Chapter Twenty-nine:
Dawn ran to the gate to find a bloody Sergio at the front of the gate. As soon as he gets all the facts and make sure Anthony is comfortable, Romeo called his builders that have already wanted to propose a new and improved gate for him.
"Sergio!" Dawn calls out to him while she enters the code to open the gate. No one is at the security office with everyone with Anthony or doing important errands. "Sergio, what did they do to you?" She helps him up to enter back through the gate. Before they continue to the house, Dawn re-enters the code to lock the gate. Even though she is concern by Alberto presence, it doesn't mean she forgets about everyone's safety.
Lex and the Equalizer are quite surprise and disappointed that Dawn re-lock the gate. They for sure thought she would forget with Sergio's brutal condition.
"I guess she is not as dumb or in love with Sergio as we thought." Lex acknowledge.
"Yes, but Sergio is in love with her. He will make sure nothing happens to her. I know that as a fact." From Casey's observation on Sergio, he assures his boss that Sergio's feelings for Dawn run deeper than just an informant. "Come on I have another plan." They both head back to the company.
Dawn and Sergio are in the employees' bath tub. Dawn is cleaning before bandaging Sergio's wounds.
"Oh Sergio, why did you have refuse their orders?" She washes the blood off his face away. "What did they want anyway?"
"They said I owe them money. They went to the bank and try to withdraw $1,000 dollars from my account. I was shocked to find out that I wasn't part owner of the account." He gulps having breathing difficult with his maybe fractured ribs. "I disagreed that they should have no problem. When you disagree or disappoint him quite a few times, you end up like this or even worst. It all depends on your status and the situation." He gulps loudly again.
"You may have broken ribs. We have to get you the hospital." She requests.
"No, just bandage them up and I will be fine." He waves off her request.
"No, you have to go." She demands in concern.
"Dawn, I am fine I have had this before." As a new employee before in the company, his mouth and attitude led to beating almost every day from the boss. Although, the same mouth and attitude made him the top employee in the company.
"Sergio." She sighs to try to guilt into it.
He gulps her face to assure her. "Hey, I am going to be fine. The most important part is that you are okay; that is all that matters to me." He pecks her lips.
"How can you be so sweet to me and not to everyone else?" She questions to know the reason. She can't seem to figure it out.
"Do you really want to know why?" She nods. "This might be fast, very fast, but I am falling in love with you."
"Oh." She blushes before kissing him. Sergio reluctantly breaks it off not having the strength to hold himself up anymore.
"Sorry, but I can't stand up for too much longer." He chuckles.
"Oh right, come on." She guides him to the bed. Sergio lays himself down moaning in pain with each movement. "I am going to cook you some soup." She speaks cheerfully.
"How about a kiss before soup?"
"Okay." She bends over to kiss him. He holds onto her to guide her gently on top of him.
"One last request." He breaks off the kiss.
"Certainly." She giggles at their secret actions.
"Something hurts and needs attention, can you help me?" Sergio grins hoping she gets the hint.
"Of course, what hurts?" She blushes at what he needs.
"You know." He wiggles his eyebrows.
"Oh, of course I will help, I just need to get comfortable." She puts on a show for him before she starts with his request.
Alberto and Sergio are at the judges' office. Alberto is presenting his case to be an independent person. He is seated in front of the judge while Romeo is by the door.
"Mr. Alberto, you do know that if you die before you get married, all your assets will be the property of the law. No one will be left with your assets." The judge warns.
"What if I do get married?"
"Well, that is what you agreed with your future wife. You can have a prenup, share your assets or have a percentage of your assets shared. Furthermore, your assets from the prenup and the rest of the percentage will be the property of the law." The judge clarifies.
"I understand." He agrees with the terms.
"Okay, let us see your current situation. You have a job, right?"
"Yup, I work for Mr. Mendez. I am a personal butler for his daughter as well as a personal assistant for him."
"You handle two jobs for him?" The judge is surprise by this.
"Yes, your honour. I got promoted to personal assistant about two weeks ago." He clarifies.
"I see, usually when an employee gets promoted the other job is free to apply. I'm guessing Mr. Mendez has very much faith in you."
"I hope he does. He has been a great boss; making me feel welcome in both my jobs."
"Well, he is a very respectful man, but he does have a temper. You don't want to cross him in any aspect." The Judge again warns.
"No I don't." Alberto agrees.
"Furthermore, you live with them under their roof, right?" Alberto nods. "Do you do your own chores as well as his daughter's?" He is interviewing to see if he responsible to be his own guardian.
"Yes I do, I feel like that they gave me this place to stay I should at least do my own chores. In my opinion, I am not a guest there I am an employee."
"That is very noble to hear. Some employees sometimes think it is a mini vacation that you get paid for in this type of job. Speaking of money, I been notified before that you change your account to your only personal account."
"Yes your honour. I got approved for that yesterday."
"May I ask why?"
"I don't trust my stepfather with my money anymore."
"Why is that?" He wants to know the reason for the distrust.
"It is quite a long story I don't know if you have time." He says cautiously.
"I do have a 2 o'clock, how about you tell me the major points?"
"It started when I asked him where my mother was the day after she went for work. I would keep asking until he told me she was dead. I didn't believe it and wanted proof. He never gave me it, although he would speak of evidence. I would investigate on my own. He found out and he was furious at me. He ordered me to stop. If I didn't, he threated to hurt badly. I stopped for a while, however my curiosity got the better of me. He caught me and beat me until I was near conscious. One day, he told me to make the spare room into his office. There is where I continued my research in private."
"I think we are getting off topic this is about not trusting your stepfather."
"Yes, after that beating I knew I couldn't trust him with the truth. I started to speculate a bit that he knew actually what happen to both my parents from there. My distrust with him strengthen when I start working for Mr. Mendez."
"Why would that be?" He read that his stepfather lives with them too.
"I ask him if he can help me find my mother without Sergio's notice." Sergio admit.
"You asked your boss to help with your personal issue?" Once again the judge is amaze the employer-employee relationship.
"Yes sir." He does recognize that it seem unordinary that a boss would do that to a fairly new employee.
"Why would he agree to help you?"
"His daughter requested that I asked him. I agreed however I wanted to ask him myself without any persuasion from her. Plus, I wanted to try anything to find my mother and any information about my father. I know that my mother is alive. If he declines, I will find another way to find her whereabouts. Mr. Mendez accepted. He brought in a private investigator who gave a speculation that my stepfather actually had a hand in not my mother's disappearance, but my father's death. The final nail on the distrust was when he blackmailed by girlfriend. Your honour, I always want to protect my family and friends, but he has pushed my trust too much."
"Okay-" He senses the passion for Sergio to not be his legal guardian anymore. "Back to when you were still at home unemployed, who paid for the bills?"
"My stepfather does with the money he made from work until I started this job. He said that we will use my money for the bills while his would be for just himself."
"You only have one shared account before." Alberto nods. "Where is the money that your stepfather earned before your current job?"
"It is in another account that I wanted to open for him. I withdrew some money so I can open an account. I couldn't without his authorization. I haven't seen him to open the account yet."
"How much money is to his name now?"
"About a little over a thousand. He really isn't the person who like to save and invest."
"I see, well I have one more question." Alberto nods in acceptance. "Are you planning to stay in Mr. Mendez's house forever?"
"No your honour, I plan to live in my own home down the road with hopefully my girlfriend, turn wife alone with some children."
"Sounds like a dream plan." The Judge smiles.
"I also want to work and own my shelter for animals, especially dogs to provide for all of them. I think this is my first of many steps to achieve my dream." He proudly smiles.
"It is, I will give this much thought and give you all answer tomorrow." The Judge announces.
"Thank you, your sir." He shakes his hand and leaves.
"Alberto, wait outside I will be right out." Alberto accepts as he heads into that hall. "Do you think you can help?"
"You know I can, but you do know who we are involving to help?"
"Yes." He sighs knowing that he/she always gets the job done.
"I don't want you hurt like last time."
"Yes I know, but I want to help him for his parents."
"It is not your fault, stop blaming yourself for that. Now I have to call them and stop accusing yourself. You know both of them including Rosalie won't like that. Also, don't blame yourself for that either."
"Yes your honour." He sulks.
"Romeo, she is proud of you. She watches over you and AJ all the time." He assures him.
"What about- I feel like I betrayed her." Romeo changes his train of thought.
"She sees you happy, which makes AJ happy. You are not replacing her you are just making yourself happy to live your life." He assures him again.
"Thank you." Romeo heads out of the office to meet up with Alberto. He hopes this time they will get the answers they were looking for before.
How does the Judge and Romeo know each other? Who is this mystery helper? As well as what does The Equalizer have in store for Dawn? Stay tuned for the answers.
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