Chapter 5 Rafael
Rafael
‘Mr Fairfax? You have a visitor.’
‘Send him through, AJ,’ I tell him.
I hover my thumb over my screen, preparing to stop the video.
She’s modelling gym wear today. Snug-fitting workout leggings and cropped tops showing off a snatched little waist. She does some little wiggles to demonstrate the outfit’s built-in support.
I lick my lips.
My momentary pause to drink her in one final time before I stop the video is enough for Dominic to stride into my office, a wide grin stretching over his face as Aurora’s voice echoes from the speakers.
‘What are you watching?’ he asks, his eyes zeroing in on the screen as he approaches my desk.
‘Nothing,’ I say, turning my phone off and face down on the desk.
He arches a brow, pushing his hands into the pockets of his pinstripe suit trousers.
‘Is it one of those websites where she sends you videos without the workout gear on too?’
My jaw clenches and I curse myself internally.
My ludicrous obsession with Aurora Thorne means that I couldn’t even shut my damn phone off quick enough to prevent Dominic from getting a glimpse of her.
Not that it should bother me. She posts online multiple times per week.
Any number of men could be leering over the curves of her arse in those leggings right now.
Sourness swirls in my gut.
‘Hey.’ Dominic throws his hands up in a chuckle. ‘No need to get jealous. I’m a happily married man. I can’t be looking at some beautiful young blonde who’s commanded your attention.’
‘She hasn’t. She’s no one,’ I lie through my teeth, ignoring his emphasis on the word ‘young’. I know Aurora’s too young for me. She’s twenty-five, I’m thirty-nine. I don’t need Dominic reminding me of the fact whilst wearing a shit-eating grin on his face.
‘Whatever helps you sleep at night,’ he says, sinking into the chair on the opposite side of my desk.
‘I have a date tonight. With a brunette,’ I announce, like I have to justify myself.
Dominic rests his hands over his stomach, leaning back in the chair. His eyes glitter beneath his swept-back silvery hair. ‘Fine,’ he concedes with a smirk. ‘Let’s talk business. How’s the Beaufort account?’
I relax back in my seat, mirroring his position, much more at ease talking multimillion-pound contracts than I am discussing Aurora Thorne.
‘Great. They’ve taken on more mines in Botswana. Their share prices have risen as a result. And Sullivan is announcing a new line that’s already got a long waiting list.’
‘Diamond jewellery business is thriving then?’ Dominic quips.
‘They’ll be busier than a one-armed hooker giving out two-quid hand jobs,’ I reply, the tension evaporating from my muscles as we discuss one of Fairfax Guardian’s biggest clients.
Their headquarters are in New York, and over the past few years working together, their CEO, Sullivan Beaufort, has become a friend as well as business associate.
Dominic chuckles. ‘Glad to hear it.’
‘Things are back on track . . . finally,’ I say, my momentary reprieve meeting a premature end as thoughts of what could have been push to the front of my mind again.
‘George Thorne is nothing but a bad memory,’ Dominic says, giving me a levelling look.
‘You say that so easily,’ I grumble, my molars grinding together – a sign that he is not a memory to me, not by a long shot.
‘The guy’s in prison, Rafe. What else do you want?’
To know what he did with my two hundred and forty bloody million pounds, that’s what.
Has he got it stashed somewhere? Ready for when he’s out in a few years’ time? To retire to some Caribbean island with? Minus what his darling daughter has already squandered on designer workout gear, that is.
The memory of her face getting into the lift last time I saw her niggles at me.
Thinking she got one up on me. She might act the cute and innocent daddy’s girl, but underneath it all she’s a shrew.
A cunning and devious accomplice to her father’s misdemeanours.
She has to be. You’d have to be an idiot to watch a parent go to prison, continue to live alone in your mansion in Chelsea with your clothing allowance, and not ask where the money came from.
I bring my hands together and crack my knuckles.
The fact she’s Dove’s friend is the only thing stopping me from going after her already.
Despite everything, before this all happened, Aurora was a good friend to my sister when God knows Dove needed one.
Under ideal circumstances, Aurora would have distanced herself after her father’s conviction.
Not subjected my sister to the hounding from the press following them both around in those early days after the verdict.
Dove was still recovering from the appendicitis that resulted in her going to hospital.
If Aurora really cared, surely she would have kept her distance?
Realised that environment wasn’t healthy for my sister when she was healing?
I gave the menace a little nudge, making sure she overheard me vocalising my less than stellar opinion of her father when I ran into her at the office one day. But even that wasn’t enough to deter her.
Aurora Thorne seems intent on staying in my world.
So she had better be prepared for the consequences.
‘You still worried they’ll find out?’ Dominic says, lifting his brows in understanding.
My mouth flattens into a grim line, and I nod.
‘This investment was supposed to show my father that I’m perfectly capable of doing things without him.’
Dom grimaces. ‘I’m sorry. It was a sure thing. I wouldn’t have suggested you invest otherwise. I didn’t know some bastard was going to drain the company’s account.’
‘I know, I know.’ I nod. Dom’s right. It was a sure thing.
Just like previous investments I’ve made through him with Fairfax Guardian’s money.
Only this time we went big. Two hundred and forty million big.
‘They can’t find out. None of them. My father handed the business over to me when he retired, and I almost ran it into the ground within the first three months.
Doing it again would be the cherry on the bloody cake. ’
‘That other time wasn’t—’
‘My fault?’ I look at Dominic from beneath my brows. ‘Spare me the mercy. We both know the truth. I could have lost the company because of what I did.’
‘But you didn’t lose it,’ Dominic reminds me.
‘No.’ I pinch the bridge of my nose with a sigh. ‘I didn’t. Thanks to you.’
He gives me a reassuring smile. ‘It’s what friends do for one another, right?’
I swallow the thick lump in my throat. ‘Yeah, it is.’
My father’s disappointment back in my early days as CEO, when I had to tell him I’d lost a huge client that he’d always dreamt of bringing onboard, is etched into my soul.
I cannot have him look at me like that again.
Like a failure.
Like I’m weak.
It’s bad enough that he’s dropping in every couple of days when he’s in the country, phoning when he isn’t, and checking up on things.
Checking up on me. He’s never trusted me as CEO.
A fact I can handle, but it doesn’t mean I can stomach him looking at me like I’m this incompetent, broken little boy, which I swear is what he sees.
‘Listen, Rafe. Your family don’t need to know you lost company money that was invested with the firm after what George Thorne did.
You replaced it. As far as they’re aware, the money you gave me from Fairfax Guardian was never held in the same account that he drained.
My name’s on the deposit. And when the insurance pays out, you’ll get it back.
Everyone who lost money to that bastard will. It’s fine. Things are good now.’
‘I should have seen it coming. I should have done something.’
Dominic thumbs his nose with a sniff. ‘Bloody hell, I get it. I feel the same way. But all we can do is move forward and leave that piece of work in our rearview mirror, okay? Let it go.’
I scrub a hand around my jaw. ‘Okay,’ I agree, my eyes sliding to my phone, knowing Aurora’s video is still on there.
Dominic might be able to move on from what George’s actions cost the business he’s a part of, but I can’t. Not when he made me look like a fool, and his daughter is now flaunting it right under my nose.
When I find out how he did it, and where he’s hidden my money, then I’ll be able to let it go.
And only then.
There’s a knock at my office door, and my brother, Gabe, enters.
‘Hey, Dom,’ he greets, before looking at me. ‘Sorry to interrupt. I thought you’d want to know the police called.’
‘Angelo? Again?’ I groan.
Gabe’s grimace is all the confirmation I need.
‘Bloody hell.’ I push my chair back, blood pounding in my temples. ‘Sorry, Dom, I’m going to have to raincheck on lunch.’ I rise and button my suit jacket with one hand. ‘Seems I’m off to bail out my little brother.’
‘Want some company?’ Dom asks as he stands.
I shake my head, glancing at Gabe, who looks as tired of this shit as I am.
‘Nah. He’s all mine.’
Two hours later, a stern warning, and another ‘agreement’ reached with our local police station, and I’m standing beside my little arsehole of a brother, riding the lift back up to my floor in the Fairfax Guardian offices.
‘Come on, Rafe. It wasn’t that bad.’
‘You broke his nose. He could have done you for GBH.’
Angelo shrugs, the gleamy black of his leather bomber jacket glinting beneath the lights. I keep requesting he wear a suit. Sometimes he complies, but this is Angelo; most of the time he does whatever the hell he wants.
A smug smile plays on his lips. ‘Did the guy a favour. Now he can get plastic surgery.’
I slam my palm against the ‘emergency stop’ button and the lift shudders to a halt.
Angelo’s eyes slide to mine before he rolls them. ‘Come on, bro. No harm done.’
‘No harm done?’ I hiss. ‘Despite the fact I just parted with a huge amount of cash to help compensate your “victim” to keep this off the record—’
‘Yeah, Jake did us a solid.’ Angelo grins.