"Hello. How may I help you?"
A calm and collected voice came over the phone, and Bertha tensed. It seemed like forever since she had heard the mafia boss' voice.
Either way, she continued on.
"Hello, Mr Frost. it's Bertha Drew speaking. Zara's friend."
There was a slight pause, and then, monotonous as ever, the voice on the other line continued.
"Go on."
Bertha's breath hitched in her throat. There were no pleasantries or small talk with this man. He really meant business.
Nevertheless, she decided to muster courage and continue. She was doing this for Zara.
She thought up the best sad voice she could find, and continued.
"Actually, Zara's in way too deep. Something happened at a modeling event we attended. An incident that involved attempted murder, and Zara got pinned for it. She's currently behind bars."
The man drew in a breath, about to speak, but Bertha interrupted. She had to be sure she had convinced him as best as she could.
"Please, you're her last hope. I reached out to you because you know the bad stuff her family's put her through. She's been through more than enough. And you offered to help her earlier. We could really use it now."
Bertha stopped, hoping she had passed her message across. There was a long pause and her heart sank, scared that the mafia boss would consider her unworthy of his time and hang up.
But just when she was about to lose hope, Kai responded, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Tell me, Bertha Drew. Why do you think I can help you? And why do you think I should?"
Bertha was about to stutter.
What were these questions? Did he not realize that Zara was in danger?
*Bertha picked up on the little chemistry that occurred when Zara and Kai had first met.
She was smart enough to know that Kai had eyes for her, even as he tried his best to hide it.
So why was he stalling?
"Umm, I already told you. You were the last person I could think because of your…unusual position in society. And I know that you have a good heart—" Bertha wanted to mention his slight attraction towards her, but she decided against it.
It would make it seem like she was trying to emotionally blackmail him.
"But here's the thing—", Kai continued.
"Getting your friend outta jail would require me to pull some strings, and I don't just pull strings for any person, even if it is with a good heart like you say."
Bertha didn't know what to say anymore.
What did this man want from her?
Maybe she should ask him that.
Meanwhile, Kai was having fun.
Releasing the girl that foiled his plan was nowhere near his intention. A lighter punishment would've been to make her rot in there for the rest of her life.
But Kai had other plans.
Truthfully, he was intrigued by this Zara girl.
In the span of a day, she had made him taste two things he had never got the chance to before.
Failure, and something he couldn't quite put a finger on.
And the mystery of it all was the most interesting part.
He wanted to explore that feeling. The very one that made him question his intentions, something he had never done prior to that moment.
Being a person like in his position, life had gotten very boring.
For him, itt was usually kill, make money, sell drugs, repeat.
As well as a variety of other illegalities he would rather not speak much about.
The cycle had made him see life as a black and white concept, something dull and grey, with nothing too noteworthy.
But this Zara girl had suddenly unlocked a part of him he never knew existed.
And suddenly, life seemed so colorful.
He decided against his better judgement to spare her life.
But he wanted more than that. He wanted to explore, to satusfy his curiosity about Miss Blake.
And the only way he would get to do that was if she were to be with him. Of course, there had been small talk among his colleague about having a female counterpart.
Normally, he never paid attention to such nonsense. Love was a mere distraction for him at least, so whenever a woman would fall in love with him, he treated them as they were.
Mere distractions.
Until Zara.
*However, this was not a decision he was to make rashly.
He clicked on a button under his desk, summoning his personal assistant, Jackson: A man whose wise counsel usually never let him down.
The man walked in, brisk as ever, and Kai showed him the scribbles he had quickly made on a plain sheet of paper on his desk.
All this happened while he was still on the phone with Bertha.
Jackson looked over the sheet, his dull eyes scanning the paper from behind his gold-rimmed spectacles.
He quickly brought out a gold-cased graphics tablet from behind him, using his touch pen to write down a response.
Solid game plan, sir.
Kai smiled.
And with a wave, Jackson was dismissed.
Meanwhile, Bertha had already begun to continue talking.
"So what exactly do you want from me, Mr Frost?"
Kai laughed, a deep chuckle that reverberated across the grand space of his huge office.
"From you? No, darling. It's from her."
Bertha frowned. What could he possibly want from Zara. Nonetheless, she decided to indulge him.
"And what would you want from her?"
Kai smirked further, his form leaning across the table as he spoke in a husky, whispery voice.
"Now just listen to me very carefully."