Chapter twenty four
"What?" I ask, seeing his face go pale. Every worst-case scenario passes through my head, and questions swarm my thoughts like the plague.
Without a word, Elias turns his phone around and lets me see what's going on. My eyes trail over the text, but it's the attached images that make my heart drop in a second.
"What does this mean?" I let out, my eyes flitting between the phone and his face. One picture is from earlier when Elias came to my door, and the other two are from that night at the cabin.
"Someone's been following us," Elias speaks exactly what I've just thought about, but his voice is calm, probably to keep me from freaking out. My breathing becomes shallow, and I watch him take the phone from me and toss it on the bed before stepping closer.
"I'll handle this," he says, and cups my cheeks, looking me straight in the eyes. I feel his soft kiss on my forehead. "Don't give it another thought. I'll go and see what's going on."
"We should stop. We can't do this anymore," I let out in slight panic. This could do so much damage if it came out. An intern having an affair with a client, who is, to top it off, married? This would be an absolute disaster. I could lose my job.
"Sierra," he says again, holding me firmly. "Calm down. I won't let anything happen to you. Tell me you won't start freaking out once I go."
"But this could ruin us both," I let out in a rush. "My job. Your company."
"I know. I know," he says softly. "But I won't let it get that far. Let me go talk to my dad first and see what's the situation here. Alright?"
I nod my head slightly. "Tell me when you find out."
"I will."
He leaves in a few minutes, and I just keep pacing around in my robe, overthinking. Is this some type of sick joke? Blackmail? Who would spy on us and send the photos?
My defenses crumble when I can't come up with a reasonable explanation, and I force myself to start getting ready for work, but the ugly feeling in me keeps crawling back to the surface.
All I can do right now is wait.
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ELIAS
"This is the last thing I expected from you." My dad paces around his office, and I stand there with my hands in my pockets, sure that he's making this a much bigger deal than it is. "Do you even realize how much is at stake here?" His voice rises. "How much we could lose if this came out?"
I don't answer. Mostly, I just wonder how the hell those photos ended up in his hands out of all people. Whoever is behind this should've sent them to me if they wanted to make a point.
"You don't care, do you?" he scoffs. "You only ever care about yourself."
I cross my arms then and tilt my head. Maybe the answer is already here. Right in front of me.
"Who even is that girl?" he asks, curling his lip in disgust. "Must be a hooker. Does she even value herself, sleeping with a married man?"
My jaw tightens at his degrading words and I take a step forward, my eyes fixed on him.
"You have no business talking about her like that," I say, and the surprise on his face is instant before he covers it up.
"Besides, this marriage is nothing but a scheme. Me and Ruby are not together, and we won't ever be."
I watch as he clamps his mouth shut then, turning around to face the floor-to-ceiling windows. A few minutes pass, air thick with unpleasant silence.
"What if the Zhangs find out? They would immediately cut our deal." He goes on, not acknowledging my words either, but his complaints just go past me, even when he turns to look directly at me again. "How can you be so reckless?" He throws his hands up.
"I want to see what was sent," I say calmly, ignoring his outburst. My fingers curl into fists before I release them again, following his gaze to the desk where the dossier is.
I watch as he shakes his head with disappointment at my my lack of reaction, but it's nothing that I haven't seen before. I grab the full dossier from his desk and flip through it.
There are photos of me and Sierra, some a little indecent and taken through the cabin windows, and a few with us kissing at her doorstep. A cold stings down my spine at the thought that someone was there at the time. It pisses me off that they would invade our privacy like this.
In a way, I blame it on myself. I shouldn't have pushed to meet her.
But on the other hand, I know that we both agreed.
We both wanted it, and the only one who's at fault here is the one who took these photos.
I can't help but have a bad feeling about it.
Did my own father really send someone after me to still keep some control?
There's a note attached on the front of the file, typed in bold that the sender is 'concerned' about these photos being shown to a wider audience, considering what an outrage this could become if it got leaked.
Concerned. Right.
I'm keeping my calm right now because the last thing I want to do is react emotionally. I need to be sure of who did this before I do anything stupid and threaten Sierra's career, and dad's company as well.
"Do you know what they want?" I ask, not giving the file back. I don't like the fact that he saw the indecent pictures of Sierra in the first place.
He shakes his head a little, silently telling me that he has no idea. This eases me a bit. Maybe he's not pretending, and he wasn't behind this after all, but until I find out who it was for sure, I can't help but feel suspicious.
And if they don't want any trades for money, what does that mean? Could be some type of warning. Maybe jealousy.
"You better get your act together before tonight," he warns, walking closer. "Otherwise you'll hear from me again."
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