Unwrapped by The Billionaire

by Joanna Nicholson

  “I suppose I do regret that things have had to work out this way, but business is business. Besides, Ortega is not going to have much time to lament the fact that he lost these papers anyway,” he replied, tapping the top of the envelope with his pointer finger. “Especially not after I informed the authorities of his money laundering. The IRS is no doubt thumbing through his files as we speak, and once they see that he has been funneling money out of the country for years Ortega will be going away for a very long time.”

  Such a two-faced business. Almost makes me wonder why I go through the trouble of staying. I could just as easily be the next person that Charlie chooses to turn on, and what would become of me then? I’d either be dead or locked away for the rest of my life.

  “Now, why don’t we get down to why you are here. In honor of your successful assignment, you are both entitled to a fifteen-thousand-dollar reward,” Charlie said, motioning to a sunglasses-wearing bodyguard who had been standing silently beside him this whole time. “Wallace here is holding your money in those briefcases.”

  The man who had been referred to as Wallace moved to place the two briefcases that he held side by side on the small coffee table in between the chairs that Elena and Gerard were sitting on, his thumbs moving to click open the fasteners of each case before lifting the lids. The blonde smiled widely at the sight of one-hundred-dollar bills sitting in rows within, her hand reaching over to pluck one of the bands of cash from within and flipping through them before slapping the stack of cash against her palm. “I always love this part of the job,” she said giddily, sliding the cash back into her case and pulling it over onto her lap.

  Gerard gave a dismissive nod as he grabbed his own case, resealing the fasteners before setting the case down beside his chair. “Is there anything else that you need us for right now, Charlie, or might I possibly excuse myself. I happen to have some business ventures that need to be seen to. I’m quite a busy man, after all,” he said, rising to his feet.

  Elena sighed internally at the sight of Gerard, a small smile playing creeping along the corner of her lips. He was so handsome that it felt like it should be a crime; every one of his features looking as though it would have looked more in place on a carving of some Greek God rather than the no-nonsense man who had become my partner, and his lightly tanned skin offered him a slightly exotic look. His black hair hung down to his shoulder, his strong jaw framed by a beard and mustache combo that he always kept trimmed. His steel-grey eyes glinted in the light as he turned back just in time to meet her gaze, his arms crossing gently to avoid wrinkling the black and white suit that he was currently wearing. Not wanting him to realize that she had been staring, Elena allowed her eyes to pass from him back to Charlie, hoping that her action came across as inconspicuous enough to not attract too much of his attention.

  “I suppose that the two of you do deserve a break. How about you take a week off from assignments, and I can call you in next week so that we can get started on the bigger score that I have in mind?” Charlie said, rubbing his hands together greedily as he spoke. Even without him having said anything yet about his next mission, he had the feeling that it was going to offer quite the payout. Those were the only kinds of missions that ever seemed to get Charlie this excited about anything.

  “Sounds good to me,” Elena said quickly, grabbing her own briefcase and climbing to her feet, absently brushing a hand down the front of the Oriental red dress that she had worn for this meeting. “I haven’t been able to take some time to myself in quite a while, so I think a week off would be just what the doctor ordered.”

  “Maybe you can take the time to fix that attitude of yours,” Gerard said snidely as he rose to his feet, giving her a lingering look as before he reached down to pick up his suitcase. “Or deal with your breakup before you come back so I don’t have to deal with you bitching at me through every mission, yeah?”

  “I do not bitch at you through every mission,” she snapped petulantly, feeling a flush of embarrassment spreading across her face from him having put her on the spot in front of Charlie like this. She had prided herself on making sure that their mysterious employer knew as little about her personal life as possible, particularly when it came to who she was dating.

  “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 th
ey 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 chauf
feur. 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.