19 NOT YOU AGAIN!

Mary hid her phone hastily and looked up at Daniel. Of course he recognized Gabriella's voice in the waiting room, so he knew that it would not take long until the door to his office would open once again.

Gabriella stormed into the room holding out her phone and on the screen there was another article about her fraud scheme.

"Maybe this newspaper would be more cooperative, how do you think?" Daniel asked her calmly.

"Not this one! Never!" There was despair rising in Gabriella's voice.

"Another deal then?" Daniel watched Gabriella carefully waiting for her answer.

She sat down in a chair and covered her face with her hands.

"Do I have another choice?" the question hung in the air. Of course she had no other choice…

The person who agreed to help them last time, refused now. They called another one and stroke another deal. Gabriella was not acting anymore, she felt a bad premonition. Was it the last article? Was it?

When the second article disappeared from the website and Gabriella left at last, Daniel had already missed one of his meetings. He looked a bit tired.

"Want to go home with me?" Mary asked him with some hope in her voice.

"I've got a job to do..."

"See you in the evening then." Mary kissed him and left.

Right after she exited his office she sent a message to Olivia, "Both articles are taken down."

"We have a couple more coming," Olivia was not discouraged, she did not expect Gabriella Wilson to give up easily; it was good that she prepared well.

"Today?"

"Nope, tomorrow I think."

Mary had some time left before Daniel returned from work. She suddenly remembered that her rent payment time had already passed, and she did not receive even one call from her landlord. She had no cash to pay for her rented apartment right now and her newly found job would not bring enough money as well.

She decided to call her landlord and inform him that she had to break her lease. But to her surprise it turned out that he did not want to let her break the lease because someone else paid for half a year lease of her apartment upfront and he had no intention of returning this money to her.

That meant she could keep the rented apartment just in case she needed it in the future. "It's good that Daniel was so considerate and paid for it," she thought to herself gladly.

"Thanks for paying for my apartment upfront. So sweet of you😘." Mary sent a message to Daniel thanking him.

The answer which she received was something really unexpected, "It wasn't me."

If it was not Daniel, then who was it?

"No, not him! Somebody tell me it's not him again!" Mary said out loud then turned around to make sure there were no people to hear it nearby.

"Was it u?" she sent a message to Jim.

"Was it me what?" He had no clue what she meant.

"U paid for my apartment. Admit it!" She was not asking anymore, for her it was not a question. If it was not Daniel then no one else apart from Jim would be so eager to do it.

"I did."

"Why?"

"I didn't want to you to become a bum!"

Facepalm... Mary felt like facepalming.

"U should've warned me..."

"Oh, sweet God! Poor Daniel knows now? My condolences..."

Mary wanted to hit him here and now, but unfortunately he was out of her reach.

"Need my help keeping those articles on?" he sent another message to her.

She knew there were two more articles coming out but there was no guarantee that they would not get taken down within an hour as well.

"What if I do?" she asked.

"Then there's a price."

"All u do has a price..."

"People don't appreciate something without a price for it."

Mary hesitated. What kind of price could a man like him name?

"What is the price?" she asked, clueless.

"I knew you'd agree. Go home and tell your bodyguard to leave. I'll come to visit you."

"No, u can't come to our house."

"I won't..."

If he was not going to come into the apartment then Mary decided it would not do too much harm. She really wanted the articles to cause more turmoil, so she agreed and did as he told her to. When she thought that Marcus had already left she wrote to Jim and told him, that she was alone now.

It turned out he was waiting for her outside in the small park near the house, he was sitting in a swing and another swing beside him was empty and waiting for Mary to take it. Strangely enough there were no children around to claim any of the swings for their games.

She sat down beside him silently. His presence in her life was growing day by day and she discovered that the more she tried to decrease it the stronger it became regardless of her efforts.

They were swinging in silence for some time until Jim spoke up at last, "If you wait from any other price from me, then no use. This is it. Just wanted to see you."

"I guessed as much" Mary did not even look at him; she just watched the clouds floating lazily in the sky above them.

"I betrayed a friend for you. It feels like a sacrifice that connects people. So now there's no turning back. Just wanted you to know."

"She's a shitty person."

"It doesn't mean I should betray her... Your hands are dirty. My hands are dirty. The only one who came clean out of it is your beloved Daniel."

Mary did not answer. It was true, now she crossed the line and there was no turning back, there was no correcting it. She would have to hide it from Daniel till the end of her days.

"And what exactly are you trying to prove anyway?" he asked her suddenly.

"I want him and his family to see what kind of person she is." Mary told him the truth. Even if she wanted Gabriella to feel the consequences of her unworthy behavior, she also wanted to open up Daniel's eyes to her true nature.

Jim laughed bitterly, "Oh, please! He knows, he knew all along..." He turned to look at her, "Can I touch you?"

"No, please don't." She shrank away from him.

"If you just let me take your hand, I'll get this stupid piece of news to one of central TV channels, I'll do it for you, I swear."

She sighed and stretched out her hand. He took it into his hands hesitantly and held for some time studying her long delicate fingers which might have easily belonged to a piano player. After a couple of minutes she tried to free her hand, he held it a little longer and let go at last.

"Keep your word." She said and left him alone sitting in the swing.

When she returned home she wondered whether she herself was any better than Gabriella who had been using Jim for years. But at least Mary was frank with him and did not give him any false and misguiding promises.

Daniel returned home late, he was tired and had no mood for talking. They ate their supper and went to bed.

In the morning when Mary was preparing to go out for a run she received two messages: one from Olivia and another from Jim.

Olivia sent to her another link and a photo of a newspaper stand where bulky-looking guys in black costumes were giving out newspapers for free. On the front page of those newspapers was the article about Gabriella Wilson stealing money from her family. Mary thought it to be strange that the newspapers were given out for free and also by people who looked more like bodyguards than the newsboys.

Jim sent her the name of the TV channel and time when the program about Gabriella will be broadcasted. She thanked him and deleted their correspondence after memorizing the channel and the time. She wanted to watch it if she would be at home.

When she was entering the park she saw one of those newspaper stands and here as well a bodyguard-looking guy was distributing free newspapers. Two people approached him trying to buy out these newspapers, asking to give them everything he had. But he refused and calmly answered that he was giving out one newspaper per person.

Two people tried to take the newspapers by force and he did not even let them lay their hands on his keep. Now Mary understood why these guys looked so well trained, they were probably hired by Jim who bought out all these newspapers early in the morning and made an order to give them out for free one newspaper to one person.

Striking a deal with him had its benefits for sure.

After the newspapers were distributed in the town and the news came out Mary called Daniel and inquired about Gabriella's wellbeing. Daniel said that her house was surrounded by reporters and there was no hiding this information anymore, the news spread out far and wide and now only her parents could help her by denying the fact of fraud and admitting that Gabriella's advertising company was really providing their services to Wilson Media.

But the problem was that her parents did not want to speak to her and it was a big question whether they would choose to save their company reputation by denying the fraud or they would prefer to punish their daughter by keeping everything the way it was now.

He also told her that he would be home late because Gabriella needed her friends' support now and they would go to visit her together with the rest of their company.

Mary did not ask why she was not invited, because she knew too well that as long as it came to Gabriella she would never be invited anywhere.

She had her day free for any entertainment now, so she took Marcus shopping. She discovered that her running activities made her lose some weight and her pants as well as a lot of blouses looked oversized on her. She also felt like changing her wardrobe because some of her clothes did not fit in well into the society which spent her time in now.

Suddenly it turned out that she had not a bad taste and also a big love for shopping, she bought so many things that poor Marcus was covered with bags and boxes, and even if you tried to see him behind them you would not be able to do it.

When Marcus helped her bring all these things into the apartment, she told him she was not going anywhere else that day and asked him to go home.

She waited a little longer after he left and went out for a walk. She headed straight to the embankment of the same river that was running through the park where she liked jogging in the morning and also drank wine together with Marcus once.

The sun had just gone down and the lights were glowing steadily along her promenade reflecting in the water and turning the water surface into resemblance of a night sky with little stars twinkling in it.

When she felt that she was already too far from home she turned back. Half way back she saw a red rose lying on the ground. She did not take it; maybe someone lost it and would return for it soon.

Then she saw another one, and another one. There were roses all along her way back home. They were leading straight along the embankment, right to the steps which led down to the riverbank where people sometimes went to look at the water or maybe sit on the bank and splash their legs.

Thick carpet of rose petals was covering the steps and Mary felt the curiosity rise in her, she wanted just to peep, just a short glance at the person waiting for his princess down at the riverbank.

She tiptoed down to the river and saw a man sitting of the ground his back to her. He was watching the river, deep in thought. Hearing her approach he turned around.

"Not you again!"