+25 BONUS
“I can’t believe you did something like this,” Clara snapped “How could you have been so reckless?”
She was stomping around the kitchen, her bottom lip trembling so much that it seemed like she was going to burst at any inoment. I wished Brenda hadn’t left, so I wouldn’t be the only one on the receiving end of her anger. “It’s not what you think,” I said, looking up at her.
“Not what I think?” she shrieked. “Were you or were you not about to leak a sensitive footage Marcus and Emily to the press?”
“I would rather not answer that.
“Do you not realise how terrible that would be for you?” she asked. “Once that footage gets out, Marcus will know me from you. And if he can establish that you were the one who leaked It, do you not realise that you would be charged for committing a felony?”
it
“But David said…”
“Fuck David!” she snapped. “I fully intend to have a word with him after this. You’re my client, Olivia, not his. Do you understand that?”
I was trying so hard not to cry, and I stared down at my feet in shame. I felt like a little child who was being scolded for stealing for the cookie jar, and I was too embarrassed to even look up at her.
“Look,” she sighed, “I’m just looking out for you, Olivia. I don’t want you to do anything that will jeopardise this case. I think we have a shot at making sure you’re adequately compensated for the emotional distress you went through, and once the divorce is settled, you’ll be filthy rich. After that, you can retire somewhere and start your life afresh. Isn’t that the ultimate goal here?”
She came and sat beside me, then placed her hand gently on my knee. “I know it’s difficult, and I know that you must feel agitated to know that you’re not doing anything right now. But trust me, the best thing you can do for yourself is to lay low and let me handle things on my own. We’ve got one shot at this, and we can’t blow it. Resorting to cheap handed tactics like this is something I would expect from Marcus, not from you.”
I merely nodded, unable to bring myself to say anything. I was far too tired from the events of the last few days, and I just wanted to curl up in my bed with a decent book and cry until I fell asleep. I didn’t want to think about anything, or about the fact that my idea wouldn’t even have worked in the first place. Marcus was several steps ahead of me already, and he knew exactly what I would do even before I realised it
But how did he know about the camera? Emily barely remembered that it was even there. And it wasn’t even something that was prominently displayed in the apartment so anyone could see it. Unless you knew exactly where it was tucked behind a small potted plant in the comer of the living room–there was no way you would ever know that the apartment was being taped.
So how did he come to know about it? Did the building manager say something to Emily which reminded her about the camera? Or was Marcus secretly keeping an eye on me, and he had somehow found a way to bug my apartment?
Suddenly, I didn’t feel safe anymore. I started looking around, desperately searching for a lens hidden somewhere in the apartment. Ciara looked at me like I’d grown a second head, but she took a step back and said nothing.
“Is there a way to find out if this apartment has been bugged?” I whispered, shifting my gaze to her. I saw the realisation flash in her eyes, and she immediately began to look around.
