Take a Chance

by Simone Jaine

  Alarmed by his actions, so completely at odds with his usual go-getting behaviour, Jem sank onto the chair beside him.

  “I’m listening,” she said cautiously, unsure of what to expect to hear.

  Mark reluctantly sat up in his chair. What he had to say made his conduct appear even worse and he found that not looking directly at Jem made starting his confession easier.

  “About six weeks ago, shortly after Celeste moved in with Nate,” Mark began “I received a message to go to his penthouse to pick him up for a game of golf. When I got there Nate was out so Celeste offered me a scotch while I waited. One turned into more and next thing I knew I was waking up naked in Nate’s bed with Celeste naked beside me.”

  Jem sucked in a shocked breath.

  “I know, I know. I couldn’t believe I could do that to Nate. I was horrified,” Mark continued. “Celeste was apologetic and said she didn’t know how it happened and we promised each other not to tell Nate. I practically jumped into my clothes and raced to the door.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” Jem asked, then suddenly recalled Mark’s purchase. “Oh. Did Celeste tell you she was pregnant?”

  Mark looked at her miserably and nodded. “I know that Nate can’t be the father because he confided to me years ago that he had a vasectomy after Mandy had a difficult pregnancy with their youngest. He didn’t want her to have to go through that again.”

  Jem thought that Mark probably wouldn’t want to hear that she’d be surprised if Nate had even managed to consummate his relationship with Celeste. Cherie had overheard Mandy and Martha talking about Nate having a problem that could be fixed with a little blue pill but his doctor refused to put him on it because of his heart problems.

  “I guess that doesn’t sound too good for you,” Jem said into the awkward silence. “But that doesn’t explain why you were the one buying the pregnancy test and not her.”

  “I don’t trust her,” Mark said, slapping his hand on the table for emphasis.

  “Why not?” Jem asked. “Has she told Nate?”

  “No, nothing like that. The day after we went live with the new software Celeste came and asked me to update details in the database for her. Seeing as she doesn’t work here anymore, what she was asking didn’t sound above board so I refused. I mean if it was legitimate she could have Cherie or someone in accounts take care of it, right?”

  Jem nodded even though the question had been rhetorical.

  “After I said no she got angry and threatened to tell Nate about us so I told her it would be her word against mine. I figured there was a reasonable chance he’d believe me over her without proof.”

  Mark didn’t give Jem a chance to comment in his agitated state.

  “Next thing I know she comes to me and says she’s pregnant. I thought she had to be lying and was just making the pregnancy up to use as leverage to get me to do what she wanted since she threatened to tell Nate I took advantage of her.”

  Mark ran a hand through his hair in disbelief.

  “What exactly did she want you to do?” Jem asked curiously.

  “She didn’t go into too much detail once she realised I wouldn’t cooperate without confirming the pregnancy but it had something to do with a couple of companies in our database I hadn’t heard of. It turns out that when the computer software was changed she lost access to whatever she was doing and Nate can’t remember his own password for her to use his.”

  Mark continued, almost to himself, bringing the story back to his betrayal.

  “You know, I’ve had sex before after drinking but never before have I not been able to recall a single detail afterwards. Nate and I are friends outside of work and I just can’t believe I’d do that to him. I left that apartment with a pounding headache and sick to my stomach knowing what I had done.”

  It was clear that Mark was distressed by his actions. Without thinking about it Jem patted his knee sympathetically. Then she caught what she was doing and removed her hand.

  “So what does this have to do with my promotion?” she asked.

  “Don’t you see?” Mark asked. “If I was in Hong Kong I’d be in exile and enough resources would have been pushed my way that even if Celeste tells Nate the worst scenario she can come up with it’d be a very poor business decision to replace me at such a critical time.”

  “Then what’s wrong with Christchurch?” Jem responded curtly. “You’d still be exiled.”

  “I’d hardly be exiled if Nate’s coming down too and bringing Celeste with him. If I’m fired the jobs available there are more to do with reconstruction of the city. It’d cost most of my savings to relocate again and I’d have a big black mark against me when it came a reference from Sachs Wall.”

  Jem bit her tongue to prevent her from saying that perhaps he’d earned the black mark against his name. Instead she ran through everything he’d told her and asked the question she should have asked earlier.

  “So is Celeste pregnant?”

  Chapter 33

  Jem could tell by the expression on Mark’s face what his answer would be.

  “Yes, Celeste is pregnant,” he said with disgust.

  “When did you find out for sure?”

  “Just before I came in here. While I waited outside she took the test in the women’s toilets which confirmed it.”

  Jem inwardly grinned despite the situation. Those toilets seemed to be pregnancy test central lately.

  “So have you made the changes she wanted?”

  “No and I’m not going to,” Mark said defiantly. “I know most of the people here don’t think much of me…”

  Jem thought of the party to celebrate his trip to Christchurch and chose not to interject with a denial.

  “But I do have morals despite what you all think...”

  “Then here is your chance to redeem yourself,” Jem interrupted, wanting to get the conversation back to what she needed to know. “Do you have the information that Celeste wants adjusted?”

  “It’s on my desk. I’ve got until the end of the day to take care of it,” Mark said and glanced at his Tisot watch glumly. “I guess by this time tomorrow everyone will know I have been fired.”

  “Don’t speak too soon,” Jem said, thinking of what she knew of Celeste. “I have a plan but we’re going to need help.”

  A few hours later Jem, Eben and Cherie sat in wingback chairs in the foyer of the Hotel Royale and acted as though they were engrossed in the newspapers they held in front of their faces. Jem would have preferred to take their concerns to Martha but she was currently in a private hospital getting her wisdom teeth removed under a general anaesthetic and by the time they could discuss things with her this window of opportunity would be over.

  As a group the four of them had agreed that Nate would have issues with any information against Celeste and would wind up tipping her off before they could get the police involved, which they couldn’t do for the sake of their careers until they were almost certain Celeste was guilty of something criminal.

  For all they knew she could pass the whole thing with Mark off as a test of loyalty to the company and claim she wanted dummy files altered which had been put in for training purposes. She could also claim that she was just following Nate’s instructions and that she was an innocent party. They all knew that she would have no difficulty in persuading Nate whatever she wanted and he would be clueless until he found himself in handcuffs.

  The best thing they could do on his behalf would be to get him out of her clutches so she had no access to Sachs Wall and no leverage against Mark.

  Jem hoped this plan would work as intended otherwise tomorrow she and Cherie would be joining Mark in looking for a job.

  When they saw Celeste enter the foyer the three of them raised their newspapers a little higher until Celeste moved into the elevator. Once the doors safely closed Cherie sent Mark a text message.

  The fox is in the hen house.

  As they folded their newspapers Jem looked at the phone i
n Cherie’s lap.

  “I still think Celeste should be the hen and Troy the fox,” she commented.

  “Oh no, Celeste is definitely a fox,” Eben answered and received Jem’s newspaper whacked across his chest in response.

  “Oops,” said Jem as she dropped the paper in his lap then turned to him with narrowed eyes. “What makes her the fox?”

  “Uh… She has red hair?”

  Cherie’s phone beeped to report an incoming message and the sound stopped Jem from pressing Eben further.

  “Elvis is leaving the building,” she reported, referring to their office. “Their ETA is approximately five minutes.”

  Across the foyer Georgina stood behind the concierge desk and dutifully ignored them. Eben had persuaded her to give him a cardkey to Troy’s room with the promise there would be no repercussions.

  “We don’t all need to be here for this,” Jem said after they had been waiting for a few minutes. “Perhaps it would be better if you two left so you can have plausible deniability if anything goes wrong.”

  “Uh uh. This I’ve got to see for myself,” Cherie said, her blue eyes sparkling in anticipation. “Besides I’d already planned to say you made me do it.”

  She stood up, gathered the newspapers and dumped them on a side table then brushed her hands together.

  “An executive assistant’s work is never done,” she said.

  “Here they are,” Eben murmured as he rose from his seat just as his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the display.

  “Excuse me, I’ll have to take this,” he said then walked a few steps away for privacy leaving Jem and Cherie to greet Nate and Mark.

  “Good afternoon ladies,” Nate said pleasantly then glanced to the elevator. “What floor did you say this meeting was on?”

  “The twelfth floor,” Cherie and Jem said quickly. Jem caught Cherie’s eye and cringed over their eager response but Nate didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

  “The suites on that floor aren’t overly generous in size. I think I’ll have the concierge phone up and have Troy meet us in the bar. It’s not too early for a drink,” Nate suggested.

  “No!” Jem, Mark and Cherie objected together then looked at each other.

  “My body’s a temple and I can’t put alcohol in it,” Cherie offered.

  “Then you can have a Shirley Temple,” Nate began only to be interrupted by Mark.

  “Uh, Troy has files all over the place?” Mark suggested.

  “Yes, and they’ve all been sorted for the meeting. It would be a real inconvenience for him to bring everything down,” Jem added.

  “Very well,” Nate said with a wistful glance towards the entry to the bar. “Lead on.”

  As they walked towards the elevator Eben surreptitiously brushed against Jem and she felt the room key card being pressed into her hand. He gave her an apologetic glance then strode out of the foyer. She had no time to reflect on what his problem was because the elevator doors opened.

  They gathered outside room 1205 and Nate leaned forward to knock on the door. Mark grabbed his arm to stop his hand from tapping against the wood.

  “He gave us the key to let ourselves in, just in case he was on the phone,” Jem said and pressed in front of him to slide the swipe card through the electronic lock.

  A little green light flashed and Jem found herself pressing the door open. Taylor Swift could be heard singing “we are never ever getting back together” in the room beyond.

  “That song’s appropriate,” Mark muttered as they quietly edged in the door to Nate’s bemusement. In the small living area a big screen TV against one wall showed Taylor Swift with a microphone in one hand on stage in front of a large audience.

  In front of the couch was an emerald green puddle of fabric.

  “Celeste was wearing a dress the same colour as this one earlier,” Nate observed innocently as he nudged it with the toe of his shoe.

  ““Was” being the operative word,” Cherie murmured then grunted when Jem elbowed her.

  Through the sound of Taylor Swift singing the chorus they heard noises coming from the bedroom beyond.

  Nate looked around and took in the sight of other garments tossed throughout the room. “It’s obvious there’s been some mix up and we’ve caught Troy at a bad time. I think we should go downstairs and phone him from the lobby.”

  Cherie grabbed Nate’s arm as he turned towards the door.

  “Let’s just make sure first,” she said then pushed him through the bedroom doorway.

  “Celeste!” Nate cried in horror as he looked towards the centre of the room.

  The couple in the bed stopped what they were doing. From her straddled position Celeste turned her head to identify the intruders and gasped in shock.

  Unwilling to wait any longer Mark came up beside Nate just as Troy groaned.

  “I don’t think it’s too hot in here to be without clothes,” he observed and smugly gave Celeste a look to say good-luck-talking-yourself-out-of-this-one.

  Cherie squeezed between Nate and Mark to get a look for herself just as Celeste dismounted. Troy fumbled to pull the blankets over himself.

  “I knew you weren’t a natural red head,” Cherie exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips even as Celeste angrily pushed past them.

  Jem’s eyes widened as Celeste brazenly stalked naked into the living area and snatched her dress up. Nate started following her, rubbing his arm, his face pale.

  Celeste slid the dress over her head, covering a tattoo of a scorpion on her right hip as the slinky fabric slid down her skin while Cherie and Mark stood in the bedroom doorway watching her. Behind them Troy took the opportunity to snatch clothes out of his open suitcase and hastily put them on.

  Celeste casually belted her dress, slid several gold bracelets from the coffee table onto her wrist then turned to face Nate.

  “I guess it’s safe to say that our relationship is over,” she said regretfully.

  “Why, Celeste? Why?” Nate asked weakly, his face paling further.

  “I have needs, Nathan,” she began imploringly. Then Jem touched Nate’s arm, giving him silent support and Mark started advancing towards her. Celeste realised she wouldn’t be given enough time or privacy to persuade Nate to excuse her behaviour. Narrowing her eyes at Mark she knew the best she could hope for was to take him down with her. Changing tack she faced Nate.

  “I’d like to say it’s been an orgasmic experience but we didn’t quite get that far, did we?” she asked silkily. “Maybe you can ask the stud here for some tips,” she said, moving towards Mark and running her hand over his hip towards his fly. “He showed me a good time.”

  Cherie moved forward and smacked Celeste’s hand away just as there was a loud thud behind them.

  “I wouldn’t let her touch you,” Cherie advised Mark. “Who knows where else she’s been?”

  “Bitch!” Celeste shrieked, her voice suddenly sounding foreign as she lunged at Cherie.

  The two women went down in a heap in front of Mark with Celeste scratching at Cherie’s face then moving her hands to yank her hair while Cherie tried to grab Celeste’s wrists.

  “Don’t make me hurt you!” Cherie warned as she struggled to pull Celeste’s hands away. Celeste’s response was to yank harder.

  “Mark, help,” Jem said urgently.

  “In a minute,” Mark said distractedly just as Cherie stopped playing nice and gave Celeste an uppercut to the jaw. “This is kinda hot to watch.”

  “You made me bite my tongue!” Celeste said thickly in an unfamiliar accent as blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth. She then made the mistake of letting some of Cherie’s hair free so she could use a hand to wipe her mouth. Cherie was able to pull free and with hair still over her eyes she blindly punched and got Celeste in the face.

  “I think we need an ambulance!” Jem cried.

  “I don’t think it’s bad enough for that,” Mark said. “Although we could get a steak from r
oom service. Celeste is going to have a whopper of a black eye.”

  “Not them! For Nate!” Jem yelled in exasperation.

  Mark looked over his shoulder to see Nate lying awkwardly on the floor with Jem crouched beside him, with two fingers pressed against his carotid artery.

  “Does anyone else know CPR?” Jem asked urgently as her free hand struggled to loosen Nate’s tie. “He’s not breathing.”

  Cherie pulled away from a stunned Celeste and phoned 111 while Jem and Mark started joint CPR on Nate.

  With them all occupied Troy finished stuffing things into his suitcase and grabbed Celeste. They managed to slip out the door unnoticed. By the time the ambulance arrived, the rumpled bed covers were the only evidence they had ever been there.

  The following day at the office Martha looked as though she had aged ten years overnight as she addressed the staff in the conference room. Her eyes had lost their cheerful sparkle and her subdued presence lacked her usual energy.

  Through swollen cheeks Martha explained that although Nate had experienced a heart attack, due to the quick action of Jem, Mark and Cherie the outcome was far less grim than it could have been. She then went on to say that some things she couldn’t elaborate on had been brought to her attention and during the day each staff member would be interviewed by police detectives.

  The rest of the day was a mixed blessing for Jem. With a surname near the beginning of the alphabet she was one of the first to be interviewed. After going through the events leading up to the previous day the detectives became fixated on Celeste and wanted to know every detail Jem could recall about her. They were just about to wind down when she added the detail of Celeste’s tattoo and sudden accent as an afterthought. By the way they looked at each other she knew that her information had some significance but they weren’t sharing any of it with her.

  Jem was relieved to return to her office afterwards and used the lack of interruption to make considerable headway into the files piled up in her in-tray. By the end of the day she had almost completely caught up.