Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
J ames
I spot Cecilia walking into work the next day as she walks off the elevator. My gaze unwillingly drops to her body, taking in her outfit today just as I did yesterday. I was taken aback yesterday when she arrived in actual decent work attire and was even more taken aback when she slipped her stockings off right in front of me in my office. I couldn’t help but be aware of every inch of her exposed pale skin as her stockings drew down her legs. I was just a man, but to look at her like that, Tobias’s sister, was crossing a line. Not to mention, she’s the current bane of my existence, even if she did have spectacular legs.
Today, she was wearing a simple black pencil skirt with black stockings again and a long-sleeved silky white button-down tucked into it. A non-see-through one, I might add. I nearly choked on my coffee yesterday when she took her blazer off, and I could see the blue outlines of all the little butterflies across her bra. Making eye contact with her the rest of the day was hard when I knew what she was wearing underneath her clothes. The girlish print only reminded me of how much younger she was than me and made me feel even worse.
Her bangs were clipped away from her face while the rest of her mane curled around her. I couldn’t help but compare her to every woman on the floor, and the fact that none of their beauty compared to hers made my hands ball into fists with irritability. I’ve never met a woman who looked as ethereal and innocent as Cecilia but with so much spite, and it kept tugging at something in my chest that was beginning to drive me mad.
Like I said, I think she was a witch.
She struts towards me with a smirk, like she is ready to begin another day of hell, but I notice the faint droop in her eyes, hinting that she is tired.
“Good morning, James,” she says confidently.
“Good morning, Cecilia,” I repeat with the same enthusiasm as her. She rolls her eyes at me, and I grin as I follow her into my office.
“I wore my strong pair of stockings today. I’ve had them for three years without a single rip or snag, so if you wanted to introduce me to any criminals that could give me a good lead on the corruption of your jewelry industry, then I’m all set today,” she gleams.
I chuckle and sit down behind my desk. “As riveting as that scenario sounds, sadly, today will be just as boring for you. I have emails to catch up on and a follow-up with the marketing team.”
“Yeah, your marketing team kind of sucks,” she mentions unbothered as she gazes at her fingernails. I tilt my head, observing her as she remains unaffected by her blunt rudeness. Usually, I would like that in a person, but because it’s her, I’m annoyed.
“You know what you could do for me today, Cecilia?” I tell her, and her head pops up to meet my gaze.
“What?”
“You could fetch me coffee. Black with only one sugar.”
“You want me to get you coffee?” she grouses, scrunching her face in obvious displeasure.
“You’re my assistant, are you not?”
“Yeah…a fake one, though.”
“Let me put it this way,” I bite out. “Get me coffee, or this little opportunity to spy on your brother goes bye-bye.”
“Speaking of my brother,” she says, flat-out ignoring me and making my limbs burn. Her disobedience, like a relentless hammer, threatened to break my composure. She had a way of driving me nearly to the brink of insanity every time she spoke. Yet, a single look into her eyes, filled with concern for her brother, was enough to dissolve my frustration. At that moment, I couldn't help but empathize with her, and that internal battle always brought me back to reality. “Can I really not tell him I’m working here?” she asks curiously. “I feel like I’m hardly going to see him.”
“No,” I answer quickly.
She blinks in surprise. “Why not?”
“Because I said so.”
“Because…why?”
“Because,” I snap out. “Your brother made it clear that he didn’t tell me about you because he wants his work and personal life separate. I’m also not a nice guy, little owl. I can assure you as much as I like your brother, and he likes me, he doesn’t want you around me.”
“Because you’re a criminal,” she states like a fact.
I can’t help but smirk at her persistence. “What if I am?” I ask her curiously. “What do you actually plan to do if you find out what you think you know?”
“I…” she falters like she hasn’t thought that far ahead. “I will take it to the police,” she says weakly.
“I see,” I muse.
“Then I’ll help my brother find another job and bring him back to Boston.”
“Why do you want to control your brother so badly?”
Her face took on a new expression, filled with sadness and pain, and I couldn’t help but sit straighter in my seat and watch her more intently as she struggled to answer my question. “I just…I don’t want to lose him again. It’s been so long…since I’ve had him in my life in a good way. I don’t want anything to ruin it.”
“You haven’t seen your brother for some time, then?” I conclude.
She shakes her head. “He’s been…well, he was going through stuff.”
“He was a substance abuser,” I finish for her.
Her eyes latch onto mine with surprise. “How did you know that?”
“He told me when I met him. I helped nudge him in the right direction, but I’ve watched him work hard and get clean all on his own these last few years.”
“So, you knew he was struggling with drugs and still hired him?”
I nod. “Some of the most damaged people can become the most loyal,” I say, feeling that truth deep in my chest. “He started as a security guard and went up from there.”
She slumps in her chair, processing what I’ve told her. “I didn’t realize that you knew of his past.”
“I know of a lot of things. I just didn’t know of you,” I tell her honestly. “I reckon it’s because you’re the most important thing to him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think everything he has accomplished has been only for him?”
“Well, of course. He’s only just started coming around again and?—”
“Babe,” I gently interrupt her. “He didn’t come back to you until he was someone you could be proud of and count on again. He didn’t return until he was healthy enough for you to love. It wasn’t just for him.”
She swallows hard and rubs her shaky hands down her skirt. “Even if that’s true, I still think something is off. I feel it in my gut.”
I smirk at her. “Do you think something is off with him, or do you think something is off with me?”
Her aqua eyes lock with mine, and despite their softness, they’re unrelenting in a way that actually makes me feel seen. I didn’t like it at all.
“Will your feelings be hurt if I tell you the truth?” she asks.
“What feelings?” I retort.
She cocks a brow at that. “I think you’re hiding something. I don’t trust you.”
“Good,” I grin. “You shouldn’t. Now get me that coffee for me.”
She scoffs, stands from her chair rather aggressively, and stalks out of my office. I can’t help but watch her go the entire way as she does.
Later, once we’re halfway through the day, I feel like I’m going crazy. I’ve been shut in my office with Cecilia, and the room has never felt smaller. She is chewing on her pen, wrapping her peachy lips around it, as she plays in a word search book as I catch up on my emails.
I stare at her mouth, observing how her top lip is round and puffed over the pen. It presses in on her bottom lip, her teeth grazing the tip of it, and every now and then, her tongue rubs against the edge of her top teeth, simultaneously licking the pen. It was fucking distracting and irrationally erotic.
I didn’t understand why I kept suddenly getting these thoughts about her. I didn’t like her whatsoever, but here and there, I caught myself admiring the way she thought or spoke or liking the way she controlled that lioness hair of hers or the damn way that I couldn’t not look at her tall slim figure that looked so delicate and soft making me wonder what touching it would feel like. The minute Tobias told me to stay away from her, I couldn’t stop thinking about her and wanting to indulge in this little cat-and-mouse game she played with me. I was some kind of masochist for even looking her way even after being warned off. But then again, she wasn’t exactly staying away either.
“Must you chew on your pen like an animal?” I finally snap.
Her eyes only flick up to mine, never moving the pen from her mouth. “Must you always talk like an uncontrollable beast?”
“I’m beginning to regret taking you under my wing.”
“I am, too, because I haven’t witnessed a single thing,” she grumbles, slamming her book shut.
“That was the point, babe. There is nothing to witness.” Just as I finish speaking, my phone rings, and I answer it with a little more bite than I intend to, but what I hear on the other line has me getting an instant migraine. “Fine, fine. We’re on our way,” I bark, slamming the phone down. “Come on,” I grumble to her.
She perks up, shooting from her seat. “Where are we going?”
“There’s an issue at our warehouse.”
“Your warehouse? Where’s that?” she asks, following me from my office to the elevator.
“So many questions,” I complain, rubbing my temples. We leave the elevator and walk outside, waiting for my driver to pull the car around. It’s a grey, rainy day, and I find a little comfort in it. I have always preferred cloudy days.
I glance over to Cecilia, who has her arms locked around herself. She rubs gently at her arms as her gaze roams around the street. I sigh as I watch her bounce on her heels.
“Cold?”
“I’m fine,” she answers quickly.
“Where is your jacket?”
“I forgot it at the hotel this morning.”
“Because you’re so tired,” I assume, and she just rolls her eyes again in the way she does, which makes me want to do punishable things to her.
Fuck.
I tore my suit jacket off and tossed it at her in a way I probably could have been more gentle about. She catches it and looks down at it in her hands like I just threw a snake at her. “I don’t need this,” she mumbles.
“Just put it on,” I gripe, not wanting to dwell on it. Her eyes lift in surprise as she stares at it for only a second before wrapping it around her and slipping her arms into it.
“Huh,” she huffs curiously.
“What now?”
“I just didn’t expect it to feel warm.”
I slowly sigh and say, “What on earth are you talking about?”
“I thought it would feel as frigid inside as you are,” she quips. I tear my gaze from her, looking in the other direction as I fight the smile stretching my mouth.
Thankfully, my car finally pulled up to the curb, and I opened the door, letting her inside before following her in. I glance at her as the car takes off and note how my jacket covers her entire body, leaving just her black stocking-covered legs on show beneath it. It feels like the oxygen leaves my body as an unwanted image of her in nothing but my jacket pops into my head. I push it out immediately, but I can’t help but glance at her every few minutes just to see her again in my clothes.
Once we arrive at the warehouse, I see cops parked out front with their lights flashing. “Fuck me,” I sigh, staring through the window.
“What is it?” Cecilia asks, leaning over me to look out the window. Her hand falls onto my thigh, gripping it as she leans on me, her hair falling over my chest. The smell of her catches me off guard. She smells like cedar mixed with roses and something fruity that I couldn’t distinguish. It was incredibly distracting, but not as much as her hand on my thigh.
“Do you always handle men like this or just me?” I ask. Her wild gaze meets mine, and then she looks down at her hand, squeezing my upper thigh.
“Oh my gosh,” she squeaks, snatching her hand away. “I’m sorry.”
“Remind me to add handsy to your list of skills.”
“Ha-ha,” she shoots back.
“Stay in the car while I handle this,” I tell her as I get out.
“Excuse me? I’m not staying in the car!”
I turn around and glare at her. “This is a serious matter, Cecilia. Stay in the damn car.” I slam the door on her, and despite the chaos around me, I can’t help but smirk at the angered expression on her face as I do so. It was for her own good. Mine too. This is the exact situation that she has been fishing around for, and I didn’t need her sticking her nose where it didn’t belong and finding out things that I knew she’d been dying to find out.
On top of that, I don’t want her involved in any of my riskier business ventures. Tobias would probably kill me if he found out she was even here at all right now. Thankfully, he’s been out of town, handling my West Coast business, so he is none the wiser at the moment. Neither is Cecilia, which I’ve also found secretly amusing because she expects to see him around every corner, ready to pounce on him.
I walk towards the officers speaking with my warehouse employees and greet them with a smile that I struggle to force onto my face. “Afternoon officers. Is there a problem here?”
“We got a call about some complications coming from your warehouse,” the one turns and tells me.
“Complications? This is a private warehouse, so I’m unsure who would make such a call unless they were inside.”
“We’re not at liberty to say. We were just told that some unregulated items are being shipped out of here.”
“Unregulated? As in illegal?” I hear from behind me as I look over my shoulder to see Cecilia standing there, and I swear, I think I’m going to choke her.
I thought I told you to wait in the car,” I nearly growl.
“I didn’t want to,” she replies.
“Sir,” the police officer says, returning my attention to him.
“Officers, I assure you everything coming in and out of my warehouse has been completely legal and accounted for. We’ve been experiencing false calls like this a lot recently. Sheriff Udovich has even come by several times and checked things over. If you want to call him, I’m sure he’ll tell you everything is fine.”
The two officers looked at each other skeptically, then finally took a moment to go to their cruisers to call Sherriff Udovich, who I knew would have them abort whatever mission they were on. Getting the police off my back, though, wasn’t my biggest concern as of right now. It was the fact that I was dealing with someone who clearly knew about our insider work and had been trying to expose it. The same thing happened recently when I met with a client at my club.
“So what? Do you have stolen crystals or hidden drugs inside them?” Cecilia boasts behind me.
I turn around, fixing her with a glare. “You’re ridiculous. Everything here is ethically sourced and sold.”
“Well, something illegal is happening here.”
“And you’re just chomping at the bit, aren’t you?” I ask her, noting the excited bounce in her legs and how her eyes dart everywhere, searching for clues.
The two officers come back, both giving uncomfortable smiles. “We’re all good here, Mr. Kingston. We were updated on all the harassment you’ve been facing lately, so there’s no need for any further investigation.”
“I appreciate that,” I smile at them as they leave. I happily turned back to face Cecilia, whose mouth could touch the ground.
“Are you kidding me?” she shouts. “They’re not even going to check and make sure?”
I smirked and used my finger to touch her chin, closing her mouth and bringing her gaze to meet mine. “When are you going to learn, little owl? I am King around here.”
When we got back to the headquarters, I let Cecilia go home early. She was clearly exhausted, and I had other matters to tend to. I called Tobias to see where he was at with business on his end. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be back from the West Coast for another couple of days, and I had things I needed to take care of tonight, so I called my next best option.
Stef answers the phone after one ring like he always does. “James,” he greets me.
“How do you feel about a little rendezvous tonight?”
“Entailing what?”
“Nothing major. Breaking and entering. Possible theft. Piece of cake stuff for us.”
He laughs maniacally. “Sounds like the old days.”
“So, you’re in?”
“Of course. Where to?”
“You’ll see tonight. Meet me here after dark.”
“You got it.”
When I hang up, my eyes find the chair across from my desk, with my jacket draped over the top, which Cecilia had worn and left here. I go to it, pick it up, and stare down at it before bringing it to my face and inhaling her scent.
My body hums at the smell of her, and I slip my jacket back on and sit back in my chair as I wait for night to come.
“You’re a sneaky son of a bitch,” Stef gripes, lying lower in the passenger seat of my rental car.
“You sounded more than happy to assist me,” I counter.
“You didn’t say it was the fucking mayor’s office you were breaking into. I thought it was some nobody that I didn’t have to worry about my face being shown around. I’m supposed to be lying low after the trial. If I get caught sniffing around here?—”
“You won’t,” I assure him. “There’s a city banquet tonight. Everyone, including Chuck and his team of imbeciles, will be there tonight, as well as the entire police force, who are keeping their heads turned per my request. Now, I suspect Chuck has something to do with the false calls I’ve been getting. He pretty much said as much the last time we spoke. What we’re looking for is proof of that. Got it?”
He nods, on board again. “Got it. Let’s get this shit over with.” I nod as we toss our hoods over our heads and lurk in the shadows, keeping close to tight corners as we enter the building. Stef keeps a lookout as I pick the lock on the door. When it opened, we burst inside, and I quickly tended to the alarm that would silently go off in about ten seconds. I punch in the code that my security guy was able to hack and obtain for me as Stef works on covering all visible cameras.
We both wasted no time finding his office, picking the lock on that door, and getting inside. We were on everything within seconds. The papers all over his desk, files in his cabinet, and all the contents in his drawers.
“God, this is fun. When’s the last time we’ve done this?” Stef chimes.
I focus on the task before me, never sparing him a glance. “Four years ago, when your cousin, Aldo or whatever his name was, sold you out to the cops for gunrunning.”
“Shit, that was forever ago. That was a nice night.”
“It was. Does your family still mourn him?”
He shrugs, waving his hand. “They got over it quickly.” He pauses, shuffling through a deep drawer. “Wait, I think I’ve got something,” he calls out. I go to his side and observe the manilla folder with my name on the label in his hand. “In an unlocked drawer,” Stef scoffs, glancing at the last bottom drawer.
“Rookie mistake,” I mumble, taking the folder from him and opening it. Several pictures fall out, pictures of Labyrinth headquarters. My warehouses. Underground. Even my apartment in the city. Every news article there is pertaining to my involvement with Stef’s trial last year. I glance over at him as he sighs.
There are several copies of police reports and background checks, but the last pages in the back of the folder caught my eye. “What the hell?” I murmur, pulling it out and reading what looked like a contract.
“Shit,” Stef grouses. “It’s a nondisclosure agreement.”
I flip over another page, and a familiar signature comes into view. “Fucking Hodge Wiseman.”
“He’s in on it too,” Stef remarks as I pull my phone out, snapping pictures of everything inside the folder.
“He has to be the one making the calls. Chuck wouldn’t do it himself. If he’s teamed up with Hodge, it’s not just a ploy for the police force anymore. This is war against my company.”
“Men like him don’t handle loss of control well. Now he’s out for total domination.”
I chuckle, a dark thrill mixed with rage lighting me up from the inside out. If domination is what he’s after, I was more than happy to show it to him.