The City Held Its Silence byIrel Knx 102

102 Difference in Morals 

LOUIS‘ POVO 

I never imagined Gatwick would end up making things this costly. 

The telephone on my desk was ringing. I pressed the answer button. 

“Sir, a representative of the Carrington Group is here,” Ms Deepak told me. 

I internally let out a sigh. Great the problem was here. Why didn’t my brother mention that he would be sending someone ahead of time? What if I hadn’t been here? How annoying. As my finger remained on the answering button I didn’t say anything for a 

moment. 

“Ah, sir?,” I heard Carmen’s voice ask. 

My mind was telling me to refuse to see the representative but I knew there was no avoiding this. 

“Send him in,” I said. 

A short while later a man in his early forties entered the office. 

“Good afternoon, Mr Carrington,” he greeted me as he came and shook my hand. 

“Mr Quentin,” I said. Quentin was my older brother’s assistant. 

“I’m here to talk about your request to hq as well as to collect the reports on this situation,” he said as he sat down on the guests chair. 

To help with my plan to further compensate the victims and prevent any lawsuits, I ended up asking the main Carrington group headquarters if they could increase the budget slightly. However, I knew what my family was like. 

“Let me guess, my request was denied?” I asked Quentin. 

“Yes, Mr Carrington,” he said. “From the Chairman’s stand point it’s a waste of money to do this.” 

“And what will we do about the victims who might due the company asking for large 

sums.” 

“I don’t know sir, I can only relay what they told me to tell you,” he said. 

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I had written a detailed e–mail to them explaining the serious situation the company was in. I was at least hoping they would consider it or give me more than just a no. 

“Will I see my father tonight at the event?” I asked him. 

“Your elder brother will be there but I doubt his mind will change on the situation,” Quentin told me. 

I unfortunately didn’t doubt that but I still had to try. 

I handed Quentin the documents he needed and then excused himself and left. 

Jasmine then entered the office and I was completely taken aback. I was still in a pissed mood and I didn’t want her catching an flack due to my attitude. 

Luckily she just dropped off the documents she had obtained and left them on my 

desk. 

I barely talked to my family. They didn’t care for me and neither did I care for them. We didn’t attend the same events most of the time. 

Later that evening I began to prepare for the fundraising event. Jasmine came to say goodbye to before she left for the day. 

** 

**** 

I arrived about an hour after the event had started and began searching for my brother. I greeted and talked to other people I knew as I looked around. I even saw Keith and his mistress some distance from me. So they he attended just as I thought he would. 

“Robert,” I said to my brother once I’d found him. 

“Louis,” he said turning round to face me. 

“Your assistant told me you and father denied my request for a slight increase in budget,” I got straight to the point. 

“Oh my god, this is not the time for this discussion. The budget will remain the same no matter what,” he told me, 

“I’m asking you to make an acception this time. Just to help pay off the victims 

“And what if we’re hit with multiple lawsuits?” 

“Louis you realise how this is your fault that you’re in this mess right? You didn’t have to make this a big spectacle you of this situation and wouldn’t be dealing with this 

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102 Difference in Morals 

right now. 

“What do you mean?” I asked him surprised by his answer. 

“Once you found out about the mans hobby you could have pulled him to the side and quietly got him to quit. Nohing would have had to be reported on the news,” he said. 

My eyebrows raised in shock. Gatwick’s actions were by no means a ‘hobby‘. And allowing him to quit would have just allowed to continue his predatory actions else where. 

We’re running a business not a charity. And as usual you show you don’t have what it takes to run a business. Bad things happen in companies all the time what’s important is to handle the situation swiftly before it gets out of hand like this.” 

Even if it was just business that was a cruel thing to do. I knew my father and brother would blame me for the Gatwick situation but I hadn’t expected this would be the reason why. 

‘Even had I done as you are saying who’s to say victims would 

“You do realise the restaurant is going to be shut down in the near future, right? You could have continued threatening the victims to silence them and If the situation called for it you just file for bankruptcy. When the company shuts down none of that will matter anymore. It’s not directly tied to the Carrington group so the lawsuits can’t get back to us. Why am I teaching you this as if you didn’t go to business school?” 

“These are people’s lives,” I tried to get him to see the bigger picture. “People were 

hurt.” 

“Louis it’s nothing personal it’s just business. Now look at you drowning yourself in work when you could have made this easy for yourself,” he said. “Anyway I have people 

to see.” 

He finished off and then left. 

I left the conversation feeling heated. Running a business didn’t have to be so cruel and selfish like my father and brother believed. I didn’t care if in their minds they thought I was weak, just the youngest son or whatever. All my life they put me on the back burner as the ‘spare child‘ I felt there was surely a way to run a business more honestly. 

As 

my brother and I went in opposite directions getting lost in the crowd once again. 

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102 Difference in Morals 

How was going to come up with the money I required? With my family unwilling to lend a hand I would have no choice but to resort to other means. 

A figure then appeared before me. “Louis Carrington,” a familiar male voice said to me. 

Brought out of my thoughts, my gaze averted to the figure. Immediately my eyes narrowed as I recognised the person. 

Looks like I was going from one conflict to another. It was Keith Acland. I was so glad to have made Jasmime stay home. I know I promised Jasmine I wouldn’t get into it with him. He was by himself, I was sure I’d seen him with his lover earlier. My eyes glanced around for her for a moment, I couldn’t see where she was. 

“Mr Acland, what a pleasure meeting you here,” I told him but I really didn’t mean it. 

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