Loving You

Burning Ashes

LESLIE'S POV

This is probably the darkest week of this company. I have never seen the staff so scared of losing their jobs and I've never seen Rue so angry. I stood by the door of the office as Rue, Blake, Mr Flynn and the lawyer tried to fix the puzzle. "Leslie, may I have a glass of water please?", the lawyer asked. I smiled and nodded before walking out of Rue's home office.

I went into the kitchen and started to pour water in the glass cup when a voice startled me, "You guys have been in there for hours". I turned around to see Jordan, Rue's brother, standing by the door of the kitchen. I cleared my throat as I regained my composure, "They're trying to solve the case". "They're?", he asked as he cocked his head sideways. I looked at the cup and shrugged, "I'm not really making a contribution asides getting glasses of water", I said as I rose up the cup.

He nodded and looked at me, "How have you been?". "It's been a tough time for everyone, honestly", I replied as I held the cup tighter. "I asked about you not everyone", he chuckled. I looked up at his face before sighing, "I have to get this to the lawyer. She's expecting it", I moved to pass him but he held my hand, making me stop. I looked at him confusedly before he pulled out my phone from my other hand and typed something into it then his phone rang and he looked at it and smirked. My number blared through the screen of his phone. He handed my phone back to me and smiled, "I figured you wouldn't give me willingly so". I held my phone tighter as I started to walk out and he called after me, "I'll call you".

I found myself awaiting his call. I tossed and turned in bed before sitting up and staring at my phone frustratedly. I picked it up to check if it was on silent before placing it back down and groaning into my pillow.

I stayed awake through most of the night and I ended up feeling very tired in the morning. I took my daily dose of caffeine but it did nothing to help so I decided to go for a run before heading for Rue's house.

I was running down the hill as I pondered on the case.

Rue is sued for a breach of contract

Mr Lodge doesn't want money, he wants Rue's name to get dragged in the mud.

So he decides to pay a sum of money to Jerry to lie that Rue breached the contract. Blake said he saw them exchange envelopes. He must've been trading his copy of the actual documents for the fake ones.

But where was Rue's original copy?

It was in the office along with the other files and no one granted entrance to the office aside me Rue....me....Daisy...and Oh my God, Larry!

I approached him quickly, "Larry, what were you doing in there?". He seemed surprised before composing himself and giving a smile I knew was fake, "Ah Ms Monroe, you're still here! I was just cleaning up". "But you don't clean in the evenings and I don't see any cleaning objects with you", I said looking around. He chuckled as he kept holding his stomach, "Oh, they're just around the corner. I wanted to see if it needed serious cleaning so I could get more of the materials but since you're around, I'll just wait till you're done". I nodded and smiled, "Alright".

He wasn't supposed to be in the office that night but he was and he was holding on to his stomach while talking to me. He must've hidden the files there. I pulled out my phone to call Rue as I stopped in my tracks.

"Hey, this is Rue. I'm a little busy at the moment so please leave a message" *Beep*

I sighed, "Rue, I think I know who took the documents. I was working late in the office two weeks ago and I saw Larry leave the office and...", before I could finish, I felt someone push me and a black bag covered my face and tightened around my neck. I fought and fought but I couldn't breathe. I struggled for the little air I could find before my eyes closed and all I saw was complete darkness.

While the car was moving, I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. It was ignored till the third ring before one of the people in the at got frustrated and pulled it out. "Who the heck is Jordan?!", the guy yelled.

Wow!

Wowwww, perfect timing Jordan.

I waited all night but you call when I get kidnapped? Great...

"Just a friend", I muttered as the car hit a bumpy road and I ended up swerving forward with force and hitting my back on the chair with even greater force. "Ow!", I yelled but none of them answered me.

They pulled me out of the car and started dragging me. "Look, I'm sorry to break this to you but I'm not some hella rich kid. My dad can't afford to pay for my apartment so I work my ass off and if you want all my money, sure, but trust me, when I say you'll be disappointed", I said as they kept dragging me. "Shut up", one of the men said and I made a face at him, even though I know that he can't see me cause of the bag over my face, before sighing, "It's going to be a long day".

I was dragged into somewhere and placed on a seat. They tied me to the chair before taking the bag off my face. I was still in my hoodie and track suit and my hair was all over the place. Thanks for nothing, kidnappers.

I blew my hair away from my face as I took in my surroundings. There were 3 guys here, all scruffy looking I'll admit. It looked like I was in some sort of a warehouse that was half empty. I looked closely at the stark of boxes in a corner.

WARNING: EXPLOSIVES

R&Co.

R&Co. must be the name of the owner of this warehouse. I didn't need to think too much because the answer just walked through the door.

Mark Robbinson

"Ah Leslie darling, I see you've arrived. Hope the guys weren't too hard on you. I warned them not to especially since you're of utmost importance", He smiled as he stood in front of me. I rose my brows at him in confusion, "I don't understand. What do you want? If this is an antic to get Rue, why can't you just call her?". He laughed forcing the rest to join him before smiling at me, "If it was that easy Leslie, trust me, I would've done just that but you see it's not. Rue needs to do something for me but she won't unless we trigger her and that's where you come in. So you see, you're merely a pawn in this game of chess. Rue is the queen and I'm going to capture her at all means". Honestly, I'm still very confused but I couldn't care less. I rose my head to him, "So when is Rue getting here?". "Soon", he smiled, "Very soon", he said as he signaled to one of the guys behind me. The guy moved and placed a gun to my head and I immediately panicked.

"What the fuck?", I gasped as he shoved the gun into my head. I closed my eyes as the click of a camera went off. The gun left my head and I slowly opened my eyes to see Mark's back to me as he walked out.

Okay, so we've established that I'm dead.

Great

"Someone send my corpse to my dad. He loves to burn our ashes, it's a family tradition", I said to no one in particular.

"Shut the fuck up!", someone replied.

"Got it", I said before keeping quiet.

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