by CR Robertson
He glanced up from his phone. “No. I took the rest of the day off from work with the guys. This is Dad bombarding me with emails about the latest financial arrangement for his mistress. Mum has been texting me with the details of what she wants in the redecoration of her house. She redecorates every time Dad is unfaithful, as if she can cleanse his sins with a coat of paint.”
“Does she redecorate a lot?” I asked, starting to see another aspect to Ash’s life.
“Too much to be healthy.”
I chewed the inside of my mouth. Papa was still faithful to Mama’s memory twenty years later. He had probably had girlfriends to satisfy his needs over the years, but he’d never brought anyone home or indicated that he had someone he cared about. Sometimes he spent eight or nine months at a time at home before travelling for business. I doubted he could fit a relationship around that schedule.
“I’m sorry,” I said and took his hand in mine.
He stared at our joined hands for what felt like an age before he finally looked up at me. “Why are you sorry?”
“Because every child is a product of their parents’ choices. Papa hid us from the world until the only thing we knew was the inside of the prison he created. Your dad disrespects and abuses your mum, until it is normal for you to redecorate to cover his indiscretions. You shouldn’t have to be responsible for his actions, he should be atoning for his own sins.”
His thumb caressed the side of my hand. “I never considered it that way before.”
“You’re enabling him because he never has to face the consequences of his actions. We did the same with Papa for years. Sofia was the first one to call him out on his behaviour because she wanted to go to university.”
Ash’s lips twitched. “How did that go for her?”
“Not well. It took her a year to convince him to let her go.”
His laugh washed over me. “That sounds like Lucas.”
“Come on, this is the company who brings my designs to life in precious metals. I sketch the outline of what I want and the graphic designers make it into a model and create a mould for it. I sent them over all my stuff a few weeks ago, so they should be ready.”
Ash followed me inside, sliding his mobile phone into his back pocket.
“Hey, Stefan.” I waved at the owner when we were inside. “I’m here to see my designs.”
He shifted uncomfortably, his eyes darting to the side. “Sorry, Lucy, we’ve had to cancel your order because we took on a new client who has insisted on exclusivity.”
Everything froze inside me because a necklace without a chain was nothing. I’d worked with them for the past few years and nothing like this had happened before.
“Did I miss your email?” I asked in a low, hurt tone.
He pursed his lips and didn’t reply.
“Can I see the contract you have in place?” Ash asked smoothly from beside me.
Stefan eyed him warily. “It is a standard contract we have with all our customers.”
“Was it initiated for this work?”
“It was.” Stefan straightened, his assessment of Ash becoming more pronounced.
“Did you send a cancellation intent to Lucrezia’s solicitor?”
“No, we tend not to use our solicitors. Who is this guy?” He looked to me as if I was supposed to help him after what he’d just done on me. All my dreams were crashing down around me.
“Who I am is no concern to you. Did you initiate the agreement through a solicitor?” Ash asked me and I nodded.
“Excellent,” Ash replied. “Tell Nigel Billingham I’ll see both of you in court.”
“Wait a minute!” Stefan almost shouted and stepped forward.
“What for?” Ash asked. “You breached contract and allowed a company to coerce you into deliberately and negligently disrupting the supply chain of another business for profit.”
“Hold on!” Stefan started to wave at some of the guys out the back. “We’re just trying to stay in business.”
“As is Lucrezia. You had a choice and you didn’t make it. Instead, you sat on the fence like a coward, no doubt hoping to browbeat her when she arrived. You could have fulfilled the agreed order or sent an intent to cancel. You did neither. I hope you have a good solicitor and deep pockets because you and Mr. Billingham are going to need them.”
A large, muscular guy who worked in the back stomped forward. “This is our business. You can’t come in here and tell us what we can and can’t do.” He swung his clenched fist in a punch at Ash’s face.
My jaw dropped open as Ash moved with lithe precision. He grabbed the guy’s wrist and twisted his arm up his back until there was a sickening pop. Ash then dragged his assailant’s head down to his knee and there was a crunch. Blood spurted from his nose onto the floor as Ash pushed him away.
“Assaulting me wasn’t really the best option,” Ash said smoothly. “You have heard of Bartholomew, Blackwood, and Berkeley?”
“Of course,” Stefan replied, his gaze on his associate with the broken nose and dislocated shoulder.
“I’m the Blackwood. The Berkeley is the barrister who owns the courtroom and has the sphincter muscles of his adversaries tightening. The Bartholomew is Lucrezia’s cousin. Nigel was very foolish in involving you in his silly power games because she refused to buy his substandard stones.”
“You can’t prove anything.” Stefan sneered, crossing his arms across his chest. I thought he’d been my friend. Francis had helped me find him.
“Actually, I can,” Ash replied. “This entire meeting has been recorded. It was why I asked the specific questions I did. Have a pleasant day.”
Ash grabbed my elbow and ushered me out the door. His phone was to his ear before his ass hit the seat beside me. “Hey, Seth, I need another favour.” He was silent for a few seconds. “Fuck off, I already gave you the keys to a car for those diamonds. That debt is paid in full. I need a top-quality goldsmith as soon as possible. Nigel has been a busy boy.”
I sat stunned at the conversation. Ash paid for my stones with a car? What type of car paid for diamonds and sapphires?
“Great, thanks. Can you send the address to my phone? You’re a fucking maniac, Seth. I swear one of these days, karma is going to bite you in the ass. Yeah, I’ll have it delivered to you this afternoon.”
I groaned when he ended the call. “What did helping me cost you?”
He grinned at me and winked, shaking his head. He hit the green dial button on his phone and put it back to his ear. “Jay? Yeah, I need you to scare the shit out of someone with your legal prowess.” He continued to tell him what had happened and I heard Jordan swearing on the other end of the line. “No, I didn’t get any blood on my boots. You need therapy. Yeah, I’ll ask her to send you the relevant paperwork across.”
Ash’s gaze met mine. “Yeah, she arrived yesterday. The show is in a few weeks and she needed to sort shit out. Hold on.” He held the phone out to me. “Jay would like to reassure himself that I have not kidnapped you and held you hostage for sexual favours.”
He arched an eyebrow at me and a smile curved my lips. “Hey, Jay. What’s up?”
“What are you doing in the country without any of us knowing?” he demanded.
“Ash knew I was here. He’s been helping me with all the details for the IJS. Francis is with me as well as per Papa’s security protocol.” Ash’s hand landed on my thigh and I suppressed a giggle that wanted to emerge.
“Does Lucas know you’re here?”
“No, but neither does he know about my business and the IJS. Please, Jay, you said you’d help me. All I want to do is the same as the men in the family and have my own business and source of income. I don’t want to be married off to a man and live off his charity.”
Ash’s hand slipped up my leg and I briefly closed my eyes.
“Ash is supposed to be at home with a headache,” Jordan snapped.
“He arrived earlier and took some pills while I twittered on about this appointment. H
e offered to take me since he knows this part of London. Is something wrong?”
Two could play at Ash’s game. I crawled onto his lap and straddled his hips.
“No, but Lucas would be pissed to know you’re staying at a single man’s apartment.”
“What are you implying, Jay? That Francis and I are having an affair?” I mustered as much indignation as I could in my tone.
Ash’s lips twitched and his lips landed on my throat, his tongue tracing a trail up to the sensitive spot behind my ear.
“No, all Lucas’ security guards are vetted to ensure none of them would dare to lay a finger on any of his daughters.” Jordan sighed. “Fine, I know nothing about this. Send me over the contracts and I’ll deal with this asshole who’s trying to shake you down.”
“Thanks, Jay.”
“No worries, try to behave before Lucas arrives with his castration shears.”
I hung up and handed the phone back to Ash.
“Nice diversion,” he muttered, his hands on my hips tugging me against him.
“Poor Francis gets blamed for everything.” I didn’t know about their vetting, but Sofia had the hots for Mario and he was her pretend boyfriend at university and Catarina had been having oral sex with Joe for a while. She even revealed to Sofia and I last Christmas that she’d tried anal sex with him but didn’t like it very much. He might not put a finger on Catarina, but his dick had definitely been in close proximity.
“What am I going to do, Ash?”
He swirled a piece of my hair that had escaped around his finger. “Seth is sending me the details of a goldsmith. We’ll go and sort it this afternoon.”
“How are you paying for all this?” I demanded, poking him in the chest. “This is my business and I should be investing collateral. You said to Seth that you gave him the keys to a car and now something is being sent to him this afternoon.”
Ash kissed me instead of replying, his mouth controlling mine and swallowing all my protests as if they didn’t exist. His tongue swept inside to eliminate all my arguments until I was nothing more than a molten mass of hormones in his arms.
“Are you going to do this every time you want to win an argument?” I said, pursing my lips together and tasting him.
“If I need to.” His smug smile should annoy me, but the way his thumbs created circles on my hips distracted me. “This is my world you’re in now, Angel. The men here don’t deal in cash because they have plenty of it. We trade in possessions and secrets. Seth wanted a spare car I had in my garage, so now the fucker is driving around London in it like a pimp out for the day. Next month, I’ll probably win it back in a poker game. It’s how we operate. Did you have a spare McLaren in your garage?”
He eyeballed me until I looked away. “No. Papa doesn’t like us to drive.” It was the sad story of my life in a gilded cage. We were covered in bubble wrap and constantly watched to protect us. That protection began to close around you after a while, like a noose tightening around your neck.
My cousin lived a life of risk without his bedroom being alarmed at ten thirty in the evening and a constant security detail. Ash had dealt with that man without even breaking a sweat or using a gun. We’d received basic self-defence but I was slowly starting to realise that we needed more life skills than what we possessed.
“Ash, I can’t keep taking so much from you and giving you nothing in return.”
He glared at me but I refused to look away. My independence meant the world to me.
“Please, Ash.” I presses a kiss to his lips, sucking his bottom lip into my mouth as I pulled away.
“I’ve never had someone negotiate with me like this before,” he quipped. “Do I get a blowjob every time I organise a business meeting?”
“Ash!” I pushed against his chest, but he grabbed my wrists and pulled me hard into him.
“What is it you want from me?” he demanded, that hard glint appearing in his eyes.
That was a loaded question because I wanted a lot and didn’t know where to start.
“I want to be your equal, not someone you’re indulging in a hobby. I need to find a place for myself in this life where people don’t look down at me. That’s twice now men have thought they can take advantage of me because I’m a woman.” I sighed and slumped back in defeat. “I’m sick being weak, living in a world of strong people.”
“Okay.” Ash lifted his phone to his ear, his eyes boring into me. “Jay, put together a business contract between me and Lucrezia. She doesn’t want to accept what I’ve done as a gift. Yeah, give her the usual contract we use and her solicitor can take a look at it. Thanks.”
He hung up and gave me that look that made my tummy flip.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“You do realise that by signing a contract you’re tying yourself to me when you don’t have to?” His eyebrow arched in question.
I didn’t want to admit that I needed to link myself to him in whatever way I could, because then he couldn’t run away and hide the way he had in the past. If he was my business partner he had to speak to me.
“I don’t accept charity, Ash. We’re a partnership, that means we work together.”
A salacious grin appeared on his lips. “I take it the blowjob is off the table then?”
His grin echoed on my face as I shrugged. “I guess bonuses are an encouragement in the workplace.”
“I think I might like being your business partner,” Ash teased me, his head moving forward until his mouth hovered close to mine. “There are definite benefits available that I don’t get with Zee and Jay.”
“Do they not wear unicorn panties?” I asked.
His lips skimmed mine in a barely there kiss. He groaned when his phone pinged and I collapsed on top of him. Ash was my new favourite flavour in life and I was ravenous with hunger. It was all I could do to stop myself from constantly tasting him.
***
Chapter Nineteen
Ash
Seth’s contact had an impressive setup. Samples of his craftsmanship hung in display cases in the room. Lucrezia wandered around examining all the items while he chatted to me in the background.
“We appreciate you seeing us at such short notice,” I said. “Her supplier pulled out on the instruction of a mutual acquaintance.”
He studied Lucrezia. “Seth filled me in. Nigel is a loathsome worm. I have a full schedule, but to annoy him, I am happy to accept a new client.”
We had stopped off at home before travelling here so Lucrezia could pick up her laptop with all her designs on it. I waved her over and she set it up to tell Harold what she needed. He nodded as she talked, pointing out issues that would need adjusted for the design to work.
“How long will it take?” I asked.
“How long do I have?” Harold countered.
“It’s for the International Jewellery Show,” I deadpanned, removing all emotion from the conversation. It was why Xavier tended to leave money negotiations to me.
“That’s a big order for a short time.”
“It is, but we’re a big company who supports their allies.”
He regarded me intently for several long seconds before slowly nodding. “Your businesses are well known, Mr. Blackwood. I could do with some help with investment advice.”
I fished my card from my wallet and handed it to him. “My secretary will schedule you in whenever you need me.”
His smile was feral and sent a shiver down my spine. I fucking hated getting into business with men I didn’t know, but I never wanted to see the look of defeat on Lucrezia’s face again.
“Then we have a deal.” He turned his attention to Lucrezia. “Do you need me to set the stones?”
“No, I prefer to do that myself.”
“Excellent. Download your graphic files and I’ll have mocks created for them. I’ll let you know when they’re ready, but hopefully the first pieces should be in production tomorrow.”
He knew my back was against the wall with the
limited time we had to get this into production. I hated situations like this. Lucrezia had done all the intricate work on the mounts and the delicate central pieces, but we needed chains and bracelets created.
Nigel was becoming a problem that needed a hard solution. I let them sort out the technical stuff and WhatsApp messaged our group to bring Xavier into what had happened. His response was less than happy about Nigel, but then he focused on the fact that his cousin was here without his knowledge.
Me: Seriously, can we sort the real problem out. She has her own room and security guard.
Xavier: Why didn’t you tell me?
Me: Because I knew you’d react like this.
Jordan: I told you that he wouldn’t be happy.
Xavier: How the fuck did you know?
Jordan: He needed legal stuff sorted with the goldsmith.
Xavier: Uncle Lucas will roast your balls.
Me: For helping his daughter?
Xavier: Keep your dick away from my cousin.
Too late, he’d already visited several times.
Me: Piss off. She asked you for help, but you were too busy.
That would annoy Xavier because it was true. Since he found the woman he was obsessing over in the Midnight Rooms right under his nose, his mind tended not to be on anything other than Cassandra.
Xavier: She can stay with me.
Me: Fine. You tell her that you don’t trust her. Lucas does it all the time.
I could almost feel his rage pulsing down the airwaves. Xavier always assumed the in-charge position of our group, and that had never bothered me before. My gaze moved to the woman in question. There was no way she was sleeping anywhere except under my roof and my protection.
Xavier: I’ll be over tomorrow.
Me: Should I tell Lucrezia to pack her bags? She’ll have to move her workshop over that she has set up in my old office as well.
Jordan: Well played, man!
Me: Fuck off.
“Everything okay?” Lucrezia stared at me with those huge brown eyes with long lashes. A woman’s eyes had never been my thing in the past, but she controlled me with some sort of voodoo magic that she emitted from hers.
