Chapter 2 The Mysterious Stranger

FIONA

"Oh, sweet merciful God!" I murmured as I slowly regained consciousness. A headache began to form, and my mouth was dry.

The sound of an EKG machine beeped in the corner.

Where the hell was I?

A hospital?

"Fee!" A voice wailed and grabbed me by my shoulders. "You're alive!"

I winced at my best friend Louise standing over me as she sobbed hard. I see my parents standing in the room.

Dad has his arms crossed, glaring at Louise, while my mother appears worried.

"Pull yourself together!" Dad hisses at Louise, who backs away, sniffing hard.

"Dad? Mom? What are you..." I struggled to speak and licked my dry lips.

"Have some of this." Louise brought a smoothie cup to my lips, and I gratefully drank the water inside, quenching my thirst.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Don't you remember?" Louise said. "A man assaulted you two days ago."

I shut my eyes, recalling everything.

"Well," Dad grunted. "It's all over the news. Do you realize how embarrassing this is for me? What did you do to piss him off?"

"Lionel!" Mom gasped in horror.

I should have realized he only visited to scold me.

Mom turned to me.

Lionel stepped towards me. "Don't get into more trouble. Goodbye."

I stared at him and never felt more disappointed as he stormed out of the room.

"We're glad you're okay, Fiona," she said. "But we have to get back to New York. Work gave me two days off, and your... Lionel has other matters to attend to. Louise will look after you."

Louise glared at her.

"Adelaide!" Fred barked from the hallway.Mom gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried out the door.

"Wow!" Louise hissed with anger and shot a middle finger at the door.

"Can you guess who's winning the worst parents of the year award?"

I drew a sigh. "At least they showed up, Lou."

Louise gave me a warm look. "Never settle for less, Fee."

I asked for a mirror, and she handed me her small compact one. I frowned at the slight reddish bruise on my cheek; I also had a black eye. I swore at my reflection.

"Hey" Lou squeezed my arm.

"They'll heal, I promise. What happened?"

I nodded and told her everything as I struggled not to cry. "I also lost my job."

Louise's eyes widened. "Really, I'm so sorry. Wow, I'm guessing that's why the management only sent in a free gift card."

Assholes. I thought.

From the corner of my eyes, I see a bouquet of yellow roses in a Chinese vase on the bedside table. Lou follows my gaze.

"Like them?" Lou asked. "The man who rescued you brought them yesterday."

My thoughts raced to the night at the alley again. "Omigod, who is he?"

Lou began to search her purse. "He said his name was Kane. He left a card, though, don't worry. As your BFF, I looked him up."

She winked at me and handed a glossy silver card to me. McGregor Industries logo was on it, along with a handwritten phone number.

"He's the vice president of the company and said to give him a call when you get better." Lou explained. "He's kind of cute, though."

I smiled. "Well, let me see a picture."

Knowing Lou, she probably saved a few. She held her iPhone to me, and I widened my eyes at the man on the screen.

No freaking way.

It was Blue Eyes.

* * * * * * * *

KANE

The boardroom was always intense, files kept being passed around, and the directors murmured the latest developments in the company.

Underneath the large oak desk. Kane was trying to ward off his latest catch from last week. He hated when women became clingy.

Stacy texted how badly she wanted him inside of her. He simply rolled his eyes and replied with a simple word: no.

"...Kane!" Someone hissed.

Kane quickly sat up straight. His father glared at him from the head of the table.

"Huh?" Kane asked.

"I was asking what you thought of the last quarter." Carl McGregor repeated.

Kane shrugged. "Er, the last quarter, huh? I remember a lot of sandy beaches, tequila, and don't get me started on the naked women-"

The middle-aged men and especially the women glared at Kane.

Carl gave a long sigh and blinked rapidly. "The report, Kane."

Kane's lips curled up a little, and he cleared his throat. "You need to lighten up."

"And you need to quit texting and get serious." Carl growled back.

"May I remind you that two weeks ago, one of our security guards spotted two suspicious men exchanging items at the harbor?"

Kane narrowed his eyes. "It could be just the average dealers selling fake AirPods or something. I'm not sure why we need to dwell on it."

"They were not the average salesmen, Mr. Kane." Pete, who was head of security, spoke up. "When the security guard confronted them, one of them revealed himself to be a goon for the Spinelli crime family."

Kane gripped his pen tightly till his knuckles turned white as he listened to Pete. The Spinellis were a notorious crime family, trying to infiltrate McGregor Industries for years. They seemed to think the McGregor port belonged to them.

"This is the final straw; I'm going to ensure our security guards are fully armed." Carl decided.

Murmurs arose.

Kane glanced at his father curiously. "We don't want to make things worse than they already are."

"And I don't want my harbor becoming a hellhole for those criminals to operate." Carl stated. "All in favor?"

Kane was skeptical about this; the Mafia was not a group to be messed with. All eight hands rose. His father watched him, hoping for support. Kane raised his hand.

As the meeting drew to a close, Kane gathered his things and made a move for the door. But his father's voice stopped him.

"Kane, can I have a word?" Carl asked.

Kane turned back, his eyes meeting his father's.

"Kane, how long do you wish to continue this?" Carl asked.

"Continue what?"

"Fooling around with women and breaking hearts."

"I don't fool around, and I make my intentions very clear."

"Which is?"

"Not to commit."

Carl shut his eyes with disbelief, and Kane could see a vein pop.

Carl lifted a brow. "What happened to your hand?"

Kane lifted his right hand, running a thumb over the dark bruise. "I...used a punching bag without gloves."

He didn't want to go into details and was glad Carl didn't press further.

His cellphone rang. "Excuse me, I need to take this." Kane slipped away to a corner and answered the call.

"Stacy, you have perfect timing-"

"Who's Stacy?" An unfamiliar voice asked.He frowned and looked at the number again.

He pushed the phone to his ear and asked. "Who are you?"

"Uhm, it's Fiona...Fiona Higgins."