Karl Gordon Is Back

Chapter 8 : A Step Closer

Karl stepped out of his room, dressed for work, dressed in a dark shirt, trousers, a jacket he hadn’t worn in months.

The house was suspiciously quiet.

Sara and Jay weren't around as often as they always were. As much as he wanted to know why, he couldn't care less what their reasons were.

He wanted them far away from him anyway, the less he sees them around, the better for him.

The pain from his jog weighed heavily on his limbs but he ignored it. The sooner his body gets used to the pain, the better.

When he stepped into the hallway, the air felt different. Clean even. That's odd, he usually does the cleaning which he had opted out of the past few days.

Karl walked down the hallway, the air smelt of soap and air freshener. His eyes flickered to the floors; the floors gleamed faintly, as though someone had scrubbed it too thoroughly.

Rita’s voice drifted from downstairs in angry hushed tones. Karl paused briefly at the top of the stairs, listening.

“…I’m telling you the truth, Melody! Something is wrong with him!” Rita was saying.

Melody responded calmly, “You’re exaggerating. We're talking about Karl here!”

“I know!” Rita snapped, “It's like I was looking at someone else entirely!”

“He’s acting out. That’s all. He always does this when he wants me to feel guilty.”

“That wasn’t acting out,” Rita snapped. “That was unhinged. You should’ve seen his face. He looked like he wanted to kill me.”

Karl smirked.

Melody sighed, the sound heavy with impatience. “You exaggerate everything! He can't even tell me no and you want me to believe you burned your clothes? Rita, seriously.”

“So what are you going to do about him?” Rita pressed. “Because I swear, if he keeps acting like a lunatic...” Rita groaned, “Goodness, how could you have ended up with Karl and not Caden?! He's by far better than that leeching! And now he's moving crazy!”

Melody laughs, “Relax. When he sees his tactics aren't working on me, he'll return to begging again.”

Rita exhaled but she wasn't convinced. “I was so scared I cleaned the entire house to get my mind off last night!” She muttered under her breath.

"Relax," Melody laughs, “I give him a week and he'll be back. He's ready to lick my toes if I told him that would make me accept him.”

Karl's fist clenched, the certainty in her voice hit him unexpectedly. He chuckled and stepped forward then, his shoes making a soft sound against the stair.

“Still, I…” Rita stopped mid-sentence.

Both women turned toward him.

Melody eyes went down his entire body, he's never looked so put together or … handsome before. Her brows furrowed, arms folded.

“Going somewhere?” She asked.

Karl descended the stairs, eyes forward. “I have work.”

Rita scoffed. “Work,” she repeated, folding her arms. “Since when?”

Karl didn’t look at her. He walked right past and grabbed himself a cup of water to drink.

Melody stepped closer, heels clicking softly against the floor. “Are you really going to pretend everything is normal after what happened?”

“I am dressed for work,” Karl replied evenly. “That’s not pretending.”

Her lips twitched, unimpressed. “You’re not going to apologise to me?” she asked, “Seriously?”

He paused near the door, reaching for his briefcase. “For what?”

“For humiliating me,” Melody said flatly. “For causing a scene in my office, for disrespecting my parents and for…humiliating me in front of my staff…”

Karl finally turned to face her.

“You mean proposing to Anna.”

Rita let out a sharp laugh. “That was pathetic.”

Karl's eyes finally met her and Rita swallowed. He was giving her those crazy eyes, the one he had when he burned her clothes and when he warned her against speaking to him disrespectfully.

She takes a step back, unable to meet his gaze.

Melody’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. That. What were you thinking?”

She walked closer, dropping her voice in a whisper. “Listen, you plan to marry anyway, why not get on with it? Why are you dragging this longer than necessary?”

Karl chuckled, she knew Allure was his. He is the real CEO and she stands to get everything in his name if he dies.

Hell, he made her his next of kin! Dumbest mistake ever!

“Why?” He asked, “Is there something I have that you desperately want, Melody?”

His words made her staggered backwards as a look of shock crossed her features. She gave him a nervous laughter, does he know what is going on?

“What are you talking about?”

Karl shrugged, "You tell me. You were angry that I proposed to you and now you want me to do it again…” he shakes his head, laughing, "I don't understand you, Melody..”

He walks closer, “Is there something I'm missing…” he pulls her hair behind her ears, “My sweet sweet girlfriend?" He asked, sarcasm dipping heavy from his voice.

Melody stepped away from him, hands trembling and eyes scanning his for answers to a question that burned in her chest.

“You..” she stammered, “What are you talking about?”

“You have two weeks left.” He said and walked out the door.

~~~~~

Allure’s building looked the same, he had spent his hard earned money to build this structure from the ground up for Melody and handed it to her in a platter of gold.

Unfortunate.

The elevator doors swung open to his floor and he felt it again, that sudden silence he felt when he walked in through the lobby, how staff stared and whispered amongst themselves.

It was happening again. Karl walked down the hallway and it got even quieter. Keyboards stopped clicking, conversations stopped mid sentence, everyone had their eyes fixed on him.

He knew what this was about.

His proposal to Anna and how he got turned down. Despite how discreet they had all tried to be in whispering gossip about him, he had heard everything.

Karl kept his head high, hands tucked into his pocket and he made steady strides to his office.

At the despenser stand, a pair of junior staff members fell silent as he approached.

“Morning,” he said politely.

They mumbled greetings, eyes fixed on the floor.

Karl walked past them without saying another word.

“Is that Karl?”

“No way. He looks different.”

“Yeah. He doesn't look greasy anymore.”

He ignored it all and walked straight to his desk. He settled behind it and turned on his computer.

His eyes caught Caden in a distance, eyes fixed on him, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Karl ignored him, he was here for a reason.

Karl pulled up Allure’s internal database, fingers moving with more speed than he wanted.

“Karl.”

He clicked out of the database before Caden could get any closer.

“You look…different.”

Karl said nothing, simply stared at him intensified. Caden cleared his throat.

“I wanted to ask about the Leon pitch. We could just do it like we always have. You design the pitch and I'll present it.” Caden said, "You know I'm the better speaker.”

Karl stared at him, no response. Caden stared at him awkwardly for a while, expecting him to say something but Karl ignored him.

The reason why everyone thinks he does nothing in the office was because Caden always took credit for his work.

“Karl?”

“I’ll think about it.” Karl saud.

Caden paused and then chuckled, “There's nothing you think about. We could just do it like we always have.”

He paused and stared at Karl, “Is everything okay? Melody told me you've been acting a little strange.”

“Do you want me to work on the pitch or not?”

“Of course. I just…”

“Then leave.”

Caden nodded and walked away.

Karl turned to the server and navigated through folders he knew better than most, bypassing layers of security that had once been his responsibility to design.

He searched for the name, Ruchi Emold.

The file appeared instantly.

Of course it did.

His pulse quickened as he opened it.

Karl leaned back in his chair, scanning every detail slowly. He memorised her email, assistant names. He took notes by hand, writing the details in a small notebook he kept tucked in his jacket.

Once he was done, he stared at the screen for a long moment.

Deleting the file would raise questions. If Allure gains Richie's trust, that would be one more power partner backing Melody up.

His cursor hovered above the delete button and clicked on it.