French Rose

Chapter 28

Christina King.

When Lucas came in with my food, I couldn't look at him the way I used to. I didn't hate him, neither did I believe all Leo said but the atmosphere was different. There were equal possibilities of it being true and not but either ways, I couldn't look at him the same and I wouldn't till I got to the bottom of the matter.

Lucas looked like he couldn't hurt a fly. Why would someone like him be tangled in a mess related to violence? I didn't want to believe it but at the same time, Leo wasn't a liar either and even if he was, why would he put so much into lying against a simple chef?

It was very obvious in the way I acted that something was wrong. I was quiet when he placed it beside me and things got very awkward when he stood there and stared down at me. I didn't know what to say and at that point, I just wished Leo didn't tell me any of what I heard earlier.

"He told you I hurt you, didn't he?"

"Lucas, I don't know what to say. This is too much for me to handle. Honestly, I don't know what to believe right now, I can't wrap my mind around it. I know you didn't hurt me and you definitely wouldn't but Leo wouldn't gain anything by lying against you. I'm not calling you violent, I just don't have enough proof to say you're not"

"I understand"

"That's all you have to say? You understand?"

"What more can I say? He's a very famous and powerful man and so are you. Even if I have any proof to show you, it wouldn't mean anything"

"It would to me and you don't have to look at it that way_"

"Why not? I didn't the first time and how did that turn out? I lost my job and every single thing I had"

"I don't get it, what actually happened?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"No, not till later tonight and I wouldn't be so confused if you just tell me"

"Alex was once suicidal"

That's definitely not what I expected.

I could've understood if he said something like he was set up or something but suicide? That's out of it. I thought she had the best life. I mean, that's what she made it look like. I knew her all my life and every single time, she always made me feel she was better than I was. Not once did it cross my mind that there was more to her that met the eye. My view of her changed immediately when I heard that. Even with all she had done, the tease and every time she made fun of me, I felt bad for her. I didn't know what she was going through and I couldn't make myself understand what could make her think of ending her own life.

It's fair to say I lived an easy life, I got everything I needed and I didn't have all the problems but even though I lived in a beat up apartment with my family broken and I did have all these problems, there's more to life than my box of problems. There's Jesus and he saves.

"What? How?"

"She was sick and tired of everything. The cameras, the fame, she wanted a break and her mother wasn't ready to give her that so she wanted to end it"

"But I thought she loved it"

"That's what everyone thinks and that's what I thought too but a few weeks after working for her, I realised she wasn't happy so I tried to help her. It took a lot for her to open up to me and even more to finally make her trust me. I took her to church, she found help and things were finally getting better when I suddenly got kicked out of the house and I have no idea what happened after that but I didn't hurt Alex."

"I don't know Lucas, this is a lot to take in"

"You don't have to believe me cause it doesn't matter"
.
"It does to me and I promise you, I will find the truth"

"You can't, it's impossible. There's a lot more to fame than you know Christina and I don't expect you to know about this cause you're new to it but they're a lot of liars out here. They're people that'll do everything to keep their reputation up and it doesn't matter what or who it affects. Not their family, not their kids, not even their own selves. I'm just a boy someone picked up from the streets one day, I have no companies and I don't have a million dollars in my bank account so no one cares about my reputation or how I feel"

"I care about how you feel. If I didn't, I wouldn't be listening to you"

"It stil doesn't matter cause at the end, you'll believe him and I'll remind you of this day"

*~*~*~*

Leo's house was the fanciest on the planet.

I doubt I could spend twenty four hours in it without breaking something expensive. This is why my parents never bought fancy stuff in the house. There were times my mom would bring in vases from other countries or items and stuff like that and I, or dad, mostly dad, would end up breaking it. It didn't matter how much I tried to stay away from it, there would always be a reason to break it and it usually happened within twelve to twenty four hours of it's arrival.

The food in front of me, were in small portions and the presentation was the best I'd seen. I gave it to the chef for making it look all good but I could eat everything and still not be full. As much as I loved having dinner, it was sad I had to eat like that but I guess that's the price to satisfy my curiosity.

"Christina, is everything okay?" Leo asked from the other end of the table after noticing I'd been staring at the food for a little too long. "I can have the chef make you whatever you want"

"No, you don't have to"

"It's obvious you don't like the food"

"The food is okay, the quantity is the problem."

"Oh, that's the first time any woman has told me that. Most of the guests I've had usually request for smaller portions"

"Then I guess you have a different guest today"

"Well, that's not a problem, I can have him bring you more"

"That wouldn't be necessary. How about we go straight to the reason I'm here? Curiosity is killing me"

"You know, you remind me of when I first got exposed to the world of fame. I was just as curious as naive as you are"

"You got exposed long before I did, I wonder what it was like for you when you were sixteen"

"Bad, which is why I'm trying to keep you away from things I went through"

"I'm not a child"

"Neither was Alex"

"I wouldn't understand what you're saying till you explain it to me"

"Alex once tried to take her own life and your chef happened to be there when it happened. He got thousands transferred to his account every week, threatening to expose her to the public if she doesn't comply. I didn't understand what was going on till I noticed how much time she spent with him. She missed events and her absence started affecting her work. Then I went over to check up on her and saw the marks on her body, he was hitting her. It took days before I realised what happened and I saw it myself_"

"You saw Lucas hitting Alex?"

"With my own eyes"

That was Leo's part of the story, completely different from what Lucas told me. Both were logical but I didn't know which was true. The only thing I was sure of was that Alex did try to take her life and one of Leo and Lucas helped her out of it. What I didn't understand is why Alex would have marks on her skin. If Lucas did help her like he said, why would she still have those on her body and if he truly took that amount from Leo, why wasn't he behind bars? The two stories revolved around the same topic but they didn't add up, there were gaps in the middle and dots that didn't connect. There was more to it and I could only get the truth from one person.

Alex.