The CEO's Painted Skin 143 The Outcome

"Happy Birthday, Grace!" she greeted her cousin and gave her the gift she brought from the mall earlier.

Grace accepted her gift and hugged her cousin back.

"Sorry am being late!" she apologizes to her.

"It's okay, you are forgiven! Go to the table now, there's still lots of food left and start eating your dinner," said Grace.

Catherine went to the table and began putting a little serving of rice, sweet & sour fish, spicy pork, and stewed beef with onions in her plates.

"Where are they?" she asked about her mother and her siblings.

"They're upstairs watching a horror movie in my flat screen TV in my room," said Grace smiling.

Catherine sat down on the sofa and starts eating foods from her plate.

"By the way, have you seen Jerome outside? He was here earlier waiting for you. But I realized just now that he completely disappears without even eating a single bite from any of the foods that were being displayed in the table."

Catherine raised her head and looked at her cousin. "I haven't see Jerome outside. He must have gone home early," she answered and then focus her attention back to her foods and started chewing the delicious stewed beef between her teeth. A few moments later, she stood up and got herself a cold cola from the fridge to drink since she was feeling thirsty.

Grace's housemaid starts clearing the table and washing the mountains of cooking utensils used in the party. Catherine helped Grace in disposing the trash in the garbage bag and putting the leftovers in the fridge.

Satisfied with their efforts they went upstairs to watch movies together with the rest of Catherine's family.

...

Outside Catherine's house...

The time is now 11:00 PM.

The rain was still dropping in torrents, the street becomes a deserted place since most of the people were already sleeping or resting in their respective residences.

Two Starex van, one colored black and the other one colored gray without plate number were parking in front of Catherine's house for a few minutes blocking the entire view of the house entrance.

Ten minutes later, the first van departed heading to the north.

Fifteen minutes later, the second van went the opposite way.

The second van has George and Allan on it.

George was driving the van.

"What happened inside the room, Allan? I missed the action! Fill me the details quick!" George starts interrogating his comrade with much curiosity glistening in his eyes.

"Not much action. The guy is not an expert when it comes to physical combat unlike us. I hide behind the door after covering the two pillows with a blanket in the bed to make it looks like Catherine was lying in the bed...when he enters I already saw he was armed with a knife. I was able to land a kick in his stomach and punched him hard in the head putting him in dazed, I grab the knife away from his hand, but he attempted to fight me, unfortunately he wasn't able to fight any longer 'coz I delivered a heavy blow on the side of his neck hitting his vagus nerve knocking him unconscious."

George grinned and gave Allan thumbs-up sign. "Good job, mate!"

"By the way, where shall we bring this Jerome guy---to the police station? where?" asked George.

Allan shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea, let's call Boss John, first."

The last time they talked was when they informed him that Jerome made an attempt again on Catherine and he caught him on the act, good thing Catherine was out of the house. That was twenty minutes ago. "Let me call him again," said Allan, he already has gotten his phone from his backpack.

He swipes at his phone and placed a call on John's number.

John has been waiting for his bodyguard's call.

"Allan, what's the update?"

"Sir, we have Jerome with us, he still unconscious right now. We would like to know what we will do with him? Are we going to bring him to the police station or not yet?" asked Allan.

John was thinking about the possible areas on where to hide Jerome temporarily.

"No. Bring him in the warehouse, put him in the office and chained him on the post. I will deal with him tomorrow. I will let Catherine decide his fate," said John. "Interrogate him if regains consciousness but do not harm him in any way, record everything for future use. Do not add any more to his body injuries. I repeat, do not harm him physically! Catherine is fond of that guy and considered him as a friend, you understand, Allan? Feed that guy on time, give him drinks, treat him as a human being for the meantime."

"Yes. I understood, Sir."

"Okay. Men proceed to the warehouse immediately! After you bring Jerome into the warehouse, one of you will return the van to where you rented it. Where is Ramon?"

"He is on his way to return the van he rented," answered Allan.

"How about the house? What is the status of Catherine's room?" asked John.

"Nothing was broken inside her room. I wrapped the knife in a piece of paper and put it inside the cellophane and brought it with me to be taken as a piece of evidence and I made sure everything in the room is the same as before Jerome and I arrive in her room," explained Allan.

"Good Job! I will call you guys if I have further instruction..."

John ended the call.

He normally doesn't smoke...but he was craving to smoke a cigarette right now! He wasn't expecting Jerome will ultimately do the evil deed! Fortunately, Catherine was not in her room when his evil plan succeeded. The right thing to do would be to bring Jerome into the police station to have Catherine file charges against him. But the case is a bit vague because Catherine wasn't even inside the house when Jerome break in the house. It could break down to a simple case of burglary...there is no solid evidence of Jerome attempting to sexually abuse Catherine, it's hard to establish that scenario unless Jerome would confess to everything that he plans to do to with Catherine.

He can't call Catherine right now and broke the terrible news to her. It's past midnight and she's probably sleeping right now. He will just break the hideous news to her tomorrow when they arrive in the warehouse.

John was worried about how Catherine will deal with Jerome's situation? He would rather have Jerome serves jail time to pay for his mistakes, but in the end, it will be Catherine's decision that he will respect the most. Just that she is a bit of a softhearted person, her decision might be based on something different.

He walked towards the swimming pool area and stared at the water for a few minutes. Trying to see what will happen tomorrow...

Their wedding is fast approaching and this is one incident that he didn't expect to finally be happening. He was mentally preparing for it though in advanced that is why he rented the warehouse in the first place just for this purpose. But still, it would have been good if Jerome just gives up in pursuing Catherine and walk away, for him that would have been a much favorable outcome compared to all that has been happening right now.

Chapter end