Chapter 36: Access Denied

AVA

As soon as I stepped into the elevator, I felt all the emotions of the last couple of days boil to the surface.

A quiet sob escaped my lips, and I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks, acutely aware of the very real possibility of people getting on the elevator and finding me crying.

As if on cue, the elevator doors slid open, and Dominic got on. Of course it would be Dominic.

I faked a smile and swallowed the lump in my throat. Dominic looked confused for a second and stepped back to check which level we were on.

“What are you doing here? Wait a second, are you crying? What’s wrong? Did something happen with Cyrus?”

I shook my head. “He doesn’t even know I’m here.”

He looked puzzled for a second, and then he put two and two together. He rubbed his temples. “Please tell me my father doesn’t have anything to do with this,” he sighed.

I grimaced at him.

“God damn it, what did he say to you?” He sounded almost identical to Cyrus.

“Nothing worth repeating.”

I watched the numbers zip by on the floor indicator. We both got out at the twelfth floor and paused in front of the elevator.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Dominic said and pulled me into a brotherly side hug.

I smiled sadly. “Please don’t. I’ve brought enough drama to this family as is. Now I’ve got to go clean myself up before Cy sees me like this.”

“See you like what?” I heard Cyrus’s voice say behind me, making me jump.

I dabbed my eyes with my sleeves and then turned around, trying to look bubbly.

“Are you ~crying~?” he said.

“No, Cy. I—”

“Did you have something to do with this?” He gave Dominic an accusatory look.

Dominic scowled at him. “Collect yourself. We’re at our workplace.”

I grabbed Cyrus’s arm. “Just please take me home, Cy.”

Cyrus nodded and stealthily kissed my forehead before creating some distance between us again.

I turned to face Dominic. “Thanks, Dom. You seem to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time.”

Dominic winked at me, earning a scowl from Cyrus. “Anytime, kid. You know where to find me if you need me to save you again.”

“Yeah, she’s good,” Cyrus growled. “She’s got me.”

“Even from him!” Dominic yelled jokingly before the elevator doors closed, saving him from Cyrus’s death stare.

I insisted on driving myself to Cyrus’s place. Cyrus was very unhappy about it, but I didn’t want to leave my car in the Brentstone garage any longer. Marcus gave me a jump start so I could drive again.

Cyrus had given me a visitor’s badge to his penthouse’s parking garage, and I left a little before him so as not to seem suspicious to my colleagues.

I felt a bit awkward pulling into Cyrus’s garage, like I didn’t belong there without him. My feelings were solidified when I presented my badge and it was denied.

I rubbed it on my thigh, hoping to clear off whatever it was that was making the badge not work. I tried again, but still no luck. I examined the badge, but I couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with it.

I noticed Cyrus pull up behind my car. He rolled down his window.

“What’s wrong?”

“The badge isn’t working.”

He got out and walked over to me. He took the badge and presented it again, to no avail. He took out his own badge and presented it, but the gate still didn’t open.

~Access denied~, the screen read, just as it had with mine.

“Fuck technology,” he muttered and pressed the call button.

The monitor crackled, and a voice came on, asking how they could be of service.

“Cyrus Brentstone. My badges aren’t working. Code 3532667.”

The voice was quiet for a second. “I’m incredibly sorry, Mr. Brentstone. I’m afraid I can’t let you in.”

Cyrus looked at the speaker. “What do you mean? You can’t let me in to ~my house~?!”

The doorman was quiet again. “I don’t know what to tell you, Mr. Brentstone.”

I gasped with sudden realization. “Cy, I think this is my fault. Roald called me into his office today.”

Cyrus closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “I should have known this was his doing. What did he say to you? Is that why you were crying?”

“He tried to pay me to leave you.”

“HE DID WHAT?!”

“I told him I’d love you even if all you had was the shirt on your back. I think he’s testing that theory.”

Cyrus’s face softened. “You said that?” He leaned into my car to kiss me. Then he turned back to the speaker. “Okay Bert, what did he do?” He pulled out his phone.

“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say.” Bert’s voice was riddled with guilt.

“I doubt what he did was legal, though. Did he say anything else?”

“Just that I am to grant you access immediately if…”

“If what?”

“If you leave Ms. Mayweather.”

“That motherfucker.”

“I am so, so sorry, Mr. Brentstone.”

“Don’t worry about it, Bert. I’ll set this straight with my father.” He turned back to me. “Will you have me over until we get this sorted out?”

“Happily.”

Cyrus smiled at me and started typing something on his phone. “Knowing Roald, he probably had my bank accounts frozen too.”

“He can do that?!”

“There isn’t much you can’t do if you have a lot of money and power. But he’s not the only one that has those things. I’ll get this sorted out.”

I rubbed my hands together and wiggled my eyebrows at him. “And in the meantime, I get to be your sugar daddy for a while.”

“I’ll reimburse all your expenses as soon as I get my bank accounts unfrozen.”

“Shh, princess. Don’t worry about it. I’m going to take you shopping to make you feel better.”

We did go shopping, buying toiletries and other necessities as well as two suits and underwear and socks.

It was the most I’d spent at once—possibly ~ever~—but it felt good being able to help out in whatever way I could.

Cyrus spent most of the evening on his phone and my laptop, calling around and typing away angrily, while I got the house ready for him to stay over for a while.

I wondered what kind of people he was speaking to at this hour, but I heard him yelling a lot and talking very quietly in between.

I looked at my watch. It was getting late, and I was getting tired.

I got ready for bed and climbed in, then called Maisy for the first time in days. I told her all the details she’d missed out on when I’d just been updating her by text.

By the time we hung up, Cyrus was standing in the doorway, still on the phone but looking at me intently. He wrapped up his conversation and put his phone away.

“It’s getting taken care of. I think things will be back to normal within the next couple of days.”

He climbed into bed and lowered himself on top of me slowly. “I think Roald doesn’t realize this is only pushing me closer to you.”

I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders. I felt calmer with his weight on me. “I’m so glad you’re here,” I said. “And I’m so sorry we’re in this because of me.”

“We’re not in this because of you. This is because of my dickhead father.”

“Why do you think he doesn’t believe in love? Eleanor didn’t do anything to make him doubt it, right? Neither did Gabby. She and Dom seem to be very happy.”

I brushed my lips over Cyrus’s forehead. He caught my lips with his, locking us in a long kiss, after which he rolled on his back and lay beside me and heaved a heavy sigh.

“It wasn’t them,” he said finally. “It was Holly.”