Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Once he was back on the ground floor, Knox immediately spoke with the security men on duty.
After explaining who he was, and perhaps fearing they were about to be replaced by Wynter Security if they were anything but compliant, one of them had taken him to the main office in the basement, where their team leader and his deputy were.
Possibly having the same fear, the two men were happy to play the relevant security footage from the previous night.
As Ellie had already told him, two men wearing balaclavas had entered the building, taken the elevator to the third floor, and then entered and wrecked the HERA offices. And no, it didn’t look as if anything had been taken.
Implying the whole purpose had been to cause damage to the property, and autonomy, of HERA.
Personal.
Vindictive.
From the little Knox already knew of the history of HERA, the evidence seemed to point to the culprit being Andrew Day, Ellie’s previous personal and business partner.
The man in charge of the building’s security, assured by Knox that he really was only asking as a friend of Ellie’s, had promised to let Knox know as soon as he’d been able to access exactly what card had been used by the two men to enable them to enter.
Not that Knox held out a lot of hope on that helping to identify them. As he knew only too well, cards could be forged and security systems could be hacked.
Knox immediately sent a text to Linus Wynter, the youngest brother of the Wynter family and also their resident tech genius. Linus was in London at the moment, but he was always available to all of them wherever he was in the world.
Knox asked the other man to check in to the security of Aragon Tower and see if he could find any evidence or glitches in the system that could have enabled this to happen.
If anyone could find any anomalies, it would be Linus.
He also asked the other man to ascertain where Ellie was living now and how they could upgrade the security system in that building.
He then shut off his phone before Linus could come back with the many questions he would no doubt have regarding who Eleanor Hall was and why Knox wanted him to do the things he’d asked him to do.
A personal visit to Andrew Day was also in order—one Knox didn’t intend telling Ellie about—but that could wait until tomorrow. Right now he wanted to concentrate on taking Ellie out to lunch and then on to a visit with Karen, Geoff, and the babies.
Luckily, organizing all those things had taken only a few minutes, so he was waiting in the reception area when Ellie stepped out of the elevator a short time later.
There was no longer dirt on her cheeks, she had brushed fresh gloss on her lips, and her hair was a soft, silky curtain down her back.
But those tinted glasses still hid the expression and full color of her eyes, and there was no mistaking the other physical signs of the stress she was under.
Her face was pale, her cheeks hollow, and she somehow looked as if she might be even thinner than she had been when Knox met her earlier in the week.
Ellie Hall was unmistakably under severe emotional and mental stress.
Well, she didn’t know it yet, and probably wouldn’t like it if she did, but she was now under Knox’s protection. He hated bullies, and he had a feeling that was exactly what Ellie was dealing with. The man who had also once been closer to her than any other.
The bastard.
Knox knew exactly what it was like to go through a breakup of this magnitude.
It had happened to him years ago, but he still remembered the fierce pain of that betrayal from someone he had thought he could trust implicitly.
He could maybe have forgiven Maggie for the pain she had caused him, but he would never, ever forgive her for hurting their daughter.
Looking at Ellie, feeling that instinctive need to protect her from any future harassment, he had a feeling his need to keep up barriers to protect his emotions had been well and truly demolished this past week.
Did he like that feeling?
Absolutely not.
But something he had thought dead had stirred deep inside him when he first looked at her, and that feeling had only deepened in the past four days.
To a degree he had used the excuse of inviting her to lunch and then to visit with Karen and Geoff and the babies as a way of seeing her again?
Knox knew that was exactly what he’d done.
He was also scared shitless at the thought of meeting the babies!
* * *
“So, you said you would tell me why I’m doing you a favor by accompanying you to Karen and Geoff’s?” Ellie turned to look at Knox.
They had been driven to this Italian restaurant by one of the cabs that were always waiting outside the busy Aragon Tower building. The restaurant they had chosen was close to where Karen and Geoff lived in Long Island.
She and Knox were now seated in a secluded corner booth at the back of the room, and the waitress had already taken their order and promised to be back with their drinks soon.
Knox chuckled. “You’re a ‘tell me the truth and nothing but the truth sort of woman,’ hm?”
“I’m not sure I can reliably expect that from anyone anymore,” she answered heavily.
“You can from me,” he instantly assured. “Time will show you that I always speak the truth,” he added at her skeptical glance.
“We’ll see,” she dismissed, not altogether sure when this “time” was going to take place. The two of them were only business associates. Weren’t they? “But to answer your question, I’m actually a ‘not interested in hearing any bullshit’ kind of woman,” she clarified.
“Always, or is that a recent development?”
She gave him a knowing look. “I think we both know the answer to that.”
His jaw tightened. “You really should have called the police this morning.”
She snorted. “So they could do what, exactly? Look at the same security footage I did? Which would tell them nothing. Or tell them that yes, I currently have ongoing friction with my ex-partner. They then go and speak to him, Andrew lies like he always does, and then sometime, either later today or tomorrow, he pays me a visit. Probably at home, so there are no witnesses—” Ellie realized she said too much when she visibly saw the fierce anger now glittering in Knox’s eyes.
“Can we just enjoy our lunch and forget I said that?” she encouraged as the waitress put the glasses of water—they had both declined wine—and breadsticks on the table before leaving again.
“Witnesses to what?” Knox ground out.
She avoided meeting Knox’s probing gaze. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“I can see that. Unfortunately, for you, I’m insisting that you do.”
She frowned. “You have no right to insist on anything where I’m concerned.”
“What does Day do to you in private?” he persisted.
“When we were together? Nothing.”
“And now?”
She glared fiercely. “None of this is any of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.”
She gasped before demanding, “Under what aegis?”
“Under the aegis I very much intend being a significant part of your personal life in future.”
“What?” Ellie stared at him in disbelief, the breadstick she had just taken from the glass container snapping in two as her fingers instinctively tightened.
She and Knox had only met for the first time on Monday morning, and they hadn’t seen each other again until today, Friday. She must have misheard him—
“You heard me correctly.” He cut in on what she had thought were her dismissive thoughts but had obviously been spoken out loud. “You should also know I don’t allow anyone to hurt the people I care about.”
She swallowed. Hard. “You’re saying you care about me?” To her consternation, her voice came out as a squeak.
Of course it did, because this man couldn’t really mean what he was saying. Although he hadn’t come across to her as a frivolous man or a liar…
“Very much,” he confirmed. He lifted a hand to cradle the side of her face while the other one removed the tinted glasses that hid so much of her features.
He placed the glasses down on the table before gazing into her eyes.
“Such a beautiful aqua-blue,” he murmured in wonder. “So gorgeous. Like the rest of you.”
Ellie was still reeling from the surprise of having a man like Knox Wilder—older than her by fourteen years, sophisticated in a way that was so much a part of him it had to be inborn, his intelligence beyond doubt—now stating his personal interest in her in that blunt way.
Combine that along with his imposing looks, and Ellie would dare any woman not to find this ruggedly handsome man, and that sexy English accent, irresistible.
She certainly couldn’t resist.
But she shouldn’t be attracted to Knox, she inwardly warned. He might seem like a good man, but that didn’t mean he was. Andrew had that same outer appearance of goodness. Until he didn’t.
No, history had told her that a man’s appearance could be deceptive, and as such, she dared not allow herself to be fooled a second time.
* * *
Both of Knox’s hands cupped the sides of Ellie’s face now, his thumbs gently caressing beneath eyes that glittered with unshed tears and distrust. “Hey, there’s no need to look so worried,” he assured. “I just want you to know you aren’t alone anymore, that I’m here for you, if you need me to be.”
She gave a shake of her head. “You don’t even know me.”
“Sure I do,” he cajoled. “Your full name is Eleanor Hall, you’re twenty-nine years old, an only child of older parents who both died while you were still at university.”
Knox was convinced this was the main reason why it had been so easy for Andrew Day to latch onto Ellie and convince her she was in love with him. Her parents had left her a lot of money from savings and the sale of their home, enough for Ellie to buy an apartment and later open a business with Day.
Once Knox had accepted that Ellie wasn’t going to be banished from his thoughts, he had done some checking up on how she and Andrew had met and fallen in love. He hadn’t liked what he’d discovered.
Ellie had been top of her class, an A-plus student who had left university summa cum laude. Day scraped through at best, a C student, barely passing those same exams Ellie had. Knox had a feeling Day had only achieved that much with her help.
Day would never have made it on his own, academically or financially.
Knox also discovered that Day was a selfish bastard who had very quickly started having affairs behind Ellie’s back, and later, he had begun to gamble away the profits of their company.
Ellie was better off without him. As Knox had been better off without Maggie. But that didn’t stop their betrayal from hurting like a son of a bitch.
He leaned forward and kissed Ellie lightly on the softness of one of her cheeks before sitting back to allow the waitress to place the steaming bowls of pasta in front of them. “Thank you.” He gave the blushing young waitress a warm smile.
“Do you do that on purpose?” Ellie teased as they both watched the waitress bump into a table, then a customer, after continuing to smile at Knox rather than looking where she was going on her way back to the kitchen.
He raised innocent brows. “Do what?”
Ellie chuckled for the first time since he’d met her. Her whole appearance was changed by that laughter. Those gorgeous lips curved upward. Her cheeks were flushed. And her eyes now glowed with warmth and humor.
Ellie was so stunningly beautiful that looking at her took Knox’s breath away.
Yeah, there really was no way he was walking away from this woman unless he was forced to do so. By Ellie, no one else. He might feel as if he had been hit over the head with a garden rake, but that didn’t mean Ellie felt the same way about him. All he could do was hope she did. Or would.
“You know how you look, and the effect your charm has on other people.” Ellie was still smiling as she picked up her spoon and fork and began twirling some of her pasta onto the latter.
“It’s good you think I’m charming.” Knox did the same with his food, but most of his attention still remained on the beautiful woman sitting next to him. “How do I look?” he encouraged.
Her smile widened. “Like a suave but even more dangerous Jason Statham. The tattoos are a nice touch,” she admired before eating the pasta off her fork.
Knox instinctively pulled down the cuffs of his shirt where he knew some of those tattoos were visible.
“They aren’t meant to be nice.” His voice sounded rough.
“Each year, I have a new flower tattoo added,” he revealed, his voice even rougher, this time with the pain of loss he knew would never go away.
It didn’t hurt as much as it once had, but it would never completely fade.
Nor did Knox want it to. “Always on my daughter’s birthday. ”
Ellie’s eyes widened. “You have— No,” she answered her own question as she studied him intently. “You had a daughter,” she realized softly.