#well... maybe

>>

We finally reached the door to Victor’s office. Minor opened it for me. I nodded to him thankfully and hesitantly walked in. The smell of hot greasy food rushed my face. Curiously, I looked around the room where, to my surprise, I was greeted with the sight of more than one familiar face. 

In the small waiting area across from Victor’s desk sat Maria, Ashton, Sam, Chris, and Adri. Ashton and Adri sat playing on their phones, while Chris looked at one of the magazines that was once placed stylishly on the table. Sam was in a conversation with Maria, smiling happily and talking merrily. Maria on the other hand held a false smile, looking more nervous then relaxed.

On a blanket just beside the couch was a happy looking Lola as she played with the toys that surrounded her. Her father sat next to her, holding up one of her dolls and tilting it back and forth in front of her. Though he was playing with her, it was obvious that his mind was elsewhere. Next to the couch, also lost in thought, stood Victor. His eyebrows furrowed and his arms folded tightly suggested that if he was extremely worried about something. Once our eyes met, that worry disappeared completely.

“Ike!” Sam shouted, jumping over the back of the couch to greet me, much to Maria’s distaste, “I thought those reporters had eaten you alive!”

“They sure tried.” I grumbled, accepting Sam's upcoming hug with open arms, “What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to surprise you on your first day back to work with some lunch!” Chris grinned from the couch, holding up two large, greasy brown bags of food, "We could barely get through the reporters on the way up! Mr. Li was kind enough to let us stay here while he got your assistant to get you."

“Ike, are you alright?” Victor spoke impatiently as he moved from the couch and to me, “They didn’t hurt you did they?”

“No. I’m fine.” I said quickly, stepping backward in an effort to distance myself from Victor, “Other than the lingering blindspots in front of my eyes, I’m-”

Victor, finally being within arms length, pulled Sam from me, took my left arm gently, and used it to pull me towards him. He inspected my shoulder closely. “How’s your arm?” He asked with urgency.

“It’s alright.” I insisted, pulling Victor’s hands away from me, “They didn’t even touch me. I’m-”

“I tried calling but I couldn’t reach you!” Maria's words tumbled over each other as she quickly spoke, “Why didn’t you answer?! I was worried they had you cornered or worse!”

“I lost my phone to the fire.” I said, cutting Maria off from spiraling, “I was going to buy a new one this weekend but… I got sidetracked…” I zoned out, thinking about all of the time I wasted in front of that empty whiteboard...

“Hey!” Sam took my hand in his, bringing my attention down to him, “After school maybe mom can take us to buy you a new one!”

“You don’t worry about that.” I squeezed Sam’s hand slightly, “I’ll find time to do it on my own.”

“But you need a phone!” Sam’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, “What if something happens to you and you need me to come save you!”

“As much as I appreciate that, kiddo, you know more than anyone how well I can handle myself.”

“I know but you can always use extra help!” Sam’s smile brightened, “We just want you to be safe, Evie!” 

A sharp pain rushed through my chest. The feeling was so sudden that I didn’t have time to try and hide my emotions. Sam’s smile instantly dropped. “What is it?!” Sam gasped, “You are hurt, aren’t you!? You look pale. Come on! Let’s get you to the couch! You need to lay down!” Sam pulled at my hand.

“No- I’m… really ok.”  I pulled my hand away from Sam and readjusted my expression, “I’m just… hungry. I couldn’t get past the front doors so I haven’t eaten yet.”

“Great! Then let’s dig in!” Sam grabbed my arm once again and pulled it with more vigor this time, “We have loads of food we can stuff you with!!” I sighed and caved to Sam’s pull as he led me to the couch. I took a seat at the end between Maria on the couch and Bart, who was still playing with Lola on the floor. I took that as an opportunity to pat Lola on the head and give Bart a once-over. He was still staring off into space, waving Lola’s doll back and forth mindlessly. Half of me wanted to help him come back to reality. The other half was afraid that I might get my hand bitten off if I tried.

“We’ll give you the room.” Victor ushered Minor to the door, “Come on. Let’s let them-”

“Wait!” Sam quickly rushed to the door and stood in front of it, blocking it just before Victor could reach the handle, “Those reporters are still down there! Aren’t you a very important figure?! I’m sure they would love to drill you about your company and how you make your money! Also, they saw Mr. Minor save Ike so it’s no doubt they know that he is connected to her!”

“... The kid’s got a point.” Minor said, looking up at Victor.

“Stay and eat with us!” Sam continued, clapping his hands together, “We have plenty of food! Think of it as a thank you for helping our family in these dire times!”

“There is no need to thank me.” Victor said, folding his arms, “I’m just doing what I think is right.” I rolled my eyes. Yeah. Right for your investment.

“Then think of it as a way to bond with your coworkers!” Sam grinned at the men cheekily, “You could always use more of that!” Before either of them could refute, Sam grabbed them by the arms and dragged them to the couches. Victor looked disgruntled as Sam spun him around to face us. A smirk blossomed onto my lips. Victor immediately snapped his eyes to meet mine. I tried to drop the smile but it was too late. He had already caught me.

“And just what are you smiling about?” He asked, pulling away from Sam to stand in front of me. I cleared my throat.

“It’s just funny how easy it was for a fourteen year old boy to get you to bend to his cause.” I said, straightening my posture and turning to face Victor straight on, “It takes me two reports and a presentation just to get you to move a deadline.”

 Victor arched his eyebrows, “Deadlines and lunch are two completely different topics of importance. Or, are you suggesting Sam should write a paper asking me to eat with you?”

“Honestly I’d like to see it.”

“Is that so?” Victor said, tone raising slightly, “Maybe I should have a particular employee do it instead.” 

“I don’t know. Don’t you think that would be kinda harsh on poor Goldman?” I asked, arching my eyebrow. Victor raised an eyebrow as well, but the suppressed smile pushing through his lips made his efforts to look intimidating vanish. 

He raised a hand to his face, instinctively blocking his mouth. I opened my mouth to say more but I froze. The sleeves of his shirt were pulled down just enough for me to see his wrist. A dark purple bruise stretched around it, tracing the pattern of a hand. My heart fell into my shoes. A memory of my fast reflexes and uncontrolled emotions from the last time I had seem him flashed behind my eyes.

Victor, noticing my change in attitude, followed my eyes to his wrist. He furrowed his eyebrows and quickly dropped his hands in his pockets. I opened my mouth to speak but Victor held up his nonbruised hand, silencing me. “Don’t worry about it.” Victor said quickly, “It doesn’t hurt.” I moved to say more but Victor walked away from me, cutting me off from saying anything more. 

 He prepared to take a seat on the couch but soon found that was going to be impossible. Minor had taken a seat next to Ashton on the second couch,  and Sam was sitting in the only open spot in the couch I was on. Sam instantly moved to offer Victor the seat but Victor stopped him

“I’ll be fine over here.” Victor said as he walked to the end of the coffee table, opened a couple of buttons to his jacket, and promptly sat cross legged on the floor. 

I blinked. 

Victor Li, the young legend of the financial world, was now sitting cross legged on the floor to eat greasy food with me and my family. From the month and a half of crazy that has happened in my life, that moment took the cake.

Chris clapped his hands together. “Great! Adri and I will dish out the food! Right, Dri-Dri?” 

“Why? Because I’m a woman?” Adri asked, without pulling her eyes from her phone screen, “Because it’s my duty to feed working, straight men? Is that it?”

“... Well Ikie is-”

“Ike is a strong independent woman.” Adri was quick to interrupt Chris, keeping her tone steady and her expression cool, “She doesn’t need me to get her food for her.”

Chris paused, watching Adri carefully. “...Ok, Sam?” Chris quickly and positively turned his attitude to Sam, who sprug up and took one of the bags from Chris almost immediately. I watched Adri, curiously. She looked up and caught my eye. She then winked and looked back down at her phone. Oh she’s good. 

Sam started pulling out various side dishes and entrees, letting the smell of fried foods intensify in the small space. My stomach growled impatiently. “Hey, Ikie.” Chris struck up a friendly conversation amongst the bustle, “Why didn’t you come over for dinner on Saturday? We always meet up for family dinner then.” I flashed Victor a quick glance. He was accepting a plate of hot food from Sam, nodding to him gratefully. I sighed and rubbed my face.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” I said, bringing my eyes down and away from any eye contact. “The meds the doctor gave me make me pretty drowsy. I spent most of the weekend sleeping.”

“Really?” Chris laughed slightly, “Ike, have you looked in a mirror lately? You’d have to pay thirty bucks to check those bags!” My heart jumped. I quickly felt under my eye. They did feel puffy, and the cool touch of my finger tip seemed almost heavenly. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “I stayed up last night working on something important. Nothing too serious though. Don’t worry about it.” A hushed silence washed over the room. 

Something warm touched my lap. I looked up and found that Victor was handing me his plate of food. “Eat.” He demanded pushing the plate further into my lap.

“That’s your plate.” I insisted, pushing the plate back into his hand, “I can wait.” As if in protest, my stomach growled once again, louder then it had that day. Victor pushed the plate back onto my lap.

“Your growling stomach would beg to differ.” He said, arching his eyebrows teasingly. I pouted but, after one more whiff of the intoxicatingly enticing aroma, I stopped arguing. Victor handed me a spork and I immediately began digging in, first going for the piece of fried chicken that had made my mouth water the moment I laid eyes on it. Sam was quick to replace the plate Victor had given to me, receiving another nod of thanks from him in return.

“So, what were you doing over the weekend, Ikie?” Chris pried, handing Adri a plate of food. She passed it quickly to Ashton, who then passed it to Minor, who accepted it gladly.

I paused, using the excuse of chewing my food to find a good lie. “... I was working on my apartment. While I was gone my apartment became infested with roaches. I had to do a lot of maintenance work and I didn’t want to leave it a mess. Nor, did I want people over.”

“Oh geez!” Said Chris who had passed another plate to Adri, who passed it to Ashton, who passed it to Minor, who looked at a loss for what to do next.

“Were you able to get rid of the roaches?” Sam asked, handing a plate to Maria.

“I was.” I hummed, “It took some time though. I nearly tore the whole place apart.”

“Oh, honey!” Maria protested, uselessly pinching my left arm, “You should have told us! We would have helped!” 

“It’s not your problem to deal with.” I waved Maria off as I scooped up some mashed potatoes, “I could handle it on my own.” Victor shifted from in front of me. I glanced up at him. Victor was looking down at his food. He had his fork posed over it but he wasn't moving. His eyes were glazed over and his brows were furrowed. I quickly looked back at my own food, afraid that, if he had caught me staring, he would bring up the real reason I didn’t make it to family dinner.

Soon, everyone had gotten a plate, except for Bart who was still “playing” with Lola and had ignored any food handed to him. A quiet fell over the room as we enjoyed our food. And after a weekend of barely eating anything, I was certain I had been enjoying it the most.

After a solid minute of silence, something cold touched my cheek. I jumped, startled from focusing so hard on eating, and whipped my head around until I was facing a worried looking Maria. She held her hand to my face, brushing her thumb along the contours of my cheek bone.

“Evelyn, you’re thinner.” Maria spoke softly, “Have you been eating alright?”

“Yes, I have.” I lied through a mouth full of food as I pulled Maria’s hand from my face, “I’m still thin from the days I spent in the hospital.”

“Would you like more?!” Sam asked, moving back to the bag of food. 

“No, no. I’ll be ok.” I said waving my hand quickly. Sam sat back down in his chair, dejection lacing his eyes. I turned forward again, catching Victor as he was taking one of the drumsticks off of his plate. Before I could stop him, he quickly reached over and placed it onto mine. “Victor, I-”

“You’d better eat everything on your plate.” Victor cut me off, turning back around casually, “You wouldn’t want to waste your family’s food.” I held my mouth open, unsure with how to handle what was going on. But after one look at the delicious food on my plate, swallowed any retorts I had and picked up the drumstick.

A soft cooing sound came from next to me. I looked down to find that Lola had gotten tired of playing with her absentminded father and had started venturing off of her blanket. She had her eyes set on Victor and she slapped giddily across the floor. I moved to grab her but stopped as Victor picked the little child up instead. I looked up at him.

“Didn’t I tell you to eat?” He asked, eyebrow arched. He propped Lola up on his knee and gestured to my plate. I opened my mouth to protest but froze as Lola giggled happily, pulling Victor’s attention to her instead of me. Victor bounced his knee slightly. Lola screamed enthusiastically. A soft smile pushed onto Victor’s lips. 

My heart stopped.

“I’m sure she’d love some mashed potatoes!” Maria said, smiling widely at the scene. She grabbed a bowl and a spoon and handed it to Victor, “Would you like to give her some?!” Victor hesitated a moment but eventually took the bowl and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. He took the spoon and, with an obviously untrained hand, brought it to Lola’s lips. She obediently opened her mouth and ate the food happily.

“Wow!” Adri smiled, finally looking away from her phone and sitting up to admire what was happening, “Good with kids and an excellent cook?! You know I turn eighteen next October, right?” 

“How did you-” Victor paused then turned to face me. My face instantly burned brightly. I cleared my throat and held my hand up to my mouth as I averted my eyes.

“I may have told her about Souvenir.” I said with a somewhat small voice, “Don’t worry it was just between us… and now with the rest of this room.” Before I could stop myself, I looked up at Victor. He was already looking at me, a smirk raising on his lips. Though his expression was teasing, his eyes were gentle and full of meaning. The uncomfortable burn on my face became something of a memory as our eyes locked.

“Ike?” a deep voice came from beside me. I jumped slightly and looked around. Bart had finally snapped out of whatever trance he was in and was looking at me with surprise. “When did you get here?” My expression fell.

“Two weeks ago.” I deadpanned, arching my eyebrow in disbelief, “You’ve been out for a while. We thought we lost you.” Bart laughed, but something was off about it.

“Alright, alright.” Bart said, standing from his spot on the floor and rubbed my head, “Sorry, Evie, I was lost in thought. What with this whole journalist fiasco.”

“I was wondering about that.” I said, keeping my eye on Bart as he walked to Sam, who already had the plate that he had made for him outstretched. Bart immediately took it and took a bite out of his chicken, “Who all did you tell about our company moving here?”

“No one.” Bart said through a mouthful of meat as he walked back around the couch, “But you know how word gets around.” I hummed and slouched into the couch. 

“What is it?” Victor asked.

“Something that one of the reporters asked.” I tapped my plate in thought, “... Victor, who did you tell about where my office would be?”

“Bart.” Victor answered immediately.

“... Me.” Bart said with less enthusiasm. I looked up at him as he stood next to me, looking nervous.

“Bart,” I asked slowly looking up at him, “Who did you tell?” Beads of sweat blossomed from his forehead.

“...any one who asked?” Bart timidly answered. My blood pooled to my feet as my eyes went wide. “I’m sorry! I didn’t think it was a big deal! It was one of those things like, ‘Oh yes! Danny works at the far right cubical! Arin works in the costume room! Ike works in Victor’s office-Oh man!! The reporters coming here is my fault.” Bart sat back onto the floor and buried his face in his hands. Lola squirmed away from Victor and crawled over to her father, placing a hand comfortingly on his knee. Everything went silent for a moment. The only thing I could hear was my rapidly increasing breath and racing heart as it pounded through my head.

“Ike.” Victor called to me, “Are you ok?” I couldn’t respond. I just stared blankly forward, unable to move or breathe. One thought repeated in my mind.

What if he knew?!

What if he knows about Victor and I sharing an office and tries to kill me again?! What if he tries to kill me when I’m away?! What if Victor dies instead?! What if LFG is the next one to be set a flame?! What if- 

A large, warm hand covered mine, causing me to jump. I focused my eyes and saw Victor looking up at me, earnestly. “It’s alright.” Victor’s deep voice carried gently through the air and into my ears, “We are on the highest floor in one of the tallest buildings in Loveland.”

“You really think that will stop him?!” I gasped through hurried breaths, “Do you really it will stop the man who will do anything to see me dead?! My office was on the second highest floor of our building, Victor! He sent a bomb through it!!”

“I’ll increase security on this floor and at the entrance.” He persisted, squeezing my hand in his, “Both inside and out. Nothing will go unnoticed.”

“And how long will we have to keep that up?!” I snapped, feeling water pool in my eyes, “I can’t keep doing this for the rest of my life! I can’t keep hiding from him when I don’t even know what he wants from me!” I hiccuped, trying everything I could from breaking down completely. I slouched my shoulders and wrapped my fingers around Victor’s hand.

“... After work we’ll go to the police.” Victor’s voice became deeper as he spoke seriously to me, “They’ll be able to take it from there. It will be out of your hands. You won’t have to worry about it anymore.” I rubbed Victor’s fingers slightly, losing myself to my thoughts. Gavin would be furious with me, I’d lose the trust I had built with the chief, and I’d be kicked from the case… but I was coming up with no leads, no evidence, and no reason to keep looking. 

I had nothing.

…

….

…..

No.

I had motive.

Not Montu’s motive but my own. Motive to prove that Ikamara Bikira isn’t someone you could mess with. Motive to show that man never to mess with me or my family. Motive to show him that no matter what this Montu did, I could survive it and fight back.

A familiar heat pushed through my chest. One I had felt only once before with my abusive foster father. One that gave me the motivation to push him away one last time. One I had planned to use to put an end to this whole ordeal. The feeling sent every inch of my body blazing with fury.

Once and for all.

I tightened the grip around Victor’s fingers. “No.” My voice came out in a low growl. Looked up at Victor.

“That bastard is mine.”