. He settled down in the sand in front of Marquilla.

"Hey… Marquilla." he said, narrowing his gaze at her.

"Is this… This is Marquilla Riaz!" Calleigh exclaimed.

"What, you never worked one of my cases before?" Marquilla asked venomously.

"Never." she shook her head. No sign of hatred was in her voice.

Marquilla shrugged, "Well… Good for you."

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off getting publicity, or breaking the law or something." Eric sneered? He said breaking the law as if she was a juvenile.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Marquilla growled.

"Please." he scoffed, "You're cocaine escapades. Smuggling immigrants into the country. Killing innocent people."

"I don't do any of those things. I'd like you to quit associating me with my father's business."

He raised his hands in innocence as she got up and turned away from them. She started to walked off when he grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"We're gonna get you, though. We know what you're up to. We know who you've killed, what you've been doing and everything you've done."

She moistened her lips and smirked sinisterly, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. We know you've been running the business under ground. We know you've killed a couple people already."

She laughed and smiled and Eric continued, "And we know the games you're playing on our team mate."

Ryan was their team mate? Please, she thought, If anything, he's playing games on me. But she wasn't about to admit that. Eric saw she wasn't going to respond so he said, "And we know you're plotting against Horatio."

"Can you prove it? Can you prove I'm gonna kill him?" she cackled, "One thing you gotta do. Prove. It."

Then she wrenched herself out of his grip and walked on. A new worry haunted her mind. How she would get away with murder.

Sorry it's taken so long. I've been busy… And lazy. But there it was, the fifth chapter. I hope you liked it!