Cold As Steel

Chapter 2: The Car Ride

Melanie, accompanied by the assistant, walked into the elevator. The assistant was a little afraid of Melanie. To be honest, the assistant has met many people, but Melanie's aura gave him the shivers because it felt so cold. The feeling, especially now that they were in the same space, felt more real, the temperature also felt colder by a few degrees!

Suddenly Melanie's cell phone rang, her ring tone was a generic jingle.

"I will be down!"

Even though it was four words the assistant felt the coldness seep through. No wonder the CEO dislikes being around her. Who likes hanging out with a large ice block?

"Ding—" The elevator stopped steadily on the first floor. "Madam, please--" The assistant stepped back allowing Melanie to exit first.

At this time, the atmosphere in the main hall was already in a state of tension, it seemed like no one would step down, and the manager just stood there watching this strange scene. As the elevator opened, everyone's eyes were instantly focused on Melanie.

Chief Steven and Colonel Blake walked quickly toward Melanie like it was some kind of race. Chief Steven being closer to the elevator took the advantage to ask first.

"Dr.Steel I believe we talked on the phone about the appointment?" Chief Steven smiles.

Colonel Blake finally catches up. He lightly punches Melanie on the shoulder and says, " Melanie, I'm so glad to see you. We need your help. I think you should help me first since we have been best buds for so long. Remember the days we trained together?."

Melanie slightly moves away from Blake because she isn't used to being so close to someone.

"Commander Deven of the military department just called me. I promised him to go to the military department first. I will go to the police department in a few days!" Melanie said as she walked away.

Blake and Melanie then walk out to board the hummer outside. The rest of the soldiers neatly file out of the building.

Chief Steven and his accomplice stand outside watching the line of hummers drive aways.

"Chief what should we do? We don't have enough time."

"What should I do? What else can I do, all we can do is to wait and prepare. Let's go!" Steven's voice was very loud, everyone in the main hall could hear his voice. When all of the police pulled out of the hall, everyone standing around the hall finally let out a breath of relief.

"Hey! Explosive news, who said Mrs. Steel was a wanted criminal? She is a world-known forensic scientist. She worked with the FBI many times please come and see..." A lady at the front desk turned her computer towards the crowd that formed around the reception desk.

On the screen showed a wiki page that had a long introduction. There was a photo on the page that seemed to be Melanie at the age of seventeen or eighteen. At that time, Melanie's hair was short, and there was no trace of expression on his face. She looked very arrogant and when the receptionist continued to look for more photos of her, she could not find any more.

The Wiki page was very detailed, it seemed like the person who wrote it did a lot of research.

"She is not just forensic doctors, she also studied criminal psychology." There were many things listed below. The people reading the wiki page were all amazed. No wonder she married Mr. Steel, she is a shining star in her realm.

Melanie sits in the car, holding a folder in his hand there are some photos in it. She closely looks at the photos. In the photo, a naked man was in it, there were wounds all over his body, blood was still dripping, when the photo was taken. Generally, if a normal person were to look at this photo then they would gag; however, Melanie is different it seems like she is used to these photos because she inspects them in detail.

"He is an undercover spy for our troops. He has been undercover in the drug trafficking network for two years, however, we lost contact with him a few months ago. Then we found his body. We don't know if his cover broke or something else happened. Once we found the body we decided it would be best for you to look at it!" Blake says while looking down, his body language showed that he was mourning deeply.

Melanie closed the folder: "I'll know what happened to the body once I perform an autopsy."

She leans back into her seat and closes her eyes. She hasn't closed her eyes for two days, and her tiredness was showing through.

Blake looks at Melanie's tired face and says, "Melanie looking back we have known each other for a very long time. We would hang out with each other during middle school up till highschool. We could have been together, however, you abandoned me because of him." Blake says with playfulness in his eyes. Melanie's eyes suddenly snap open when he brought up "him".

"First of all, we were never dating in the first place. So I think it is inappropriate to use abandon as a term. There was no verbal or written commitment between us. So me abandoning you is a stretch."

Blake's smile completely disappears "Why have you been like this for so many years? I've already warned you about marrying Mr. Steel. He doesn't love you. Look at the number of times he had cheated on you.

"If you mention this again, I will tie you to the dissecting table later..." Melanie warned. After hearing this Blake shut right up.

Melanie looked out the window. Pierce didn't love her. She knew that. All she wanted is to stay by his side even if it is just a contracted marriage.

"Melanie, I think you need to rethink your decisions. There is plenty of fish in the sea, and based on your achievements you could find a lot of men as successful as Mr. Steel."

"I've already made my choice and I won't regret it!"

She became Pierce's wife because of his grandfather. Their marriage was not the marriage of two people but the marriage of two families. Melanie knew this from the moment she agreed to marry. She knew her marriage was not going to be normal, so she buried herself in work in order to ignore this fact. She helped solve case after case to help families receive the answers and the peace they need. She knew she wouldn't get the peace in her life so she worked her best to help others obtain their answers and peace.

"The first half of my life I had a crush on him. I might spend the rest of my life keeping his crush a secret. I might never receive my answers as well as my peace." Melanie thought as she looked out the window.

When Pierce finished his work he looked over to see Shawn reading a business magazine. He sat on the sofa with his short legs dangling. He swung his feet side to side happily.

Pierce walked over: "Shawn, this is not what you should read!"

"I'm bored daddy," Shawn said.

After Melanie left he quietly sat on the sofa and rarely spoke to pierce. It seemed like Shawn inherited this trait from Melanie.

Pierce picks Shawn up and holds him in his arms, "Let's go eat at McDonald's today for lunch."

"Mommy says that's junk food and isn't good for your body."

"It's ok mommy won't know if we keep it a secret between us. There is also a playground there. You can go to play."

"I'm not a three-year-old kid, how can I still like that kind of thing!" Shawn said thinking he is very mature and not realizing that he is only four.

"Or do you want to go to the toy store. Daddy can buy you toys. I remember your grandpa telling me your interests in Legos."

"I only say that to make Grandpa happy. If he buys me a toy I can't say that I dislike it. Grandpa would be sad, ."

.........

Pierce looked at Shawn with astonishment. How did this kid's personality form? He seems way too mature for his age.

"Fine, I'm ok with anything. Daddy can choose." Shawn said while patting Pierce on the shoulder like a father patting his son's shoulder.

Pierce, "...."

**Be sure to like and comment!***