Chapter 20
TWENTY
CALEB
Aari looks tired when she walks in. These few weeks have taken a toll on us, but especially her. She has lost her appetite, is struggling to get up to do her yoga flows in the morning and seems to be surviving on toast and tea.
With that in mind, I plan a little celebration tonight to break the worry and stress we have been under the last couple of weeks.
With MsPat’s help, I manage to pull off the good old Sunday roast. So what if it’s a Monday evening?
She walks straight into my arms when she gets home and the feeling as she presses her head against my chest, knowing that we are safe for now, is overwhelming.
‘I cooked,’ I say into her hair as I hold her tight.
‘Mmmm, cheese on toast. Yes please.’
‘No, I cooked properly. I’m no Dahlia but I had a bash at a Sunday roast. MsPat is responsible for the house still standing. And making sure the beef was sealed. And the potatoes staying crisp. And rescuing the veg. I made the gravy though. Actually, come to think of it?—’
Ariella is on her tiptoes kissing me before I can finish.
‘Thank you, Caleb.’
We eat, holding hands, as she fills me in on the day and what Dominic has been up to. I can’t help picturing both CFOs strapped to a chair somewhere dark, wet and underground, having their testicles zapped every six hours to remind them to throw Melissa under the bus. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Dominic Miller may be making super-shady moves but he actually hasn’t done anything incriminating that I know about – yet. I didn’t tell Ariella what went down at the airfield because she still trusts him and, while I plan on eviscerating him from her life, I’m going to wait until I’ve gathered indisputable evidence before I burn him to a crisp.
Right now, he’s respecting my boundaries and?—
‘Dom asked me for a favour today,’ she says cautiously.
‘Oh yeah?’ I check my tone and volume because I’m still trying to behave like a grown-up.
‘He has a dinner party in a couple of weeks and wondered if I could produce some authentic American dishes for it.’
‘What would you like to do?’
‘It’s for twenty people and it could be a fun challenge. I haven’t spoken to the caterers yet, but I imagine I’ll be cooking in their kitchens and they’ll take it, finish it off there and serve it.’
Good. She’s not going to his home.
‘It sounds like an opportunity to learn something new.’
‘It is, and I’m a little flattered that he asked me.’ She smiles that sweet smile.
‘My money is on Lydia, Lara or Akiko having told him you’re good with food. They must have been very convincing for him to ask without trying it first.’
She bites the corner of her lip. Shit. What now?
‘Caleb, when I first moved in, Dominic came over – I made us some dinner and we watched a couple of films together.’
She looks down at her hands in her lap. Oh shit. I know any answer she gives will destroy me, because intimate TV and movie nights are our thing, but I have to ask.
‘Did anything happen?’ I shut my eyes and wait for it.
‘We kissed by the door at the end of the night, but when he tried to take it past that I stopped it and told him that I was still in love with you.’
‘Have you done anything more than kiss him?’
‘No.’
‘Are there any more kisses that I should know about?’
‘No. We kissed twice. That first time in front of the building, and then at the end of the movie night.’
‘I want you to know that I love you and I know we weren’t together at the time, but I need a second.’
I know it’s arrogant, selfish and childish, but I want to smash Dominic’s face in for trying and getting a second kiss. I walk out into Ariella’s garden, take deep breaths and exhale the anger I’m feeling. This guy isn’t going to stop poking for weak spots.
‘I’m sorry. I won’t cook for his guests.’ I feel Ariella’s hands slide across my chest as she hugs me from behind. I feel every negative feeling fall away. Her understanding how agonising this was going to be was all I needed.
‘No. You should. You’ll enjoy it and, like you said, it’s an opportunity to learn something new.’
‘Not if it hurts you, Caleb.’ She sighs, resting her head against my back.
‘I love you and trust you, Mason.’ I hold her arms in place and we stand close to each other under the night sky for a few minutes until I feel her yawn.
‘When this is over, I am going to take us very far away from here and we’re going to spend a month doing nothing but eating, sleeping, drinking and swimming. Just the two of us,’ I promise her.
‘That sounds heavenly.’
I don’t want to be away from Ariella during Melissa’s storytimes, so I go into the Ivory Bow office to watch the first one. An invitation has been extended to all the staff and they all show. We hit the link and a countdown pops up on the meeting room’s screen. While new members of the team look excited, there is trepidation on the faces of everyone who knows exactly what damage Melissa is capable of doing. My blood runs cold with fear as I watch the numbers count down to zero.
The stream starts, revealing a fresh-faced and relaxed Melissa wrapped in a different-coloured bathrobe, with a towel round her hair. This video looks more like a spa advert than a three-part blackmail plot.
‘Thank you, Gustaf,’ she says, bringing what looks like a cocktail into shot.
She takes a sip, holds up a newspaper with today’s date, and flips through the headlines.
‘I’m not in it.’ She frowns to someone we can’t see, before turning to us all and winking directly into the camera.
‘Bet I’ll be in tomorrow’s – and, just in case anyone is wondering if this is a deepfake or AI-generated, here’s proof, which you can confirm with any one of the women Kevin Wong has had an affair with.’
She leans in as we all wait with bated breath.
‘Kevin has a tiny wee-wee.’ She raises both eyebrows and nods enthusiastically at the camera before she crumples into laughter.
‘Fine. His password to everything is money, hustle and power. All you need to do is substitute all the ‘e’s for the number three, all the ‘o’s for zeros. Capitalise the first letter and stick an exclamation mark after each word. No spaces. He’s not as clever as he’d have you all believe; in fact he is a bastion of incompetence. Just ask his father.’
Melissa pauses to take a slow sip of her cocktail, then sighs.
‘My name is Melissa Chang, and, after my father died, Kevin Wong and his father – who previously worked with mine – took over my autonomy and my finances and thrust me into a life of crime. This is me, claiming my life back.’
Melissa takes her time detailing her heartbreak at the news of her father’s death, how her father’s business partner – who was clearly a gangster of some description – promised to look after her just before she signed papers for betrothal to Kevin, and how she refused to consummate the relationship. By the end of the hour, she looks exhausted. We all sit there riveted, unable to take our eyes off the screen.
‘Time for my massage now.’ She smiles into the camera. ‘Tomorrow, money-laundering. Expect frozen accounts and assets. See you at the same time.’
With that, she ends the broadcast.
‘I feel sick…’ Aari whispers, then looks at me and stops. ‘Are you okay? You’ve gone as white as a sheet.’
There’s only one word for it.
‘Fuck.’
The nerves we had about the first storytime were minuscule compared to the ones we are all feeling next day. A large part of me walks into Ivory Bow ready to be arrested.
We all glare at the screen when Melissa appears in a new bathrobe, holding a cocktail and today’s paper.
‘I made it. Finally,’ she says. ‘About time. Right. Money-laundering.’
She sits there detailing the elaborate operation, name-dropping bankers, countries and huge global conglomerates like she was reading a class attendance roster.
Aari and I hold hands under the table, waiting for Ivory Bow and the United Kingdom to be included, but it isn’t.
The only organisation that is untainted in the group of companies that Melissa was involved in is the hospital group.
‘If your name or company has been mentioned, I suggest you start running now. The authorities in all seventeen countries I have mentioned have received all the evidence. I hear Mongolia is nice this time of year.’ She laughs so hard at the camera, she has to wipe a tear away.
‘Finally, just before I came on my little sojourn, I cleared out all our legitimate accounts. The ones with all the juicy suspicious activities are still active. Kevin would have found this out almost immediately after I disappeared, so if he’s running around fake crying and pretending to be worried that I’m dead, don’t believe him.’
She shakes her empty glass at someone off camera and puts it down.
‘No more cocktails for me today, apparently.’ She frowns.
‘Tomorrow, the final instalment. Sex and lack thereof, lots of lies and the battle of the videotapes. Expect divorces.’
The broadcast ends.
The relief in the meeting room is palpable. Ivory Bow wasn’t one of the businesses mentioned.
‘Aari, can we get popcorn and ice cream tomorrow for the last storytime, to celebrate the fact that we’re off the hook?’ Sian asks as Jess and Akiko nod along.
‘What do you mean by off the hook?’ Samir immediately bites.
‘Melissa, as you know, was our chairwoman. Thankfully, no criminality infiltrated Ivory Bow since we set up here in Singapore,’ Ariella explains, choosing her words carefully.
‘What about?—’
‘Samir. Lay off her, mate. This is beginning to look like bullying and it’s making us all a bit uncomfortable. You’ve been on her for weeks. Give it a rest, mate,’ Bryce says, annoyed.
‘Ariella, my office, please,’ Samir says, standing to button his jacket.
‘Yes please to popcorn and ice cream, Sian. Let’s toss in a cake to welcome Caleb back.’ Aari stands, pats Bryce on the shoulder and follows Samir out of the meeting room.