Secret Designs

by Miranda P. Charles

  "I've never cheated on her. You've mistaken me for another man," Dylan said, reeling from the vitriol directed at him in error.

  The woman frowned. "You're her ex, aren't you?"

  "I'm her current boyfriend, not her ex. Well, at least I hope I'm not an ex."

  Mrs. Overzealous stared at him sceptically. "You're not the one she caught in bed with someone else?"

  "No!" Dylan responded, horrified.

  There was a long pause before the woman's expression turned to consternation.

  "Well, I guess I owe you an apology then," Mrs. Overzealous said, shamefaced. "I'm so sorry. When you told me that car outside was yours, I just jumped to conclusions. Her ex also drove a black Mercedes sports car, you see."

  "Oh, right. Well, I can guarantee you I'm not the one you're talking about," he said, still processing what Mrs. Overzealous inadvertently divulged.

  Ari caught her ex in bed with another woman? Jesus, that must have devastated her.

  They were interrupted by footsteps coming from the stairwell. A couple of seconds later, Ari appeared, her hands filled with bags.

  "Hi, Estelle," she said. "I see you've met Dylan."

  "Yes," Estelle replied. "I'm afraid I made a boo-boo, Ari. I thought he was your ex and, uh, I'm afraid I gave him a piece of my mind before I realised my mistake."

  Ari's eyes widened. "You thought he was Richard?"

  "Oh, was that the name of that cheating bastard? Sorry. I'd forgotten. Anyway, it was the Mercedes downstairs that made me jump to conclusions." Estelle turned to Dylan. "I'm really sorry," she said with an apologetic smile.

  "No problems, Estelle. I'm glad you care about Ari," he answered.

  "She's a great girl," Estelle responded with a pointed look at him. She waved goodbye and disappeared into her apartment.

  Dylan turned to Ari, who was unlocking her door.

  "Let me carry some of those for you," he offered, reaching to take the shopping bags from her.

  "No thanks. I'm fine," she said coldly, pushing the door open and walking in.

  He scratched his head and followed her, closing the door behind him.

  "You seem really close with your neighbours," he commented, hoping she'd get friendlier.

  "They treat me like their daughter," she said, her tone still distant.

  He sucked in some air. "Baby, I'm really sorry about this morning. Can we sit down and talk about it?" he pleaded.

  "Please don't call me 'baby'. And I don't think there's anything I want to talk to you about," Ari responded flatly as she deposited her stuff on the dining table.

  Oh, hell. This is really bad.

  "I know you're really mad right now," he said softly. "You have every right to be. I'm sorry. But please let me explain." His heart constricted so hard at the thought that she was about to break up with him that he found it hard to breathe.

  Ari whirled to face him, her face full of hurt. "Explain what, Dylan? That you thought I was interested in you for your money? So much so that you had your best friends try to unmask me?"

  "I knew from the start you weren't like that, sweetheart," he said, trying to placate her.

  "Don't call me 'sweetheart' either, Dylan. And there's no point in you explaining when you're just going to lie."

  "What do you mean I'm just going to lie? I want to tell you the truth so we could put this behind us."

  Ari snickered. "You just said you knew from the start I wasn't like that. Yet you still got Trey to dig and dig to try to prove I'm some scheming gold digger."

  "I'm sorry," he whispered. "But it was only because I was damn scared of what I was feeling for you. Maybe I tried to sabotage this relationship," he spouted. He was surprised at how much he wanted to be honest with her with everything.

  Ari frowned at him in pained confusion. "Well, then, it's straight out of your mouth. You don't want to have a relationship with me, whatever the reason might be."

  "But I do, Ari! You see, a woman broke my heart and my trust five years ago. While I've been over her for years now, I haven't learned how to be over my guilt for being so stupid back then. I was just afraid I'll be as foolish this time around, and end up getting hurt again."

  "You know, Dylan, you're not the only one who's had a painful past," she said with censure.

  He gulped, shamed. "I realise that. I'm sorry. Please give me another chance. At least hear me out," he implored.

  He held his breath as he waited for her response, hoping she wouldn't ask him to leave instead.

  "What did she do to you? Your ex?"

  He leaned on the kitchen counter, relief making him weak. She was going to listen and he was going to take this chance to tell her the whole story.

  "She tried to steal from me. I'd been going out with her for three months when she sprang on me that her dad needed a heart bypass surgery as soon as possible. I've never met her dad. In fact, we've never met each others' families. But I didn't have a reason to disbelieve her at the time.

  "Anyway, she was a smooth talker. She said that while Medicare covered much of the surgery expenses, she said there were out-of-pocket and after-surgery-care costs that her parents just couldn't afford. I found myself offering her some money to help cover her father's care. She sat beside me while I did an electronic funds transfer from my account to hers. It never occurred to me that she would memorise my bank customer number and password. My online personal account was linked with our company bank account. Logging in to my account also gave access to the company's money.

  "Around that time Trey, Adam, and I were waiting to get paid a large fee for a big project we'd just delivered to a client. We were initially annoyed that the pay was delayed by a couple of weeks, but it turned out to be a blessing. I was checking the bank account one day and noticed the area where the bank tells you the date and time you last logged in. I knew it had been a good few days since I was online and it wasn't me who logged in on the date the bank showed.

  "There were no suspicious items on the accounts, but I was worried enough to call the bank. That was when I found out someone had increased my daily online transfer limit to a substantially larger amount. No wonder she borrowed my mobile phone at one point. She was waiting for the security code texted by the bank to my phone to activate the increased transfer limit.

  "The bank had a record of someone logging into my account daily after I transferred money to her. She must have been waiting for our big pay day. If the payment for that big project had gone through on time she could have easily taken a couple of hundred thousand dollars in the span of a week. I don't check my accounts often, and she knew that.

  "I told Trey and Adam my suspicions. They were livid, of course. It was their money, too, that I'd jeopardised. We set up a mini sting operation and caught her trying to access my account. She confessed after that and pleaded for my forgiveness."

  Dylan took a deep breath as he tried to gauge Ari's expression. She'd been quiet throughout his whole story.

  "What happened afterwards?" she asked finally.

  He shrugged. "We broke up. I told her never ever to show her face to me again."

  "Didn't you report her to the police?"

  "No," he said with a deep sigh. "First, it was my fault for not securing my password and my phone. Second, I don't believe she had done it before. Third, Trey, Adam and I put the fear of God in her to make sure she doesn't attempt something like that again. All it took was to show her how easy it was to trace people through IP addresses, and such. It dawned on her she couldn't possibly get away with something like that."

  He paused before continuing. "And fourth, even at this moment, I'm still fucking ashamed of my stupidity. My family doesn't even know."

  "She must have been desperate. Was her dad even sick?" Ari asked.

  "Apparently not. She just thought I was an easy target."

  She was silent for what seemed like ages.

  "Ari? What are you thinking?" he asked. His arms ached to hold her but he refrained, waiting f
or her to make the next move.

  "You and your friends thought I was making it up when I said I was giving financial support to my sister and my nephew," she accused.

  "There was a question mark, especially in Trey's mind," he admitted. "But as for me, it's not about the money, Ari. I don't care about the money. It was about whether your feelings for me were real or not."

  Ari's eyes flashed in anger. "Whether it's about the money or not, you still thought I was a scheming whore who slept with you to get to your pockets."

  He rubbed his face in anguish. "I never thought you were a whore, Ari. Please don't use that term on yourself!" he said insistently. "The whole problem was me—my fears, my guilt, my shame from something I should have buried years ago. I see that now. I'm ruining my present because I've failed to move on from it. But I'm willing to close that chapter now, Ari. Please. I just want to be with you."

  Ari walked to the window and looked out. His body broke out in sweat as he waited.

  "I can't think right now, Dylan. I need some time alone," she said in a quiet voice that was almost a whisper.

  "Okay," he said cautiously. "I'll call you tomorrow?"

  "No. Please don't contact me."

  He inhaled sharply. "Well, when do we talk again?"

  "I don't know. But don't wait around."

  Oh, shit.

  "Ari, please." All he wanted to do was plead and plead and plead until she forgave him.

  "Dylan, please. Give me time to think."

  "Okay," he choked, his heart distressed and frightened.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ari checked and double checked her budget spreadsheet, hoping to see an item or category she could further cut or reduce from her expenses.

  No matter how many times she looked at it, the answer remained the same. If she didn't find a new job, or get more customers within the next three weeks, she would be in real strife.

  She diverted her attention to the business plan she'd been working on just in case. There was one possibility she could see that could dig her out of her financial black hole. But it meant spending a large chunk of cash she had set aside for her rent.

  Well, it was make or break time. She had no job and no prospects of finding one soon. She might as well take the risk.

  If it didn't work, she would just have to move in with her sister and Kenny to Port Macquarie and find a job there waiting on tables or something. With that distance, she might as well forget about Dylan for good.

  Her eyes teared up at the thought of him. She missed him terribly.

  But while her heart begged to be with him again, her mind rebelled at the thought of Dylan discovering the extent of her financial woes. Knowing the reason why he'd become leery of women's intentions, she knew she would always wonder if every word she shared about Kenny's needs would be suspected as a subtle way of taking advantage of his wealth. What kind of relationship would that be, where there was no openness and trust?

  She simply couldn't see a way around that.

  *******

  "Ari, it's been a long time. It's great to see you again."

  "It has been. Thanks so much for seeing me, Gwen. I really appreciate it."

  "No problem. When you called me to say you wanted to show me your own range of lingerie, I was very excited. I didn't know you'd set out on your own."

  "I thought it was about time," Ari replied with a genuine smile for Gwen Desanti, the lingerie fashion buyer she had met a couple of times before, when she was still employed at Eros.

  "Well, let's have a look, shall we?" Gwen said.

  Ari opened her carry bag, grateful that her hands didn't shake. While she maintained a calm, confident exterior, she was quaking inside. Would Gwen like her designs? More importantly, would she order and stock them in their stores around Australia?

  She pulled out an ivory lace and silk chemise and laid it on Gwen's table. Then she took out a nude-coloured silk bustier with baby blue lace panelling, followed by a black wireless silk bra with lace appliqué. Then she placed the matching briefs alongside each of them.

  She was proud of these garments. The materials she'd chosen were luxurious, delicate, and of high quality, not to mention expensive. It would have been ideal if she'd had samples ready for all of her designs, but these were the only ones she'd been able to put together in the extremely limited time she had.

  "These are only the first of my samples, just to show you the quality and design you could expect from my creations," she explained, watching Gwen's reaction carefully.

  "Ari, these are exquisite," Gwen said with awe in her voice.

  She let out a quiet sigh of relief. "Thank you."

  "These are certainly a few notches up from the items Eros manufactured," Gwen commented.

  "I really want to go for the top end of the market. When I was thinking of buyers to show these to, I thought of you straight away. When you declined the Eros designs, you said they were great quality, but not high-end enough for your boutiques."

  Gwen carefully inspected each garment while Ari waited patiently.

  She was humbled to even have this opportunity to show a fashion buyer like Gwen her new creations. The company Gwen worked for usually only dealt with established suppliers, not a one-man-band like Ari, who didn't even have a business card to speak of. Well, she did use her name as her clothing label. Arielle.

  Gwen leaned back on her seat and looked at her. "You've only just started out, Ari. I was wondering how you would cope with production if we do decide to order from you."

  Ari's heart thumped hard in her chest but she reigned in her excitement. "I've already spoken to a trusted seamstress I've worked with many times before. Her team is ready and available to work with me at any time. There are also a couple more on my list who I can call on, if need be."

  Gwen nodded her head, her lips pursed. "Can you leave these with me to show to my colleagues?" she asked.

  "Of course."

  "Great. How about we meet again tomorrow? I can let you know what we have decided by then."

  "That will be fantastic. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Gwen."

  "Thank you, Ari, for calling me first. I must say, I'm really impressed."

  *******

  Ari was buoyant after she left Gwen's office. This could really happen! Stores could be stocking her lingerie line, if this pulled through. Not only that, she knew Gwen's company shipped items to worldwide customers, so she could be selling her garments around the world.

  With almost certain good news looming in the horizon, she allowed herself to think of her next step. If she secured the orders—and from Gwen's reaction, it was almost certain—she would need capital to buy materials and produce the first batch. That would not be cheap.

  She'd already approached the banks for a business loan, but the answer from each of them was the same. Apart from detailed business plans, projected costs, projected profit and loss, and a whole lot of other things, she also needed a guarantor who would sign on the dotted line that he or she would be liable for her debts should she fail to meet her financial obligations. Well, she could never ask that of anyone, so she was left with one other, less onerous option—borrow money from one of her friends.

  She involuntarily shuddered, hating that alternative. But she needed to do it, so she would do it. After she had delivered on Gwen's orders and gotten paid herself, she would be able to pay back the money she borrowed anyway.

  Question was, who could she approach?

  She mentally went through her list of friends and there was only one person she knew who could afford to lend the amount she required without sweating about it. Jasmine.

  She groaned, going through the list again, hoping to come up with someone else.

  Blank.

  Argh!

  She couldn't very well expect Jasmine to hide it from Kane. That would be too much to ask. Darn. She would just need to plead with both of them not to tell Dylan.

  *******

  Ari sat,
looking business-like on Jasmine's lounge, and explained the whole situation to her friend.

  "Of course, Ari, that's not a problem," Jasmine said. "I'm so excited for you! Congratulations!"

  "Thank you so much, Jaz," she replied, exhaling her relief. "You don't know what your help means to me. You were my very first paying customer. Now you're also about to become my money lender."

  "Oh, don't worry about it," Jasmine said dismissively. "I'm glad to help. When do you need the money?"

  "As soon as possible, if you don't mind. Also, I drafted this letter." She fished an envelope from her purse and handed it to Jasmine. "That's just a contract to confirm the amount I'm borrowing from you, the date you can expect payment from me and the interest applicable."

  "Interest?" Jasmine asked.

  "Yes. I want to pay you interest equivalent to how much you would have earned had you kept your money in your bank. It's just fair."

  "You only want to borrow the money for a short time, Ari. I don't want you paying me interest. I won't accept it."

  "Then I'll have to find someone else to borrow from then."

  "Ari, don't be silly!"

  "Accept the interest or I won't take your money."

  "Fine. I accept," Jasmine said in resignation.

  Ari beamed, her excitement bubbling out of her now that the difficult part had been sorted out. "Can we do a happy dance?" she asked Jasmine, abandoning her business-like demeanour.

  Jasmine laughed. "Okay, you obstinate person."

  They jumped up from their seats, jiggled around and hugged each other.

  Ari sipped the low-fat smoothie Jasmine made for them as they lounged on the day bed by the poolside. She gazed at the sparkling water. The memory of Dylan dunking her in that same pool, then holding her close to him, came rushing back to her.

  The now-familiar ache in her chest throbbed, and she closed her eyes, pretending to relax, to hide her emotion from Jasmine.

  "I can't wait to tell Kris and Sam about your good news," Jasmine said, forcing her to put a fake happy smile on her face. "Does this mean you can stop looking for a job now? Are you going to concentrate on your business now?"