5

RUSSELL

"Of course it's you again." She said in a tone I read to be annoyed.

Looking behind me in case she was talking to someone else, no one was behind us. Just us two in the long corridor. Looking her head to toe, my eyes rested on her face and I asked in a confused tone,

"Are you referring to me?"

Did she recognise me? Even if she did, what was up with the annoyed tone?

"Yes well, I don't see someone else. Coming to my former house wasn't enough, now you're at my new apartment and you even managed to get yourself an apartment directly opposite mine. Gosh, reporters will go to any length to ruin you. What news agency do you work with? Who's your superior? Where's your ID card? You know what? Forget it. I'll make sure I find out who you are and I'll ruin you."

Ruin me? I'd actually love to see her try. 

"What the hell are you blabbing about?" I asked her getting a bit annoyed. I mean, I was the one who helped her get away from her ex, I helped her sign off her package, and now she was blabbing about what? Me being a reporter? Ew.

She leaned on her door frame and rolled her eyes before pointing at the box in my hand.

"How did my package get to you? Did you intercept the rider?" 

Gosh. I was about to get mean, and I didn't care but I needed to put this woman in her place. Who does she even think she was?

"Why would I need to do that? I don't waste my time on nonsense. My time is very precious, though I can't say the same for you, seeing as you have the time to stand here and chat aimlessly." I replied in a curt tone.

"'Cause you'd rather be out there taking pictures of celebrities unaware, right? Even invading their homes. So you can publish it with a blasphemous topic."

I sighed for the umpteenth time today and pinched my nose bridge getting frustrated by this woman's stupidity. I sincerely hope her ex finds her and beats sense into her brain. And when that happens? I'll be watching from the sidelines.

"Well, it was obviously a mistake coming here. A total waste of time." I muttered. Raising my voice, I decided to end this conversation the hard way. Staring straight into her eyes and never blinking once, I said,

"But I wouldn't be here if one idiot hadn't given my home address rather than hers. And then spewing absolute rubbish when I try to politely return it to her. Gosh, they're just getting bolder and bolder each day. It's almost like 5 of your brain cells are all that's left and those 5 aren't currently functioning."

"Fucking gold-diggers doing anything for the attention." I finished shaking my head. With no further words, I dropped the box by her furry slippers and turned around. Everything about her was furry. First was her slippers, now her chair. Her brain was probably covered with fur as well seeing as she wasn't using it when speaking to me.

I closed my door behind me and huffed out a breath. Guess that's that. Never to meet again, just when I thought I could befriend her. She kept ranting on and on about being someone a reporter would want to take a picture of and it piqued my curiosity.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed my personal assistant and told him to get me the name of the occupant who moved to the apartment adjacent to mine. His message came in 1 minute later. Her résumé stared back at me.

I walked to my printer and printed her résumé out. I sat on the chair and leaned back while I read her résumé.

Vivianne. A List Model. Oh. Explains the feeling of importance she attached to herself. Turns out my company had even used her for our ad a few years ago. But she just went around talking at anyone and everyone? 

Shaking my head, I dropped her résumé and continued my work. Not long after, the doorbell rang once again and I sighed in annoyance.

Who the fuck was it this time around?

I looked at the monitor and saw two police officers standing at my door. I pushed the door open, and the first thing I noticed was Vivianne standing at her door with a black American by her side, both watching, and I could already guess what had happened.

Little Miss Model got angry and called the Police on her neighbour who put her in her place. 

"Good evening, Officers. How can I be of help?" I asked. 

"Good evening, Sir. We got a report about a harasser in the apartments, so we came to investigate it. Or rather, should I say we got a report that you were harassing a person of importance?"

My eyes flickered to Vivianne in anger. Gosh, if I decided to start with her or actually have her time, she'd regret not staying with her ex-boyfriend. She looked away once she caught my eyes and I was glad to know she was scared of me.

"Do you know who I am?" I said simply.

They looked at each other before they shook their head.

"No, we don't."

"What district do you work with?" I asked getting tired of this bullshit tonight.

They didn't get a chance to answer when a voice boomed in the hallway

"It's Him!"

The black American friend was the one yelling. She ran forward putting herself between the police officers and me. She faced them and said,

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for this mistake and misunderstanding! This was a huge huge mistake. We have the wrong person. It wasn't him. He didn't do anything; in fact, he helped her from her ex, who was trying to kill her. If anyone, you should arrest the ex. "

I raised a brow at her. Did she recognize me?

"You can be on your way now, Officers."

"Be on their way? Let the Officers do their Jobs. You called them, did you not?" I said with a small knowing smile playing on my lips. She turned to look at me and closed her eyes in embarrassment.

"Mr. Richardson. I'm really sorry for the mistake. You can go and enjoy your time." She said bowing. She did recognize me.

Saying nothing else, I looked over to the woman who claimed I had harassed her before I walked inside. But as soon as the door closed, I heard the black American woman apologising to the Police Officers. They went their way and I was about to leave my door when I heard Vivianne's voice.

"And give me one good reason why you just let that man go so easily after saying you'd show him hell on earth?" She whispered and yelled at the same time. I turned around to turn on the monitor to see that she was glaring at her friend.

"We might be fucked." The friend said in return.

"Why?" Vivianne asked in a confused tone.

"Did you know who that was?" She asked, gesturing at my door, not knowing I was behind the door watching their entire interactions.

"My stalker."

"He definitely has better things to do than stalking you. That, my dear friend, is the CEO of the biggest gaming company in Europe. Mr. Russell Richardson." 

Vivianne fell silent. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish gasping for breath out of the water. She finally talked.

"I don't understand?" 

"Okay. Remember that big gig you had some years ago? With a gaming company?"

"Yes..." Vivianne hesitated as if knowing what was coming next.

"He's the owner of that gaming company."

"That's a lie." She said shaking her head as if her denying it would change anything.

"Do you want to look him up? I'm telling you, our careers might be down the drain as we speak." 

"Shay... Shay, what do I do? I spoke rudely to him. I insulted him and he was just being nice."

"I keep telling you to remember people's faces. We're dead cause of that."

"I need to sit and process this."

"Let's go home and think about what to do next."

"Or should we just knock at his door?"

"Bitch, did you see his face? He looks pissed as fuck. I love my neck, I ain't ready to die."

"What do I do?" She repeated in a shaky voice. A smile formed on my lips. It was nice to see her scared and not acting brave. Ah, this is exactly what I have been working my entire life for. My name is spoken, and the entire room comes to a standstill.

They both held themselves and walked away from my doorstep. I whistled to myself a sweet tune and decided to call it a day as I was satisfied for some reason. I went to bed but not before texting my personal assistant to send me the data following her modeling for my company.

A list Model Vivianne. I'd love to see her ways of apologising to me.