Chapter Thirteen
Luke
When Aurelia comes out of the elevator on Monday morning, I’m expecting her to greet me with a frosty demeanor.
No woman likes to be turned down, and I’ve done it twice now.
Both times, I’ve led her to believe I’m interested in her, and both times I’ve backed out at the last minute.
She has every reason to be angry with me.
To my surprise, though, her smile seems genuine, and although she doesn’t mention what happened, she doesn’t appear to be harboring a grudge, as she greets me and we walk together into the gym.
Touched that maybe she understands my position, I start the morning’s self-defense moves, wondering if things will grow more awkward as we start grappling.
But once again, I’m surprised as she concentrates on the movements and my instructions.
She doesn’t flirt, and she doesn’t hold eye contact for longer than is necessary.
When I do have to touch her, she doesn’t react other than to ask for clarification as to which way to turn or where she should brace herself, and she concludes the session by thanking me cheerfully and going off to do her normal workout.
I start my weight training not knowing whether I’m relieved or disappointed.
It would have been easier, in a way, if she was mad at me, because I deserve it.
I should have maintained my distance and made it very clear from the start that nothing would ever happen between us.
I should never have flirted, never have reacted to her mischievous teasing.
But I’m only human, and it’s impossible for me not to react when she looks at me with those gorgeous green eyes that light up with amusement.
I like her, and if she wasn’t my principal, I would definitely ask her out on a date. And I think we both know that.
So, I think as I use the chest press machine, where do I go from here? Should I see Marcus and hand in my resignation? Tell him I’ve fallen for his sister, and I can’t continue to keep her safe when I have feelings for her?
I lower the bars and sit there for a moment.
There are several issues with that. First, I need the job.
With the economic situation the way it is at the moment, it’s not as if I can walk straight into another position.
And even if I did find some security officer role, it would almost certainly not pay anywhere near what Marcus is paying me right now.
Secondly, Marcus is likely to punch my lights out for having a thing about his sister, especially while I’m her CPO. Or try to, anyway. I could probably take him, but that’s not really the point. I don’t want to upset him because he’s a good friend.
Thirdly, she might say no. I don’t think she would, but she might be so pissed off with me that she’d turn me down, and then I’d have no Aurelia and no job.
And fourthly, or was it fifthly? I’ve lost count, but this is the most important one: I don’t want someone else being her CPO. For a start, I don’t trust anyone but myself to look after her properly, and more selfishly and honestly, I don’t want anyone being that close to her day in, day out.
No, I’m going to have to learn to control myself. Maybe, one day we’ll catch her stalker, and then I can rethink it, but for now, I want to keep her safe. That’s my first priority. Correction, my only priority. Everything else will have to wait.
*
The week progresses without any further alarming event.
On Tuesday, Aurelia has a lunch date with a family friend, but otherwise she stays in the office, and I don’t see much of her.
Her Wednesday calendar is busy, so mine will be busy too, especially as we have our weekly security meeting that morning.
To my surprise, at the meeting, Ella announces we’re lowering the protection level back to green.
“What?” I stare at her, confused.
“He’s eased off,” she says. “And I think that’s because you confronted him.”
We’ve intercepted a few emails and several messages on social media, but no more gifts have turned up, and there’s no sign of any further photos.
“Dominic, you mean?” I ask.
“Yes. He knows we’re onto him, so he’s cooled his heels.”
“I still don’t think it’s him,” I say slowly. “He’d come to terms with the fact that they’d broken up.”
“Plus he’s a good-looking guy,” Stacy says, “I can’t imagine he’d have any trouble getting girls.”
I ignore that. “He didn’t strike me as an obsessed ex.”
“That’s a fair comment,” Ella replies. “But the fact is that we know he took the photo of Aurelia on the bed when they were together. Someone hadn’t broken into her apartment and taken pictures of her asleep.
He’s just a wanker who’s throwing his rattle out of the pram because she broke up with him.
Now he’s aware we know he took the photo, he’ll get bored and move on. ”
I can’t argue with that, so even though my stomach flips uneasily, I don’t say anything.
The change back to green doesn’t alter much for me anyway.
It refers mainly to the allocation of the larger security team.
The Ashfords still want her to have a CPO, so I’ll still be with her ten to twelve hours a day regardless, and Stacy will watch over her in the evenings until she’s in for the night.
Part of me is glad Aurelia doesn’t know anything about what’s going on behind the scenes, as I think her family is right and it would scare her.
But the more I get to know her, the more I hate keeping secrets from her.
She broke up with Dominic because of issues with control, and I can see her deep-rooted frustration with wanting more independence.
Her father and brothers have sheltered her for her entire life, and she’s a grown woman now.
She deserves more freedom, and instead they’ve forced a bodyguard on her and told her everything she does has to be run through their security team. I’m lucky she doesn’t resent me more.
But I keep my thoughts to myself, and Aurelia has a busy schedule for the rest of the day, which means I’m busy too, driving her from appointment to appointment.
The next day, Thursday, promises to be quieter. She has a couple of internal meetings, so I decide to catch up on my paperwork.
The day goes relatively quietly, and it’s just past three p.m. when Rick suddenly sits up in his chair and says, “Uh oh.”
I look up from where I’m inputting times into a spreadsheet, and Kai and Stacy, who are both in the office, do the same. “What?”
“A story’s broken on Kōrero,” he states, naming Auckland’s premier news website. He looks over his shoulder at me. “Come and see.”
We get up and walk over to him and bend to look at his screen. The headline says, ‘Billionaire in fake marriage deal.’
“Fuck,” Kai says. There’s a photo of Marcus and Wren on their wedding day. I read on. The article talks about Edward Ashford’s upcoming retirement, and the fact that Tom Rutherford had put in an offer of acquisition.
It mentions the fact that Edward gave his children an ultimatum, telling them that if they don’t get married and produce an heir, he’ll sell the company.
But worst of all, it reveals that Wren asked Caesar for a baby first, and that Marcus counter-offered with marriage.
It explains it all in language that makes it sound like a cold, calculating business deal.
It doesn’t say anything about the fact that Marcus has been in love with Wren for ten years.
“Jesus,” Stacy says.
“That’s going to put the cat amongst the pigeons,” Rick says. “Fucking press.”
“More importantly,” I reply, “who leaked it?”
He leans back in his chair. “Shit, yeah. It had to be someone close to them.”
Stacy’s eyes widen as she gets to the juicy bit. “Oh my God, Wren asked Caesar to donate first?”
“The public’s going to lap that up,” Kai says.
I feel a deep sense of sadness for Marcus. The article doesn’t explain that Wren approached Caesar because she’d known him for a long time. It makes Marcus sound second best, and it’s humiliating for him.
I look at the TV screen that relates to the camera in the second floor reception area.
It shows a flurry of activity: secretaries and PAs scurrying to and fro, Caesar marching down the corridor toward his father’s office.
I watch as Aurelia stops at the front desk, then walks away, back to her office. Her head is down. She must be worried.
“Do you think they’ll contact Marcus?” Rick asks.
“Not a great thing to happen on your honeymoon,” Kai says.
I straighten. “I’ll go up and see what’s going on.”
I take the elevator up to the second floor. When I come out, I bump straight into Caesar.
“Shit, sorry,” I say.
He was about to go into the elevator, but he pauses and says, “You heard what’s happened?”
“Yeah, I saw the article.”
“I’m taking the chopper to go and pick up Marcus.” He runs a hand through his hair. “The board’s called a meeting, and Dad’s going to call him and tell him he has to be there.”
I can see from the look on his face how serious this is. It’s not just about scandal and the family’s reputation. A company’s success relies on its investors’ trust, and in business, perception is everything.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “Do you know how they got the story?”
His eyes flash with anger. “Yeah. It was one of the board members, Caroline Bennett. She told a friend who’s married to a guy who works at Kōrero.
” He blows out a breath. “To be fair, it doesn’t sound as if Caroline knew the friend’s husband worked in media.
I don’t think it was done in spite. But it doesn’t really matter now. She’ll have to resign.”
“How did Caroline find out?” I ask, puzzled. I can’t imagine either Caesar or Marcus telling people about what happened.
“It was Aurelia,” Caesar says, tight-lipped. “She met with Caroline on Tuesday. Turns out it’s not a good idea if she has wine at lunch.”