It was a very important day for Caden even though by the blank look on his face no one would guess it. Today he would at last be able to put his hands on Two Penny Blue, a very rare stamp that would complete his collection of British commonwealth stamps.
Stamp collecting was about the only thing he had any real passion for besides the company and he had spent three years looking for this most rare stamp but at last he had gotten an email from Stanis Bobbins informing him that a batch of stamps would be sold and he would be likely to find this most coveted stamp. He was so excited that he almost cracked a smile.
Without much ado he got into his waiting Bently and the driver zoomed out through the gates. On their way to the venue they had to stop on the road due to some incident that blocked off the road and stopped them from going further. After a while Caden realized that they were no longer moving and he looked up from his tablet at the road with stop signs littered around.
"Jake, why in the world are we stopping?" he asked in a displeased voice.
"Sorry sir but there appears to be a commotion of some sort happening ahead." The driver said apologetically.
"I would think that it would be prudent for you to come down and see what is happening." Caden said in a clipped tone.
The driver nervously got down and went to check what exactly was happening and after speaking to a couple of people he came back looking like he would rather be anywhere but there delivering the news he was about to deliver.
"I am sorry sir but they are laying a pipe across the road and we will be unable to go through and behind us there has been a small car crash that has caused a blockade so we are unable to go that way either."
"I am to understand that you are telling me that due to your incompetence you did not find out ahead of time that there would be construction on the road and you have not planned any alternative routes so I am going to be late to my appointment." Caden said quietly.
Sweat broke out of the driver's forehead and he began to stammer but Caden raised a hand to shut him up before looking down at his tablet and going on as if nothing was wrong.
About fifteen minutes later there was a loud thumping sound as a helicopter hovered about them in the sky before coming to stop on the grass not far from them. Caden exited the car without a word to the driver and walked to the helicopter and got in, soon he was up in the sky and headed towards the shop.
Another fifteen minutes later the helicopter came to a stop and Caden came down and straightened his suit before walking briskly into a shopping complex until he got into a store filled with precious antiques and people milling around. He ignored the assistants who tried to catch his eye and went straight to the proprietor's office.
Once there he pushed open the door without knocking and startled a robust old man with glasses hanging from a silver chain on his neck who got up with a look of surprise on his face.
"Mr Bobbins, I am here for the Two Penny Blue." He said without preamble.
"Mr Gilbert, I did not expect that you would still want it, when I opened the store and did not see you I assumed that you had found something else or you were not interested." The man explained looking stricken.
Caden who was very private always used a pseudo because of the fear that people would try to take pictures of him so the store owner only knew him as Mr Gilbert.
Caden had been Mr Bobbins client for years and was the first person to come to into the store whenever the store had new stock but this time when Stanis did not see him he assumed that the very finicky man had decided against buying the stamp so he had no second thoughts about selling it to someone else.
"Mr Bobbins, I have faithfully conducted business with you and overlooked your shady transactions, I hate to think that you had no respect for me as an important client." Caden said coldly, his eyes like quips of bright stones.
"What could I do? I am a businessman first and she was so insistent." Stanis wailed.
"Your tales of incompetence do not move me." Caden said and Stanis heart sank.
The man he knew as Mr Gilbert was a very good customer and he could not afford to lose him but the lady who had come in and bought the stamp in question had said that it was a gift for her father and was prepared to buy it at any prize and true to her word she had not even flinched when he called out a price, he had been excited to make such a profitable but looking at the way Caden stared coldly at him he could tell that had not been the best decision to make. His wife had always said that his greed would be the end of him.
"She just left this office to pay to the cashier right before you left and I am sure that if you offered she would sell it to you." Stanis offered with a hopeful smile.
When Caden did not say anything Stanis went to the door opened it just in time to see the petite woman leaving, holding in her hands a little store branded bag.
"That's her going out of the store." Stanis said loudly and Caden looked just in time to catch long copper hair just before the door was shut by security.
He immediately rushed off while Stanis thought to himself how much of a bigger fortune he would have made off Caden if he had been even little more patient and not blinded by the girl's pretty smile.
He barely spared a thought for the girl who he had now led a very intense Caden to.
By the time Caden was out of the store he saw to his surprise that the girl was already in the elevator whose doors were closing. He would not have expected that someone with legs as short as hers would walk as fast as she did.
Not waiting for the elevator he ran down the stairs and got down just in time to see her walking towards a motorbike in the parking lot.
He ran towards he and grabbed her arm as she strapped her parcel to the back of the bike and she turned towards him with a white face and eyes wide like a cornered rabbit while her heart thudded in irregular fashion while he felt a thrill from where his hand touched her skin.
She looked at him for a second and wrenched her arm angrily from his hold.
"What exactly do you think you are doing you nasty creep." She said with a shaky voice as she tried to look fearless.
"I am no creep, I only want what is mine." Caden snapped.
Angry at the fact that she had what he had wanted for so long and she had made him run down the stairs and he had had to touch her at all, he was feeling very irate and he wanted to have his stamp back and be done with this unpleasant day.
"Excuse me?" she growled, her fear turning to anger.
"The Two Penny Blue, it belongs to me." He said.
She looked at him like he was crazy.
"So you go around harassing helpless woman when you are two times their size? You should be ashamed of yourself you lunatic." She yelled and jabbed his chest with a finger.
"If you wanted it then you should have come earlier, finders keepers." She finished then reached around and lifted her helmet and put it on her head while still looking at him warily.
"What are you doing?" he asked then began to use the flat of his palm to strike his forehead repeatedly. "…I have to have it, it belongs to me." He said, punctuating each word with a hit on his forehead.
The girl looked scared and she hopped on her motorbike and left without turning back to look at the attractive stranger who had accosted her. She wondered why someone who looked so good and dressed so good would act that way then she reminded herself that people liked to hide under the cloak of respectability and good looks to perpetuate the worst crimes, she did not care about a crazy man.
She did not relax until she was in her neighborhood and could see the gates to her house and when she got in she sighed with relief after she parked it until she realized that there was a figure standing in front of the house and as she drew nearer she saw that it was her father who did not look very pleased.
She groaned inwardly. Her father hated her motorcycle, he did not understand why a girl as tiny as she was would want to own the machine. He had told her that he worried that one day state troopers would call him and tell him to give DNA in order to identify her mangled body.
When she had taken the bike earlier she had thought that she would be back and would have hidden any signs that she had taken it out before he came back.
"I know that you have asked me not to take the bike but I did not even go far." She started to explain as she came to a stop before her father.
"Nova what is this about?" he said and held up his hand with an envelope.