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"You're on loudspeaker. Maryam is here."
"Good. All right. The guy that hit you, Davis Crenshaw?"
"Yeah."
"He had a payment of 5,000 dollars to his account the day before the accident. For someone who was just a desk worker at a logistics company, that sounds sus, right?"
"Yeah, of course. Keep going."
"But then we were able to trace it thanks to his wife, Lindsay. I told you that the police had gone to talk to her. After she was pressed a bit, she talked to them and said her husband had been acting weird after someone started threatening him." What the hell? How deep did this go? I wondered. "Anyway, thanks to her we were able to get passwords and trace it, and it led us to an offshore account that's a subsidiary of Valkyrie Comics."
"Where have I heard that name before?" It did sound familiar.
"It's a comic company owned by Ethan Coen, indirectly."
Wow. I didn't expect that.
"You're sure?'
"You think I'd be calling you with something I haven't confirmed?"
"So that means when Ethan came to the office, it was a distraction because you would never have suspected him."
"He just came to give us the announcement that day so we'd think he wouldn't be fast enough to orchestrate something like that since we only told him a definitive no the same day," Drew added.
I could feel myself burning with rage. "I'm going to kill him."
"No, no, no, no. We're not doing that." Maryam stepped in.
"He tried to kill me. He might have come for you, for Maddy!"
"I know you're upset, but you have to relax, okay? Being angry won't solve anything. Two wrongs don't make a right. You'll both go to jail, or he'll be dead and you'll go to jail; that would keep you away from both of us."
"She's right," Drew seconded her notion. "Let the police handle this. They've been able to get this far. It seems they really wanna nab Ethan as they've been trying to for a while, and now they're having an operation to get him once and for all. We're making all the necessary connections, and all I need you to do is get better in time for Maryam's album launch."
"Drew, I can't fucking do anything right now because that asshole came after our company!" I yelled. A lot of my frustrations eventually built up to the surface. "Maddy's surgery is coming. I'm trying to recover from all this pain that the bastard caused me. The album is on its way. And now I found out that Ethan, that fucker is the one behind it." My chest heaved in and out as I frowned at the phone.
But then she hugged me, and as always, she had a way of melting me and, ironically, cooling me down.
"It's fine, Drew. Just focus on what you're doing. Thank you so much for helping us. Ron will be fine. We'll be fine," she spoke to him.
"All right, I trust you. Please take care of him."
"I will."
"Bye, man. And I know you're going through a difficult time, but you've been through many difficult times. Stop whining and get better. Okay?"
I scoffed. We had a way of talking to each other bluntly because it helped us grow.
"Asshole," I said to him while smiling.
Chapter nineteen
Maryam Carey’s POV
ThelevelsofnervousnessI felt right now could not be quantified. How would I even introduce him to them? Today was for me; a little get-together to celebrate the now-released album. My first album was a resounding success. Didn't beat Dover's last album, but Dover was an established artist, I was an up-and-comer. I outsold Dover's first album with RRR. The reviews were neat too from websites such as Rolling Stones and Time. Celebrations like this weren't common, but they happened ever so often, and Ron saw this as a good chance to meet my parents. I felt that was the primary reason why he did all this. My parents were to arrive any minute now. Their flight got delayed, so they were coming a little late.
I felt bad for Ron because he had a lot on his plate, which was why I didn’t want him adding any more. Despite his physiotherapy going well improvements at lightning speed-his bones and muscles still ached even as he stood and talked to some of his fellow coat-wearing businessmen. Beyond that smile, I could see a man in pain with every high-five or gesticulation. Adding to that, Drew had been working hard with the Police to pinpoint that bastard, Ethan Coen, and that also had Ron on edge. Finally, and most important, was Maddy's surgery which would happen soon. Knowing all this, was this the best time to meet my parents? I wondered. Ron noticed how I left the room whenever my parents called. He understood that I didn’t wish to upset them because they weren’t on board with this relationship. Despite my concerns, I swore to try my best to put in a good impression because I appreciated that he’d go through all this trouble for me. He wanted me to feel comfortable because of how close I was with my parents, and I couldn’t be relaxed if Ma and Dad still had a negative view of him.
