"Don't you fucking tell me about rational okay?" His outburst made his assistant behind him cringe and the detective he was talking to frown.
"Do you have a wife?" Dan the detective which had been highly recommended by Laura shook his head, confused on why that was necessary.
"A child?"
He shook his head.
"Parents? Jesus, neighbors?"
"I'd a neighbor, but she died during the summer."
Xavier shook his head aggravated, a bitter smile on his face as he resisted the growing urge to hit his head on the desk in front of him, "Now I know why you had the guts to tell me to be rational. Fucking rational! Rational? What does that even mean." He hastily stood up and Timothy had to bite the insides of his cheeks to stop himself from yelping in alarm.
His hooded angry eyes, spoke volumes and his vantage height as he towered over Dan didn't help the situation as the man couldn't help but show nervousness.
"I'd wore two different pairs of shoes today, wore my shirt without cufflinks yesterday, forgotten how to use a laptop for some minutes, " His eyes bore on Dan's even as he enunciated every word maliciously, punctuating it with a snarl making the man in front of him cower, "And you tell me to be fucking rational!"
"I'm sorry Mr. Salvador but__"
"I don't care about your apologies. You have rendered way too many, I'm beginning to doubt your capabilities. I want my fiancee beside me, chastising me for raising my voice at you." His gaze softened even as he collapsed on his seat.
Timothy handed him a glass of sparkling water which he was immensely grateful for. The water glided down his throat calming his knotted nerves for a few seconds, "Do you know what it feels like to be helpless, lost. Somehow, I know Maya is out there in some strange fucked up place, scared to death." He chuckled a bit, "Going by how crazy my girl is, I bet she has already thought of what will be written on top of her tombstone, that is if we find her body."
He rubbed his eyes with his hand and for the first time, Timothy saw his boss for who he was. A human being. Not some cold-hearted god with so many partial privileges.
He had everything, the looks and the means yet he watched the one man who could make other cold businessmen shiver completely shattered because just once the one thing money couldn't buy had been taken from him.
"I'll give you more money, Dan. State your price. I'll give you anything, just find Maya. Please."
Dan Crowdy, a man in his mid-fifties but dressed in Jean trousers and a T-shirt which had an "I love NYC" inscription on it, paired with sneakers he looked more youthful and it was evident that he had aged well.
He blinked, gaping at Xavier in surprise, the man in front of him had gone from raging volcanic anger to soft helpless pleas in just some seconds.
He knew just how much his services were and how wealthy the Salvadors were. The price was not the problem, the problem was it seemed like Xavier's fiancée had disappeared into thin air.
All his tested and trusted sources, located all around the state couldn't seem to trail what was going on. He had kidnappers, thieves on his payroll yet even the highly recommended ones seem to know nothing about the criminals who had Maya in their custody.
It'd been five days since she had gone missing and although all the embassies he went to through sources that are not 100 percent legal, if he must add, had convinced him that she was still very much in New York City, it seemed almost like a lie.
"I still don't know why we can't invite the cops."
Xavier had a grim look at just the mention of the police, "Because of invisibility. I don't want whoever is holding Maya to smell a rat and then angrily send me my Girl in a body bag! That's why!" his outburst made Timothy jump and Dan shake his head. Okay, he was back again, grumpy and angry.
"For all I know we just might be dealing with a psychopath here." He closed his eyes leaning on his chair.
"This is all my fault, this is all my doing. I should have let her be, taken her to another country perhaps, or left myself, forget about her. Instead, I'd made her stay at my house," he shook his head even while Timothy wondered how he could maneuver out of the office without being noticed.
What do you do when your boss is having a mental breakdown? He knew that trying to be comforting will get his fingers bitten off and just standing will land him the same treatment.
Ever since his fiancée had gone missing more than half of the staff have left.
Everybody was so nervous in the office and even melancholy hung like a chandelier in the large building and in offices, uncertainty reigned.
Mrs. Laura barked at anyone at the slightest provocation. Timothy couldn't blame her, she was the one who directly reported to Xavier and was in charge of hiring the staff he fired.
He wanted whoever this Maya was to be safe, not only because she must have been nice if she had wanted to know an ordinary assistant's name but because if working for Xavier before was hell, now it is just like walking on a lump of hot coal.
He closed the door behind him, pitying Mr. Dan the detective he had left behind who seemed ruffled by his boss demeanor.
He was expecting his outburst soon when he gets all riled up again. It was a scary cycle that just thinking of being at the center of something as fragile as his fiancée's return sent chills down his spine as he was grateful he only had to serve coffee, take notes, remind him of his events, and __ okay he did have a lot he does if he was being honest.
He could see the pity glances everyone at the office directed at him whenever he passed looking as drained as he felt.
They all were working under the boss yet their palm was so clammy, their heartbeats thundering, they could only imagine what it will be like to work for him and that Timothy couldn't even deny had been a vacation with the devil.
He made amends to things that were spotless until he made an error and had to start all over again. He worked more late hours, to compile Xavier's schedule for the next day earlier than usual since he arrived at work before 3:00 am.
Most times, his sister, Melissa calls Timothy to buy her brother takeouts, and somehow she always pleads that she make sure he eats.
He had never persuaded his boss to eat.
No, thank you but I love my job, he mused, but he had been ordering the takeouts since it had almost become a routine in the past few days though they were all untouched and had gone to waste.
One thing was for certain, his boss' Life was Maya and without Maya, he was royally screwed but before he hit the ground. They would be tasting the dust already.