Love the Second Time Around Novel

Chapter 55 Something Is Amiss

| approached him said, “Thank you for calling me.”

He had been kind enough to letand Louis talk for as long as we needed in the interrogation room.

Smiling, he replied, “We're obligated to contact their family. | guess your brother told you everything.”

I nodded dejectedly. Just then, a thought crossed my mind. “Can | meet that girl? My brother would never do

something like this. There must have been a misunderstanding.”

The whole situation felt off, and | knew that the girl held an important clue.

The policeman shook his head and informedthat she had gone home. | could only visit her residence if |

wished to meet her.

| wrangled her address out of the policeman despite his initial reluctance. He was probably worried that | would

pull sfunny tricks.

| swore up and down that | would not harm her — | only wanted to talk to her.

Only then did he giveher address on a piece of paper.

| failed to bail Louis out, and | could only comfort him and assure him that | would be back once I cleared things

up. | vowed that | would save him.

At the exit of the police station, the policeman handeda note and toldthat | could contact him if | needed

help.

| learned that his nwas Xavier Tyrrell.

The only thing | could do was to track down the alleged victim. Following the address the policeman had given

me, | hailed a cab to a quaint residential area called Landonville Gardens.

| found myself outside unit 407 of Tower A in the fifth block of the place. | knocked on the metal door and heard a

rustling sound.

Soon after, a girl's voice drifted out, “Who is it? Givea moment.”

| kept quiet, fearful that she would refuse to open the door once she learned of the purpose of my visit.

The door swung open and revealed a beautiful young woman.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Hi, are you perhaps Queenie Young?”

She hesitated before nodding, her face filled with suspicion.

My words ctumbling out in a hurry. “Well, here's the thing. I'm Louis Zanetti’s sister. You said my brother

raped you, and | wanted to know-"

Before | could finish my sentence, the woman's expression turned downright ugly, and she interrupted me

angrily.

“There's nothing left to say. Your brother raped me, simple as that. Please leave.”

“That's impossible. My brother would never do something like that. Ms. Young, perhaps there was a

misunderstanding?” | asked desperately.

Her mind was, however, made up. She insisted that Louis had raped her and slammed the door in my face. No

amount of knocking would make her reopen the door.

| settled down hopelessly at the stairs. Oh well, | guess I'll wait out here. I've got to speak with her.

| had been sitting there for about half an hour when two policemen entered my sight, one of whom was Xavier.

He looked atawkwardly, and | realized with a jolt that they might be looking for me.

“Ms. Zanetti, you should leave. Ms. Young has reported you to the police for harassment. I'm sure you don’t want

to end up in the station yourself before freeing your brother.”

| did not expect Queenie to reportto the police over my visit. Though | was reluctant to leave, | knew it was

in Louis’ best interests forto obey their orders.

Begrudgingly, | followed the policemen out of the building.

Once we were outside the residential area, Xavier advisednot to seek out Queenie again. Well, not for that

day, at least.

| agreed since any objections would be futile.

To stay near Louis, | returned to the vicinity of the Jadeborough Institute of Science and Technology and got

myself a room at a nearby hotel.

Once | checked myself in, | lay sprawled on the giant bed with my pile of tangled emotions.

As Jadeborough was a foreign place to me, | did not know who I could reach out to for help.

My confidence in Louis’ innocence grew after | met with Queenie; something was definitely up.

The woman had not behaved like a rape victim, and her rush to kickout seemed like an act of guilt.

After scontemplation, | decided to get shelp. | chose to call Benjamin. Even if he could not travel to

Jadeborough, he knew more about law and crimes than I did, and it would be good to seek his opinion.

When | pulled out my phone to call him, | realized that it had remained off since the moment | boarded the plane.

Switching it on, | immediately received a call from my mom. | pretended nothing was wrong, fibbing about my

rush to leave over sissues with my manuscript.

| called Benjamin after ending the call. To my dismay, my call went unanswered for a long time.

Impatient, | waited a couple of minutes before calling him again. Someone eventually picked up after the line

had been ringing for a while.

“Liliana? What's wrong? Is your ex-husband giving you trouble again?”

| rushed into my explanation. “This has nothing to do with him. It’s my brother. He's in trouble. You've got to help

a,

Benjamin puton hold for a minute before he returned to the call.

“Your brother? What happened?”

| felt myself calming down as | recounted the situation to him. It was possible that | felt reassured by his

profession as a lawyer and his excellent handling of my divorce. Instinctively, | knew | could trust him.

“Are you sure your brother is telling the truth?” Benjamin sounded exceptionally calm on the call, bordering on

the point of indifference.

His suspicions were unexpected, and my anger reared its ugly head once more.

“What are you implying? Do you think he’s lying to me? Lou is my brother, and | believe in him! If you don’t want

to help me, I'll find someone else.”

| was about to hang up when Benjamin halted me. There was a loud sigh before he said, “Why are you so

agitated? When did | say | wouldn't help you? Where are you now? I'll cover. It's better to have this

discussion face-to-face.”

“I'm in Jadeborough city. My brother's enrolled in a university here.”

He paused for a moment before swearing. “Damn, couldn't you have picked a closer place? Forget it, wait for me

there. Oh right, did you tell Dominic?”

My hope reignited at his promise to travel to Jadeborough. | was, however, perplexed by his question about

Dominic. | could only tell him that Dominic was unaware.

He hung up soon after, tellingthat he would callonce he arrived in Jadeborough.

My gut instinct toldthat Louis would be fine once Benjamin cto the rescue.

| spent the rest of the day waiting for his call in the hotel. The wait was excruciating.

At about four in the afternoon, I finally got a call from Benjamin. In response to my offer to fetch him, he only

asked for my address.

Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. | jumped up and flung the door open.

| immediately froze in surprise. Dominic, Benjamin, and Mitch were all there.

Mitch's arrival was not wholly unexpected since he was a lawyer like Benjamin.

Dominic, though, madesurprised. | stared at him and asked, “Why are you here?”