Flatline - Murder | Mystery | Intrigue

Chapter 19

Emile 

While I waited for Tony, I called Kimberly. It was game time. 

“Hi Emile,” she answered with a definite air of smugness. My jaw clenched and I took some quiet deep breaths. 

“Kimberly,” I greeted, “would you be able to come by my office in an hour? We really need to talk.” I kept my tone as polite as possible.

“Sure, Emmy. I’ll be there.” I could hear the smile in her voice and cringed when she used her pet name for me. I never liked it when she called me that and she knew it. 

“Great, I’ll see you then,” I said, gripping my phone tightly, yet still managing to sound civil. I hung up before she could say another word. I could tell that she thought she had the upper hand. 

“Well, that sounds like you two have gotten back together,” Tony said as he walked in, passing me the offending article. 

“Not a snowball’s chance in hell,” I snorted. There was no coming back from the sh*t she was trying to pull. I would never be fooled that way again. I felt bad about Kay, but I also needed to know what kind of person she really was. Kimberly had really f*cked with my head, I struggled to trust my judgement now. I would make it up to Kay, if she allowed it anyway. 

Tony and I got to work, we needed to be ready when Kimberly arrived. It took quite a few calls, but we managed to get it done about five minutes before she walked in the door. 

“Hi Emmy, Tony,” she smirked as she entered. Her expensive perfume filled the room and my nose wrinkled in distaste. I couldn’t stand that particular fragrance these days. She was wearing a little, black dress, and stilettos, clearly expecting to be able to seduce her way into whatever she wanted. She had no idea what she had walked into. I smirked, she would soon find out. 

“Kimberly, please have a seat,” I showed her to the visitor’s chair at my desk. She sat down slowly, crossing her legs and flashing her long legs. That may have worked on me before, but now she was lucky I didn’t choke the life out of her. I couldn’t wait to wipe that smile off her face. 

“Thank you Emmy, so why did you call me here?” she asked as if she hadn’t just revealed my identity to the entire country and spread rumors and slandered me publicly. She batted her eyelids at me innocently. The woman was a fantastic actress. 

“Why do you think Kimberly?” I asked calmly. She looked at me, trying to figure out just how much I knew.

“No idea Emmy, so why don’t you just tell me?” she replied. I smiled, she looked taken aback, as if she recognized something in that smile. 

“Well,” I said, slapping the article on the table in front of her, “why don’t we start with this?” She huffed. 

“Everything I said in there was the truth,” she defended. That might have been true, but she had also left out the part where she was unfaithful and that the paternity of the child was in question.

“Only half of the truth Kimberly, only half. It was you who gave them my identity as well, wasn’t it?” I sneered. She leaned back in her chair and looked me in the eye. 

“It wasn’t me,” she denied, “why would I do that?” she asked. 

“That’s what I want to know,” I said as I put down a report showing that the information had originated from her IP address. “What were you thinking Kimberly?” I seethed. Her eyes widened as she read the report, she looked at me and her demeanor became aggressive.

“Well, what did you expect, Emmy?” she spat, leaning forward. “I worked hard to get you and that b***h just waltzes in and takes you away. I had to do something to get her to back off.” Her voice became gradually louder. Then it clicked. 

“You sent her a text, didn’t you?” I growled. I should have known Kimberly would actively try to sabotage me. 

“Of course I did, you are mine,” she snapped. “Now if you will just come back to me we can put this all behind us,” she finished with a smirk. I frowned, she was deranged, a little unstable. 

“Kimberly, I am only going to say this one more time. You and I are done, over. We will never get back together, you need to understand that.” I reiterated. 

“Well then things are just going to get worse for you Emile, I have proof that you are the father,” she smirked. My eyes widened, this woman was deplorable. I had no idea she would go to such lengths to trap me. I wondered if there was even a baby at all. 

“Oh really?” I asked. “Why don’t you have a look over there?” I said, gesturing at the large screen mounted on the wall as it flickered to life. The scene with her and  the doctor lit up the screen, the audio played through the surround sound speaker system. She paled. 

“Where did you get this? It’s doctored, that never happened,” she shouted. 

“The only thing doctored was you Kimberly,” I chuckled. “Luckily I happened to be at the right place at the right time. I captured your little liaison with the doc, unfortunately he is going to lose his job. He should have listened to his conscience and not his d*ck,” I said with glee. Karma was truly a b*tch. 

“You wouldn’t…” she spluttered, “you can’t,” she leaned forward and gripped the corner of the desk. “Emile, please…” Her phone started blowing up and my smile widened. She reached into her bag and grabbed it. I knew what she was looking at, her socials were going crazy with the video. It had definitely gone viral; I made sure it would. I grabbed her by the chin and turned her face to me, I knew I was hurting her. 

“This is just a taste of what could happen Kimberly, I suggest you stop f*cking with me. Don’t push me any further because I can’t guarantee your safety next time. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise.” Fear was present in her eyes as she shuddered at my icy tone. 

“Tony, show Kimberly out please.” I was done with her, hopefully forever. 

I moved onto the other unfinished business and sent Kay a text asking her to meet me for a drink. I hoped she would agree, I had a lot of making up to do. 

*_*

Peter 

I hadn’t heard from Kay since the day at the hospital barring a few messages updating me on Seth’s health. I was worried, she hadn’t been to the dojo either and she hadn’t missed this many classes in years. I also needed to discuss our night at the club. It was time for me to man up and confess my feelings to her.

I walked up to her door and took a deep breath as I rang the bell. I smiled as she opened the door. 

“Peter,” she said as her eyebrows rose. She recovered quickly and gestured for me to enter as I handed her the bottle of wine I had brought. 

“How did you know I needed a drink?” she laughed. It wasn’t a happy laugh. I wondered what had happened. We made our way to the kitchen and she got two wine glasses before joining me at the counter. 

“Is everything okay?” I asked tentatively as she opened the wine and poured generously. She passed mine, took a sip of hers and sighed. 

“Yeah, just some drama at work. It’s fine now. I am excited about my current project though, we are going to have a photoshoot in Hanover Park,” she explained. My eyebrows shot up and sucked in a breath. 

“Hanover Park? Why? Kay, you know how volatile that area is, why would you go there?” I asked. Hanover Park was one of the most dangerous areas of the gang-ridden Cape Flats, a true legacy of the infamous ‘a*******d’ era where people were segregated by the color of their skin. As a police officer I was privy to the shady world of the gangs based in that area. Constantly high on crystal meth or heroin, they were vicious and wouldn’t think twice to shoot anyone for no reason. 

“It’s perfect for the brand, Flatline was named after the area after all. It is the most authentic atmosphere they could ever have. We’ll go there in the morning and be out before dark,” she insisted. The hair on the back of my neck raised; I had a bad feeling about it. 

“Kay, please. Can you find a different area? Anywhere else?” I begged. She pursed her lips and sat back. 

“Not really, everything is set. Stop worrying so much, everything will be fine,” she smiled. Her phone beeped and she frowned as she read the message. 

“I have to go Peter, thanks for the wine,” she said, dismissing me. Damn, I had lost my window of opportunity again.