Love Redesigned

by Iles, Jo

  ‘He’s an absolute dog, Holly,’ Chloe said, not mincing her words as she shook her head at her friend. ‘Firstly, he’s engaged whilst he’s still married to you—who does that? That’s one step away from bigamy, if you ask me. And don’t think you’re off the hook about not disclosing to me that you’re still married to the dog. Second, he goes and does the dirty on her with you, without either you or her knowing, from what I understand. Then he kisses you in the driveway while she’s probably in the house and watching your fond farewell. What kind of man does all that?’ Chloe ranted rhetorically. ‘A bad one, that’s who,’ she said, answering her own question.

  ‘Well, technically I kissed him in the driveway,’ Holly owned up.

  ‘Tomaytoe tomahtoe,’ Chloe said, waving away Holly’s omission. ‘That Miranda sounds like a right piece of work. But to be honest, it’s no wonder she hates your guts. She’s probably been waiting around in the wings for years, waiting for her chance to be Mrs Madison, and there you go waltzing in and trouncing her in the looks, personality, and Daniel’s affections departments.’

  ‘I just don’t know where we’re going to go from here,’ Holly said, looking utterly lost.

  ‘I’ll tell you what you should do. First off, you need to get a lawyer and sign those divorce papers and agree to a custody arrangement for Harry. Then, you need to let Daniel get on with his life, with or without this Miranda bitch; and in the meantime, you need to start living your own life.’

  ‘Chloe, I’m not sure I can—’ Holly began.

  ‘Do that,’ Chloe finished for her. ‘I know. Because you’re not me and you’re—well, you. What do you really want to happen? Be honest with me—and yourself for that matter.’

  Holly didn’t say anything for a long time. She fidgeted in her chair, stared out the window, and played with her pen, whilst she thought about what she really thought and how she really felt.

  ‘I’m scared to say it aloud, because if I do, it means I’ll have to start admitting it, and that changes everything,’ Holly said eventually.

  ‘You’ve got to say it, Holly. The sooner you do, the sooner you can get on with your life and figure out your next move,’ Chloe said, pointing her pen in Holly’s direction.

  ‘I still like him,’ Holly said, hanging her head as though this was something to be shameful about.

  ‘Well that much is obvious. And really, how hard was that to say?’ Chloe said, a tad impatiently.

  ‘I don’t know what to do,’ Holly said glumly, looking up at her friend.

  ‘I can’t say that I approve, but it is your life and your heart. Just one word of warning though, Holly: once a cheater, always a cheater.’

  ‘I know your stance on cheating and I totally agree with you, but I’m sure there’s something different about this. If Daniel and I can just get over these few hurdles, then I think we could be for keeps,’ Holly said, trying to persuade her friend.

  ‘I’m sure you’re not the first woman to have ever uttered those words. But I wouldn’t be your best friend if I didn’t tell you that I think you’re deluding yourself. He’s treated you abysmally, and yet you seem more than willing to go running off into the sunset with him should he say the word.’

  ‘He is Harry’s father,’ Holly pointed out.

  ‘Yes, biologically. But Harry is better off not knowing him if all he’s going to do is break his mother’s heart.’

  ‘But Chloe, what if we could make it work? I’m convinced Miranda isn’t right for Daniel, and I think he’s starting to realise that too. I think it’s worth the risk. For Harry.’

  ‘But what about you? What if it doesn’t work out? You have to admit, that is a distinct possibility,’ Chloe said. The voice of reason.

  ‘You should have seen the house. He’d stuck to my original drawings faithfully and it was… touching. If he felt nothing for me, then why would he have built it?’

  ‘I have one thing to say to you, Holly Percival—if that’s the name you’re still using these days,’ Chloe said, alluding again to the fact she’d only just found out that Holly wasn’t divorced. ‘Once a cheater, always a cheater,’ she stated firmly, and got up to actually go and do some work.

  Chapter 12

  Holly was spinning round slowly on her desk chair in a hazy daydream. She was actually having quite a nice time imagining Daniel and Harry kicking a ball about on the lawn while she watched them lovingly from the terrace. Then Harry disappeared, and she pictured Daniel coming towards her in a tight black T-shirt and low-slung jeans that hung off his hips in that perfect way. His biceps were tensed and his belt buckle glinted in the sunshine. He looked edible, and he was looking at her like she was sex on a stick. Then he was kissing her. Tenderly at first, and then a moment later their kiss became frantic. Desperate. Passionate. Holly’s daydream was prevented from moving into the realm of the X-rated by a knock on her office door.

  ‘Holly, I need to speak to you,’ Chloe said, walking in holding her laptop.

  ‘Sure, come in,’ Holly replied, shaking her head slightly. She hoped Chloe wouldn’t clock the dreamy look in her eye—it would only give her something else to criticise her for.

  ‘Okay. I have to show you something. But you have to promise you won’t be mad at me,’ Chloe began seriously.

  ‘Don’t be silly. Why would I ever be mad at you?’ Holly said, her eyes widening, her attention piqued.

  ‘Something you said before rankled with me. About the house. It bugged me, so I’ve been doing some digging,’ Chloe said, walking over to Holly’s comfortable seating area. Chloe sat down on the sofa and opened her laptop on her knees. Holly remained at her desk, waiting for her friend to explain. She had a feeling it was going to be about Daniel, and she wasn’t sure she could take any more of Chloe’s Daniel-bashing for the time being.

  ‘Please try to be objective,’ Chloe implored her friend. ‘Several years ago, Daniel’s internet business went bust. Really bust. I had to do some searching, but I eventually managed to find out that he’d even filed for bankruptcy. He lost everything.’

  ‘But that’s not possible,’ Holly began dismissively, shaking her head. ‘He’s absolutely loaded.’

  ‘You’re right. He is now. He’s made his money back—and more, from what I’ve been able to find out. Second time around he’s made his money in property,’ Chloe explained as she tapped away on her computer. ‘Holly, look at this.’

  It took Holly a couple of moments before she slowly raised herself up from her chair, walked over to the sofa, and sat down next to Chloe. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going to be on the laptop, but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good. Staring back at her on the screen was a picture of Daniel’s house.

  ‘That’s his house,’ Holly said, not getting at what Chloe was trying to tell her. Chloe then clicked through a series of pages which all showed carbon copies of Daniel’s house. Which was based on Holly’s designs. Chloe continued clicking through page after page of virtually the same house.

  ‘Can you see what he’s done? He’s used his house as the basis of a multi-million-pound property development company.’

  ‘With my ideas and drawings,’ Holly said quietly as the revelation started to sink in.

  ‘You need to go and see a lawyer, Holly. This just isn’t fair. They’ve stolen your ideas, and now you deserve something, some compensation at least. I’ve seen you scrimping and saving and going without—and Daniel has been getting rich and living the high life.’

  ‘We’re doing alright, aren’t we?’ Holly asked defensively, latching onto Chloe’s observation so that she didn’t have to talk about the elephant in the room.

  ‘We’re doing okay for now,’ Chloe said reasonably. ‘But it hasn’t always been like that, I’m sure you can remember. And all it’ll take is for a couple of our clients not to make a scheduled payment and we’ll be back to square one, chasing our tails.’

  ‘Hmm,’ was all Holly said as she continued scanning the web page in a daze.r />
  ‘You need to fight this, Holly,’ Chloe said gently. ‘For you and for Harry.’

  ‘Hold on,’ Holly said, snapping out of her trance and looking closely at Chloe. ‘Why did you say they before? Why is it that they stole my ideas and not just him?

  ‘Look at the name of the company,’ Chloe replied.

  Holly grabbed the laptop off Chloe’s lap and placed it on her own knees. She clicked back to the home page of the website. The company’s name was Delamonte Developments, not Madison Whatever Laa-dee-dah, like she’d expected to see. Delamonte was Miranda’s surname. Holly quickly clicked on the tab labelled Directors. And there it was, clear as day in front of her eyes. Founding Partner Miranda Delamonte—with a black-and-white photograph of her wearing her smug smile. Underneath was a picture and profile of Daniel Madison, who also held the title of Director.

  ‘The bastard!’ Holly fumed as she returned the laptop to Chloe. She sprang up and started pacing her office, the cogs clearly starting to turn. ‘I bet he kept his business a secret to protect himself. To stop me from staking a claim on any of his fortune. He probably only slept with me to confuse me deliberately about things!’

  ‘Daniel’s been an absolute dog at every turn,’ Chloe agreed. ‘Scrap that. I’m far too partial to dogs to say that. He’s not even worthy of being labelled a dog. He’s just like the mite on a dog. That’s how I’m going to refer to him now: as a dog mite. It’s a suitable name for such a parasite of a person, don’t you think?’ Chloe joked, trying to lighten Holly’s mood, but with no success.

  ‘Shit shit shit!’ Holly shouted, slapping her hand to her forehead. ‘I told the bastard I wouldn’t contest his bloody divorce and come after his money. I’ve given him exactly what he wanted.’

  ‘Well, as long as you didn’t sign anything. Plus, this is totally different anyway. I’m no expert on matters of the law, but I reckon you have two separate legal issues here: one, your divorce, and sorting out Daniel’s contributions for Harry’s maintenance, including back pay; and two, the theft of your intellectual property.’

  ‘Alright, Miss Marple. Let’s not get too carried away,’ Holly said, laughing a little and calming down. ‘Daniel’s a reasonable man. Sometimes. I’m sure if I just go to him, and let him know that I know that he’s made his multi-million-pound business on the back of my creative genius, then he’ll soon rectify the situation.’

  ‘Of course he will. You’re probably right. He’s been so open and honest with you so far,’ Chloe said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. ‘And I think you’ll find, Miss Snarky Pants, that Miss Marple was a sleuth. Not a lawyer. If you must liken me to anyone, call me Patty Hewes.’

  ‘Isn’t she supposed to be evil? Anyway, he won’t, will he?’ Holly admitted aloud, screwing up her face. ‘Be reasonable about this, that is?’

  ‘I know you. You just don’t want the confrontation. But Holly, you need to fight this. What that pair of cheating reprobates have done to you is just not right,’ Chloe said, enunciating her last three words very clearly.

  ‘Chloe, you’re right,’ Holly said simply. ‘Just imagine what a bit of recognition for my designs would do for the reputation and strength of our business. My ideas obviously didn’t do any harm to Delamonte Developments.’

  ‘That’s my girl,’ Chloe said, smiling broadly at her boss and friend. She wore a satisfied look as she saw Holly’s fight and determination start to strengthen before her eyes.

  Chapter 13

  Holly was nervous as she pressed the button for the twelfth floor in the lift. She straightened her little black dress and quickly fluffed her hair. She was definitely more dressed up than she would normally bother to be for work, but this wasn’t business. This was personal. Holly was also very aware of the fact that if she dressed in a certain way, she was more likely to be able to distract Daniel—and hopefully put him off his stride. Hence the tight dress, the high heels, and the hint of cleavage, all carefully orchestrated that morning.

  The lift dinged to announce her arrival and Holly exited the lift trying to ooze confidence and an authoritative I always get what I want attitude. The offices of Delamonte Developments’ headquarters were seriously swanky, located in a historically expensive and highly prized area of the city. Holly tried not to be fazed by the imposing size and scale or by the multitude of hard surfaces that surrounded her; she tried to distract herself by wondering how long Daniel spent on the commute from this sculpture in the sky to his home in the relative sticks. Daniel’s offices were a far cry from her own rather-more-cluttered and disorganised design office. This place was huge—even the reception desk was massive—and everything was polished to within an inch of its life. The glass was super shiny and fingermark-free, as was the high white gloss of the reception desk.

  On her way to the mahoosive reception desk—which was more like a counter for giants—Holly peeked to her left and saw a boardroom housing an enormous long table with what must have been at least thirty chairs around it. They weren’t cheap chairs, either, Holly mentally noted. Each one of those must have retailed in excess of three thousand pounds, and she should know. They certainly hadn’t spared any expense on this place when they did the fit-out, Holly observed with a raised and disapproving eyebrow. And yet, they’d spent all this money on the place and still it was… sterile. Clinical. Unwelcoming. Like Daniel’s house. Like Daniel, the man.

  Holly scanned the reception area, and was dismayed to see that there wasn’t even a potted plant or anything remotely lifelike and real to detract from the perfection of the manmade clean lines and unemotional space. It occurred to Holly that maybe she’d been going about her business the wrong way all this time. Perhaps creating a personal, warm, and welcoming space wasn’t the best way to do business. Daniel was obviously doing pretty well at selling this minimalist design aesthetic to his clients. It had made him a seriously wealthy man, according to reports and current appearances.

  As Holly approached the unmanned reception desk she started to look around for a bell or something to announce that she’d arrived. It wasn’t until she was standing at the counter that she realised someone was actually sat behind it, completely obscured by its vastness. An attractive brunette with a trendy cropped hairstyle looked up and gestured for Holly to wait a second. She appeared to be whispering at a considerable rate of knots into her headpiece.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ trendy receptionist finished after a few more frantic seconds of hushed speak into her mouthpiece. ‘Welcome to Delamonte Developments. How can I help you?’ she asked, smiling brightly.

  ‘I’m here to see Daniel,’ Holly said, mirroring the smile.

  ‘May I take your name please?’ trendy receptionist asked, frowning at her computer screen.

  ‘I’m the architect,’ Holly offered calmly, ‘and no, I don’t have an appointment. Please just tell him I’m here,’ she said, exuding a calmness she didn’t really feel and striding off to the seating area. ‘I’ll just wait here,’ Holly called over as she sat down, attempting grace while the bemused trendy receptionist looked on.

  ‘But—you need an appointment,’ said trendy receptionist weakly. Holly didn’t bother with a response. She knew she’d won this battle. She smiled sweetly, pulled out her phone, and pretended to look busy.

  Two minutes later, Holly’s shock-and-awe tactic proved successful as the receptionist tottered over to her.

  ‘Mr Madison will be with you shortly,’ she informed a triumphant Holly.

  ‘Thank you,’ Holly replied graciously.

  ‘Shortly’ turned out to not actually be—well, quite so shortly. Holly had enough time to read all her emails, reply to everything that needed immediate attention, check her Facebook page, and scrutinise her surroundings some more. The place seemed to be literally deserted. No one came in. No one went out. Holly didn’t hear a phone ring or the merest hint of audible voices once. Bar the elfin receptionist, there were literally no signs of life.

  Just as Holly was beginning to feel h
er impatience transform into boredom, right on cue, Daniel walked into the reception area and stopped a few metres from where she was sitting. Holly pretended to finish typing something uber-important on her phone before she slowly looked up and smiled at him. He was wearing his trademark jeans and a smart grey sweater with a crisp white shirt underneath. However, his face was not wearing a smile. In fact, he didn’t look happy to see her at all. Holly stood up slowly and smoothed down her dress. Smile or no smile, she still clocked Daniel’s up-and-down survey of her. He might not be in the best mood, but he clearly hadn’t stopped being Daniel, after all.

  ‘Hello, Daniel,’ Holly said smoothly, looking him squarely in the eye.

  ‘This way,’ he said curtly, turning his back on her and striding off down the corridor from whence he’d appeared. He then disappeared through a glass door into a cavernous office with huge windows looking out across the city. It was impressive—there was no denying that, Holly thought to herself.

  ‘Nice office,’ she offered genuinely.

  ‘What do you want, Holly?’ Daniel asked, cutting to the chase as he sat down lazily in his big leather chair behind his big desk. He exuded his usual confidence like he owned the place. But then, Holly surmised, he probably did own the place.

  ‘What’s the matter? Don’t like it when someone turns up unexpected without an appointment?’ Holly teased as she began stalking around his office, surveying his kingdom. Like the rest of the place, it was pretty empty, no details or niceties to give much away as to Daniel’s personal tastes and likes. The furniture was finished in the same high white gloss of the reception area, and the seating was black leather. Black and white. Right and wrong. How fitting for someone like Daniel, who only ever believed that he was right—and if you didn’t agree with him, then you were wrong. In Daniel’s world, it was Daniel’s way or the highway.