Reminding himself of the brief outline he’d had of Steve, the guy he was supposed to be, he responded. “I came to London for college, to get a degree in business. I’m just at the end of my first year, same as Lara.”
He risked a glance. Her eyes were wide and she looked as if she was holding her breath. She’d gone quite pale. She grabbed her fork and started eating. A moment later, she addressed Cassandra. “This is really good.”
Cassandra twitched visibly when spoken to, as if she were miles away. She rose to her feet and began collecting plates as she went, whether they were empty or not, which seemed odd.
Compton Senior turned to watch his wife leave the room. Everyone did, except for Charlie, who was glued to his phone again.
“Is she always like this?” Draco whispered under his breath.
Lara shrugged.
She’d mentioned coming to dinner as a regular event, but there was no evidence of a connection or even an understanding between them. It seemed as if Lara Compton knew very little about her stepmother.
It made Draco recall the moment that Patrick Rattigan had arrived into their lives with his two sons, Rory and Sean. They’d all been a bit wary of each other at first, but the distance was very quickly broken down. They all got on well—like a house on fire, Patrick Rattigan used to say. Draco was beginning to realize how lucky he was. He was closer to his stepbrothers then Lara was to her real brothers. Dysfunctional families, he supposed. It was a game of chance.
When Sean got out of jail and they all got together, he wouldn’t forget this moment—the austere dining room atmosphere, the lack of humor and family feeling. The last year or so he’d been spending a lot of time on his own, but things would change pretty soon. Rory was with Sky now and Draco was beginning to accept it. Sean would be out of jail and the tension between himself and Rory over it would break down. That time couldn’t come soon enough for Draco.
He made a mental note to text both Sky and Rowan later, let them know he appreciated them and try to plan some sort of get together on Sean’s release.
When Cassandra came back in with the main course, Draco realized Compton senior was studying him. His thoughts had wandered.
Dishes of vegetables were set out on the table and Cassandra served hearty slabs of Beef Wellington on each dinner plate.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, Sir,” Draco said, retrieving one of his planned questions to fill the silence, “but how long has Susanna been head of HR?”
Compton Senior seemed to welcome the opportunity to talk about the old days, and rambled on at length about setting up different departments. It was a bloody relief. Both he and Lara were interested and hung on every word, but they were the only ones.
By his side, Lara relaxed and actually ate some of the food. The beef was good, but Draco had no appetite for it. He ate some for appearances sake. He barely touched his wine. He wanted to remain sharp, in case the more difficult questions were yet to come.
The brothers were largely silent as if the meal was a commitment they had to get past. Charles disappeared at one point and when he came back he fidgeted with his nose. Had he really gone to snort coke to get through this? Wryly, Draco considered anyone might if it was like this every night.
C.S. did keep engaging with his wife, and she smiled each time. The worst of the tension was there between husband and wife, Draco noticed. Cassandra was very much the trophy wife, it was obvious. She was glamorous, and dressed sexy, with lots of obvious signs of wealth, but she didn’t engage with C.S. the way Lara attempted to. Lara was all about work chat, frequently trying to get her father to acknowledge her presence.
It made Draco want to stand up and tell the old guy what a loser father he was, and take Lara away somewhere she could relax and party, convince her to give up this insane quest to impress her father. In this environment, Draco knew more than ever he wanted her to be safe and happy. The image it created in Draco’s mind included himself in the role of protector. He had to remind himself constantly of his real role here, and that was to support Lara in her mission to impress C.S., even though he felt like doing just the opposite.
Growing up, he’d protected his two younger sisters from their mum when she went on one of her benders. Until their mum got remarried and calmed down, Draco had to make sure his sisters were safe when she got home from one of the sessions driven by drugs or alcohol, or both. Often she’d have some loser in tow. The unbidden memory made Draco feel uneasy. This wasn’t the same though.
At the end of each course, Cassandra stood up to collect the plates. Restless after the forced conversation, Draco rose from his seat after the main course and set about helping her. Immediately Cassandra looked uncomfortable.
“You don’t have to do that, you’re a guest.” She gave one of her artificial smiles.
A Stepford wife, that’s what she reminded of him of, Draco finally realized. She was artificial, almost robotic.
“Yeah, you sit down and I’ll help,” Jamie announced. He grabbed some of the serving dishes and headed off.
Lara tugged on Draco’s shirtsleeve, and looked as if she wanted him to stay.
“You have good manners, young man.” Compton Senior commented.
That annoyed Draco. The guy didn’t know anything about his upbringing and yet felt his position entitled him to comment. Whatever.
Lara widened her eyes and peered up at him pleadingly.
“Two seconds,” he whispered. He already had two plates in his hands and if he didn’t leave he’d likely lose the ability to resist smart mouthing C.S.
In the palatial hallway there were no clues as to which direction the others had gone. He wandered vaguely down the left hand side of an ornate staircase and heard plates clattering from beyond.
When he reached the kitchen, he was drawn to a sudden halt.
Cassandra had set her plates down on the work surface and Jamie was behind her. He put the plate he carried onto the work surface beside hers then put his hands on her waist and kissed the back of her neck where her skin was exposed.
Intrigued, Draco wondered if Jamie was about to get a kick in the nuts.
Jamie whispered something in his stepmother’s ear and she chuckled softly.
Pivoting on her high heels, she rubbed up against him.
Wow. Draco tried not to make a sound. Maybe this was why Jamie had greeted them with that comment about enjoying it while it lasted. He watched for a few seconds longer—just long enough to see Cassandra approved, because her head fell backwards and she pressed back into her stepson’s embrace—before he took several steps back into the hallway and said loudly, “is the kitchen here somewhere?”
He gave them a few moments to extract themselves from the incriminating position before he arrived behind them with the dirty dishes. He barely glanced at them as he deposited the dishes on the nearest flat surface inside the kitchen turned on his heel and left.
Back in the hallway, he discovered Compton Senior had followed him. The expression on Compton Senior’s face made Draco wonder. Perhaps he knew his son was making moves on his stepmother.
C. S. didn’t hold anything in his hands. They were in his pockets, and he stood in the central hallway blocking Draco’s path back to the dining room.
“Something I can help you with, Sir?” Draco knew it sounded cheeky, but he was giving the couple beyond the benefit of the doubt and warning them Compton was in the vicinity. He hadn’t particularly warmed to the old guy, but he respected him for building a massive business pretty much from scratch. Beyond that, there was a long way to go. Lara’s extreme efforts to impress her father told him enough. None of it was fair. Okay, there were probably reasons he didn’t understand. Compton Senior might be keeping Lara at a distance because she’d gone with her mother. The history was a mystery, Lara had confided very little, definitely not enough to form an objective opinion. Even so, Draco didn’t want C.S, to go in there and see what he’d seen. If he didn’t already know, it wasn’t the right t
ime to find out. So he did the decent thing and blocked the path.
His host gave a wry smile, his eyes narrowed assessing. “What are your intentions regarding my daughter?”
“Friendship.”
“Is that all?”
Subtle. “I understand your concern, Sir. We’re good friends, we share interests arising from the business degree were studying.”
Before he had a chance to respond, he heard a chair being pushed back in the dining room and Lara was on her way out.
C.S. wasn’t going to let it drop. They were currently barring each other’s paths. This was it, a roadblock. Draco knew he had to make his decision on how to handle things, and fast.
The concern marking Lara’s face as she approached made Draco take action. He didn’t want her unnecessarily rattled.
“Why don’t we discuss it tomorrow, Sir? If you have a convenient opportunity to hear me out. In the meantime rest assured that I’m a good friend to your daughter and mean her no harm.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Lara slumped into the taxi seat. “Thank god that’s over.”
“Yes,” Draco replied, absentmindedly.
“You were right about Charlie, he’s not just using when its party time.” It made her sad.
Draco looked at her. “I’m sorry I was right. Maybe he’ll grow out of it. Right now he’s basically pissing his life up against the wall.”
She nodded. “Is it like the person you knew who’d taken drugs?”
“Different circumstances. That person had nothing in life, no opportunities, not the way brother has. She thought she had nothing to look forward to, but her life changed later and there was so much more good stuff to come.”
Lara couldn’t help herself, she had to know. “Was it a girlfriend?”
He stared at her in his eyebrows lifted, he looked shocked and then he laughed. It was the last thing she’d expected him to do. “No, it was my mum.”
Lara was stunned by his response and the look in his eyes as he mentioned his mother. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
He smiled at her tenderly and reached out to stroke her shoulder. Lara melted. He was gorgeous when he looked at her that way. It made her feel special and cared for. Was it just what she wanted, or was it real?
“Don’t be sorry. I don’t talk about it much but we all suffered as kids, me and my sisters, because of her habit. Especially my youngest sister, Sky.”
“You said she’d so much good stuff to come, your mum.”
“She’s remarried now, and they’re hardly the ideal couple but they’re in love and she’s happy. If she’d stayed on the drugs, she might never have met anyone new. It’s colored my judgement I know, but I look at your brother and I think about stuff he’s missing, the opportunities he’s wasting.”
Now that they’d edged into talking about Charlie, Lara felt it was time to ask something that was worrying her. “Do you think Charlie’s the breach? Is he secretly been accessing funds?”
“No. It’s not Charlie.”
“You’re sure? Already?”
He nodded. “Hey, don’t worry it’s in hand.”
“Is it? You didn’t say.”
“Lanky Harry grilled me about it the other day.”
“Lanky Harry! Oh my!” She giggled.
He put his arm around her shoulder, drawing her close. God it felt good.
“Do you think you’re close to uncovering the breach?” She had to force herself to ask. She’d steered away from it because it signalled the end. Even saying it aloud made her feel as if she was pulling them apart, and her time with him so precious she didn’t want to do that.
“Soon.” That’s all he said. Thankfully.
“There’s something I want you to know, I’m not a spoiled rich girl. I know you think I am.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I might have thought that at first, but I don’t now. You’re working hard to equal your bothers.”
“It’s more than that. I have to battle with my mother too. She wants me to ignore the lot of them, refuse an allowance from my dad. I love her, but I was just a little kid. I just want to be part of it. My brother’s are given jobs high up in the company while I’m studying for the skills to earn a place on the bottom rung.”
Hugging her against him, he took his time to reply. “You hadn’t thought about how you were going to reveal the source of the breach, had you?”
Her cheeks flushed. “Because it depended on what you found out, what the answer to the question was. If it’s someone will get hurt by this—”
“Someone is bound to get hurt by this.”
“I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I just wanted to... get ahead.”
“Your dad might value people who climb the ladder of progression.”
“You’re talking as if you’re on his side.”
“Nope, just playing devil’s advocate.”
“Of course I’d love the chance to climb the company ladder, but this is just placement. I chose a business degree because I think I can contribute to the family company but so far it’s my brothers and I’m doing better on my business degree course than they ever did. I’ve got my head down and working hard.”
“You didn’t need to resort to this project really, did you?”
“I suppose not.”
“It was the danger you are attracted to, the risk. You had to know it could all go belly up.”
“Believe me I knew that, and planned for it.”
“But not if it all went right, and how you’d present the information to Compton Senior?”
“I guess I thought I’d make an appointment with him and tell him.”
“So let’s do that.”
Astonished, she pulled out of his hold. “Wait, what? You know who’s behind the fraud?”
She saw his eyes in the passing streetlights, saw the concern and affection. “I’ve known since the first night you left me alone in the apartment, it didn’t take long for me to find out.”
Her mouth fell open. “Unbelievable! All this stress, all this time.”
“It’s what you wanted, deep down. You wanted the danger of discovery, and you wanted to impress your dad. Now’s the time to come clean.”
“Who is it, who’s behind it?”
“I’m not telling you, I’m not revealing until we’re standing in front of your father, and I don’t believe you’re ready for that.”
She stared at him, silently trying to think it through. “No, you’re right. I’m not ready.”
“But it’s time to come clean,” Draco said firmly.
She shook her head. “Just give me a couple of days to get used to the idea.”
He pulled her closer again.
She sighed and snuggled against his chest, wishing they could stay that way forever.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The following morning Draco found a message from Janice in his inbox.
It stated C.S. would see him at nine thirty. Draco hid it before Lara saw.
He had an hour.
He stared at his computer screen, not seeing anything but problems he couldn’t control. Or could he? He could try.
Whatever. He wouldn’t change it for the world. The time he’d spent with Lara was the best thing that’d ever happened to him.
Maybe Rory could help, but he was up to his eyes too. Maybe they could help each other out, like they used to. Why not, Draco thought. There was too much angst between them since Sean’s jail sentence. Angst over something they couldn’t change. Pulling together before Sean came out would help him more than being at odds with one another.
They’d exchanged text messages. Rory’s boss had been injured and died. Rory had to run the bike workshop single handled until he got help or Sean got out of jail. It wasn’t a good time to ask Rory for a favor, especially as Draco had come down on him hard about Sky.
Then there was Lara. He simply couldn’t let her down.
He’d long since given up the idea of
setting a virus free in Compton Finances. It seemed an immature idea, ever since he’d admitted she meant something more to him than a conquest, a ticket to wreak revenge.
When the time drew closer he got up and left while Lara was making coffees. In the elevator he sent her a text saying he had something to take care of. She’d probably think it was family stuff.
Janice got up from behind her desk and sashayed down the corridor in front of him, leading the way. She knocked on the door and opened it.
Draco thanked her and entered the room.
Compton Senior stood by the window, staring out at the view.
Draco took a quick look around, his attention drawn again to those massive screens on the wall and the information they contained. C.S. liked to have his finger on the pulse, or so it seemed.
Compton gestured at the chair in front of his desk. “Take a seat.”
Draco undid the button on his jacket and sat down, ready to deliver his prepared speech.
“Who are you?” C. S. said. “Because you sure as hell aren’t Steven Smith. Steven Smith is some wet behind the ears geek from the midlands.”
He’d checked the university data. That was inevitable. It was only a matter of time. Draco wondered why Compton hadn’t confronted him about it before now. Had he been watching, waiting to see what would transpire?
“You’re some nobody who saw an opportunity to use Lara, to get inside this company.”
“You’re right about me being a nobody. But I’m not using Lara.”
Compton gestured with his hands. “What is it you want to say?”
“You have an in house funds leak, a case of fraud, or so it seems. Lara told me you had concerns about it, so I’m helping her look into it.”
Compton barely flinched, but Draco sensed he was surprised.
Draco (Coded for Love Book 2) Page 13