Chapter 8_what is ethical and not ethical

"Home. I want to go home"

She said quietly and god damn it, hearing her say that made me furious.

Her torn lip still showed how badly the bastard had hit her. I didn't know that things were this bad and had I known, I wouldn't have done or said all those things to her.

Yesterday, I had stepped out of line. It was not my intention to humiliate her or make her feel like some hoe but god damn it, that little skirt clouded my senses. I wasn't supposed to look at her that way. I wasn't supposed to feel jealous when she went out with someone and yet here I was, worried sick that she hated him.

But wasn't that my primary goal? To make her hate me? To use her to my advantage?

"This is your home,"I muttered not bothered at how her eyes scrutinized me.

She was not well and although it shouldn't have mattered, it did. Her uncle or whatever he claimed he was to her would rot in jail for as long as I lived.

I remember vaguely waiting for her outside her apartment to apologize. I had rehearsed a whole sympathetic paragraph just for her and that was amusing since I never apologized at all, let alone to a woman. The car parked across the street from where I was appeared and she carefully got out of the vehicle in all smiles.

It upset me. It upset me that a mere guy had managed to make her smile yet in all my days working at the company I hadn't seen her grimace nor laugh. The douche had got to the extent of kissing her at the corner of her lips and even from afar I could see her turn all red no doubt from the heat of the moment.

It was at that moment I decided not to apologize and that didn't work out. Going out of my car, I entered her building running into an old woman smoking her cigarette on her way down the dark stairs.

"Hey miss,"I called out and without sparing me a time in the world she spat,

"First floor, second door to the right. I don't know how much he owes you but trust me the guy is too drunk to listen to shit. I pity the young girl. Eleanor doesn't deserve it, but then again, life ain't fair,"she coughed momentarily only to shove the cigarette back in her mouth and say,"life is never fair, son"

And within a blink of an eye, she was out the doors leaving a trail of smoke behind her.

Alright. First floor, second door to the right!

At first I thought I heard wrong but when I heard growls followed by thunderous thuds, I had no choice but knock the door down only to find my secretary lying on the floor and the drunk moron towering over her.

Looking back at her now, I wondered what went on in her mind. Was she angry with me? Was she traumatized by yesterday's events? What questions ran through her mind?

"Don't... don't do that. I don't need your pity Sir. This is not my home and I would not be as stupid as to accept your offer to live here after what you said yesterday. I don't need your fake attention"

I guess I got my answers. She was angry.

"It was not an offer, Eleanor. It was an order,"I raised my voice alittle in hopes that I would scare her to stay.

"An order? I'm obliged to remind you that outside the company premises you and I are merely strangers. You are not my boss and I your employee"

She bit her tongue. It's a habit I had noticed everytime she was annoyed.

Looking at her blue green eyes, I wondered how much she had suffered and how long she had kept quiet about it.

"Doesn't the contract state that all employees should be healthy and well to work. Well atleast that's what I read and right now I've got a lot on my plate so having a sick secretary is the last thing I need at the moment"

I spoke and I could see genuinely her displeasure, her raw hate for him burn like fire in her eyes and it gave me pleasure. Her loving me for being a hero is the last thing I wanted.

Standing up from the bed I got out of my room instructing my maid to call a doctor.

xXxXxXxX

"Did you know she lived with a drunkard?"I growled.

"Wow, first time you visit me in ages and this is what you come to me with? Maybe I did and that's not supposed to matter, Klaus"

She smiled with no hint of emotion at all. Moving around in her garden, she watered the carnations that dad planted a while ago before his death. Being in this house reminded me that we were once complete. That dad completed us...now it was so empty. The laughs of my sister Drizella were gone, Mario's annoying voice of him complaining about yet another woman were gone... instead mom kept the old mansion company.

"She's not to blame, mom"I reasoned.

She stopped watering the flowers her eyes fixated on me,"Then why did you agree to do it, huh? Deep down you know she's to blame for her father's actions. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Klaus, if it wasn't for her father, your dad would still be with us so don't you dare lecture me on what is ethical and not ethical"

"We never agreed to letting her get hurt"

I whispered.

"She got hurt?"

"Her uncle...he beat her up"

Her eyes dilated in surprise as my phone buzzed in my pants.

"Yes Martin"

"Sir, I'm sorry to inform you a bit late but Ms Gibbins has been gone for too long"

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"The doctor...the doctor said he had to run some tests on her and I agreed to let her go to the hospital as it seemed necessary at the time"

"How long has she been gone? Martin, I told you not to let her out of your freaking sight!"

"I'm deeply sorry Sir. She's been gone for four hours now"

"Alright. Did the doctor happen to leave a name?"

"Yes, Sir. John Miller"

Freaking piece of shit! That douche again!