Chapter 9

Things were not looking up for Michelle, she had a crappy weekend and it looked like she was about to have an even crappier week. Her Monday back to work and already she was having to deal with disgruntled parents. On arriving at work, she was approached by not one but five parents, claiming that she was a sexual distraction for the children. Michelle almost laughed, they were angry with her because their horny teenage son couldn't keep their eyes and their thoughts to themselves.

"Mr Lawson, by no means do I try to attract the attention of your son. You seemed to forget that I am a married woman and your son's teacher, I tend to take my job very serious. I have never nor will I ever indulge in a romantic relationship with any of my students. This accusation is very insulting and absurd."

James Lawson did not believe a word that came out of Michelle's mouth. He saw the way she smiled at his son, he had his suspicions for a while but no proof. It wasn't until his son confronted him, telling him how uncomfortable he feel around his English teacher. When he pressed his son for more, his son then confessed that Mrs Giovanni had been paying extra special attention to him and a few other male students in her class.

He was inclined to find out the truth for the safety of the students, so he took his concerns to a few other parents, only to find out that they were troubled by the same thing.  So they all decided to confront Mrs Giovanni and get right down to the matter. Most of them wanted her removed from the school or be barred from ever teaching.

"My son would not lie to me. If he says that you've been paying extra special attention to him then that means you have. I know my boy, he is not a liar."

A few other parents agreed with James. Michelle could not believe that they were painting her as a paedophile. All the hard work and days of sleepless nights she put in to make sure that each of her students stay on top of their grades, and this was the thanks she got.

"I can assure you, Mr Lawson, that Hayden is not lying about me paying to him, but I can also assure that I do that to all my student, whether they are male or female. Because of the time and effort I invest in my students, their grades has remained consistent throughout the year. Now if that makes me a bad teacher, I would gladly plead guilty."

Michelle didn't wait to hear a reply, she turned and walked away from them. A few students who were still in the parking lot stopped to spectate. Wondering what was going on, speculating on what it could be. But Michelle didn't have it in her to care. She knew it was rude and highly unprofessional of her to walk away, she knew she should have stayed and try to reassure the parents that their children were safe with her. However, Michelle wasn't feeling very professional, she was tired and fed-up of people ordering her around. If they didn't like the way she taught their children then they can all burn in hell. 

Michelle was only ten minutes into teaching her class when the door to her classroom was opened and Mr Hallway, the Design technology teacher appeared in her doorway. The 6 foot 2, slightly greyed man, took up the entire space of her door. His dark green suit that he wears every day without failure since the start of the school year couldn't have looked better. Michelle had a sneaky suspicion that he had a closet filled with suits of the same kind.

"Michelle, one minute if you please."

"Of course, George."

George Hallway nodded to the curious students then turn and walked out of the room. Michelle would like to have said that she had no clue what he wanted, but she knew that the angry parents from earlier had taken their accusation to the principal.

"Continue reading chapter 10 of Jane Eyre, when I return there will be questions."

Michelle knew that there would be no reading once she left the class, but she still had to tell them to do it. As she opened the classroom door, she saw George Hallway standing with his back straight and arms dropped to his side waiting for her. The man looked like he belonged in the arms, as the drill sergeant instead of teaching a school full of hormonally charged teenagers.

"How can I help you, George?"

Michelle asked, trying to be polite. Her smile was light and sweet. George's eyes narrowed in disgust as he scrunched his nose up at her. Michelle almost rolled her eyes. Great, just what she needed.

"Principal Bishop would like to see you in his office." 

He turned and walked in the direction of the principal's office leaving Michelle to follow. His utter ruddiness was nothing new to her, the man never liked her. From the first day she started teaching at the school, he disliked her. Michelle didn't care then and she sure as hell didn't care now.They walked the short distance in silence, Michelle wasn't a fool to believe that things were going to turn out well for her, because as they neared the office she saw a few more parents and a few faculty members also going into the office. Michelle did the one thing she didn't want to do... She took out her phone and texted her husband.

+++++++++++++++

"Are these figures right, Walter?"

Riccardo asked as he went over the financial report for this company. The numbers just weren't adding up. He was sure that his profit margin should have been higher. The spreadsheet was showing loss when he was sure he made millions. Something definitely wasn't right. Riccardo prayed for whoever was in charge of his accounts that it was a technical error because he'd really hate to have to dispose of the person.

"Yep, I've been over it with a fine-tooth comb, but the numbers kept coming out the same. You think we're dealing with a thief?"

Walter was wondering who in their right mind would want to steal from Riccardo Giovanni. The man radiated power and cruelty. Sure he was a fair boss, and he never asked his employees to go beyond their capability. He would push them to test their limits, but he once he saw what that limit was he worked with it.

He knew the name of every one of his employees, he made it his business to know everything about them. He wanted to be sure that they could be trusted. Riccardo was a powerful man and his enemies were constantly looking for ways to take him down, and what better way than to place someone in his employ to spy on him. He had to be cautious.  

"Call Tom and have him run these numbers again and brief me on his findings when he's finish."

Walter nodded. He collected the file than Riccardo handed to him and Riccardo when back to another file he was reading before Walter came in. One of his biggest client yet was a bit hesitant to renew their ten years contract in fear of becoming a target of the ghost killer. Word was getting out that most of the people who were being killer were clients of his, and his current clients were anxious.

Those who knew and trusted him were sticking with him, other were thinking of jumping ship. Riccardo still wasn't no closer to finding the ghost killer than he was a few month prior. His search for the guy kept coming up empty, it was like the man was truly a ghost. However, Riccardo didn't believed in ghost and he was determine to find the guy and kill him... slowly. But not before he found out who he was working for. He smiled to himself, at the thought of hearing the son-of-a-bitch beg for his life.

Walter shifted in his seat and Riccardo looked up wondering why he was still in his office. Walter has a nerves look on his face and he kept pulling at the neck of his tie. Beads of sweat were at the side of his head and his eyes were looking everywhere except at Riccardo.

Riccardo closed the file he was reading and sat back in his chair, folding his arms in front of him. He was intrigued and slightly annoyed by Walter's behaviour, but his curiosity was pegged not the less.

"Is there something wrong, Walter, you look a little flustered?"

Walter swallowed and smiled nervously. He had a personal matter he needed to take care of, something he knew his boss wasn't going to approve of. He's been warned before about his personal days that he kept taking. At first Riccardo was okay with it, he knew that Walter was responsible for his disable sister and her wayward sixteen year old daughter. However, when Riccardo found out that family wasn't Walter's only problem, he gave him an ultimatum... either he stopped his shady dealings or he was fired.   

If Riccardo found out that he was back in the game with Kalvin and his guys, he knew for sure that he would fire him. But Walter didn't have a choice, Kalvin threatened his family. If he didn't provide them with the codes to break into a few buildings, they would kill his sister and take his niece. Kalvin promised to make his niece work off his debts and Walter couldn't let that happened.

He swore he was done with the business, but he stilled owed Kalvin, and since he wasn't able to pay it all off by the deadline Kalvin gave him, he had to help them break into a few buildings to cover it. 

"I... um... It's Wendy, she hasn't been too good lately. She's still taking Johnathon's death really hard. Ever since the accident, she blames herself for him dying. She thinks that if she had just let him drive like he wanted to, instead of trying to prove a point to him, he would still be alive. I keep telling her she's not to blame but she won't listen to me."

Riccardo eyes soften and filled with sympathy, he knew it was hard for Wendy. The tragic way she lost her husband must be killing her. Johnathon was a friend of his, he had tried many time to get Johnathon to work for him, but he always turned him down. Johnathon was the only person who had ever said no to Riccardo's job offer. He was the one who introduced Riccardo to Walter. He lost a good friend when Johnathon died.

"If there is anything I can do just name."

Walter heard the concern in Riccardo's voice and he used that to his advantage.

"Well," he said, "I was wondering if I could take a few days off to spend with Wendy, I don't really want to leave her alone feeling the way she is"

Riccardo was about to answer him when he heard a commotion outside of his office. Both he and Walter turned at the sound. Meggie was arguing with someone, prevention them from getting into his office. A few seconds later Martin walked in with an angry Maggie behind him.

"I said you can't go in there!"

Martin ignored her and continued advancing into his office. Maggie grunted, then turn to Riccardo.

"I told him you were in a meeting," she cast an evil look at Martin, "But he idiot ignored me."

Riccardo chuckled, "It alright Maggie."

Maggie nodded, but she was still irritated with Martin.

"Are you sure Rick? I could get security to throw his ass out?

She was looked at Martin, who looked unable to contain his smile. However, the weariness was evident in his eyes. Whatever brought Martin in his office and caused him to incur the wrath of his secretary, must be very important.

"No, it's fine, I'll handle it from here. Thank you, Maggie."

Maggie smiled at Riccardo but scrawled at Martin before she turned and left. Riccardo couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. He looked at Martin and saw that he was holding an envelope and the smile slipped from his face. Something moved and Riccardo turned to see Walter was still there.

"Sure you can have the time off Walter and give Wendy my love."

Walter nodded and stood.

"A mighty fine woman you have out there, man."

Walter said to Martin, who grunted his reply out.

"I know."

Martin gave Walter a look that clearly stated that he would not hesitate to kill him if he tried anything with Maggie, but being the cocky son-of-a-bitch that Walter was he just ignored it.

He walked out of Riccardo's office and a few minutes later both Riccardo and Martin heard Maggie warning Walter.

"You see that big idiot who just waltzed into Rick's office, if he so much as catches you looking at me sideways, you'll be swallowing a few of your teeth, and you wouldn't want that or you'll never be able to smile, and then what would become of you?"

Riccardo laughed, but Martin looked like he wanted to go out there and carry out Maggie's threat.

"You got something for me?" Riccardo asked when he was sober.

Martin popped himself down in the chair that Walter had vacated and push the envelope across the desk to Riccardo. Riccardo could see the pity in his eyes and the tightening of his jaw.

Without saying a word, he took the envelope and opened it. He grabbed the edge of the desk when he saw what was inside. His knuckles turning white from the tightness of his grip. His jaw tightened and with a sudden sweep of his hand and a loud roar he cleared the contents of his desk, sending them all flying to the ground.

Martin said nothing, he knew that there was nothing that he could say that would comfort his friend, or make him feel better. He himself had been through the same thing, and for a long time all he could think about was killing someone. He didn't care who, he just wanted someone to pay. And they did, a lot of someone's paid for Carmen's crime.

"What do you want to do, Rick?"

Riccardo wanted to strangle her as much as he wanted to protect her. How could she do that to him? Why would she do that to him? How long has she been working with the police to take him down? He had to find out how much his wife knew about him. The pictures Martin took of her and the cop were proof that she knew something. And he was going to find out what.  

"We find out what she knows then we handle it from there."

Just as the words left his mouth, a ping came through to his mobile phone. Riccardo look down at the screen, and a dark look came over his face. He held the phone in a crushing grip, he wanted to send the phone flying across the room but he kept his anger in check. He needed an outlet for his anger. He got up with such force that his chair tumbled loudly to the ground. Without saying a word to Martin he headed to the door, and ultimately to his wife.