by Emelia Blair
“I’m not very happy with you,” she pants out after she pulls away. “But I do love you.” She’s frowning.
I do my best to look like a kicked dog.
It has the intended effect because she looks uncertain after a few seconds and then sighs.
“Let me make you a cup of coffee,” I offer.
She shakes her head. “I’m on pain meds. The doctor said to stay away from coffee.”
I brush her hair back and study the black eye, not bothering to hide the anger flaring inside of me. “You didn’t recognize anything about the attacker?”
“It wasn’t Darren,” she tells me. “I would know his voice.”
“You were scared out of your mind. Maybe you—?”
“It wasn’t him. This man’s voice was rougher, almost muffled. A-and he…” Her voice stutters before she finishes, “I just know it wasn’t him. But it definitely had something to do with him. I’m not going to risk my life for a man who seems to have this grudge against me for having his child.” Her chin is stiff. “I’ll find another job.”
I remember the way Darren smirked at me two days ago and I want to go break his face. However, I have something better. “You might not have to do that,” I tell her, reaching into my jacket and bringing out a large envelope.
“What’s this?”
“I found a loophole in the contract.”
She freezes. “You did?”
I nod, and pull the coffee table over to sit on it, facing her. “It’s enough to overthrow the contract in court. And once that’s done, you’ll be taking Darren to court over defamatory charges, character assassination charges, and a restraining order. He won’t be able to come within five feet of you and Sophie.”
Elise’s eyes widen, and then she thinks of something. “That sounds too good to be true, Lucas, but Darren is someone who holds a grudge. Maybe not today, but he will retaliate at some point.”
I’ve already thought of that. “But he’s going to keep harassing you in the meantime. And after the threats he made, do you think he’s going to leave you alone even if you leave your job?”
She leans into the couch. “I don’t know what he wants from me but…” Her eyes are a bit fierce now. “Now that my parents are involved, it doesn’t matter how much clout he has, he can’t take Sophie away from me!”
“Have you told them about him?”
Elise shakes her head. “Not yet. But I will.”
“So, you’re going to run away and hope that he’ll leave you alone?” I reach out gently to cradle her sling and rub my thumb over it. “What happened to your arm?”
Elise’s eyes are haunted as she looks at me. “He tried to break it.” She takes in a heaving breath, “Fortunately, it’s just heavy bruising, but the doctor made me put it into a sling.”
My heart aches and I brush the hair from her face again. “You went to the hospital all alone?”
Elise gives me a small smile which is quite sincere. “I’m used to doing things alone. It’s not a big deal.”
But her words do nothing to ease my pain. In her parents’ attempts to make her independent, they isolated her and taught her to accept loneliness as a companion. “What are the police doing to find the man?”
“They have nothing to go on. I changed the locks though. Tonight, I’m going to have dinner with my parents.” She sees the look on my face and gives me a tiny grin. “I’m telling them I walked into a door and then punched myself in the eye while panicking.”
“And the bandage on your head?”
“Fell down the stairs while panicking.” She sounds rather proud of herself.
I don’t have the heart to tell her that her story is full of holes. The sight of her battered form makes me want to break something.
Maybe she sees the darkness in my eyes because she grabs my hand. “You can come with me.”
I see her trying to make amends between us and how I could I say no to that. “I’d love to.” With an afterthought, I ask, “Are we really okay, Elise?”
She nods, smiling. “I don’t think I can ever be mad at you for more than a few days. I’d miss you too much.”
I don’t smile as I reply, “But even if you are mad at me, if something like this ever happens, always call me! Don’t go through life alone. I want to be there with you at every step, standing next to you, supporting you.”
Her smile falters and she swallows. “Okay. I’ll try.”
I realize this is the most honest response she can give me. “Now, why don’t I order us something and we can discuss the contract.”
As she leaves the room to find some pamphlets, I send off a discreet email to an old friend of mine, attaching some documents pertaining to information about the man that’s becoming a thorn in my side.
Dinner at Elise’s parents is a tense affair.
Her parents are horrified at her injuries and it’s clear that they don’t buy her excuses. The suspicion jumps to me for a while until I’m absolved of the guilty when Elise insists on it.
Her father is pale throughout dinner, glancing at her, his hands not steady.
Her mother’s eyes are shimmering.
“Maybe you should spend the night here,” I suggest. “I think your parents need to be around you right now.”
Elise is about to protest when she casts a look towards her father and then sighs. “Maybe you’re right.” Then, she asks loudly, “Father, would you mind I spend the night he—”
“Yes!” Her father’s voice booms loudly, almost desperately. “Stay here for a week or more. As long as you want!”
Her mother nods, eagerly. “I’m getting old and it would be nice to have you around for some time. Besides, you’re leaving your job. You need a break.”
This is a far cry from the overbearing parents I had heard about but the look of surprise on Elise’s face shows how shocked she is. Their concern though, isn’t entirely unwelcome to her. “That would be nice.”
Of course, she doesn’t want to go back to her apartment.
“Have you sent in your resignation letter yet?” I ask, softly.
“Not yet. I was going to do it tomorrow.”
I see the sadness in her face and I want to kiss away her troubles. I clasp her hand. “Put it off for a few days. For me?”
“Why?” She sounds confused.
“Just, trust me. Give me two weeks. I’ll tell Lana that you’re on leave.”
She hesitates but then agrees, “Two weeks. I don’t know what good it will do but, I’ll do it.”
Leaving her there is the hardest thing I’ve ever done but I have work to do. It’s as I’m leaving that I hear footsteps behind me and in the large driveway of The Smith family house, I look over my shoulder.
Richard Smith is approaching me, his brow furrowed.
I wait until he reaches me.
“What really happened to my daughter?”
“Mr. Smith…” I want to tell him but Elise doesn’t want him to know and I don’t want to break her trust in me, as fragile as it is.
“You can’t tell me, can you?” He realizes.
“I want to,” I admit. “But your daughter doesn’t like depending on anyone, not even when she’s injured so badly.”
His face turns white.
I turn to leave but I know that Richard won’t leave anything to chance. He’ll investigate this matter. So, I pause and tell him, “When the time comes and it might, I will ask you to demand custody of Sophie.”
His eyes heat up but he’s a smart man and he stares me down. “Sophie’s father?”
I nod and a terrible expression crosses his withered face, an unmatched fury and I have a feeling that if I don’t deal with Darren Hall quickly, Elise’s father will. And it’ll be brutal.
On my way home, I stop off at Oliver’s place.
I’m not surprised to see Caleb’s car in the driveway.
Oliver purchasing a home had come as a surprise to me but the sprawling house seems to befit the Britisher who lik
es to live lavishly.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Florence?” I ask when Caleb answers the door.
“Something came up,” Caleb seems annoyed.
I follow him inside and raise a brow to see a miffed looking Kendall sitting in the living room and an angry Lana pacing the floor.
Seeing me enter, she points a finger at me. “You!”
I immediately step back, alarmed. “I didn’t do it!”
Ignoring my immediate defense, she growls, “You knew and you hid it from both me and Kendall! How dare you?!”
I glower at Oliver who is leaning against the wall, scowling, and Caleb is standing in a random corner, looking just as stone-faced.
“Told you this wasn’t a good idea,” Oliver snarls.
I blink at Lana. “You guys knew part of it. It’s just Elise wasn’t ready to share so I kept it on a need to know basis only.”
That’s clearly the wrong thing to say because it pisses off both women and Kendall bares her teeth as she says, “We needed to know!”
“Where is she?” Lana demands.
Completely cornered, I know when to admit defeat so I spill the beans.
It takes a while for the whole story to come out and by the end of it even Caleb and Oliver are silent, their expressions are thunderous.
“She needs us,” Lana declares.
So before Kendall can chime in and they can bulldoze all over me, I hastily say, “She’s with her parents. For now, the main goal is to rescind that contract that Darren made her sign and put a restraining order against him.”
Kendall shoots Caleb a look. “Can’t you make him disappear or something? I know you’ve got people for that.”
Caleb gives her a faint half smile. “I’m not in the mafia, Kendall. I don’t just get people picked up.”
“So, fire him!” She exclaims, fiercely.
Caleb now looks in Lana’s direction and it is then that I see the two files scattered on the elongated coffee table before her.
“His work is fine. There have been no complaints from his supervisor.” She looks helplessly angry. “I can, however, call him in for spreading baseless rumors but all that will result in is a warning and since Elise isn’t showing up to work there is no evidence and she can’t claim damage of any sort.”
Kendall looks unsettled at this news.
I ask Caleb, “Did your people find anything about Darren’s past?”
Caleb studies me with a quiet intensity and the whole room falls silent. He finally says, “His documents are falsified; the ones he used to enter into the company. There is no trace of his family whatsoever. Also…” He walks over to the wine cabinet, taking out a bottle of wine and pouring himself a glass while considering what he’s about to say next, “He applied for a job two days after it was announced that I had acquired the company.”
Lana frowns, sitting up. “I remember that. I didn’t want to hire him because there had been no opening but he had contacts and glowing recommendations. And the day after I rejected him, one of our female data analysts just up and left. I hired him two months before Oliver took over.”
“That is odd.” Kendall clambers onto her feet and moves towards her fiancé to steal his glass of wine.
Caleb lets her but he also traps her against his body, his arm wrapped like a band around her waist, her back pressed to his.
Kendall doesn’t complain. Instead, she looks over her shoulder at him. “You must have some lead.”
Caleb just stares at her until she looks away muttering under her breath.
“For now,” I insert. “I’ve sent in the documents to a judge I know. And I’ve sent a copy of Darren’s employee file to somebody. If Darren’s prints are in the criminal database, we’ll be able to find out who he is.”
“We could beat it out of that little fucker,” Kendall suggests, darkly. “Caleb could hold him down and I could pepper spray him until he goes blind.”
Everyone turns to stare at her, startled by the viciousness.
Caleb just meets our gazes, calmly. However, once he’s sure no one is gaping at his fiancée, he just murmurs, “I’d rather you didn’t end up in prison so quickly.”
“You’d visit me though, right?” Kendall demands.
He squeezes her arm, saying assuredly, “Every day.”
It’s always a wonder to me how when it comes to this woman, Caleb doesn’t give a crap about his dignity. I’ve seen her boss him around and he obeys her quite happily.
For the cold eyed CEO whom I’ve known for so long to do this, I find it disturbing, and oddly romantic, it makes perfect sense to me now.
“No one should approach him,” Oliver says, always a man of few words. “Until we find something concrete, we should just keep an eye on him. I don’t think Elise is his target, though. He’s simply harassing her. It could be that he’s trying to use her to get to someone else.”
“Her parents are pretty well off,” I say, slowly. “If he manages to take Sophie’s custody, he can extort a pretty large amount from Elise and her parents to get her back.”
“Well, it still doesn’t make any sense why he joined right after Caleb took over?” Lana looks towards me. “It couldn’t just be a coincidence.”
I shrug, helplessly. “At the moment, it looks like it is.” But even I don’t believe that. “He said he came from money or that his family has money,” I add. “Maybe have your people look into that?”
Caleb nods.
The conversation goes on, coming back and circling around the same point until I finally decide to leave.
As I drive home, my thoughts are constantly on Elise and how someone like her managed to get drawn into this mess to begin with. Of all the women to choose from, why did Darren go after her?
It’s pretty ridiculous to think that knocking her up was the plan to begin with. Nobody is that calculating or precise. But I can’t think of any good reason why that bastard would aim for Elise when there were perfectly willing women who liked him.
Back then, I had taken up the office a few days after the whole acquisition deal came through. Even though I had been busy with making sure the place didn’t collapse, I had also been rather bewitched by the friendly receptionist. Her eyes captured my heart almost instantly and her cheerful but shy demeanor was the only reason I made five trips to the coffee shop across the street every day, just to walk past her.
My home is quiet and still and as I walk past the front door, I wonder how much livelier it would be with a wife and a child.
If Elise hadn’t stayed at her parents, I would have insisted she come live with me.
As I shrug off my coat, I smile to myself.
I can still convince her to do that.
I’ve never been in love with someone.
I’ve dated here and there. I’ve had a few one-night stands but never has there been someone who had so completely consumed my thoughts. I’ve chased this woman with a single-minded purpose for a long time and now that I have her, I fully intend to keep her.
However, as I undo my tie, my eyes idly staring at myself in the mirror, I recall the bruises on Elise’s face and the rage that I had to suppress this evening rears its head.
Coldly, calculatingly, I wrap my freed tie around my knuckles and then smash my fist into the mirror over and over again.
It’s shattering but I don’t stop, my body needing an outlet for the rage.
Someone put their hands on my woman!
Someone bruised her, frightened her, and traumatized her!
They threatened the child that isn’t my blood but is mine nonetheless!
They attacked my family.
My hand is bleeding as I finally retract it and I let the bloodied tie fall onto the ground and see that there are no shards of glass stuck in me.
When I find the person responsible, I’m going to beat him within an inch of his life until he’s begging me for mercy.
I walk away from the mess and hearing a knock on the door, I answer it, know
ing exactly who it is. I’ve been expecting him.
A short man with a firm physique and stern glasses stands at the door. “Mr. Whiteon sent me with the papers.” He studies me in a disinterested manner.
I step back. “Come in.”
He glances at the broken glass on the ground, his eyes taking in my bleeding knuckles, and he raises a brow. However, he enters. He hands me an envelope marked confidential. “I was asked to have you confirm if everything is in order. I can have this filed first thing in the morning.”
I open the envelope and a cruel smile plays on my lips as I scan the contents. Putting the papers back, I hand it to him. “Do so. And deliver the court order to me, personally, tomorrow at my office.”
I receive a polite nod and then the man turns around and walks back into the darkness.
I’m quite satisfied.
The judge came through very quickly.
Since Elise is no longer tending the reception, I have no reason to go there. So, when I receive a call from Howard, the other receptionist, I make my way downstairs.
It’s nearing lunch and there is a large crowd in the reception area of people leaving or waiting for their friends. Since it’s raining today, people have chosen to wait inside, and just like that… I alter my plans when I glimpse Darren in the crowd, accompanied by three women.
The bastard is smiling broadly and when he catches me looking his way, he gives me a cocky look.
I smile back to his discomfort, baring my teeth.
The man from last night is standing by the reception and upon seeing me, he hands me the envelope. “It’s done.”
In front of everyone, I open the envelope and draw out the papers, saying loudly, “Mr. Hall, come here for a second.”
Darren’s face tightens but he doesn’t dare disobey me, so he approaches, leaving his little fan club a few feet behind.
It’s common knowledge in the company that there’s something going on between me and Elise, so I’m not surprised to see the animosity on quite a few of the women’s faces.
I hold out the copies of the court order, not bothering to lower my voice in the least as I state, “The contract that you made Miss Smith sign after you impregnated her forcefully, has been rescinded.”
