THE LIE: DECEPTION TO THE CEO

That night, in Santiago de Leon

Christopher, before leaving his office, approached Elian, his assistant, who was finalizing some commitments by cell phone and motioned for him to wait for him. He, pleased and satisfied, sat down on the chair in front of the desk, waiting for him.

-I have news for you that you won’t like! But I’m obliged to tell you,” Elian commented, looking at him worried, as he didn’t know how his boss would take it.

-Tell me, let him go at once! -Christopher replied, predisposed, he suspected it was Amber, he put his left hand to his jaw and leaned his elbow on the desk, with his eyebrows raised.

-Amber, she left almost a week ago, with Dylan Lugo to Islander! -Elian sputtered, without taking his eyes off his boss and pausing briefly, to continue.

“Apparently, she is living in an apartment of his. Here are the details of her new address,” he informed, passing him a card with the data.

-Are y-you two living together?!!!! -asked Christopher, astonished, dumbfounded and with a trembling voice.

He began to sweat, to feel a strong pang in his heart, he felt that it was disintegrating little by little, as if shattering. He had never expected this from her, after having slept with him again.

-That I don’t know,” Elian answered, “But the person I have in charge of finding the address to find out where Amber was, passed me this information,” pointing to the card, “She is now in charge of Lugo’s group of lawyers, in Islander.

“Her mom, Mrs. Sabrina, arrived today in the morning,” added Elian, looking with concern at Christopher, for he had remained in place, if not for the fact that he was sitting down, he would have suddenly fallen down. He looked very affected.

-Did you confirm everything?” said Christopher, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

-Yes,” was the categorical and affirmative answer of his assistant.

Christopher put his hands to his forehead, rubbing it, forcing himself to process this information, looking for the logic of what was happening. He, refused to accept this as true. He was sure, that if she had no feelings for him, she would not have made love to him, let alone the way she did.

He recalled the day at the Hotel Rosal, when he found her with Lugo and later recalled the content of the video, in which he did not see any indication or sign that they were in a relationship. Consequently, this news was not true either, someone wants to make him believe things that are not true, to separate him from her again.

By virtue of this, when he finally spoke again, it was to give instructions to his assistant, so that they would prepare the plane for him to leave for Islander the following day. This time, he was not going to get ahead of himself, guessing or imagining what he did not know or what was not.

-Yes, boss, I’ll call the captain at once,” Elian answered, observing that Christopher had already been seated for several minutes and was not moving from his chair.

-Tell him to do it after noon because I will be busy in the morning,” he added, getting up from his chair and walking very slowly towards the elevator.

Elian, worried about him, came out behind him and accompanied him to the parking lot. He watched him get into his car and leave normally, taking the road that leads to his Penthouse. However, Christopher went directly to the Bar that he visits lately.

(***)

Arriving at the place, he parked his car, got out and walked towards the entrance. Pushing open the door, there was a tainted air of smoke and liquor, despite the hour. The bartender greeted him very familiarly and asked….Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

-Christopher, the same as always?

-No, please, today I want something stronger! Something powerful, to take away the bitterness inside me – Give me a double tequila and give me a bottle.

-My friend, are you driving?” the bartender asked, worried, because he never ordered a bottle and he looked very bad.

-Yeah, but don’t worry, if I can’t drive, you can help me with that, right? -asked Christopher, raising an eyebrow and waiting for an answer from the bartender.

-Well, the solution would be to leave it here and come back for it tomorrow, do you think so? -said the young man with a smile to satisfy his client.

-Great!” answered Christopher, looking at the young man with a half smile, “Now pour the bottle!

-I’ll serve you and if necessary I’ll talk to the head of security of the mall,” informed the young man, who gave him a sign of acceptance with his two thumbs up.

Christopher did not look for a table, but sat down on a bench next to the bar, where the boy prepared the drinks and in some cases even served them, since the place was really full, totally full. The boy approached him and asked him if something happened to him.

-Honestly, I don’t know! I don’t want to speculate or make early judgments,” he answered with regret and anger.

He spoke to the bartender, who became his confidant at that moment, and although without giving great explanations, he gave him a brief explanation of what he had experienced. The young man, as he held Christopher in very high esteem, in spite of attending to the customers, did not neglect him.

That night Christopher began to listen to songs of spite, which not everybody liked, because of this, some customers wanted to change the music, but the bartender, supporting him, did not allow it.

And so he stayed for several hours at the bar, until he felt he could lose control of the situation and asked the young man to call him a cab. He found a person he trusted, who entered the place and took him directly from the bar to his parents’ mansion.

(***)

When he arrived home, his father, who had not seen him for days, was surprised by the state in which he arrived and asked the cab driver “What happened to my son? To which he replied…

-Your son is a friend of the bartender of La Barra, whom I work for, and since I am completely trustworthy, he asked me to bring him here so that tomorrow his son would pay me for the service,” he added.

That’s why I brought it and left it here, I thank you to please remind him that tomorrow he will come by around this time to pick up my payment,” said the cab driver.

-How much is owed to you? -asked Christopher’s father, looking at his son with astonishment. He was totally asleep, he even seemed to be unconscious, their driver had helped the cab driver to get him out of the car.

The cab driver responded and he paid for the Uber service. However, before leaving, he informed the driver that his son’s car was left in the custody of the mall’s security personnel, who could pick him up around noon.

His father was really astonished because in the thirty-three years that his son was thirty-three years old, he had never seen him in this condition and in such a deplorable state. Worried, he helped him and his driver to put him to bed in his room, so that no one else would see him like that.

Christopher was a young businessman, talented and recognized in the City as an example for many, therefore, it was disappointing for him, as a father to see him like that…