ALLEGATIONS
1044 Words
"Please don't let them take me away. I'm innocent!" she cried as the officer clasped the handcuffs on her wrists and led her toward the door.
Thomas stood there, his eyes filled with hatred and disgust as he stared at her as though he could kill her at any moment.
"I'm innocent! I don't know what he's talking about!"
"So you're calling me a liar?" he yelled above the noise. He raised his hands in exasperation as the rest of the employees watched on.
"Cut me some slack!"
She could see pity in their eyes.
She had arrived late at work, as usual, after being employed for only a week. When she got there, she found the police in the office and the whole place in disarray.
The police had given her a fierce look the moment they saw her.
Someone had stolen the money she had been entrusted with. Doreen, the cashier, had called in sick the day before, and Lupita had handled everything by herself.
After all her hard work and dedication, this was how she was going to be repaid.
And her dream job was going down the drain.
Accused of something she knew nothing about.
"Soon you'll be singing like a bird, and I will never withdraw this case."
That was the last thing she heard before the officers pushed her into the car.
She had no lawyer, and Anita was out of town.
Tears flooded her cheeks again and again.
She felt her world crashing around her, with nobody to lean on for support.
The police vehicle sped off toward the station. She could see Thomas's car following behind them.
This was still unbelievable.
She had already planned how her day at the office would go, only to end up being accused of theft.
Her heart ached, breaking into thousands of irreparable pieces.
She had never imagined that she would end up in jail, but now she had to adjust to her fate.
The police vehicle pulled up in front of the station.
Moments later, she was pushed into one of the cells.
Thomas was there, staring at her.
She had heard him swear that he would never withdraw the case.
She was going to jail.
She closed her eyes and curled up in the corner of the cell, her arms wrapped around her small frame.
Before leaving, he gave her one last icy stare.
Thomas himself couldn't believe what had happened as he climbed into his car and drove home.
But the more he thought about it, a nagging feeling kept pressing at the back of his mind, telling him that something wasn't right.
A piece of the puzzle was missing.
As far as he was concerned, however, his silly secretary might know what had happened to the money that had been in her possession.
Still, no matter how hard he tried to ignore the nagging feeling, it stubbornly remained in his mind.
The driver pulled into the parking lot of his vast mansion.
Before the driver could walk around to open the door for him, Thomas was already out and striding toward the house.
He ignored the greetings from several staff members and headed straight to his room.
He even refused to come down for dinner when one of the maids knocked on his door.
His laptop sat open before him as he lounged on the blue couch in his room.
He wasn't thinking about Lupita.
No.
He was thinking about something else.
This was the fourteenth day of the eighteen-day ultimatum given to him by his grandfather, Abraham Rossi.
He was supposed to marry the daughter of his father's best friend and business associate.
God knew he had searched for her to the ends of the earth.
He read through the contract that had been sent to him by his grandfather's lawyer.
He needed a wife as soon as possible.
But no suitable candidate came to mind.
Not even his ex-girlfriend, Laura.
Or Mixon, the mayor's daughter.
No.
He clicked open the gallery on his laptop.
There were dozens of photos of women he had met, dated, or been involved with.
Fifteen of them.
He swiped through photo after photo.
Even his one-time i********: crush, Chef Sara Stone.
Then Kathleen Liver, the beautiful actress.
No.
Not her either.
Every single one of them had been after his money.
He didn't need a soothsayer to tell him that.
They had nearly wrecked him in just six months.
He needed someone different.
Someone he didn't know.
A woman who would do as he asked.
After one last look at the photos of the final two women who had danced into his life and then danced right back out, he shut the laptop and stretched.
He poured himself some whiskey over ice.
One of those stupid exes had even dragged him into a scandal.
That foolish Hannah Crane.
He got up and walked briskly to the balcony, deep in thought.
It was past midnight, but his mind refused to rest.
Tomorrow would be Day Fifteen.
Not only that, but the board of directors would be celebrating.
Happy that he hadn't found a bride.
That included his irritating distant cousin as well.
He switched on his phone, and the first piece of news that greeted him was that his secretary was involved in a scandal.
Yeah, right.
Served her right.
Her round face appeared in his mind.
Those ridiculous glasses she always wore had frames so thick they could cut through steel.
And her hair was always pulled back into a tight bun.
Then there were those oversized suits she insisted on wearing.
They looked more like life jackets.
He tilted his head as he scrolled through his phone.
Looking at her objectively, she was actually beautiful.
Take away the ugly glasses and oversized suits, add a little makeup, and she would be stunning.
He was a ladies' man.
He knew these things.
Then a ridiculous thought crept into his mind.
He blinked, the whiskey glass stopping inches from his lips.
This thought wasn't coming to him for the first time.
"No," he muttered.
"Not Lupita Bianchi."
He kept telling himself not to think in that direction.
But every time he closed his eyes, the same image appeared before him.
- Writer
