Carlos quickly pushed Linda away from him as soon as Carl got to his office but it was too late. Carl had already caught him kissing Linda.
Linda who cared less about what just happened got down from the desk and adjusted her short dress.
"sorry we got interrupted, we'll have to fuck later" Linda shamelessly said, smiling at Carlos who was feeling dead embarrassed.
Too bad for Carlos, Linda is ready to sleep with him every now and then. She always wants sex with him. It could be in her house or his house, in the car, at the hotel, or inside his office.
"make sure you call me," she said to Carlos gesturing her hand in a call-me sign while leaving.
Carl stared at Carlos with disappointment in his eyes and Carlos couldn't return the gaze, feeling remorseful for what just happened.
When Linda told Carlos she would see him later in his office because she was horny, she wasn't kidding at all. She had ordered Carlos to have sex with her in his office before Carl barged in.
Carlos might have a high sex drive but compare to Linda, he thought she was always taking an aphrodisiac when she was with him.
"wow!! once a cheater, always a cheater Carl finally spoke up.
"I thought you loved Anastasia, I thought she was the love of your life," Carl said with anger, walking closer to Carlos. He was so upset that his best friend was cheating on Anne
"how dare you do this to Anne. You claim you love her so much yet you're cheating on her??" Carl yelled at Carlos.
"Don't you fucking yell at me" Carlos fired back.
Carl heaved a long sigh. He almost forgot that Carlos hated being yelled at.
"You've got a pretty bad temper and that won't stop me from correcting your wrongs because you're my best friend and more like a brother to me.
I didn't mean to yell at you, I just got upset that you're still the same Carlos who's never faithful" Carl said.
Carlos sat down on his seat massaging his temple. If only he could tell Carl that he was sleeping with Linda just to get her mouth shut.
"you know what?" Carl clicked his tongue "You're a grown-ass man and you can sleep with whoever you wanna sleep with even though you have a girlfriend, it's your life… But Anne loves you too much for you to play with her feelings" Carl said leaving.
"Bro wait," Carlos said, standing up from his seat to stop Carl from leaving.
Carl stopped and faced Carlos.
"Please don't tell Anne what you saw," Carlos said
Carl scoffed. "why shouldn't I?"
"Because you're not going to" Carlos responded sharply.
"if you respect me as your best friend and love me like a brother, swear to me you're never going to tell Anastasia what you saw," Carlos said to Carl in a serious tone.
Carl sighed looking up.
"look at me, man..." Carlos held his shoulders with both hands and they both locked their gaze.
"If you truly value our twenty-two years of friendship, swear to me you won't tell Anne I'm cheating on her," Carlos said firmly, intensely staring into Carl's eyes.
Carl paused for a while and answered in a low tone. "I swear I won't tell her,"
Carlos had a sigh of relief and walked back to his seat to sit down.
"I still don't understand Carlos, why are you cheating on her? Don't you realize she's going to get hurt once she finds out?" Carl questioned, sitting down opposite Carlos.
"that is why she's not going to find out" Carlos replied.
"I… I thought you loved Anastasia?" Carl asked.
"Carl please just stay out of this. It's practically none of your business" Carlos answered.
"why are we best friends if your business isn't my business? You tell me everything especially when it comes to women.
You talk to me about the ladies you're genuinely interested in and the ladies you're just using, and now you can't tell ME your best friend anything? Carlos, I hope everything is okay with you" Carl said.
'I can't possibly tell Carl I'm sleeping with that bitch to keep her mouth shut from telling Anne and the whole world I'm a murderer,' Carlos said in his head.
"Carl, I'm okay. If there was something wrong, you'll be the first one to know" Carlos said. "…and I guess you have something to tell me since you came to my office"
"Oh yeah," Carl ruffled his hair. "Sasha told me she found a dead body that was gruesomely murdered."
"hmm… that's sad, who's the victim?" Carlos asked.
"we're not sure but it appears to be a delivery man… Sasha is currently working on getting the fingerprints of the supposed murder weapon and once she gets it, we'll catch the killer"
"wh… what… which is the supposed murder weapon?" Carlos stuttered.
"a stick," Carl said and Carlos's eyes widened.
"I know right? Whoever killed that delivery man must be mentally insane to brutally kill a person with a stick" Carl said.
He thought Carlos was astonished at what he just said, whereas, Carlos was feeling anxious because he knew he was the murderer.
"anyways, it's been a long time since I locked someone behind bars, catch you later," Carl said and left Carlos's office.
"damn it!!" Carlos cursed, hitting his desk. "why don't they ever rest in peace?" he furiously said to himself.
He picked up his phone and called Kim, his right-hand man in the black blade.
"hey Kim, I want you to do something for me," Carlos said on the phone.
****
It was past 5 p.m. and Anne was super happy to have a picnic with Carlos so they could spend some alone quality time together. At least, their picnic would make up for their date that was totally ruined.
Presently, she's on her way to where Carlos had asked her to meet him. It was a quiet field where people go there chill and he thought it would be the best spot for them to have their picnic. Just the two of them, no interference.
Carlos has planned not to take his phone with him so he wouldn't get distracted once Linda call him. He wanted to dedicate all his time to Anne.
Anne got to the field expecting to see Carlos but he wasn't there yet.
'maybe I came too early' Anne thought
She brought out a picnic blanket and spread it on the fine carpet grass and kept her picnic basket that contained different kinds of snacks she prepared herself on it.
"Perfect!" Anne muttered with a smile.
Their picnic would be great, she thought so.
Anne sat down on the blanket with her legs crossed, patiently waiting for Carlos to show up. She looked around the field and saw a few teenagers playing basketball.
"I'll just have a piece of cake while I wait for him," she said to herself, collecting a cake from the basket to eat.
...….....
Inside Carl's living room in his house, he was having a conversation with Richie's tutor from school.
The tutor was a young lady who should be in her early thirties. She was in a lady's suit, looking so professional as she was talking to Carl.
"Mr. McAlester, is there anything wrong with Richie?" the tutor asked in concern.
"Madam, you have to be more specific with your question," Carl responded
"What I mean is, Richie used to be the best student in the class with straight A's but quite for some days now, he's becoming less than an average student." She said and Carl sighed.
"what's worse is that he gets absent-minded in class. Sometimes he doesn't write anything on his test scripts." She added.
"that is totally unlike my brother. Richie is a brilliant kid who shows off his good grades at any given chance he gets." Carl said. He had noticed the changes in Richie but he never knew it has affected his grades.
"Mr. McAlester, I'm afraid to tell you that your brother isn't like that anymore." The tutor said.
"so ma'am what are you saying?" Carl said in distress.
"I'm saying what is wrong with him? Aside him being unserious with his studies, he no longer interacts with people. Is he going through something emotionally or mentally?" she asked
"Don't worry ma'am I'll talk to Richie," he muttered.
"Please I want Richie to be okay again," she said and left.
Carl got to Richie's room and saw Richie silently sobbing on his bed.
"hey, Rich…" Carl said in a soft tone, sitting down on Richie's bed to comfort him.
"get away from my room," Richie said to Carl wiping his tears.
"Richie I'm your older brother and your playmate please talk to me and tell me what's wrong," Carl said, wrapping his arms around Richie's shoulders.
"nothing just leave me alone. Get out of my room!!!" Richie yelled at the top of his voice pushing Carl away from his bed.
"and close the door behind you," Richie said to Carl in a broken tone.
As much as Carl wanted to be there for his brother, he had no choice but to leave Richie's room. He wondered what was really wrong with Richie.
Richie kept replaying the scenario where Carlos brutally killed the delivery man right in front of him and how Carlos threatened him not to tell anyone or else he'll lose his mother and his brother.
The memories kept torturing Richie, causing him to have sleepless nights. Sadly, he is traumatized and scared and he didn't know who to talk to.
*****
At the field, Anne was getting impatient and pissed that Carlos hasn't shown up yet.
"he promised to be here by 5 pm and it's 6: 45 pm already, …and why isn't he picking up his calls?" Anne complained bitterly to herself.
She has been patiently waiting for Carlos for almost two hours. She kept on calling Carlos on the phone but he wasn't picking up, leaving him 14 missed calls and tons of texts.
"is he in some kind of trouble?" she said to herself.
The teenagers who were playing basketball on the field had already left. It was just her alone in the field, waiting for someone who wasn't planning on showing up.
Anne heaved a sigh, she has given up on Carlos showing up. This time she wasn't upset, she was disappointed.
She thought things would be different this time because of how Carlos reassured her that she was the most important person in his life. Little did she know that Carlos was with Linda and he had totally forgotten about the picnic he planned with Anne.
Anne stood up with her picnic basket, she folded the blanket and kept it inside the basket to leave.
What's the point? he's not coming, she has to leave.
While she was leaving, she saw three men who were standing opposite her from afar with mischievous smiles on their faces.
Their appearance wasn't welcoming at all and it was getting dark. She looked around and saw that she was the only one in the big field.
The three men started walking towards Anne's direction and she immediately turned her back just to avoid them, walking as fast as she could.
"hey miss stop there!!" one of the guys yelled and Anne recognized his voice and who they were.
They are the same men who tried to r*p* Anne before Carl saved her. Anne dropped her picnic basket and ran as fast as she could and the hoodlums started chasing her.
She ran for her dear life until her legs could no longer carry her but despite that, the men kept coming closer to her. She looked around her and there was no one she could call for help.
At that moment, all she could think about was the love of her life, Carlos. She wanted to call him on the phone for help but she remembered he wasn't picking up.