Chapter 31
31
ELLA
“ T he transition has gone well.” Gerald voices as he sit across from Bennett in his former office.
It’s officially been six months since Bennett officially became CEO of his family’s company and Gerald decided to come all the way from Boca to give his replacement his congratulations.
He came in about five minutes ago and went straight into Bennett’s office. I’m trying really hard not to eavesdrop but it’s becoming a hard task. Especially with the door wide open. It’s like they want me to hear.
“It has. It seems like everyone is accepting the change.” Bennett answers, and I just know the man has the most stoic facial expression right now. Interesting how he will smile for me and the kids, but nobody else.
“Everyone? You’re telling me Peter Hill has gotten off your back?”
I let out a snort, that comes out a little too loudly, so I quickly try to cover it up before Bennett gets up from his chair and closes the door on me.
“Hill is very much still Hill, but he has calmed down a bit.”
That’s one way to put it.
From the second that Bennett has become CEO, he definitely has lowered his voice when it comes to trying to get Bennett out of the position. Yet he still walks into every room that this building has to offer with an unremovable stick up his ass, and looks down at Bennett every chance he gets, but he isn’t as vocal about things as he was before the official vote.
It makes me think that he might be planning something, but if he was, he wold have done something by now. Right?
I sure hope so.
For now, though, I’m going to continue throwing nasty looks in his direction every time I see him and flipping him off behind his back.
“Hopefully it stays that way.” Gerald lets out.
“Let’s hope.” Bennett returns.
“And how’s married life? Everything that you thought it would be?”
As soon as the question leaves Gerald, I chide myself for listening. I will myself to get up from my chair and close the door because I shouldn’t hear what Bennett answers, but I can’t find it in me to do so.
So as Bennett speaks, I feel a blush crawl up my face.
“It’s more. I never expected to get married. Never wanted to, but I guess it takes the right person to change your mind. Ella is perfect for me.”
His words have butterflies fluttering all over my insides.
Bennett and I have grown a lot closer these last few months and are actively taking the steps that any couple outside of our situation would, but there is still so many uncertainties that surround us.
If he truly means the words he just said, maybe there is a chance that in a year and a half we wont say goodbye and we can continue this without a time frame. Because I feel the same way. This marriage has turned out to be more than what I expected to be, and I would like to see where it could go. Where Bennett and I could go. I’m hoping that when the time is right we can sit down and discuss it and not just brush it under the rug.
“Marriage looks good on you. You look like a changed man from the one that across from me earlier this year. You look happy.” Gerald tells him, and I hear a smile on his voice.
“I am.”
God, how I hope he is telling the truth. Because if he is, then maybe when the time comes, he won’t want to walk away.
The subject quickly changes between Bennett and Gerald as they start talking about golf and how Gerald is enjoying life down in Florida. I try to keep up with that they’re saying but half way into Gerald describing the different types of snakes he’s found in his yard, I lose interest and actually try to concentrate on doing my work.
When I first started this job, I had no idea how to run someone else’s life. I was barely handling my own, but with time, I learned and now I’m running a nearly perfect system. I’m still learning, but I have everything in place to help Bennett run this company just the way he wants it. Everything is organized and prepared and ready for when it’s needed.
For the next thirty minutes or so, I work on inputing every meeting and trip that Bennett has for the next month into the our calendars, and once I’m done with that I move on to the new portion of my job.
Helping with the Lane foundation.
After Josiah signed over custody of Charlie to me, I was able to put my full concentration on my project proposal for the foundation and presented them my ideas a little over a month ago.
When I first walked in, I thought that the committee that is in charge of the foundation initiatives was going to turn up their noses up at me. I’m married to Bennett after all, so in my head, they just saw me as a bored wife that just wanted something to do. But that wasn’t the case. Every single person in that room welcomed me with open arms and smiles on their faces and were inthralled with what I was presenting to them.
The foundation works with a lot of great causes and charities, but even they had to admit that they were lacking in a few areas. Areas that my proposals could help with.
They didn’t even take a second to think about brining me on, right away they said yes, and now I’m working on a program to expand education for future foster care parents. There is going to be a lot of formalities, and a lot of time dedicated to getting the program off the ground, but I’m determined to get it done.
I’m in the middle of looking through the states’ resources for foster care parents, when Bennett and Gerald walk out of the office.
The old CEO throws me a wave before walking away, leaving Bennett standing by my desk.
“Gerald wants to grab a drink.” He states, his eyes doing a slight eye roll.
I can’t help but to smile a bit at just how not enthused he is about going to grab a drink with Gerald.
“Sounds like fun.”
He fully rolls his eyes this time before coming over and tilting my chin up with his forefinger.
“I’ll be back in an hour.”
“I’ll be here.”
A smirk lands on his face before he leans downs and gives me the most chaste kiss in the world before walking away.
As I watch his retreating figure, I can’t help but to smile a bit.
He really does look happy. Well happier than did when I first took this job.
With a smile on my face, I go back to work.
I’m so concentrated in what I’m doing, I don’t look away until I hear the sound heels clicking along the floor.
Lately the only heels that sound on this side of the building, and on this floor, have been mine. If there are other heels coming this way, they don’t sound likes stilettos.
Look at that. You marry a billionaire that gives you a closet full of expensive shoes and you think you can tell the difference between expensive heel and inexpensive heel clacks.
Ignoring my potentially new talent, I look up to see who is approaching Bennett’s office.
The second I meet the eyes of the individual, I know that I don’t have to look down to know that their shoes are indeed expensive and probably cost more than the ones I chose to wear this morning.
The woman approaching is gorgeous. Beautiful dark hair down to her waist, black slacks that elongate her legs and a white blouse that looks perfect against her skin. And her eyes, her pretty brown eyes are directed right at me. This woman looks like she just came off a runway in Paris or something. Everything about her screams expensive. But that’s not the only thing that she screams.
The more I take her in, I get a thought that I never thought would pop up. That she looks exactly like the type of woman that Bennett Lane should have married to, elegant and beautiful and not his assistant still can’t get rid of the clothes she thrifted before getting married.
I try my best to shake that out of my head and concentrate on the task at hand.
Who is she and why is she here?
“Is there something that I can help you with?” I ask, ignoring my work and giving this woman my full attention.
As I stand up, the woman doesn’t say anything. She just looks me up and down, assessing me. And from the look on her face, one of disgust I might add, she doesn’t like what she sees.
Well, I don’t like her either. And I hear I was thinking that she was pretty.
“No, thank you.” She turns up her nose at me and walks past my desk directly into Bennett’s office.
Who is this bitch and who the fuck does she think she is? Nobody goes in there without permission.
Feeling irritated, I follow urgently behind her into the room. “I’m sorry, but you can’t come in here.”
“Yes, I can.” The bitch answers, dropping her bag on the leather couch, before digging into it and pulling out a box that she twirls in her hands. “So, where is he?”
“Where is who?” The question comes out from through my teeth.
The snotty bitch has the audacity to roll her eyes at me like I’m the problem.
“Bennett. Where is Bennett?” She asks, sounding irritated that she even has to asks such a ridiculous question.
I bring out the sweetest customer service voice that I have as I respond. “Mr. Lane isn’t in at the moment, but if you would like to wait for him, you are more than welcomed to do so downstairs in the lobby. Or set up an appointment for another day.”
I don’t know who this woman is but that doesn’t stop me from running through Bennett’s schedule in my head, even though I was working on it not even an hour ago, trying to remember if he had a meeting at this time that the both of us completely missed. I may have only been on the job for half a year and definitely have missed things in the past, but this isn’t one of them.
The only thing that he had was Gerald. Nobody else was scheduled to come in today, unless I missed it completely, but I don’t think that I did.
The woman rolls her eyes again before taking a seat on the couch.
“I’ll just wait for him here.” She throws a smirk at me like she is telling me that she has won.
Seeing the smirk makes me hate this bitch even more. If she stays any longer, I’m going to be grabbing her by the hair and dragging her and her expensive shoes out of here.
Who the fuck is she?
There is something familiar about her, but I know for a fact that I have never seen her before in my life. I would have remembered interacting with her. I try to think if I have seen her in passing at an event or or somewhere around the office before, but her face doesn’t register as one that I’ve directly at. In a way, though and this sounds absolute crazy as it runs through my head, she reminds me of Samantha. The only difference being that this woman has darker hair and a sligthtly darker complexion.
That has to be a coincidence, right?
“Unfortunately, you can’t wait here,” I say to her, throwing a smirk right back, trying anything to get her out of here. “Mr. Lane doesn’t like having uninvited guests in his space when he’s not present. Actually, he doesn’t like any invited guest period. So I suggest that you get up and leave this office before I call security and have you escorted you out.”
The way her face gets all smug, makes me want to reach out and slap her straight across the face. “Yeah, that is not going to be happening.”
“Oh, yeah? And why is that?”
“Because my name is on the building.” She snarls out, standing up from the couch and coming toe to toe with me.
A cold chill runs down my body.
Her name is on the building? Her name is on the building ?
If her name is on the building, does that mean…
No.
There is no way.
There is no way that the woman that is standing in front of me is who I think it is.
But what if she is telling the truth?
What if she really is a Lane?
Security is tight here. Everyone that walks into the building has to be checked and on an approved list. So either security let her through because she really says who she says she is, or she snuck her way in.
I want to believe her, but something in me is telling me not to trust this woman or a single thing she says.
“I don’t believe you.” I cross my arms along my chest, trying to show strength and not the fact that her telling me she is a Lane has rattled me.
“Believe it, honey. Now be a peach and call Bennett and tell him that I’m here. He would want to know.” She snarls out the words, as if she were above me.
She not.
I don’t give a shit who she might be. I’ve dealt with a lot in my life and I don’t have to deal with this. This woman is a nobody and if anyone is going to pull the Lane card, it’s me.
What I say fucking goes.
“I’m not calling him. So if I were you, I would walk out this room. While you are it, leave this fucking building and we won’t have any problems.
To my surprise, the smirk on her face wipes away and she starts to back down. It may be all for show, but I don’t care, just as long as she leaves.
With her eyes trained on mine, she moves around me and places the box that she was twirling in her hands earlier, on top of Bennett’s desk.
It looks like she is putting on a show, but I’m done entertaining her.
She keeps her eyes on me as she starts making her way out of the room.
At least I thought she was making her way out. When she walks passed me, she stops and starts assessing me once more.
“You have no idea who you are talking to, do you?” She snarls, coming close enough for me to smell her perfume.
I don’t know what comes over me, but the words that come of my mouth surprise even me.
“I could care less who you are. All I see is a bitch that needs to be put in her place.”
“You little whor–” the woman swings her hand back, getting ready to slap me across the face when a voice stops her.
“Is everything okay in here?” A male voice asks and I turn to see one of security guards the usually mans this floor standing in the door way.
His hand is on his belt, ready to draw out a weapon.
He must have heard us. Thank god.
“Everything is fine, Caleb.” I say to the security guard, before turning back to the woman. “Would you please escort our visitor out? She is not welcomed here.”
The woman snarls and I see something deadly in her eyes.
“Whatever you need, Mrs. Lane.”
Caleb walks further into the room and grabs the woman by the arm and forces her to walk out.
It takes me a good ten minutes after Caleb and the woman walked out of the office for me find some of my bearings. The whole situation riled me up and I came so close to calling Bennett and having him come back to the office so he can help me calm down, but I think against it.
There is no need for him to come back early. The situation has already been taken care of. There is no need to worry him, I’ll just let him know what happened when he come back. .
Needing to get some air, or at least splash some water on my face, I head to the restroom and try to control my breathing.
I don’t know how long I spend in the restroom, but it was enough time for Bennett to come back. When I make back it to my desk, he is just walking into his office.
Instead of just bombarding him with what happened earlier, I follow him into his office and plant a smile on my face.
“Did you two get a good drink in?” I ask, taking note off the box still on his desk and wondering what could be in there.
The woman was twirling it like it was just a regular ole box, but she left it here for a reason and I can’t help but to wonder why.
“Sure.” Bennett lets out, taking off his suit jacket and making himself comfortable in his chair. “He wasn’t here to get his old job back, so I guess you could call it good.”
“Did you think that he was?” I ask, feeling my eyebrows bunch up.
Bennett shrugs. “No. But you never know. He might have gotten tired of retirement and wanted to get back to the grind.”
“But he doesn’t.”
“No. Gerald is very happy living the rest of his years in humid as fuck Florida.”
“Good, because I like seeing you at in that chair.” I throw him a nod and hopefully a smile that he doesn’t question.
Apparently it works because a smirk forms on his face as his hand reaches out and pulls me onto his lap. “Do you now? Because I could think of a few things that we can do with me in this very chair.”
Even though my mind is going crazy, a giggle still escapes me as his lips meet my neck. “We’re at work.”
“So? We’ll close the door and have some fun.” The way his hand travels up my thigh feels good, and I know I’m crazy to turn down this man, but my head is still all over the place and it won’t stop until I tell him about what happened earlier.
“Enticing but the answer is still no.”
A groan leaves him but his mouth doesn’t move away from my skin. “One of these days I’m going to have you on your knees in here and you are going to be begging for more.”
Any other day, I would be loving the image that his words paint in my head, but I can’t right now.
Instead of responding and snuggling deeper into Bennett’s arms like I want to, I push myself off him and go over to the box sitting on the other side of the desk.
“What did you order?” He asks the second the box is in my hand.
“That’s the thing. I didn’t order anything. Some woman came in here, acting like she owned the place and left this here.”
Bennett’s body tenses up and right away, he stands up from his chair.
“What woman?”
“I didn’t get her name. I was trying my hardest to get her to leave, but she wouldn’t budge. But she said that she had a right to be here since her name was on the building.”
So many emotions appear on Bennett’s face. Confusion, realization and until he finally ends up on anger.
He takes the box from me and looks like he wants to tare it open, but holds off.
When he speaks, his voice is hard. “What did she look like?”
“Beautiful, with expensive clothing. She looked familiar to me.”
His next few words come out though clenched teeth. “Familiar, how?”
I throw my thought from earlier out. “She reminded me of Samantha. Just with darker hair and complexion.”
The second the words come out of my mouth, he rips open the box with so much anger, pieces of cardboard fly everywhere. As soon as he takes out the contents of it, his hands start to shake.
A beautiful watch lays against the palm of his hand.
“She left you a watch?” I ask, the question slipping through with some confusion.
Bennett’s face distorts in disgust, and the next thing I know, he grabs the stapler from his desk and throws it against the wall.
A yelp escapes me and I’m about to ask him what is going on, but he’s already grabbing his phone and calling someone.
“I need the security tapes of everyone entering and leaving the building in the last two hours and I need it now.” His whole body shakes as he slams the phone back down onto the receiver.
“Bennett, what the hell is going on?” I ask, my hands sweating in the process.
The vein in his neck looks like it’s about to pop as he responds.
“This watch.” He starts but stops just as quickly, trying to find composure. “This watch was my father’s. He gave it to Robert for his sixteenth birthday. The last time I saw it, was on my brother ten years ago when he dropped off his kids. The only people that would have access to this, is him or his wife.”
A chill runs down my body.
I was right.
“That’s who it was, wasn’t it? The woman that was here was his wife?”
Bennett takes a second to collect himself, his eyes moving back down to the watch and not moving away.
“If she reminded you of Samantha, then yes.”
I try to puzzle everything together, but I can’t figure out why he would have this visceral of a reaction to his brother’s wife being here. “But why is that bad?”
“Because for all I know, that woman is fucking dead.”