The three men exchanged looks for a moment before all turning to face the receptionist at the same time, making him shift back subconsciously.“Look, all we are asking for here is a yes or no,” the man in the middle spoke again.“Does a man named Ethan work here? Yes, or no?”“I told you already, ‘I’ do not know anyone with that first name working here,” the receptionist insisted, emphasizing on the ‘I’.It was a smart choice, because if it turned out that the men were from Nexus Headquarters or even from the government or something like that, then he wouldn’t be charged with being an obstruction to justice or any charges of that kind.If he was taken to court, he could easily argue that he had strictly said that he didn’t know anyone of that name, he never claimed that such a person didn’t work for Nexus Air, Brighton.He patted himself on the back in his head for the smart choice he had made and then focused back on the men in front of him.“You see…” the man on the left spoke this

The receptionist recoiled the moment he saw the wad of cash on the table. He looked at the men, then back at the cash, his lips trembling from temptation.“Um… What… What is this?” John swallowed hard, pretending not to understand what was happening.The man in the middle just stared at him, not saying a single word to him.“L… Look… I need you to exit the building right now before I call security,” John challenged, struggling to keep his eyes off of the cash.“You would have done that already if you really wanted to call security on us,” the man said, totally unmoved by John’s threat.“Besides, something tells me that you know your security guards won’t be able to make us leave if we don’t want to,” he added confidently.John swallowed hard again, his eyes still falling to the wad of cash on the table.It was a bundle of hundred dollar bills.His head had already done the math. Unless they had just put hundred dollar bills at the top of the bundle, then sitting on his desk was a hu

She had spent a few months trying to get some dirt on him, so she could make her way into his company.She couldn’t believe she had forgotten about that night so much.‘Just how much did I drink?’ she thought to herself as the memories flooded her mind.She remembered him coming to her and flirting a bit, even promising to take care of whomever was ruining her mood.She knew he was just trying to get in between her legs, but she had let it go on.Even though she was already wasted, her subconscious thoughts drove her to play along because if he slept with her, she could use that to get closer to him, and if he killed Ethan, she could use it as dirt on him to blackmail him.She was such a menace, she could cook up elaborate schemes even while she was quite literally unconscious.She remembered showing him Ethan’s picture and then his mood changed.She remembered the look on his face even though it was a bit blurry in her mind, but he looked shocked… astounded, like he had just taken a

Ethan noticed the look John gave Jane and when John didn’t say anything, he furrowed his brows and turned to face her“Jane,” he said with all authority. “What’s going on?”Jane straightened immediately, forcing a dismissive scoff that didn’t quite land.“What are you talking to me for?” she said, trying to appear aloof, like she wasn’t interested in whatever was going on.“I know something is going on here Jane. I can see the way John is looking at you,” Ethan didn’t look away.“Nothing is going on, okay?” she said. “You’re imagining things.”Her voice was steady, but her eyes were not.She just kept avoiding looking directly at him, and it was terribly obvious.‘She’s scared,’ Ethan realized, surprised by the clarity of the thought.‘Was I really that scary when I took my keys from her last night? Wait… Did she tell John what happened last night? Is that why he is behaving this way all of a sudden?’His thoughts danced about for a bit, but he couldn’t settle on a single answer.All

The silence that followed John’s words was thick enough to sit on.Ethan didn’t move, no one did.After John had said he thought the men wanted to kill Ethan, both sides of the reception desk went silent.Ethan went silent, trying to reconfigure his thoughts from his fears of exposure, to one of danger, while Jane and John went silent, trying to watch for Ethan’s reaction.John and Jane were not on the same page over what was happening. John was still a bit suspicious of Jane.He suspected that she had hired those men to take out Ethan, but they both had one common interest.Ethan.They both were starting to have questions for Nexus Air’s newest employees. Who was he in truth?John had worked at the facility for years now, and in his time at the front desk, he had seen a lot of things happen.He had seen women coming around to ask if certain people worked at the facility, either because they had been lied to by some random fellow to get them in their bed, or the person really did work