Dandelion Lover

"What was so important that you made me come to you this early in the morning?" I asked when I entered the quiet monochrome office. Behind a simple dark table, Mike was waving around a cigar in between his fingers while leaning on his office chair.

"Oh, wow, you look like hell, what happened to you?" He asked with an amused tone.

"Nothing, I didn't sleep enough."

"I bet. You must have been busy thinking about your dear friend Rob..." He mockingly answered.

"News sure travels fast around here, how did you even find out about it?"

"Quite easy really, one of my lady friends is the cousin of Mr. Roman's secretary. She knows a lot of what goes down, over at the company."

"That explains so much... " I muttered and tried to keep my attention focused on the reason I was there.

"So what did you want with me? You must know I'm going to be busy for a while since I have to make sure Rob can't steal any of my other clients. Don't want to give him the satisfaction."

"That's exactly why I called you over actually... Remember all those papers I made your employees sign when you launched?" He asked but before I could answer, a young brunette entered the office with a firm look and a slight sway of the h.i.p.s, bringing with her two cups of coffee, one for me and one for Mike.

This secretary of his was highly efficient, not to mention beautiful, and if I didn't know he had a soft spot for her, I would have tried to hire her over at my company years ago. But she was the only one able to withstand his temper so I just left it to them to figure it out. Last time we went drinking, he was raving how good she was to him, this guy was an incredibly dense man even I could tell there was something going on between them, but he would never admit it. That, however, would be a story for another day.

"So, what's with those papers?" I asked as soon as Stephanie stepped outside.

"Among those, there was a nonsolicitation agreement everyone signed... including Rob..." Mike said and his smile deepened. I took another sip of coffee before it dawned on me, that paper meant I could take legal action against Rob, as long as he touched the client database even a little, I could probably sue him for trading company secrets.

"I see you finally woke up and realized what I meant." Mike continued and soon enough, my smile was just as big as his.

"I must admit, it really helps to have a friend as the company's lawyer." I joked and for the first time in awhile, I felt that everything will be fine.

"Indeed, you owe me for this, since I had to turn on my dazzling charm on a couple of innocent ladies in order to keep you safe."

"I appreciate it, I'll buy next time we go drinking." I happily offered.

"In the meantime, as the CEO of the company, I give you free rein over how to handle Rob, just make sure he won't make the company's image suffer."

"Sure thing, that's going to be so much fun!" He chuckled softly.

"Talking about going drinking, next time you should bring Melanie with you. She'll forget how I look at this rate, this morning she passed right by me and didn't even say hello. That really hurt me!" He complained, a smirk plastered on his face.

"What do you mean? Melanie was here?" I asked dumbfounded by the new information.

"Yeah, I saw her go inside Mary's office just as I entered mine."

"I usually take care of all legal problems through you. Do you know what she needed?" I asked curiosity nudging me to find out what was going on with Mell.

"No, but I can find out, just need half an hour alone with Mary, and I'll have your answer." Mike smiled and the familiar look of the playboy took the place of that of the serious lawyer. I was surprised at how long his connections ran, but then again, he was a young, wealthy, single man, so what would stop him from taking advantage of that.

"Take your time, first I need to take care of Rob. This can wait."

"Suit yourself." He replied and relaxed more into the chair.

The fact that Melanie was visiting places I wasn't aware of made me rethink my whole attitude towards her. I shouldn't have relied on the private eye at all. I only spent time and money on that old fool and I found out in a day more than he did in a week.

I think it was about time that we had a serious talk.

I needed to find out what was going on with all the secrecy, and I would do so as soon as the whole fiasco with Rob was going to be over with. It could wait until then.

....

"So, what was so important to call me over early in the morning?" I asked the fat little man eyeing me with a look I didn't particularly like. I saw both pity and glee mixed together on the face I wasn't really fond of.

"We have some new information that you should look over immediately." The man said and I could hear a bit of pride in his voice. Seems I really needed to be thankful for him doing his job. He handed me a black file from the mess that was his desk and seated himself in front of me sipping on the tea his assistant brought for us. I didn't really felt like looking at the content in front of him and I wasn't in a mood to be patient.

"What's this?" I asked my voice cracked slightly as I threw pictures of Melanie entering a building I knew all too well.

"As you can see in the file..." the man elongated each word as if it was the hardest thing to say, but his eyes betrayed a look of glee. "Your wife had gone to see a lawyer..." I stood there half shocked and half expecting something else. I was already aware of her meeting with Mary but Mike hadn't had the time to find out what she wanted yet, as he was busy handling some legal matters regarding Rob.

I was not sure what to think of her actions, I had only one question in my head and before I could think it over I had already asked.

"Why?" The man before me took a long deep breath and with a look of disapproval responded to my question like it was something so obvious only a moron wouldn't get it.

"She went to hire a lawyer to handle her divorce..."