"Ben,"
I looked up to see Alex, looking almost beaten up by something.
"Are you ok?" I asked as I can see something is not right.
"Hmmm... do you have anything to drink?"
"Wait up, I will bring some wine," I said and went to get a glass of wine for him. But by the time I got back he was almost nodding off.
"Alex, what is going on?"
He drank the glass of wine in one go and looked at me and said,
"I found that Stacy has given the design drafts,"
"Hmm..."
"And did you know she was married to Liam's most trusted right-hand man,"
I looked at him surprised.
"Who was that?" was all I could ask.
"Do you remember there was a guy with a keen look on Sarah,"
"oh yeah, the ponytail guy,"
"That's the guy. Do you remember that Markus said he had seen him before,"
"So this was the person he saw?"
"Yes. He is nicknamed - Venom - because of his big snake tattoo on his right hand," said Alex.
"Venom?"
"Does it ring a bell?" asked Alex.
"Kind of but I cannot recall," I said sitting beside him.
"Markus and his team followed him and searched his office. But they were caught by Venom's team,"
"Why didn't you tell me, Alex?"
"You have a lot going on, so I didn't,"
"Ok.. is everyone ok?"
"Only Markus got injured. He just had a few bruises on his hand, but apart from that no issues,"
"Did you get any leads, to who is behind all this?"
"Who do you guess?"
"Liam"
"Bingo"
As we talked for a while, Markus came back with a bandage on his arm.
"How are you?" I asked looking at his hand.
"it's not serious but the information I got is valuable," he said with a satisfied look.
"What did you find out?"
"Before they could attack us we had our special devices placed to monitor them,"
He took some time before continuing,
"There is something more interesting you need to know."
We looked at him as he was getting ready to tell a secret.
"Liam is not the head, there is someone else, who he gets orders from,"
"What?" said Alex.
"Yes, I found evidence today. And we are still in the process of finding facts," said Markus and going back to his guest's home.
"Ben, could there be someone who hates us?"
"I don't know. As I have never had any issues with anyone,"
"That's true. But whoever is it, they just attach you and Sarah,"
"If that's the case, the person might be someone who knows us both,"
"But who?"
I couldn't think of anyone. But there must be someone like Alex said who is really keeping an eye on what we do. Maybe they know about me and Sarah as well as Alex and Meg.
-------------------------
"Dinner's ready," said Sarah coming into my office room.
"Let's go, Alex,"
She looked at both of us for a while.
"Are you two ok?"
"Yes, dear. Come on let's go,"
"Oh I almost forgot that I bought dessert," said Alex bringing out a bag full of different ice cream tubs.
"What!! this must have melted already," I said.
"We will re-freeze it, Little Bud," said Alex going to put the tubs in the freezer.
Alex and I had a silent agreement not to tell Sarah about the discovery for the time being. So we started to talk about the event today.
"Do you know who will be in the headlines tomorrow?"
"Obviously it's me," I said to Alex just to make fun of him.
"NO way!!!"
"So who is going to be?" asked Sarah.
"DIAMOND.." he screamed spooning a fork full of pasta in his mouth.
"Yes, it's true. And now everyone will have a field day trying to find who it is," I said with a disappointing look.
As predicted, the headlines the next day were about our bid win and about the design. This news had been trending after some months of no publicity announcements. The reporters were unable to get any more details as we had a week off and everyone had signed an NDA, not to share without our approval.
"Good Morning my boy," was the first thing I heard from Uncle Holland.
"Good Morning Uncle,"
"You have made headlines again,"
"Hmm... yes Thanks to my wife," I said looking at Sarah who was combing her long hair after a bath in the morning.
"So can I have the honor of having an interview with you?"
"Hmm... I guess so. May I know the time and place?" I said getting up.
"What about the night show on, Thursday,"
"Ok, uncle I will be there,"
"And can you bring Diamond - your secret weapon as well," he said in a tone I cannot refuse but I cannot expose Sarah to the media.
"Well uncle, you already have met and known her for seven years," I said with a smile on my face.
"WHAT!!! you mean I know her?"
"Yes, and you love her more than you love me. You treat her like a little girl bringing chocs and teddies every time," I gave him a hint.
"OH, MY WORD!!!! so it's Sarah,"
"Yes uncle, but please don't let this go out until I introduce her as my wife,"
"Hmm.. I know son. So do you have any progress on the investigations?"
I looked around to see if Sarah was nearby. She must have left to the pantry to make tea.
"Uncle, our first assumption that Liam must be doing all this is not right,"
"What do you mean, Ben?"
"Yes, it seems someone else is behind all this, but I don't have a clue,"
"There must be someone, maybe from the past. I know you didn't date anyone so that cannot be the issue, or..."
"What uncle?"
"A jealous secret admirer could be behind all this,"