He doesn’t thank me. HHe just lifts it up and takes a sip while he pulls at the side of the canvas bag and looks at the contents. “What the fuck are you planning here?”
Setting my coffee down, I pull out wigs, stage makeup and various other costume supplies.
“Sit down,” I command. “We’re going into the bank so you can get a look at the boxes. We can’t exactly go in looking like us.”
He sits and watches me warily as I pick up the face putty. “Exactly who are we going to look like?”
Slipping my hand into the bag, I pull out an envelope full of identification. There are people suited to Aiden, some suited to Leah and others that are suited to me. Aiden lets out a low whistle as he picks up each elastic band wrapped bundle. Each one represents one hundred points of identification, which is what we need to open any sort of account in the country.
“I’m not even going to ask how you came by all of these,” he comments.
“Good. Because I wasn’t going to tell you.” I reach out and grab one of the stacks. “This is who you’re about to become.”
He takes the ID stack from between my fingers and examines the photo id. “Mark Knowles,” he reads, followed by his fake address and birthdate. He takes a slow intake of breath, then looks up at me where I’m waiting with the putty tin in my hand. “Did you consider that I may not want to go in there with a fake ID?”
“I did. I thought about taking in a small camera to film the areas for you, but I don’t know exactly what you’d be looking for. It’s better if you come with me.”
I stand in front of him for a moment, keeping my eyes on his as I watch him work through this scenario in his head. “Fine,” he says eventually. “But I don’t want this guy.” He throws the ID stack back on the table and picks up another one. “I’d rather be this one.”
With a slight smile pulling at my lips, I reach out and take the stack from him. “You can’t change it. The appointment is already made.” I drop the ID on the table and take a step toward him. “Now stay still, I have to reshape your face.”
Once again, he mumbles something I don’t quite hear, and folds his arms tightly across his chest, as he waits for me to do my thing. I reach out with a confidence I don’t feel being this close to Aiden, but I focus on moulding his cheekbones with the putty so that his face resembles the photo on the ID. As my concentration increases, I move around him to get a better angle, and before I know it, I’m standing between his thighs. Slowly, his arms unfold and his hands move to my thighs, travelling upward until they’re resting on my hips. It’s a simple touch but it’s enough to break my concentration and send my mind to other more…satisfying pursuits.
My focus moves to his eyes, and all I can see is desire. He pulls me against him, showing me what I do to him, and I let out a soft gasp. It causes a heat to travel between my legs, as that gentle throbbing I experience when I’m near him becomes something so much more.
“Do you like having my hands on you?” he asks. His hands move upward, slipping beneath my shirt to gently caress the skin at my waist. The movement causes me to become heady and I find myself pressing closer.
I nod in response, letting my eyes close for a moment as I enjoy his gentle touch as his hands move over the skin across my stomach in soft sweeping motions before his hands settle back on my hips, and his fingers bite into my flesh and he inhales as if he’s scenting me.
A low appreciative rumble escapes his throat and he sits back, his hands still on my hips, his fingers threaded through the loop on my jeans as his thumbs make idle circles on my flesh.
Opening my eyes, I meet his for a moment before he tilts his head back as if he’s silently telling me to finish. My body is trembling and I let out a slow breath, forcing my attention away from his hands and onto the task at hand.
Creating a new face with stage makeup is a lot like painting on a canvas and I have to blend various colours over his face so it looks as natural as possible. It takes time and while I’m struggling to focus, it takes even longer than it should, but finally I’m done, and Aiden has been transformed.
“You’re done,” I whisper, my face close to his as I reach out and pick up the hand mirror. Holding it in front of him, I force myself to step back on shaky legs, my body feeling bereft as I move out of his reach. “Say hello to Mark Knowles.”
His gaze shifts from me to the mirror and his eyes widen. “Whoa,” he breathes, as he inspects my work. “Holy shit, Chloe. That looks bloody amazing. Where did you learn how to do this?”
“YouTube,” I state.
“YouTube?” he laughs, and it’s a deep rumble of a sound that sends chills coursing through me as my heart swells with pride at his words. He stands and my head tilts back to follow his towering height as he moves closer to me. Reaching up, he tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear and speaks in a low voice. “Not many people surprise me in this world, Chloe. But you do.”
I press my lips together, stifling a smile as I try to take his compliment in my stride by just nodding my acceptance. Then our moment is over and he moves away from me, saying something about making some phone calls to reorganise his day, disappearing back into his bedroom and closing the door. It’s only then that I finally let my breath out and realise how badly I’m shaking.
I take the seat Aiden just vacated and give myself a mental pep talk. I can do this. I can be around Aiden again, and I can keep my focus. I can do what needs to be done. Picking up my now cold coffee, I gulp it down then breathe again before finding the ID that matches Aiden’s and going to work on myself.
Two hours later, we’re both transformed, dressed respectably and ready to go as Mr and Mrs Mark Knowles.
Chapter Sixteen
AUGUST, three years ago
“CHLOE. IT’S Aiden. Again. Call me…please?” he growled into his phone, aggravated and worried that he hadn’t been able to reach her since he’d dropped her off at the office three weeks before.
It took everything he had in him to keep his voice calm when he called her. He had gone through the gamut of emotions since that night with her. Finally, after six months of flirtation, they had given in to what was between them. In the beginning he’d been high on life, feeling as though he had finally found a woman that he could actually see himself with. Then when Chloe didn’t answer her phone, he moved on to worry. Next came anger when he’d gone to her apartment and found no one there. Then came denial when he began to create reasons why she may not be returning his calls. Then, when he finally decided to risk having his voice recognised and call the office to ask for her. He became quite hopeless, because it seemed obvious that she’d left on purpose.
Those feelings were all very new to Aiden. He wasn’t a man who chased after women. He wasn’t the kind of man who called a woman over and over again like he was some lovesick teen. Normally, he set a girl in his sights, he reeled her in, fucked her stupid and when he was done, he moved on. Normally, relationships were too much trouble. He didn’t like having demands on his time, and the last thing he wanted to do was cuddle and talk about feelings. No, he was a no attachments kind of guy. Until Chloe.
Chloe…she was different. And while it sounded ridiculous and cliché–it was true. There was a connection there that couldn’t be ignored and a need that couldn’t be sated. He had never worshipped a woman’s body and whispered his emotions before that night. For months they danced around their attraction to each other, and one night with her wasn’t enough. He wanted her again. He needed her again. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. In truth, it was the first time he’d made love, and it was a sensation he couldn’t forget.
Looking up at the sky, he squinted into the sunlight as cumulous clouds floated by in their perfection as if the very beauty of the day was mocking his inner turmoil. Angrily, he hit the power button on his phone, locking the screen before he returned it to his jeans pocket then headed back inside the club. There was only a week left until they opened their doors, and today they were unpackin
g all of the glassware after refitting the bar area the week before.
One by one, they removed the newspaper that had been used to protect the glasses while they were moved off premises during the renovation. The paper created a large pile on the floor and when they were done, Marli and Jeff had thought it funny to start scrunching the paper up and start a paper ball war.
“Come on, Aiden. Join in,” Marli laughed, throwing a ball that hit him in the cheek, just below his eye.
“I don’t want to join in,” Aiden assured her, his focus on getting the job done so he could get out of there and perhaps contact a friend of his to find out what the hell was going on with Chloe.
“Don’t be a spoil sport, mate,” Jeff called out, laughing as he pummelled Aiden with his arm full of paper balls, one after the other.
“Fuck off and help me clean this shit up,” Aiden grumbled as he leant down and scooped up an armful of papers, packing it down into a tighter ball that he then wrapped with even more paper. In truth, he had planned to get his brother in law back by making a giant paper ball to throw at the back of his head, but he paused when he picked up a sheet of newspaper and a grainy black and white image caught his eye.
Donovan and Goldsmith unite in a marriage set to change the landscape of corporate finance.
“What?” Aiden said to himself as he dropped the rest of the papers and stared down at the image of Chloe dressed in a white gown as she smiled and posed for the camera next to her new husband, Sebastian Goldsmith.
A paper ball hit him once again in the side of the head. But he barely noticed. His heartbeat had become so loud that he could hardly hear the noise of his sister and her husband as they laughed and continued their play fight.
Aiden stumbled backward, a dizziness overcoming him as he blinked at the paper, unable to believe his eyes. Married? What the hell? He checked the date and saw that she’d already been married for a fortnight. The air left his lungs and his chest burned as he reacted viscerally to her betrayal–her deceit. His mind went back to the night they’d spent together and every conversation they’d had before that. Not once had there been mention of a fiancé. She didn’t even have a ring… What the hell was this?
“Aiden? Oh no. What’s happened?” Marli asked, dropping the paper she was holding, her smile disappearing from her face as she noticed the look on her brother’s face.
He didn’t answer. He just gripped the paper tightly as he read the article that went on to detail the long awaited marriage of the heirs to two of the most powerful companies in the world–their union signalling a merging of families, and an expansion of power. The marriage had sent the stock price of both companies skyrocketing, netting both families billions of dollars as investor confidence in them grew.
“How the hell did I miss this?” he mumbled, shaking his head before crumpling the paper into a tight ball and pegging it against the concrete floor.
“Miss what?” Marli asked, exchanging worried glances with Jeff as she looked to Aiden for answers. She’d never seen him as out of sorts as he had been over the past three weeks. His emotions were all over the place and when she’d spent a lifetime seeing Aiden in control, his recent behaviour left her feeling uneasy.
“I um… I need to go,” he mumbled, his face set in a frown as he turned away from her.
“What’s going on, Aiden?” she called after him, flinching as she witnessed his fist shoot out, hitting and cracking the plaster on the newly painted wall. The action made her flinch and gasp as she watched her brother–a hulk of a man who normally showed the world his strength and fortitude–lose his control. It broke her heart to see him hurting, see him using his fists in anger. She wanted so much to go after him, but knew that he needed time on his own to calm down.
As the plaster fell to the floor in chunks, Aiden growled then reached for the door, wrenching it open with a force that sent it slamming into plaster on the other side, created yet another hole, then he stormed out.
“He’ll be all right,” Jeff said quietly, reaching out and placing his arm around his wife’s shoulders and planting a soft kiss on the side of her head. “I’ll go and fix the wall.”
Nodding, Marli watched as her husband moved away before she knelt down to pick up the crumpled paper Aiden had thrown on the floor. Smoothing out the creases, she looked over the broadsheet, the article about the Donovan wedding calling her attention.
“Oh dear,” she said to herself, realising that the girl in the picture must be the girl who was responsible for Aiden’s moods. If the article was true, she was fairly sure that his happiness was now well and truly over. His love had gone and married another man.
The moment Aiden had burst outside he headed straight to his car and got in, gripping the steering wheel as he tried to work out what to do. He wanted to go to her. To confront her. But he didn’t even know where she was.
Like an idiot, he drove to her apartment and banged on the door, demanding that he be let in. Of course, there was no answer. She was gone.
***
A few weeks later, Aiden returned to work, and the moment he entered the building, nothing was the same. Chloe wasn’t there anymore and the day was filled with meetings about a merger between the two companies that were all behind closed doors.
Aiden didn’t know if it was him, or Terry Donovan, but things were strained between the two men, and when there was a break after the morning meetings, Aiden was called into his office to find out why.
“Aiden, I’m letting you go,” Terry stated, leaning casually against the front of his desk as if it were just a friendly chat instead of a firing.
“You’re letting me go? Under what grounds?” Aiden contested, knowing that he had been an impeccable employee, always carrying out his duties perfectly–even the not so pleasant ones.
“The merger requires us to condense our workers. The Goldsmith’s head of security will be taking over your position and you’re overqualified for anything else.” He twisted his body, picking up a large envelope, which he held out to Aiden. “I’m sure you’ll find your redundancy package more than adequate.”
With his teeth clenched so tightly his jaw hurt, Aiden reached forward and snatched the envelope from Terry’s hand, looking inside to find a cheque that covered at least five years worth of his salary and bonuses.
“You’re paying me to go away?”
Terry’s mouth twitched at the corners as he kept his gaze steady, giving the question a moment’s pause before he answered. “I’m making you redundant.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Terry. We’ve been friends for a long time. Just be honest and admit this is about Chloe.”
Pushing off his desk, Terry moved around to his large leather chair and took a seat, the leather creaking in the quiet of the room as Aiden waited for his answer.
“I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, Aiden–your confidentiality agreement prevents you from discussing anything about this company outside these walls.”
“That’s not answering my question.”
“I’m well aware of that,” Terry said, steepling his fingers in front of him as he leaned his elbows on his desk. “You have thirty minutes to clear out your desk and leave. Security will escort you out of the building. Good bye, Aiden.”
And it was at that moment that two large guards who Aiden had employed to the company himself, appeared beside him to escort him out of Terry’s office.
Shaking his head, Aiden turned on his heel and left with the two guards behind him.
“I’m sorry, man. We’re just doing our job,” one of them said as Aiden started pulling his things out of his desk.
“I know,” he stated, sifting through his drawers and taking only what he cared about–which wasn’t very much.
As they escorted him to his car, his colleagues had filled him in on as much as they could, telling him that Chloe left the company about a week after he’d gone on holiday. There was a meeting between her, her father, and the Goldsmiths, and pretty soon she’d
made the decision to leave.
There was a lot of talk about why she left so suddenly. ll of the employees had expected her to be the one to take over from her father, but now that she had married a Goldsmith and the companies were merging, there were fears that jobs would no longer be safe as departments were merged.
Feeling like his world had been ripped from under him, Aiden shook the hands with the men he once worked with, got into his car and drove home in a daze, heading straight to his liquor cabinet and proceeding to work his way through his collection of scotch.
Days went by, and every time Aiden woke to a moment of sobriety, he’d notice there was another hole in the wall of his home. Marli did her best to keep an eye on him, and tried her best to talk him out of his funk.
“Maybe you should get away for a while. Go. Travel. Try to have some fun with all that money. You’re only hurting yourself by drinking in your house on your own,” she’d said.
But her words meant nothing until the day he woke in his car, in the middle of the bush, the airbags deflated all around him and the front end crumpled, that he finally listened to her and booked a flight out of there.
He’d spent a month in the Greek Islands, sampling a life that reminded him what he’d always loved about being a bachelor, being unattached, and when he’d returned home, he’d found that his brother in law had repaired the damage and somehow, he’d felt as though life would go on.
He had vowed to never even let the name Donovan cross his mind and he may have been successful too, if he hadn’t been hauled into the police station for questioning over his position at the Donovan Corporation.
While Aiden had been away, burying himself between the thighs of attractive English tourists, the Donovan Corporation had fallen, and it was the greed of a single man that was to blame.
Somehow, Terry Donovan had funnelled over six billion dollars of the company’s money into an offshore account, and from there, it had vanished. He’d done it by setting up fake dealings with shell companies that, unluckily for him, all lead back to one place–his front door.
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