Chapter 3
AIDEN
LONDON
“ I f you stay here any longer, the firm partners are going to start charging you rent.”
I glanced up from my desk to find my assistant, Lairin Browst, standing in the doorway.
With her lime peacoat, fuchsia wellies, and violet hair, I was nearly blinded by all the color. I didn’t need any more caffeine to stay awake.
“I know my limits. Another half hour and I’ll head home. Why are you just leaving now?” I asked, slipping off my reading specs and laying them beside my laptop.
“I was working on research for Jared Elwood’s discovery. And I know you. If I didn’t pester you about taking breaks and eating dinner, you’d be reduced to a pile of red ash,” she replied tartly.
Lairin was one of the few people who could keep up with my hectic work schedule and my blunt personality.
Before her arrival three years ago, I’d gone through an assistant every few months. They either couldn’t take direction or had no desire to put in the number of hours needed.
Being a barrister isn’t just my job, it’s a calling. And Lairin understood that. She was the best legal assistant I’d ever had, as dedicated to my clients as I was. She would be an excellent barrister herself one day.
“Thank you, Lairin, for staying late and all your hard work. I’m fine. I’ve had dinner, I’ve got a cuppa—” I pointed to my teacup. “Go home.”
“Is everything all right? You seem preoccupied lately, which isn’t like you,” she commented. “Is it Mr. Elwood’s case?”
I reached for my tie, then schooled my reaction. My assistant was too bloody observant for her own good.
Just like Alex Sheffield, Jared’s bodyguard. His constant shadow, but always seen.
Between the two men, my usual concentration was fucked. And for some reason, I was more worried than I let on.
About the impact the case would have on Jared’s mental health. About the stalker. About Alex’s safety as well, since it was all too clear that he would lay down his life for Jared if need be.
After learning about Jared through my friend Rowan Carter and now this case, I felt like I knew him intimately.
Jared was more than Hollywood tinsel and glam.
He’d built his life and career from nothing; a former foster kid without any place to call home. Without anyone, really. A man who survived the darker side of Hollywood life and came out a kinder, more compassionate human being.
Jared privately raised millions in funds for homeless youth and other charities. He didn’t want any adulation for it either, preferring to let others take the bow.
I admired him more than I’d ever admit.
Lairin looked at me questioningly, and I shook out of my musings.
What had she asked? Oh, yes: was I concerned? I was, but I hesitated to say anything.
I also hesitated to tell her about the threat I’d received, but with a bodyguard on their way to me, she’d find out anyway.
“I’ve received a rather vitriolic email, and it may be tied to Jared’s case. I’ll have security following me around for the foreseeable future. I’ve emailed the partners, but I don’t want to turn this into anything more than it is.”
Lairin’s face fell, and I swore under my breath.
“You’ve been threatened?”
She walked into the office and sat down in the chair facing me.
“It’s probably nothing. Come on, now. If I fell apart every time someone said nasty things to me, I’d never work a day in my life.”
“Are you okay?” she asked, concern on her face.
“I’m fine. My bodyguard is on the way. Let’s have a meeting with them when I’m back in the office tomorrow morning. Then I’m heading to the airport early afternoon. I’m flying to Thailand.”
“Thailand?”
“Jared’s there on a film shoot and I need to get him prepped.”
“Right, the deposition is coming up.”
I nodded. “I’ll be at least a week, two at most.”
“All right. Let me know if you need anything seen to while you’re out of the office,” Lairin replied as she looked at her phone. “I have to get going. Nathaniel is waiting on me downstairs.”
“Have a good night. See you tomorrow.”
“Cheers.” She waved and walked out of the office.
I sat back in my chair and ran a hand through my hair.
It was starting to get shaggy and was in bad need of a trim, but I hadn’t had time. I’d take care of it when I returned.
Right now, all my efforts were focused on building this case.
I was going to bury that arsehole Seuter and demand a settlement that would bankrupt him.
There was a lot of circumstantial evidence in a case like this. A lot of he-said, he-said when it came to assault and harassment.
Then I thought about Seuter’s possible connection to a human trafficker, and it made my blood boil. This wasn’t just about a lawsuit anymore. I wanted to see Seuter thrown in jail.
For now, I’d have to leave the latter to the FBI.
My mobile rang and I reluctantly looked at it. I smiled when I realized who was calling .
Mamma.
“Buonasera, bella,” I answered.
There were only a handful of people that I opened my heart to, and my mother was one of them. Juliana Kent was born in the UK to an English father and an Italian mother, grew up in a bilingual, bicultural household, and was proud of it.
She had never lost sight of her roots.
She’d instilled the same in me: a love for the Italian language, history, and food. I’d bought my parents a country house in Umbria, her ancestral home, five years ago for their anniversary. I’d also bought a flat in the same village. It was my summer escape, my refuge.
“Aiden, amore, are you still at work?”
“Yes, but I’m heading home soon. Then I’ll be traveling for a few weeks.”
“You sound strange. What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m stressed out preparing for my latest case. It happens.”
“Don’t lie to your mamma.”
I chuckled at her fierce tone. No question I got my fire from her.
The laughter felt good, some of my tension easing away.
“I have a client that I’m concerned about. More than usual. That’s all.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about Jared. And his intense bodyguard. My mind bounced between the two of them and wouldn’t stop.
“You need more than your work, Aiden. A husband, a family. That’s what you need. You’re thirty-nine already, when are you going to give me grandbabies?”
“Never, I’m afraid. You know I don’t believe in love or relationships.”
I heard her long sigh on the other end of the line.
“I don’t know where you get this from. Me and your papà, we are together for forty years. How can you not believe in love?”
“I believe it for some people. Just not for me.”
The truth was I’d been badly burned once.
By a closeted lover that I thought I was in love with. A barrister in the same firm. The whole thing was a lie. He was never leaving his wife, and I was a just a naive young fool.
“It is always the ones who protest the loudest who will fall hard, like a stone.”
“That sounds terribly painful. I’d rather stay upright and free from injury if it’s all the same to you,” I quipped.
“Very funny. Where are you traveling to?”
“Thailand.”
“Be careful. And call me when you get there so I don’t worry.”
“Yes, Mamma.”
My email notification pinged.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll call you in a few days. Love to Papà.”
“You’ll visit us for Sunday dinner when you return.”
It wasn’t a question but a command. One I never disobeyed.
“I’ll be there.”
“Love you, be safe.”
I hung up and stared at my laptop screen.
Then I opened a second file that I’d received today.
I’d had the private investigator for Jared’s case do some extra digging.
Into Alex.
It had nothing to do with the case. After all, Alex had come into Jared’s life only within the last two years.
But still, I was curious about the man and his relationship with my client.
What they were to each other was really none of my business, but I sensed that Alex’s protective instincts went beyond the usual client concerns.
Alex noticed how I looked at Jared, but he was one to talk.
He was the same way.
And my interest in the fierce bodyguard wasn’t just about his interactions with the Hollywood director.
Something in Alex’s piercing blue gaze had me feeling like the hunted rather than the hunter. And I didn’t like that role reversal at all. When I pursued a man, I made the first move. I needed the control. I had a feeling that Alex was the same way.
Why I was ruminating about him at all was ridiculous.
I didn’t need to fuck around with someone involved with my client. That was asking for a headache. If I needed sex, I had plenty of easy, random, no strings hookups at clubs around the city.
Focus on the case. That’s your only priority.
Suddenly, I heard a noise, like something tumbling, falling over.
I closed out my files and got up.
Walking out into the hallway, I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone.
I sauntered towards the front of the office, but each desk that I passed was empty. Where the fuck had that noise come from?
I stood in the dark hallway, listening, but I was met with nothing but silence.
Until something touched my right shoulder.
“Agh!” I yelled out as my arm flew back on instinct.
I hit something solid and pivoted, raising my fists.
Then I noticed Stephen Kane, a paralegal at the firm. He was crouched down, picking up strewn papers on the floor around us.
“It’s just me. Sorry if I scared you, Aiden,” he mumbled.
“Jesus Christ, Stephen! Don’t sneak up on people like that.”
My heart was still kicking out of control.
“I thought you heard my footsteps,” Stephen muttered, stacking up the papers in his arms.
“Does it look like I heard you?” I ran a trembling hand through my hair, then knelt to help him gather the documents.
“Were you a spy in your former life?” I bit out.
“I guess with the carpet it’s quiet.”
“I heard a noise, but when I walked out, I didn’t see anyone,” I replied as I passed him more papers.
“I was in the copy room, and I knocked over a bin.”
I took a deep breath and willed myself to calm. “Sorry, I’m just a bit on edge. I’m overtired. I guess it’s time for me to go home.”
“Goodnight, then,” Stephen replied as he got up and walked past me.
All this talk of stalkers and threats was making me stupidly paranoid.
Suddenly a long trip overseas, even if it was work, sounded like the best idea ever.