“What about last night? You seemed to be quite snippy with me over the communicator if memory serves me well,” he replied, the two of them now glaring at one another.
“It was cold outside!” she exclaimed incredulously, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Forgive me if I wasn’t in the best mood while I froze my ass off outside while you got to sit inside a nice, warm mansion for a while.”
“I told you that you could have been the one to actually go inside of the mansion, but you chose not to. You have no right to complain when you put yourself in the position that you were in,” he replied coolly, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to Charlie. “I’ll be taking my leave now, Charlie. I’ll see you in a week.”
“This conversation isn’t over yet, Gerard,” she said angrily, moving to follow him only to be stopped by Wallace, who shook his head silently.
“I believe that it is, Elena. Good day,” he said curtly, pulling open the heavy wooden doors to Charlie’s office in a way that made it look almost effortless. Then he was gone, leaving her alone with only Charlie and Wallace, both of whom seemed to be doing their best to not comment on what had just transpired.
“Do you think you could arrange for someone to drive me back home? You were kind enough to send a driver to my house earlier today, and I admittedly didn’t really put much thought into how I was going to get home,” Elena said awkwardly, clearing her throat embarrassedly.
“I can certainly do that, but do you need to rush off? I was going to invite both you and Gerard to stay for lunch, and I would hate to think that my kitchen staff put in all of the effort that they did if only I am going to end up eating it,” he said, the older man offering her a gentle, understanding smile. “It might help to take your mind off things for a little while. After all, what is wrong with a nice little meal and conversation among friends?”
Elena didn’t want to tell Charlie that she considered him her boss and not her friend. It was bad enough that she had managed to anger Gerard despite how badly she wanted to get along with him; she didn’t figure that she needed to ruin her good standing with Charlie too. “That sounds like an excellent idea, Charlie. Thank you for the kind offer,” she said after a moment, forcing a polite smile to her lips.
“Excellent,” he replied, clapping his hands together. “I’m starving.”
Chapter Three: Gerard
Maybe I was a little too harsh in there. Gerard thought as he sat in the back seat of the limousine that Charlie had provided for him, watching the countryside zoom by outside of his window as he made his way back toward London. His sleek black cell phone was held gently in his left hand, his eyes scanning over the multiple text messages that he had just received from his assistant, Sharice. He groaned inwardly at the sheer number of things that seemed to require his attention, resigning himself to the thought that tonight was probably going to end up being a very late night for him. It’s not like I can complain, though. I knew that I would have to put in a lot of work the instant that I became the CEO of a company.
Gerard had started from the bottom, using his work as a spy in order to fund his numerous investments into different markets ranging everywhere from military weaponry to housing, and the now thirty-year-old man’s gambit had ultimately paid off. He found himself disgustingly wealthy at the age of twenty-two, his name worth more than some of the richest people in the world. Yet, he was still not content with his life. The life of a CEO, constantly dealing with increasingly frustrating paperwork and beaurocracy simply wasn’t satisfying for him. He had been working as the head of his company for eight years now, and anyone who saw him could tell that it had taken its toll on him. It had been one of the reasons why he had practiced martial arts in his youth, finding that they served as an excellent way to relieve stress. It had been during a martial arts tournament at the age of twenty-five that he had first come into contact with Charlie. The older gentleman had claimed that he was simply a fan of martial arts, but the way that he held himself had told Gerard a very different story. Charlie, it turned out, was quite adept in Muay Thai. Gerard had only found this out after Charlie had contacted him a few months after the tournament, extending the invitation for the young CEO to take on a life that was far more interesting than the one he led now. He was promised that he wouldn’t have to give up his wealth. In fact, Charlie had said that having such a well-known persona would make it all the easier for Gerard to be able to complete the jobs without arousing too much suspicion.
“Sir, we are approaching your office,” the driver said from the front seat, his voice coming through the speakers on the side of the limousine. “What are your orders?”
“Drive up to the front and drop me off, Simon. You can then return the mansion and wait until I call upon you once more,” Gerard said dismissively. “I will likely be engaged here for a few hours at least.”
“As you wish, sir,” the driver replied courteously, pulling the sizeable vehicle up in front of the sizeable One Canada Square skyscraper that housed his office. “Here we are, then.”
Gerard waited for the driver to come around and open the door, slipping his designer Ray-Bans sunglasses onto his face to shield him from the bright afternoon sunlight. He took a deep breath, able to smell the faint scent of the river coming from the direction of Canary Wharf. It reminded him of growing up in California, where his father, who had run a Fortune 500 company for years, had him and his mother live. He had grown to love the smell of the ocean’s salty brine on the air, and he could admit shamelessly that the proximity to the River Thames had been one of the driving forces for him to choose the office that he had. His office had a perfect view of the blue waters of the river, the Thames seeming to stretch out for miles before his eyes.
It’s the same color as Elena’s eyes. He thought to himself, immediately pausing. What had brought about that thought? He had no hard feelings against his partner despite how much they seemed to argue, and he would be lying if he said that he had never given thought to pursuing her. She had just seemed so happy in her relationship that he had figured it was better not to push the issue. Deep down, he wondered whether his constant arguments with her were just his way of keeping them in a professional stead. A personal relationship between the two of them would probably only jeopardize their line of work, and while Gerard wouldn’t have minded it too much, he knew that Elena would not share that sentiment.
It struck him as odd that despite having worked with Elena for almost three years now, there was actually very little that he knew about her. He wasn’t the kind of person who made idle conversation, something that Elena had picked up on very quickly in their partnership. She hadn’t tried to push the issue, more than willing to preoccupy her own time following her own interests. It had driven him crazy to hear how often she would talk to her boyfriend on the phone, the lovey-dovey way they seemed to talk about everything managing to touch a nerve with him each and every time. It had gotten to the point that he would make himself scarce whenever she would make such a call, which no doubt contributed to his lack of knowledge about her. It was a shame, considering that Elena herself was the kind of woman that anybody would be lucky to have.
Her deep blue eyes mirrored the color of the ocean that he loved so much, her hair always shining like gold every time that the light struck it. She was quite skinny, something that Gerard could only assume was a result of her trying to keep herself attractive. After all, it was far easier for pretty female spies to get inserted into places than it was for less attractive ones, especially given that most of his targets ended up being multi-millionaire playboys whose only care in the world seemed to be money and women. Such simple-minded fools. He thought as he walked through the front door, walking across the sizable lobby toward the elevators that would take him up to his office on one of the higher floors. They had riches fall in their laps and all they want to do is squander it.
Elena never gave him the inclination that she was particularly interested in rich guys, though
. She was such a go-getter that Gerald could only assume that she would be more content with making her own money than she would in sucking up to some guy just to make him spend his own on her. It was a fresh change from the many women that Gerald had associated with in his time. Those leeches would have done anything just to have some sugar daddy that they could mooch off for the rest of their lives, never striving to do anything for themselves so long as they had someone willing to take care of their needs and desires. Gerald had seen plenty of those women in the past eight years, and had already had my fill of them. He would only go after a woman who could offer him the same kind of effort in a relationship that he was willing to put in.
“Welcome back, Mr. Donahue. How was your time at that team building retreat?” asked an intern named Kyle, a mousy-looking brown haired man in his early twenties who was fresh out of university. He had been one of the recent hires made by Gerard’s company, though the circumstances revolving around his hiring were ones that Gerard himself wasn’t entirely familiar with. He left the hiring of most new employees up to the Human Resources department so he wouldn’t have to worry about such things.
“It was rather uneventful, Kyle, but thank you for asking,” he said simply, walking past him toward where his office was waiting at the end of the hall. “Is Arthur here yet?”
“Mr. Pennington had to step out for a moment, but he told me that he was expecting your arrival and would be back as soon as he was able to. He apologizes in advance for any inconvenience this might cause you, sir. He wasn’t expecting to have to leave when he did,” Kyle said, clutching a clipboard to his chest as he spoke.
Gerard took a moment to look over the somewhat casual attire that Kyle was wearing, clicking his tongue gently. He had relaxed the dress code in recent years, which had opened the doors for people like Kyle to choose to wear button up dress shirts and khakis in the warmer months as opposed to the stuffy suits that he himself usually wore to work. Today was an exception since he had come directly from Charlie’s and hadn’t presumed to stop to change his attire.
“That is fine. Anything else that I should know about, Kyle?”
“There is a Mr. Walworth here to see you. He says that he has something important he would like to discuss with you,” Kyle said, flipping through the paperwork on his clipboard like he was looking for something. “He arrived about ten minutes ago.”
“Send him to my office,” Gerard said simply. “I shall see him immediately.”
“Right away, sir,” Kyle said eagerly, bowing slightly before racing off to do as he was told.
I should do something nice for Elena to make up for us being at one another’s throats. Maybe I’ll send her a nice bouquet and invite her out to dinner. Gerald thought as he sat down in his high-backed leather chair and waited for the arrival of the businessman who had come to see him.
Chapter Four: Elena
Lunch with Charlie didn’t turn out to be as bad as she had thought it would be. The meal was actually pretty tasty, the four-course meal having been prepared by Charlie’s personal chef, Jacque. Elena had to admit that she might have eaten a little more than she’d originally intended to, but the food had been so good that she hadn’t been able to help herself. Charlie had also been enjoyable company, telling her a series of stories about his time as a spy. Apparently, Charlie had been in service to the Queen ever since he had been a young man in his twenties, and had gone on more than his fair share of missions throughout his life. She listened to his stories with more than a little fascination, wondering how he had managed to get away from some of the seemingly hopeless situations that he had been in.
Once they had finished their meal together, Charlie arranged for her to be taken home in a limousine driven by his personal chauffeur. Elena lived in a high-rise apartment roughly three blocks away from Canary Wharf that she had bought straight out with the money from one of her missions. It had felt so good to see her name on the lease, and since she didn’t really need the extra money she had decided to rent out the other apartments to foreign exchange students and other temporary residents like that. It worked as the perfect cover up, though she made sure not to lie about her sources of income on her taxes. That was a special kind of headache that she honestly didn’t need in her life. She felt giddy with excitement as she rode in the back seat, her hand stroking over the top of the black briefcase that held the payment for her recently completed job. There were so many things that she could choose to do with it, especially with her now having a whole week that she could use to do whatever she wished.
Maybe I’ll take a trip to Barcelona for a few days. I hear that their beaches are quite lovely this time of year, and maybe I might even be able to find a guy to help me forget about Jeremy. She sighed at the thought of her previous boyfriend, biting her bottom lip in sadness. Their relationship had only ended because Jeremy said that he didn’t like how often she would have to leave without offering him any explanations about where she was going. If only the stubborn bastard had picked up on the fact that I wasn’t allowed to tell him what I was doing for his own safety, maybe they could have made things work out. However, a quick glance at his Facebook a few nights later had shown that he already apparently had another woman that he was interested in pursuing. Judging by how close they had gotten in the picture, it wasn’t the first time that the two of them had been that close.
Maybe I dodged a bullet and just don’t know it yet. There are plenty of guys in the world. Sure, we were together for three years, but what are the chances that I won’t be able to find a guy who is even more amazing than he was? Especially in the downstairs department.
Once the limo pulled up in front of her apartment and she stepped out, Elena made her way to the front door and let herself inside, taking the four flights of stairs two steps at a time to make her way up to her room. Fishing her front door key out of her bra where she usually kept it, she slid it into the lock and twisted it until she heard the telltale click that told her it was now unlocked. Pushing the door open, she let herself in, closing the door softly behind her and making her way to the living room. Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to take the time to glance around at her apartment.
It was exactly the way she had left it three days ago, from the expensive paintings hanging on the wall to the high-priced furniture that she had bought specifically for the place. A fifty-five-inch television hung from the wall, and on a small metal desk to the side of it sat her laptop, an HDMI cord leading from it to the back of the television. She usually used her laptop to stream Netflix and Hulu to her television, so it was just easier to keep it connected to the TV as opposed to constantly detaching and reconnecting it each time she wanted to use the laptop by itself. She had bought a high-powered Windows tablet for those kinds of things, and it worked quite well for the things that she needed it to do, so she was content.
Kicking off her high-heeled shoes, Elena dropped down onto her couch with a tired sigh. She rubbed at the heel of her foot tenderly, lamenting the fact that such stylish shoes had to be so uncomfortable. Maybe I should use some of my money to put in a word with one of the shoe companies about making high heels that don’t kill your feet after a few hours of wearing them. She tapped her finger against her chin, tilting her head slightly to the side at the thought. It wasn’t a terrible idea, in her opinion.
Glancing over at the clock on her wall, Elena sighed at the fact that it was only a little past three in the afternoon. That meant there were at least two hours before she could even begin to think about going to her favorite nightclub, Eighteen Sky Bar. It was located inside the Intercontinental London O2, a hotel that was loved by both native Londoners and tourists alike. She had booked a room herself there once or twice, and she could definitely see what people were talking about. Shrugging her shoulders gracefully, she grabbed the television remote from where it sat on the small glass coffee table in front of the couch and reclined on her side, pressing the power button to bring the TV to life.
Between her full stomach and the rather uninteresting choices of cable viewing, Elena ended up nodding off for a little while. She found herself dreaming about Gerard, the two of them acting far friendlier in the dream than they had ever acted in real life. In the dream, they were sitting together on a beach somewhere sipping brightly colored cocktails. He looked so handsome in only a pair of black swim trunks, his muscular torso on full view for anyone to see. She had seen him half-naked plenty of times while they were on assignment, so it wasn’t like she had to imagine too hard about what he looked like. She could see countless people occupying blankets around them, but she only really had eyes for him.
“I’m so glad you let me come with you, Elena,” he said, lifting his glass to take a small sip from his drink. “I didn’t realize how badly I could use a vacation.”
“Glad I could be of help. I figured that you couldn’t be grumpy all the time,” she replied, her dream version gently brushing a lock of her golden hair away from her face gently.
“Not all the time, no. Just most of the time,” he said playfully, offering a gentle chuckle as he clinked his glass softly against mine. “It is only around a few special people that I am comfortable enough to let my guard down.”
“Does that mean I am one of those special people?” she asked cheekily, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth while her heart fluttered in her chest.
“You might be,” he said playfully, flashing a wink at her. “Hard to say.”
She giggled at that, glancing down at her body at the black two-piece swimsuit that she was currently wearing. They were technically on a nude beach, but she had chosen to wear clothing to try and retain some of her modesty. Despite how she looked, Elena was quite a conservative girl, and she wasn’t the kind of person who liked to show off her goodies to just anybody. Only special people were allowed that privilege.
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