Taking Her In

Diane stuffed her phone into the inner pocket of her jacket and hugged her bag to her chest as the rain drenched her from the crown of her head to the sole of her boots.

While standing in the rain, she remembered Tricia asked her to call if there was anything, but didn't make that move. There was still a fifty per cent chance that Christian might come for her even though it was risky.

Diane believed that if Christian cared about her even a tiny bit, he would come for her. But what if he did not?

---

In his penthouse, Christian dropped his phone and focused on knotting his tie while standing in front of the mirror.

When he finished, he wore two different perfume scents before throwing on his ash-patterned jacket. Next, he picked up his phone and left his walk-in closet.

Arriving at his spacious aesthetic living area, he glanced at his personal assistant. "Where is the jet?"

"East Wing," George replied and pointed at the briefcase in his hands. "I got everything from your study."

"Good," Christian approved as he adjusted the sleeves of his shirt. "Let's go."

---

Outside the penthouse, a car was already waiting at the entrance of the second skyscraper standing in between the other two.

The driver opened the car door for Christian and he climbed in, immediately securing his seatbelt. At the same time, his driver and George got into the front seats of the car and drove him out of that place.

While slowly driving out in the rain, a thought came to Christian's mind. 'There is no way she will be in the rain.' But remembering seeing the woman crying in front of the law firm he had visited the previous day, plus the desperation in her voice when she phoned him earlier, he thought otherwise.

Immediately, he glanced at the rearview mirror of the car and passed an instruction. "Clinton, take the visitor's car park area. I want to check something,"

"Yes, Sir."

In the front passenger seat, George took a look at his wristwatch. They were going to be late if they took some time out of their travel time, but he didn't mention it since his boss knew that clearly.

Soon, Christian's car appeared at the visitor's parking lot and slowed down so he could have a good look outside in the heavy rain 

'Where is she?' he wondered.

Christian searched with his eyes for any figure at the lot but the place was practically empty. Anyone who would stand outside in that heavy rain and not look for shelter must be crazy.

"Let's go," Christian instructed and was about to look away when he spotted a stuffed-up figure standing between two cars. Although he couldn't see the person's face, he could guess who it was.

"Pull over there," he instructed with mixed emotions lighting up in his eyes. Immediately, the car stopped in front of those two cars Diane was standing in between.

When she saw it, she felt like crying. "Christian," she mumbled. He had really come to get her.

---

Christian's car was dead silent. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard as the pitter-patter sound of the heavy raindrops enveloped their senses.

The four people in the car had different thoughts going through their minds.

Clinton: 'Are we still going to catch the flight tonight?'

George: 'Who is she? I think we might have to reschedule the flight.'

Diane: 'He's all dressed up. Is he going somewhere? Did I stop that from happening?'

Christian: 'I can't believe that she actually stood in the rain waiting for me to go get her. If I hadn't come, would she have foolishly remained there?'

In less than a minute, the car pulled over in front of the second tall building and everyone apart from the driver got off and went inside to take the elevator.

The minute-long elevator ride was also filled with silence. George dared not to ask any questions because of a stranger's presence.

Diane dared not utter a word because of the stoic expression on Christian's face. When she had tried speaking to him, the glare he gave her almost seized her breath, so she figured that she should refrain from talking for the time being.

As for Christian, he was too furious to speak, and he wanted to focus on taming his temper until he could dish out a descent sentence.

---

Arriving in front of his door, George keyed in the password as Christian finally spoke. "Take off your jacket and your boots," he said to Diane.

Having watched her drip water in his car and all the way to his floor, he couldn't stand it any longer. There was no way he would let her mess his apartment up.

It was even more irritating to see her struggle to drop her bag on the floor and take off everything he had asked of her. So, he did himself a favour by snatching his bag from George, leaving him to help Diane with her things as he walked inside his penthouse.

Now inside, Diane didn't have the time to study the breathtaking clean interior décor of Christian's large living area before George took her away and showed her to one of the guest rooms she would be spending the night in.

"You can run a hot bath for yourself. There are new toiletries inside the cabinet in the bathroom, and I will get you a change of clothes to sleep in."

"Thank you." Diane shivered as she felt the cold air she endured outside start to get to her.

Before leaving, George adjusted the temperature in the room. The next time he returned, Diane was already in the bathroom, so he quickly put down the sleeping clothes he brought for her and left.

In the kitchen, George stopped beside Christian who was making a cup of hot chocolate. "I have left the change of clothes on her bed. I will go work on shifting our flight schedule for 4 AM."

"Go ahead," Christian replied as he stirred the liquid in the pale blue mug.

Some minutes later, Christian knocked before walking into the guestroom to see Diane in his clothes. He didn't say anything and directly passed the mug of hot chocolate drink to her.

"Thank you." Diane received the mug and immediately felt her palms warm up. She took a sip as she watched him settle down on the single velvet couch in the room while aware that she was in his clothes.

Knowing that it was time to talk, she sat down at the foot of the bed and faced him.

"Christian, I know my apologies won't seem sincere, but I'm really sorry for everything from the past until this moment."

Christian almost rolled his eyes. "I know you didn't make an effort to find my place and stand in the rain just to apologize to me, so save it. You must need my help, right? Now, out with it."

His method of speaking outrightly didn't surprise Diane since he didn't look like he wanted to hear any of her apologies. She was expecting it in the least.

Releasing a deep breath, she made her confession. "I filed for a divorce from my husband and found out that he had transferred all his major assets to his older sister before our marriage and this is a huge problem since we signed a prenup that allows us to split all our assets equally during the time of divorce."

Christian nodded in understanding but then suddenly frowned the next second. "Why would you want to divorce your husband?" 'The man you left me for?' He finished the other half in his head.

Diane fiddled with the mug's handle as she dropped her forehead with teary eyes.

This was a very embarrassing question for her, but knowing that she needed his help, she could not hide anything from him so she confessed, "I caught him cheating."

"Good for you," Christian said to her hearing without batting an eye. He didn't care how she would take it because he simply wanted her to feel the pain.

Imagine leaving him for a man that ended up cheating on her and betraying her trust. That was a straight-up well-polished payback. Not that he wished her ill, but it is what it is.

Diane choked on her tears and quickly covered her mouth to muffle the sound. After she had calmed down some seconds later, she continued, "According to my lawyer, you are the only one who can help me because you have the best lawyers."

Christian scoffed and stood to his feet having collected the information he needed, but Diane thought otherwise and quickly put down the mug in her hands befroe rising to her feet as well.

"Christian, please…" she begged with pleading eyes.

"I have a very important meeting tomorrow morning, so I don't have time for this. But if you can wait, I will call you when I return from my trip," he explained with his back turned to her.

He didn't pity her or anything. He just wanted to get out of her sight as he was reminded of the pain she made him feel in the past after hearing her unfortunate marital story.

"I will wait." Diane nodded frantically as she met his gaze. Even though he was giving her a condescending look, she accepted it wholeheartedly.

The glitter of hope he gave her was far more important than what he thought of her. It didn't matter how long it would take becasue her confidence was finally returning.