Saul winced inwardly as he listened to the child rant. His face stayed as immobile as ever though, which no doubt cause the girl to be even more angry. He understood. She needed to vent. It had been cruel of him. It had been inhumanly cruel of him to leave her in the dark. He let her believe that he was sending her back to her own personal hell. He had seen the despondency in her eyes, an emotion he will never misread. He knew what she was feeling and he used it to help his ruse. He really was a despicable man.
At least he had his men make sure that she had no opportunity to harm her self. Strangely, when he had come out of the meeting with the Callahans she hadn't looked despondent anymore, a darker look had replaced the despair in her eyes. On one hand he respected that look, the one that says "I will not go gentle into that good night. I will Rage, rage against the dying of the light." How many times had he read that poem over the years. On the other hand, there was a darkness in that look. That darkness should never appear on the face of a 16-year-old. That was a darkness that society tried not to see. Still, he had more respect for a person who had the will to survive.
The girl was still yelling. She wasn't wrong about him. Even a hint would have helped. Anything. What he had done could easily be termed mental torture. Emotional torture. She was just a child really and he had used her for his own benefit. He could have used his connections to get her out of the country and let her start a new life under a fake name. The restrictions that she would have had to live with wouldn't have been that bad. Would it really matter if she couldn't return to the country? Would she even have regretted not being able to reclaim her identity for the rest of her life? Probably not.
There were other options as well. He could have threatened the Callahans. He could have used the surveillance tapes and evidence to get the Callahans to agree to give up custody. But then the Callahans and his other targets would all learn to guard against him. He needed to work against them from the inside. To slowly erode their financial and political power while gathering evidence against them so that when he finally exposed them, there would be no way out.
He sighed, yes he was all the nasty things the girl was calling him. He accepted it and let her continue to scold him.
*****
Eventually Charlie ran out of steam. It felt good to let it all go. But she also felt a bit embarrassed, she seemed to be losing her temper a lot recently. She also felt slightly ashamed. She had been so desperate, so hopeless, she had even thought of hurting herself. Finding out that it had all be a ruse. That she had been 'safe' made her hate herself just a little. How could she have had such a weak thought?
"Are you done?" Mr. Monroe finally asked her. He hadn't interrupted or argued. He hadn't tried to avoid her gaze either. Mr. Seward had managed to find the furthest point in the vehicle and suppressed his presence to the point he practically disappeared. Mr. Monroe did none of that. He simply took the scolding. Charlie didn't know what to make of him.
"Mostly," she said, answering his question. "Can you at least tell me why?" she asked.
He looked at her for a while and she could almost feel him considering her request.
"The Callahans have destroyed more lives that you know. They have done so much, that even they are unaware of all of the enemies they have made."
"Enemies including you?" Charlie asked softly.
Mr. Monroe didn't refute it and she took that as confirmation.
"So," she mused, "you needed to get in business with them in an effort to get revenge and I was your way in?"
Again she took silence as assent.
"Fine. You're still and asshole though." Charlie didn't exactly forgive the man but she could understand now that she wasn't so angry. She knew that the logic behind his decision was correct regardless of how cruel it was to her. Business people often had to be able to be heartless to be successful. "So, now what? I'm your new charity project?"
"No." Mr. Monroe replied. "As you have said, I am not a good man. Charity is only profitable in raising public opinion. I don't think you qualify. What I am offering is a scholarship. I will pay for your education, you will work for me when you graduate."
At first Charlie was strangely disappointed. It felt like something had been stolen from her. But when she thought about it she actually felt better thinking of it as a scholarship. She didn't like the idea of being indebted to the man. He was too ruthless. Plenty of companies would pay for education in return for a specific number of years employment later on. The salaries and bonuses would be payed while she was working for the company. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. But she did have some questions.
"In what sort of position will I be working?"
"Your transcripts suggests you are interested in linguistics.�� Mr. Monroe said.
"More translation than linguistics." Charlie responded. "I like learning languages and it is fun to try to translate them accurately. I have done some freelance Internet work, translating web-novels and stuff like that. Adding subtitles to foreign videos." She shrugged but couldn't quite hide the passion in her eyes, "I have been creating a collection of footnotes to explain different idioms and cultural references in different languages. I could translate them to something of similar meaning or such, but I like the idea that the readers are learning more about the culture." Charlie stopped talking. She always got carried away when talking about languages and translation.
"The Monroe group is and international company," Monroe stated. "Right now we are primarily located in the Northern Continent and the Old Continent but we will be expanding next year in to the Eastern Continent as well. There will be plenty of positions open at the corporate level for a skilled translator. There are also positions at a more local level if you end up falling short of my expectations."
Charlie didn't like the insinuation of "falling short of expectations".
"And what would be the consequence of underachieving?" she asked with a little more heat in her voice than was polite.
"The length of the contract will correspond to the value of the position. A high value position with have fewer years demanded than a very low level position."
Well, Charlie had to agree that made sense. As they continued to discuss terms, Mr. Seward inched out of the corner and began to join the conversation again. They continued to discuss even after they arrived at one of the Monroe Group hotels. Hotel Monroe was far more expensive than the Monarch and there was a classic vibe to the building and decor. It was incredibly luxurious but the luxury was understated. If the Monarch was a nouveau riche woman, Hotel Monroe was a dame from a long established line of royalty. She had more dignity and less pretense. Charlie couldn't help but wonder if there were unsightly "Employee Only" areas here as well.
Mr. Monroe told her that he would have someone send Mr. Seward the contracts that she needed to sign, along with an attorney to explain them, the following day. He also recommended that she have Mr. Seward open an account and deposit her duffel of cash. Charlie agreed absently. She was exhausted. How long had it been since she had slept? She had napped for maybe a couple of hours at the club, but that couldn't really be considered sleeping. She was ready to conk out for a good 8-hours. Still, before she closed the door to the room Mr. Monroe had booked her, she remembered asking Mr. Seward to use some of the money from the bag to get her a cell phone. She needed to call Kate and let her friend know what was going on.
Finally she closed the door and kicked off her shoes. That was all she had energy for before she collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.