BRANDONI wake up with a throbbing head, the loud bell of my phone chiming. Lazily, I grope for the phone on the side table and force my eyes open. I’m hoping to see her Goddammit!I jump off my bed—nonot my bed I answer the call after another ring.
“Damn it, Brandon. Where are you?” he curses.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you. Something came up.” I massage the back of my neck.
“Oh, so something came up at the club last night, and then you just disappeared?” he mocks. “Tell me, did you go home with that woman?”
I scowl. “What woman?”
“The one with the blue hair... or violet, I can’t remember.”
I squeeze my temples. “I’m all alone in this suite, Ollie. What kind of question is that?”
“You’re still in Vermont?” he asks, surprised. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago. We had a meeting. You know, your first appearance in public? At least with our employees, that is. What the hell are you doing?”
I grit my teeth. “Cancel the meeting. I have somewhere to go today. I don’t give a fuck about the people who demand things when all they do is sit around. I won’t answer to anyone, Ollie. Let them wait. Turn them down if you have to.”
I hang up, then dash to the bathroom for a shower, get dressed, and leave the hotel.
While driving, I briefly scroll through my recent calls once more. There are endless missed calls the last several hours from Ms. Garcia, my executive assistant, Ollie, and my company’s creative director. Emails are coming nonstop too, but the hangover is still giving me a damn headache, so I toss the phone to the back seat and pinch the bridge of my nose.
It’s a quarter to twelve when I stop in front of a motel building. I frown at the sheet of paper I’m holding.
Jupiter Inn, Rm. 450I’m sure it’s the address, but the surroundings are shady, giving off a dangerous aura. Nature has overtaken some parts of the building, making it not very reassuring. The parking is also terrible, and I have to drive into an underground cavern.
I grimace as I get out of the car. I walk back to the entrance and find tattooed kids loitering in the lobby. They’re looking in my direction. I probably stand out too much. I should’ve chosen a casual outfit rather than a blue designer suit.
The building is old with worn-out walls. The corridors are dark and unusually warm, and they smell sour. Why the heck does she want to meet in a place like this? I could’ve gotten her a suite with reliable security.
I head to the reception first, and a woman with a messy bun greets me. The smacking of her bubble gum is obnoxious. If she were my employee, I would have had her fired already.
“Can I help you?” she asks, studying me through her thick eyelashes. She doesn’t look like a receptionist at all in her crop top and pink skirt. Her manicured fingers play with her hair.
I shake my head. I draw out my wallet, take eight hundred dollars and place them on the desk. “A woman checked in here under the name Samantha Smith last night. She’s blonde, about five-eight.”
She studies me. “Picking girls at a motel looking like that, huh?” She pops her gum.
“It’s not like that—”
She smirks. “Yeah, yeah... Just let me check.” She looks at her computer and types something. “Uh, yeah,” she confirms. “Room 450. Seventh floor.”
I frown. “That’s it? I just have to go there?” Their security is a joke.
“Anyone in an expensive suit with...”—she counts the cash—“an eight-hundred-dollar pass is welcome here, handsome,” she says, then winks at me.
I roll my eyes, ignore her last sentence, and head to the elevator. I search for room 450 as soon as I reach the destination floor. I knock when I find the room. “Open the door. It’s Brandon.”
The door swings wide open instantly, and Pauline’s swollen face appears before me. She is much skinnier than the last time I saw her. The natural glow in her eyes disappeared, only leaving dark circles. When I returned to Athens last year, she came to see me right away. I used to like her in the past, even before our families tried to set us up in a marriage. But although things didn’t work between us, I still see her as a friend.
Pauline’s parents were also interested in associating with the technology division in my company, but I had no time to engage with something that could hold me back, so I declined. Her father is hard to deal with. Damianos Florakis is notorious for taking over the firms he worked with in the past, but I do have to acknowledge that he is quite influential in the same field in Greece. He owns a multi-billion IT company, after all. But that was why he set his daughter to marry Silvanus instead—because he couldn’t get my approval. Unfortunately, Silvanus was physically hurting her. She’s shown me her bruises before, but the ones on her shoulders are new. I can’t ignore it. Other than that, I need her help too.
“Brandon!” She hugs me and buries her face in my chest. Taking her back inside, I shut the door behind us. Her room smells like a dead cat and the bed is terribly small. Hell, she has no kitchen.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I say softly. “I’m here now.”
I stroke her hair, trying to comfort her, but stop as I notice the purplish marks in the shape of large hands on her shoulders.
I look at her face. “You should have called me. Why come to this kind of place?”
She shudders in my arms. “It’s safer than in any place out there. I was being followed at the airport by Silvanus’s men. I only managed to sneak out with Dina’s help,” she explains, referring to her housemaid. “I can’t live there anymore, Brandon.”
“Just what did he do to you, huh? Do your parents know you are here?”
She shakes her head. “Don’t tell them! I hate them. They sold me to him. This fucking rule has to stop, Brandon. I can’t take this anymore.”
“Shh... I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.” Considering everything that happened in the past, it is actually my fault she’s engaged to Silvanus now. I refused a marriage with her or even associating with her father. Naturally, Damianos would try to set her up with someone else.
“It’s not your fault. It’s my parents’ fault,” she says bitterly.
“But you are safe now. I came here to get you, so you will be staying at my place.”
“No!” she screams in terror. “He’ll find me there. He’s going to hurt me again.”
“My house is highly secured, and they can’t come into my territory. No one’s going to hurt you there. Where are your things?”
“Here.” She points out the black suitcase lying on the ground. “I didn’t unpack.”
“Good.” I pick her luggage up, then grab her hand. “Let’s get you out of here.”
As promised, I take Pauline to my house. There’s no other safe place for her but here. Of course, everyone will think it isn’t smart, given my whole fucked-up situation. Alayna is in Kansas with Cassius, and there are still things I need to figure out about the death of my family. But I need Pauline’s help. Besides, she is partly my responsibility now. I can never let Silvanus hurt her again, knowing that she was hurt because of my poor decisions.
If only there weren’t a goddamn family rule, she wouldn’t be hurting right now.
“I’ve always wanted to see where you live,” Pauline says as she cautiously gets out of the car. Lennie is already at the front door with her two assistants.
“Welcome to the mansion, Ms. Pauline.” Lennie greets her with a small smile. “Master Brandon.”
“Good afternoon, Lennie,” she greets back. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, you were just a child back then.”
Pauline holds Lennie’s hand. “Just call me Pauline. I’ve missed you. You still look as young as ever.”
Lennie grins kindly. “Oh, thank you. You are lovely as well.”
“Lennie,” I interrupt. “Please help us take her things to her room.”
“Right away, Master Brandon.” Lennie snaps her fingers in the air and orders the maids to take the luggage inside.
“Lennie’s going to take you to your room,” I say. “I’m right behind you. I think I need to answer some questions.” I groan as I see Casey furiously walking in my direction.
Pauline glances at me once more and follows Lennie inside.
Casey, my sister and my chef at the moment, crosses her arms, shaking her head. “I heard the news. I guess it is true then.”
“She needs a place to stay,” I reply simply, striding to the living room, and she keeps up with me.
“And you think this is the right place? You are completely out of your mind!”
“Casey, I don’t have time to deal with you. And I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
“Ha! Try me,” she taunts. “I heard that you ditched Oliver last night. Are you with her?”
I scowl. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t complicate things like this, Brandon. I can’t believe how much you’ve changed.”
I sigh sharply. “Let’s not do this today, Casey, okay? Why don’t you cook us something now? I’m starving—”
“Alayna’s coming back this week!” she snaps. “Are you going to parade this woman in front of her?”
“Her name is Pauline“What about Alayna?”
“Isn’t she with Cassius now?”
She tenses up. “You know nothing is going on with those two.”
“Is there really nothing? She took Cassius to her family!”
“You brought Pauline here! How is your relationship with her any different? I’m sure you would lie to me about that as well.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that Alayna and I broke up?” I say bitterly.
She grunts. “I don’t fucking care!”
“Watch your words, Casey.”
“I said she’ll be working here again. She’s in pain too, and it’s all because of you.”
I have had enough of this. “Is this her house?”
“What?”
“I said, is this Alayna’s house?”
“No... but that’s not what I meant.” She lowers her tone, avoiding my eyes.
“Then I will do whatever the fuck I want in my house and bring whoever I want here. Do you understand?” Not waiting for her answer, I march away.
I go to my desk in the library and pull out the drawer. I grab the photographs I received from the tail I hired to check on Alayna and Cassius.
It’s pictures of them holding each other’s hands in front of a coffee shop in Lawrence last week. As much as this photo infuriates me, I can’t do anything. Not in our current state.
I slam my fist on the desk. I wouldn’t have done everything I did if it weren’t for the incident last year. They got even more information about Alayna when she came to see me in Athens. Of course I couldn’t face her when I’d only draw attention, but I guess it didn’t matter to them.
I couldn’t understand their obsession with bringing me down by using Alayna as their target. She wasn’t even from the Stavros or the Dragoumis family, just an average citizen working as a chef to make a living. So what did they fucking want from her?
This is all because I wanted a normal life and let myself love someone again. But, unfortunately, it seems I still don’t deserve such a thing.
Goddammit!I crumple the photo harshly and toss it into the trash bin.