"Dear Mr. Black, it is my pleasure to welcome you and your companion to my charity orphanage. Please come inside and close the door behind you."
The man told us as he welcomed us in. beside him stood a few kids, all belonging to different age groups, ethnicities and even genders.
Alarm bells started to ring even harder in my mind as I saw this odd site. But i tried to show no reaction and pretend that I had not noticed anything.
The director snapped his fingers and kids quickly came around us to help us sit down and also pour us some tea. Their moments looked perfect and practiced, almost as if they were dolls more than humans.
"Director, we are here to talk about these kids-"
I started to speak but the director snapped his fingers together before I could finish speaking and gestured toward the kids serving us.
"Ah, these kids? Aren’t they lovely? Have you taken fancy to any of them? If so, then please tell me and I will try to do my best send them with you. After all, this is a place where you can ’adopt’ any kid you want."
The director’s words were already filled with red flags, but he did not stop there.
"Do you want obedience? Defiance? Or perhaps, beauty in the child you want to adopt. No matter what kind of...service...you want, these kids can provide it. They can even provide you...company....shall you find yourself lonely. How about these two? They are twins and perfect for you and your...partner. After all, you must have gotten bored of her by now? It has been almost a week..."
The director was trying to see these kids to us. Somehow, that was a shock and not at the same time.
I had heard about shady underground rings supporting human trafficking too many times to count now.
But they never had anything to do with me. I had always done my best to keep my company clean...but clearly that had not been enough if both my ex-fiance and my sister were involved with this mess.
"You...have been in this business for a long?"
I forced these words out and did my best to make my voice sound interested.
The director let out a laugh at my words, his eyes twinkling as he looked at me. Somehow, his gaze made me feel like I was a piece of meat for him to gawk at.
"Hmm, we certainly have not been in business as...some of the other places. But thanks to some hidden support, we were able to grow much faster. It’s just a shame that Jenna Harvour killed herself...ehm, I mean died when she did. She was a good shield to hide behind."
The sudden use of my name made me jolt and even Damian straightened himself and started to pay attention to the conversation.
"What does Jenna Harvour have to do with this? Wasn’t her public image really clean?"
I asked, my interest hitting a new ceiling. The director just let out a laugh at my words before he clarified what he meant.
"Oh, don’t we know all about it. Anyone who’s ever bothered to look into Jenna Harvour could tell that she was too white-laced to do such unheard-handed deals. I am sure that someone * close* to her decided to use her name to support some...shady...businesses. Not that we are shady, of course. But let’s just say, she was unlucky in this regard."
The man told me and I felt my insides go hot and cold at the same time.
There were only a few people who could have used my name and not gotten in trouble. And among them, there were two that were on top of my list.
’Rose...Karl...just how low can you two get? Not only did you support human trafficking but you also did it using my name? Do you two have no shame?’
I wanted to rage and ask this. But I had to bottle my rage for now. It was not the time for me to be thinking about these things.
The shock of what I heard was so great that I did not even feel Damian’s nails digging into my side until the pain became too much to ignore.
"Ouch-"
I quickly looked at my side, only to see patches of red on my dress. Damian’s hand also had patches of red, but he did not look as sorry as he should about that.
"Ah, sorry about that...."
Damian told me in a sincere voice but the next second, he turned to look at the director.
"You said that someone framed Jenna Harvour as a financial partner for these kinds of activities. Do you know who did that?"
Damian asked and by now even the director seemed to have understood that something was wrong here.
I would have observed his expression more had I suddenly not started feeling a little annoyed at the situation.
I was injured, and somehow, Damian was paying more attention to this case than me. That meant that he considered his desire to have his revenge and take over Harvour industries much more important than he considered me...
Which was not much of a surprise. But it still stung to think that I will never be as important to him as his desire for revenge and his ’potential’ love that he lost.
I knew that I would never be his number one. I would never be anyone’s number one, not even my own because that spot was taken by my desire for revenge now.
So why did it still hurt to think about?
*Cough*
"I do not know who the mastermind behind all this is, or what they want. But I would advice you not to do anything foolish...least you find yourself in the news along with me."
The director was threatening us by telling us that he had the power to run us by releasing the footage of what had recorded today outside.
If the director was going to go down, he won’t go alone without a fight.