Chapter Thirteen

     That flash drive seemingly mocked her for the rest of the day. Leonardo was home early when she came back from Wayne Enterprises. Of course, he knew nothing of her little adventure – it was better to keep him in the dark about it. He was seated in the living room at the end of the sofa typing a document up on his computer. Mar'i quietly crept over and gently rested her hands on his shoulders. "I heard you from the front door; I don't scare easily my love." He hummed, closing his computer and looking up at her.

     She leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. The flash drive was tucked away in her back pocket, the outline of it being concealed by her sweater. "I know." She smiled, walking around the couch and taking a seat on the other end. It wasn't long until she was stretched out on the sofa, her feet propped up on his lap. "Are you going to let me continue my work?" he asked, an eyebrow rose as he looked her way.

"What did you do while I was gone?" she asked.

He moved his laptop to the coffee table. "My father and I discussed business. We're hosting a Gala next week to celebrate handing down the company to me." He informed.

     Mar'i sat up and gave him a quizzical look. The last time she heard Leo wasn't supposed to gain control of the company for a few months. "My parents decided it was a good time, especially with everything going on. Of course, you'll be by my side." He said. She spaced out after that. Mar'i had never been a part of the Huxley business; she was still an outsider to them. "They are, you're letting me in?" she cringed mentally, that made her sound so needy.

     He stood up holding his hand out to her; she didn't hesitate to take it. Suddenly she was pulled close, they were chest to chest. "There's no doubt in my mind Mar'i, I love you and think it necessary for you to be a part of the family business." He smiled before chastely kissing her. Many things were running through her mind at once, she was oddly happy. This was a first; definitely, she was always kept in the dark about their business.

     When they were younger and she and Toni were still attached at the hip she remembered waiting in Toni's room of the rather large house while they had a family meeting downstairs, most of the time Toni would return, a smile forced to her face. Whenever she asked what went on downstairs that was so urgent to attend to her friend wouldn't hesitate to switch the subject. "So this Gala, who's going?" she asked.

"People from my parent's inner circle, the world's finest, anyone who can afford to attend. As my girlfriend I managed to pull some strings, you can invite your family and a few friends."

     She was absolutely gutted when he mentioned her family; of course, she wanted them there with her. That didn't mean they were willing to come to a function that solely revolved around the Huxley's and their empire. She would extend the invitation to them anyways but she wasn't going to keep her hopes up. "I see, so this is really important isn't it?" she asked twiddling her fingers. He smiled softly, his eyes studying her nervous features.

     Leo gave her a curt nod and reached forwards to bring his laptop back to his lap. It was quiet after that and Mar'i must have fallen asleep on the sofa. When she awoke it was dark out and she was tucked in bed underneath the blankets. A yawn escaped her lips as she sat up and stretched her arms out. "Leo?" she asked groggily while patting the empty spot of the bed beside her. She frowned and looked over at the alarm clock on her bedside table.

     The solid red numbers glowed in the dark informing her that it was past midnight. She stood up and curled her toes into the fluffy carpet beneath her feet. That's when her face fell and she quickly began to feel herself up and down. "Shit." She whispered now stumbling around in the darkness looking for her clothes; any other night she would've fawned over the fact that her boyfriend took his time to change her into something more comfortable but tonight all she felt was dread.

     The flash drive, he was bound to have found it in the back pocket of her jeans. She fumbled around blindly in the darkness over to the closet. Mar'i reached up once the doors opened and flipped the light switch. It was spotless and immediately she was digging through her hamper looking for the jeans she was wearing previously that day. "Where is it, where is it?" she asked pulling out all of the clothing from the hamper.

     Mar'i finally found her jeans and dug her hand into both back pockets. There was nothing. In her mind, she reasoned with herself thinking that it probably slipped out of her pocket and had fallen to the bottom of the hamper. After ripping out every article of clothing that was in her hamper she fell back and groaned. It was gone and Leonardo probably had it. Damian had said that there were a lot of confidential files on there that she shouldn't look into.

     If she wasn't allowed to look at them then she bet it would be even worse if Leonardo had looked at them. Mar'i stood up and walked through the apartment calling out to her boyfriend. There was no response and the worst part was that his laptop was missing as well. The next thing she knew she was dressed and hurrying through the dark city. She was freezing, teeth chattering, as she approached the familiar building.

     During her blurred panic of getting dressed she had forgotten that it was the middle of autumn and that Gotham was below freezing this time of year. The heat from the building gave her goosebumps but it didn't seem to chase the chill away. Mar'i found the elevator too slow for her racing mind and resorted to sprinting up the stairwell. She pushed the stairwell door open once she reached the desired floor and ran down the corridor only to skid to a stop and pound her fist against a door.

     The door opened after a few minutes of relentless pounding, Damian Wayne stood there looking mildly irritated. Before he could even breathe a word she pushed past him into his apartment. A few of the lights were on, she could only guess he turned them on the way to the door, and the place was spotless as usual. He shut the door and turned to face her, arms crossed across his bare chest. "What are you doing -"

"- Leonardo has the flash drive!" she blurted out.

     She began to pace back and forth mumbling things under her breath while wringing her hands nervously. It was quick and harsh and suddenly her back slammed into the wall, his hands gripping her arms tightly. "What the hell did you do?" he growled. Mar'i stared ahead at him and swallowed the lump in her throat. It was like they were kids again except this time he could actually hurt her if he wanted to.

     They definitely weren't best friends anymore but she wasn't going to let him push her into a corner like this. She brought her hands up to his chest and pushed him back away from her. "Look, it wasn't my fault. I fell asleep and I didn't expect Leo to put me into my pajamas and tuck me in bed, okay?" she yelled as her fingers curled into tight fists.

"Mar'i do you know what is on that drive? Information on Wayne Enterprises, files on your boyfriend and his family, files on me." His tone got quieter and quieter and the end was barely above a whisper.

She exploded, "What the hell kind of dumbass puts highly secretive information on a single flash drive, and then give it to me of all people!" she screamed.

     All of the people living on this floor of the building were probably awake by now from all the yelling the two of them were doing. However, she wasn't wrong. Damian shouldn't have trusted her with a flash drive jam packed full of highly valuable information. "I gave it to you because I liked you, okay?" he yelled. Mar'i gulped and the conversation seemed to end at that. The two of them fell silent after he blurted that out.

     He turned away from the dark-haired woman and folded his arms over his chest. "I mean that I was starting to like you again, enjoy your company." He corrected. She stood there quietly, now feeling the heat from her hot-headed anger melt away leaving her to feel the chill from earlier. The gravity of this situation was becoming more real and realer by the minute. All of that information on that flash drive could be used against Damian, herself, even Wayne Enterprises. "You need to get that drive back." He said coolly.

"No, we need to get the drive back." She corrected.

"I'm not the one who dropped it into the hands of the soon-to-be head of the Huxley Empire." He growled.

"Yeah well, you trusted me with it in the first place." She countered.

     The two of them were at a stalemate. Damian shouldn't have trusted her with such sacred information and Mar'i should have kept a better eye on it. With the way Damian sounded earlier it gave her quite the idea of what could go wrong if Leo had that information. "They're hosting a Gala next week, Leo will become the head of his families Empire and he wishes for me to be by his side. I trust Leo and trust his judgment to not use this information against you or your company." She explained.

     Mar'i trusted Leonardo with her life and trusted that he wouldn't use any of this information against anyone. He was a good man, a loving man, a smart man. Leonardo didn't need to use this information, he didn't need the crutch. "Are you sure? Are you positive Mar'i?" Damian asked, almost mocking her. She sounded so sure of herself that he wouldn't do anything with it. The time seemed to pass quite quickly during their argument. It was long past midnight now and way too late for her to walk a few blocks back to her apartment.

     The young woman watched as Damian sighed and ran a hand through his hair, tugging lightly at the short dark strands. "It's late; you can stay if you please. There's a spare room across from mine. I mostly use it as an office but there is a bed." He offered, motioning with his hand in the general direction of the room. Mar'i narrowed her eyes at him and growled, "You had a spare room the entire time? Why did I sleep on the couch the last time?"

He smirked, "I barely tolerated you last time." He retorted.

     She huffed and walked past him, swiping him in the back of the head with her hand before heading to the room down the hall. Once again she was faced with the predicament of the fact that she was in clothes. They weren't as uncomfortable as the ones she wore here last time so they would have to do for sleeping in. When she entered the room there was a bed pushed up in the corner, up against the wall to ceiling window.

     There was a desk in the other corner taking up most of the room. The glow from the keyboard's LED's provided no comfort whatsoever. She didn't like how close she was to the window when she got into the bed. It felt as if she was going to fall down the side of the skyscraper if she rolled too far to the right. After a few minutes of staring out into the abyss that was the foggy city below she ended up grabbing all of the blankets and heading to the couch.

     By morning she was awoken by a strange presence, someone was standing above her. Her peculiar eyes fluttered open and Damian was stood over her already dressed. He was rather dressed up for early in the morning. "Tch, I see you took the couch." He smirked while fixing the cuffs of his navy blue blazer. It was strange seeing him wear a navy coloured suit – it complimented him well. "Drake called, there's a meeting I need to attend in an hour. I can drop you off at your place, or let you walk in the cold alone." He informed.

     Damian Wayne was going to a board meeting; that was strangely foreign to her. Just imagining him sitting with a number of stuck up businessmen at a table for hours made her snicker. "Sure, I'll take that ride home." She smiled and stood up from the couch. The young woman quickly flattened her wrinkled shirt down and followed him out of his apartment down to the parking garage. The model didn't know what to expect when she saw his sports car.

     He was a rich young adult that had lots of money to blow, why wouldn't he have a sports car? They got in the car and she fastened the seatbelt over her chest. "So, the Gala next week, I want you to come." She said before being jolted forward when he slammed the breaks on the sports car.

"Are you out of your mind?" he asked incredulously.

"No, you're my friend and you mean a lot to me so you better come. Or I will spray paint this lovely car of yours bright yellow." She threatened.

"Jokes on you Grayson, I like yellow." He smirked before pressing his foot on the accelerator and speeding down the street. 

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A/N: An update within the span of a day, I know simply unheard of! Hope you enjoyed reading this one. 

Skycrystal23 ;)

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