His Bitter Cupcake

Bonus chapter

"Yes, sir. I went through the files this morning but I couldn't find anything, but don't worry, Mr Filler, I'll make sure that you'll receive an update about the situation by tomorrow morning."

Maria leaned back on her chair and sighed softly, her eyes fixed on the mess on her desk. 

"No worries, Miss Thompson. My client's recommendation will never go in vain." The man said from the other line in his strong Canadian accent. "He expresses his gratitude towards you and so do I. I will transfer your second half of payment by tomorrow morning. Though I have asked you this before, I will ask you again, are you sure you don't want us to increase your fee? The job is demanding afterall."

Maria's gaze narrowed suspiciously and she was thankful that her client was not there in front of her. From what she had learnt, her client's client recommended the firm she was working in and the firm gave her the case. An anonymous European client was the only description she had known yet. It wasn't her business to interfere in her client's dealings but when she was offered a ridiculous amount of twenty million dollars as her fee, Maria had always been wary of her client's client. The case was big. An ancestral property papers misplaced by her client's previous lawyer which led to him being fired and thrown into prison, the property was lost right under their noses and was now mysteriously under some farmer's name who was not ready to give it back no matter what he was being offered and her client had got this sudden interest in selling that property to their European client, though that piece of land was untouched for more than two decades and forgotten. 

Maria had worked many cases before and her fee had never gone higher than one or two million dollars, at times she would find pity inside her dead, cold heart and reduce her fee to half a million or two hundred thousand dollars. Money was never a problem for her. She has always been dedicated to her work and she receives ample recognition and appreciation for it. Now, working for a high class Canadian businessman had become her big break and a prestigious opportunity but she felt uncomfortable receiving such a high fee in four installments. 

"Yes, Mr Filler. I am sure. The only thing I request is to keep my name away from the media. The case has already caught some attention to the public eye."

"Of course, Miss Thompson. I cannot guarantee you to be completely hidden from the media but I shall keep it lowkey."

"That would be all, sir. I will send you an email after I finish the research. Have a good day, sir."  

"Wait. I have one more request, Miss Thompson."

She raised a perfect eyebrow at her phone. "Yes?"

"If not increased pay, can I at least pay you with a good old-fashioned meal? Obviously after all this is over. My wife cooks amazing turkey and lobster. My son will also be joining and hopefully, you will personally meet my client."

It wasn't the first time her clients invited her to dinner or lunch parties but for the first time she genuinely felt bad for rejecting his offer. Mr Filler was a good man and she would have given it a second thought if he had not mentioned his annoying, flirty son and the mysterious foreign client whom she did her best to avoid. It's not that she did not want to meet, it's just that she never wants to meet him. Call it an ill feeling in the gut or a female intuition or whatsoever, Maria always had one golden rule when she entered this line of profession: Stick to the job. Her job was to bring back the property they had lost. What they did afterwards with it is none of her business. So the client who was later going to buy it was also none of her business.