“You shouldn’t have to. I’ve done everything I can to stop her from getting anywhere near you. The security guards know not to let her in. I’ve got cameras everywhere. There is nothing more I can do, but what I have done isn’t enough.”
“You’re not to blame for her actions. This is entirely her choice.” Aliyah surprised herself by reached over the desk to take Brett’s hand. “You have done everything you can, and I truly appreciate it.”
“Let me pay for the damage to your car.”
“That isn’t going to happen. I’m going to get Emma to pay for it, because she was the one who caused it, and I’m certain you should be able to find evidence of that on the CCTV.”
“Yes, I should.” Brett smiled. “As long as you’re sure. It’s going to take longer than it would going through me.”
“I can walk to work. It will do me good to get some more exercise, and when she does pay for the damage she’ll be able to understand why she shouldn’t do stupid things like tip sugar in the engine of my car.” She made a face. “I will see you later. Remember you have two meetings this afternoon.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” He laughed as she stood. “Thank you, for everything.”
“You’re welcome.”
As she walked out of the office Aliyah felt more certain than she had done before she was making the right choice. Emma was not going to run her off, no matter what she tried.
***
Hands were on her back. Before Aliyah really knew what was happening she was toppling down the stairs, unable to stop herself. When she smashed face first into the wall at the bottom of the stairs she knew exactly what had happened. The blood was everywhere, and there was nothing she could do to stop it, so it felt like she was suffocating. Finally she managed to push herself into a more upright position, but by then whoever it was had disappeared. It didn’t matter. She knew who it was. There was only one person it could be. For a few moments she stayed where she was, trying to deal with the ringing in her ears, and it was a relief to hear someone running towards her.
“That’s the last straw.” Brett gently tilted Aliyah’s face back. “I’m calling the police.”
“Don’t.”
“Why not? She pushed you down the stairs.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to deal with the police.”
“It could have been a lot worse.”
“Fortunately it wasn’t. I’m fine. A little blood loss isn’t going to kill me.” She smiled at Brett, although she was certain it wasn’t a very pretty smile. “There’s no permanent damage.”
“I don’t care. I’m calling the police. I’ll do the talking if you don’t want to, but I’m calling them. I’m not going to let her do this any longer. You could have died.”
“Maybe.” Aliyah shook her head, which was something she quickly realised she shouldn’t have done. “If that’s what you think you should do I’m not going to stop you. I don’t think I could tell them what happened if I wanted to.”
“Which is the very reason we have CCTV. That’s why I knew what had happened. I was watching it.” He studied her. “The security guard I was with should have already contacted the police. I told him that was the most important thing. They shouldn’t be too much longer.”
“That’s your sister.”
“Sadly that is the case.” He sighed. “It doesn’t change the fact she pushed you down the stairs and you smashed your face into the wall in such a way I wasn’t certain you were going to get up again. Seeing that… I really thought I was never going to see you again.”
“I’m not that delicate.” Their eyes met and she could see the pain he felt. “I’m going to be fine.”
People were walking towards the two of them. “Good afternoon, Mr. Chambers. We have an ambulance waiting outside for Miss Henderson.”
“I’m not going to hospital.”
“Yes, you are.” Brett gently helped her up. “There could be some real damage done. The sooner you get checked out the sooner you can get back to work.”
Both of the police officers smiled encouragingly at her. “I hate hospitals.”
“I don’t know anyone who actually likes them, but you don’t have a choice. You’re going. I want to know she hasn’t done anything permanent.”
One of the officers took Aliyah’s arm. “I’ll escort you to the ambulance while my partner goes with Mr. Chambers to view the CCTV evidence.”
***
“How bad is it?”
“Not as bad as it could have been.” As Brett was nowhere near her Aliyah could be honest. “The doctor said I was lucky. If I’d hit that wall with any more force it would have been a lot worse, but trying to stop myself meant I wasn’t going as fast as I would have been had I not tried.” She shook her head. “I don’t think Emma knew how badly it could have turned out.”
“Do you really think she cared?”
“Of course I don’t, Flick, but I can’t believe anyone would have done something like that if they truly thought they were going to kill someone. She just wants to get rid of me.”
“Killing you would get rid of you permanently.”
“You’re a ray of sunshine.”
“Maybe I’m being unfair to her, but I don’t think I am. From what you said she definitely has a few screws loose somewhere, and the best thing you can do is keep your distance, which obviously isn’t easy.”
“It’s not.”
“There is always the option of leaving.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Ally…”
“No. You’re not going to be able to convince me to leave my job. It’s a dream to work with Brett Chambers.”
“Did you dream include dealing with his deranged sister?”
“Flick…”
“Of course it didn’t. Look, no one’s going to think any less of you if you left. Not even Brett.”
“I’d think less of me, so it’s not happening.”
***
“You shouldn’t be here.” Brett studied her, and Aliyah knew exactly what he could see. She’d seen the damage in the mirror. “You should have stayed at home and had a pyjama day.”
“I thought you knew me better, Brett. Pyjama days are my idea of torture. I’d much rather be here, so I don’t have to think about how my face is throbbing.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“Not much.” Lying to him was easy. “I am going to be absolutely fine.”
“Good.” He sat down opposite her. “I want to talk to you about something.”
“What’s the something?”
“I was wondering if you might want to go out to dinner with me. Obviously that will be when your face has healed, because I can’t imagine you’d want to be seen anywhere like that, but I want to do something to thank you for everything. Most people would have run for the hills by now.”
“When we first talked about this I told you I was stubborn.”
“It never crossed my mind you’d be quite this stubborn.”
“Is it a bad thing?”
“No.” The look he gave her made her think he might like her more than he should, but she pushed that thought aside. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. “Think about it. If you do want to go out with me let me know and we can book somewhere really nice. You deserve it.”
***
“How can you let this happen? She’s your sister.” Aliyah tried to hide in the corner of the room. Brett’s mom was standing in the doorway, and the last thing Aliyah wanted was to deal with her. “You need to talk to the D.A. and let them know this was all a horrible mistake.”
“I do, do I?” Brett shook his head. “Emma chose to push Aliyah down the stairs.”
“You’re going to pick that… woman… over your own sister.”
“Exactly what is your problem with her?”
“She’s coloured, sweetheart, and that means she’s less than us. You should have given the job to Emma before you gave it to that Negress.”<
br />
“I can’t believe I seriously heard those words leaving your mouth.” He stood. “The best thing you can do is leave, Mom.”
“No. I want you to fix this.”
“There’s nothing for me to fix. Emma has been treating all of my P.A.s badly, and that truly is an understatement, ever since I told her I wasn’t going to be giving her a job here. Now she’s assaulted one of them, on camera, she’s going to get what she deserves, and that is because of her choices.”
“Your sister deserves better.”
“My sister needs to understand the consequences of her actions. I’m not going to protect her from the big bad world. She has to learn this lesson. If she doesn’t, and if you keep picking her over me, I don’t have an issue with cutting you all out of my life.”
***
Aliyah looked down at the keyboard. She didn’t want to leave Brett, but she didn’t want to destroy his family either. When a tear trickled down her cheek she scrubbed it away, and then winced, wishing there was something else she could do. “I’m not going to accept it.”
She looked up at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Your resignation. It’s not happening.”
“I heard everything your mom said.”
“Unfortunately. I’m sorry about her. Until then I didn’t realise how racist Mom was.” He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have had to listen to that, but I couldn’t get you out of the room quickly enough.”
“Nothing that happened is your fault.”
“It’s not your fault either. If I make the decision I don’t want them to be a part of my life it’s not because of you. It’s because of them.” He took a couple of steps closer to her desk. “I never thought the time would come when I might have to make this choice, but obviously I do. That’s not who I am. I don’t want people like that to be a part of my life, especially if it means I’m going to lose you, because that, to me, is the greater issue. Please tell me you aren’t going anywhere.”
“Brett…”
“You’re the best P.A. I’ve had so far and we both know there’s something more between us. I felt it the first time I met you.”
***
There was a knock on the door. Sighing, Aliyah went to answer it, wondering if it was going to be the police again. They’d taken her statement about what had happened, but it was obvious Brett had told them about everything else. Due to that they were going to turn up at some point to talk to her about that as well. When she opened the door all she could do was stare. “Hi.” Brett held up a bag. “I went by the local Indian. When I feel terrible I hate cooking, so I thought I’d bring you something to eat.”
“Why?”
“I want to spend some time with you outside of work, and I know you’re a little more wary.”
“I know how badly this can work out.”
“Maybe it will, but I don’t believe it can.” He shrugged. “Can we talk about this inside? I feel conspicuous on your doorstep.”
Nodding, Aliyah stepped back to let him into her apartment. “I’ve dated someone who employed me before and it nearly destroyed me.”
“It’s not going to this time.” He put his bag on the counter and turned to look at her. “I was going to rewrite the contract you signed to take something like this into consideration, because I know it’s not exactly a normal situation to be in. I just… I really like you. I want to give us a chance, if you want to, and I can understand if you don’t considering how you’ve been treated by both my sister and my mom.”
“No one in my family would be pleased if they found out I was thinking of dating a white man. Racism goes both ways, Brett, and I know that from experience.” She sighed. “I left them behind for a reason. I know what they’re capable of.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, so am I.” She sighed. “I don’t have anything against going out with you sometimes, but I don’t think we can have a relationship. At least not the sort of one I think you want. My brothers wouldn’t have an issue with flying here to teach you a lesson if they found out about us.”
“Honestly, that’s something I can deal with.” He took a couple of steps towards her. “How about we take this one step at a time? We both know there are issues that might cause this not to work out, but I really want to give us a chance. Before I met you my last girlfriend dumped me, because I wasn’t willing to marry her without a pre-nup, and I was certain she was the one.”
“Pre-nups are logical for people in the position you’re in.” Their eyes met. “How could she not have realised that?”
“She thought it was because I didn’t trust her, but I just wanted to make certain we’d both be provided for if things didn’t work out.” He sighed. “When I tried to explain that she wouldn’t listen and in the end she made the decision we were better off apart.”
***
Aliyah had no idea what she was going to do about Brett. He was thinking things through, and she didn’t know why she thought he wouldn’t be. From the very beginning she’d wanted to work with him due to who he was, which was something she’d never told her family about, because she knew exactly how they were going to react. Of course they hadn’t been happy with her making the decision to become a P.A. in the first place. She could still hear her mom’s words on the day she’d told them what she was doing. “We are no one’s slave, Aliyah. Why would you want to go into a service job, when you could have so much more. Your father and I would have been happy to pay for you to go through law school.”
Sighing, Aliyah paced from one side of her living room to the other. Her parents hadn’t been able to understand why she wouldn’t want to become a lawyer, or a doctor, or something better than a P.A., because they seemed to think that all service jobs were slavery. Being a P.A. made sense to her. It was what she wanted to do, so it was what she did. She knew it was never going to be good enough for them. Dating a white man was never going to be good enough for them.
The knock was a welcome distraction, at least until she opened the door. It wasn’t entirely a surprise to see Brett’s mom on the doorstep. “We need to talk, Miss Henderson.”
“I’m afraid I have nothing to talk to you about, Mrs Chambers.”
“My daughter is going to end up in jail if you can’t convince Brett to do something about it.”
“Brett can’t do anything now. It’s entirely up to the D.A., because they’d be pressing charges even if his company wasn’t.”
“Emma isn’t a bad person.”
“Are you trying to convince me of that, or yourself?”
“She hasn’t always made the best choices. I know that, but she never meant to hurt you, and I’m sure she wouldn’t have done what she did if she knew what would happen.”
“Did she think she wouldn’t hurt me when she put bleach in my coffee?”
“She never did something like that.”
“Yes, she did, because she didn’t want me in the position she believed should be hers. The thing was Brett didn’t want her to be his P.A., and that’s why he looked for someone who was a professional that could take her place. He hired me due to the fact I’ve been a P.A. for nearly a decade now, so I know what I’m doing, while Emma has no experience. She simply thought she should be given the job because she was family.”
“She should have been.”
“Why?”
“It’s what family does.” Brett’s mom sighed. “Emma’s been out of work for over three years now.”
“Unfortunately that isn’t Brett’s problem, and now she’s made it harder for herself by doing something so incredibly stupid.”
***
“Mom shouldn’t have turned up at your place, Ally, and if I’d known in advance what she was planning on doing I would have stopped her.”
“It’s fine.” Aliyah continued typing as she spoke, hoping she wouldn’t stupidly write down what she was saying. “We had an interesting conversation. I still can’t help viewing her as a racist, but she’d not exactly a bad
person, and she is truly worried about Emma. Until we talked she didn’t know how bad things had become. You were keeping the worst from her, weren’t you.”
“That seemed to be the best thing to do. I didn’t want her to know how bad Emma had become, and that was my mistake. Had I spoken with my parents about it all they might have been able to help me deal with her. Instead I made the decision to deal with it alone, which is what led to you being hurt, and I’m never going to forgive myself for that.”
“Don’t blame yourself for her choices. You have no way of knowing that talking to your parents would have stopped Emma from walking the path she was on.” Their eyes met. “You did the best you could in difficult circumstances, and I appreciate what you did to try to help me.”
“It wasn’t enough.” He sighed. “I’m so sorry.”
“Stop it.”
“Okay. I know it’s not going to help. I just… how about we talk about us instead?”
“We shouldn’t be having that sort of conversation at work.”
“Tell me you aren’t interested and I’ll walk away.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Brett.”
“You’ve never made it obvious.”
“Of course I haven’t. Making it obvious could easily have led to me losing this job. I said before it was a dream come true.” She looked up for the first time. “Even if something were to happen between the two of us I would still work. I’m not certain I’d keep working for you, because that seems like it could easily become a conflict of interest, but I would work. I want to earn my own income.”
“Which is one of the reasons I want to be with you.” He sat down, studying her. “You and I have the same sort of work ethic. Working is important to us. Come out with me, for dinner tonight, and we can talk about this.”
The Alpha Billionaire's Unexpected Baby: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance Page 8
