CHAPTER 4

A few hours later, Sunday morning

When last did I visit a church? I ask myself as I hear the church bells ring. I wasn't here to listen to the sermon or ask forgiveness for my sins thus far. I was here to confess those sins and the sins to come, the sins I would still commit. Confession and forgiveness were two different things entirely.

"Hello, father. Good morning." I say as I get comfortable in the confession box.

"Good morning, child. Welcome. How may I help you?"

"I'm here to confess my sins."

"You may begin. Your secrets are bound between yourself, I, and God." The priest says.

"I've done so many questionable things father. Things that the old me wouldn't have done, I mean, I haven't killed anybody but somehow, deep down inside, I feel like this mission I'm on, my quest for justice, would make me do something horrific. I'm using devious means to destroy the lives of those who ruined mine. Even though I know that I'm not supposed to be doing this, I am, and I fear the worst is yet to begin. This anger, it's consumed me so much, but I'm not ready to give it up, even though I know what it's capable of doing to me.”

"What do you think will happen at the end of this mission you speak of?"

"I'm hoping to get peace. As long as the lines are equal, I will be at peace, knowing they have suffered just as much as I have.”

"Judgement is for the lord alone, child. Why do you bother yourself doing what is of no concern to you?"

"No concern? No concern? I lost my father, almost lost my life and my son. I was raped, abducted, tortured, sold off like a piece of jewelry, off to the highest bidder, and all this was orchestrated by one man. I was innocent! Do you know what it feels like to look into the eyes of a man and beg to not be violated? Raped without pity?! No, father, you don't. You don't understand what it felt like to be thrown out in the middle of the night with heavy rainfall after being wrongfully accused of being a vile and adulterous woman. I will not forgive, and I will not forget." I say, as I storm out of the confession box, tears in my eyes. I'd just reminded myself of everything I'd gone through while married to Lucas. Did I really love such a monster? I wipe my tears as I exit the church. "Saturday seems so far all of a sudden, but I'll wait, because Saturday marks the beginning of your end, Lucas Carrington."

As I enter the building, my coffee in hand, I realize that Luke has just arrived. I pause, watching him and his entourage enter the company. I drink my coffee, as I stand, watching hun. The doors are open wide for him and he enters, his entourage following closely behind him. He sees me. He stops. We look at one another. He doesn't say a word. I don't, either. I sip my coffee again, and walk off. I enter the elevator, and just as it's about to close, as a part of me expected, Luke prevents the doors from closing. He enters. It's as quiet as a graveyard.

"Good morning.” He says.

"As much as I'm surprised that you remembered your manners today, there's nothing good about the morning, especially when you're in my sight.” I respond. I sip my coffee, again.

"I wonder if you've ever heard of the word professionalism? Keep your personal problems, away from business. I won't have you ruin my company with your lack of professionalism."

I chuckle, "Your company?" I giggle, loudly. "Did you just say ‘your’? I think you're forgetting something, Mr. Carrington. I own majority of this company, all your companies combined. I should be saying that not you. This is my company now, and changes will be made, as I desire." As if in queue, and in my favor, the doors open and I leave.

I head straight to the HR department. The place goes quiet as soon as I'm noticed.

"I assume you all know who I am, so I need not bother with an introduction. However, the reason I'm here, is because, I need an office space, now, and I need my nameplate now.”

A woman raises her hand. "Go on," I say

"When you say nameplate, I'm sorry to ask, but what do we put on it? Mr. Carrington is the CEO. . .”

I smile as I approach her. I scan her ID card. "Darling Agatha, Luke is undisputedly the CEO. I am the chairman. There's a clear difference. Do you understand?"

The staff nod in agreement. It was not my intention to make anyone dislike me or think I was rude. The old me would have been troubled if people didn't like me, but as of now, I didn't give a shit. As I follow Esther, an employee, who's leading me to an empty office space, I get familiar with the environment. The company was huge.

"We're here." She says as she opens the door. I enter. The room is overly dull. Ash curtains and ash blinds at several corners of the room. The room is quite big, enough space for me to feel comfortable in. There's a coffee brown wooden table, a set of mahogany couches and a glass table, centered in the midst of the couches.

"This will do. I'd need a clock." I say, as I realize there's no clock in the room.

She nods at me, and gives a subtle head bow. "Excuse me.” She says as she leaves the room.

I scan the room thoroughly, touching every surface in search of hidden voice recorders and cameras. I head to the curtains and drag them open. "Ahem." The dust was heavy. There's a flower pot just beside the curtains which I want to see up close, but I am trying to hold the curtains tight, but my attention is drawn to the faint knock on the glass door. It's a woman, dressed in a black silk shirt and a green skirt. Her hair was tied in a tight ponytail, her makeup subtle, but sharp.

"Please, come in.” She enters.

"I've heard a lot about you, seen you in the papers, but they didn't really do justice to you. You're beyond beautiful, even with the hair. You look even better.”

"Heh. Thank you. Do I know you?"

"No, you don't, but you should. You'll need allies in this company. I'm here to extend a hand of friendship.”

"Allies? Why? I own majority of the shares here, I needn't kiss anyone's ass, if anything, the lot of you need me as your ally.”

She chuckles, covering her nose as she does so. This woman was an elitist. She speaks, "This must be your first time in the corporate world, right?"

"Yes.”

"Hierarchy doesn't always work here, Miss Richardson.”

I raise a brow, impressed she didn't refer to me as 'Mrs. Carrington'. "Go on, enlighten me.”

"As far as I've been here, you might have majority shares and control a lot of things in the company but if you do not align yourself with the right people; just as you entered, you will be thrown just as quickly.”

"Is that even possible?"

"Very much. Although, that'll probably happen through illegal and illegitimate means, sabotaging too, but still, you must be careful.”

I chuckle, "Firstly, no one can cross me. Secondly, I won't be leaving here, at least, not until I decide to.”

"You sound enthusiastic.”

"I am enthusiastic. Now what I'd like to know is, what is your motive? Let me rephrase, what are your motives? I can tell that you’re after something.”

She stands, folding her arms together. "I like you, Miss Richardson. You're very smart. Like you, I also share a grudge against someone in this company.”

I freeze. No one could know the intentions I had towards Luke. I couldn't risk anyone finding out about my true intentions, so I had to play it cool.

"Don't look so surprised. I know the only reason an ex-wife would come to her ex-husbands company and continuously bitch slap him with her words isn't just for the fun of it. That's why I'm here too, although, my story's a bit different.”

"Is it Luke?"

"Y— With my index finger placed over my lips, I stop her as she's about to speak. My eyes fall on the flower pot, yet again. I move closer to it and touch the plant. I scatter the dust and just as I'd suspected, there was a hidden recorder. I smile and place it back, carefully. I take out my phone and type something like a distress single on my notepad.

There's a recorder here. You should leave. Meet up at 9 at Rousseau's Coffee.

“Well, maybe we should talk things out elsewhere?”

She nods at the message and leaves. Now, I clearly knew that Lucas didn't trust me. At the end of the day, he played right into my trap. I wouldn't get rid of the recorder. Luke would hear only what I wanted him to hear.

I move closer to the flower pot as I dial a number. The call is answered.

"Hello? Yes, I need a favor.”

Couples walking together in their coats, some with dogs, some with cups of coffee, some with cotton candy and some, with their children.

I am driving really slowly as I want to get a closer and proper look at the people walking. I wonder how it must feel to have such happiness, happiness I knew once upon a time. I finally arrive at Rousseau's. I didn't know her name and I didn't have her phone number either, so I had no idea how to reach her.

"Bourbon, please." I say as I sit on the chair. The bartender nods, as he begins to prepare my bourbon. "Thanks.” I respond as soon as I receive the glass of bourbon.

"Getting a drink for only one?" I hear and turn to see her. "Another glass, please." She says.

"Kelly Claire." She says as she extends her hand for a handshake.

"Natalie Richardson, as you know." The bartender brings her glass of bourbon.

"Shall we get a private table then?"

**

"So, shall we? What exactly is it you're after?"

"Six years ago, my father was the manager at one of Luke's power brewing companies in Glasgow. They're spread out in London. There was a slush fund, dirty laundry and terrible skeletons. My father was a honest man, but somehow he was blamed for everything. The police got involved, but somehow, my father wound up dead in a deserted police vehicle on the highway!"

I gasp, shocked. I'm unable to speak. There's tears in her eyes as she hits the table repeatedly.

"I know that my father is innocent of the crimes he was accused of.”

"Does Luke know of this?"

"I'm certain of that. I don't have enough proof yet to nab him, but Lucas is the only one asides his right hand man, Caleb, who's capable enough of knowing dirty company secrets. If they're aware of these secrets and it doesn't go in their favour, who else would try to cover it up?"

"Oh, my God. . .”

"I've never opened up to anyone about this before, but my gut never fails me. I know I can trust you, that's why I'm seeking your help. I know you're after your ex-husband, because I can see the same look I had in my eyes in yours.”

"You said you have proof. What proof do you have?"

"Documents. A video." Kelly responds.

I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. "A video?"

She nods, "I'll give you a copy of the video. Decipher it yourself. I need a second interpretation." She says as she brings out a pen and paper. She writes out something on a piece of brown paper and hands it over. It's a link.

"You'll find the documents and the video there."

"Why is it stored online?"

"You forget Carrington Industries has multiple subsidiary companies, one of which is a telecommunications company. They hack and gain illegal access to people's personal data and information. It's best hidden there. They'll never be able to find it."

I had to admit, apart from being well spoken, Kelly was smart. More than a billion websites on the internet, best way to hide evidence against a powerful tyrant; hide them on the internet. "I'm not doing anything against Luke, so you should stop saying that."

"I understand that you may not trust me. Hell, I wouldn't trust me either, and honestly, I really don't care much about what your plans are, nor do I want to know them. As long as they take that man down for good, I will always be on your side.”

I nod. "I'll look into those documents. I'll watch the video. You will get the justice you deserve, you have my word on that."

She smiles. She takes the last gulp of bourbon. "My enemy's enemy is my friend," She gets up to leave. "Have a good evening, Miss Richardson.”

"Have a good evening."

As Kelly leaves, I take a proper look at the piece of paper. If Kelly's accusations were true, then it meant that Luke was even worse than I'd imagined. A murderer. Every passing day, I learned something new and terrifying about the man I once loved.