Lady billionaire's husband

Jackie was hesitant to hand the papers to Linda with her hands slightly trembling, her confidence was suddenly overshadowed by a look of concern, "Linda, we can do this later-"

Her sudden demeanour change raised Linda's alarm, "What is it? Jackie, give me the paper -", she had to practically snatch them out of her hand, "- hand them over? What is wrong with you?".

Jackie anxiously bit her lower lip as she watched Linda's eyes carefully scan every single line on the piece of paper and the silence in the room wasn't helping her worries. The sound of each paper as she turned to the next one made her heart clench in anguish, 'Should I say something?'. She tried to read the look on her friend's face but it was nothing, it was just as indifferent as it had been the entire evening, 'did I overreact?', she wondered.

Linda finally finished and she sighed heavily, "Wow, this is a lot of information...", she said void of any emotions confusing Jackie even further, 

"This is not the reaction I expected...", she finally said

Linda smirked, "If you had given me this three days ago, I assure you, my reaction would have been different - so you don't have to worry."

Jackie's face darkened even more depicting the mayhem in her head, "I am sorry Linda, I just don't understand-"

"Jeremy told me everything.", she said calmly, "He told me about his prior plans to destroy me and my family and also that was all based on the information his uncle fed him...."

Relief found Jackie's face and her mouth curved up to a smile, "Wow! He did...now I get it", she chuckled, "I guess he's really had a change of heart. I am sorry for wasting your time"

Linda smiled blissfully, "Nonsense...like I said, if this was three days back, it would have made a huge difference. I am glad I delayed it."

Jackie sighed, "Well I guess my work is done here-", she stood up but was stopped midway by Linda gesturing for her to sit back down,

"We are not done...", she took out her phone to show her pictures of Tony's hi-tech safe, "...I need your help with a mission, do you think you can hack that??". Thanks to Casey's spy in the hotel, they managed to get the pictures of the safe on short notice.

Jackie scrutinised the picture, "Hmmm...interesting..", she grinned

"What is??", Linda question confused

"I won't need to hack this..", she sacked back to her chair with a boastful look, "This safe is my design...I don't need to break in. I wrote the code for the lock...."

Linda's eyes widened in bewilderment, "Wow! There is so much I don't know about you...and remind me never to screw you over", she smirked proudly,

"So what do you need?", Jackie asked

"What's inside, Jeremy suspects there might be some evidence linking Tony to my parents' crash and after what we just talked about it- I find myself even more eager to actually get into the safe....there has got to be a lead in there."

"Makes sense. So, the safe is not the problem and I can hack into the cameras- I am guessing Kim will go in-"

Linda cut her off, "Me...I am going in myself."

Jackie choked because of the sudden shock, "You can't be serious...this will be dangerous Linda, and Kim is trained for such situations-"

"..but she can't be in two places at once, Kim will handle the New York situation....don't worry. I have a week to train and I won't be alone.", Jeremy would be there every step of the way, so she wasn't as afraid.

Jackie dropped her face, "Oh...I see. But still-". She knew it was futile trying to change her mind, the woman was stubborn as a bull, but still, she was worried about her. This would be something she's never done before and it would be dangerous - this is not just anyone's office, is Tony's. She sighed heavily, "-I guess I will have to work extra hard to protect you behind the screen and make sure you get Kim to train you. I will tell her not to go easy on you."

Right after their conversation, Linda called Kim, and not only was her reaction the same as Jackie's but it seemed that she had the same plan because the training proved to be more than she bargained for. Marshall Art in the morning and evenings, obstacle course during the day and running 10 laps between the courses - thanks to Freddy for taking on some of the office work and only leaving her the important tasks - she had time. Despite her gym regimen, she still felt utterly exhausted after each exercise. 

It's day three and the sun is blazing hot as it had been since the week began. The obstacle course was located in a heavily forested area giving Kim the freedom to shout at her all she wanted, even the birds take their leave every time they arrive - Kim was suddenly the instructor from hell. 

"Come on Linda!! You can do better than that!", she yelled through the bullhorn making her pant even harder, "I said I don't want to hear those sounds coming from you! What are you?? A dog??"

"I-I am sorry commander-", she panted as she climbed up the cargo net covered in mud and her hair neatly tied into a ponytail. "I will pick up the speed-"

Kim followed closely behind her as she tackled each obstacle barely breathing. The sun on its own was adding to her struggles making her slower. She rethought her decision as she crawled her way to the last obstacle before finally allowing her exhaustion to engulf her body making her surrender to the ground, "How did I do??", she said with the little breath she caught, "Am I still slow?", 

Kim smirked looking at the stopwatch around her neck, "Hmm...5 minutes faster than yesterday...but we have to work on your endurance....you pant a lot...so, 10 laps run after 30 minutes-",

"What?! Kim, why am I doing this? It's a hotel, not a fortress. I should be learning spy stuff like slithering through security lasers or hanging from a ceiling or something- I won't be running around or crawling in mud-" She looked up to see Kim's disapproving face and she instantly knew she messed up,

"Another 10 laps after marshall arts!", Kim grimaced

She exhaled, "Fine...besides, I do get the point of marshall arts-so that's exciting"

"Why? Because you were already familiar with it??", Kim squinted her eyes

With hesitation, Linda smirked, "Yes..."

"I don't know what you are complaining about...in the evening you go home to a salt bath and massage prepared by your loving fiance- so work harder - in that way, you can enjoy all the spoils of your beloved."

She couldn't deny it..that was the only good thing about the hell of a training Kim was putting her through. Suddenly she missed him, then thought of seeing him replenished her energy, she excitedly stood up from the ground, "Fine, let's continue", she declared happily

Kim shook her head and smirked, "I should have mentioned him earlier seeing how you are suddenly eager to continue."

Linda laughed, "Come on! Let's go, commander. Time is running out."

Meanwhile, Tony suddenly showed up in John's office. He hadn't seen him ever since the gala, in fact, he was surprised to see him in his house, he's never been one to do house calls, especially his house, 

John offered him a seat across from him, "If I had known you were coming, I would've asked the chef to prepare something special or had the maids clean up the terrace"

"Don't worry - I won't stay long. I just heard a crazy rumour that your niece was suddenly taking military training, so it had me wondering why. John, what is she planning?"