Trouble Trouble Trouble

　　Irena’s POV

　　“I think I am being watched,” I stated, staring off into space.

　　Magnus frowned in worry, “why did you say so?” He sounded so concerned and it was so comforting that someone truly cared about me.

　　“I got a call last night, a threatening call,” I informed him, looking back at him.

　　His eyes widened in horror. “Are you serious? At what time?”

　　“Late at night, before I went to bed,”

　　“Oh darling, what was it about?”

　　“Urm the usual threats. I would lose all the people I care about, and worse, the caller even knew that I and Alexey just fought-”

　　“You and Alexey fought?” Magnus asked with a surprised tone, interrupting me.

　　“Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it,” I really don’t. The last thing I want to think about is how I had hurt his feelings and pushed him away.

　　“Alright love. You should be very careful,” he warned firmly.

　　I sighed, “I know, I’m going to take care of this nonsense, and finally, we can have a breather.”

　　We caught sight of August walking down the stairs in a pair of pajamas that she had probably gotten from the set of clothes in the wardrobe.

　　“Look who’s awake!” Magnus said, raising his voice.

　　August smiled mildly. “Good morning,” she greeted us dryly.

　　“How was your night?” I asked her to watch her closely.

　　She shrugged, "for someone with blood on her hands, I slept rather well,"

　　I and Magnus laughed.

　　Everyone slept well except me, that's nice, really encouraging.

　　"How do you feel?" Magnus asked in a caring tone as she sat on the sofa opposite ours.

　　"I don't know, definitely better than yesterday though, but I still feel guilty y'know. This whole thing is all my fault, I should have left with a guard, and then we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now." She said nasally, her face looking doleful.

　　"It's not your fault, it was bound to happen." I corrected her. "If you're hungry, you can go get something to eat in the kitchen. Or you could join Fray there, he'll love a good company."

　　" Yeah, I'm starving," she stood up and headed to the kitchen.

　　"Did you just intentionally ship those two together?" Magnus asked, looking at me and nursing a knowing smile.

　　What the fuck is this mad man talking about?

　　"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked confused as fuck.

　　" Nothing," he quickly replied with a straight face.

　　"So what are you going to do about August's case?" He asked as he picked up his glass of wine and took a sip of wine.

　　"I will carry out investigations on my own and I'll definitely hold a meeting with the council members regarding it. I thought of covering August's case, they know that there was a body but are unaware of who the killer is. I could hide it from them and bring it up when I've gotten evidence that proves August's innocence," I replied, still unsure of a decision to make.

　　Magnus stroked his chin thoughtfully. "And what is the other plan?"

　　"Hold the meeting and let the council members know what's actually going on and convince them of August's innocence in the act. It would be very difficult without evidence and they would be hasty to judge before I've personally punished guilty of such acts without remorse, even though they had been guilty on all aspects. If I keep August's involvement in the crime away from them, she would be safe and could live her normal life until I find evidence and bring the case to the council members, having enough proof that she is innocent. But if I tell them about it, they would blindly confine August as there is no evidence of her innocence or at least she would be confirmed until we find evidence supporting her claim."

　　" The council members are going to be so pissed when you finally tell them about it," Magnus said, smiling mischievously.

　　I rolled my eyes, "why did you say so?"

　　"I say so because you are not going to tell them about August's indulgence in the death of the human until you gather enough evidence. I know you, I know what you are capable of." He answered, snapping his finger sassily.

　　I laughed, "yeah, you're right, that is what I am going to do. It is better that way, I'll deal with the council being pissed when it gets to the point where I have to deal with them. For now, we just have to be careful about every single move we make."

　　Magnus nodded, agreeing with me. " That is what I support. You have my full support, beautiful, we have a long day ahead. I am going to make a few calls about the suspects we listed out, and you have a club in Los Angeles to run." He said standing up and walking to the kitchen.

　　I laughed. "thank you, Magnus,"

　　He turned to look at me with an amused smile on his cherry lips. " No need to thank me, we've been through worse together."

　　I smiled and stood up, I have to get to the club.

　　After breakfast, I discussed with August and told her that she could go back to work the next day, but she had to keep the whole incident to herself, she should not tell a single soul and I promised her that I'll find evidence that she had been made to do what she did against her will and she would be totally free.

　　I left for work before Magnus, and Lesley waited with my usual morning coffee by the time I got to my office. I haven't been to my office for more than a week and I've kind of missed the club. Everyone asked about August's welfare and I spent the whole morning talking with Lesley and Monica in my office. I told them how my date had gone and they filled me in on all that had been happening at the club in my absence.

　　I was about to leave for the control room when Izzy called for my attention.

　　She hurried up to me.

　　"There is something that I would like to ask you," she whispered in her soprano voice.

　　" Alright then, speak up. I don't have much time," I replied. I had to go to the control room and check footage as well as make important calls and these would take time.

　　"Is August really alright?" She stared directly at me and I was a little surprised at her question.

　　"August is fine, why are you asking?" I questioned, successful hiding my curiosity

　　"She didn't seem fine yesterday, and it felt like there was more to it than she had shared." She replied, frowning slightly. " I mean if she was only knocked unconscious, why wouldn't she come to work today. Afterall she held fast and would be well within minutes. And August I know is a strong girl, she would not cry over something like an abduction, because she had seen worse. These things and more made me doubt that she is really okay." She was such a nice and observant friend, but as I had concluded, no one was going to know about what really happened until we find evidence proving August innocent.

　　" She is okay Izzy, there is no need to worry. And I would know if she wasn't telling the truth, I can read minds, remember?" I placed a hand on her slim shoulder comfortingly. "It's amazing that you care about August to this extent, she is in good hands and will be coming back to the club tomorrow."

　　She smiled, " alright, thank you so much for taking care of her." Phew, I'm glad I have that one settled.

　　I laughed, removing my hand from her shoulder. "I care about August as much as you care about her."

　　She smiled again, " I know,"

　　" Alright, I'm glad we have this settled. I have to go now, I'll see you girls later,"

　　She nodded and walked back to the rest of the girls.

　　I went to the control room and asked after the head of the security team but I was told by Lesley that he had some personal issues to deal with and so he took a break for a week and would be back in three days.

　　Since he had not done anything bad, I wasn't bothered. I asked the assistant head to help me check the footage from the weeks before Fabian Ruiz's party. It was a futile search as there was nothing out of the ordinary to find. I had expected it though since it wasn't the first time the footage had been checked. It was checked after the party escapade severally, but we didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

　　I left the security room and went back to my office. I asked Lesley to give me the number that the client had used to contact her regarding August's abduction and then I sent the number to Carlos to help me identify the user.

　　The result of the search was not useful in any way as the contact ID didn't even exist. I was gradually feeling frustrated.

　　I was still conversing with Carlos regarding the client's number when my phone began to ring. I was about to take the call, but Lesley ran toward me with a telephone in her hands. The expression on her face was worrisome as her skin was white and she looked shocked beyond recognition. It was the expression on her face that made me ignore my ringing phone and decided to answer the telephone call.

　　"What is it?" I questioned, confused as I took the telephone from her and placed it next to my ear.

　　"Madam, the club is on fire!!" Pablo exclaimed as soon as he heard my voice. Pablo was the manager of Sodom City in Mexico while I was away.

　　I was confused, what was he talking about. "Calm down," he sounded like he had been wailing and I could hear his breathing into the telephone speaker. My heart was thumping against my chest rapidly, as I hoped that he would not repeat what I just heard him say.

　　"The club madam, it's on fire. We need you here immediately. The police are here and they're asking questions," I flung the telephone and stood up immediately, picking my car keys and purse.

　　" Tell Carlos that I want him next to my fucking car before I get to the park," I thundered addressing Lesley. I angrily walked out of the office, feeling so much anger and frustration that it was overwhelming.

　　All my hard work brought me to nothing. I didn't even bother asking Pablo about the source of the fire. I will find out when I get there.

　　Carlos was already waiting by my car with a mixture of anger, and worry on his face. With the remote control, I turned on the car and threw the keys at him, before getting into the car with him.

　　I felt so much anger and I held myself from crying. My clubs are worth millions in pounds and this could be a huge loss in my business.

　　My phone kept on ringing as we drove and I spent the entire time or the ride answering calls of my workers telling me that my club is on fire. Everything felt too slow and I wished I could vanish there immediately.