Episode 1: Mrs. Unfortunate
'People are coming.' Baron thought as he rested his head against the chair with his legs raised on top of the conference room table. He had his eyes closed and his arms crossed against his chest.
Click. Click.
'A pair of high heels. 4-inches high. She's about 5 foot 4 and weighs 53Kgs'
Tap. Tap.
'Men dress shoes.' He continued before smirking. 'It's the boss.'
Baron continued listening in silence as the sound of shoes hitting the marble floors approached.
The door to the conference room opened and in came Mr.Longford, the chief in command.
"Wake up Baron." He spoke calmly as he pulled the chair across the sleeping man.
Baron slowly opened his eyes and smiled mischievously at his boss.
"You had a lady with you." He stated confidently. "Is she your new food source?" He smirked.
"If only your manners were as high as your sound recognition ability." Mr. Longford sighed.
Baron shrugged his shoulders before pulling his legs off the table and resting them on the ground beneath his chair.
"So, did you think about what we spoke about yesterday?" Baron asked as he leaned closer to his boss, the anticipation in his eyes growing by the second.
"You're putting me in a tough spot here Baron. You're one of my best men, I can't afford to lose you."
"I've already served in this shitty business since I was a teenage boy. Fourteen years are more than enough, don't you think?" Baron urged. His dissatisfaction seeping through his words no matter how hard he tries to hide it.
Mr. Longford sighed again and scratched the back of his head.
"Is it still because of Andrew?" Mr. Longford asked, his body aching just thinking about his former employee and Baron's best friend.
Baron didn't answer and just turned his head to the side, his eyes burning holes into the ground.
"Then I guess you understand." He spoke softly after a while.
"It wasn't your fault Baron. You know how it is working in this particular field." Mr. Longford begged.
Baron slapped both his hands on the table angrily, taking his chief by surprise but Mr. Longford was quick to regain his composure.
"I've said what I had and I'm not changing my mind." Baron spoke with determination as he stood up from his place and marched his way to the door.
"Wait!" Mr. Longford called out to him as he too stood from his chair.
Baron, in respect to his chief, stopped midway but didn't turn around.
Mr. Longford sighed for the third time these past ten minutes before speaking once more.
"Fine. I'll grant you what you want." His words made Baron turn around.
"But," Mr. Longford continued. "You have to finish one last mission."
"Boss I-" Baron started to object but he was cut mid-sentence.
"It will be your biggest and final one. The client is very high paying and you'll have money that would last you a lifetime. Take it as an end of service commission. They're even paying for your hotel room. No need for some shaky cottage." Mr. Longford urged with sparkly eyes.
It was Baron's turn to sigh.
"Just get this one job done and you'll be free to do whatever you want."
Baron sighed once again before taking back his seat, as a sign that he's agreed.
Mr. Longford smiled to himself and pushed a paper folder in Baron's direction.
Baron looked at the folder in front of him then his gaze turned up to his boss.
"Final mission and I'm free." He stated.
Mr. Longford nodded his head assuringly.
Baron picked up the folder before opening it and looking at the papers inside.
"Hawaii?" He asked in amusement.
Mr. Longford nodded his head. "Her husband said that she's on vacation there by herself. We don't know when she'll be back so you have to be quick. The helicopter will be ready to take you in an hour. I'll send you her picture and other information by the time you get there." He explained.
Baron assessed the little information in his hand one more.
"She's still too young to die. How unfortunate." He muttered to himself before shaking the thought out of his head. "Ain't my problem."
"I'll go get ready." He said as he stood up to his feet, the folder in his hand.
Mr. Longford nodded. "Remember, get the job done, gain your freedom."
"I know." Baron sighed before leaving the room.
---
"I just wanted some time to myself Claire. Nothing big." Vivian spoke through the phone as she unpacked her Louis Vuitton suitcase.
"He didn't bully you again, did he?" Her friend Claire asked from the other side, careful with her choice of words.
Vivian let out a mocking chuckling as she remembered the conversation she had with her husband two days ago.
"Mark." She called out softly as she knocked on the door to her husband's study. They didn't really have the best lovey-dovey marriage and Vivian was well aware of her husband's dislike towards her. He wasn't her cup of tea either and if it wasn't for her parent's pressure she wouldn't have agreed to marry him.
"Come in." Mark's voice boomed from inside and with a deep breath, Vivian pulled down the door handle and stepped inside.
Mark didn't bother looking up at his approaching wife and kept his eyes glued to his computer screen, busying himself with ways to get him more money.
"My high school friends are having a reunion on Friday." Vivian spoke.
Mark didn't answer her as he typed away at his keyboard.
"We're asked to get our husbands along too-"
"I'm busy." Mark cut her off.
"Mark please. It'll only be for a couple of hours and that's it." Vivian pleaded.
"I'm busy Vivian. I don't have time to go chit chat with your friends."
"Of course you don't. But you always seem to have time for your friends at the club." Vivian fought back angrily as she crossed her arms across her chest.
This time Mark halted what he was doing and glared up at the female standing across his mahogany desk.
"My going out with my friends is business-related and you have no business with what I do." Mark spat back.
"I'm only asking for a couple of hours Mark and then you can go do whatever you want." Vivian replied.
"I'd better go sign a business deal than this." Mark muttered angrily as he got up from his seat and grabbed his jacket that laid on the couch.
"Wait Mark! I'm still not done talking." Vivian called as she held onto his arm but Mark was quick to snatch it back roughly, causing her to fall to the ground.
He stared at his wife's fallen body indifferently before turning back around and leaving the house.
"Nope, he didn't." Vivian lied in response to Claire's question.
"You can tell me Vivian, I can totally get his ass kicked."
Vivian laughed wholeheartedly at her friend's statement. She would've told her if it was something serious but what happened was a common occurrence between Vivian and Mark and Vivian was only using this trip as an excuse to not attend the reunion.
"Then why the sudden trip to Hawaii?" Claire asked worriedly.
"Like I said Claire. I really just want a change in my daily routine. I thought I'd just take a couple of days off to myself."
"Every girl's dream." Claire joked, making her friend laugh once more.
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'll let you go finish unpacking and maybe get some rest."
"Okay. Thanks Claire." Vivian replied, grateful for a friend like Claire.
"Stay safe okay. Bye."
"Bye." Vivian spoke before ending the call.
She placed her phone on the bed next to her then reached for her hairband to tie her curly, dark red hair.
Her hair was probably the thing she loved the most. It reached mid-back and even though it was overly curly and always fell to her face, she never got tired of it.
She tied it in a high ponytail and with a sigh, continued unpacking her clothes.
She picked out a new clean outfit to wear before going to take a shower.
Waltzing back into her room as she dried her hair with the towel, her eyes wavered towards the balcony doors where the sun sent her gentle rays to light her room.
The sky was cloudless and had a beautiful purple hue in the distance.
Deciding that it was too much of a beautiful day to spend in bed, she grabbed her purse and keys and left her vacation house.
Vivian smiled in content as she walked down the busy street.
She rewarded her eyes greatly as she watched the beautiful city around her.
As she walked further down the street, she came across a bicycle renting shop and her mood changed greatly.
"Excuse me, where's the best place I can ride it at?" Vivian asked the shop owner as she handed him some cash to pay for the bike.
"There's a local park two blocks away from here." The shop owner replied with a soft smile as he handed Vivian back her change. He was a man in his mid-forties and had a warm fatherly aura to him.
"Thank you." Vivian thanked him then continued her way to the park with her bicycle in tow.
The air caressed her face gently and played around with her hair, the smile never leaving Vivian's face. She never felt so free and happy for a long time and she wished for it to stop.
As she rode gleefully down the paved path in the park, her eyes caught the form of someone lying on the ground with blood pooling around him in a puddle.
Her fingers were instantly pressing on the brakes and her legs left the peddles and tried their hardest to stop the moving bicycle. She stopped right in front of the man, her eyes wide from the surprise.
She snapped out of her shocked state and quickly got off and ran towards the injured man.
"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Vivian panicked as she searched his body for injuries only to find a stab wound in his abdomen and another in his back.
He was bleeding heavily and his skin has already paled out.
She gasped in shock and quickly took off her jacket to place it on the wounds to stop the bleeding. She didn't know where to hold or which wound to cover.
The man was panting hard and kept wincing in pain.
"Keep your eyes open okay? I'll call the ambulance." Vivian ordered and as she took her phone out of her pocket the man held her hand, making her look at his pained face.
"No." The man whispered weakly before struggling to sit up straight.
"N-no?" Vivian asked. "No what? You're bleeding too much, we have to take you to the hospital!" She panicked more as she started dialing for the ambulance.
Suddenly, the phone was snatched away from her by a bloody hand and was thrown away, falling with a thud on the ground.
Vivian gasped as she looked at the man once again.
"N-no...h-hospital." He stuttered weakly then was caught in a fit of coughs making him spit out blood.
Vivian watched as his hands fell limp to his sides, his eyes closing ever so slowly before he lost consciousness completely and his body started falling but was saved from the impact however, when Vivian hurried to catch him before hitting the hard ground.