A Chance Encounter by Rae Shaw (e manga reader TXT) 📗

manufactured her secret assignment. But Mark was right. She needed to impress him as much as possible.

If Jackson was surprised to see Julianna appear alongside Mark, he kept quiet. He offered them a seat and a drink, which they both declined. Jackson hijacked Diana as she popped in to drop off files. ‘Coffee. Strong and black.’

She glared at him. ‘Give me two minutes, will you? My feet haven’t touched the ground since you turned up.’

The repartee was reassuring. Jackson was in a good mood.

‘We’ll have to make this snappy; I want to leave for Fasleigh,’ Jackson said. ‘So tell me what you’ve found out.’

They presented their findings succinctly. The best clue was the discovery of a blog by a previous client of the company who had lambasted his investors for losing his money in a mediocre deal. They tracked down the investment cited, and it should have given a very good return.

‘They’re skimming off then.’ Jackson folded his arms across his chest.

Mark nodded. ‘There are probably other unhappy clients out there, but this one was keen to spill the beans. There’s definitely something fraudulent going on. The tax office has already been alerted to under paying—’

‘I know – get shot of the evidence by flogging the company off to me. Well done the pair of you. Your findings will be passed to the authorities and they can decide what to do.’

‘Thank you,’ said Mark. ‘Should I tell Neil to send them packing?’

‘Oh, no. That will be my privilege. Perhaps put a cat amongst the pigeons too. I know the board member who initiated the sale. Don’t like him.’

Julianna didn’t pity the man. A Jackson Haynes-style assassination was exactly what he deserved.

‘Have a good weekend, sir,’ Mark said.

‘What about you?’ asked Jackson.

‘Oh. A quiet one, I think. Very quiet.’

Jackson turned to Julianna. ‘That's a pity, isn't it?’

Julianna felt her cheeks flush with heat. ‘I'm busy driving your wife. I’m picking up Sophia after work and taking her to meet Mrs Haynes for the journey to Fasleigh.’

‘My brother and Sophia are staying with us at Fasleigh tonight. Luke will be late.’

‘I'm on call for the whole weekend.’ It meant she couldn't drink.

‘Then hopefully you'll have a quiet weekend too, because I’ve nothing planned.’

The opportunity was there then to make her case for going forward together in partnership. Mark had a right to know what Jackson had contrived, and how that meddling had benefited them both.

‘Quietish.’ She winked at Mark and he blushed.

  22

Mark

FRIDAY LUNCHTIME

Since he was owed for the extra hours worked, Mark clocked off at lunchtime and headed home to a chilled bottle of beer. The door to his apartment was ajar. He stuck his head through the gap and listened. He held his breath, wondering if this was how it might happen – accosted in his flat and murdered. Retribution was close on his heels, and, one day, it would catch up with him. He was grateful to Jackson for the introduction to Julianna, and whether it was engineered or not, he no longer cared to worry about the distinction. He hoped Jackson’s contrivances hadn’t insulted Julianna’s intelligence to the point she might reject him. There were companionable benefits beyond the obvious sexual ones; if Julianna had been with him, she would be armed with a karate chop. Unfortunately, she was on route to pick up Sophia.

Whoever was in his flat, they weren't quiet. There was a heavy thump accompanied by a high-pitched girlish squeal. With a sigh of relief, he opened the door wider.

‘Ellen? Is that you dropping off things?’ He had forgotten she was making her last delivery.

She came out of the spare room with the tip of her thumb between her lips. ‘I dropped a box on it,’ she mumbled through the sucks.

He slipped his overcoat off his shoulders and left it hanging off the back of a dining chair, keeping his back to her. He wasn't keen on having Ellen in his flat – his embattled feelings skewered by her ill-timed conversation with their mother.

His resolve shattered when he turned to face her smug features. ‘You know who I spoke to this morning?’

‘Mum.’ She snorted. ‘If you wanted to tell her, you should have.’

He planted his hands on his hips. ‘Did you enjoy it? Rubbing her nose in it rather than letting her down gently?’

She crossed the room and clicked her fingers inches from his nose. ‘I dropped it like a bomb. It was wonderful. I'm sorry you didn't get to enjoy it for yourself.’

Mark wanted to slap her face. ‘Why do you hate her so much?’

A frisson of disgust traversed her face. ‘Oh, you're such the good son, aren't you? And a hypocrite. Dashing off to uni, finding work, giving her money. Me, the little sister, forcing her to be a mother by slicing myself. Bad girl. Terrible daughter. I bet you answered Dad's letters. I burnt every single one he sent me or returned them to sender, unread. ‘

He had never witnessed the bleeding cuts, only the scars. He thought he had seen all her scars. ‘You're no different to her. You wanted the attention. You deny it, like she does. You're a perfect pair. Why wonder you never got on, you're too alike.’ The tussle grew uglier and nothing like those they had as kids.

‘Oh, you imbecile. You don’t have a clue, do you? She despises the power I had over her. All I had to do was open my mouth and destroy her, and him. She only cared about me because one little squeal on my part to somebody in authority and the secret was out.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Secrets come at a cost. He was starting to appreciate what that cost was to Ellen. She pleaded emotional poverty