Chapter 29 Chapter 29
ROMAN'S POV
"This is It,"
"Where?"
"Here. The building up front." Jordan said, the windows rolling down to allow me more view. But still...I couldn't believe my eyes.
"Here??" I sat up, my eyes judging as I took in the absolutely rundown 3 storey set up kind of building. Pipes overlayed on all sides of It, surely connected to the sewage and so roughly handed too. From the dark colours of the pipes you could already tell how long those connections had stood there.
Let alone the pipes, the building itself, the walls... everything stood raw and aged to the eyes. The paints were faded, weak, and peeled back to the extent that you'd think it was all stones and concrete. Dirty concrete instead of an actual living structure people occupied.
"Want to go in, boss?" Jordan's voice came from the front, the driver's seat. Me at the back, in disbelief as I stared back at him. I could tell he wasn't joking, but still...
"You're sure this is It?" I asked again, "You're telling me right now that..." I stuck my head outside my window, scanning properly. A nasty instantly hitting my nose, the sewage. "You're sure this is It??" My nose scrunched up in disgust,
"How can anyone live here? We didn't make mistakes and passed up those buildings at the front, did we? At least those looked steady enough, not ... this."
Jordan snorted from the front, "Boss, want to confirm at her doorstep?"
Doorstep? Now he was just mocking me. I came here for inspection not visitation. A means to get to her even more, but unexpectedly... I met this.
I mean, this was a good opportunity. A perfect way to get her solid attention and stir our game to the direction I wanted, but still...
I never imagined she'd be here. Like this. Just what the hell happened to her??
With her smartness and good brains she should at least be able to live comfortably, what was this??
"Boss,"
"Go," I said, recoiling back in my seat. Disappointed. "Just go. Let's leave the area."
"Boss are you -
The words hung there, him silently getting it and not pushing. And right then, the engine steamed back to life. Tyres screeching as we turned back around to leave, even with that I could still hear the rats in the streets, squirking and noisily running about. Utterly disgusting. Further showcasing how bad this was.
For her sake...I hoped she didn't see us, cause I noticed movement behind one of the rooms in her building. Hopefully it wasn't her.
I wouldn't want to be seen if it were me.
But still, what happened to her? What the hell happened?
Heading back to the office, I spent the remainder of the night in my office as usual. Paperwork and cash stacking up, just as every other night.
A good night actually.
But I couldn't help but think back to my inspection earlier. Flat 9 Gravers Lane.
The address kept ringing. Over and over. Worse Jordan came back with more news for me about her.
"Say that again?" I stared at him, "She's been staying there for how long?"
"3 years, boss."
3 years.
"With accrued rent fees too. For a year and half now."
"What? What the actual fuck is that?" I snapped, "How could she owe rent for such a place?! Doesn't she go to work? Doesn't she get paid? What the hell does she do with her money to not afford such a place?"
"There was a 50% rent increase earlier last year," Jordan explained, putting down a file. A single paper in it as he pointed out what he said. "After the increment, she began stalling with payments and more interests rolled in."
"Interest?" I looked up at him, disbelief. "Interest on rent? They put interest on monthly rent? For such a place?"
"Yes boss. It's a normal in the area."
Normal?
What was normal here? Everything was abnormal!
From she staying in that area, down to this fresh news of owing rents... Nothing about any of this was normal. She was a light weight person, fragile and easily fell sick, how could she stay in such an area? How could she have lived there for over 3 years??
Last I saw her was 5 years ago and she was in her final year of college. What, she spent a year searching for job without luck? How could she even search for a job, she was good. Her grades were excellent!
She was to be interning at one of the top law firms right after college. How did she move from that to this?
It didn't make sense. It just didn't, and the more I thought about it all...the more pissed I became. Pissed for no reason at all, cause rightfully, this wasn't any of my business. She wasn't my business, so also her state of living or any other matters concerning her.
But still,
"Is this why she took the offer? Offer to work here in Oxygen?" I couldn't help but wonder now. My mind finally taking me back now, her words and actions. The desperation to prove a point.
"She accepted to work here for the money? For the pay, not because of her job? Or her boss? Or maybe something else??"
Now it all made sense.
It all did now.
"I'll get to providing more info on her by tomorrow boss." Jordan said, taking the file he showed me. Standing erect again, reminding me how all of these started. "Anything else?"
Anything?
"No," I said, returning to my paperwork. "You can leave now, that's enough for tonight."
He nodded, leaving me. My door opening for a bit, the noise from the outside coming in but getting shut out a moment later. Shutting me in. As usual.
Not a big deal. It was the way things are around here, the way
we operated. But I knew... I most definitely knew that this was not enough.
It wasn't enough for tonight.
It just wasn't.