"I can’t believe all this was happening behind my back," Louis said in disbelief as we walked out of the restaurant. "He’s an experienced well-accomplished man who my family chose for the job. I thought he would do his job only to find out all this. I should have done a better job of checking on the restaurant."
He sounded so disappointed in himself like he blamed himself.
"You couldn’t have known," I tried to reassure him. "Louis you’re the CEO you have lots of other duties to take care of. It’s not your fault that someone delegated to do their job didn’t do it properly."
" I’m terrified to find out just how many victims there are," he then told me.
Louis then took me home. The car ride to his apartment was silent. We didn’t say much to each other. Upon arriving there and entering his apartment he turned to me in the middle of the foyer.
"So this is what you were working on at the restaurant?" he asked me. "Investigating my assistant Gatwick?"
"Yes," I replied.
He then let out a tired sigh.
"When you said you wanted to look into something at the restaurant I had a feeling it was something important but I never imagined it would be something this serious," he said concerned. "You saw the way he lunged at you! He could have seriously hurt you!"
He sounded so worried and disappointed.
"I wish you’d told from the beginning so I could have helped you look into it," he told me. "You would have never been in harm’s way and we could have caught him earlier."
"I know but I was just worried. What if you didn’t believe me or you thought I was overstepping in your company’s affairs?" I explained why.
He drew closer to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. My pupils dilated as I stared up at him. "Jasmine, listen to me. I know you had a tough upbringing and your marriage wasn’t favourable. But I want you to know that you can trust and rely on me. I’m not Chairman Acland, I’ll listen to what you have to say. It’s okay to ask for help. You don’t have to do everything yourself," he told me.
Tears welled in my eyes as they searched Louis’. They were full of compassion and concern. He genuinely looked concerned for me. Aside from Tony and my mother he’s is the only other person who’s ever cared for me.
I felt the wetness on my cheeks as tears began to pour down. He brought a hand up to my face and gently wiped away my tears.
He then pulled me into him and hugged me. I cried into his chest feeling overwhelmed with emotion. With his muscular arms wrapped around my shoulders I felt protected and safe. His cologne filled my nose, it woody, musky, masculine scent.
"Why are you so kind to me?" I asked him in a small voice.
I only had myself and Tony in my past life. I was just so used to depending on myself and figuring things out for myself. Even the situation earlier with Henry and Kyle, if I had asked them for help earlier things could have gone so much smoother in my plan to catch Gatwick. I’ve never really experienced receiving help from people.
"I allowed you to do your thing because I wanted you to know I trust you and in turn want you trust me. So from now on talk to me, alright?" he requested me.
"Okay," I replied.
"Good, don’t ever do anything this dangerous by yourself again," he said.
We hugged each other for a minute as I cried. I wished we could stay like this forever to be honest. Buried in his muscular chest, listening to the steady calming, pounding of his heart.
Once I’d calmed down we came apart. He told me he had to go.
"I’ll have to finishing handling this whole Gatwick situation I’m not sure what time I’ll be back," he informed me. "I have to go through all the company documents, check with the other restaurants what their experiences with him were like. Organize finding and contacting victims, all that stuff."
"Oh about that," I recalled as I took out my phone. I went to my files and sent the folder I had compiled on Andrew Gatwick to Louis.
Louis’ phone pinged and he took it out from his pocket to check it.
"Its a folder containing the research I’ve been doing on Gatwick in the last few days," I explained. "There’s a compilation of all the suspicious things he’s done as well as all his known and potential sexual assualt victims."
"That’s what what you stayed up late at night doing?" he asked me.
I nodded my head in response.
He chuckled. "Nice, I’ll make sure to have a look," he told me.
"Oh and one final thing," I then handed him the letter I’d received from the manager earlier today.
"I was fired today," I told him
"The fuck?" he asked as he took the paper and read through it.
"Apparently,Gatwick is the one who made the call," I continued.
"Why? I never told him to do such a thing," he asked in confusion.
"He mentioned someone requested him to do it," I told him.
"Apparently, Gatwick is just the gift that keeps giving, isn’t he?" Louis sarcastically said as he shook his head in disappointment.
"Anything else?" he asked worriedly.
"No, fortunately," I told him.
"What a relief. Anyway I’ll see you later," he said goodbye to me and left the apartment. Leaving me alone.
With nothing else to do I moved around the apartment tying to keep busy. However, the only thing on my mind was how the investigation was going.
I wondered if the evidence I had compiled would help. Tony arrived later in the afternoon and so I spent time with him. I helped him with his homework. We had dinner and I later took him to bed.
****