Chris And Hazel - Volume 1 Chapter 56 55

‘Hey, you up?’ Chris asked as he fixed his tie in front of the mirror.

‘…Yeah!’ Hazel answered in a sleepy tone as she lazily got up from the bed to sit up straight.

‘When did you get up?’ she asked holding back a yawn.

‘I had to take Rob and Aurora to school and I am getting ready for office now’ he replied walking towards her.

‘Okay…’ she nodded rubbing her eyes.

‘You still look tired’ he said taking a closer look at her as he sat beside her.

‘Yeah, a little!’ she accepted finally able to open her half-closed eyes.

‘Oops! My bad’ he apologized holding back his laughter as he slowly pulled her in for a kiss.

His lips gently lingered over hers for a brief moment before he let go. Hazel’s hands had already enclosed themselves over his neck and he realized that she didn’t want it to end when she refused to let go.

‘It’s an important meeting honey! I will be back soon, take rest now’ he promised covering up the fact that he wasn’t willing to go either.

‘Fine…’ she gave in letting go of him.

‘Bye’ he said, giving her a forehead kiss.

‘And don’t feel obliged to send me a mail for taking the day off, ok?’ he added before walking out of the door.

A smile escaped her lips as she heard him.

‘Stop with the teasing and go otherwise I will change my mind and won’t let you leave’ she warned him playfully.

‘Don’t forget to have your breakfast and rest well’ he reminded before leaving the room.

She nodded at him worried that he wouldn’t leave till she did so and waved him goodbye as he left.

‘Oh shoot! I totally forgot to tell him’ Hazel yelled suddenly on recalling the previous day’s incident.

‘I thought I told you to take rest’ Chris stated in a surprised tone as he saw Hazel walk in to his office.

‘I know I know but I totally forgot to tell you something important’ she replied stopping him before he could say anything more.

‘What is it?’ he asked stopping his work midway as he observed that she was serious.

‘Yesterday when I was at Charlotte’s…’

‘No not again! Haze, we have been over this already’ he interrupted assuming that it was something related to yesterday.

‘Listen fully’ she said glaring at him.

‘Okay, wrong guess! What is it?’ he asked signaling her to sit down.

‘Yesterday I heard William blabbering something about a hard disk and that it was some important evidence’ she said not sure of the complete truth herself.

‘So?’ he asked resuming his work.

‘Oh god..! You are dumb!’ she commented on seeing that he didn’t get it.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Chris, the only client William is working on is Grayson, right?’ she asked starting to clear things up for him.

‘Yeah, they have been spending some freakish time together’ he said making a weird expression.

‘See so the evidence must be to save him from something’ Hazel continued beaming with excitement.

‘I still don’t see where you are going with this’ Chris said moving his laptop to the side.

‘Maybe this hard disk is so important to Grayson and that’s why William is looking for it’ Hazel finished showing him that this could be their way to pull Grayson down.

‘But it can be for anything honey! That man is a warehouse of crimes’ Chris replied hoping not to give Hazel any false hope.

He knew very well that Hazel had a thought that he didn’t want her help with Grayson but Chris just didn’t want to act first this time. He was waiting for the right time. He just wanted build pressure and wanted Grayson to crack.

Hazel on the other hand, wanted to do everything she can to help Chris in this; she didn’t want to leave a way for Grayson to strike. She also felt that Chris didn’t want her support in this but she was wrong here.

Just her presence alone was enough support for him.

‘I think it’s related to us’ she informed once Chris finished.

‘How so..?’

‘Grayson did mention about some hard disk when I went to see him’ she elaborated as Chris showed willingness in hearing her talk.

‘What? What did he say?’ Chris asked getting serious.

“Was there evidence all along?” he wondered as he heard her talk.

‘He said something about you not knowing the real reason behind Adam’s death and something hard disk missing, but it didn’t pose any threat to him’ she replied recalling the  exact words.

‘But if it wasn’t a threat he wouldn’t have mentioned it at all. He brought it up to know whether we knew anything about it or not’ Chris continued finally getting into the flow. Hazel had a point, this could be the evidence he was searching for all these years.

‘Exactly..! Thank god you got it finally’ she replied heaving a sigh of relief.

‘Are you saying that they are looking for a hard disk and Adam had something to do with it?’ Chris asked just making sure that they both were travelling in the same boat or not.

‘I am ninety percent sure’ Hazel assumed throwing him her thinking face.

‘How about we confirm it?’ Chris suggested winking at her.

‘How?’ she asked throwing him a puzzled look.

‘Jessica, connect to Grayson’ he said picking up the receiver from his table.

‘Ms. Quinn, right?’ Hazel asked raising a brow in question as he looked at her.

He nodded slowly as the line got connected.

‘I am sorry sir but no one picking up’ Jessica informed Chris after a minute.

‘That’s fine Jes… Ms. Quinn but keep trying and connect when they pick up’ he instructed keeping the receiver down.

‘I didn’t know she was your all time secretary’ Hazel said sitting down in front of him.

Chris didn’t like the expression she was wearing; he instantly knew he was in trouble.

‘Did you really expect me to have different secretaries for all my companies?’ Chris asked surprised at her question.

‘…’

‘Dear God! Please don’t tell me you are jealous’ Chris asked fighting back a grin.

‘No…’

‘Seriously..? Even after last night you are jealous over some secretary’ he asked bursting into laughter.

‘Not funny Mr. Finch’ he grumbled a little turning away.

‘Oh god..! I love when you are jealous’ he said as she calmed down a little.

She couldn’t stay mad even if she wanted to; though she knew Chris would never look at another woman still she likes pulling his legs just to hear him say something sweet. It has become a habit for her since college but of course in college she was not this direct.

‘Don’t be mad honey! I will not look at anyone else not until you are still hot’ he consoled grinning.

‘Hey what do you mean?’ she asked opening her mouth in shock after hearing the last part of his sentence.

‘I am just trying to console you’ Chris replied acting innocent.

‘What kind of assurance is this?’ she cried out in disbelief.

‘Fine..! I was just joking’

‘You…’

She stopped as the phone on his table started ringing.

‘Surprise..! Surprise! Look who decided to call me’ Grayson yelled as soon as Chris said hello.

‘Just listen, Grayson’ Chris said feeling ridiculed on hearing Grayson’s voice.

‘What is it Christopher?’

‘Just giving you a heads up, I found the hard disk thanks to you and your lawyer’ Chris replied confidently.

‘What hard disk?’ Grayson asked sounding surprised.

‘The one Adam had, we finally found it’ Chris answered winging it, hoping not to get busted.

‘Did you have a dream or something? You are wasting my time Christopher, Bye!’ Grayson said hanging up the phone.

‘So?’ Hazel asked eagerly as Chris placed the phone down.

‘Yeah you were right! There’s something, we need to start looking’ Chris said accepting her theory.

‘Grayson accepted, right?’ Hazel asked surprised by his sudden change in heart.

‘No, in fact he sounded surprised’ Chris corrected her.

‘Now I am confused’ she said after hearing his reply.

‘Grayson is someone who can act puzzled even when caught red-handed but if we say something that he doesn’t know about that’s when he gets nervous or panicked’ Chris explained slowly as she keenly listened to him.

‘So? Did he believe that you really found the hard disk?’ she asked after a few minutes.

‘Hell no, he’s not stupid! He knows if I get hold of that evidence I wouldn’t waste my time calling him but now he must be sure that know there’s a missing piece here’ Chris replied looking at her.

Chris knew about Grayson, now that he knows Chris knew about the hard disk he’s going to make a mistake somewhere and that’ll help Chris in.

But before that he needed to really start looking for the hard disk, what does it hold? Why was Grayson looking for it even after so many years? So it was important for Chris to find it before Grayson does.

‘What are we gonna do?’ Hazel asked looking at Chris who was deep in thought.

‘I will search through the office and by evening we’ll go back to the house I lived in during college’ he answered her erasing the tension off his face.

Whatever it may hold he didn’t want to seem tensed in front of Hazel, it will only worry her more.

‘Okay! I will go home then. You see whether you can find anything here’ Hazel said believing that he already had a strategy in mind. And seeing that Chris wasn’t so much tensed helped her loosen up too though she knew he was just doing it for her sake.

‘Yeah..! Go back safe’ he mumbled getting back to his work.

‘How did Chris come to know about it?’ Grayson yelled as soon as William entered his office.

‘Know what?’ William asked confused by his sudden outburst.

‘About the hard disk and he would’ve already started looking for it by now’ Grayson explained losing his cool.

‘How am I supposed to know? Maybe he heard it from one of your men’ William answered calmly as he sat down.

‘No way, only Edwin and I know about it’ Grayson replied confident that it didn’t leak from his side.

‘Wait why are talking about this now?’ William asked stopping him.

He had no idea why Grayson started this topic at all. It was clear that one thing led to another but William didn’t know which led to what.

‘Chris called me to tell that he’s got the hard disk though he doesn’t, he was trying to mess with me but how did he know that there was a hard disk?’ Grayson asked after explaining the call to William.

‘Wait hold up! If only you and Edwin know about this then…didn’t you say Chris kept Edwin in custody for a few hours a few weeks back?’ William asked reminding Grayson. That was the only possible linkage there.

‘Yeah but he didn’t ask Edwin anything. He was sitting there simply. Chris did that to threaten me’ Grayson replied still not suspecting a thing.

‘Who told you that?’ William asked looking at Grayson.

‘Edwin..!’ he replied immediately.

‘Really, and you believed him?’ William asked confirming the fact that his client was dumb.

‘Edwin has been with me for so many years and he knows the consequences if he betrays me’ Edwin replied in a calm tone though he understood what William was suggesting.

‘Look Mr. Grayson, Edwin sure is aware what you will do to him if he betrays you but he also knows what Chris would do to him. I am not meaning to exaggerate here but you yourself told me that Chris wasn’t someone to be messed with. Did he by chance mention about that evidence again?’ William asked carefully explaining the situation to Grayson so that he could see from all the sides here.

‘..No!’ Grayson mouthed as William made sense.

‘See..? I am not being negative here but in a situation like this you really need to be careful because as for now anything can turn against you. I am just trying to help you’ William said an assuring tone.

‘But why is Chris taking action now, he could have done it before itself, right?’ Grayson asked as still a few things didn’t add up.

‘Just think about it Mr. Grayson, if he would’ve taken some initiative immediately you will definitely suspect Edwin and that would’ve ended up as a disadvantage for Chris’ William said elucidating it to him.

William had a point but Grayson didn’t want to take any decisions in haste.

‘But Chris doesn’t have the evidence and that’s why he called to tell me about it’ Grayson explained trying to see the positive side in the situation. He just couldn’t accept the fact that Edwin would’ve betrayed him and the worst part is he can’t suspect William because he doesn’t know about the evidence at all. But he still didn’t suspect Edwin at all. He couldn’t!

‘Why are you closing your eyes to the truth, Mr. Grayson? Chris was just calling to check whether you have it or not. He was just checking if he still got the upper hand here…’ he stopped to look at Grayson. Grayson patiently waited for him to finish.

‘Though you are not gonna like the answer, Chris is a step ahead of us here. I still don’t know whether it was Edwin but you look into it because you know about him more than I do’ William finished getting up to leave.

‘You keep looking for ways to get out of this’ Grayson said stopping him.

‘I know my job Mr. Grayson! It is you who have to find who the mole is’ William answered taking his leave.