‘I didn’t think you’d be interested.’
His head swings around. ‘Tell me about them.’
‘Well, we’re four: my parents, my brother and me. My parents live in London. My father took early retirement because he’s plagued by all kinds of diseases, and my mother’s his full-time caregiver. My brother’s just graduated from uni and is now traveling around Asia with his girlfriend.’
He nods. ‘Are you a close family?’
‘I’m close to my parents, but my brother and I don’t get on.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t like the way he treats Mum and Dad. They have so little, and he’s constantly asking them for money.’
‘Do they survive on their pension alone?’
‘Not really. I help them with bits and pieces, groceries and stuff.’
His eyes swivel around. ‘On your salary?’
I shrug. ‘I manage.’
And again he looks at me as if he’s seeing me for the first time.
FOURTEEN
I have exactly three opportunities to trip up Nigel Broadstreet. Not because he sucks at his job—at full flow he is brilliant in a totally slippery way—but because of the things I have seen and heard while I’ve been with Dom.
However, I don’t take them.
I just sit back and let Rob get more and more frustrated and lose more and more ground while Nigel puts forth more and more ‘evidence’ to support his claim that it was all an honest clerical mistake. No matter what Rob says or does, Nigel is impossible to faze. He is as cool as someone on a deckchair on the Titanic the day before the disaster, who had a helicopter ride off the ship that evening. Smooth. Confident. Secure. Unshakeable.
Watching Nigel in action isn’t like watching a cheetah kill. There’s no dazzling speed, claws, teeth, clouds of disturbed dust, or flying fur. It’s more like watching a python wrapped around a goat. Every time the goat exhales, the python squeezes tighter until the last breath is gone. At which point the python, at its own leisure, swallows the goat whole.
As we leave the restaurant I pretend to be disappointed with the outcome even though I’m actually feeling very satisfied. It is rare that someone gets the better of Rob, and he’s such a jumped-up, pompous ass that the pathetic side of me quite secretly enjoys seeing him brought down a peg.
In the car he fumes impotently. ‘I hate these oily bastards. I’d love to investigate his accountancy firm. I’m sure there are more than a few skeletons rattling in there.’
Wisely, I say nothing.
As soon as I’m out of Rob’s sight, I text Dom.
You might want to give your accountant a huge bonus this Christmas. X
I chat for a bit with the receptionist. She tells me her dog swallowed her ring so she has to dig through its poo with a stick. I make the appropriate noises of sympathy mixed with revulsion. When I leave her I take the lift upstairs and go straight to my desk.
I sit down and pull up the Integrated Compliance Environment (ICE) desktop interface. I bring up the original search request I made for Lady Marmalade. Scanning through the form, I notice that, under ‘Reason for Request and Any Additional Information’, I’ve input all his brothers as additional associated persons that I wanted researched. Even BJ’s name is there.
Leaning back, I gaze at the entry.
Every name on the list means something to me now. They’re real people. They live, they breathe, they have hopes and dreams, they love their families, and they hurt when I go after them. I remember how emotionlessly I had compiled the list. How proud I used to be of the impressive responsibility I had, to make a decision on whether to challenge a declared tax return, and at what level that challenge should be made. How powerful it used to make me feel.
I was a different person then.
My mobile pings. I pick it up and look at it.
Want to celebrate with me?
I type back:
Obviously.
The answering ping is immediate.
Pick you up at 6. Wear a bikini under your clothes. Or don’t.
Still smiling, I click out of the form and pull up the ICE Feedback Form. I complete it and click ‘Send Form’. There. Case closed.
I sit for a while with my hands in my lap and then I open a fresh Word document and begin to type into it.
We drive out to his country house, which takes us about two hours. We turn off a main road and drive for another couple of minutes on a much narrower country lane before we come upon a rather nondescript steel gate, which he opens with the touch of a button on his key fob.
We then travel through about a mile of woods, which Dom tells me he has turned into a bee, bird and deer sanctuary. And as we drive slowly through, I start to see colorful birds everywhere.
‘Oh my God,’ I cry with delight, when Dom points out two sweet little deer hidden among the trees They do not scamper away, even at the monstrous sound of the V8 engine, but they gaze back at us, their large, moist eyes totally unafraid.
‘Are they tame enough to be petted?’ I ask, turning my head to stare at them.
‘They come up to the house looking for food in the mornings. You can hand feed them then.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really,’ he says and there is an indulgent look in his eyes. He obviously cares very much for his deer.
The sun is setting, but the air is still deliciously warm, and I’m almost struck dumb by the unspoilt beauty of the woods, and the thought that one man owns all this while people like me cannot even afford to buy a matchbox apartment. But I don’t think these thoughts with the resentment I would have felt in the past. Instead, it is with a confused sadness. Is the world really just an unfair place where people have been arbitrarily made poor or rich by the accident of their birth? And does that mean that there is nothing I can do to make it a better place?
As we drive up to the house, I have to gasp. It is so beautiful. With two stately stone pillars and a frontage utterly covered in ivy, it is like an enchanted mansion straight out of a fairy tale.
Dom turns to me. ‘Like it?’
‘Like it? Dom, it’s absolutely fabulous,’ I enthuse. I turn to him. ‘Does it remain empty while you are in London?’
‘No, I have a housekeeper, and her husband doubles as the gardener. They stay the nights in the house when I’m not around, but when I’m here they live in that lodge there.’ He points to a small cottage covered in wisteria and climbing roses. Nothing could be more English than that pretty little country home.
‘Right,’ I say, my eyes going back to the dreamy main house.
Dom parks the car and we cross the gravel and go up the stone steps. He pushes open the beautiful old doors.
‘Don’t you lock your doors?’ I ask, surprised.
‘Only in London.’
Inside are powder blue walls with white trims, gleaming oak floors, palladium windows with beautiful window seats, and a charming mixture of antique furniture and pastel furnishings. It is airy and elegant. There’s a wingback chair next to a bay window and a book on a little round table next to it. I can almost see myself sitting in that chair reading and leaving the book there on the table.
I turn away from the sight. Disturbed. Why, I care not to think about.
He takes me through to a dining room with gold damask wallpaper and black and white curtains. It leads on to a large, shabby-chic style French kitchen with sandstone tiles. There’s a cute breakfast table in a sunny corner.
‘Want a drink?’ he asks.
‘I’ll have some tea.’
He fills a kettle and sticks it on.
I sit on one of the chairs by the counter. ‘Dom, I need to ask you a question. It’s rather important to me, so please answer it as honestly as you can.’
He leans his hip against the island and glances at me warily. ‘OK.’
‘You think you shouldn’t pay tax because the very richest are not paying theirs. But what would happen if everybody did that?’
He lo
oks at me seriously. ‘I wish everybody wouldn’t pay. That would make this entire corrupt merry-go-round grind to a sudden halt. They can’t imprison everybody and we’d then have to come up with something different. Not this corrupt system that has slowly concentrated half the world’s wealth into the hands of one percent of the population and allowed eighty-five fucking people to amass as much as three and a half billion people combined!’
He pauses to let his words sink into my psyche.
Is he serious? My mind boggles. ‘Eighty-five individuals own half the world’s wealth! How is that even possible?’
‘Not only is it possible, but the study concluded that soon the wealthiest one percent will own more than the rest of the world’s population put together!’
I nibble the pad of my right thumb and reflect on his claim. It doesn’t sound right. Too unbelievable. ‘Where are you getting your figures from?’
He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes. ‘It’s public information, Ella. You can find it on the websites of the BBC, or Forbes, or the New York Times, or anywhere really.’
I scowl. How can this information be public knowledge and there still be programs on TV like Benefit Street where the poorest, neediest people are put to shame because they receive pitifully meager handouts from the government?
At that moment it occurs to me that not only have I watched these programs myself, but that I, too, have been hoodwinked into despising those poor people while the real culprits remained invisible to my rage and condemnation. What a clever sleight of hand by the one percent indeed!
The kettle boils and he pushes himself away from the counter, drops a tea bag into a mug and fills it with hot water. He looks at me. ‘Milk? Sugar? Lemon?’
‘Black, two sugars,’ I say automatically.
He drops the cubes into the drink and brings the mug to me.
I smile up at him. ‘You made me tea.’
He frowns and seems surprised. ‘Actually, it’s my first time, too. I don’t believe I’ve ever made tea for anyone before.’
I put the mug down and reach into the purse slung across my body. ‘I want to show you something,’ I say. Unzipping it, I take out a folded piece of paper and give it to him. He takes it from me and unfolds it. I watch his eyes scan down my letter.
Then he looks up and smiles at me. It is a rich smile. ‘You know, when we’re at school, we’re really only taught one thing that the system considers important. Every school in the world has different curricula and different subjects, but all schools have this one agenda in common.’
‘What’s that?’ I ask curiously.
‘Schools tame children and teach them obedience.’
‘Obedience?’ I say slowly, tasting the word.
‘Obedience to the bell, the teacher, the rules, the grading system, the uniform, the time-keeping. It’s how the few control the many.’ He re-folds my letter. ‘This letter of resignation is your first act of disobedience. And for that I congratulate you.’
I look up at him, fascinated and intrigued. Never could I have imagined at first sight of this arrogant, cock-sure man that there was such hidden depth to him. ‘Will the system ever get changed, Dom?’
He shrugs. ‘I don’t know, Ella. It’s hard to fight it because it is us. We are the ones who are making this system work, with our apathy, our compliance, and our obedience.’ He smiles and shakes my letter at me. ‘But every time someone writes a letter like this, it gives me hope that one day, maybe not in my lifetime, but one day the world will be different.’
There’s a sound at the kitchen door, and a middle-aged woman comes through. She has badly dyed blonde hair and a big smile on her face.
‘Hello, Mr. Eden,’ she greets cheerfully.
‘Hey, Mrs. B. Come and say hello to Ella. Ella, this is my housekeeper, Mrs. Bienkowski.’
‘Hi, Mrs. B. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
Mrs. B turns out to be a warm, bustling character. As soon as Dom disappears into his study to make some calls, she takes me upstairs to a huge master bedroom with floral curtains, cream carpets, and a massive bed full of pillows. She shows me how everything in the bathroom works and then she asks if I have any allergies. I tell her no and she tells me dinner will be at eight.
That evening we set off on one of the walking trails. The air is clean and there’s no noise of traffic—only the sounds of birds in the trees. Everywhere there are feeding posts. A red squirrel races up a tree. At a water fountain a pair of courting pigeons are kissing and flirting with each other.
A feeling of peace like I’ve never experienced growing up and living in London steals into my body. I take large breaths of fresh air. We hardly speak because words are not necessary, and I think I’m too stunned by how much my life has changed. How much fuller and richer it is. How much I love him. There, I’ve said it. I love Dominic Eden.
I know he has promised me nothing, but oh, how I do love this man.
How could I not? He came into my life like a tornado. Inconvenient. Unwanted. Destructive. He overturns everything I thought I believed in and fills me with the kind of passion I never knew existed. So yes, I do love this complicated, damaged, rich, strange, kind, beautiful man.
I stop and he stops too, and looks down at me. In the last rays that filter through the trees and catch his face, he is beautiful beyond any prince I could have dreamed of as a child. I entwine my arms around his powerful neck, he dips his head and we kiss. The kiss is different. It is different because of me, because of where we are, and because of him, too. When he raises his head, his eyes are dark and enquiring.
I just smile mysteriously and carry on walking.
When we arrive back at the house, we eat in that country dining room with the black and white curtains. Mrs. B has lit candles. In their yellow glow Dom looks impossibly mysterious and romantic. When he smiles, my heart actually lurches. I truly cannot believe my luck. Here I am jobless, but so incredibly, unbelievably happy.
We have coffee out on the long terrace overlooking lush green lawns.
‘Until you find another job, I want to take care of you,’ he says suddenly.
‘Thank you,’ I say softly. ‘But I’ll be OK. I have a little bit put away for a rainy day.’
He touches my hand. ‘Ella, it’s not a rainy day while I’m around.’
Something in his statement jars, but I don’t dwell on it. I’m living for the moment. The future is far off and could even be beautiful.
‘I didn’t mean to say rainy day. Honestly, I have savings I can dig into,’ I say with a smile. I don’t tell him that it is a pitifully small amount.
He looks at me intently. ‘But I want to help, Ella. It will give me great pleasure.’
‘How about I’ll ask if I need help?’
He looks at me with a flash of irritation and I just laugh. He’s cute even when he’s annoyed.
Eventually, Mrs. B comes to say goodnight. We watch her toddle off down the path and disappear from sight when she turns at the side of the house. I lean back and breathe in the night-scented air.
‘How quiet it is here,’ I say.
‘Mmmm’ He turns his head to look at me. ‘It won’t be so quiet when I get a hold of you.’
I laugh, the sound rolling into the dark night.
He crooks a finger at me.
I point to my chest and widen my eyes as if to say, me?
He smiles slowly. ‘Yeah, you with the gorgeous ass.’
I make a big production of sensuously uncrossing my legs and stretching my body out. I slink out of the recliner and glance at him from under my lashes. While keeping an eye on me, he is taking an ice cube out of his glass. Gosh. He really is one super-tasty dish. I actually can’t wait to get to his skin. Can’t wait for him to touch me, kiss me, take me. It’s never been like this for me. Ever since I met him it as if I am in a dream world where only he and I exist.
I take my shoes off and the grass is springy and cool under my feet. When in an animal sanctuary… So I leave
my independent, strong self in my handbag and getting on my hands and knees on the sweet-smelling grass, I slowly, and I mean slowly, ccccccccraaaaaawl to him. Yup, that’s right. I will meet him animal to animal. Tonight is going to be a wild ride or my name is not Ella Savage.
I reach him purring like a tiger and angling my mouth I suck at the ice cube. Melted ice runs down my chin.
He puts his hand on my head and smiles. ‘I don’t like your pussy lower than my mouth.’
‘No?’
‘Fuck no.’
He grabs my hand and pulls me up. We run into the darkness of the garden.
‘Where are we going?’
‘Do you trust me?’
‘Of course.’
‘Good. Because it’s time to face the truth.’
‘What truth?’ I ask breathlessly.
‘There’s a heated swimming pool at the bottom of the garden.’
I laugh. ‘You’re mad.’
‘Totally.’
And I see it. A frosted glass structure. From the outside I can see many lights flickering in it. He opens the door and we are in. Lit purely by candles, hundreds of them, it is incredibly beautiful, with the wavy light reflecting on the water. It is also very warm. Like being in a tropical country. The candles are scented and the perfume is unfamiliar to me, but exotic, the way I imagine some jungle flower in the tropics to smell like.
‘Wow! It’s really hot in here,’ I say.
He doesn’t answer. He gets on with stripping me down to my bikini. I squeal when he picks me up and throws me into the deliciously warm water. I float on my back and watch him get naked before he plunges in.
He swims to me, wraps his arms around my body, and kisses me passionately. I have never kissed anybody while I am in water. It is a sensual, sinuous experience. When he lifts his head I am no longer in the middle of the pool, but have been brought close to an edge.
‘Feel me,’ he says.
My hands curl around his cock. ‘Done,’ I say.
And then I am slowly, with water sluicing down my body, rising out of the pool. Fuck! He’s strong. I feel the hardness of the tiles by the side of the pool under my buttocks and thighs.
Wounded Beast (Gypsy Heroes Book 2) Page 9
