Rita Jones and her friends sat around a table in the private room of skybar VIP lounge drinking some tequila shots.
They had this ritual of meeting up once a week every Sunday evening to unwind at the club.
"Rita I saw someone that looked like Eric in town today," Glenda said, tilting her head backwards as she took her shot in one go.. scrunching her eyebrows and wrinkling her nose at the bitter taste.
Glenda Anderson was one of Rita’s best friends, she was a lawyer running her own law firm. She was a blonde with green eyes and an average height.
“It can’t be him, he left for City Z on a business trip last week,” Rita said, looking at the trading platform on her iPhone.
Rita was a workaholic but it was worth it. Her company, the Jones group was thriving due to her working harder than everyone else.
“I’m confiscating your phone until further notice,” Amelia Scott a famous musician said grabbing Rita’s phone, putting it in her chanel handbag and Rita groaned.
Amelia was a tall brunette with pale green eyes and a curvy figure.
“Amelia,” Rita tried to protest but Amelia glared at her.
“No Rita, you always do this.. we’re supposed to be having girl time but here you are busy on your phone,” Amelia complained and Rita’s other friend Evelyn Sparks, nodded in agreement.
Evelyn was a doctor working for the largest hospital in town. She was shorter than the other three and had red hair with brown eyes.
“That’s right, she likes coming out to the club with her anti-social behavior. Girl did you even hear that Glenda saw your man in town today?” Evelyn remarked, rolling her brown eyes.
“I already said it’s not him, he’s supposed to be back in two days,” Rita retorted, choking on the tequila shot she had just took in, her eyes reddened slightly.
“Girl, why do you even waste your time telling her about the douchebag when she clearly won’t believe anything you say?” Amelia asked looking at both Glenda and Evelyn who just shrugged their shoulders helplessly.
Eric Thompson is Rita’s boyfriend of 10 years. He was 30 years old and worked as a vice CEO in the Jones group.
Rita was very much in love with him that she included him as the co-owner of all her properties including the company shares.
They had been together for a long time anyway and already living together. All they needed was a legal document to confirm their marriage but Eric was yet to propose to her.
That’s why her friends were on him. They thought he was playing her because he mentioned nothing about taking the relationship to the next level.
“I’m seriously worried, why don’t you break up with him Rita? You are beautiful and rich, you don’t need him,” Glenda advised, licking a piece of lemon.
“You guys don’t know him. Eric.. he’s really sweet and he loves me very much. I can’t live without him.” Rita answered but deep down questions started popping up in her mind.
‘Does he love me? How come he’s not called or texted since he left last week? If I don’t call then there would be no communication between us,' she swallowed painfully as she thought to herself.
“He must have really fed you some hard stuff for you to be bewitched like this.. Girl.. is it his dick that made you lose your sense of reasoning?” Amelia scoffed, grabbing a cider from the round table.
Rita just pursed her lips in a straight line. Her friends were not in support of her relationship with Eric. That’s why she didn’t tell them about adding him on the ownership of her properties.
They would totally freak out, especially Amelia. She was the most talkative one.
“Okay, enough guys. We came here to relax and just be ourselves let’s not talk about work or relationships,” Evelyn remarked and Rita gave her a grateful look for stopping the conversation.
“How about we go dance? The dance floor is not crowded in the VIP section.” Glenda suggested and they all got up excitedly.
They were dressed casually in bodycon dresses and a pair of heels. No one would know that they were very successful women.
As Rita was dancing on the dancefloor, she felt a chill on her back. It felt like someone was staring a hole into her back.
The feeling sent a shiver down her spine. She stopped dancing and looked around but saw no one. Ignoring the weird feeling, she returned to twerking on the dance floor as her best friends cheered her on.
Meanwhile, in the corner of the VIP section, a tall handsome man who stood at six feet and three inches tall, with his black hair styled in a taper haircut with a side-part stared in the direction of the dancefloor.
His eyes narrowed in concentration as he stared intently at the wild kitty who was twerking with no care in the world, he didn’t have to turn her around to know who she was.
After all these years nothing has changed, she’s still carefree and arrogant and he still got hard just by looking at her.
Clenching his fingers around the glass of whiskey in his hand, he curled his lips into a cocky smirk.
‘I’m back, Rita.’ The mysterious man whose looks matched a Greek god said inwardly.
After Rita and her friends had danced to their hearts content, they decided to call it a night.
Otherwise, they would stay overnight as the DJ kept playing their favorite songs making them go back to the dance floor over and over again.
“See you guys later, we’ll video chat or have a conference call when I have time,” Rita waved at her friends and got into the backseat of the Bentley that her driver Mason had opened in advance.
She sighed as she rested the back of her head on the seat, rubbing her temple. Alcohol was her greatest enemy, after just a few shots she was feeling giddy.
“We are here ma’am,” Mason announced after the car came to a stop near the grand entrance of her Victorian styled mansion.
“Great, thank you Mason,” she said and got out after the butler, Mr Miller had opened the door for her.
“Welcome back home Ma’am,” Mr Miller welcomed her with a warm smile on his face and Rita returned the smile.
“Any calls from the home phone?” She asked and Mr Miller, knowing who she might be asking about responded.
“No Ma’am, Mr Thompson hasn’t called the home phone.”
Rita’s heart sank deep to the pits of her stomach making it twist painfully. ‘I was out of reach up to 02am and he didn’t bother to call. Was he not worried about me at all?’ She thought sadly and proceeded upstairs to her room.
She was too drowsy to take a bath so she just plopped herself down on the huge king-sized bed with white beddings and slept.
…
The continuous ringing of an alarm echoed in the room and a very tired Rita kept snoozing the alarm clock and covering herself with the duvet to sleep a bit more.
After the fifth ring, she jolted out of bed as if she had been electrocuted. Taking her phone from the bedside table, she slumped her shoulders when she didn’t find a text from Eric.
Trying to be positive, she texted him instead. Communication was a two way thing anyway, if he doesn’t text, she can text him.
She quickly rushed into the bathroom and had a warm shower. It was past 6 and she was supposed to be at the office by 7:30, as a boss, she needed to lead by example.
Dressing up in a black business suit and combing her chestnut auburn hair into a high ponytail, she put on her pointed toe stiletto high heels and left for work.
The high heels made her look taller. She had a decent height of five feet and four inches. Her long legs made her look like a model. At 27, she still maintained her beauty and her lively nature made her look youthful.
Since Rita had woken up late, she had to skip breakfast to avoid being late.
After going through the underground parking lot of her company’s building, she used her private elevator to head to her office on the 36th floor.
“Morning Jenny,” she greeted her secretary, Jenny Parker who was already at her desk and entered her office as Jenny quickly followed behind with some papers in her hand.
“Morning Ma’am, I would like to report an abnormality in the financial records,” Jenny reported professionally as she placed the documents in her hand on Rita’s table.
Rita, now sitting in her comfortable leather chair behind a huge mahogany desk, took the documents and perused through.
A frown etched on her face the more she read. Whatever was written on the documents was not good news at all.
“Jenny, call for an emergency meeting right away, someone has been taking company funds and transferring them into ghost accounts,” Rita ordered, her heart pounding heavily in her chest.
“Yes Ma’am,” Jenny replied. She had just turned to leave when the door to the office was burst open and men in police uniform strode in roughly.
“Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be here!” Jenny anxiously exclaimed but the tall man with blonde hair ignored her and approached Rita’s desk.
“You’re Miss Jones right? My name is Joseph Porter, an inspector from the anti-corruption commission,” the man said, showing his badge to Rita then put it back in his pocket.
“I am here with the police to arrest you for tax evasion and fraud. All the documents in this office shall be seized for further investigation. You are hereby required to remain silent, as anything you say will be used against you in the courts of law,” Inspector Joseph said as he cuffed Rita’s wrists and pulled her out of her chair.
She was too shocked to react to the situation. ‘What the hell is happening?’ She asked herself as she was led out of her office in a daze.
“Officer, it must be a mistake, there’s no way Miss Jones would have done that!” Jenny screamed, running after them, but they turned a deaf ear to her.
Rita was in shock as they rode the elevator to the ground floor. Her heart thudded in her chest as she looked down at her cuffed hands.
The stares of her employees were making her uncomfortable. It was a very embarrassing situation and she hoped they would all forget about it later on.
Stepping out of the building, a gaggle of reporters flocked over to her shoving cameras and microphones in her face.
“Miss Jones, is it true that you committed fraud?” A lady on her right loudly asked.
“Miss Jones how do you feel enjoying riches while you evade taxes that belong to the government?” Another voice that belonged to a male reporter reached her ears.
“Miss Jones, who will take over the company now?”
“Miss Jones, aren’t you ashamed to taint your late father’s company’s reputation in such a way?”
The reporters kept throwing absurd questions at her and Rita clenched her fists tightly, raging in anger and fear of the unknown.
She caught a figure in her peripheral vision and furrowed her brow. ‘When did Eric come back?’ She thought, confused but perked up when she thought of how he was her only hope.
But before she could call out to him, he opened the passenger door of his Ferrari, revealing a beautiful lady in a red dress. After hooking hands with her, they strode into the building, ignoring her completely as she was being dragged to the police car.
‘Eric….’ She called out to him mentally until she was pushed into the car and it drove off.
