9 FOUND QUITE A COMPANY

After Daniel left, Mary decided to go shopping and her destination was nothing less than a sports store. Her muscles hurt like hell, as well as her lungs, but Brenda said it took twenty one days and Mary decided to check it out. She had never given such a big chance to sports before, so why not try at least once?

She bought snickers, shorts, a couple of T-shirts and a water bottle. Daniel checked the message from the bank and was surprised to see what kind of store Mary chose to spend her time in. He thought that the pain which the last attempt caused her would be enough to kill any enthusiasm she had.

Of course Mary was not planning to start running until her muscle pain receded. But it would be only a couple of days, and then she would engage in a marathon. She had nothing better to do in any case.

Daniel did not lie about the driver; actually he was very serious about it. And it was not the same driver Mary had seen before, this was a new one. Marcus was his name and to Mary he looked more like a body guard than an ordinary driver: he was fit, tall and a little bulky, something in him reminded Mary of Hulk, in general a scary person and also not very communicative. He drove her to the shop and even followed her inside.

Also strangely enough when Mary tried to find Jim's number in the morning, it was not where she left it. Gone it was, and gone mysteriously. She shrugged and decided that it was probably for the best.

After shopping she asked Marcus to drive her to one business center, and she refused to let him follow her inside saying that there was a pass ready only for her. She guessed that Daniel would not be happy with him letting her out of his sight and she added, "Don't worry, it can stay our secret. I'm not doing anything illegal here, just seeing a friend."

And she did not lie; she was seeing a friend who worked as an editor in one popular magazine. Her friend was a professional and she worked in this sphere for years and her field of expertise was business circles and business deals of big corporations. In general she was a person who could provide to Mary all the information she needed about Gabriella and others.

At first they chatted about their lives a little and Mary told her the outstanding story of her new sugar-baby job. Her friend, Olivia, could not believe her ears! Mary agreeing to this kind of deal – that was top news. But in the end she saw that Mary's interest was not that much in money but more in the man himself. Mary knew a lot about Daniel Melrose because she used to work in his company, but she knew little about his love life, no matter what gossip circulated while she had been still working.

To her surprise, Olivia also had little information about his personal affairs; he hadn't brought his girlfriends to public, not even once. But she heard some rumors. They said that he had such a long list of ex-girlfriends that you could publish a magazine filled only with their names (that was probably an exaggeration though). But other than that, Daniel was a proper man and was considered to be an eligible bachelor; hundreds of girls dreamt of catching him and taking him down the aisle. Their dreams were never meant to come true though… But for Mary this was not very informative; she had already guessed a little about his ex-girlfriends through his friends' attitude and talk.

The next person to discuss was Gabriella – Mary did not know her surname so she was considerate enough to take a picture of her during their barbecue party.

"Gabriella Wilson! Oh, you have a powerful enemy, I must say! She's the daughter of Wilsons, the owners of the biggest mass media corporation in the country and she's also an heiress to all their wealth. If someone crosses their path, they can destroy that person's reputation without much effort." Olivia's words could not be considered good news for Mary; it only meant that dealing with Gabriella would be rather hard.

"And what about this one?" Mary showed Jim's photo to Olivia.

"You found quite a company!" Olivia exclaimed. "Hope you're not enemies with him?!"

"Guess I'm not."

"Jim Scott. He hasn't been noticed in outstandingly scandalous deeds, but his character is rather contradictory: with people from his close circle he's kind and nice, but with his enemies he's merciless, he caused bankruptcy to many of them. His parents own one of the biggest software companies in the country. During his rebellious years he decided that he doesn't need their wealth and founded a company of his own, now its main focus is still electronics: some they produce, some they import and distribute. But while the company grew they bought out smaller companies in different commercial fields. Right now you may say that it's a multi-functional corporation which ran its hands into many spheres of our everyday life: electronics, food, entertainment, even logistics. He doesn't like to show it off, but it's not a secret as well." She fell silent for some time, and then added, "If choosing between Daniel Melrose and Jim Scott, I would choose Jim Scott… But you surely don't have this kind of choice at hand, do you?" Olivia laughed at this suggestion.

"Surely not!" Mary said.

The rest of the company from the barbecue party were also the sons and daughters of wealthy parents. Generally it was best to avoid conflicts with any of them, but the three most powerful members now formed a love tetragon with Mary starring in it. And if Mary believed she somehow could manage Jim-Daniel problem, Gabriella was still out of her reach. And God only knew what was in the head of this crazy woman!

"Thanks for the info! I owe you." Mary felt that she should leave now, because scary hulk-guy Marcus was still outside waiting for her and she really did not want Olivia's name to be mentioned to Daniel any time soon.

"Well, I think you can return your debt by giving me first-hand news about these guys we've just discussed!"

Olivia winked at her and laughed.

"I'll try to find something worthy of attention," Mary promised.

When Mary returned, Marcus scanned her appearance silently and after confirming that there was nothing suspicious he drove her back home. Mary wondered whether he really would keep it a secret, but that was to be found out later on, she guessed.

When she returned to the apartment, all was clean and shiny; Daniel kept his word and invited back the cleaning lady. There definitely was a change in him, and Mary hoped that the hulk-guy and the cleaning lady would be the only manifestations of it, but it was just a beginning.

The door to her bedroom was locked and there was no key to it, she was already starting to message Daniel to ask why she could not enter her own room when she saw that all her things were moved to his room instead. While she was gone she actually went through a room change!

On his bed she found a note saying "I'll be late today, do not cook for me. And I like the night gown with the least amount of fabric in it. Kisses. Daniel."

"As you wish, my lord" Mary whispered though there was no one to hear her.

She held the note a little longer, comprehended the message and decided to have supper outside. It turned out she developed a habit of eating together with someone (in her case a particular someone) and lonely supper was not something she could handle right now. She took Marcus and made him eat together with her. She guessed that it was best to make friends with him, just in case…