by Dawn Tamayo
As Victoria stepped out of the lift, instead of walking out to the reception lobby, she walked along a small corridor and knocked on the door marked ‘Security’. A tall man in a dark suit and an earpiece opened the door.
“Can I speak to Bruno please.” Victoria said as she looked up at the tall guy wondering if he had played basketball in his younger days.
“Of course Miss Pembrose.” He said stepping aside allowing Bruno to come to the door.
“What can I do for you Miss Pembrose?” Bruno said feeling uneasy since he was typing up a report which involved Victoria at that very moment.
“Nothing too much, don’t worry. Firstly call me Victoria please.”
Bruno nodded.
“I am flying back to London this afternoon and I would feel more comfortable if you check the paperwork I am leaving this office with and make a note of it in your log please.”
“That is not something we usually do. Are you sure you want me to do this?” Bruno said thinking this obviously had something to do with the file he photographed Victoria with last night.
“It would make me feel more comfortable if you did log what paperwork I am leaving this building with. Please.” She said.
“Of course, come into our meeting room here.” Bruno said as he led the way to the room opposite and opened the door.
Victoria walked into the room and put her bag down on the desk. She took the files out of her bag and then emptied her bag upside down letting the contents clutter onto the desk.
Bruno looked at her puzzled.
“It is okay Bruno, I am assuming that anything I say to you in this office is confidential and for only yours and Jake’s ears?”
“That is correct.”
“Good. The man you followed yesterday was my ex-fiancé. He came here to have me sign some personal papers but as you probably know he stole a file which Jake thought I took. I can assure you that I did not take the file from here and I was not involved in stealing the file. However, as I am now leaving and flying back to London I wouldn’t want there to be anymore misunderstandings and I would feel more comfortable if you logged everything that I am leaving this office with. Also I have locked my office door and here is the key,” Victoria handed a key to Bruno along with the envelope, “and please can you give this to Andrea, it is contact details for my office in London.”
Bruno took the key and envelope, and then set about logging the details of the paperwork and personal items from Victoria’s bag.
Jake closed his office door and looked at the file Bruno had given him earlier in the afternoon now sitting on his desk. Andrea had already gone home and his office was silent. He hadn’t ventured further than the boardroom and his office all day, he even had Andrea bring his lunch in just so he didn’t bump into Victoria in a corridor. He still didn’t know whether to believe what Victoria said this morning or not. She could have been telling the truth, but then again there were two other scenarios which swam around in his head. He walked over to his drinks cabinet and poured himself a measure of whisky and shot it down in one go, wincing as the liquid burnt his throat, he wasn’t a whisky man but right now only something as strong and sweet as this was going to do. He put the glass down and rested his hands on his desk. Jake’s mind whirred on, even if Victoria hadn’t been in on the scam to steal his file then Mark turning up saying he was Victoria’s fiancé had really thrown him. He only had Victoria’s word that Mark had cheated on her and she had called the wedding off! Maybe none of that was true and she had been lying to him all along to secure his account and business. Jake shook his head, would Victoria really do that? Would she really stoop so low as to sleep with Jake and make him fall in love with her just to get his business? And if that was the truth then would she have told him or let him find it out for himself once he had signed on the dotted line with Churchill, Turnbull & French?
Jake pushed away from his desk and looked at the file like it contained everything he despised. Picking it up he opened his top drawer and pushed it inside, he had too much going on inside his head and his body to look at it right now. All Jake wanted to do was head down to the gym in his apartment building and put himself through a gruelling workout trying to relieve the frustration and pain he felt, until he was so tired he could do no more than fall into a fit-full sleep.
Jake woke up and looked at his clock. He was usually in the office by now but he hardly slept last night, tossing and turning, his mind full of pictures of Victoria with Mark as he went to stroke her hair, or Victoria walking out of Mark’s hotel room looking flushed.
Jake swung his legs out of bed and headed for the shower. He only had a few meetings today and if Andrea called ahead he would be able to do them outside of his office. He didn’t want to set foot into his building today if he could help it, right now he couldn’t face seeing Victoria again - the sound of her voice telling him they were a mistake and they were finished rang through his ears and stung his heart. The woman he saw yesterday standing in his office all apologetic but professional wasn’t the Victoria he knew, there was nothing soft and caring about that woman. The Victoria he saw yesterday was firm and hard, and all about business and nothing else. Firm and hard, and stunningly beautiful! No, he wasn’t setting foot in his office today, and as far as Victoria was concerned he didn’t think she would care either way.
After a day of flitting between meetings in different offices around Miami and lunch in a Bayside restaurant, Jake finished off with yet another gruelling workout at the gym before he headed upstairs to his apartment. He had been tempted to stop by his office just so he could see Victoria, but each time he reminded himself there was no point - she wasn’t interested in him the way he wanted her to be, so he kept on going to his next meeting.
Fresh from his post work-out shower Jake walked back into his living room and looked at the file Andrea had couriered across at his request now sitting on his large coffee table. Bruno had handed it to him personally yesterday lunchtime, but he had managed to find every possible excuse not to look inside it. He knew when he opened the file he was going to have to think about Victoria and he had desperately been trying to keep his mind off her all day, as impossible as that had been. Playing for more time Jake walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of ice cold juice and then went back to the living room. He sighed and sat down on the sofa to see what was in the file.
Jake sat looking at the large photographs spread out on the table before him and wondered why he hadn’t looked at them more closely before, when he had first seen them. He looked at Victoria’s face as she looked at Mark Cavendish, and there was no tenderness there, only frustration and at times anger. He didn’t need to pick up Bruno’s report to know Victoria had not stolen the file and was trying to get it back from him, but he didn’t understand why she hadn’t told him about Mark steeling the file as soon as she found out. Jake had a team of security who could have retrieved it for him, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Was she so worried about him finding out and her losing her job that it was more important than her talking to him and confiding in him? Jake sat back in his chair and remembered her expression when she told him there was nothing more between them - she was as cold as ice and showed no emotion whatsoever. He rubbed his forehead, he really had got her wrong - she wasn’t sweet at all, Victoria was cold and calculating, and had a heart of stone.
Jake read the full three page report from Bruno and then stopped at the summary. He already knew everything but he read through the summary making sure he had the full facts correct:
“Mark Cavendish left Creative Technology Holdings’ offices with a small in-flight travel suitcase. After leaving the building Mark Cavendish visited a few shops and then went to the Four Season Hotel where he was staying in room 586. He received no visitors until he met with Victoria Pembrose in the Terrace Restaurant. Their meeting in the restaurant lasted about ten minutes where they argued over a file which was origin
ally in Mark Cavendish’s possession. Mark Cavendish left the restaurant with the file and was closely followed by Victoria Pembrose. They both went back to Mark Cavendish’s room where they stayed for approximately fifteen minutes (it was at this point when I telephoned you). You came to the hotel and had a conversation with Victoria Pembrose in the hallway, and then left.”
Jake huffed, a conversation indeed! He thought Bruno had played that part down considering they had a flaming argument and his dreams of his beautiful sweet Victoria just fell apart in front of him! He frowned, hadn’t he dismissed Bruno before his argument with Victoria? Jake realised Bruno hadn’t left and had continued to monitor Mark and Victoria. He read on eager to see what happened after he left the hotel.
“After you left Victoria Pembrose in the hotel corridor she strongly requested Mark Cavenish joined her and they both went to the business suite in the hotel where they met with a lawyer who had confidentiality agreements drawn up for both herself and Mark Cavendish. A third agreement was drawn up between the two parties but it was a personal agreement and nothing to do with CT Holdings (I was able to secure this information from a contact of mine at the hotel.) Mark Cavendish then returned to his room whilst Victoria Pembrose left the hotel with the legal documentation. I asked another colleague to continue with the surveillance during the night and Mark Cavendish did not receive any visitors or leave his room. However in the early hours of the following morning Mark Cavendish left the hotel and went straight to Miami International Airport and boarded the early morning flight back to London.”
Jake put down the paper and sighed, he had jumped to conclusions and assumed Victoria had been party to Mark stealing his file but he could now see for sure she hadn’t. In fact, regardless of anything else, he was incredibly grateful to Victoria for successfully stopping Mark from selling the information in the file. Jake put the pictures together in the file and wondered what the last piece of paper was, he had read the report on Mark Cavendish in full, and the summary, so there shouldn’t have been anything else, but there was one more piece of paper with just a few lines printed on it:
“Just to finalise the subject with regards to Victoria Pembrose and the confidential file, Victoria came to the Security office concerned that as she was leaving today there may be some misunderstanding with any paperwork she was leaving the building with. She returned her office key and security badge to me, and asked me to log what papers she had in her possession, and emptied the contents of her handbag onto the table for me to thoroughly search. There was no confidential information in her belongings. Victoria Pembrose left the building at eleven thirty this morning. I feel it necessary to add that in addition to this Victoria Pembrose expressed her innocence at the illegal removal of the confidential file. I checked the security cameras from this morning for when she was in the CT Holdings offices and saw that upon arrival she went directly to your office where she waited until she met with you. Then Miss Pembrose returned to her office where she stayed for a few minutes, she then came directly to our security office, and finally left the building a few minutes later.”
Jake put down the paper. What did Bruno mean by Victoria was leaving yesterday? He hadn’t told Victoria to go anywhere and he assumed she was in her office all day. Jake realised he wouldn’t have known if Victoria had been in her office unless someone told him otherwise. He had deliberately been avoiding her, both yesterday and today, to give himself time to think about what happened. The whole situation with Victoria, Mark Cavendish and his confidential file had knocked him hard - he was crushed when he saw Victoria coming out of Mark’s hotel room and he had reacted on impulse. Then when he saw his file in Victoria’s hand and thought she had betrayed him and stolen from him, it was like someone had taken a knife to his heart and slit it open. He had stood in the corridor devastated, and even now Jake was still having difficulty seeing past his pain and blind rage.
Jake reached for his phone and looked at his watch, it was just after ten o’clock at night. He thought for another moment and stood up putting his feet into his deck shoes. He needed to see Victoria and he had a feeling he had a lot of apologising to do. Jake pressed Victoria’s number on his phone but it went straight through to her voicemail. He waited a minute and pressed her number again, but again it went through to voicemail. Walking to the huge apartment windows looking out at the Miami night lights in the distance Jake looked back at his phone and searched the internet for Victoria’s hotel. He pressed the call button when he located it.
“Good evening the Hollywood Beachside Boutique hotel.”
“Hi, can you put me through to Victoria Pembrose please?” Jake asked politely.
“I am sorry sir but Miss Pembrose is no longer a guest at this hotel.”
Jake stood still as a cold chill ran down his back. That couldn’t be, Victoria had been staying at the little hotel near Hollywood Beach since the days she arrived. He was sure, he had picked her up from there himself.
“Are you sure? Can you double check please.”
“I will just check for you.” There was silence for a minute and then the voice returned, “No sir I am sorry but Miss Pembrose checked out yesterday.”
“Thank you.” Jake said putting the phone down as he stared out across the illuminated night sky. His mind went around in circles, Victoria wouldn’t be with Mark because he flew home yesterday morning, that was what Bruno said and he had a sense of relief with that thought. Then he pressed the button for Bruno’s mobile phone.
After a minute of ringing Jake heard Bruno’s voice through his phone.
“Good evening Mr Cumberland, is there something I can do for you?” Bruno wasn’t used to his boss calling him late on a Friday night and after the last couple of days of unusual events he wondered if his services were going to be called on again, not that he minded, the overtime was always good.
“I am sorry to disturb you Bruno but I just read your report and the addendum at the end. When you said Victoria said she was leaving yesterday, where was she going?”
“Back to London Mr Cumberland. She left an envelope for Andrea which I took up to her at the same time as I gave you my report.”
“Thank you Bruno.” Jake disconnected the call.
With adrenaline pumping through his veins Jake pressed the button on his phone for Andrea.
“Jake, is something wrong?” Andrea answered surprised to hear from him so late.
“Sorry to disturb you but do you know where Victoria is?” Jake asked hoping with all his heart not to get the answer he suspected he would.
“She went home Jake, back to London.” Andrea sounded surprised that he would even be asking her, “Isn’t that what you arranged yesterday morning when she was in your office.”
“No!”
“Oh, I thought you two had ……” Andrea trailed off not knowing quite what was going on between her boss and Victoria. She knew Jake and Victoria had played everything down when they were at work, but it hadn’t slipped her notice they had both fallen madly in love with each other. Firstly she had never known Jake to take a woman back to his apartment – Jake liked it that way, his apartment was his one place of solitude away from his public image of a playboy and the many women who wanted to be in his bed. And secondly Andrea had never seen Jake look at anyone the way he looked at Victoria! As for Victoria, she hadn’t spent a lot of time with her but what little time she had spent with her she found Victoria to be a genuinely nice person, and yesterday when she saw Victoria looking at the photographs on the gossip pages of the internet she knew the look of a woman whose heart had just broken when she saw it - and Victoria had the look! Andrea had tried not to let Victoria see she was trying to get a glimpse of what Victoria was looking at when she saw her face go white with the sparkle of tears in her eyes, but she managed to get a little peak and then went back to her computer pulling up the website for herself. Then she knew exactly why Victoria was trying to hold back the tears. If it had been her and she was in love with Jake then she
would have felt the same way - to see him with another woman in his arms and then him leaving a nightclub with the same woman in the early hours of the morning must have been heart breaking, and Victoria certainly looked like her heart just broke.
“Go on Andrea, what were you going to say.”
“Jake I know something has been going on with you and Victoria and I must admit I thought she was someone special to you. But seeing as you hooked up with Natasha Montage the other night I guess I was wrong. I assumed you finished it with Victoria and you both decided she would return to London.”
“No that’s all wrong. Why would you think that? And anyway how do you know about Natasha Montage?”
“I thought you had something real going on with Victoria. I must admit for a moment I actually thought you were in love with her.” Andrea decided she would be completely honest with Jake since he asked her in the first place.
“Yeah that part you are right about, I really liked Victoria.”
“Just liked?” Andrea questioned, she knew it was more than that.
“Just move on, will you.” Jake wasn’t in the mood.
“So why did you finish it?”
“I didn’t, she did!” Jake walked back to the sofa and sat down heavily.
“Well if you didn’t finish it with her then what was the other night all about?”
“The other night?” He was confused.
“Natasha Montage? Really Jake, I thought I knew you but you surprised me. Boss or no boss I will tell anyone they should keep their pants on when they are with someone else! Do you know how much you hurt Victoria when she saw those photos?”
