Stripped

Chapter Five

He asked her while he held onto her shoulders preventing her from fainting.

"No...no sir", Charlotte lied.

"Ahh, my tummy!!!", she kept groaning with each passing minute, and that distracted Lucas from trying to place where he had heard the voice from.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the first floor and Lucas hurriedly carried her out in his arms, with his shirt stained with her blood.

"Help!!, Where's the ambulance?", Lucas yelled in fear, then his bodyguards took her from him into the ambulance who had already arrived.

After a few days, she was discharged from the hospital, with stern warning from the doctors to take her medications as the drugs she took could have damaged her womb. She was relieved to know she had gotten rid of the baby even if it could have cost her, her life. She was given few weeks leave from work to recover, then she decided to go to her dad's house to stay. Two days later, she got back from the mini mart she went to get some stuff, only to see her aunt in her room, sitting on the floor holding a paper in tears.

"You are pregnant??!!", Aunt Rose asked.

Charlotte was left dumbfounded, she thought she had thrown that out already.

"Why are you in room?" She asked as she dragged the paper from her hands, "stop going through my stuff, for f***s sake I'm an adult Aunt!!", Charlotte continued angrily.

"I asked you a question, Charlotte, is that why you are home?", Aunt Rose asked walking close to her.

"I'm not pregnant, that's not mine even, did you see my name on it?", Charlotte asked

"So why do you have someone's pregnancy report?"her aunt asked looking a bit relieved.

Charlotte moved closer to her aunt trying to calm her down, "relax Aunt, it's for a friend, she left the report with me, I even thought I had thrown the paper out" she replied.

"You got me worried, Charlotte", her aunt said leaving her room.

"That was a close call", Charlotte mumbled under her breath as she locked her door.

Two weeks later, Charlotte resumed work, she met her colleagues who were so happy to see her, she drafted to them a lie and they all believed she had a miscarriage after wanting to have a child with her boyfriend.

Later that afternoon, she was asked by her supervisor to go clean Lucas' office while he's away for a meeting. Charlotte had in mind to thank him that day for helping her out the other day at the elevator, he was not as evil and cold as everyone thought he was, she decided to write a letter of gratitude, a chocolate in a fancy bag for him as she couldn't thank him physically.

"Wow!! who's the gift for?", Leah asked teasing her.

"Are you trying to take my man?", She continued laughing.

"It's for no one, and who is your man?", Charlotte replied,

"The boss, he's my man, I thought the gift was for him", Leah responded. Charlotte stopped for a second, "why would you think that?"

"Because, that day, oh my!!, I wish I was the one he carried in his arm", Leah responded falling lightly into Charlotte's arms daydreaming about Lucas.

Charlotte burst into laughter,"you are one crazy girl".

She got to his office, and dropped the bag on the table for him to see when he comes back, and she went ahead to clean his office. After she was done, she proceeded to arrange the files which were scattered on his table, she saw a watch lying on the table she decides to keep it in the drawer, she open the drawer and she saw the case for the watch, she opened it.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed in shock, as she saw her mother's necklace in it. "What is he doing with my mom's necklace?" She poundered fearfully holding the case.

"Oh no..", she mumbled, hitting her head in frustration, "Shittt!!! I must have left it that night, now what do I do, why did he even keep it with him? I can't leave it here.. ", she thought to herself, still holding the case. After a few minutes of poundering she checked the time and she knew he would be back any minute, she took the necklace from the case and left.

After a few hours, Lucas entered his sparkling clean office and his mood lightened up, he had been grumpy for the past few weeks at the thought of not finding the mysterious stripper that has plagued his mind for months now. He noticed a fancy bag on his table and opened it, then he saw chocolate it in and a note appreciating him for his help that day on the elevator. He left the bag on his table as he wanted to dismiss it, but he couldn't helped but moved by the kind gesture and he ate the chocolate.

Charlotte was relieved to have found her mother's necklace after she thought she had lost it, but she was very careful with it as whenever she wears it she made sure to hide it inside her uniform to avoid been seen by him and recognising her.

Few weeks later, at the close of day, Charlotte and other cleaners were left at the office building trying to finish up cleaning for the next day. Charlotte entered an office to finish cleaning for the day when the silent breeze of the evening touched her skin, and it took her down memory lane as she was reminded of memories of her childhood with her mother. She held her pendent as she shed uncontrollable tears, as she misses her mother so much,

"Mom, I miss you...so much, I have alot of questions to ask you..", she said in tears

Lucas, after attending to his work decides to retire home when he heard a noise coming from an office close by as he walked through the walkway. He peeped through the door of the office and recognised the cleaner, he heard her talking to herself while grazing her necklace.

He made his way to leave as he slowly removed his hands from the handle of the door, but stopped when he heard her bursting into tears, then he opened and entered, Charlotte wiped her tears immediately in embarrassement as she did not want him to know she was crying, while she was wiping her tears, Lucas saw and recognised the necklace dangling around her neck.

"So...sorry sir, I was just rounding up", Charlotte stammered hiding her face.

"That necklace...where did you get it from?", Lucas asked as he tried touching it.

"It's mine, is there a problem?", Charlotte asked hiding the necklace back in her dress, fearfully as she knew he had recognised it.

"No, it just looks really familiar", Lucas responded.

Charlotte avoided his gaze, as he kept staring at her confused.

"Excuse me sir", she said running off from the awkward situation.

Lucas got home, still feeling restless about the cleaner, her voice and the necklace, they did not make sense to him as he kept reminiscing how the stripper kept grazing her pendent.

The next morning, he went early to the office to find the necklace but couldn't find it, even in the case he thought he had left it. Then he remembers the gift she had left on his table, "Did she take it?... because it was hers..?", He poundered to himself

He decided to take matters into his hands, he got a photo of her,got into his car and hurriedly went out to the club, he was willing to do anything to get the truth. Luckily for him, manager Tee had arrived from his long vacation.

Lucas went straight to his office and demanded to know who the mysterious stripper was but manager Tee was reluctant to reveal her identity. In a few minutes, he received a credit notification that blew his mind, Lucas had sent him a huge sum of money.

"Wow", he exclaimed in excitement and revealed her every details to him. It was just one thing left for him to confirm, the photo,her face.

"Is she the lady in this photo?", Lucas asked handing him the photo, anxiously and desperately needing an answer.

Manager Tee held the photo and affirmed….