Mallia Mamet didn't rush to answer the phone; instead, she clutched it in her trembling hands and hid in a corner, at a distance far enough that Edward couldn't hear the conversation.
"Why are you calling me?"
"You have the nerve to ask me? What exactly have you done? Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
Mallia started to break out in a cold sweat. The caller was her secret financial backer, someone completely unknown to Edward, a man whose background was so intimidating that next to him, any so-called power was as insignificant as an ant.
Lately, she had indeed been up to a lot of foolishness, so when Steve Harris spoke in that oppressive, lowered voice, asking questions, Mallia panicked, uncertain which of her recent actions to confess to first.
"Explain what? I haven't been causing trouble recently! I may have been a bit willful, but I think it's been okay because, after all, there hasn't been any negative news, right?"
