Chapter 3

• I found them almost beating a girl and I had to stop them. "Hey, leave that kid alone." I told them as I walked towards them.
• "And why should we do that?" One of them asked rudely and before he could say one more word, he was on the floor. I tightened my grip on his neck and hit his head hard on the floor.
• The other guy tried to hold me but I grabbed his shirt and brought him over to my side. After a punch , he was also down with his friend. "You should leave now," I told the girl and watched her leave quickly after thanking me for helping her.
• I waited for the cops to come and pick the boys before jumping across the fence to the next street.
• Jayda's POV
• The clock was ticking and I looked at my wristwatch. It was more than 2 hours and Madeline was not back yet. I just hoped that nothing would happen to her and my car. I shouldn't have even sent her on that errand. What was I thinking?
• Why wasn't she back yet? This was getting really annoying, I was really hungry but she was not around. Daniel walked in with a plastic container and placed it on my table. "What's this?" I asked with a smirk on my face.
• "You should open it."
• I slowly unwrapped the nylon and opened the cover. He bought fried rice for me, I couldn't contain my excitement. "Thanks Daniel, I was so hungry." I told him.
• "Yeah, I bought it from Chinatown, 199 Grand Street. I didn't want you to starve and I don't know why Madeline is not around yet."
• "I don't know, why is she not yet back?"
• He frowned. "Should we report this to the cops?" He inquired and I shook my head.
• "I doubt that they would do anything, it's actually useless talking to them because we're not sure if she's actually missing. That girl can be careless sometimes and you know that." I answered and he nodded.
• "Yeah, you're right."
• After taking the last spoon of fried rice, he threw the empty plastic container in the trash bin and slumped down on the chair. "How was it?" I asked.
• I couldn't lie, I had totally forgotten about everything when I ate the food. It was really great and I just had to tell him. "This is one of the best meals I've had in days." I answered and gulped down.
• He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. "Well, I shouldn't lie to you, I actually made that."
• A gasp escaped from my lips. "Are you serious?" I inquired.
• He nodded and flashed a huge smile at me. "Yeah, I had to go back home to make something for you. I knew you would like it."
• "I loved it." I replied and heard Madeline's voice outside the door. I breezed out of my office with a frown to know why she came late.
• "Good afternoon, ma'am." She greeted me with a sad smile.
• I didn't respond. I took a long sullen look at my wristwatch and then looked back at her. "Afternoon , you're late." I reminded her.
• She nodded and apologized. "I'm sorry, ma'am."
• "My car's in the parking lot, right?" I asked.
• "Ma'am, there's a little problem..." Her voice trailed off.
• We walked into my office and I sat down to listen to what she had to say. "What problem?" I inquired.
• "I don 't know where your car is." She muttered.
• Fear skittered up my spine. What was she saying? What did she mean by that? "I don't understand."
• "There was a protest in town earlier today and I had to park your car on the street to get a meal from the nearby restaurant there. The restaurants were shut down and by the time I returned to the spot I parked your car, it was no longer there."
• And it hit me!
• My car had been stolen.
• "You're kidding, right?" Daniel asked her
• angrily . She shook her head and stared back at me."I'm really sorry, ma'am." She apologized.
• "Sorry can't bring my car back," I snapped. "When you found out that there was a rough protest, you should have returned back to the office with my car."
• "I figured that you would be hungry and I didn 't want to make you annoyed at me, I'm really sorry
• ma'am ." Tears rolled down my cheeks. That car was not even up to a day old and it was stolen before two hours. My mom would be mad at me if she heard about this.
• I should have listened to her and returned the car when she told me about the bad significance of the number '13'. I stole a glance at Daniel, he was also fuming with anger. How could I have been so careless and send my dumb secretary. "I should sack you, shouldn't I?" I ventured and wiped my tears with my hands.
• "I'm really sorry ma'am, don't sack me." She pleaded.
• Madeline was my favourite secretary, she was like a sister to me and I wasn't ready to even sack her. I found her at a cafe when her manager abused her physically. When I invited her to work with me, she was willing to help grow my company. "Madeline, I can't possibly sack you but why were you so careless?" I asked.
• Daniel stood up and paced round the office. "What were you doing for two hours? You were not looking for a car, were you?" He ventured cautiously.
• "I went to file a report with the police."
• "And what did they say?"
• "They didn't look serious about the case." She answered and I let out a frustrated sigh.
• "How?"
• She looked at us in uneasiness. "It will be best if we both go because they didn't believe me."
• Daniel shook his head and stood in front of the door. "You should stay, you've caused enough damage already. You should just stay here and handle things here." He suggested and I nodded.
• He was certainly right, I didn' t want her to follow me to the police station right now.