Deeper Healing

55| Obsession

Nikolai Coleman

Stressful days at the office were nothing unusual for a workaholic like me who'd mastered the principles of working calmly under pressure, but today just seemed different.

I couldn't focus attentively on anything or actively participate in meetings and discussions I usually chaired.

How could I be at peace knowing I'd let her walk into the possible source of all her problems all by herself?

How could I convince myself I'd made the right choice trusting her to do things her way until she needed a hand when I couldn't stop thinking about her getting hurt every second?

Fuck.

If I'd ever prayed desperately for anything in my life, then her safety was that one thing I needed. I just needed to see her come back home to me in one piece, whole and alive.

"Sir," a familiar voice drew me out of my thoughts, a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I turned to my right, directly facing Carlos whose facial expression reported he could have been calling me for a while and now he was concerned.

I slightly cocked my brow. "Yes?"

"The meeting is over," he quietly informed me.

I noticed that indeed, everyone was beginning to leave, my father included and his gaze at me told me he was concerned.

Alex looked at me in a nearly similar manner, except his gaze lingered longer and he seemed to contemplate approaching me. Well, I hoped he wouldn't come anywhere close to me. Not today because I had much more important issues to deal with.

Carlos and I stood up to leave the boardroom for my office. We took shorter than we usually did as I felt the need to be alone more than among my workmates to avoid zoning out in public and appearing rude.

I just had too much on my mind to think about anything outside Leilani's safety.

I plopped onto the couch in my office with a heavy sigh, watching as Carlos pulled out an envelope from a drawer on my desk.

"Right," I recalled, watching him walk towards me. "You had something important to show me."

He'd told me about it before the meeting and from his tone, it had to be important. I hoped his information bore more answers than questions that added twists to an already complex puzzle.

"We recovered footage from a couple of weeks ago that showed a red-haired woman watching you and Miss. Edwards in this office from the door," Carlos briefed me, handing me a photo.

I received it, instantly recalling the first time I'd seen it. The image was still blurry and just as confusing as the first time I'd seen it.

"Did you manage to identify who she is?"

I couldn't take any guesses or maybe I just didn't think about it that deeply. It made no sense why anyone would watch us and proceed to do something as weird as masturbating to our private moment.

Carlos sat next to me, slipping out a document from the envelope. "I had my suspicions from a while back, but I couldn't tell you in case I was wrong."

I had to know the woman or share some form of a relationship with her, otherwise, Carlos would have told me as soon as he had his suspicions.

"You're telling me now which means you confirmed this woman's identity," I reasoned.

"Yes," Carlos affirmed, handing the document to me. "I used a reliable face recognition software and the result came in this morning."