• "Now remember, Mr. Alden, you have a two-o’clock meeting tomorrow with the President of Stark Industries followed by the celebrity golf tournament at three-thirty,” said Rosetta.

    “Oh, I love talking to Tony. He reminds me of myself as a lad. He is brilliant and somewhat rebellious, too,” I replied.

    “Too bad I couldn’t meet you back in your younger years, Mr. Alden. You sound like my kind of man,” Rosetta giggled while the fading sunset revealed the many years of wear on her face.

    “Well, I could complete the same repetitive tasks I did in my younger years. It just takes longer and hurts a lot more. And how many times do I have to tell you, Rosetta, to call me Richard?”

    “Mr. Alden, how many times do I have to remind you that I’m your employee?

    “Hah, don’t make me laugh, Rose. You have been my loyal secretary for four years. We are like family.”

    “Well, we won’t be a family any more if you don’t take your medicine,” she said while handing me a tray of medicine.

    “My favorite part of the day,” I said sarcastically.

    “Cécile told me to give you these new vitamin supplements,” Rosetta said while pointing out a black pill.

    “Why can’t someone make one pill with all the vitamins a person needs? Rosetta you should be writing this down!”

    “Whatever you say, Mr. Alden, but you need to get your rest. The prescription says you need to get ten hours of sleep a night.”

    “Alright, Rosetta, goodnight.”

    “See you tomorrow morning, Mr. Alden. It’s a big day for the company, so get your rest,” she said while slowly closing the door behind her.

    I looked at the tray of pills. Some were for my back, feet, lungs, ulcers, and migraines. I swallowed every pill except for the nasty black pill that was left. I picked it up with my pathetic hands and tried to throw it across the room, but it fell on the ground. Then Coco Chanel, Cecile’s spaniel, scampered across the master bedroom and quickly ate the nasty pill. I would have done something, but I felt too weak to move. I stared at the big eyes of Coco who were gazing at mine more deeply. I ended the stare off by reaching out to the lamp on my nightstand and quickly started to fall asleep only to be awoken by the faint sound of heels edging down the hallway. The door slowly creaked open and light of the hallway illuminated the dark room.

    “Oh sorry, honey, did I wake you?” said the woman behind the light.

    “No, Cécile, I was just about to go to sleep. Where have you been?” I replied.

    “You don’t remember? I thought I told you I was going to the VMA after party.”

    “Must have slipped my mind. You coming to bed soon?”

    “Yeah, let me just slip into something more comfortable first.”

    She started to change in front of me. Unlike my own, her skin shimmered with life and youth. Cécile slowly unwound her dark, rich hair and it quickly formed down the curves of her body, which was as tough as my first Ford and as elegant as the Porsche that sat in my driveway. Cécile smiled at me.

    “You should see the look you have on your face, Benjamin. You look like, how do you Americans say it, like a kid in a candy store,” she replied while jumping into bed. “I agree, not every man is married to an international supermodel,” she giggled.

    Cécile was right. Every man is not as rich as I am. People viewed our marriage as one that was doomed to fail from the start. I remember meeting Cécile at one of my friend’s parties in Milan. She was crying on the footsteps of his vast estate because her date had ditched her there for some Colombian actress. We talked for about an hour, over drinks, and got to know each other quickly. Afterwards, I welcomed her to stop by at my place if she was ever in the States. To my surprise, she did, and a year ago, we exchanged our vows. My “family” was furious that I would marry a woman so quickly; they pleaded she was just in for the money. At the time I thought they were mad because another name would be added to my will. But unfortunately they were right about one part, that no woman with such beauty could ever love an aging man such as me.

    Cécile’s love currently belongs to another man in his prime while her fortune is with me. Cécile thinks I am oblivious to the fact that she is cheating on me. That uncertainty makes me feel good.

    The phone rang, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I reached over to get it and my body cracked at this very movement. Cécile saw that I was struggling and quickly grabbed it.

    “Who could be calling at this time of night?” I asked.

    “Oh it’s probably my friend Maria from back home.”

    “Isn’t she the brunette?”

    “Yes,” she interrupted while answering the phone.

    “Ey ce n'est pas vraiment un bon moment,” she said.

    “Je sais. Tu me manques trop, même si ce n'est que depuis une heure puisque nous avons vu
    les uns les autres,” she laughed.

    “Ouais, il est juste à côté de moi.”

    “Ne t’inquiétes pas, il ne peut pas comprendre un mot, je suis ce qu'il dit est tel un vieil homme.”

    “Ouais, je l'espère, il meurt peu trop. Tu te rendes compte que je ne fais que cela pour la fortune de la famille.”

    “C'est ce que je dis, et alors nous pouvons vivre la vie de luxe.”

    “Ne me dites pas que vous devez aller.”

    “Je t'aime plus,” she replied while hanging up the phone.

    Cécile thought I had no idea what was going on, but I did. People think the business language of the world is English and they are right, but it doesn’t hurt to know a little French. Cécile wanted me gone so she could take my fortune, which took me many years of hard work and dedication to obtain, and run off with some fella from France named Alphonse. She has been talking to this guy about two months ever since she visited her family back in France.

    “What did Maria have to say for herself?” I asked.

    “Oh, just girl stuff. You wouldn’t be interested even if I told you,” Cécile replied.

    Cecile reached her strong arms across my aching body to put the phone back on the nightstand, held me tightly, and kissed me on my lips.

    “I love you, Richard,” she lied.

    “I love you too, Cécile,” I lied.

    I should have listened to what my family had told me. Maybe they actually did care about me.
    Well, it was too late to turn back now. At this point, there was no point of getting a divorce. She would end up with a huge sum of the money or probably all of it. That would just make the process quicker. If only I could have told Rosetta how I really felt about her, but who would marry an old man anyway?

    “Richard, come here now, there is something wrong with Coco,” said Rosetta as she barged into my bedroom.

    “Where is she?” I replied while springing out of my bed.

    “She is in the kitchen hurry Richard!”

    I’ve been deprived of this energy for too long. I was running through the empty hallways of my estate with no pain. My legs weren’t aching and I didn’t have to stop and sit down on a bench to catch a breather. My body was running on all the adrenaline that it had left lingering in the depths of my body, and it felt pretty darn good. I quickly made it to the kitchen and saw Coco lying on the ground.

    “Richard, check her pulse,” Rosetta exclaimed.

    I put my fingers on Coco’s cold neck. There was nothing to make my fingers flinch back. I opened the dog’s mouth and tried to apply what I had learned in CPR training I learned back in Korea. But, all the effort I gave couldn’t save her. She was gone. I turned around and saw Rosetta crying to herself. Cécile wasn’t even awakened by all of the commotion.

    “How could this happen? She was such a healthy, playful dog,” Rosetta cried.

    I stood there staring at Coco’s closed eyes. I thought to myself how this could happen so suddenly, and then I realized what had happen.

    “It’s my fault that this happened. The pill that Cécile told me to take, well I threw it at the ground and Coco must have eaten it,” I replied.

    “I knew it. She wants you dead, Mr. Alden, I told you!” Rosetta hissed at me.

    “Who wants who dead?” Cécile asked while walking into the kitchen.

    “How dare you act like that? Your precious Coco is dead because it ate your so called vitamin supplement,” Rosetta exclaimed while glaring into her eyes as her face shone from the ceiling light.

    “I… what are you talking about… how dare you accuse me of poisoning my husband in my house?” Cécile replied with a sense of loss in her face.

    “It’s my house Cécile. I want you out right now,” I said while still staring at Coco while she lay on the cold marble floor.

    “Wait, what do you mean? Don’t you love me?”

    “No love lost no love, gone,” I replied while picking up Coco off the floor and turning to see the eyes of my attempted murder. What I once envied was now gone. Her face was smeared with the lies she had fed me since I met her. The lies permeated through the once perfect pores on her face. The anger of the accused lunged at me with a glare I will never forget.

    “The next time you’ll see me will be with my attorney,” Cécile said while turning her back to me and turning into the dark hallway leaving me alone with Rosetta and the late Coco.

    “I guess it’s just you and me, Richard,” Rosetta said while taking Coco out of my grasp.

    “Just like old times… and there isn’t anything wrong with that,” I replied.