by D Latham
"No, Mr Porenski. I'd prefer not to. Now, Ms Mills appears to have the changeover under control, so what exactly would you like me to spend the next two days doing?"
"Elle, you can sit and read a book, play on the Internet, anything, as long as you are in this building today and tomorrow." He walked towards me, and I instinctively stepped back.
"Don't touch me," I hissed at him. "You want me here, so I'm here. It doesn't mean that I'm happy about it, or that you get to touch me. I meant what I said, it's professional all the way from now on."
"Are you back with Oscar?" Ivan looked anguished, which surprised me.
"I belong to nobody."
"That's not what I asked. You spent the weekend with him, and he's paying for your security. Are you with him?" I didn't answer. Ivan fixed me with his laser beam glare. "Has he fucked you this weekend? Dammit Elle, put me out of my fucking misery here. It's bad enough that you're involved with this, let alone leaving me over it. Just..just tell me the truth, did he fuck you?"
"It's none of your business Ivan. You lost the right to demand answers when you appeared on television with that creature on your arm, and made me a laughing stock, and when you sent an email that was a lie from start to finish, you lost the right to expect the truth from me."
Ivan banged the desk with his fist. "I will NOT let Dascha drive you away from me, and I will not let Golding steal you. You are mine...please Elle." He looked distraught.
"Ivan, I'm not a possession that can be 'stolen', and you'd do well to remember that. I'm a living, breathing person, who has a say in these things. I'm only here so that this deal happens, and I'm watching you as much as I'm watching the bitch. Now, to ease your mind, no I didn't 'fuck' Oscar this weekend. The last man who 'fucked' me was you, and right now it's something I deeply regret. Now, I'm happy to sit here till five with my security, and read a book, but be aware that there's a bit of me that believes that you'd throw me to the wolves and not give a toss, so think about that when you're shouting at me, and demanding answers." I stood my ground, and had kept my voice low and determined. I refused to let him intimidate me.
He seemed to slump slightly, and looked defeated. "I'm sorry Elle. None of this is your fault, I just can't bear the thought that I could lose you over this."
I raised my eyebrow, "Could? Try have." Ivan stared at me in disbelief. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a look at what your personnel department are doing."
"Don't go, not yet," Ivan pleaded, "we need to resolve this."
"I have resolved it. You're free to be with someone else. I do your legal work, and that's all. There's nothing to debate." I stayed firm, noticing how sad he looked.
"Tell me, did you ever have feelings for me at all?"
"I sobbed like a baby when I saw you on the news with Dascha. So yes, I did, but I'm not dumb enough to think I was ever anything more than a challenge to you."
"Oh Elle, don't let her win. This is exactly what she wants, and what I tried to avoid. Please just have a little faith in me, and let me deal with this, and I'll do anything you want to make it up to you. By tomorrow evening the wretched woman and her slimeball father will be out of our lives."
"Tell me about her father. Who is he?"
"A thug. Huge in mining and minerals. Stole his company really when the old Soviet Union fell apart. Made a hell of a lot of enemies over the years, and is well known for his dubious business practices. Wife was murdered years ago, and Dascha is all he has left. She's almost as unpleasant as him really. They are both bullies."
"Did you love her?"
Ivan sighed, "I was dazzled by her for a while. I thought we would be compatible, both being from Moscow originally, and both being ambitious. Her father liked me, and encouraged me. On paper it should have worked. In reality, I grew to dislike her intensely. For such an indulged woman, she is incredibly mean spirited and envious. The incident with Bella gave me the perfect excuse to end the engagement. If I had told her the truth, that I was leaving her because I felt nothing for her, I would have been killed."
"Is she still in love with you?"
"No. She's not capable of loving anybody but herself. She's a classic psychopath, as is her father. She's currently enjoying tormenting me with what she'll do to you should I renege on this deal, knowing how terrified I am for you."
"So am I being watched?"
"Not as far as I know. I have security all over this building. This deal, by its nature, has had to be totally secret. Only you, me and Oscar know about it. Oscar took care of the money transfers in Switzerland, so there is no money trail. So as far as anyone knows, I bought this with my own money, paid cash, and will give it all to Dascha. If it got out what has really happened, she'd be a laughing stock. At the moment, she has no reason to hurt you, and in some respects, it's in her own interests that you remain safe. She knows that if you go missing before our press conference tomorrow, that our deal's off."
"How come they trust you so much, I mean, it's five billion quid?"
Ivan stared at me for a moment. "They know I'm in love with you."
For a split second, the world stopped turning, as I took in Ivan's words. A bit of me wanted to throw myself into his arms, and cling on to him forever, and another part wanted me to hurt and punish him, as he had done to me. In the end, all I did was gape at him in shock. His beautiful face betrayed a mixture of regret, sadness, and yearning. Did he love me? I believed that he did. How I felt about him was more complicated. I did have feelings for him, possibly not 'in love', but not far off, although I'd felt that he'd stamped all over my heart when I saw him with Dascha, playing the happy boyfriend. Knowing that the whole thing had been faked, somehow changed things.
"Ivan, let’s get through the next two days, and see what happens."
He let out a breath he'd been holding. "We can do this Elle," He gave he a small, rather wan smile, and went on, "let’s just keep up appearances till this is over, just don't forget how I feel about you."
"I'm going to check on your personnel department. I'll be in room 7 if you need me." I left Ivan standing in the middle of the room.
Andrea was extremely organised, and I liked her enormously. Her systems would rival mine in efficiency, and perfection. Her staff were diligently checking the computer files against the paper files, (which were in perfect order), for anomalies or missing information. She had already emailed all the staff their new contracts, and over 80% had come back signed, entered into the system, and filed. She had even run a simulation for the month end, and was happy that there appeared to be no unexplained differences. I sat beside her as she showed me exactly what had been done, and the list of people still to return their new contracts. All in all, I was impressed.
"It seems everything's in good order. Mr Porenski will be delighted with this. Now, do you have any questions for me?"
"Is he going to be making any significant changes?" Andrea looked a little anxious, which was understandable.
"Not as far as I'm aware. I've not been instructed for any redundancies, if that's what you're asking. You'd be the first to know if he was. As far as I'm concerned, we change everything over to Retinski's holding company, and that's it." She visibly relaxed.
"I was hoping that would be the case, but with takeovers, nobody ever knows if their jobs safe do they?"
"Only when they're not performing, but I can definitely recommend you to Ivan. Your department is run extremely well."
"What's he like to work for?"
"I don't work for him as such, I work for Pearson Hardwick, his legal representatives. His staff all seem to get on with him ok, and he runs his companies very well. He's very exact."
"Good. You know we all thought you were his girlfriend, not that Russian woman. I gather she was talking to one of our journalists about her terrible relationship."
"Did you? No, I'm his lawyer, well, one of them." I was deliberately non committal. "Easy mistake to make, as I'm often trailing along to meetings with him."
"Joan Lester said she met the two of you at a ball, and Ivan introduced you as his girlfriend." She wasn't letting go.
"Well, I suppose it's better than admitting that you drag your lawyer around to charity events. Dascha was there that night, she just arrived separately.”
"Oh, I didn't realise....sorry for being nosy." Andrea looked a bit embarrassed.
"It's fine, really. You're not the first person to assume we're an item, but I really am his lawyer." Not quite a lie, not quite the truth. "Now, is there an empty office I could occupy?"
"Certainly. Room 11 is free. I'll show you." I followed her down the corridor, with my guards trailing along behind. "Why the security?"
"Ivan insists on it. Not sure why," I lied. She showed me into an office, and promised to send an intern along with tea for both myself, and the security men. I sat down at the desk and opened my laptop. With a complete absence of work to do after I had replied to my emails, I browsed ASOS, and Amazon, ordering the books that Paul had recommended. I also clicked on the link James had sent me to the hotel we would be staying in. It looked gorgeous. A boutique style place, right on the beach near Sotogrande, with a pretty pool and gardens, and a renowned restaurant attached. It looked like heaven, and I gazed at it with longing, desperate for some chill time with my easy going friend, and no mental billionaires making me jumpy.
I was shaken out of my daydreams by a knock on the door. My guard stuck his head in, and announced that Dascha was there to see me. I said yes, but asked if he would stay. She swept in with a sneer on her face. I closed my laptop so she wouldn't see what I'd been looking at, and smiled brightly at her. "Hello Dascha, how nice to see you again. Keeping well I trust?"
"All the better for seeing you, my little insurance policy. Is everything progressing as planned?"
"It is... Andrea Mills is extremely efficient, and everything's in order, and on course to be done by tomorrow."
"Excellent. I would have done it myself, but Ivan positively wore me out last night with his passionate lovemaking. He just couldn't get enough.." She watched for my reaction. Nice try dozy princess.
"No problem. We have it all under control here." I smiled sweetly at her scowling face.
"Nice dress by the way, did Ivan buy it for you?" Oh you have no chance pup beater.
"No, he didn't. Glad you like it, it's from Roland Mouret's latest collection. I think Harvey Nichols are selling out fast though, so you need to get in quick. Mind you, all the designers will be queuing up to clothe you now." Take aim.
"Yes they will. Sadly, Elle, you'll have to carry on finding men to schlep round shops with you."
"Luckily, I can afford to clothe myself. Benefit of having a good job Dascha. I love not being beholden to a man." And fire.
She scowled at me, before turning and stalking out of the room. I noticed the security man smirking. I smiled back at him before opening my laptop, and perusing bikinis online.
My next interruption, an hour later, was Andrea, who arrived bearing two cups of tea. I waved the guard out, and she sat down. "What's up?" I asked.
She looked pensive. "Mr Porenski's girlfriend, that's what's up. Do you have any control over her?" I shook my head. "She's asked us to contact all the designers and ask if they want to clothe her. Joan tried to explain that it doesn't work like that, but she won't be told. I gather Joan spoke to someone at McQueen, and they declined straightaway. Behaviour like that could cost us advertisers."
"All I can do is alert Ivan, see if he can curb her enthusiasm. I don't hold out too much hope though." Bloody glad Ivan will be out of it tomorrow, she'll destroy this place. I thought to myself.
"Well, see what you can do. Joan needs to protect the advertising revenues, and commanding top designers to clothe her for free wont endear her to anyone, especially with her reputation."
"What have you heard?"
"Just that she's a nasty piece of work, and her father's PR have a job keeping her out of the papers. She's abused her household staff, that type of thing. No designer is going to want to be associated with her."
"I don't envy Joan having to be the one to tell her," I said. Andrea finished her tea, and updated me on progress, before leaving.
I had just ordered a kindle for my holiday, when Ivan came in. "How's it going?"
"Fine. Bored though. Dascha came to say hello, and the HR director's been in to tell me alls fine with the changeover, although Dascha's pissing people off already." Ivan looked quizzical. "Apparently she asked the MD to contact the designers who advertise, and offer them the opportunity to dress her for free. They declined, and Joan's scared to tell her."
Ivan laughed. "I'm not surprised. She's not exactly the darling of the media that she thinks she is. What did she say to you?"
"Just that she was only late because you were shagging her all night. Seeing how bandy her legs were, I couldn't be totally sure she was lying."
"No, they've always been bandy. It's quite pronounced in trousers. You do know she was lying to wind you up don't you?" He looked a bit nervous.
"Oh yes. Don't worry, she won't rattle me. She's way too thick to be a worthy adversary."
Ivan laughed, "Elle, you really are wonderful, you know that? Now, do you have an indication as to what time it will be finished tomorrow? I need to book a press conference, and I need you to prepare a contract giving her the holding company in its entirety."
"Not yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was finished today. Andrea Mills is incredibly efficient. Ranenkiov would adore her. I can do the contract now for you. It won't take long."
"Now tonight. What plans have you made?"
"None yet. I might call Oscar, see what he's up to. Maybe he could come round and watch telly with me. I've been a bit jumpy on my own." Ivan's lips flattened into a thin, grumpy line.
"Come round to mine."
"I'm sorry. I don't think that's a good idea, plus I have laundry and stuff to do. I don't have household staff like you, you know." Ivan probably thought the fairies did my washing, and cleaned my flat.
"Tomorrow night then?"
"Let’s see how this pans out."
I checked the progress of the HR team, and wrote the contract, printing it off, before leaving at five. With just a couple of employment contracts to come back signed, they were almost done. I bade Andrea goodnight, and headed out to the car. Back at the flat, security did a sweep before allowing me inside, and told me they would be stationed just outside the door. I had called Oscar earlier, who had said he was dining out with some politician that evening, but would be home later if I needed him.
I did some laundry and some housework, before heating up a tin of soup that I found in the cupboard. I had stopped for milk and bread on the way home, but my guards had been jumpy, so I didn't have time to get much. I had relaxed a bit, knowing that Dascha needed me to turn up alive the next morning, so that her deal would go through, although Ivan still had good reason to prevent that. I pondered his admission that he was in love with me. I reasoned that it could have been just a ploy to get me to drop my guard, and trust him enough to allow him close enough to kidnap me and stop the deal. I didn't really know him well, and I couldn't place a bet on it. I didn't believe for one moment that he'd kill me.
I was interrupted by my phone ringing, "hi Ivan, what can I do for you?"
"Can I come over? I want to see you." Alarm bells rang in my head.
"No, not tonight. I'll see you in the morning."
"It's not the same," he purred in his phone sex voice, "it's been a whole week since I last made love to you."
"Well, it's going to be a week and a day then. If this goes through ok, maybe tomorrow night." Oh I can dangle carrots too Ivan. "I'm too jumpy and nervous tonight. Surely you understand?"
"Can't I change your mind? I could give you an amazing orgasm. That would relax you, help you sleep." Yeah, that and rohypnol.
"No. I'll see you in the morning, assuming I'm still in one piece." I clicked off the phone,
mentally slapping myself for considering going back to a man that I believed would cheerfully drug and kidnap me.
Chapter 11
I survived the night alone, but slept fitfully, scenarios racing round my head. I skipped the gym, as it was too risky, and couldn't wait to get back there and burn off a bit of tension. I packed my gym bag, hopeful of a session after work. I dressed carefully, wearing an outfit that Oscar had bought me, with wedge heeled shoes, in case I had to do a runner, and placed my laptop and book in my new Chloe handbag, which was also a purchase from Saturdays shopping extravaganza. At eight o'clock, I left the flat, and joined my guards, who had kept watch all night, for the drive over to Hanover Square.
The traffic was appalling, and it seemed like the whole of west London was gridlocked. I asked my driver to find capital radio so we could find out what the holdup was. It turned out to be an accident, which had been attended to by the air ambulance, and had closed a number of roads around the Hammersmith flyover. I mused that it would have been quicker and easier to take the tube.
We made it to Vogue House at about two minutes to nine. My being late would probably have given Ivan a heart attack, so I was glad to finally be there. I signed in, and made my way up to the fourth floor. Andrea greeted me, beaming. She explained that all employment contracts were back, signed, and the whole system was up and running. I went in search of Ivan to give him the good news.
He was in the chairman's office, talking in Russian on the phone. I waited until he had finished, before informing him that the changeover was complete, and everything was ready.
"Good. Press conference is at ten, downstairs in the meeting hall. I'm just hoping Dascha gets her arse in gear, and doesn't arrive an hour late, as she normally does. I told her to be here by nine, so she should be here by ten. I don't want to keep everything waiting. The sooner this is all over, the better, I've got other things to occupy my time." Ivan looked petulant and grumpy, and the little voice in my head told me that maybe, just maybe, it was because I hadn't gone missing last night. I pulled myself together quickly.
