Chapter 20 #2
“Okay.” He nods. “How was it seeing her so upset?”
I shrug, a weight sits heavily upon my shoulders. “I’m ashamed of how things turned out.”
“Ashamed of yourself?”
“For hurting her.”
“Yes.” He nods. “I understand.” He thinks for a moment, “Have you seen Alora?”
“Yes.”
He smiles. “How did that go?”
“Worse.”
“Worse?”
“I followed her to Paris and she was on a date.”
“Oh.” He frowns.
“She said he was a friend.”
“Is he a friend?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Maybe.”
“Why do you think maybe?”
“She’s seen him since and nothing suspicious has happened.”
“How do you know that?”
“I have guards on her.”
“Does she know that?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say when she found this out?”
“I….” I hesitate.
“You what?”
“I haven’t taken her calls since I put them on her.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to fight with her.”
“Edward Prescott not wanting to fight.” He sits back and smiles. “I do believe we may have progress.”
“Fuck off.” I roll my eyes. “I just don’t want to….”
“What?”
“Antagonize her.”
His eyes light up. “Are you scared of Alora?”
“I’m not scared of Alora, I’m scared of losing my temper with her,” I murmur.
“Why is that?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“Not to me.”
“Where she’s concerned, everything is heightened.”
He stares at me for a beat. “You’re afraid your temper will be heightened too.”
I roll my lips, uncomfortable with where this is going.
“Edward, you need to have more trust in yourself. You have never been violent with women.”
“Not that way, I mean I don’t want her to end it,” I say softly.
“So something has begun?”
“No.”
“But you want it to?”
“Maybe.”
“Why are you afraid that she will end it?”
“Because she’s the first person I’ve ever met that I know actually would.”
“She’s as strong as you?” He frowns.
“Just as stubborn.”
“Which means?”
“Which means if I fuck this up she will walk away.”
“And that would be a problem?”
“Oh my fucking god. Do you listen to me at all?” I snap. “I’m leaving, as usual you are wasting my fucking time.”
“Hold up, sit back down.” He swings on his chair as his eyes hold mine. “Why don’t you take things slow with her.”
“Like how?”
“Get to know her properly. Wine and dine her. No sex, show her the real you.”
“Paul. Do you have a brain at all?” I roll my eyes. “I’m an angry sex maniac. If she meets the real me then she’s one hundred percent leaving.”
He chuckles. “I don’t think so.”
“So that’s your answer.”
He smiles over at me.
“I fly all the way to London for you to tell me to be friends with her.”
“I think it’s a great idea.”
“I think you’re talking out of your ass.” I throw my hands up. “You have no idea how hot this woman is and how not sleeping with her is physically impossible.”
“Vulnerability is a superpower, Edward.”
“No.” I shake my head. “You told me last week that her bonding depends on how hard she comes. That is my superpower.”
His eyes hold mine.
“So I’m going with that option.” I stand. “I should charge you for these visits, I’m the only one here with any decent ideas.”
“I’ll see you next week.”
“No you won’t.” I walk to the door. “Problem solved, I’m going to fuck her into unconsciousness.”
“That’s not legal.”
“Who fucking cares.”
ALORA
Ring, ring…. Ring, ring.
I close my eyes, hoping he won’t answer and I can just leave a message.
“Alora. Hi.”
“Hi Pascal,” I reply. “I saw the news and spoke to your mother. Are you okay?”
“I’m getting there.” His voice has a sadness in it. “Just got out of hospital today.”
“Right.” I chew my lip as I try to work out what to say next. “Who did this to you?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see them.”
“They jumped you from behind?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t Edward, he would never hit someone from behind, he would want them to know it was him.
Phew….
“What are the doctors saying?” I ask.
“I have six broken ribs and a broken eye socket and nose.”
“God. You must be in so much pain,” I whisper. “How awful.”
“I’m on the good drugs, so I’ll be fine.”
“Ummm.” Should I just ask him? Yes, screw it, I need to know. “Pascal, I have to ask you something.”
“Yeah.”
“I found an….” I try to find the right words. “A tracker in my purse. Do you know anything about it? I mean, if you put it there by accident or something while we were going out then that’s okay,” I stammer. “I just need to know who put it there. It’s really scared me.”
“What kind of tracker?”
“I don’t know what type it was but it was a location tracker, it was in a pen.”
“Oh.” He falls silent. “What kind of pen?”
He seems genuinely shocked, it wasn’t him at all.
“Why don’t you ask your new boyfriend about it? He would have put it there for certain.”
Huh?
“Pascal, I have to ask, did you know Edward before you met him through the council in Monaco?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We went to school together.”
What?
“You went to school with Edward Prescott?” I frown, how did I not know this?
“I got a scholarship in London for my senior year and he was there.”
“Were you friends or….”
“We hated each other from day one.”
“Did something happen, a particular incident?”
“He’s an asshole, his friends are all assholes. That’s what happened. But you’ll find that out for yourself in good time.”
Hmm, I am beginning to pick up on that myself.
“Well….” I hesitate. “I should let you get back to healing.”
“Can I see you?”
“Pascal,” I sigh. “No. This doesn’t change anything between us. I wish you all the best, but I just called to check on how you are.”
“I’m fine.”
I have to get off the phone. “Okay, well…happy healing. Look after yourself.” Before I can say another word I hang up.
Shit.
EDWARD
“Hey, boss,” Philippe says.
“Hi.”
“We are outside the antique store and we have a problem with Miss Sorenson.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, she just….” He pauses.
“She’s what?” I snap.
“She’s very delicate.”
I screw up my face in question. “Delicate, what do you mean, delicate? Like a flower?”
“Delicate like a hand grenade.”
I smirk. “Why?”
“She’s becoming very hard to manage.”
“How so?”
“She doesn’t want us to follow her anymore and has just stormed over to our car and is threatening to call the police on us.”
“Okay.” I roll my eyes. “I’ll handle it.”
“Can you do it soon, she’s very….”
I get a vision of her being angry with them and I smile. “Very what?”
“Fired up.”
First woman in history who would ever dare to tell my men off.
“Okay, I’ll call her. Bye.”
I immediately dial her number. Ring, ring….
“What do you want?” she snaps.
A broad smile covers my face at the sound of her angry voice.
Even furious, she’s hot.
“I believe you meant to say, Hello, Edward.”
“Nope, didn’t mean to say that,” she fires back. “I meant to say, what do you want?”
“I’m in London.”
“So I heard.”
“Watch your tone, miss.”
“Don’t fucking dare miss me,” she snaps. “You tell your guards to leave me the hell alone.”
“They are there for your safety and they will be staying with you for your safety.”
“No, Edward.”
“This is nonnegotiable, Alora, I need you safe.”
“Why? So you can ignore me all the way from London?”
“You’re angry that I haven’t returned your calls?”
“I’m not angry. I’m infuriated.”
I smile, even fighting with this woman excites me.
“I haven’t answered your calls because I wanted to see you in person, I didn’t want to fight with you over the phone.”
Silence.
“I will be home on the weekend,” I tell her.
“No.”
“We can discuss your guard situation then.”
“I don’t want guards at all, ever. This isn’t a spy movie and you’re going way too far.”
“Just humor me until I’m back in the country.”
“You know what I find funny?” she fumes.
Here we go. I roll my eyes.
“You tell me to not see other people and to wait for you and then you go missing for the week?”
“I did.”
“And you don’t answer my calls and you don’t call me back and you listen to my messages and then you still don’t call me back.”
“That’s right.”
“You know this?” she shrieks.
“I do.”
“You are the most infuriating man I have ever met.”
“Agreed.”
“I’m going because you’re patronizing me and I’m about to explode.”
I chuckle.
“Are you laughing?” she gasps in outrage.
“As I just told you, I’m not fighting with you over the phone.”
“Well, I’m fighting with you. Good. Bye.”
Click.
I chuckle and dial Philippe’s number.
“Hey,” he answers.
“The firecracker is fine, stay with her,” I reply.
“Are you sure?”
“Big tough Philippe, has she got you running scared?” I tease.
“Not funny.”
ALORA
Is there anything better in life than a revenge night out?
Edward is still in London, but his men are here watching and damn it, I am giving them something to report back with.
Screw. Him.
I don’t know who this guy thinks that he is but he is messing with the wrong girl.
Surely his idiotic society girls don’t put up with his crap?
He hasn’t called me, he hasn’t texted me…nothing. The only reason he did call me was because I threatened to go to the police, and if I haven’t heard from him by Monday I’m bombing his stupid yacht. Hopefully with him inside.
It’s Saturday night and just on 11.
And tonight, Mr. Prescott, watch and weep because I am single and looking to mingle.
Thomas, Helene, and I have been drinking cocktails at the Golden Peacock and are now walking arm in arm to Lierre… The hottest club in Monaco.
We are way too tipsy and yes, I know what you’re thinking. It’s true, this is war and tonight is completely strategic, we’ve come to his stomping ground to flirt…because damn it, we decided that if you’re going to push some buttons, best be sure they’re the right ones.
I’m wearing a black, tight, strapless minidress and sky-high stilettos. My hair is in a high bouncy ponytail and I have my favorite red lipstick on.
“We’re not going to get in,” Thomas whispers as we get closer to the door. “It’s a private club, I don’t even know anyone who has ever been here. It’s a membership-only club.”
“We’re getting in,” Helene replies. “By hook or by crook.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” He frowns. “By hook or by crook?”