Blackmail Material

Ophelia turned around to the sound of a knock on the door. 

She watched in silence as a maid opened the door slowly, and peeked in.

Ophelia raised one eyebrow at her in question, and realized this was a quirk she had picked up from Blaine over the year they had been married.

Her chest began to hurt even more than it already did from the knowledge that she was definitely losing him.

“What is it?” She yelled at the maid, who startled and jumped back.

“You have a caller.” 

“Who?”

“Akira Kato.” The maid bowed, and Ophelia did not miss that she was taking micro steps back in case her mistress decided to attack her suddenly like she did the other maid last night.

She frowned. Did this idiot even realize this would annoy her even more?

“Who the hell is that?” She responded finally. 

She did not know any of their associates with the last name Kato.

The maid shook her head, 

“She only said she had serious business with you.” She looked up with a frown now. “That she has news about your cloak at Minister Inuoe’s. It does not make sense, maybe she is crazy.” The maid frowned, looking away as if she had only just considered it. “Should I send her away?”

“Why are you all so dumb?” Ophelia finally yelled in frustration. 

Why would the Tuckers not hire one domestic staff member with a working brain? From the chauffeur to the housekeeper, to the damn maids.

The maid was looking at her now with startled eyes, and looked like she was about to cry. 

“You did not think she could be crazy before now? How did she even get past the gate into the mansion and then my home when she did not have an appointment with me?” Ophelia finally threw her hands up in exasperation.

“I apologize.” The maid bowed deeply. “I will go send her away right away.”

“Did I say you should do that?” Ophelia asked with wide eyes. “Did you hear that come out of my mouth?”

“Ma’am.” The maid looked back up, confused and her eyes glassy with unshed tears. 

Ophelia could not stand it anymore. She might kill her. She really might just kill this dumb b*tch and rid the world of one more idiot.

“Get out!” Her hand pointed out the door. “Get out, now!”

The maid turned on her heel and ran, and that was when Ophelia remembered she had not asked where exactly this Kato woman was waiting. 

She walked out of Ariel’s room, and back to her and Blaine’s unit.

She changed out of her robe into a dress, and called the housekeeper’s office. 

“Where is my guest?” 

“In the indoor garden ma’am.”

Ophelia ended the call and turned away from the screen on the wall. 

When she arrived at the indoor garden, a small glass building shaped like a dome and housing the most beautiful flowers, she saw a woman calmly drinking tea on one of the couches.

“What do you want?” Ophelia’s voice came out hard, as she stood by the entrance. 

This Kato woman did not look rich at all, not with those shoes and badly done blowouts. But she was classy. 

She had the kind of sophistication that one can only be born with.

The tea cup shook in Akira Kato’s hand, but she looked up with a smile. 

“Protection.” She carefully placed the cup on the saucer, and stood up.

“What?” Ophelia asked, incredulous, and fully walked into the room now. 

“I need protection from the Turners. Your father is obviously out of reach, so I came to you.”

“What the hell are you on about?” Ophelia asked, quickly losing her patience. “What kind of message did you send through the maid? Are you trying to blackmail me ? What did you see?”

All the questions flew out of her mouth quickly like missiles. 

She had been quick that day, but she wondered endlessly if someone had seen her.

“You’re anxious, you have more to hide!” Akira said. Ophelia raised her hand to slap her, but Akira caught it.

“The minister’s wife is alive.” 

That short sentence knocked the wind out of Ophelia, and she stumbled back with a gasp. “What? How?”

She paused and looked at the woman again. How did she know this would be important news to her?

“Who are you?” Ophelia looked at her thoroughly, suddenly getting goosebumps all over.

“A Turner wanted the minister’s wife dead. Everything was set and would have gone without a hitch until your archenemy showed up. And then your husband came, and then everyone was alerted, and it all went downhill.”

Ophelia squinted at her. “What did you just say? Whose husband?” 

Akira stared at her with a little frown, obviously surprised at her ignorance. 

Ophelia crossed the floor and gripped her arm, “What did you say about my husband?” She screamed, shaking her.

All Akira’s sassiness evaporated as she looked at her in fear. “The chairman came looking for her, saying she was in danger. He found her and took her to the hospital.”

Ophelia let her go and stepped back, gasping in disbelief. Blaine was with Ariel. 

Blaine was saving Ariel while she was here all night stewing in anxiety.

“How did he know she was in danger?”

“What?” 

“How did my husband know the bitch was dying?”

“I..” Akira stammered. “I don’t.”

Ophelia flew towards her again and gripped her arm tightly, her eyes shining with rage. “You better start saying everything you know. Or you just might not leave this place in one piece.”

Akira’s jaw fell as her eyes widened. 

“I..” Her lips trembled, her words incoherent.

Ophelia stared at her. The bitch. Who did she think she was? She may not be the National leader or even a director anymore, but she was a bloody Turner. 

And the day would not come when a sly roach like this would come into her home to blackmail her without consequence.

“The housekeeper’s account is that chairwoman Sullivan called the chairman to say she was in danger. The housekeeper heard the chairman telling the Minister this when he arrived.”

“When?”

“Ma’am?

“When did he arrive!” Ophelia yelled, shaking her whole body so much that Akira's face began to turn green like she was about to throw up the tea she had just been drinking.

“Around midnight.”