Chapter Twenty-Four
"When did she leave?" Asked Jaxon wildly looking for her stuff inside her room.
"She left three hours back. Her family came and took her home. She's taken all her stuff with her. I don't think she'd come back here again, son," said Margaret, looking worriedly at a distressed Jaxon searching her room, her closet. Jaxon froze at her words and turned to look at her.
"What happened to her, Margaret? How sick was she?" He asked with pain in his eyes. He had to know and no one was telling him anything.
"She had a miscarriage when she fell down the staircase. She lost her three-week-old baby. She sprained her lumbar region from the fall and also hurt her head," informed Margaret as Jaxon slumped to the floor, lifelessly, and sat there as if his very soul was taken away from his body.
"She was three weeks pregnant," he repeated again and again. He hadn't used any protection that night when they had made love and it was exactly three weeks ago. She had conceived that night. She was pregnant with his baby. He held his head in his hands as the realization struck that his baby was no more. All because of him. Had he not said those cruel things to her, she wouldn't have fallen, and their baby would have been alive and they would all have been together as a family. What had he done?
A few tears fell from his eyes. "I killed my baby. I hurt Carmella and lost her. What have I done, Margaret?" He sobbed brokenly.
"There's a lot of power in true repentance, son. It paves the path to forgiveness but the road towards it isn't an easy one, mind you. Carmella is devastated. She's lost her first baby. She won't forgive you maybe but you have to keep proving till she realizes your true love for her. It might take longer than you think," said Margaret.
"You think she might forgive me?" He asked with hope shining in his eyes.
"Try till you succeed, Jaxon, " she said handing him the keys to the apartment. "I need to go now. Best of luck." She said patting his shoulders and leaving.
Jaxon found a lot of inspiration in Margaret's words. He was determined to pursue Carmella and beg for her forgiveness all his life, till his very last breath. The whole night he spent in his apartment, on the bed that Carmella slept in, inhaling her sweet scent. He didn't know what was in store for him, maybe he was destined to live alone all his life. Sighing, he tried to catch up on some sleep.
The next morning Jaxon went to his office to check what was happening. He met Phil and Brian. They informed him that Jamie Smithies had been arrested last night from a cheap local pub on the outskirts of New York. Today morning both had admitted to having stolen the designs from Jaxon's office.
"But why? Is it for money?" Asked Jaxon.
"Dana and her boyfriend Jamie needed money when they both lost their jobs. Tony was well enough to join back and Jamie being his replacement was out of work. Dana lost her job at the bar too. She came to you to ask for work. When she couldn't get work at our office, she went to GQ Fashion House for work," informed Phil.
"But they're our rivals," said Jaxon.
"Yes, she took your reference to get a good job for herself but George Quentin proposed a good enough way for her to earn millions and she couldn't resist the offer. All she had to do was sneak into your office room and steal a few designs. She would get fifty percent of the total worth of the designs she stole," informed Brian and Jaxon listened intently. He knew George Quentin, the shrewd owner of GQ Fashion House. They were arch-rivals as he tried to copy Jaxon's designs in every way. They had sued GQ Fashion House once before still, he hadn't learned his lesson.
"She contacted her brother in London who was a firefighter but out of job currently. He needed money so he stole your designs from our production house in London. However, George Quentin didn't accept those designs as they were copyrighted and he would be sued again. So, her brother returned them back," continued Brian.
"So, that was what happened in London. It's all interconnected, " said Jaxon as everything fell into place.
"With you away, they then planned to steal from your office here. They food poisoned Phil and got him out of the way. With no one around they smoothly did the job. Then Jamie sabotaged the footage of all the cameras, leaving the footage of Carmella going to your floor," informed Phil.
"George Quentin was away on a tour so they waited for him to return. Thankfully we caught them before they could sell the designs off," informed Brian.
"Excellent work guys. I'm very happy with the two of you," said Jaxon, and Brian and Phil smiled with satisfaction.
"Where's Gilbert?" Asked Jaxon. It was time to make amends with Gilbert and ask for his forgiveness.
"Gilbert sir hasn't arrived yet," informed Phil. Jaxon took out the retrieved designs to check if everything was intact or not.
"Inform me when he arrives, Phil, " he said and Phil nodded.
The whole morning Jaxon worked upon his designs but at the back of his mind was Carmella. He felt heartbroken and worked half-heartedly. Gilbert didn't come to the office and he dreaded the worst. He should go and see him at his house.
However before he could go to meet him, Gilbert's resignation email with a cc to all the department heads of the company, arrived in his inbox.
"What the f*ck!" Swore Jaxon, picking up his stuff and leaving the office to talk to Gilbert.
He drove over to Gilbert's house in a foul mood. An upset Margaret opened the door. "I'm quitting today. You both boys will drive me crazy," she yelled flailing her arms around.
"Where's Gilbert, Margaret?" Asked a worried Jaxon, entering the house and looking for him.
"He's drinking himself to death. What else?" She said, shrugging her shoulders. "You spend your whole life bringing up the boy and he just thinks of ending his without a single thought about you," she grumbled.
"I'll handle him, Margaret, " said Jaxon and she walked away. Jaxon found a very unhappy Gilbert sitting at his bar with a bottle of whiskey, drinking straight from it and mumbling to himself.
"Bro, I'm sorry please forgive me," said Jaxon going towards him sitting beside him.
"F*ck off Jaxon. I don't want to see your face again," slurred Gilbert taking another gulp from his bottle.
"You've had enough. That's it. Give me the bottle," said Jaxon, trying to take it away from him.
"I've resigned and I've told the world about it," said Gilbert laughing at what he'd done.
"That wasn't a good thing to do, Giles. It would be twisted and retold in all the newspapers and magazines by tomorrow, " sighed Jaxon.
"I don't care," said Gilbert.
"But I do," said Jaxon.
"Why did you hurt my little sister? She's gone away with a broken heart," said Gilbert, as tears fell from his eyes and he started sobbing like a baby.
"I'm very sorry about hurting Carmella. I will pursue her and apologize and beg for her forgiveness all my life till she forgives me," said Jaxon, with repentance and despair in his tone.
"I can't forgive you too," said Gilbert quietly, keeping the bottle down.
"Don't forgive me Giles but don't leave me please. I'll apologize to you too all my life till you forgive me," said Jaxon with a heavy sigh.
"No need. I'll forgive you when Carmella's happy again," said Gilbert.
"You love her very much, don't you?" Asked Jaxon.
"Yes. Carmella's just like the sister I had always asked God for," said Gilbert, and Jaxon hugged him.
"I'm grateful to you Giles that you took care of her so well when she needed you the most. I'm going to reject your resignation letter. You're not allowed to resign," said Jaxon, and Gilbert smiled.
"You won't let me live in peace, will you? I'm stuck to an a*shole like you all my life it seems," said Gilbert with a grin.
"Two a*sholes stuck to each other for life, " said Jaxon and they laughed. Gilbert calmed down and went to sleep while Jaxon returned back to the office.
There was a huge crowd before his office and reporters everywhere.
"What's going on here?" He asked the security in charge.
"Sir, they're taking interviews about Gilbert sir's resignation from the JC Group as well as covering the news about the stolen designs," he informed Jaxon.
"Everyone leave the premises immediately. With whose permission are you conducting interviews with my employees? Whatever we need to communicate to the media will be done through a press conference. I will sue your channels and publishing houses for this illegal act," shouted a furious Jaxon.
The reporters left immediately and he called a meeting of all the department heads to inform them that Gilbert wasn't resigning and it was just a misunderstanding.
