Chapter 28

Chapter 28

-DAMIAN-

“boss?” Danny’s voice cut through my train of thought.

I slid my eyes from the window, locking with Danny’s curious one in the rearview mirror.

“We’re here,” he murmured, a crease wrinkling the space between his eyebrows.

We slid out of the car and crossed the tarmac to the company jet.

“Something on your mind?” Danny asked as he filled two rock glasses with whiskey.

Danny and I flew to California. Claudia, the head of Scarlett Design, claimed that one of her staff working on the ground. floor developed skin irritation when they started working at the Belmont Hotel. The woman f**king freaked out and called Silverio, pointing fingers at me and saying that it was caused by exposure to asbestos.

Silverio asked me to personally handle this. We had to take samples and send them to the lab for analysis. It would take three weeks for the results to come out.

Silverio clearly took Claudia’s side on this one. He didn’t even consider that Black Construction had been in this industry for too long to be this careless. Maybe Claudia’s p**sy was made of gold. Either that, or Silverio was just plain stupid. 1 vouched

for the latter.

Apart from this freaking asbestos complaint?” I groaned, sipping my drink.

Danny hummed, removing his n*ecktie, tossing his suit jacket on the long gray seat,

“You bothered about that? We both know how that result will turn out.” He smirked, his voice lighting. “Is there still trouble in paradise?”

Danny was one of the people who knew me in and out of the office, and there’s one rule I abide by. Work hard, play hard. Even when I was still with Sonja, my personal life had never hindered with my job.

Sonja knew me as the guitar player who lived in a stinky apartment, not the security manager for Black Holdings. With Danny on my side, I was able to keep my identity a secret for a long time from the girls I played with. Then comes Millicent who knew me as Damian, the son of Erik Black, step brother to her best friend and now she’s my fake girlfriend.

Navigating this territory had been a struggle for me, and Danny could see right through me. Whether that’s a good have no idea really.

It had been days since I last saw Millicent. From being unable to keep our hands off each other, she’d gone radio siler again. It’s f**king with my head..

Is this really how relationships worked?

Since Sonja and I were in an illicit affair, we kept our relationship a secret. We went out, partied and enjoyed each other’s company without the hassle of family drama and public eyes watching us. Most of the time, I’d go to her apartment, and we’d stay locked up for a day or two.

Everything was different with Millicent. I want to see her, hear her voice and take her places and see her smile. I wanted to make her happy and erase every fucked up thing her ex did to her. How could I do that if she wasn’t answering my calls and messages?

At first, I thought she was busy with moving back to Roslin City. Then when I called their new office, and she refused to speak to me, I knew something was definitely up with her. She’d totally shut me out.

“Just thinking about how I’d propose.” I cannot exactly let Danny in on my deal with Millicent, but it was on the tip of my tongue. Danny was trustworthy, but it’s Millicent’s trust that I’m keeping.

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09:25 Sat, Feb 10 M.

Chapter 28

“Ah…” he shook his head. “Now that explains why you’re out of your head all day.” Danny chuckled. It was low and teasing. He’s the only one who could laugh at me and still keep his job.

I groaned, pinning him with a death glare.

He raised his hand in surrender, still gazing at me as though my misery was an entertainment for him.

Leaning forward, Danny resting his chin on his joined hands, pondering on his next words. “What does Millicent like? Just focus on that. From what I saw, she wasn’t the kind of girl who’s hard to please.”

“She’s not.” Lagreed. Besides, we are faking this engagement. She will act in accordance with our plan however I’d pop the

question.

Changing the topic, I jumped into a much more pressing issue. “Got any news from Mon about the plates?”

Our cameras caught a sedan leaving the premises of the Belmont Hotel when the alarm went off three weeks ago. The whispering devil in my ears tells me the attack wasn’t random and someone wanted to sabotage me. I could feel it in my gut. But “why is the question? That alarm coming off didn’t do much damage to our operation.

1 withheld this information from the fire chief, though.

“It’s a stolen plate.” Danny pulled out his phone. Seconds later, mine vibrated in my pocket.

I scanned the documents Danny sent in my email, frowning. “Nevada plates?”

Danny nodded a yes.

“Who would go to these lengths just to piss me off?”

Honestly, I wasn’t bothered by that incident at all, but this information doesn’t sit well with me.

I couldn’t take Millicent’s silence anymore. So I decided to pop into their new office in Roslin City unannounced with takeouts from the Italian restaurant down the street as a prop.

Boxes littered their office, and newspapers covered the floor, the heavy scent of paint permeating the air. Empty shelves lined the walls, and the three of them, Millicent, Candice, and Andrea, were in their shorts and tank tops, all sweaty with their hair tied in a messy bun above their heads.

“You brought lunch!” Candice was the first to see me, dropping her brush on the paint bucket before her.

Millicent locked eyes with me. She was standing on a ladder. One hand holding for safety, the other holding a paint roll

face was bare of makeup, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead, a map of sweat marked her pink tank top. I swallowed the lump in my throat, taking her long legs in those tiny shorts as she descended the ladder. I remember how good those legs felt wrapped around me. She touched down on her sneakers, bit her l*p before dropping the roller on the bucket before her, wiping her forehead with a towel hanging around her n*eck. “Hey.”

I stepped inside and placed the takeouts on the table Andrea cleared out.

“Hi, baby” I looped a hand around Millicent’s waist and k*ssed her forehead.

She shivered, faltering on her foot as she pushed away from me. Her eyes were weary and distant. The fire that had been there when we were in her apartment was nowhere to be seen. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“This is really sweet,” Andrea piped in and opened the food containers one by one. Her eyes sparkled like a kid on Christmas Eve, humming as she smelled cach dish.

“You’re a lifesaver, D… I’m freaking starving,” Candice said, dragging two chairs from the corner of the room. The protective plastic cover was still on. She didn’t remove it, rolled one to Andrea, and plonked on one, tipping her head at me with a quirked eyebrow. “Get your fiancee a chair, knight in shining armor.”

III

19:25 Sat, Feb 10

Chapter 28

Spotting two more chairs on the side of the room, Idragged thein and passed one to Millicent, Candice and Andrea were already eating like they had been starved for days.

Millicent had been silent the entire time we were having lunch, answering questions and butting in once in a while. I don’t think her friends noticed her smile never reached her eyes, but did.

“Are we okay?” I asked Millicent as I walked her to her door. I stayed that afternoon to help them work in their office. Andrea was temporarily staying at Millicent’s apartment while Millicent stayed at her parent’s place. She had just put up her apartment for sale. She wanted to get rid of it, which was clearly understandable.

“Yeah. She rummaged through her bag for her keys. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

She’d grown cold towards me, and I didn’t like it. I volunteered to drive her home, but she’d been quiet the entire drive. It’s like threading on murky waters with her. “About Saturday-

Millicent made a sharp tum. Her eyes were glossy when she met mine. “Can we can we not talk about it, Damian? It’s not even part of our deal, and we crossed so many lines that night.”

Her sharp tone took me by surprise. I blinked at her. “You invited me through your door, Millicent. Why does it sound as if I forced you to do anything?”

I even asked her if that was what she wanted.

She pinched her eyes shut, took a few deep breaths before looking at me again. “It was a mistake, and I regret it. Let’s just stick to our old agreement, okay?”

She slammed the door in my face, not even letting me say a f**king word.

à­¦

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