3. Aspen
Chapter 3
Aspen
“ H ello, this is Aspen.”
My stomach drops when I hear Natalie, Mr. Blake’s new assistant, on the other end. “Hi, Aspen. Mr. Blake needs to speak with you. Can you step away from your desk for a brief moment and meet him in his office, please?”
“Um.” I chew my lip nervously, glancing at my ever growing inbox and the reports I still need to run before I leave for the day. “Are you sure it will be brief this time?” I’ve come to learn that Mr. Blake’s definition of brief is very different than most people’s definition.
“It’s not really a request, Aspen, but more of a demand.” Her tone is flat but I sense a tinge of sympathy. Even in the few short months since she’s been hired on, I know for a fact she’s already seen the real side of Connor Blake. It’s terrifying to see a man whom everyone else worships and loves snap and turn into a cold-blooded monster in the same breath that he’s praising you.
“Understood. I’ll be right up.” I hang up my phone and reach into my purse, grabbing the pills my psychiatrist prescribed me for the panic attacks I’ve been having. I stare at the bottle, my bony hand gripping it so tight the ridges of the cap dig into my flesh. I close my eyes, taking in a few deep breaths before deciding against taking one. The thought of being alone with him while under the influence of anything has my stomach in knots. I’ll never put myself in that position… again.
My anxiety manifests in tapping my fingers in a pattern against the flat front of my skirt, a fashion choice I’m now regretting. At least it’s long enough that when I sit down, it will still cover my knees.
I tug a stray strand of hair from my tight updo. Another nervous habit I’ve picked up lately. Maybe it’s because I usually wear my hair down. I love my hair, it’s my favorite feature about myself. It’s long and thick and it shines in any light. I love styling it in big, bouncy waves… loved styling it. I don’t have any interest anymore. The door dings and I pull myself from the dark corner of my mind that is full cobwebs I’m not ready to disturb.
“You can head right in.” Natalie offers a big, toothy grin framed by full red lips. “Mr. Blake is expecting you.” She looks like I did when I first started. Only, I don’t have that full of lips or nearly that large of breasts but I was her. Young and vibrant, ready to tackle my first real job and look damn cute while I was doing it.
I push open his office door. “You wanted to see me, Mr. Bla—oh…” I pause as he slides his suit coat on and grabs his cell phone before walking straight toward me. “I thought you were expecting me?”
“I am.” He flashes me that charming grin, that same I once believed meant something. “Walk with me.” He places his hand at the small of my back, something he did much more often when I worked with him. My body tenses and I want to slide away from him but his fingers almost dig into my waist as he ushers me into an empty elevator car.
“Is everything okay?”
“Of course.” He leans against the wall opposite me as he stares at my body. “What’s with your clothes lately?” He pushes away from the wall and steps toward me, his hands sliding on either side of my waist.
“Mr. Blake,” I gasp and push against his hands but it’s no use.
“You have such a tasty little figure, Aspen.” He steps closer until he’s pinned me against the wall behind me. “What happened to when you used to show it off for me?” He leans in, his lips at my ear. “Hmm?”
I’m paralyzed with fear and completely disarmed. I let out a nervous laugh as I slowly remove myself from his embrace. “I’m actually getting over the flu.” I touch my stomach and his face curls in disgust.
“Gross. Anyway,” he launches into his speech, not bothering to ask how I’m doing or why I’m at work if I’m still sick. “As you know, my bitch of an ex-wife is attempting to sue me for spousal support in our divorce.” He says it so casually as if I would actually have any idea what’s going on his private life. “And since the courts always side with females in this joke of a justice system, I know she’ll win.”
I attempt to hide the disgust that threatens to take over my expression. It’s bad enough I’m trapped working for a man who could destroy my entire life without lifting a finger, but now I’m trapped in an elevator, listening to him disparage his ex.
“I’m sorry.” I shrug. “I know that divorce is one of the most stressful things you can go through.”
“No kidding.” His hand is back against my body as he guides me through the lobby toward his waiting car. “But that’s where you come in, baby.” When we reach his waiting car, he gestures for me to climb into the open back seat.
“I—my things are back upstairs. I still have work to get done.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He winks, shoving me into the back seat and climbing in beside me as his driver slams the door.
“Sir, I’m sorry but I really do?—”
“Hey.” He reaches over and places his hand on my thigh that became exposed by my skirt riding up when he shoved me into the car. “I know the boss, I think you’ll be okay.” He pulls his cell from his pants and hits a button before holding it to his ear. “Natalie, yeah, go grab Miss Wilder’s things from her office and run them down to her. She’s outside with me.” He doesn’t bother with goodbye; he just hangs up and turns toward me. “Now, where were we?”
“I was just saying that I still have work to do at my desk so I really should get back to it.”
He doesn’t respond. He just stares at his hand that’s still on my thigh. “You know”—he slowly begins to drag one finger back and forth over my skin—“I still can’t get the taste of you off my lips.”
My stomach curdles and I glance into the rearview mirror, my eyes meeting Karl’s. I want to mouth help me but I know that he’s just a loyal lapdog who would happily do anything to please Mr. Blake, even if it meant getting rid of my body.
“I—I have a boyfriend now, Mr. Blake.” I croak the words out, his movements stilling. I half expect him to explode, to toss me onto the street and fire me… which might not be a bad thing, but I only have enough in my savings to cover about two months’ worth of rent. I definitely rented at the top of my budget, but it was the only way I could afford a doorman.
“That’s a shame.” He stares at his fingers as he slowly drags them up my thigh a little higher before pausing and looking up at me. “Karl, let’s take Miss Wilder home.”
He removes his hand from my body, but I’m still frozen as Karl pulls the car into traffic. Panic grips my chest. I’m not sure if I should tell him that I’ve moved or chance that he only plans to drop me on the sidewalk outside my old building. But I don’t have to ponder the question long because Karl makes a right turn, then an immediate left, letting me know that he’s, in fact, not going in the direction of my old apartment.
“What did you want to discuss with me, Mr. Blake?”
“You didn’t tell me you moved. I had to make a few calls to find out where your new address is.” He turns to look at me with a wide grin on his face… a mercurial one that makes his message loud and clear.
You can run, but you can’t hide.
My panic ratchets up to fear when he doesn’t tell me in front of Karl whatever it is he wants to talk to me about. I close my eyes and take several long breaths through my nose, trying to remain calm as we approach my building.
“Hi, Marcus.” I smile at him as we enter the building, praying he launches into one of his fun conversations or springs a riddle on me, but he’s distracted helping another tenant.
“Good evening, Miss Aspen.” He smiles and waves briefly before turning back to the couple who seem frustrated about something.
“Fifteenth floor?” Connor’s brow lifts with a smirk. “Guess that promotion is paying off?”
“Yes, it’s been nice.” I clutch my purse tightly against my body like a shield, the doors opening slowly before we step out into the hallway. “Mr. Blake.” I pause and turn to face him. “Why are you following me home?”
His expression would seem endearing if I didn’t already know him. Instead, it’s smug as he reaches his hand out to tip my chin upward so I’m looking up at him.
“We need to talk. I need a favor outside of work and I need you to be the one to do it.” I open my mouth to ask him what, but he shakes his head. “We will discuss in your apartment.”
I turn, slowly putting one foot in front of the other as his hand presses against my back. He reaches around me to grab the keys from my hand, his back toward the elevator doors that open with a soft whoosh. I glance up, looking past his shoulder just as he unlocks my door and pushes it open. My eyes meet Harvey’s as he steps out of the elevator, this time alone. He looks at me and stops, just as Connor ushers me inside my apartment and shuts the door behind us.
“What is that you wanted to discuss, Mr. Blake?” I cross my arms over my chest, not bothering to walk very far inside my apartment.
“Aren’t you going to offer me a glass of wine first?” He steps toward me and reaches out to touch my face but I brush his touch away.
“Mr. Blake.” I say his name more firmly. “I expressed to you that not only do I have a boyfriend now, but we agreed that what happened between us previously was a mis—that it wouldn’t happen again.” I correct myself, wanting to scream at him that it wasn’t a mistake because the choice was taken from me but I’m too scared. “Besides, you—you’re a married man.”
“Oh please, Aspen.” He laughs. “You didn’t seem to give a shit that I was married before. Besides”—he pulls out one of my barstools and takes a wide-legged seat—“she’s my soon-to-be ex-wife so it’s not taboo anymore.” He winks at me, as if I’ll drop to my knees for him.
“You never told me—you lied to me,” I finally say as my hands ball into fists at my sides. The truth is, he did lie to me. He never wore a wedding ring and when he did tell me about his wife, he said she had died in a tragic accident years earlier that he didn’t want to discuss. “I never would have —”
“Pity that’s how you see it.” He looks down and smooths a wrinkle from his shirt. “But the bottom line is, I need your help. I know you think that I only promoted you because you fucked me, but that isn’t true.” I flinch at his crassness. “The reality is, you weren’t that good of a fuck to merit a promotion like this. But you’re smart and have a high attention to detail that I need. You’re extremely talented with what you do in cyber security, Aspen. You really must know that.”
Classic Connor Blake. Cutting your legs out from under you so effortlessly with merely a few words, then turning around and building you up like you’re the most important person to him.
“And what it is it you need my help with?”
“My divorce. My personal financial records at least. Like I told you, my bitch of a wife is suing for spousal support which I won’t be able to get out of. That being said, I have a few—offshore accounts and investments that she doesn’t need to know about regarding what financial assets we will be splitting.”
“I’m sorry, I’m confused.” I shouldn’t be shocked at all that Connor Blake would so casually ask me to commit financial fraud for him, but I am. “You want me to hide your financial assets from not only your wife but a court of law so that she doesn’t get half?”
“Exactly.” He smiles, this time genuinely and it only deepens my confusion.
“I-I could face jail time for that—prison time actually. I could face contempt, perjury, defrauding the courts.”
He laughs and it actually gives me a bit of relief. Maybe he’s joking or maybe I’m completely overreacting or misunderstanding something. I laugh too.
“Yeah, pretty much that’s it. I mean, you wouldn’t expect me to do my own dirty work, would you? That’s why I promoted you.”
My smile slowly falls from my face. “Mr. Blake.”
He’s serious. He actually wants me to commit fraud for him.
“No, I’m sorry—no, I’m not sorry actually.” I stiffen my spine. “I won’t do it. I’m not going to commit a crime so that you can hide money from your ex-wife.”
He stands up from the stool and buttons his suit coat. “Well, I’d be doing you a disservice if I continued to let you think that you had a choice in all this. I’m sorry if I caused any confusion, but this isn’t really me asking you a favor. Think of it like me…” He squints and pretends like he’s trying to think of the right word. “…threatening you. Yeah, that’s the right word. Threatening. And if you don’t do it, you won’t just be fired, Miss Wilder.” He has that smile again and closes the distance between us. “No, that will be the least of your worries. But I will make sure that everyone you know and more importantly, everyone that I know, will get a copy of this, along with the entire internet.”
I look down to where he’s placing a thumb drive in my hand. My stomach drops. “What’s this?”
“Oh, this?” He laughs again. “It’s your big breakout performance, your starring role.”
“M-m-my what?”
His smile is pure evil. “You wouldn’t want the world thinking you’re a home-wrecker, would you? Fucking a married man, tsk, tsk.” He shakes his head. My entire body goes cold, the sound of rushing water flooding my ears as my vision begins to blur. “And don’t think for one second that just because I’m on that recording with you I won’t spread it around like wildfire. If you dare to defy me on this, by the time it sees the light of day, my divorce will be settled. But even if it wasn’t”—his hand springs upward and grabs my throat, his fingers digging into my flesh causing my air to be restricted—“I’d still burn my entire fucking world down if it meant taking you down with me.”
Then he releases me, opens my apartment door, and slams it behind him as I gasp for air. I stumble backward, clutching my small kitchen island as my stomach rolls and tears spring to my eyes.
I never thought taking this job a year ago would change my life in the way it has. Had I known the kind of man Connor Blake was, I never would have trusted him.
I never would have fallen prey to his boyish charm and vulnerable nature.
I never would have gone out for a drink with him while he cried about his dead wife.
And I never would have invited him back to my place that night when everything changed.