Real Love Ch. 18

Chapter 18

Writer's Notes:

'Real Love' is my personal tribute to JammyJimmy's (JJ) story, 'Threads: The Island'. I give JJ credit, because credit is due, for this story and for my own inspiration and entrance into writing. 'Real Love' is actually the first story I wrote, even before 'Tale of Two Teens', my first published story.

As I was writing this story way back when, I was hoping JJ would be the editor. Having been unable to make contact with him, I have been reluctant to release it. Some say JJ has passed away, but I don't know. JJ, if you read this and want this story removed, please contact me. Several readers have relayed to me, both publically and privately, that they would like it released.

Therefore, 'Real Love' is an unauthorized, reimagined rewrite and sequel to JJ's story, 'Threads: The Island'. The general storyline in JJ's story is embedded in this story. Several of the character names have been changed because this is my story. Anyone who has read JJ's story will identify the characters quickly, starting with my main character, Bradley Weber, formerly known as Kyle Watson in JJ's story.

This story is long, but tolerant and filled with several emotions. If you stick with it, you will experience euphoria, happiness, sadness, sorrow and it will make you horny. You'll be disgusted, pissed off, scared and you'll grieve, cry, frown, smile and sometimes, you'll laugh, I hope.

'Real Love' starts off slow, but gains speed with age. Feel free to leave comments about what you like and what you dislike about the story. Feedback is a good thing for those writers who want to know what reader's like and dislike about their stories.

Please don't be mean in the comments because those that put in many hours over a period of several months, and thought into designing and writing these stories don't appreciate it, nor do they deserve it.

I do hope you enjoy the 'Real Love' series. Just don't forget one important detail -- it's fiction. Please do give us 'not so professional' writers a little slack.

JJ, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, fair winds and following seas my friend.

Let the saga of Bradley Weber continue...

MDSW

* * * * *

As Brad makes his way to where Peggy, Stacy, Craig and Brian wait on the stage, he joins his sisters as the Security Chief calls the room to order. As the noise quiets to a dull roar, Brian begins the explanation of why they have been called to the meeting.

"Thank you for gathering here and our apologies about the lack of notice, but we're dealing with an unusual circumstance," Brian begins, speaking loudly to the room.

Brad notices the amount of frowns that look back at them and he set his face in a neutral expression.

"Two days ago, Master Bradley was approached by a member of the staff, who will remain anonymous, with allegations of sexual abuse committed by Charles on a numerous occasions over the last year..."

A voice looms from the packed in crowd, saying, "It was me," Sara interrupts, unexpectedly, speaking loud enough for all to hear.

The room goes so quiet you can hear a pin drop.

"I've been a sex slave to Charles for the last year. He has done things to me I wouldn't dare tell my mother. I want everyone to know he did that to me, but it could have been any one of us. I put up with it for a year because he blackmailed me into doing it by making up a really good, believable, but false story and provided false documents to prove it to me. I found out later he made it all up, thanks to Master Bradley."

"I was afraid to report his abuse. I'm sure everyone has heard of the rumored helicopter ride I took with Master Bradley. It's not a rumor. That was when I got the courage to make my accusation. I had to get clear of Charles or I would never be able to say anything about what happened to me. I gave Master Bradley a note asking him to arrange the helicopter ride through Charles for another reason, but it was just a cover."

"It wasn't easy for me to admit to being a victim, but I felt it was now or never. I don't want to talk about it anymore and I hope everyone will respect that. I have lived with it long enough and now it's over for me. All I have left to do is survive the healing process... Thank you all for your understanding."

She's quavering by the end, runs out of the meeting to her room, expecting to cry the rest of the day. The meeting room remains silent until Brian takes back control.

"All of us owe Sara a debt of gratitude for doing what she did. Remember what she said... It could have been any one of us and I agree with her assessment, having seen the evidence Master Bradley has uncovered, which includes a video of Charles actually abusing her."

"An investigation into the matter was conducted with the assistance of Mr Grant, and with Mr Alden as a legal advisor. Early this morning, Master Bradley went to see Charles in his apartment to notify him he's under investigation. With him was Connor Grant, a guest on the Island, and, as many of you know, a Security Specialist."

A murmur runs around the room and Brad knows every set of eyes are looking at him.

"During the course of questioning him and presenting evidence, eventually, Charles admitted his guilt, but attacked Master Bradley in a rage of anger. The result of the attack was that Master Bradley was struck on the back of his head, giving him the concussion he's currently recovering from. Mr Grant was on hand and gave immediate assistance, rendering Charles temporarily incapacitated from doing any more damage."

Another ripple of whispered conversations and giggles rush around the room, gradually ceasing when Brian holds up a hand for silence.

"At this point, knowing him to be guilty, Master Bradley dismissed Charles from his position as Island Manager with immediate effect. Arrangements have been made to fly him back to his home country of England, and Master Bradley has just returned from escorting him to Betsy, where Captain Wales and Mr Grant are taking him to the big island. Mr Grant is rendering his assistance on the boat to ensure that he's put on the aircraft that's waiting for him and they're doing that as we speak."

Brad can see many of the expressions turn to smiles, some hidden, and many of the staff appears to be pleased by the news. The rest look either uninterested or aren't showing what they are thinking to protect themselves, in case he shows up later that day.

"Now, obviously, this leaves us with a post to be filled and Mr Alden has been asked to fill it on a temporary basis until the vacancy can be filled. In the meantime I'd like you all to render him every possible assistance to ensure a smooth transition."

The audience engages in conversation with one another as the noise level increases substantially. Brad takes a deep breath, knowing there's a couple of things that needs to be said and takes a step forward.

"I'd like to add a few words," Brad says loudly.

He looks around the room, then begins to wobble on his feet as his head informs him he's in no condition to be yelling anything, and gets dizzy. Stacy and Peggy jump in and steady him before he falls to the floor. He's close to doing that when Brian also steps in and assists his sisters.

Kelly is deeply concerned about his condition, but thought it best to stay out of the way, for now. She has to hold herself back with all the will power she has, and she needs all of it to stay in her seat.

"I shouldn't have yelled so loud..." he says, getting his eyes to focus again and proceeds. "The Island staff is important to myself and my sisters, Stacy and Peggy, and I'm personally offended when someone is abusive toward the staff. When I found out for sure what Charles was doing, I fired his ass and escorted him off the Island. He's being taken by boat to the big island as we speak where he will be escorted to a plane that will fly him back to England."

"Strangely enough, he just had to have both of his throw rugs to go with him and so we wrapped them up so they won't get wet on the boat ride, and put it on the boat. I honestly didn't know throw rugs were that heavy either," he says as a few giggles break out.

"Anyway, anything of this nature will be handled quickly and efficiently as possible. The situation with Charles came as a surprise to us all, but it's been dealt with. If there are problems like this on the Island, or any abuse of our employees, we want to know about them. You can trust myself, Peggy and Stacy, any of our assistants and we all have the utmost faith in Mr Kane and Mr Alden. So again, if there are problems, we want to know about them. They will be dealt with as quickly as possible."

He pauses for a moment, formulating his next point in his head, then continues.

"Sara didn't have to reveal she was the victim. At first, I thought she would have been better off if she kept it to herself. But, now that she has admitted it to everyone, I realize I was wrong because it's part of her healing process. She deserves respect and a little love from all of us so the next time you see her, I ask you to give her a hug. Her courage earlier in this meeting and from the helicopter ride has been an inspiration to us all. The ride she took with me was the beginning of the end of the abuse she has endured for a year. If nothing else, she definitely can use all the hugs she can get right about now. During the course of the last year, she has experienced what hell is like. I admire her bravery and her strength for doing what she did..."

"I also want to take this opportunity to let you know how impressed we've been over the last week. This place is paradise, a piece of tropical heaven with the highest levels of service and standards. That takes a lot of hard work to achieve. We want you to know that we're very grateful for all that work. We appreciate your commitment to excellence as shown by your professionalism every single day."

He forces a smile onto his face.

"It's important that we don't let the shadow of events this morning fall over us and that we continue to achieve exactly what we strive for. Because of that, we're delaying our departure until tonight because we want to be here to deal with any unresolved issues. Not only that, but we authorized Charles to take one of our private jets to England so we have to wait for another to arrive. Let's do our best to dismiss what happened this morning, and make it a great day. Thank you again for all your hard work. It shows and we have noticed."

Brad nods and steps back with his sisters. To his surprise a standing ovation breaks out and, for lack of a better response, he nods again.

"Okay, people," Brian says, calling the room to order again. "I'm going to hand you over to Mr Alden. Thanks for your patience and thanks for listening."

At that, he steps back and Mr Alden steps forward. Brad can see all eyes in the room are on the old lawyer.

"All team leaders, please lead your teams to work and come see me in the next two hours. I'll be in Charles's office in his former apartment. Thank you. You're dismissed."

As they all leave the building, Brad notices more smiles on the faces of employees than when he first arrived. Wandering out the door, chatting over the revelations they've just been hit with, Brad looks at Mr Alden.

"You kept that brief."

"I'm a big fan of letting people do the work they're employed to do," the old man smiles. "You nearly gave me a heart-attack when you stepped forward there. Nicely done though."

Brad shrugs saying, "No biggie. So can we head back to the house now?"

"Betsy got away?"

Brad nods saying, "No problems... Craig, would you kinda hint to them not to call me Master Bradley? My name is Brad and I'm no different than they are, just a couple bucks richer," he says smiling.

"I will mention it Brad. I'll see you at lunch," Craig replies, turning to leave. "Brian, let's go."

"Work calls," the Security chief says, nodding at Brad on his way past.

"Brian," Brad says, grabbing his arm and stopping him. "Thanks for this. All of it."

"No problem sir and if you don't mind me saying, Charles was a bastard. I'm glad he's off the Island."

"Me too, but call me Brad please."

"Ok Brad, sorry."

Kelly joins Brad and his sisters and take his hands in theirs as they leave for the suite, arm in arm.

"Where did that come from?" Stacy mutters to Brad as they leave.

"Just thought they needed reminding that they're the guys who actually make this place what it is," Brad says quietly. "A pep talk of sorts."

"Commitment to excellence?" Peggy murmurs, leaning into him. "That was from one of the briefing papers, right?"

"Exactly," he says, winking. "It's a good line."

"They seem to like it."

"As good as you liked it."

Brad stops, followed by everyone else in the group.

"Kelly do you know where Sara's room is?"

"I do."

"Take me and anyone else that wants to go. I think she can use a hug."

"Lets go," Kelly replies.

Brad's whole staff, except Debi, follows him to see Sara. When she opens the door with tears in her eyes, Brad looks at her and stretches his arms wide. She steps into him, gives him a hug and convulsively cries in Brad's arms. He holds her until she gets control of herself as the rest of the team joins the hug.

"Sara, you've been on this Island for over a year. Take some time off. Visit your family and say hi. You definitely deserve it and you'll always have a job here," Brad tells her.

Then they leave her in the hands of other staff employees, who are waiting to give her additional hugs.

Sara feels a whole lot better as other Island staffers give her hugs and she feels really special by the end of the day. Her experience was hell, but she believes she has all the support she needs here on the Island.

It's two hours and forty minutes later when Connor finally appears. A nervous Brad greets him and takes him into the bar, glad to escape from the incessant mocking from Ed, who has decided that Brad got beat up by an old man and is reeling out every relevant joke in his repertoire.

* * * * *

"How did it go?" Brad asks.

"Fine," Connor says, nodding his head, looking to verify they're alone. "Captain Wales turned off his GPS and headed mostly West for an hour or so. Nothing but water for ages, then eventually he stopped. We chained an anchor round the corpse, add a charge, put a hole in the trash bags to let the air out, and put him over the side."

"Wait. What do you mean 'a charge'?" Brad asks, frowning.

"Captain Wales idea," Connor says firmly. "Last thing you want is a body washing up on the beach or being discovered by scuba divers or something, so you make sure there's no body to find."

"So you exploded it?"

Brad can mentally picture it and the thought of disposing a body at sea where no one will ever find it makes him feel sick. Worse was the knowledge that they were going to explode it into pieces on the bottom of the ocean. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, reminding himself that Charles was a piece of shit and had killed himself by his own actions.

Connor, fixated on him with a steady gaze, continues his report.

"He sank like a stone after we put him over the side, and we hung around for twenty minutes and the corpse didn't come back up, so we turned East again for a hundred meters or so and triggered the charge and waited. All clear, so we continued back to the East. About an hour later, Captain Wales turned the GPS back on and used it to navigate back here. He doesn't know the precise spot, I don't have a clue, and there's no way it's washing up on some beach," Connor concludes. "It's done, Brad."

Brad nods, feeling a little relieved that it's done, but sick and disgusted all the same.

"Thanks, Connor. For everything."

"Aye, you keep saying that, Brad," the Scotsman replies, smiling a little. "I think I told you a few days back, I like the chase, the imminent threat, and as my experience goes, this wasn't a big drama. There wasn't a kidnaping, or a pitched battle, no car chases or anything crazy, but it was good to do some work again. It's been a while."

"You sure I can't recruit you to head up my security detail?"

He shakes his head.

"I get bored with people when there's no specific threat and me and bored don't mix well. If you ever get one though, just give me a call and I'll be right there."

"Anything you need," Brad says, "If it's in my power to help, you'll get it. Any time you want to see me, my door's open, and you know you're welcome to come here any time, right? Same goes for the rest of our accommodations too. And your team is also welcome."

Connor nods.

"Aye. Cheers for that. It's all good though, Brad. Just doing my thing."

"I thought there has to be chicks involved for that," Brad grins.

"Aye. Speaking of which, I'm off to pick up where I left off with those two chambermaids the other day," he replies, "And then I'm gonna sleep."

"Come up for lunch and dinner later if you want," Brad suggests. "It'll be good to see you before we go."

"Aye, I will."

Connor holds out a hand and Brad shakes it.

"Thanks, Connor."

"Nae worries, Brad."

Brad wanders back to join his friends, who are sitting around the pool, chilling out and chatting, and he takes a seat at one of the tables and lights a cigarette. He's still getting dizzy spells, but they aren't as long and fewer of them. Kelly comes over and sits down next to him.

"How did it go?" she asks quietly, taking his hand in hers and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Fine. No problems."

He decides not to tell anyone about the explosives part of the story. He's having enough trouble with it himself and really wants to think about something else.

"That's a relief."

"I know," he nods. "So what's the plan for today then?"

She shrugs.

"Kick back and relax. Finish packing. Lunch, then dinner, and then we're off to the boat."

"I need to go and have a look at some stuff downstairs at some point," Brad says, remembering the cabinet full of DVD's. He wants to have a look at the system too, to see what it can do and what has been recorded.

"Some sleep might not be a bad idea either," Kelly says, reminding him they've been up since early yesterday morning.

"Is that you hinting you want to get me in bed?"

"Normally yes, but I'm not really in the mood right now," she replies, a sad little smile on her face. "All I can think about is getting some sleep."

"Some actual sleep would be good. Let's go," he says firmly.

When they get to the bedroom, they undress and slip under the sheets and despite the brightness of the room, Kelly is asleep in minutes.

Brad lays there, yawning and trying to drift off, but he can't seem to fall asleep. So, fifteen minutes later, he slips out of bed, throws on some clothes and heads downstairs. Seeing no one about, he walks to the courtyard, punches in the code and slips downstairs, closing the trap door behind him.

* * * * *

It's eerie, stepping down the ladder completely on his own and he feels little trepidation as he punches in the code and holds his hand against the hand-scanner. He steps back as the door opens and enters the silent bunker, his eyes automatically going to the spot where Charles met his fate.

He takes a deep breath and heads for the control room, sliding into a seat before the console. He can see Kelly sleeping on one of the large screens in front of him. He smiles, seeing how natural and relaxed she seems while asleep.

Brad turns to look at the wall to his left, a large map of the Island about eight feet across with numbered pins stuck in it showing the location of each camera. It takes him a minute, but he counts one hundred and thirty eight.

"Holy fuck that's a lot of cameras."