Free The Corner Booth by Kelly Ilebode

his bedroom, she had been on his mind. He wanted more information about her past; specifically the one who had hurt her. The one who stole her innocence away before she had the right to choose who her lover would be.
    Visions of his sister’s beautiful face flashed across his mind. She had not only been the apple of their father’s eye, but she had him completely wrapped around her finger. It had been a long time since he had thought of Victoria. The pain felt fresh and new with the memory. At one time, they were the closest any brother and sister could be—they were only a year apart—until someone had taken her innocence also. One day, she was running in the streets, playing soccer with him in Athens, and the next, afraid of her own shadow. Victoria had never recovered completely. He admired Cassandra that she was able to move past her pain. He wished that Victoria could have done the same instead of taking her own life.
    A soft knock sounded at the door to his office. Sakis allowed several moments to pass to collect his train of thought before he acknowledged the visitor.
    Stephanous took a seat in one of the two leather chairs placed in front of his desk. Casually lighting a cigarette, Stephan said nothing. Sakis looked tired. He had arrived back at the mansion to find them dancing to soft jazz on the back patio and even though the evening seemed to have ended on a light note, something had definitely happened between the two of them while he was gone. Sakis was distracted and Cassie was very drunk. Stephan was curious to see whether last night had anything to do with why he was awakened so early by the secretary, informing him that he was being called in to Sakis’s office. Stephan’s day did not usually start until the afternoon because his evenings always ran so late. But when called, he was always available.
    “I need you to find out whatever you can on Cassandra. Nothing is too small of a detail. I want to know everything.”
    “Are there any surprises you want to share with me?” Stephanous asked curiously.
    “I believe her childhood was less than privileged, and as we both know, when you come from that background, sometimes you are taken advantage of.” Sakis could not believe the difficulty he was having at discussing what Cassandra had shared with him.
    Stephanous tossed a thick yellow envelope on the desk, his tone brusque as he leaned forward in his chair. “Sakis, I have already pulled together the information on Cassandra and have read the file myself. There is nothing that jumps out at me.”
    Sakis gave his bodyguard a hard look. “That was faster than usual.” Sakis quickly skimmed the pages, and there were a lot of them. There was never any mention of an assault, even during the period of time she met with a therapist. It did not make sense to him. As he recalled the evening, he never felt that the story was contrived or made up. His distrust of people rose to the surface and instinct kicked in.
    “You have never brought a woman you picked up at a club to your home before either. The moment you stepped out of the normal day-to-day routine, I chose to err on the side of caution. To be quite frank, when you stopped her at Tony’s, I started pulling everything together on her, just in case.”
    Sakis chuckled wryly. “Am I that predictable—was I that obvious even then?”
    Shrugging, Stephanous didn’t back down. “It was out of the norm for you and no, you are not obvious in any way. It is just that I have been doing this job for a while now. What is it you are looking for, Sakis?”
    Frustrated, Sakis stared at his longtime friend. “I am looking for evidence of an assault on her. I do not have a time frame or a name, and as you have said, there is nothing in here to allude that an assault even happened. Cassandra did not strike me as the type to lie, yet we have been down this path before with a deceitful woman, have we not?”
    Stephanous leaned back slowly as he thought of Sakis’s