Chapter 3 "LIONEL."

Tyrone Grayson walked out of the car,

He looked at the building in front of him,

NYPD.

He was no detective neither was he a police officer.

He works in Financial House,

Nathason's, Spellings and Baird as a manager,

He'd just came to meet the superintendent to get a police report.

Actually, his driver got shot accidentally while the security men were taking their shooting practice and the hospital staffs were asking for a police report even after he explained the situation to them that it was an accident.

He was walking elegantly in his black impeccable suit when his car began to horn hysterically,

He turned back and back and saw the mess another car had just created on his.

A blue Camaro had just ran into his Chrysler,

He frowned and walked back to his car,

He went to the car and checked the affected area,

It just gave it a little scratch but the back light protector broke.

He walked to the other car in anger, ready to lash out on the driver but surprisingly, it was a woman driving it.

She rushed out of the car,

"Sir I'm so sorry,

Didn't know I was too close enough to hit it." Jacklyn apologized.

She'd been so lost in thought, she didn't notice she was too close to the car in front of her.

Tyrone who'd wanted to go ballistic on the woman couldn't say a word again after seeing her,

She's a very beautiful lady,

Slim and slender with not much height.

"Sir I said I'm sorry." She repeated when she noticed he was kind of hypnotized after seeing her.

He came back to his senses,

"Yes..you....

Okay, I heard you." He was embarrassed as he spoke,

He did forget about what had actually made him come back,

"Sir, I'm so sorry about your car." She repeated,

The man nodded,

"Okay,

It's no big problem,

After all it wasn't badly damaged." He said to her and she nodded.

She rushed back to her car and took put the files,

"Thanks a lot Sir." She thanked the man and hurried inside the building.

Tyrone just stood and watch her as she left,

He too turned and walked into the building. PI Jake Fowler came out of his office,

" Max, is Jacklyn here already?" He asked the other guy,

He wasn't asking after her cause he misses her or something,

No,

Although he does miss her a little but it was nothing out of the ordinary.

He was asking cause he'd some check up do on the forensics she'd taken the other day on the murder scene.

He's a private investigator and he's just trying to get his job done to avoid Mr Howard's lecturing.

"Nah,

Mr Howard said she called earlier that her dad was involved in an accident." Max informed him and he gasped,

"Poor man,

Hope he gets...." The door opened and Jacklyn rushed in, cutting him off and seeing her, he smiled.

"Hey Jack." Max called her,

He left what she was doing and walked to her

She was more closer to him than anyone else in the department.

The rest were more of like just ordinary colleagues and she didn't pay attention to them not even Jake.

"How's he?" He asked her,

"Pretty bad,

Thanks God my uncle is there to watch over him." She said,

Max nodded,

"Send my regards to him." Max said to her,

She nodded.

"You should go and see the boss,

He must have seen you come in and would be waiting for you yo come and say hello." Max said.

It was no lie,

Mr Howard had seen her coming inside the building through his window.

He'd expected her to come in first but was surprised she hadn't yet come.

Actually, he'd given her a day off but surprised when he saw her car drove in and bumped into Tyrone's car,

He'd watched the whole scenario from his office and it wasn't hard to place it that the man was love-struck.

He chuckled,

Love-struck.

Very possible,

Very much possible.

Jaclyn nodded at Max's words.

She let go of Max's hand, said hi to Jake who was still looking at her and then she walked towards Mr Howard's office.

She knocked twice when she got to the door,

"Come in." The man said from inside,

She opened the door and walked in.

Mr Howard wasn't alone in his office,

The other man was inside the office,

Tyrone Grayson.

"Good morning sir." She greeted her boss, not minding the other man who had his eyes fixated on her,

"Morning Jacky, how's your father?" Her boss asked her,

"He's stable now,"

She knew he was going to ask why she didn't stay her day off as he'd told her in the morning,

"My uncle's watching over him." She replied the man to abate further probing question on her father,

He nodded.

"And those files?" He asked,

"I'm done with them, just handed it to Max immediately I came in." She replied him,

He nodded still.

Tyrone did some sort of a gesture to the man and he nodded,

"Jack,

My friend here Tyrone, need a police report on an accident that just happened to his driver,

The man got shot accidentally while the security men already having their shoot practice and the hospital has required a police report before to treat him." Mr Howard explained to her.

Jacklyn looked at the other man,

"Okay sir, I'll be doing that in my office." She said and turned to leave,

"And tell Jake to finish with the target I gave him earlier." Mr Howard said behind her,

She nodded, opened the door and walked out still feeling Tyrone's eyes stripping her body. After writing the report,

She went to her boss's office and gave it to him,

"Here you go sir." The man took it from her,

She immediately turned and left the office.

"Here you go Ty,

Your police report." Mr Howard handed the paper to Tyrone, who took it immediately and stood up,

"Thank her for me." He picked up his cellphone from the man's desk and turned to leave.

"How's your boss?" Mr Howard asked him,

Tyrone turned to the man,

"The old man's good,

He's retiring soon and luckily I'm next in line for his position and gracefully I'm so lucky." He said with a wide smile.

"Indeed very lucky." Mr Howard said,

He nodded,

"His divorce is a very rocky one and I don't think Pamela would want to leave him without having enough money to tide her over till she finds another man to hook up with." Tyrone said playfully,

"But nevertheless,

I'm still the only successor to his position at the company." He said proudly and he was very right. Lionel Baird is among the top billionaires in New York,

Gracefully to say,

He's the CEO of Nathason, Fleming and Baird.

His position in the company of his late father in-law increased as time goes by.

He started off as an assistant manager,

Then his boss's daughter Clarion Nathason fell in love with him and he was promoted to manager.

They got married a few years later,

But Lionel couldn't balance family and business,

So their marriage didn't work.

They got divorce after two years,

Clarion wanted a marriage and not a business home,

She couldn't keep up with Lionel's constant working and rumors she heard he was cheating on her with his secretary Wendy Martinez,

She filed for an annulment of marriage.

Lionel signed the annulment papers like they meant nothing to him order than a business deal and their marriage was over in a twinkle of an eye.

Mr Nathason who wasn't as much concerned about his daughter as he was about his business saw Clarion at fault and to compensate his most loyal worker,

He added name to the business and he retired.

Everything was left to Lionel to handle and he did it perfectly well,

A few years later,

Mr Nathason passed on and that was Lionel entrance into the upper class world,

Everything was left for him since Clarion the old man's only offspring was far in Canada trying to create a life for herself.

The man handled the business so well, it became the leading financial house in New York,

He got married to a banker awhile later Cynthia Smithson and after five years together,

They got divorced.

But before that, they'd a daughter Lionel barely knew of and after Cynthia blew the whistle on the major drug line and cartel lords in New York,

She was killed alongside her daughter a few days after the drug lord Big Ray was arrested. It was a real pain for Lionel especially for the fact that his then two year old daughter had died too.

The next two marriages he went through ended up in a divorce like the others till he met Pamela Churchill and they got married,

The both of them had been together since then and the secret to it was that,

She never interfered with his life or business and he never interfered in hers cause it was clear they were cheating on each other.

It was so for the several years they've spent with each other till of recent when Pamela had fallen head over heels for one of the senators Sixto Julius Hernando and had been asking for one thing from Lionel.

The one thing he'd given the other women freely without much questioning but had refused to give it to her for some reasons best known to him and that was,

Divorce. Jacklyn called Tyrone the next morning being Sunday.

She'd just finished doing her laundry and had just a few more things to do,

So she called him to tell him she's interested.

"You mean you'll come?" He asked her,

"Yes, I'll." She repeated,

He shrieked with happiness as she repeated the words,

"Okay,

I'll come pick you up at your apartment,

Just forward your address to me and I'll there by seven pm." He said,

She nodded and ended the call, sending her address afterwards.

"Jacky, you just have relax and everything would go out fine." She assured herself immediately after the message was indicated delivered.

The date was a great success,

Tyrone took Jacklyn to his favorite restaurant for dinner.

They talked a great deal and that was when she found out he's working for the famous Nathason, Fleming and Baird and he was a senior manager.

She told him about her work and a little about her family.

He said his parents were dead and it was just himself and his sister Jane,

"My father died when I was thirteen and my mom, two years later,

I had to work my way up to be able to take care of myself and Jane." He said to her.

"That's so touching,

I'm so sorry." She said to him,

But he laughed it out,

"You shouldn't be, that was a long time ago." He told her.

"Can I make a call with your cell phone?

Mine has low power." She pleaded,

He gave the one to her,

She wanted to call her neighbor.

Not Stacey, the woman isn't back from her art exhibition.

While she was going out earlier, she took Bruce to her neighbor's house.

Mr Mandolin is a divorce and has a daughter that's almost same age as Bruce.

She'd taken the boy there, so she wanted to call to know if Bruce was already asleep,

The man told her he wasn't.

He was still watching cartoon with his daughter in the living room.

She thanked the man and hung up.

"Here you go,

Thanks." She was giving Tyrone back his phone when her eyes caught sight of something,

The wallpaper of his phone.

In it, Tyrone was standing with another man and with the way he stood,

One could tell the other man is his superior.

"He's your boss?" She asked him and he nodded,

"Yes,

Mr Lionel Baird." He replied her with an air of pride in his voice.

"Wow, he looks younger than I thought." She exclaimed.

"Yeah, all because he's being cutting peoples asses and feeding on their money.." He mouthed to himself but unfortunately, she heard him,

"Why do you say so?" She asked him,

"Cause that's the type of person he's,

Selfish and cruel,

Never cared about any other person than himself. " He said.

Jaclyn didn't want to pry further but looking at the man,

She felt a bit of a connection with the man.

"Does he have kids?" She asked him,

"Nah,

His current marraige doesnt have any kid, ahough he'd had a daughter but she died alongside her mom years ago." Tyrone explained to her.

He didn't like the fact, he was talking his selfish boss that's about retiring soon but Jacklyn kept asking questions about him.

"What killed them?" She asked,

"His wife ex Cynthia blew the whistle on the major drug line and also accused him of laundering money to the cartel of the Walls.

After being a witness that send the main drug Lord Big Ray to prison,

She was killed by explosion with her daughter a few days later in their home." He explained.

Jacklyn was quiet,

She didn't probe further but deep down she pitied the man,

It's always hard losing the ones you love.

Wait!

This man's wife was Cynthia Smithson?

What a life?