When Mara returned from work later in the evening, she saw the men in the living room. Looking at both of them, and judging from their sitting positions and the looks on their faces, it didn't take much for her to guess that there might have been a recent renewal of hostilities between them. As a result, she decided to keep quiet and do nothing to increase the tension already existing in the room. But as she went past the dining room on her way to her room, she caught sight of the mess on the dining table. Mara came to a halt.This time, there was only one plate on the table and she knew instantly that it must have been used by Mel and no one else. She looked at the food-stained spoon and knife thrown haphazardly on the table and the grains of rice strewn all over one side of the table and even on the floor and the chair. Absolutely disgusting! This was not the first time she had seen such a mess and each of those times, the perpetrator had been one and the same person: Mel. She was s

A few days after Mel's expulsion, Mara's face had almost gone back to normal, courtesy of Leo's caring treatment and painstaking attention. From the beginning, he had tried to make sure that there would be no marks or scars after the swelling and the cut on her lip would heal completely. She never knew he had so much knowledge about such things. After a few days of consistent application of a few herbal products, she could look at the mirror and see that her face was exactly as it was before Mel had slapped her, except for some strange colour on her cheek which would surely go off in time."How are you feeling now?", Leo asked as they sat down for breakfast in the dining room."I'm feeling great. Thank you," Mara replied with a smile. "I'm ready to go back to work.""Why are you so eager to get back to work?", he asked with a smile playing at the corner of his lips."Well, I don't want to risk losing my job. I have pushed my luck far enough as it is. I don't want to push it any furthe

On the journey back home, Mara was deep in thought. Though she knew so little, she believed there was a way that Leo could be prevented from staying in prison. She just had to find that way, and soon too. But how and where would she begin?Suddenly, a thought flowed into her mind. What if Marks and Dalia were the ones behind all this? How else would that idiot, Mel, have the connections Leo had talked about? How else would he be able to afford good lawyers too? Yes, now that she thought of it, it all made sense! She ground her teeth in fury and balled her fists as she imagined those evil people planning and plotting with Mel to keep her Leo behind bars. She'd kill all three of them if she could! But unfortunately, that wouldn't help Leo. She'd have to get him out of prison first before killing them.She exhaled and inhaled deeply a few times to help her calm down. Obviously, anger wouldn't help her and neither would it help Leo. What she needed to do was to think and come up with effe

As the phone rang, she tried to gather her thoughts to enable her come up with a brief explanation of the problem that would not increase the curiosity levels of Angela. That way, there would be absolutely no reason for her to ask questions that Mara would prefer to avoid."Hello," she practically shouted into the phone as it got picked up on the third ring. "Angela?""Yes Mara. What's up?", a groggy sounding Angela said at the other end of the line."Please, I need your help. Am I... did I wake you?""No, no, no. I have been awake for some minutes," Angela lied. "What's going on? What do you need help with? Hope it's nothing serious?""It is serious, boss. My boyfriend was just arrested and they say he will soon be taken to prison. I think I need to get a lawyer.""Arrested? Why? What happened? Wait... start from the beginning."Taking a deep breath and hoping not to make mistakes, Mara began her story. She told Angela how Mel, whom she referred to as someone who was once her friend,

"You know the person?", Mike asked, wondering what was going on."Umm... yes," Angela replied. "He's umm... just forget about it. It's not relevant now."But Mike cleared his throat, clearly indicating that he was not going to forget about it so easily. "Excuse me," he said, addressing both women, "you invited me to handle this case and that is what I will do to the best of my limited ability, but it will be no easy task to achieve the goal if you women keep any information concerning this case or those involved in it to yourselves. You'd only be tying my hands.""Well," Angela shrugged, "I don't see how this relates to the case, but if you must know, that gentleman was once our CEO.""Oh, I see," Mike nodded thoughtfully, waiting for her to volunteer more information, but instead, she kept her lips sealed. It was Mara who spoke."I'm not sure but I... I think the new CEO is the one backing Mel to do all these things to Leo.""Interesting. By the way, who is this Mel to you?""Hasn't