Jade is the victim of a narcissistic pervert, here is her story...
Here is the story of Jade, a young woman of 28 years old, who has just crossed paths with a narcissistic pervert without knowing it. In a little while, this encounter will turn her life upside down but at that moment, she sees nothing but fire…
Part 1 : First encounter
Jade lives in London and works in a large CAC 40 company with hours close to 45 hours a week for her position.
She is also passionate about art and in her free time, she is mobilised for the causes that are close to her heart, namely the protection of the environment, help for homeless people and the French lessons she gives to foreigners and young schoolchildren.
Her schedule is always busy and she crunches life to the fullest. This is also how Jade was spotted as prey by her predator Patrick…
Patrick also lives in London where he has managed his communication company for 8 years. At 42, he remains a rather handsome man for his age. He is a seducer with a lot of confidence but always very discreet in public. That’s why Jade wasn’t suspicious of him at the very beginning.
The first time they meet is during a seminar on the climate change theme “2050: net zero objective”. After the panel, Jade and Patrick exchange a few words, the most banal after a conference, you might say. Yes, for her but not for him…
Not knowing she was being observed, Jade answers his questions without worrying. Yet, through this brief conversation, Patrick quickly identifies several elements of her lifestyle that will provide the perfect context for him to lock her in his grip.
8 months later, Patrick is looking for a project manager to lead the new project he is developing. He thinks “immediately” of Jade because her profile could correspond to join the team and he therefore decides to call her to offer a collaboration.
The following week, Jade receives a call from Patrick when she hadn’t talked to him for months.
After the climate change seminar, they had followed each other on LinkedIn but there was nothing afterwards: no follow up and certainly not any dates.
This first contact between them will be very professional and formal. He explains to her the contours of the position and asks her to prepare an application. Jade, who already has a full-time job, is quite enthusiastic about the proposal and promises to think about it.
Jade reads again the job description. This totally corresponds to her values while her corporate job bores her. So why not give it a try?
After careful consideration, she sends her application back to Patrick, unfortunately unaware that he “created this position on purpose” to trap her…
Part 2 : Psychological trap
From a very young age, Jade has always been a studious and diligent student in her work. Although her current job is extremely stressful and demanding, she always performs it with great rigour and quality.
Jade has never had a problem with demanding or unpleasant customers. On the contrary, it’s part of the job, she knows how to manage them.
On the other hand, she would never have imagined that this permanent state of pressure could attract Patrick to a young woman like her.
When Patrick tells her the “good news”, he congratulates her, insisting that she was the best candidate on the list for the job. In reality, it is only a decoy to put her in confidence and make her lower her level of vigilance towards him.
He seeks to quickly become a familiar face in her daily life and first he begins by giving her lots of praise so that she signs the contract quickly without negotiating too much.
After all, when you get along so well right from the interviews stage, why would things go wrong afterwards? The contract finally signed, the mission can begin.
Important detail: for Jade, it remains a secondary activity because she has not left her main job on the other side. It’s just a way to spend more time doing what she loves in a new structure.
Moreover, one could almost say that it is voluntary work because the financial compensation which is promised to her would never allow her to live decently from this activity. An initial work meeting is scheduled for her to virtually meet her new colleagues.
The team is rather young, dynamic and the atmosphere is friendly. Jade quickly feels at ease in this small group which includes as many women as men, all very committed, and living in the four corners of the globe. Unfortunately, these moments of complicity will not last very long.
Another important detail: From the first interview to the signing of the contract and now the completion of the project, Jade & Patrick have never met physically.
All their appointments are done remotely by telephone or videoconference.
The following week, Patrick asks Jade to submit a roadmap to him so that they can move forward on the project. From this second meeting, the working atmosphere will completely change because now there is no longer the rest of the team on the calls, only her facing him.
When she begins to present her ideas to brainstorm, Patrick is unenthusiastic, very distant & extremely critical. Nothing more normal than a bit of a challenge, you might say, you can’t get 10/10 the first time around. The criticism was surely constructive.
Jade accepts the remarks, picks up her copy and offers Patrick to submit some ideas again the following week. Of course, she remains professional because the customer is always right.
I will give you that because yes, it can happen in any project so it should not be a concern.
At the next call, Jade presents the new suggestions which now incorporate all of Patrick’s comments. But unfortunately once again, the rest of the team is not invited and on top of that Patrick adds new requests to correct his “own” previous remarks…
Come back on on our blog on Friday to find out what will happen to Jade !
Thank you for reading the first part of this short story, feel free to share it around.
