Chapter 10
ELLA
Wednesday morning I sit at my desk and pull out my laptop, a bit frazzled.
I emailed back and forth with my new lawyer about the contract on my way into work, and it was a lot to take in.
The lawyer was quite surprised at how generous the contract is in my favor, and only had a few minor changes to propose, so that makes me feel better.
But I’m still not one-hundred percent decided on whether to accept the offer or not.
The contract seems like a dream and a nightmare all rolled into one package.
The dream of what the money will do for me—the nightmare of what the media attention will cost me.
I have until lunch to decide.
My hands haven’t stopped shaking all morning from anxiety.
The PR team’s meeting was pushed back to this afternoon, so I’ll work on engagement strategies until then.
But as I dig into the project, the realizations come crashing down.
Now I have to work on strategy for these knowing that I will be the one following through and executing those strategies if I say yes.
I won’t be part of the team explaining it to another woman, talking her through it, and setting up the logistics.
I’ll be talking myself through it with my colleagues.
My weird job just got even weirder.
My phone buzzes on my desk. It’s a call from a number I don’t recognize. I hate answering calls from numbers I don’t know, but what if it’s my lawyer?
“Hello?” I answer.
“Hello, Ella,” Asher’s deep voice purrs through the phone. My stomach drops. “I would like to see you in my office.” He hangs up without another word.
Shit.
I step out of my cubicle, and Brad, a coworker in marketing, sees me and starts toward me.
“Hey, Ella. How’s the new project?”
“It’s good. Crazy, though.”
“What is it? We’re all dying to know.”
I shake my head, wincing. “You know it’s quiet. We aren’t allowed to discuss it with anyone outside of the team.”
He holds up his hands. “I know. But everyone on the floor is buzzing. We came in Monday morning and a quarter of our floor was just fired on the spot. Then everyone else was split up and divided into new teams and pulled from their projects. And now there’s this new little secret team who’s meeting with Mr. Langford regularly.
Everyone who isn’t on the new secret team is worried and frustrated.
We don’t know what the hell is going on or what else might happen. ”
“Everything is fine, as far as I know. Just focus on your new team and your new project, and it will all work out.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I’ll see you around,” I say, moving to walk past him.
“Wait, Ella. Did you . . . give any thought to what we talked about last week?”
“What?”
“You know, last Thursday. I messaged you. I asked if you ever want to go out sometime. Since you aren’t dating your boyfriend anymore.”
“Oh.” I hold back a groan. I do not have time for this conversation right now.
And I already gave him my answer last Thursday.
“I’m sorry, but what I said last Thursday still stands.
I think it would be too messy to date a coworker.
I’m really flattered, though. But I really do have to go. I have a meeting to get to.”
I hurry past him toward the elevator. Brad has asked me out several times since I broke up with Kyle.
He overheard me talking about my breakup with a female coworker over a call when she asked why I was working remotely.
And since that day, he’s asked me out two times over messaging and now once in person.
How many times do I have to give the same answer?
I don’t want to date a coworker. Then I snort at the irony that I’m being asked to fake date not just an employee, but the CEO of the company.
What the hell is my life?
“Mr. Langford is waiting for you, I’ll take you up,” Robert says, waiting for me outside the elevators in the building’s east lobby.
I follow him in, and he swipes a card on a pad, then pushes the floor number.
“The upper three floors can only be accessed with a security card. So, if you ever need access, let Mr. Langford know. If things . . . progress, you will be given an access card.”
The elevator goes all the way up to the top floor, and we step out into a beautiful lobby of white marble floors and light gray walls. A brushed glass wall with the Langford Holdings name etched into it sits behind a large desk made of pale wood.
“Mr. Langford is expecting you,” one of the receptionists sitting at the desk says. “Go right in.”
Robert leads me down a hallway and around the corner, then down another hallway to the big corner office. Of course it’s Asher’s. Robert opens the door for me, and I’m surprised when I see Emily already sitting in a chair across from Asher’s desk.
“Have a seat,” Asher says as I walk in.
I sit next to Emily, my heart pounding in my chest. What is this about? Do they want their answer early? I still don’t know what to say.
“I don’t want this to sway your decision,” Asher says. “But something has come up this morning.”
Emily hands me her phone. It’s open to a news story:
Asher Langford’s Mystery Date Confirmed to be an Employee of Langford Holdings.
I suck in a surprised breath and scroll down.
There are several pictures of Asher and I moving through the club, holding hands.
I click on a video, and it shows Asher pull me away from the asshole on the dance floor.
The camera caught the exchange from the perfect angle to see the fury on his face.
And worse, when he pulls me toward him, I sink straight into his arms.
I scroll down the article. There are several quotes from witnesses inside the club saying how we were all over each other last night, and how in love we look.
Other quotes talk about his jealous anger and how he forced us to leave early because he couldn’t deal with the men looking at me or touching me.
I look up from the article, my heart hammering in my chest. “How widespread is it?”
“Not too far, yet,” Emily says in a voice that is trying for reassuring, but fails.
“But the story is gaining traction very quickly. Two other news outlets have picked it up and have rolled out stories. Your name is now a hashtag, and people are beginning to flood your social media. Have you checked it this morning?”
“No, I didn’t sleep much last night, and then I was communicating with the lawyer on the way here. I have my notifications turned off, so I didn’t know anything was going on.”
I pull out my phone and open a social media app. I blink, not believing what I see. There are hundreds of notifications. It’s the same with the other two social media apps I use.
“Luckily, your social media is private,” Emily says. “But some friends of yours have posted screenshots of you from their own accounts. So, your pictures are still leaking bit by bit. If you have any photos or posts you don’t want shared, I suggest you remove them now.”
My head spins. I race through all three apps I use. Thankfully I’m fairly picky about what I post and how often, so there isn’t much to delete. I mostly delete photos I was tagged in that aren’t very flattering.
“Done,” I say, letting out a long breath.
Asher and Emily still sit stiffly.
“I’m sorry, Ella,” Asher says, his face drawn.
“If this is something you don’t want to do, we can make this story fade, and it should be forgotten fairly quickly.
You should be able to move right back into anonymity.
However, we would need to be very careful about never being photographed together again.
You would perhaps need to stay back from the events on my schedule.
If you’re spotted at them, it could raise questions.
Especially if I’m supposed to be dating someone else. ”
“But if you do agree,” Emily says, “we’ll need to go to press probably tomorrow instead of Friday.
There are already stories about Asher being with Charlotte Edwards and now with you.
We can spin the timeline and make it seem like he ended things with Charlotte weeks ago, but again, that will all be determined by your decision. ”
I shift in my seat and try to calm my racing heart.
This is all happening so fast. Up until late last night this was supposed to be someone else.
This was never something that crossed my mind.
I was attracted to Asher, sure. He’s so ridiculously good looking that it’s hard not to be.
But that was something I planned to ignore while I got on with my job.
I was supposed to be the support behind the scenes, not the woman center stage.
My phone vibrates, and I look down at it. It’s a text from Kyle.
You cheating fucking whore.
I groan. This piece of shit is the last thing I want to deal with. Another text appears.
You didn’t break up with me because of anything I did wrong.
You wanted to sleep your way to more money.
I can’t believe I ever loved you. You’re a lying piece of trash.
I was willing to forgive you, but that’s not gonna happen now.
My meetings were postponed so I came back early.
I’m back in my apartment, and I think it’s time for another bonfire.
Say goodbye to all your things. Whores don’t deserve forgiveness.
“Shit,” I whisper under my breath.
“What?” Emily asks.
I show her my phone. Her eyes nearly pop out of her head.
“What is it?” Asher asks.
“My asshole of an ex-boyfriend.”
“What is going on with this asshole of an ex-boyfriend?”
“Nothing, I’ll deal with it.”
“No, you won’t,” Emily snaps. I start a little at her tone. She never snaps at me. “That is too big of a risk. I saw the videos and texts he sent you, and I know he was violent the night you broke up with him.”
“Ella, explain to me, right now, what is going on,” Asher demands, his voice low and menacing.
I let out a sigh and show him my phone. He reads the messages, then scrolls up through the other texts and videos.
“He burned your clothes after you broke up with him?”
I nod.
“And he was violent?”
I nod. His eyes burn with a cold, calculating rage. He grabs the phone off his desk.
“Matthew,” he says in a clipped tone. “Cancel my morning. All of it. And tell Robert, the security team, and Declan and Sterling to get in here, now.”
He sets the receiver down with more force than necessary.
Declan and Sterling are Asher’s brothers, but Sterling heads up Langford Holdings’ London division, so he must have flown in for something.
But what does Asher want with them right now?
I look at Emily, silently questioning her.
She shrugs. A few minutes later, ten men have filed into Asher’s office.
It’s easy to spot his brothers, not just because I’ve seen photos of them, but because of their resemblance to one another.
Declan’s hair is light brown, whereas Asher and Sterling both have darker brown hair, and Sterling has dark brown eyes, but they’re both tall and broad like Asher, and all three of them have strong likenesses to their father.
The rest of the men are an assortment in suits or security gear.
“We’re going to Ella’s ex-boyfriend’s apartment right now,” Asher announces.
“He’s been holding her things against her will for a month, and now he’s threatened to burn them.
Ella will need to be there to make sure we don’t miss anything, but she is to be surrounded at all times, am I clear?
We will work as a team to pack her things and get out of there. ”
“He won’t let you in,” I say in disbelief.
“Who said I was asking to be let in?”
My brows raise.
He looks at the men. “You will need to bring ram gear, just in case. I’ll have Olsen on the line with me to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. And then I’ll donate some cars or something.”
“What is going on?” I ask Matthew, who is standing close to me.
“Asher’s going to break into your boyfriend’s apartment to get your things back.”
“Isn’t that, like, a big legal problem?”
“For anyone else, yes. But not for Asher. That’s what he was just explaining. Olsen is the Chief of Police. Asher will inform him of what he’s doing and make sure the police look the other way, and then he’ll buy the department some equipment they need.”
Matthew says it all so nonchalantly that I just sit, blinking in disbelief.
“Do things like this go on a lot?” I finally ask.
“No. Asher isn’t one for law breaking. But he knows Olsen very well.”
“Let’s go,” Asher says. He walks toward me and holds out his hand. I take it, and he helps me stand. “You stay next to me or Robert the entire time, understood? The others will pack your things.”
“Asher, we don’t have to do this.”
“Everyone out,” Asher says. His voice is barely louder than a whisper, but it doesn’t matter. Within seconds, the office is cleared.
Asher looks down at me. “I know I just told you that I wanted you to make the decision and that I didn’t want to force your hand, but it looks as though fate has made up its own mind.
Every minute more people around the world are seeing your face, reading your name, and connecting you with me.
Your life is already in upheaval without us meaning for it to happen.
And the best person to protect you from that upheaval is me.
And that starts now. Because now that I have it in my mind that you’re almost guaranteed to say yes, I won’t back down.
When I want something, I get it. Always. ”
My stomach flutters at his words. Then it leaps into a frenzy as he steps even closer until there isn’t an inch of space between us and he brushes his thumb reassuringly over the back of my hand. His blue eyes pierce me with an intensity I’ve never experienced before.
“I take care of the things that are mine, Ella. No one fucks with me or mine.”