Dark Hunger

"What idea?" Owen asked as he nudged the cat to get off his feet. He folded the paper and bit his toasted bread. 

"Give me your phone. She is definitely going to pick your phone!" said Nessa with a shine in her eyes. 

Owen exhaled and said, "I don't think so, but here it is," he dug his phone from his robe's pocket and gave it to her. He got up from there to go to the office. 

Nessa took it and dialed Elize's number immediately. It was early morning and she knew that Elize must be sleeping. Caleb would definitely pick up her phone. The phone kept ringing but no one picked up. She was about to pick it up when she heard, "Hello?" Nessa's lips curved into a smile. "Hello Caleb," she replied. There was no response from the other side. After a pause, she continued, "What about the request that I had made?" 

"What request?" Caleb asked in a voice so cold that for a moment Nessa winced. 

She cleared her thoughts and said, "If you don't pay us hundred thousand dollars, we are going to go and make a public announcement on the TV that you have abducted Elize and she is unstable mentally. Owen being her brother is her local guardian. We will make sure that we put her in an asylum for the rest of her life. So…." Her voice drawled. "Mr. Caleb Silver, you better pay us the money and consider this as the first installment. If you are lucky, I will ask for the next amount of money next year." She couldn't help a grin on her face. How easily she had brought a mighty businessman to his knees. Golden days were just ahead. "Also remember to pick up my phone when I call next. Don't you dare to ignore me. I am that entity in your life who you simply can't cut off however you may try." She let out a small laughter. "Let me—" she wanted to say more but the line went dead. She looked at the phone and then spewed curses at Caleb. "Bastard, see what I am going to do to you now!" 

"Nessaaaa!" Owen called her from the room and she got up and rushed to him. She couldn't believe on her way that her husband would be such a gold mine. Little did she know that Caleb was the owner of several gold mines. 

Owen got dressed soon because he was running late for a meeting that his boss had called urgently. "How do I look?" he asked as he combed his oil-slick hair. 

Nessa pressed a kiss on his cheek and said, "Always a pleasure to look at." 

He smiled and then left. He drove his car to the office and was there in less than half an hour. He entered the meeting room just in time. As soon as he seated himself after greeting others in the room, their boss, McCarthy arrived. 

Owen worked in a trading company where he was at the Manager level. He was responsible for operations of their branches in Ireland. He was earning a decent salary but after his wife had shown him the green dreams of extracting handsome money from Elize's husband, he found this job so below his standard. He had planned on retiring as soon as he received his first installment. He would take Nessa and simply go around the world. He would resign from his job. His useless sister who had only drained their money out when she was terminally ill, had now finally been of some use. 

"There is a guest coming to visit the company today," McCarthy's voice pulled him out of his dreams. "Owen, I want you to make a sheet of last two financial years data and give it to me by the end of the day. The Director wants to see it. I will be busy taking a guest around the company and of course the town. Later we will have dinner with him." 

"Oh, sure!" Owen replied. "What time is the dinner?" he asked because then he would have to tell his wife in advance. 

McCarthy raised his eyebrow at his question. "The dinner is only for the Director level people." 

Owen gulped his embarrassment and nodded. "Okay." He picked up his papers from the table and smiled tightly. He would be doing all the work and his boss would be dining with important people. For the next few hours, he spent every minute pulling out complete data of the company and putting it on a sheet. As if that wasn't all, McCarthy asked him to even present a sheet with next year's business projections. Reluctant and angry, Owen didn't have a choice. He spent another few hours creating it. He didn't even have time to have his lunch. But by the end of the day, he pressed the print button and printed every sheet he had prepared. He put them all in a folder carefully and then walked to McCarthy's cabin thinking of how he was going to kick him in the ass once he resigned. 

For the next day, McCarthy was extremely busy with the guest and everything went very silent for Owen. 

He knew that Nessa had called Elize from his phone and Caleb had picked it up. He chuckled thinking how Nessa had cleverly brought the businessman down on his knees. Since the man hadn't answered her, she was expecting him to send the money anytime soon out of fear. He bounced his way to the parking. Only a few more days and he would submit his resignation. Not only that, he had started browsing for hotels and cruises across the world where he would spend his luxury days. 

When he reached home, he found his wife pacing the front porch, obviously thinking about the money and worrying about it. He parked the car and walked to her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and said, "Stop being so impatient, my dear." 

She took a deep breath and said, "I am thinking of buying ten bags to stash the cash. We will divide the money and use it one by one." 

He laughed. She was such a fantastic organizer. "Of course, darling. We will do that. Do you want to buy the bags now?" She was clever enough not to put the money into a bank because that would leave an online trail if used and then the authorities would ask about it. She had thought of ten steps ahead and he was really proud of her. 

She nodded vehemently. "Yes, let us go to the market and buy them." 

At the end of two hours, they had bought ten brown colored leather bags. Happy with shopping, Owen treated her to an upscale restaurant. He toasted with a wine, "To our future." 

Next day when Owen reached the office, he saw that several employees had gathered in the office and there was excitement filled with anxiety. He placed his bag on the table and after grabbing a coffee from the espresso machine, he sauntered to them. "What's up?" he asked. 

With anxiety etched on his face, his colleague said, "The grapevine is that the owner of this company is selling it at a hefty price of half a million pounds to a man called Neal Perry."