A Ruthless Victim, Nadia Siddiqui [red scrolls of magic txt] 📗

Alex is taller than he expects. Unlike Bradley who clearly used to be an attractive force of a man, Alex seems like a man who was pushed around a lot in his youth. He possesses a weak jawline and a receding hairline. Given how stunning his receptionist or partner is, Nathan honestly had been expecting more than a soft middle stuffed into tight pants and a jacket too large for him. If Nathan squints, he can almost imagine that at one point that jacket might have fit him better if he possessed a little more muscle. He’s hardly wallowing like Bradley is, that’s certain. However, the best way Nathan can describe the face in front of him is somebody that he would very much like to punch. He seems like the sort of man who would have coasted by in life on his father's money and been content to do so. The red, swollen veins under his nose is indicative of a drug problem as well as the way that his forehead is already sweating. However, the woman he had been talking to earlier is clinging to his arm and ushering him sweetly into the room like he has hung her own personal moon. Nathan has never seen such unfiltered adoration up front like this.

Nathan stands and gestures to one of the chairs as if this were his office. “Have a seat, Paulson.”

Alex looks him over twice before moving back into the room and of course choosing the head of the table for his seat, so Nathan casually moves to the opposite end to best see Alex.

“I presume that you know the purpose of this meeting?” Nathan, as Chase Shaffer, starts.

“No, I haven’t the foggiest. Why don’t you enlighten me as to why you have come here and disrupted my day.”

“Your day didn’t seem so busy to me.”

Alex’s shoulders square, clearly offended by the implication. “Just tell me what the fuck you want and get the fuck out of my office.”

“What a charming office it is too,” Nathan goads, eyes alight with amusement at the fact that Alex so clearly wants to chop his head off already. “Tell me, what is your lovely secretary’s name?”

“Why the fuck do you need to know that?”

“So hostile, Mr. Paulson, really we would like for you to be a touch more hospitable. Do you think that you can manage that for me?”

“Tabitha.” Alex spits through clenched teeth.

“What was that? I’m sorry, you’ll have to speak up. I can’t hear you over the rage.” Nathan smirks easily. While he has never even met this judge that he is allegedly representing right now, he finds it deeply amusing that Alex is so tightly under this man’s control and clearly hates it so much.

“Tabitha.”

“Dear Tabitha doesn’t have a last name?”

“You leave her out of this; she’s not a part of our deal.”

Nathan tilts his head to indicate that Alex is in no position to say what is or is not a part of the deal, that the judge has all of the cards in this bargain, and Alex looks like he’s about ready to start throwing things.

“Tabitha...Cantrell….” Alex fumes, every part of his soft body alight with rage.

Nathan slowly removes a notepad from his pocket and jots down her name for effect the same time that the aforementioned Tabitha comes into the room with a sliced cucumber and places it on the lazy susan next to the water. At least he wasn’t too far off in his assumption then. She moves to stand by the door silently; it doesn’t occur to Nathan to try to make her leave.

“Very well,” Nathan places his notepad back into his breast pocket. “Your payments have been late for three weeks now.” Nathan steeples his fingers in front of his face, index fingers pressing into the bow of his upper lip as he casually leans back into his chair. At least the change in payments was something that the company noticed as well. “As it really doesn't appear that you have much of value here for me to take as collateral, I’m afraid I have been sent to come up with...alternative payment methods.”

“Absolutely not, I might have been late, but I fucking paid. Every red fucking cent of it. You can fuck out of my office.”

Nathan hung his head, shaking it ‘no’ softly. “That’s not possible. I have my orders.”

“Fuck you and your orders. I’m not paying him any more money than he already gets.”

Nathan balls the fingers on his hand into a fist, the knuckles lightly cracking as he grins. “I was hoping that you might say that.”

Only Nathan doesn’t have a chance to say anything else; there’s a flurry of movement behind him that Nathan almost misses, and then a shooting pain exploding over the back of his head, a chime like somebody has struck him with a very old rotary phone, and then everything goes black.

Chapter Five

H ead injuries are such a very specific pain, blossoming inside of his skull like the pain would like nothing more than to take up residence here and stay. It’s clear to him that he will have a goose egg on the back of his skull that won’t fade for a handful of days. That bitch Tabitha must have struck him with something. Serves him right for not bothering to pay attempting to her. He had misjudged her; that much is now abundantly obvious.

There is a single light above his head, casting a harsh glow on the space around him. Nathan’s arms are bound in front of him. His suit jacket has been removed and with it his cell phone. Not that he has to worry about it too much; he knows that the company will come looking for him in an instance exactly like this. How they are going to handle the fact that he