not happening...

26

Instead of thinking that the whole world is after you, according to the surveillance camera, she left the room without waking you or asking for anything. According to the surveillance camera, she was more than just horrified to find herself in this situation. She drove to the hospital, got the morning-after pill, and took it. She had herself examined further because she was afraid of catching a disease—because A STRANGER HAD s*x WITH HER.“ Konrad tries to calm himself down, ”You see, she didn't even intend to blackmail anyone with a child. And I know that according to the camera in her own damn hallway, she even tried to show you the note from the hospital. And what do you do? You kidnap her and guard her so she can't leave. And here you stand, almighty, thinking you've done nothing. She's my daughter, you asshole. STAY AWAY FROM HER.“ Nicholas jumps up, ”WHAT?“ Konrad ignores him, takes out his phone and dials a number: ”Mr. Anderson, this is Mr. Grand. I insist that your grandson does not come anywhere near my daughter. Yes, Leila is my biological daughter. If you think I condone r**e, k********g, and the abuse of my daughter, then you are wrong. Here is a recording of the conversation I just had with your grandson after he caused my daughter to have a panic attack. You are lucky I didn't know the full extent of what your family has done to my daughter. Stay away from her."

With that, he leaves and Nicholas sits there—Konrad's words swirling through his head, the accusations. He grabs his phone and calls Peter: “Please pick me up at the hospital, we need to talk.” Shortly after, Peter arrives and Nicholas motions for him to sit down, then hands him the pictures. When Peter sees the pictures, he gasps, “Oh my God, they did that to her?” Nicholas: "She's Konrad Grand's biological daughter. He's accusing me of r****g his daughter because she was drugged and I was the first man she ever had s*x with, and he's more than sure that I didn't ask, and he's right. Then he went on to say that it wasn't a marriage, but a k********g, because I was sure she would try to blackmail me if she got pregnant. Well, if I had listened to her or talked to her normally, none of this would have happened. She went straight to the hospital after the hotel because she didn't know if she had contracted any diseases from having s*x with a stranger, and she also took the morning-after pill.“ Peter almost drops the file. ”Oh, shit." He rubs his face with his hands. “Konrad Grand is right. We broke the law.” Nicholas sighs and feels as if Konrad's words have hit him like a truck. Every word was like a knife in his heart. Pain spreads through his entire body, his ears are ringing, and he tries to breathe slowly. “We have to go to the office.” Both men walk slowly to the limousine.

No one would have guessed that these were successful businessmen. They look like beaten dogs on their way to the scaffold. Shawn Anderson is already sitting in the office, glaring at his grandson: "Well, that phone call with Mr. Grand has opened my eyes a bit to the fact that you're a pretty arrogant bastard.

I actually assumed you had spoken to her – but no, what am I hearing about k********g? And there wasn't even a wedding? Didn't you tell me she begged you to marry her?“ He sinks back, ”Bad enough, what else don't I know?“ His sharp gaze falls on the file Peter is still holding in his hand, ”Give it to me." Nicholas tries, “Grandpa...” A sharp look silences him, and when he sees the photos, tears run down the old man's cheeks. “Oh my God...” He sits there speechless, seeing how her ribs are showing, how thin she is, how many wounds are on her body. “Why didn't she run away?” Peter clears his throat: "The staff guarded her while she did their work. After that, she was locked in the attic and her cell phone was in her old apartment. She couldn't get away and couldn't call anyone for help.“ The old man asks, ”Do you think she wanted to end her life?“ Nicholas sits down and tries to breathe. Shawn looks at the two of them and explains, ”I want all the staff to never be able to find another job, except maybe in the fields for minimum wage. I want the woman and her daughter to be punished, and I want their friend to be punished too...“ He pauses. ”Well, let her do it herself if she wants to. And unfortunately, I can't punish you both. But what kind of upbringing did I expect from her?“ He stands up and explains, ”I'm going home and..." He looks at the two men, turns around without another word and leaves. Peter stands up, goes to the cupboard and takes out a bottle of whiskey. Armed with the bottle, he goes over to Nicholas, picks up one of the glasses on the table and pours himself a generous drink. He closes the bottle and they both take a big gulp of the amber-colored liquid. After a while, Peter leaves the office. It's dark outside and nothing prevents Nicholas from looking at the photos of the wounds over and over again. There's a loud crash and the glass shatters into a thousand pieces on the wall. Tears run down his cheeks, but they bring him no relief. Can something like this ever be forgiven? He has brought her nothing but misery and pain. She can't forgive him, she'll never forgive him. What should he do? Why hadn't he listened? All he could feel back then was anger toward his supposed friends who had started this. Why had they started it? He wanted to at least know who had set this whole thing in motion. He picks up the phone and hears Peter's sleepy voice: “I want to know immediately who drugged Leila and why. I want the results and the perpetrators in my office in an hour at the latest.” None of this excuses his actions, but he needs a start, he needs to know why all this happened and why Leila was chosen. She had no memory of that night, but he did... little snippets of silky skin and... he shakes his head.