A pair of strong, muscled arms pulled me out of the uncomfortable position I was in and arranged my head gently so that it was resting against something warm and firm, but my aching neck caused me to shake out of the sleepy stupor.

Something soft and cool appeared beneath me as the arms untangled themselves from around me and I pried open my eyes to see the retreating figure of Mr. Ambrose from the bed.

Chasing away the remaining traces of sleep, I stretched myself and got off the bed and approached the silent figure gazing out of the window, possibly trying to freeze the raindrops into snow.

"Mr. Ambrose?"

Silence. A not so cold one.

I cleared my throat and tried again.

"Mr. Ambrose."

"You were sleeping."

"And now I'm not."

Another silence. A let-me-be kind of silence. As if I was going to.

"So, was he a spy?"

Silence.

I poked him in the arm as he refused to even look at me and his little finger gave a distinctive twitch.

"Well, was he?"

"No."

I relaxed myself. Well, then there was no worries about Dalgliesh knowing anything about the file, right? Then why was he so tense and stiff instead of going to sleep?

"What is the problem then?"

Another surprising silence.

He finally pried open his mouth and spoke in a low voice. "I am 93.2 percent sure there was someone listening in to our conversation in the safe, and he-"

"It could also be a she."

He gave me one of his chauvinist looks which he had perfected over years of practice and I ignored it.

"He or she hurried out and closed the door behind them, causing the candle to flicker and give away his or her presence."

"Oh."

"And since that man is not the spy, it means that the spy is still absconding, and there is a 97 perent chance that it might be one of my men, thus giving him free reign to pass the information about the file to Dalgliesh, anytime." His finger gave two furious twitches as my face scrunched into a frown.

"Oh. Crap."

"Even though it is an incorrect proposition, I would like to agree with the sentiment. Crap, indeed."

My, my! Mr. Ambrose making a joke! That was totally unheard of! My jaw slackened as I stared at him, making sure the person in front of me was the real Mr. Ambrose and true to his character, the man ignored me and continued.

"However, the problem here remains, unaffected by your sentiments, and even though I have ordered Karim to personally ask for an alibi of all men present in the building, there is a major risk that he, or she, even though I have not employed any woman," he held up a hand to silence my protests before I could voice them,"might be successful in procuring a false alibi without much difficulty."

"Right."

There was silence once again while I took in his stiff posture and taut muscles as his finger gave another twitch. In the dim moonlight, the tension in his body language was clearly visible and made me involuntarily frown.

Rikkard Ambrose had never been an easy going, relaxed person with a smile on his face, but he looked too tense, too...worried, and my female intution told me that the problem he had told me was clearly only one of his problems. There was something else under his calm facade this time, which I didn't know. And I totally intended to change that.

  "Mr. Ambrose?"

  Silence as usual.

  "Rick?"

  He was really one stubbornly silent son of a bachelor. Well, time to check whether he was asleep on his feet.

"Dick?"

Still no answer. Blimey! Was he really sleeping or what?!

I poked his arm once again and his finger twitched. Well, he was awake, then what was going on in that block head of his that he refused to even answer me?

"Are you going to tell me what are you thinking?"

Silence.

"No? Thought so."

A few moments passed in some more silence, both of us refusing to move from our positions. Which was until a huge yawn left my mouth and the tiredness of the long day I had had hit me like a brick. Or more precisely, a pile of bricks, making my limbs feel like they could drop off any moment now. My eyelids drooped as I yawned again, silently leaning my head on his arm. I involuntarily gave a small smile when he put his arm around me, holding me in place and his body relaxed by the slightest bit.

"You should go to sleep, Mr. Linton."

"Why, Mr. Ambrose, it seems that you have discovered a new use for your mouth, doesn't it?" I nearly mumbled, unwilling to make the ginormous effort of looking at him and lifting my head from his arm in the process. It was quite a comfortable position.

  "Let me rephrase myself. Go to sleep, Mr. Linton. Now."

  "Not unless you sleep too."

  "I have work pending to be done."

  I forced open one eyelid and gave him a look. "Do you want me to drag you to bed?"
 
  His cheek twitched very slightly, the storm of intense emotions wavering a bit. "No. But you can try."

   A flicker of annoyance tried to make itself known through the sleepy haze threatening to overcome me, but I ignored it. "I know I can, Dick. But I don't feel like exhibiting my strength right now. Maybe tomorrow." I mumbled incoherently and another huge yawn escaped me and my eyes closed on their own as I leaned heavily against his side, his arm around me supporting most of my body weight.

   "Indeed, Mr. Linton." He pulled me towards the bed and I let myself be dragged, fumbling over my legs with eyes half closed and flopped down on the bed.

  Halfway into dreamland, a voice disturbed my peaceful sleep but I couldn't be bothered to frown about it.

  "-nton." All it got in reply was a low grunt.

   After a few...seconds?...minutes?...I felt warm arms covering me as I snuggled closer into the comfortable pillow and I remembered something just in time.

  "Thank you for letting me stay." The arms around me simply tightened its grip as I drifted off to sleep.

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Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

  This chapter might seem a bit too short, but remember it's just the edited ending from the originally huge 15th chapter, and since I was not satisfied with the abrupt ending earlier, I decided to edit it.

  My exams are going on and all I'm thinking is whether my chapters are getting too boring or not😑 God knows how I'm gonna pass this year....

Yours truly,
(Praying to pass)
Ifrit5789.