The Poisonous Cuckoo - Discovery

The main hub of activity seems to focus around a break out kitchen area, a crowd of staff surround a blonde girl and a dark haired male, laughter and friendly conversation seems to emanate around them.

As the blonde turns her head along her shoulder towards a colleague I recognise her immediately. Dressed casually in a light grey hooded sweatshirt and loose fitting black jogging pants she looks immediately beyond her colleague and I see the shock expression that crosses her face.

I hold Kara Reynolds gaze for mere seconds, the last time I had set eyes on her had been during the awkwardness of her departure from the Town House last December following our possibly ill judged yet deeply satisfying, so far as I was concerned, one night stand.

As she breaks her attention from me I witness a brunette forty something lady in a white blouse and dark grey skirt hand Kara back the unmistakable form of a baby wrapped in a light pink blanket. Something presumably mildly amusing, yet inaudible at the distance I keep, is stated as the ensemble almost as one break into muted laughter.

Kara turns away from me to focus on the infant she lovingly cradles.

"Magdalene" I offer as I'm met in the doorway of her office by the business Human Resources Director.

"Afternoon Markus," she greets me with a weak smile. "He's in his office I believe"

Magdalene steps from her own office and leads the way towards a partitioned room in the far corner of the open plan environment.

"I thought Kara had left our employment?" I offer as I step alongside of Magdalene as we walk side by side through lines of seemingly long abandoned work stations.

"She has..." Magdalene confirms, "...her boyfriend works in the Warehouse... they had a baby two weeks ago... little girl I believe."

"Not great timing," I offer with a grimace.

"Is there ever a good time?" Magdalene responds. "I felt bad enough sacking her after the Christmas party when it was later announced she was pregnant... she still keeps in touch with a lot of people here... nice girl."

"Nice girl who broke the companies drugs policy," I unashamedly remind Magdalene.

I don't look back as we reach the door to Simon Anderson's office that sits ajar. Pushing the door fully open he seems surprised to see me, as well he possibly should.

"Markus... to what do we owe the pleasure?" Simon enthuses, such in his normal overzealous demeanour.

"Can we have a word?" I offer deliberately not stepping into his office

"The boardroom is free," Magdalene offers from behind me.

**********

I watch as Magdalene Brewer softly closes the door as she steps from the room.

Simon Anderson sits directly opposite of at the board room table at Clarkson Coopers head office, the colour has long faded from his features as his hands grab at his greying hair

"You can't do this Markus," he pleads yet again

"I'm afraid I can..." I offer coldly in the sterile surroundings of the vast room. "...Legally as of the first of this month the contract permits everything we've just discussed and contained within the document before you."

I had no wish, to revisit the details explained at length in the last two hours to Simon, explained and revisited as he sought opportunity to overturn my decision. I was certain he fully comprehended the proposal for the foreclosure of his business. The fact that he was likely to receive only minimal severance pay whilst my holding company stood to profit eventually from the sale of the large repurposable properties owned by Clarkson Cooper would I appreciate be a bitter pill to swallow. By current market value I stood to make back my initial investment in the organisation as well as reap a very handsome balance transfer once all transactions had been completed.

Clarkson Cooper would cease trading at the end of the month, meaning redundancies for all employees including Simon Anderson. My decision to financially pull the plug had been made following consultations that hadn't involved Simon, and the decision was based purely on the perceived inability to ever truly return the business to its former glory.

"I'm sorry," I offer sincerely to Simon fully appreciating how crushed and helpless he must feel.

"You're sorry.... You're fucking sorry" Simon angrily bites at last, rising from his chair and throwing the documentation provided to him across the boardroom. Pages of A4 paper float briefly before scattering to the ground. His passion catches me off guard, perhaps had he been so challenging and bullish over the last couple of years he wouldn't have found himself in this predicament. To punctuate his actions, he slams a balled fist against the mahogany surface of the boardroom table.

Even as the echo from his fist subsides he immediately breaks down in tears, his left hand coming to his face to hide his obvious shame. I have no desire to appear nonchalant to his painfully obvious plight but equally I find his behaviour very unbecoming as I sit in silent contemplation of the Forty-three year old male as the reality of the death knell of the long time family owned and inherited business he has stewarded dawns.

When he finally composes himself he looks up at me with a look that can only be described as pure despair.

"Not now... give us time..." he pleads wiping away tears. "There's so much going on... I've been distracted but I know we can turn this around... I've meetings next week with a new client and I'm sure..."

"Simon whoever that is, whatever the size of the contract it would not touch the sides... I didn't need you distracted I needed you focused... you're hideously oblivious to everything that goes on around you." I respond.

I know as I speak I do not just reference his business but his personal life. Images of his daughter but more so his Wife cross my mind as I look into his haunted face. Simon was a weak, ultimately deluded individual, I would not be callous enough to offer the details, but I could provide revelations about those closest to him that would absolutely crush and destroy him before I had finished my sentence. I feel sorry for him, ultimately though it's a pity born of his own creation. Simon chases the rainbow rather than paying attention to the dark clouds that create such an illusion.

"There's so much going on... not just here at home..." my blood runs a little colder as he raises the prospect of domestic issues. Self assured after several weeks that Sarah Anderson cannot have made revelation of observing her Mother leaving my home on that fateful rain-soaked day and confident Jana would never reveal her adultery.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I dismissively offer.

"Sara... Sara's in real bad way... silent withdrawn... we know somethings happens to her, but... but she won't say what." Simon continues, I listen taking in his words as I idly thumb through my own copy of the papers served to him.

"She doesn't even want to go back to Uni in a few weeks time.... and... and on top of that I'm convinced Jana has been cheating on me."

Wet tears fill his eyes once more, my attention is pricked as I finally meet his eye-line once more.

"She's always seemed so devoted to you... Have you any proof?" I offer unable to park my morbid curiosity.

"Not... not as such..." Simon snivels "...but I've spotted signs, "...staying away when I'm not home ...supposedly with a friend ...different hair styles ...new clothes ...new fucking lingerie that I've never fucking seen her in."

His tone turning angrier as he weeps to me assumptions rather than details.

"Simon..." I offer sitting back in my chair casually as I shake my head "...you can't go jumping to conclusions every time a woman goes shopping ...it's one of there favourite past times."

Letting the chauvinistic comment hang I fall silent and watch Simon Anderson, trying to block from my mind images of his wife in both exquisite lingerie and the throes of sated passion.

"Somethings changed..." Simon ambiguously replies, "...and this ...what you've told me ...this will destroy us."

Keen to draw a line under the constant repetition of his narrative and being drawn into further comment regarding the alleged adultery that I clearly know to be true I start to stand up from the table. Scooping up my pen and papers I make my way towards the door from the room, leaving Simon to the anguish of his ruminating.

"I'm sorry it came to this..." I offer sincerely as I pause but don't turn back in his direction, "...I've come to know and appreciate you ...and your family."

Simon Anderson does not respond as I leave the boardroom in silence.

**********

Leaving via the main reception I can feel the heated stares and the hasty glances of contempt thrown in my direction.

There is little doubt in my mind that Magdalene Brewer's email communication regarding the closure of the business and the subsequent unemployment for all employees has spread like a wildfire throughout not just this premises but the satellite offices and warehouses across the country.

Unperturbed I keep my head held high as I exit the building. Looking up to see George diligently pulling the Rolls Royce out of bay on the far side of the Car Park.

Between him and myself as I look up I see her immediately, as she crosses the car park her head is bowed with her attention preoccupied by a hasty message she appears to tapping into a mobile phone.

Unknowingly Jana Anderson heads blindly towards me. Dressed as immaculately as ever, black heels, black nylons and a black pencil skirt are complimented by a dark green and white houndstooth blazer worn over a black silk looking top.

"It's been a while," I offer, taking the initiative as she looks up from her phone.

Her surprised expression is understandable but immediately I note her demeanour change, a contemptuous expression crosses her features as she steps to one side and heads then in the same trajectory she had been headed towards the front of the building.

"I'm not sure I deserve that cold shoulder... but you behave how you feel appropriate Jana," I offer as I turn to watch her stepping away. Abruptly she stops but does not turn around. I can't help but cast my eyes over the backs of her legs.

This being the first time I have seen her, let alone spoken to her in the five weeks that have passed since our last memorably sordid rendezvous. I had not reached out to her, neither had she made any attempt to contact myself. Allowing for two weeks of deliberate solitude and isolation I had taken whilst on holiday by the time of my return I had already decided that the relationship, if you could call it that, had soured beyond the point of reconciliation.

"What do expect Markus?" Jana offers keeping her tone civil at least as she turns towards me. "You want me to rush up and fling my arms around you... kiss you... drop to my knees and suck your dick in the middle of the car park?"

"I'm not usually one for public displays..." I sardonically reply, "...as appealing as the prospect sounds."

Her head gently shakes, her layered brown hair swaying across her shoulders under the momentum

"You can go fuck yourself Markus," Jana sneers.

"I don't need to... you were very easily replaced," I offer noting the hurt I cause despite her lack of reaction. "Like you said... it was just sex."

"Have you any idea what I risked... what I..." Jana furiously offers on a hushed tone as I observe the angry red flush that spreads across her features.

"He suspects you've been cheating on him," I double down on insult with revelation. "I don't think he suspects me... but he suspects someone."

Jana steps forward her beauty masked by the contempt she holds for me in this moment. "You're a liar," she hisses. "A manipulative... sadistic fucking liar... I hate you I hate everything about you and what you've done to me... and the influence you hold over my family."

Taking a step forward myself I consider her and her daughter as I look into the eyes they seems to share as we stand almost toe to toe on the edge of the car park.

"It's within my nature... if only you knew the half of it," I offer hearing George pull the car to a halt behind me. "Suffice to say I think ties are well and truly cut after today."

Jane doesn't grasp what I allude to. The distraction of the vehicle pulling up behind me catches me off guard as I look back briefly to George and turn my back to Jana, just as she swings her right hand diagonally up from her side.

I turn back into the delivered slap that hits me with such venomous anger. I hear it and I stumble a little as I reel away before I even begin to feel the sting of pain that floods my left cheek and the side of my temple.

"You're a cancerous tumour of a man," Jane snarls

A grin passes my lips, I refrain from referencing her intended insult as being a compliment. Her disdain for my grin grows and despite the throbbing burn that glows and spreads across the left-hand side of my face I don't physically react further.

"He's going to need you Jana..." I offer quietly. "I suspect Simon's going to need the support of the doting loving Wife you pretend to be."

"Why?" She offered confused, "Why what have you done... what have you done Markus?"

"Let's just say your cunt isn't the only thing I've withdrawn from recently."

I back away, I turn and open the door. Slipping myself onto the light grey leather upholstery in the back of the sliver vehicle.

"Let's go home George," I offer as soon as I've pulled the door closed behind me.

As George slowly pulls the vehicle from the curb I take one last look at Jana Anderson, the features I had idolised held on an ugly sneer of unbridled hatred.

I don't look back as George drives through the Car Park. I leave Jan behind, I leave Clarkson Cooper and Simon Anderson behind, the process irreversibly already started on drawing a line under all my association with the soon to be disbanded organisation.

Destruction on so many levels left in my wake. Destruction born of difficult but necessary decisions that had to be made and that will not haunt me.

As we meander through the much larger Industrial Estate the warehouse and offices nestle among I take solace in the millions of pounds the soon to be former operating property's I own will actually make me.

The words I had once imparted to Jana Anderson echo through my mind, "I want and take what I desire whenever I see an opportunity."

Like a cuckoo in another's nest, like a parasite, I have used my presence to my advantage, gaining all that I can hope to have achieved before casually moving on.

*************

Epilogue

*************

She trebles at my touch

A nervous anticipation grips her body as stood behind her my left hand slips slowly down her left arm.

Dressed in a black leather corset that presses up her breasts and a short leather skirt that sits high on her thighs over black fishnet hosiery that are barely visible before they meet the tops of a pair of black thigh high boots.

Both her wrists are held tightly in the small of her back by steel handcuffs that lock tightly over her slender limbs.

Shirtless I hold my ground, watching her exposed shoulders as they gently rise and fall. Glancing briefly to her, on my suggestion, recently dyed platinum blonde hair that sits tied up in a slicked back ponytail.

Reaching out I unfasten the knot that holds the blindfold across her eyes. A blindfold that had been secured across her eyes the moment she had risen from the dining table downstairs.

Cuffs applied I had guided her slowly through the Town House up the two flights of stairs and through double doors into the bedroom. Leading her to her destiny.

Candlelight flickers, irregular shadows cast over the room that are interspersed by the dancing orange glow off reflection off the surfaces within the room.

As her eye lids flicker open they reveal her blue eyes as she adjusts her eyes to the dim light of the room following her temporarily obscured sight.

The blindfold had only been for the theatre of the moment, just as the cuffs would soon be released, temporarily at least, in favour of alternative restraint.

As Callista Sykes faces the bed her eyes cannot fail to note the various ropes and restraints that lay across the stripped back surface of the king-sized mattress, covered in only a black fitted sheet.

Stepping around her I watch as she lets go of the bite she holds her bottom lip in.

"What would the neighbours say" Callista offers with a devilish smirk, looking up to me as I stand over her even at the height the sharp heel of the thigh high black leather boots provides.

I don't respond, instead I reveal a tick black leather collar that's tucked into the back pocket of my jeans before wrapping it around her slender neck.

Her eyes don't leave mine as I tightly fasten the buckle behind her neck.

"You're mine" I offer as I tilt her head back against the collar and place my lips to hers, accepting the passionate kiss she responds to me with.

Breaking the kiss my forehand pressed to hers she releases a warm slow exhale of breath that breezes across my face as she softly whispers.

"Use me... I'm yours."

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Sara Anderson's story will be completed via the one shot story -- Rejected

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