CHAPTER 23
JORDAN
TODAY WAS NOT GOING WELL
First Melanie had found my indoor gym and had the guts to be in there, in those tight shorts that hugged her hips and butt. and that low–cut tank top with her hair in a ponytail. Then she’d bent over to retrieve her bag and I was greeted with a full view of her backside.
I was glad she hadn’t stayed when I told her to, something may have occurred that we would both regret. Her presence was messing up my psyche. As if to confirm that, Lauren had parked her lunch because, apparently. I couldn’t share, which was bullshit. I was sharing this house with her, wasn’t 1
Granted it was big enough that we could both live there for a year without running into each other, but it still counted. Besides, I’d offered and she’d said no. She’d obviously left that part out when telling Lauren, making me out to be the bad guy and now I had no lunch.
It was ridiculous that I couldn’t help the spark of jealousy that had lit inside me- one thing 1 hadn’t felt in ages- but I’d always been Lauren’s priority and now I felt usurped. The owner and CEO of a multimillion–dollar empire, sulking over packed lunch. I could swear this girl was trying to sabotage me and drive me insane. I made a mental note to look into another safe house to put her in before she did me any more damage.
I was already getting into a bad mood when the yelling man had turned up saying stuff about ruining his life, irritating me further. I had no shortage of people who felt I’d wronged them in one way or the other, but this man had irritated me so much I’d gone to look him up in my recent files with his face.
Turns out he was the co–owner of a brewery I’d bought out earlier this week because all the owners clearly didn’t know how to maximize their business potential and had been in over their heads
Three of them had nearly wept with gratitude when I offered to buy it. My best guess was he wasn’t consulted about the buy- and for good reason, judging by the way he’d reacted–so he felt 1 was to blame.
I’d only demoted him and his brothers because they were shit at their jobs and I put more capable people there. They’d still get a generous percentage, so I didn’t know what his problem was. My irritation spiked, if you were going to confront me, at
least have a reasonable
I’d just closed the file when Melanie’s voice came through the intercom announcing the arrival of Dorrell and I sent him in immediately. He was a jeweler I’d contacted a while ago to come and give me an estimate of the jewels Melanie had tried to steal. He’d said he had been on a job and that’s why he had taken so long to get here.
Id never met him before, but judging by his name (what kind of parents named their kid Dorrell? It sounded like a condom brand, I didn’t expect much.
Hence, I was unsurprised when the small man with the huge glasses stepped into my office looking like a rat in a trap. I rose from my chair and went over to shake his hand. It was limp and sweaty.
Tve been expecting you, Dorrell, and I don’t like to be kept waiting“, I said as I discreetly wiped my hand on my pant leg. “Sorry. I’ve been caught up” he replied in his mouse squeak of a voice and I sighed internally, wishing I could send him away but I couldn’t. He is one of the best jewelers there is
I gestured him over to the sola where I’d placed the velvet box containing the jewels on a small table.
“Well, lave at it then.”
He shed his coat and sat, taking out his tools. I watched, growing impatient as he slowly took out each piece and examined it even slower while making ambiguous noises. I finally asked,
“So‘ How much are they worthe“,
I’d taken the trouble to have them transported over here because I thought I’d feel some connection with the previous owner, my mother. Since that had been a bust, I had no use for them and I knew selling them would fetch me a pretty
penny
“Well, if you sold them to the right person they could probably fetch you a hundred or so dollars, total. They’re very pretty
stones. Dorrell said
1431
CHAPTER 23
1 blinked, unsure 1 heard right “Excuse me? Did you just call them stones?” I asked again.
e put the last one down and set his tools on the table before looking up at me “Yes, Mr. Alonso. They’re stones, because they’re fake.”
He
The words echoed to me like I was hearing them from the bottom of a well. Disbelief coursed through me as I stood there with Dorrell staring at me with eyes made owlish from his magnifying glass.
“I presume you didn’t know this?” he asked and I turned away to keep from hitting him. This wasn’t his fault.
“Of course I didn’t know, Would I wait two weeks for some jeweler to come and examine some fucking trinkets?” I bit out. The disbelief was rapidly turning into anger as I thought about all the trouble I’d gone through to get the things here. I picked up my phone and called Blaine, ordering him into my office. While I waited I paced the wide expanse of my office, trying to work out how I could’ve been played like this.
The contact I’d gotten the information about the diamonds from was very solid and I’d taken their word for it. This was what happened when you trusted people. I put in a call to the Swiss branch of my security company with orders to locate my contact and take them in for questioning
I briefly considered Enrico’s involvement but dismissed it; he was too cowardly to take me on and had no grievances against
me
Then my gaze fell on Melanie’s bulky file which still lay on my desk because I couldn’t put it away. I stopped my pacing and stared at it, the anger reaching boiling point.
“Fuck!” I grabbed the closest thing to me- the visitors‘ chair- and heaved it against the wall. It hit the bar and shattered several bottles and glasses. I barely registered Dorrell’s terrified squeak as I grabbed at my hair.
It was the only logical explanation. The girl had a reputation for pulling a fast one on people, and from right under their noses too. Could she be behind this? Alive and basking in the comfort I’d provided her, while secretly laughing at me this whole time. She seemed pretty fucking capable.
I marched over to the door and flung it open, almost tearing it off its hinges.
There she sat, in the coveted position of personal assistant to the CEO, with the clothes and shoes I’d provided, looking at me with startled eyes like she couldn’t possibly think of any reason why I was so mad
My eyes fell on the lunch my housekeeper had packed for her at her feet and that was the tipping point.
“Get in here” I ordered.
