Second Chance Addison

Tucker's already pallid face paled even further at Chance's question. Although he had his own suspicions, he had no evidence nor anything to lead back to anyone.

He feared that he was of even less value to Chance than before. Having no information to bargain with, why would Chance help him?

"I don't know." He admitted.

Before Chance could say anything, his phone rang. He reflexively pulled it out and answered it without looking.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Chancey."

"Um, Nev, can I call you back?"

"Too busy to talk, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Is my brother with you?"

"He's here with me."

"I see... Have him call me when he's available then."

"I will."

Nevada hung up without another word. Chance gave Koty a sympathetic but questioning look.

The young bodyguard just shrugged and shook his head.

"Anyways," Chance turned his attention back to Tucker. The man was looking dejectedly at the floor. "I'll help you if you agree to help me."

Hearing that, he cheered up considerably. He was willing to do just about anything at this point as long as it protected his wife. "Tucker Malone, at your service. How can I help you?"

"I need you to contact whoever hired you." Chance replied slowly, fully expecting Tucker's willingness to fade.

To the contrary, he instead answered, "Sure, no problem. I'll do it right now if you give me my phone."

Chance gestured for Koty to give it to him.

"Don't look at me. I left everything with Ms. Foster."

Chance pulled out his own phone and sent her a quick text, asking for her to come over. Not even five minutes later, Fait entered the room with a shopping bag.

From the bag, she retrieved Tucker's phone and tossed it to Koty.

He caught it and felt a little annoyed. 'Why does this woman keep throwing stuff to me?' He wondered as he walked towards Tucker to hand him the phone.

Tucker took it and powered it on. Instantly it started buzzing to notify him of all the missed calls he had.

He scrolled through the call log. Most of the missed calls were from Rita's parents and they had left a few voicemails. As much as he wanted to listen to them now, there was a more pressing issue.

Further down in the log, there were a few missed calls that were from a contact he had labeled 'Creep.' According to the timestamps, 'Creep' had called once every two hours.

Checking the time, if the guy continued the pattern, he should being calling any minute. Sure enough, within a few seconds, his phone rang.

He took a deep breath and answered on speaker phone, "This is Tucker."

"I told you not to get caught." The voice that came out of the speaker gave everyone in the room chills.

"And I didn't. Not technically anyways."

"So then, care to explain why you were tackled to the ground and carried out of the restaurant by Addison's people." The voice was calm but eerily threatening.

"First of all, you didn't tell me he had a guard. I think he noticed something but in the end it didn't matter. The kid is green as grass so it was easy to explain it all away."

Koty frowned at Tucker, who just ignored him.

"Oh, really?" The voice was not at all convinced.

"Yes, really. I pretended to be absolutely hammered and claimed to be on my way to the bathroom. They believed every word of it and thought the guard was just jumpy."

By now, Koty was fully glaring at Tucker. This was the second time in two days that he'd been insulted. It was different with the chairman. He was at least in a position of authority but Tucker had no right to criticize him. Not even as a scapegoat.

"Where did they take you?"

"The police! For being drunk in public! Can you believe the nerve of those people!? Bunch of busybodies." Tucker sounded genuinely wronged. "As a matter of fact, I was just released and got my stuff back. I swear, all cops are thieves. There's at least thirty bucks missing from my wallet and I had thi-"

"Ahem." The voice cleared its throat.

"Ah, sorry. Anyways, right now I am trying to figure out which impound lot my car was towed to."

The line was silent for a minute or so before the 'Creep' finally said something.

"Meet me in the same place, alone, at seven. If you're late, I'll take it as you running away. If you bring anyone along, it's betrayal. You get one more chance and after that... I'll leave it to your imagination." As soon as the voice finished speaking, the line went dead.

Tucker sighed in relief and let the phone fall onto the bed. "I thought I dealt with difficult people when I worked in human resources."