THE LIE: DECEPTION TO THE CEO

That same night

Michelle Fontain, at her parents’ mansion, was on the verge of a breakdown, because Christopher did not answer her cell phone, nor did he return her calls. Meanwhile, in his Penthouse he was remembering Amber. This one, he thought about this last encounter with her, especially the way she said goodbye to Dylan as she got off at his apartment.

“They don’t look like boyfriends, or lovers!” he reasoned, clearly remembering the instant Dylan arrived for her, at the crash site and then, when he saw them say goodbye in the afternoon, in front of the building where she lives.

“They seem just friends,” he analyzed with strong doubts. He found that behavior strange, between two people who are lovers. Lately, he hardly slept, or when he did, he dreamed of her in Dylan’s arms, but also of others.

“Something doesn’t add up!” considered Christopher suspicious of them, walking to the bar, in his Penthouse and trying to understand Amber and Dylan’s alleged relationship.

“Why haven’t they announced an engagement or why aren’t they living together? If they have decided to continue their relationship” he questioned, lighting a cigarette and walking out onto the terrace. He knew the latter, because he had been following them, ever since they left the courthouse.

One month later

It was night in Santiago de Leon, capital of the country with the same name, most of the inhabitants remained locked in their homes contemplating the rain. The weather was cold, possibly as a result of the torrential downpours that had fallen in the city during the last few days.

Meanwhile, Amber had decided to celebrate the acquisition of her apartment with an intimate dinner between her mother, Dylan and Genesis at Genesis’ home. They toasted her, her triumphs and accomplishments. They were all happy appreciating the rain through the dining room window.

-Cheers! -Dylan exclaimed, with a wide smile. “I toast to you, that your fame and successes increase more and more, and that doors open for you to find your true happiness,” he said, raising his glass, looking at her fixedly.

-I drink to my daughter, may her life be filled with infinite blessings,” said her mother, with a smile of satisfaction and happiness, because at last they will be in an apartment of their own.

-Cheers my friend! May this be the beginning of many successes and triumphs, and may you find true and authentic love! -Genesis expressed happily, although with a little sadness to know that she will be alone again. She had become accustomed to living with them.

-Cheers, everyone! Thank you, for your good wishes! Thank you for being here with me, celebrating my achievements! -Amber said, raising and clinking her glass with Dylan, “Chinchin!

They spent a quiet evening. After three hours they said goodbye to Dylan, who decided to leave because the heavy downpour that fell on the city had stopped. Before leaving, he offered to help with the move. This help Amber did not refuse, but tried to keep it in case she needed it.

The next day, they began to pick up everything to prepare for the move and take advantage of the weekend so as not to interrupt their workday. Both Amber and her mother were happy, while Genesis was sad that she would be alone again.

One week later

Amber, sitting in her office, reviewing some documents for a new criminal case, received an unexpected visit, it was the former inmate who beat her at the police station, who apparently needed her help.

-Good morning, lawyer, how are you doing? -asked the former inmate.

-Good morning. What can I do for you? -asked Amber, a little surprised by her visit. In spite of everything, he was suspicious of her, who immediately threw herself on the chair in front of the desk and began to speak.

-You told me that if I got in touch with any of the other prisoners we did that little job I told you about,” she said, gesturing with her body and lifting her face to one side, “to let you know! Precisely, the one who was in contact with the guard Barboza and Michelle is in trouble, because she was arrested.

-Ahhh! how nice and where do they have her? -Amber asked, looking in her desk for a folder in which she has the information she has collected about them, as well as the results of other investigations she has done.

-At the police station! They grabbed her last night, but she’s already on her way to the checkpoint.

-Perfect! Inform her that tomorrow at ten o’clock I’ll be at the police station to talk to her,” she said with an enigmatic look on her face.

(***)

The following day, Amber entered the police precinct and asked the detainee to be sent to the lawyers’ attention area. Upon speaking with her, she made the same proposal as the first former inmate, “freedom in exchange for a signed statement”.

However, to this one, he demanded that in the same statement she mention the names of those who hired her, the amount she received and what was the assignment or work to be done. As it was logical, the detainee, urged to get out, accepted the proposal as long as it would not be used against her.

Which Amber accepted by word of mouth, but did not leave a written record of this. When she began to record without the detainee realizing it, she began to ask her questions and her answers were the same as those given by the previous former inmate. Only this one added:

-When Mendoza spoke with Michelle, I was present. She mentioned that she just wanted to remove a stone from her path, which bothered her and separated her from the man she liked.

-Did she ever mention the man’s name? -Amber asked.

-No!” answered the detainee.

After this, she wrote the statement right there on her laptop, which she made the detainee sign and asked one of the guards to call the Director of the Detention Center to authenticate it.

After a few minutes, the Director of the police station arrived and was astonished when she saw the detainee. She experienced feelings of guilt, remembering that she did not allow her transfer, nor did she investigate what had been done to her, much less punish the culprits, but she also felt jealous, because of what she represented for Christopher.

-What are you calling me for? I don’t have time, to be in particular actions between lawyers and detainees,” she affirmed haughtily.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

-I only need you to witness and authenticate the signature of the detainee in a private document with me and then sign at the end, stating that she signed in your presence. Is that all or do you have to ask permission for that as well? -Amber asked, defiantly.

The director, feeling that she was provoking him and that as a lawyer she knew perfectly well what her functions were within the police station, took the document, read it and at the end signed it, asking her,

-What are you going to do with that statement?

-Justice! I will initiate legal proceedings to find out who was involved in the savage aggression that was done to me. Let them pay! -Amber added with determination, being watched by the detainee, her eyes wide as saucers…