Chapter 26 Aurora
Aurora
‘Arsehole!’ I screech, stomping through my front door and tossing my bag on my old tatty sofa.
Who the hell does he think he is?
I’m vibrating with anger as I storm over to the tiny kitchen and wrench open the refrigerator. I grab a carton of orange juice and tip the dribble that’s left into a glass, before slamming it back like it’s tequila. I wish it was. Getting off-my-face drunk feels quite appealing right now.
I hate him.
I actually hate the man. I can’t believe I had sex with him. Twice. I can’t believe I cuddled him after. Let him hold me inside his arms like he actually cared.
‘The money that was stolen from me when he was convicted?’
Those were his words. I had no idea that the theft from my father’s old firm affected Rafael financially. He’s blamed my father this entire time. Why would he even spend the night with me in the first place if that were true?
A sharp rap vibrates my door. I take my anger out on it as I rip it open.
‘You have got to be kidding me?’ I seethe.
Rafael stares back at me, his mouth set in a grim line. ‘You hung up on me.’
‘Of course I bloody did! You accused my father of stealing from you!’
‘My opinions of your father’s innocence have never been a secret,’ he replies, his attention fixing on something behind me.
I glance over my shoulder. I’ve forgotten to close the fridge, and its lack of contents screams like a glowing neon sign.
‘When did you last eat?’ Rafael demands.
‘Earlier,’ I snap. ‘How much?’
‘Where?’ he presses.
‘Doesn’t matter. How much did you lose? It’s obviously a lot if you’re so concerned about it that you’re swinging accusations around. Ones that have no real evidence to back them up.’
‘Where did you eat, Aurora?’ Rafael says, his eyes returning to mine.
‘I went into Tesco on my walk back,’ I say in a rush. ‘Now tell me. How much?’
‘Did you buy food there? Or eat the scraps that every dirty bastard’s hands have been on?’ he hisses through gritted teeth.
I pull back my shoulders and glare at him. ‘How much? Tell me.’
‘Tell me first,’ he counters.
I muster all of my energy to stop myself from shoving him in his ridiculously broad, solid chest to make him move out of my doorway so I can slam the door in his face.
‘I forgot my purse,’ I lie.
A vein throbs in his temple and his nostrils flare.
‘Now tell me. How—?’
‘Two hundred and forty million.’
‘What?’ I gape at him. ‘That’s—’
‘An amount I’d very much like to recover.’ He clears his throat. ‘Do you have a suitcase?’
‘What?’
‘A suitcase?’ He arches a dark, thick brow at me, and I gesture vaguely to underneath my bed.
‘Good. That makes this easier.’
He slides past me, the front of his suit jacket brushing my chest.
‘What are you doing?’ I screech as he retrieves the suitcase from beneath the bed, then places it on top of the duvet and unzips it.
‘Packing,’ he grunts.
He pulls his suit jacket off, tossing it to one side, then rolls his shirt sleeves up his forearms. I hate that my gaze drops to the veins protruding beneath his skin.
‘I’ll do my best to keep things from creasing, but I’m warning you, I’m about one step away from losing my goddamn shit right now, so I’m not in a gentle mood.’
‘What are you talking about?’
He strides over to my clothes rail, widens his arms, then lifts all of the hangers off at once, before marching back to the open suitcase with them.
‘Rafael!’ I press when he ignores me.
His sinful lips purse as he takes my gold sequined top from its hanger and folds it with extreme care, placing it inside the case.
I whip it back out and he turns, glaring at me with stormy eyes.
‘You can’t come in here and start touching my things. Who the hell do you think you are? And where the hell do you think I’m going?’
Realisation dawns on me, making anger fire in my gut.
‘Oh, I get it. This is because you’re my landlord now, isn’t it?
You think you can evict me because of what my father didn’t do?
’ I throw my arms out. ‘I’m sorry you lost so much money, okay?
I’m sorry you probably had to downgrade from a private jet to first class on a regular airline, and, shock horror, perhaps even have to consider whether you need that sixtieth navy Brioni suit that’s identical to all of the others hanging in your giant walk-in wardrobe at your office.
But it doesn’t mean you can come in here and force me to leave without warning.
Ask yourself this? Why would my father ever take that amount of money?
He had a good job. He was paid well. We had everything we needed.
There’s no logical reason he would need hundreds of millions of pounds. ’
My words cause him to pause, his jaw clenching like he’s thinking.
‘Oh. Am I saying something that makes sense? Am I getting through that thick skull of yours?’
‘You’re being a brat,’ he grumbles, continuing to pack.
The calm way he keeps folding my clothes makes me see red.
‘And you’re being an arsehole! I hate you!’ I scream.
He turns so fast, pulling me to him by my upper arms, that my breath flies out of my lungs and leaves me panting.
‘And I bloody care about you!’ he thunders. ‘I care about you far more than I’d like to admit. Far more than I ever saw coming.’
I stare into his wild eyes as he pants, holding me against him. Our faces are inches apart, and his eyes drop to my mouth.
‘You’re not living in this shithole any more. You’re coming home with me,’ he barks.
‘What?’
Him turning up here to throw me out makes more sense than this.
‘I want you, Aurora. I need you. And that’s precisely why I’m here. This place isn’t safe.’
‘It’s fine. I’m not in any danger here.’
He slams his fingers against his chest. ‘It’s not under my roof with me. Therefore, it is not fine. And as for danger? I’m in danger of losing my goddamn mind if I have to sleep another night without you.’
I don’t know what makes me do it. Madness, I guess. Being caught up in the heat and explosive energy of the moment. But I lean towards him, just a touch. A tiny little movement, accompanied by my gaze dropping to his mouth.
And he swoops on it like an invitation.
His lips crash on to mine and he kisses me like it’s not been a week but a century since he was last permitted to touch me.
My body ignores the voice in my head screaming at me to get as far away from him as possible.
Instead, I moan into the kiss, sliding my tongue into his mouth and grabbing at his shirt.
He pulls me closer and his rock-hard dick presses into me.
‘This is madness,’ I pant, breaking away. ‘Why are you doing this?’
He shoves his hands on to his hips like he needs to physically restrain himself from pulling me back to him. ‘Because I have no damn choice.’
‘What? Why?’
He frowns as if what he’s about to say both irritates and confuses him in equal measure.
‘Because it’s you, Aurora. It’s only ever been you, no matter how much I’ve tried to convince myself otherwise.
I thought it was because I blamed your father.
That this . . .’ His nostrils flare and his voice drops to something low and dangerous.
‘. . . this obsession would be gone once I knew the truth. Only, it’s not an obsession any more, it’s something that’s become goddamn essential to my survival.
And it hasn’t gone. It multiplied by a billion the moment I knew. ’
‘Knew what? What are you talking about?’
‘That he’s innocent. That your father’s innocent.’
‘Y-you b-believe me?’ I choke, clinging to his words, desperate for someone, anyone, to know what I have all along. That he didn’t do it. That my father’s a good man.
Rafael’s eyes soften as he steps closer to me.
I can’t help it, I let out an ugly, strangled sound. ‘Are you just saying that so I’ll come with you? Is this some cruel joke?’
‘Aurora,’ Rafael says, cupping my face inside both palms. ‘I would never joke with you. Not about this.’
‘You really believe me.’ I sniff, searching his eyes for hesitation, but there’s none. He looks back at me with the same confident assurance he has in his eyes when I’ve seen him negotiate multimillion-pound deals at work.
‘I believe your father,’ he says.
‘I don’t understand.’
He inhales slowly, sliding his lips to my forehead before pressing the gentlest of kisses there.
‘Let me finish packing, Beauty.’