A call came in when I was at the office, the next morning. I was reviewing the review Henry sent me last night while he was trying to confirm a meeting with everyone. Everyone was in their office. Anderson, Gerald. Everything was going fine just like an ordinary morning should.Until my direct line rang. It wasn't my personal phone but the one that went through the main reception on the ground floor.“Sir,” it was the receptionist. A composed and calm woman who worked really hard. She had worked for eleven years and was competent for this work. “Tjere a visitor requesting to see you. He doesn't have an appointment.""Who is it?" I asked. A brief pause.I didn't have time for that but I waited. Patricia would never call me for nothing.” "He says his name is Daniel Pierce," Patricia said. "He says it's a personal matter."I was quiet for exactly three seconds.Daniel was here. In the lobby of my own company he was asking for me. I had not seen Daniel since the night I left Pierce h

After a hectic day with Daniel Pierce, I got home around half past three, tired. I sat in the backseat for a moment after the car had stopped. The afternoon sun was shining brightly and perfectly. I was still thinking about Daniel. If I wasn't smart and quick enough he would have played me. A guy that I considered family was willing to put me through pain. I was still questioning what his visit meant. It could be anything at all. Didn't he know that talking like that could cause problems for him especially when lots of rooms these days had recorders? Or was this also among his plans.Anyways, whatever it was. Henry already had the recording secured and the legal team was reviewing it in case Daniel decides to pull a dirty stunt. Did Victoria send him or was he working on his own?I didn't want to believe that Victoria had sent him. Victoria was not as razzed as he was. She was always well laid out, careful and competent.But it could still have been her. She never does anythin

What manner of man was that? A man who would watch his wife suffer?I thought about what sorry really meant, about what it weighed and what it bought and what it couldn't buy back regardless of how sincerely it was meant.Sorry, never gave her back a single day.Sorry didn't put her in a room with her father before he died. Sorry didn't give her the chance to know that she had been looked for, that she had been missed, that the life she had lost had been real and had belonged to her.Sorry was the smallest possible unit of accountability and Marcus was offering it nineteen years too late and expected it to be worth something.It wasn't worth anything. I was honest enough to acknowledge that. He had agreed to go on record, and that was worth something real. That would matter when the legal process moved forward. That would be part of what brought Victoria to account.I didn't know why he was doing this and I hoped he wasn't just doing me a favour so I could return it in the past becaus

She chose a tea house called Meridian.It was in the west side of the city not too far from the Ashford neighbourhood where the Pierce family lived. It was a quiet place with small round tables and soft lighting and the kind of atmosphere where people spoke in low voices without being told to.I told Henry where I was going before I left the office.He did not like it."You should not go alone," he said and his voice was the flattest I had ever heard it which meant he was more worried than he wanted to show."She called me directly," I said. "That means she wants to talk without any performance around it. If I show up with security she will shut down and we will learn nothing.""And if she has something planned?""Victoria does not operate that way," I said. "She is careful. She does not do anything that can be traced back to her directly. A public tea house in the middle of the afternoon is the safest possible place she could have chosen." I paused. "She chose it on purpose."Henry l

When I got home Lily was not in her room.I noticed this because I always checked her room first when I came back in the evenings. It has grown to be a habit I couldn't stop myself from exhibiting. Before I walked up the stairs, I looked through her door to confirm that she was there and that she was fine. Her door was open and the room was empty.I did not panic. The house was secure. Henry was somewhere and Agent Cole was here too. I simply turned and went looking for her. I found them in the kitchen. She and agent Yemi. She was sitting on the counter and I'd told her countless times never to do it but she always did. Kids. She was eating something from a bowl placed on her knee. Agent Yemi stood a few feet away from.her, leaning against the kitchen counter. She was also eating the same thing from her plate.They weren't talking, only eating in silence which was comfortable between them. I wondered how the both became so comfortable with each other when they only met each othe