Sweet Surrender (Complete)

Chapter 25

Ethan spoke, “We worked relentlessly on this project, we searched, hired an investigator, pegged on hints to find a trace, anything that would tell us about his disappearance."

"And..." Radhika asked her heart beating furiously in her heart.

Arjun stepped closer to her and ran his knuckles down her cheek while gazing in her eyes, “We hit on a name, the man who was last seen with him, of course, we can prove nothing but we know he was somehow involved, we had to check."

Radhika felt familiar tingles run up her spine, she had long accepted she would never be immune to his touch, “Who?" She whispered.

Arjun looked at her and linked their fingers, “Think who is set to lose the most if our plan sets off, it will no doubt create an uproar in the market, it will burst all illusions related to non- renewable resources, the pro-environment community will have a field day."

She did not even want to imagine the magnitude of success this invention guaranteed but there was also a down side to it, there would be many losers, people whose not only prestige but also power would diminish. Oil was power, it gained people friendships with the best, and they ruled the economy. It was much more than a status symbol.

"This man will be a finished man, no longer powerful, nothing," Ethan added.

Arjun looked at Radhika and in a clear voice said, “Charles Marthy."

"The president of the Oil Consortium," Ethan's voice echoed, as he started pacing the small space, “I saw him sitting comfortably, having breakfast while you were under attack and..." He looked and Arjun and gave him a wicked smile.

"And?" Arjun angled himself to face him.

"I have him on video barking orders to take you down, we have nailed him," Ethan said smugly as he hauled out his mobile to show them the said video.

Arjun slapped his back as his eyes twinkled with retribution, “Let’s take him down."

They stood their discussing the pros and cons of their plan which was stimulated heavily by Radhika's idea.

It wasn’t easy, they had to decide how to take him down, and there ensued a heated debate between the three over direct and indirect confrontation. While, Arjun and Radhika were of the view that direct clash was the best approach as that would enable them to lay their points on the table without censoring their thoughts. Afterall, they had no evidence that Charles Marthy was behind the disappearance of Bill Maxwell, except for the video they had no proof. And, a face to face talk would also ensure his strong support for the passage of the bill.

While, Ethan projected for the taking him during the meeting, he wanted an explosion, he didn’t want them to be lenient. He mused they could put in more of weight if they flew on him together in front of all and sundry, that would enable them to completely finish him off.

In the end, it was decided to go in for a face off.  As Radhika laid down the fine points with respect to the ‘defamation’ case that could be labeled against them in lieu of presenting facts, without any solid evidence for back up. Her analytical mind, also resounded a man of his stature could do anything and it would be smartness and not cowardice as labeled by Ethan to get the answers, they had to get him involved via dialogue and if that failed, the next option would be handling him in a full-fledged conference.