★
V A U G H N
I fucked up. I fucked up bad.
I rub my forehead between two fingers, massaging hard as I remember the events of last night in flashes. My leg aches for some reason and when I try hard to remember, I see visions of me climbing a tree.
A fucking tree to Claire's balcony.
What the hell is wrong with me? I literally behaved like a sixteen-year-old kid who just got his first hook-up. That wasn't me. But all I wanted to do then was reach Claire. Reach her no matter how far she was. My sanity was lost when I saw her face as she stood on the balcony. All I wanted to do was take her in my arms and kiss her hard. I wanted to forget for some time that she couldn't be with me, that I had to maintain an act.
I failed. I fucking failed.
I avoided going home after I woke up in the morning and instead came back to the office. Jake was surprised to see me in time and let me know that I had about six meetings to attend today, back to back. For some reason, all my clients are upset with me and I can see why. Every meeting ended with them finding faults in my work and the worst part is, I can't even blame them.
I haven't made progress in a single project in the past few days with everything going on and now they are asking for compensation if I don't meet their deadlines soon.
I feel so ashamed of myself. My work was once everything to me and I worshipped it but after Claire, everything seems to come second. My professional life is taking a toll and I have no valid reason to tell them why I am not sitting in the workroom now and drawing their project plans. I have already messed up two designs, leaving unfinished work for my team members. They weren't happy.
My cell on my desk rings and I look at it to see an unknown number as the caller ID. I lift the phone and squint my eyes at the screen. The location reads Geneva and after a few seconds of calming my nerves down, I receive the call.
"It's hard to get hands on your number, Mr. Jackson," Mattia Russo's voice chirps from the other end.
I pinch my eyes shut, letting out a frustrated groan. He is the last person I needed to hear from today. He is probably calling with some complaints too and if that is the case, then I am fucked. Theirs is a $100 million project. If I lose it during a time of crisis like this, it will be a huge loss for the company.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Russo," I greet him, a weak smile getting on my lips. "Any problem?"
"Major problems, Jackson." I hear laughter in the background followed by moans and guess that he is in some kind of an orgy party. He is rumored for throwing a number of them around the places he visits. "It's been a long time since the dinner with your wife. I have begun to wonder if you have dropped the deal. Haven't heard from you since."
I am snapped into alertness at that. "What do you mean you haven't heard?" I ask him. "My assistant informed me that you're dropping the deal and so he went there to meet you—"
"Your assistant? Is David Lucrezia back then? I thought he was on vacation."
What the fuck?
I straighten on my chair, placing an unsteady hand on my desk. "You haven't met my new assistant?" I swallow the lump in my throat as I wait for his answer.
"No."
My mind blocks out everything else. His one word sends chills down my spine and I suddenly start to put the events in synchrony.
Jake Gallagher was here the first night that man attacked Claire. He was gone the second time it happened and now I hear that he didn't go where he said he would.
Where was he the day when he was dropped at the Russo brothers' mansion?
"Mr. Russo, where are you staying now?"
"Geneva," the man answers, sounding confused.
"And how long have you been there?"
"We left the night after the dinner, Jackson," Russo rasps, sounding annoyed. "Didn't you receive any update? My secretary mailed you one."
And Jake was controlling my work emails. Fuck! This is sick.
"Mr. Russo, I will call you later. As for the deal, it's still open from my side. Thank you."
I cut the call and jump up from my desk to walk over to the door. Throwing it slightly ajar, I pop my head for my secretary, Cho, and the tiny girl jumps out of her seat. Her desktop is playing a music video and the color drains from her face when she sees me looking at her screen.
"Boss...anything?" she asks, lips quivering since I caught her entertaining herself while she is supposed to be working.
This is the reason I needed an assistant in the first place.
"Send Jake to my office," I tell her and slam the door shut. I run a hand through my hair as I wait for the bastard to come in.
I unbutton my suit, throwing it in my chair, and lean back against the desk, head down and patiently waiting for Jake while the silence sinks in. My heart thuds violently at the horror of what I may have done. At the horror of what David has done. It must be Jake. All this time he was right in front of my eyes, playing his innocent games and fooling me.
A familiar ring of the cordless phone on my desk cuts through the silence of the room. I look back to see David's number flashing on it. I keep my eyes on the door while I put it on the loudspeaker.
"What?" I almost growl.
"You need to fire Jake Gallagher. He's not the man he says he is."
Startled at his words, I turn to pick up the receiver. Russo can call me on my personal number to ask something work-related but David had to do that on my office phone to say something personal.
I'm surrounded by idiots.
"What did you find?" I ask him when I see the door to my cabin still closed.
I turn around and walk over to the wall behind my desk where three certificates of my achievement hang within oak frames.
"Remember how we have a backup system on our server?" David begins. "Since you asked me to come back soon, I was going through it when I found a file. It was one of the applicant's resumes, and guess whose it was?"
"Don't tell me it was his? You hired him for God's sake, David! How can he be in the backup folders?" I scowl, every word from his mouth jolting my erratic nerves.
"Yeah, that's what I thought until I opened it," David says. "It was a different Jake Gallagher with a different photograph. Can you believe that?"
I freeze for a fraction of a second, my heart skipping beats and my breath hitching in my throat.
"You mean someone hacked into our system?"
"Not only that..." he continues. "Whoever this man is changed the photograph in the real Jake's resume along with other information. The Jake working for us is some other man since the real Jake is still in his old job. I called him with the number in his resume and he said that he received a mail from our server saying that his application was rejected. He never came for the interview."
No, no, no. This is way more disturbing than Jake being the man after Claire.
Whoever he is, I let him near Claire. I made him drop Claire at her college the day she was attacked. I made him go with her to that party. I let him into my house, let my sister like him, let him keep track of my activities, and even took him to a fucking bar to see me get drunk.
He is here. He knows me. He knows everything.
If he isn't Jake Gallagher, then who is he?
"Boss, I'm on my way back to LA. I'll be at the office soon."
"David...are you...are you..." I stutter, unable to find words to express the fear I am feeling.
I see my reflection in the glass frame in front of me and my body turns rigid when I see him.
Before I can complete the sentence, something sharp like a needle is pierced into my shoulder and the receiver drops from my hand. My vision instantly darkens, the nerves on my shoulder turning stiff as the liquid sips in.
"Boss...are you there?" David keeps speaking but he steps on the receiver, crushing it into pieces. David's voice cracks before it goes quiet.
With one hand on the wall above me, I am dragged down by gravity and fall to the floor, the pain in my shoulder engulfing me whole. I see dark, then white, and then something blurry in which I see his face as he crouches near me.
"You lied to me...You went to see her last night. You still love her, don't you?" I hear his voice and it's not the usual hollow or pitchy one. It is different and it is something I have heard before. "You fucked up my life, Jackson. Now wait till I fuck yours."
I hear a high-pitched ring in my ears as I fall into darkness, my view of Jake's face replaced by all black, and then, I feel nothing.