Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 15•

•Word Count: 2,485

When Elias opens the door to his office, his secretary, who dutifully remains in the hallway, tells him there's something he needs to attend to.
He excuses himself, leaving the office with a low "Won't be long" that gets lost easily in the haze of guilt I'm currently wallowing in.

The door closes with a soft click, and I'm left with the not so hospitable company of my thoughts.
There's a ton of questions that keep molesting my appreciation of his standpoint; most important of which: How did these criminal records end up in his possession ?

I know for a fact that the disclosure of a criminal record is only released to the individual who committed the offence and only when that individual has handed power of attorney to another.
Or they are declared legally incompetent may another successfully apply to receive the disclosure.
So, where Elias stands in that circle, I'm not sure.

Somehow, it looks like I'm back to square one with Elias, with the suspicion that he's related to the Government -perhaps the French ?- sitting at the wheel of my thoughts.

The sound of the door opening pulls me out of my own personal investigation; Elias enters with a phone pressed to his ear, shooting me an easy smile.

"Why didn't you tell me ?" I demand, in a tone that unintentionally sounds accusatory, the second he ends the call. He eyes me, pursing his lips.

"I'm not a monster, Mira" He says. I suddenly feel bad that he saw the need to say that.

"When my men seized them up the other night, I set out to gather all information about them to turn them in for... the systems in charge, but seeing their sick drive to assault the weakest parties, I couldn't not bring them to justice myself" He explains with a disturbed furrow to his eyebrows, sending my heart aflutter.

Seedlings of sincere respect and appreciation for this man begin to sprout, not because of what he did to me, but for what he's done for those children who were subjected to this kind of atrocity.
Seedlings that are struggling to grow among the weed of my guilt.

He regards me with an intensity that makes me squirm on the spot.
It looks like he's waiting for me to speak, but I'm not quite sure when we reached this type of tacit agreement.

"I.. Thank you" is all I could say. The embarrassment at being betrayed by my interpretability makes it difficult to verbalise anything.

"Don't thank me" He mutters, guiding his eyes in slow trek around the office, a deep frown etched on his face.
His expression indicates he's troubled by something, probably thinking about the victims, if the frustrated hand-fisting was anything to go by.
He looked genuinely sympathetic towards the 'weakest parties' when he spoke of those men -criminals. For a certainty, I know Elias is good at the heart, and, not to mention, tender with kids.

Truth be told, I'm torn between two feelings at this moment; remorse, for the way I misjudged his intention, and gratefulness, for his efforts at keeping me and my baby sister safe. Yet, none of which is powerful enough to sway my decision.

"There's one more thing" I let the words fall before I can stop them. He nods without turning to me, and my heart gets poked at the sight of the ghostly smile that's creeping across his face.

"I would like to resign" I tell him calmly, chin tipped slightly upwards.
I already knew I was gonna make this decision at some point when Herr Bastian mentioned my fortune, but then became certain it was gonna be today the second Elias walked in through this office's door. He blinks slowly; his impassive face gives away nothing.

Please say yes.

"I'm afraid I cannot grant you that" He says, putting me at the embarrassing disadvantage of hanging my jaw in an unlady-like manner.