"Doctor Mallory, you have made a very wise decision," Mr. Crowe said to the beleaguered man sitting before him. Crowe pushed a small grey button that sat atop his large desk and then spoke into the air, "Marcy, could you please come in here?"
Sean Mallory sat with his shoulders slumped and chin resting on his chest. He felt defeated. He felt angry. He felt used and manipulated.
"How could I have been so stupid?" He thought to himself.
The door opened and Crowe's beautiful personal assistant walked into the office. Sean did not even lift his head to acknowledge her presence. She entered and shut the door behind her and then stopped about three feet into the room awaiting further instruction from the sadistic billionaire, Mr. Crowe.
"Marcy, good news," Crowe said standing to his feet, "Doctor Mallory has agreed to join our team and take the bull by the horns for our next groundbreaking achievement."
"Welcome aboard, Doctor." Marcy said politely in her proper British accent.
Sean continued to sit and stare at the floor in disbelief. His life was unraveling before him, and it appeared that there was nothing he could do about it but play along with this demented mad man's plans, until he found a way to free himself and exact revenge.
Sean heard Crowe speak up.
"Sean, I've already taken the liberty to have the little bit of material possessions you own packed up and headed this way. I've also submitted your resignation to Stanford effective immediately, as well as contacted your closest friends and family letting them know that you are heading off the grid for a little while and not to worry, and not to come looking for you. You just need some space and some time to...free your mind...and find yourself." Crowe said as a sarcastic grin fell across his devilishly handsome face.
"Fuck you!" Sean hissed. He pulled out his phone.
Crowe laughed out loud. "Sean, come on man, phone has been disconnected...bla, bla, bla." Crowe said. "There is no chance of you contacting anyone on the outside, and the first time I find out that you are attempting to do so or that you somehow actually succeed in doing so...this video goes viral. Do you understand what I'm telling you?" Crowe asked.
"Go to hell, you sick fuck!" Sean growled.
"Tisk, tisk Sean," Crowe responded, "We are going to be working closely together, we need to be more cordial than that."
Sean said nothing.
"Marcy, please show Sean to his room for the evening, and set him up with anything he needs to be comfortable." Crowe said to his petite little assistant.
"Certainly, Sir!" Marcy said. "Right this way, Doctor Mallory." Marcy said opening the door.
Sean slowly dragged himself from the couch. He turned and faced Crowe and stood silently. His gaze boring a hole through the well dressed personification of evil. He began to nod his head slowly as he made his way to the exit where Marcy stood waiting.
"Just so you know," Sean said as he reached the door, "I will make you pay for this. It may not be tomorrow, or next month, or next year, but one day down the road...we will meet face to face and you will beg me to end your life."
"OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH" Crowe stammered as he mockingly shook his hands in fear. "Get some rest Sean, we will get started first thing in the morning." Crowe finished and then sat back down at his desk, his head disappearing behind his large computer monitor.
**********
Sean followed Marcy out of the office.
"Follow me, Doctor." Marcy said, marching down the hall in front of Sean with a very determined gait. Her heels clacked against the marble floors. "We have you all set up in the guest suite on the third floor. There's a phone in there that is connected to the servant's quarters. If you need anything tonight just let them know and they will make it happen." Marcy explained.
Marcy continued to ramble on about the property, but Sean wasn't listening any longer. He just followed along staring at her feet, lost inside his own mind. He began to replay all of the events in the last twelve hours trying to figure out exactly what just happened. His entire life and all that he had worked to achieve, small as it was, had been completely ripped out from under him. Everything was gone. Nothing would be the same again.
They began climbing a set of marble stairs. Marcy had stopped talking. After another flight of stairs and a few turns down a hallway lined with paintings of naked people in very acts of sexual activity, they ended up at large wooden door. Marcy turned the knob and opened it. They walked inside to a huge private suite. As pissed off as Sean was, he could not help but notice how luxurious this room was. No corners had been cut, nothing had been spared.
This room would rival many penthouse suites of the finest hotels in the world. There was a large sitting room as you entered that sat in front of a large set of ,what had to have been, fifteen or twenty foot windows that looked out over the manicured grounds below them. There was black baby grand piano stationed in front of the windows. To the right as you entered, behind the seating area, was another larger sectional sofa that sat in front of the largest television he had ever seen hanging on a wall. There was a hallway, of sorts, on either side of the wall the television hung on, that he could not see where it led. To the right was a marble counter top that wrapped around a generous sized kitchen area that had a rather large bar near the end of it. The bar had a mirrored wall behind it that had several shelves, all heavily stocked with copious amounts of every alcohol and spirit one could imagine. Past that, and climbing up three more marble steps, led you to a landing area that had glass French-doors leading into the master suite. He could make out a large, king size, four-poster bed, that had more pillows on it then he had ever seen on a bed before.
Marcy showed him around the suite. "...and here's the phone I was telling you about. Just pick it up and wait for an answer. Our staff will see to it that you receive anything you ask for." She said with a polite smile.
"How about a real phone so I can call my family?" Sean said sternly.
"I do apologize, Doctor, but I guess I should have said anything you need that doesn't contradict Mr. Crowe's specific instructions." Marcy answered kindly.
"How can you work for a guy like that?" Sean asked Marcy.
Marcy smiled politely, "If there's nothing else, Doctor, then I will be going."
"Oh come on," Sean pleaded, "you saw what he did to me in there! You know what's happening! How can you be okay with this?" Sean pleaded.
"Doctor Mallory," Marcy said walking towards the exit of the opulent room, "I will see you at eight in the morning. Get some rest." She said as she closed the door behind her.
Sean watched the beautiful assistant disappear behind the closing door and then heard a click that, he assumed, was the door locking from the outside. He walked up to it, just to be sure, and verified his fear. He was locked in.
He proceeded to walk through the suite to every window to the outside world, only to find that there was nothing that opened. He beat against the windows with his fists, and any other thing he could pick up and throw at them only to find they were not glass, but some sort of plexi-glass or bulletproof material of some kind. After spending almost an hour trying to find a way out, he sat down on the floor, exhausted from his efforts and the emotional roller coaster he had been through. Emotions welled up inside of him and he began to sob uncontrollably.
He cried and he wept until there were no more tears.
He sat on the floor in front of the windows just staring out at nothing for another hour. The pain and sadness that raged inside his head would not quiet. His tormented ache needed to be eased. He stood before the mirrored wall containing the largest private collection of alcohol he had ever seen. His hand reached and grabbed a bottle. He didn't know which one or what it was. He opened it and drew the bottle to his mouth and poured, and swallowed. It burned, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was make the pain inside go away. So he kept swallowing. He stopped long enough to catch his breath and then continue drinking. He finished that bottle and then grabbed another one. Halfway through his third bottle of hard liquor he collapsed on the marble floor behind the counter and faded into unconsciousness.
**********
"Doctor Mallory? Can you hear me Doctor?" Marcy asked stooping down to awaken the man curled up on the marble floor. There were two empty bottles of Jack Daniels and a half empty bottle of tequila laying beside the disheveled man. Marcy shook Sean a little more vigorously.
"Doctor Mallory?!" she said a little louder. "You have to wake up Doctor, Mr. Crowe is waiting for you."
Sean's eyes began to squint open as the little British woman continued her attempt to rouse the drunken man lying before her.
"Doctor? Can you hear me?" Marcy asked.
Sean mumbled something that sounded like a yes.
"Doctor, please, you must get up." Marcy demanded.
Sean lay in the fetal position on the cold marble floor. It felt like the room was spinning around him. His mouth felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton. Coherent thoughts escaped him.
"Lydia, come here and help me get Doctor Mallory into the bathroom." Sean heard Marcy say.
A moment later Sean felt a hand slide under each armpit and he felt someone grab each leg. The small ladies struggled to lift the fully grown man's dead weight. His head and feet were off the ground, but most of his butt and midsection were dragging the ground as they slid him towards the bathroom. Sean slipped back into the unconscious drunken stupor that had finally quieted his dispirited soul.
The blast of cold water from the shower made Sean sit up and grab for the walls around him. He tried to move his face out from the stream of water so he could get a breath of air.
