Chapter 16
The next day at work, Rita’s table was filled with flowers of all sorts. At first, she thought Rodrigo was behind this but she remembered he wasn’t rich enough to afford these flowers. She took one of the flowers, reading the note that accompanied it. Her second guess was correct, Edmundo was behind it.
“Trash them”, she said to Yasmin who had followed her all the way up.
Yasmin gulped, struggling to obey this instruction. She didn’t have it in her to waste such beautiful flowers which she was sure must have cost a whole lot of money.
“Ma’am, are you sure?”, She asked, picking one of the flowers.
“Yes, I’m sure. Now, do as you’re told and let me be”, she said, dismissing her.
“Alright ma’am. Please be reminded that you have a meeting with your chaffeur by ten and the investors from the Pearl bank by twelve noon”, Yasmin said, walking out of the office with a large bouquet of flowers.
Rita settled in her chair, closing her eyes for a minute. Rodrigo had earlier informed her that he had some information concerning what they were pursuing. She had no idea what it was and could only hope that it would be useful.
A few minutes after ten, there was a light knock on her door. Rita hurried towards the door, opening it to reveal the face of the man she loved.
“Welcome”, she said, pecking his cheek.
He shut the door with his leg as he kissed her passionately. Rodrigo bit her lower lip, smiling when she moaned.
“Okay, let’s stop. If we continue like this, we won’t get anything done” Rita laughed.
Rodrigo set her down, cupping a feel of her butt in the process. Rita slapped his hand away, laughing as she made her way to her seat. He took the seat facing her, staring at her gorgeous face.
“If you don’t stop staring, I’ll kick you out”, she smiled.
“Okay… Okay, I’ll try”, he laughed.
“Thank you. So what have you got”, Rita said, getting down to business.
“A lead. A major one at that. We were able to trace some large amount of money to an offshore account owned by this Gabriel Roland and further investigations shows that he’s indeed the owner of this account”, Rodrigo said.
“My God, this can not be happening”, Rita said, horrified.
“It is my dear. We also found out that these monies were diverted from the company’s account to his own account. Upon further investigations, we found out various receipts for different purchases made by the company which might I say is fake. Gabriel not only stole a large amount of money but he also created fake receipts to cover up his crimes”, Rodrigo said with fury in his eyes.
Rita was lost for words. She didn’t know what to do or think as Rodrigo revealed more of Gabriel’s crimes.
“This is horrible, my father would have a stroke if he gets to find out. How come I didn’t know all this while, this has been going on for years”, Rita said.
She got up from her seat as she began pacing about, worry in her eyes. There was so much that had happened and she was in the dark not knowing what was going on.
“So, what do we do. We need to clamp him down, he can’t get away with this” Rita said with fury in her eyes.
“First and foremost, we need to lure him to have a meeting here. Before he comes, I’ll inform the police about this. We would give him no chance to escape. As soon as he’s done with his confession, we hand him over to the police”, Rodrigo said.
“Okay. What about the shooting. Is there anything on that yet?”, she asked.
“I’m afraid not. We’re still searching for who is behind this but I can assure you that soon, we’ll get whoever it was”.
“Okay, this makes me more safer knowing this”, she smiled, walking towards him.
She sat on his lap, wrapping her hands around his neck as she gave him a huge kiss. Rodrigo smiled, running his hands all over her body.
“Thank you, for everything”, she smiled.
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m only doing my job and also because I love you and that’s never going to change”, he said.
“How is your mother?”, She asked, stroking his jaw.
“She’s fine, getting much better by the day. In fact, she’s more happier every time I see her”, he smiled.
Just then, there was a loud knock on the door. Rita scrambled away from his lap, adjusting her skirt that had ridden up. Rodrigo groaned, rising to his feet. He didn’t understand why every time they seemed to settle down, they were always disturbed.
“Let me walk you out”, Rita said, giving his hands a gentle squeeze.
Upon opening the door, she was met with the furious face of Edmundo. Rita could tell that he was in a foul mood and seeing Rodrigo with her just made him all the more angry.
“What is he doing here?”, he seethed, pushing himself inside the office.
Rodrigo stood at a corner, watching the scene unfold. He moved towards Rita surreptitiously, vowing within himself to protect her if worse comes to worst.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
“He’s my chaffeur and my personal guard Edmundo. What do you mean by that question?”, Rita said.
She was beyond caring. She didn’t care if she appeared rude. Edmundo had no right to come into her office and talk thrash.
“Why does it seem that everytime I come in here, he’s always in your office. Which begs the question, what is he doing here?”, he repeated.
Rita ignored his question, facing Rodrigo. She saw the look of anger in his eyes at the way Edmundo addressed her. She gave him a small smile, silently reassuring him that everything was going to fine.
“Please, you can go now. Pick me up at the close of work, thank you”, she said.
Rodrigo hesitated, moving towards her. He stopped in his tracks, deciding against it. He didn’t want to give away their relationship to him and have her ending in trouble.
“Yes ma’am”, he said, taking his leave.
When he left, Rita sat back on her chair, facing Edmundo who seemed to find this whole situation funny.
“Now, what do you want?”, she asked.
“I came to see you”, he said.
“Good, now you’ve seen me. You can go now”, Rita said, tapping her feet on the ground.
“Not quite yet”, he said walking towards her.
Rita shrunk back in her seat, not quite trusting him not to do anything rash.
“You see, I have an event I’m to attend in Madrid this weekend”, he said, stroking her hair.
“So, what has that got to do with me?”, she asked.
“You’ll be going with me”, he said, finally.