CHAPTER 4

The black matte Mustang.

Italian suit.

The earplug that stays on 16 hours a day.

Too arrogant to count sweat drops of people around.

Samantha watched the whole grand entry with her cold eyes from the line of attendings practically praying at the feet of the man who was probably busy fixing some deal over phone with the virtual person on the other side. The two sidekick women of his with miniskirts were fulfilling all the formalities of the Regency as Samantha saw one lady booking for only one high class room making it a bit too obvious to her disgust. If only she had her senbon needles in her hands at a time like this or if Gustavo was here the walking breathing punk would be a puddle of dead weight.

She sneaked her head to the right side and saw the room number.

709.

Eighth floor, the room near the second elevator from where the whole glowing city can be seen sparkling at night.

People scattered as Andrew Lee walked away with his rat escorts and madam Sophie stood in front of them.

"Now, I'm gonna be assigning you all people with service charges for Mr. Lee and you're gonna do it without a single mistake. This man has been sponsoring our Regency for a very long time and I would like to keep the reputation intact. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Now then, one of you will go to his room and provide the necessary things for a stay. There have been a few changes from the last time and he needs to get familiar with the facilities. Let's see, Mike! You and Rosalie will go now for the welcome courtesy and take the Penfolds bottle with three glasses. You guys know what to do? Keep it there, open the bottle but don't pour.... "

"Yes ma'am! And provide the evening newspaper and ask him what kind of refreshments he wants with the drink or something else at all."

"And be extra nice to the ladies!" Rosalie added.

"Very good! Move now!"

Mike and Rosalie rushed to the liquor room and the others waited for instructions.

"You all are the finest attendings we have here among the 120. So, I don't expect anything other than perfection. Now, don't just stand here and watch my beautiful face. Get on with the other guests we have on our hands!"

When the hall room got cleared, Samantha tiptoed towards the direction madam Sophie walked away and used her sweetest tone.

"Ma'am? Can I ask for a favor?"

"Isn't it too soon to be asking for that, Celena?"

"Yes I know, it's nothing like that."

"Spill."

"I would like to court Mr. Andrew!"

Sophie stared at her like she asked for her kidney.

"Do you have any idea what you're talking about? We don't send attendings to VIP guests until they have at least six months of training. Quit being a pup and get to work."

She tried to shove her off but Samantha clung on to her.

"Ma'am please. I know I'm asking a lot but please give me the permission! I want to learn by experiencing!"

"Yes you'll have to wait for that!"

"Try me! I have a few tricks up my sleeves I can use. Like, I can thank him for his company's help with my studies! It's my first day and I want to do something good!"

"Look, we have a rule here alright? The manager has strictly ordered the protocol I mentioned before and I'm in no position to overlook that. If you can convince the manager, hell, if you can even trail his shadow by God's grace then you might get a chance to do the honor. That chance is pretty much zero too, so I would rather you do what you're supposed to do now. Have you told Cassie to prepare the check in file for today?"

Facing the manager was out of the question. She has to  use her own method.

"Yes ma'am." She deliberately pouted and said in a sad tone. "Well, then can I at least know the lucky name? I hope they'll share their experience with me!"

"Haven't decided that yet. And anyone available can be called, provided their ongoing schedule."

"Okay."

"You were lucky enough to be posted at a higher rank like this from the beginning. So you better take care of it with proper behavior!"

Poor girl. She's probably passed out in some dungeon right now.

"I will. Thank you ma'am!"

Awesome.

Now she has to keep track of all the 14 other attendings of her rank.

As the Sucker disappeared from the view, Samantha looked around and found Noah flirting with the receptionist girl. Narrowing her eyes microscopically, she walked towards him with a feline grace and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Noah! What's up?"

"Hello beautiful! Looks like I'm God's favorite person today with him sending pretty ladies around me altogether!"

Samantha gave him a sly smile and asked, "What's next in your schedule?"

"I gotta go take a look at the bar now and then make sure the second class guests gets provided with dinner orders and... Uhhh, then as the situation demands. Unless you're up for something....!"

"In your dreams! Hey, can I take a look at other's schedule?"

"Why do you need that?" The receptionist girl asked, her eyes never leaving the computer screen.

"I just wanted to match my own with them, you know. As the new one here, I feel like I should know how much I'm contributing in to the system. Isn't that okay?"

Be having out of the character is so exhausting.

"You stole my heart Celena! I don't remember anyone among us having this kind of motivation. I mean, with me being a drop out med student, it was hard accepting the new profession." He handed her the register from the desk.

"So, how long have you been working here?" Samantha asked flipping through the pages.

"It's been two and a half years in the paradise. How about you? What made you chose the profession?"

"My mother was one. I am more of a working person than just sitting around and studying. Something that involves formality and caretaking and smiling, you're getting me right?"

"And here I thought people come here as a back up plan!"

They all laughed together as Samantha handed the register over. Exiting there, she went through everything inside her head and came up with two names.

Olivier Stewart and Clinton Ackerman.

She needs to keep a tail on them.

----------

It was almost eight at night and the staffs were busy with the dinner service. Samantha hasn't been able to get the name yet.

A while ago, a message had arrived on her phone from Sumire saying she's waiting on the next building waiting for her to be over with the operation so that she can remove her data from the records of the Regency. Samantha has been worked up since then. With cynic movements she has been trying to find a way to hold the serving set in her hand and slip into the room. The rest is just a matter of a few seconds. And about escape, she was now walking towards the water supply chamber at the basement of the Regency.

Nobody was around as she looked back and front while sneaking into the next corridor. There is a door at the end of it that probably leads to the chamber. With quick feet, Samantha walked to the door, opened it and started looking around. Before she could close the door behind her, she turned around and saw a man with a phone in his ears and back facing her direction who got alerted by the thud of the door closed by Samantha from the other side.

Oh no. What's the manager doing here?

She held her breathe hoping he would just take it as a hallucination and walk away but the man didn't stop. He kept moving forward and with every step Samantha prepared herself to knock him out without evidence. May be that's a good idea; with the manager missing there would be enough chaos for her to make a move in the middle of it and escape.

He suddenly stopped in front of the door ventilation and Samantha stepped backwards not to allow him smelling another presence in here. The man kept talking over phone while looking inside the dark room and when he objected about sewer rats partying here, she opened her tightly held fist in relief. She waited until the manager disappeared and then found her way out of it.

The time was coming close. The time of adding a drop in the ocean was makings it's way towards her.

Without further delay, Samantha got into the elevator and pressed the button eight. With every beep of the floor levels, she counted all the things she needed for the final showdown. Her knife, the lock breaking wire and the cyanide hidden inside her cleavage.

Ands her bare hands.

The elevator door opened and Samantha saw a pale blonde guy carrying the service set towards room 709. Close Call!

"Hey! Wait!"

The guy turned back to see Samantha running towards her.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes actually... I'm Celena! A new employee here. Are you taking those to Mr. Andrew?" She touched his shoulder at a specific point and put some pressure on it. The decent guy looked uncomfortable at that.

"Yes. Why? Did he ask for something else you're here to provide?"

"No, not that. I was asking if I can accompany you!"

"You know Sucker's gonna suck me dry if I let that happen, right?"

"Not if she knows! Hey are you feeling okay?"

The poor guy didn't understand why he had a terrible nausea all of a sudden. Samantha held his drooping figure pretending to help.

"I think I'm not. It must be the sea food."

"You know what, I got this. You go get some rest okay?"

"No! I'm supposed to.... " He suppressed a gag.

"I said I got this. Don't worry! I know it's my first day but there's always a first!"

"Are you sure?"

Samantha smiled widely nodding her head which she was sure she's gonna have a cheek strain tomorrow.

The blonde guy helped himself inside the elevator and once he was gone, Samantha held the handle of the service set. She took out the poison vial and poured it inside the water completely.

Taking a deep breath, she put on her smiling face after the coldness slipped away from her eyes.

The bell chimed.

"Who's this?"

"Room service!"

One of the girls opened the door and let her in. She was wearing a night gown like the other laying on the couch with a glass of wine in her hand while Andrew Lee was sitting on the bed with his laptop opened. They made a momentary eye contact to which she gave him a blushy smile hiding the temptation of blood behind it.

"Good evening sir!"

"Evening!" He said with a smirk.

"Shall I serve the dinner here?"

"Of course!"

The ladies got back to chatting and Samantha silently arranged the food in steady hands.

"You're new here?"

The man was looking at her in lewd eyes.

"Yes sir! It's my first day!"

"Sure doesn't look like it!"

"Actually I'm not supposed to be here!" With that sentence Samantha oh so much wanted the guy to understand the meaning and run for his dear life; so that she can chase him like a hunter and kill with one strike at the most unexpected moment.

"The other one got busy with something else and that's why I had to take over. But I'm really glad to be at your service! After all Audrey Foundation is the main reason I'm here. It has provided my education loan and I really wanted to thank you for that!"

"I'm really glad to hear that!"

The guy in his mid forties kept on staring at her which Samantha could feel on her purposely revealed cleavage. She took the glass, poured the water and handed him with smile.

Andrew took it as he touched her fingers to which they both smiled a bit. By every passing second he was providing her with more reasons to kill him right there and now that he's had it, Samantha just had to wait until he takes a single sip from the heavily poisoned glass of water.

For a moment it felt like he's gonna keep it down but then finally took the glass up and almost finished half of it in one sip.

Time stopped as she started the count.

One, two, three, four, bingo.

Suddenly Andrew started choking on the bed while throwing hands and feet around, knocking off the laptop. The ladies freaked out and tried to come running towards him but Samantha dropped them dead throwing two knives by her gloved hands directly on their throats at the same time. She took out her phone and typed a message looking at the mess in front of her with fuming exhilaration.

"IT'S DONE."

Before the bastard could dissolve into the darkness of death, Samantha pulled him up one last time by his collar right handedly and spoke into his ears.

"When you go the other side, tell that The Keres has asked for judgement.... "