by Meg MacRose
“Well, let me see what I can do. Would a boat moored in a safe and calm harbour in the South of France be okay, or is that pushing your limits?”
“Now that would be okay, if it just stayed moored. But what is the point of going on a boat if it is only moored?”
He grinned at her as he let out a breath of relief. His fingers itched to send a message to Helen immediately to make the arrangements before Elly changed her mind. In his mind, he gave himself a high-five. Progress.
“Well, you get the best of both worlds. The most amazing cafes are walking distance away, but you can enjoy the quiet and peace of your own private deck and pool. And you don’t have to worry about wi-fi. There’s a perfect connection.”
“Well, that’s a clincher! If there’s good wi-fi, then I’m in.”
The smell of juniper in warm bread rolls permeated and woke his senses. The waiter left a basket of small rolls and a large plate of meze on their table. Alex looked up in appreciation. The coffee smelled just as he remembered it in Greece, and the meze would have been completely at home on any traditional Greek table.
“Thanks Miguel, this looks delightful, as ever.” She smiled up at the waiter. There was definitely a familiarity between them.
Miguel glanced over. “Gosh, how did I forget? I messaged Bradley to tell him you were here. Ivan’s been trying to reach you. Bradley thought that your phone must still be on silent.”
Alex’s hooded dark eyes watched her as she reached over to eat an oily dolomite before she wiped her fingers with elegant dabs on the large cloth napkins.
“Cheers, Miguel,” she responded as she rummaged through her bag. Elly retrieved her phone.
“Let’s hope there’s no crucial issues.” Alex waited for Elly as Ivan would only call about his investigations at Hudson.
“Help yourself,” she mouthed to Alex, as Ivan answered her call.
Elly intrigued him. She remained a woman of many layers. She had been classy at the uni this morning. The students adored her. And friendly with a waiter. Most women who he dated never gave waiters the time of day. And then she had surprised him by being prepared to negotiate their holiday away. Now she was back in professional-Elly mode, the same Elly who he’d seen all fortnight. She listened with the utmost carefulness and spoke with authority as she gave directions to Ivan.
“Okay Ivan, great job. Can you please ask Helen to arrange for us all to meet in one hour’s time? I’ll bring Alex.” Alex couldn’t help but smile at her comment. Apart from Helen, who’d worked with him forever, very few other people ever assumed that he’d clear his calendar for them, but Elly had not hesitated.
She finished her call with Ivan and reached over for some feta cheese.
“This is delicious. Not to tart, not too creamy. You should really try some.” She pushed the meze closer to him before she crinkled her brow and paused as if to find the right words.
“That holiday might have to go on hold. There’s been some developments with the data matching that Ivan was completing this morning. He thinks someone in your company has been accessing and modifying confidential business documents using someone else’s log-in credentials. The person evaded the initial screening, but Ivan ran some code to correlate transactions with other records, things like the registration numbers on cars across your buildings’ car parks. For Ivan to raise it immediately without interrogating it to the ninth degree first suggests that he’s onto something, and we probably need to do some work in parallel. You and Simon know the processes and people better than us. To mitigate any potential issues like this, we had already installed an interceptor on your server. Any persons of interest will have thought that they have saved or sent documents, but any attachments sent are defaulted as blank. The person who Ivan has raised concerns was in the list of persons of interest. Apparently, many large files were sent out this morning that have raised some flags with Ivan. Simon should know by now. We’ll all meet up in an hour to discuss.”
Alex frowned as he thought about what Elly had just explained. He was so used to being the key person who called the shots and made the decisions, that it sat awkwardly when others did it. More so, he hated the thought that someone had stolen or tampered with his company’s information. For the thousandth time that month, he racked his brain to try and ascertain the culprit. He was desperate to understand the situation more.
“Come on, let’s get back now.”
Elly sat back down and frustrated him as she shook her head.
“No.”
Her sense of calm and being in control was a far cry to his desperate need to be in his office.
“It’ll take Ivan an hour before the data has been compiled. There’s no point in him being hassled. If anything, we’d slow him down. Anyway, I’ve not yet eaten, and you can’t promise me food and then deny me! Besides you wanted to talk. Let’s talk.”
Elly’s smile was wide as she tried to entice him back to the food. Alex looked at her, still in two minds, as he gathered up his phone and wallet. The personal side of him wanted to stay and chat with her, but his business brain had already churned through the who, what and when regarding any deceit that had potentially occurred.
“Alex, sit down.” Elly’s voice was sharp and directive.
“Ivan’s good at what he does. There’s nothing that could be done until he has run his diagnostics and written up some code to have it summarised together. There’s no sense rushing back just yet.”
Elly leaned back in her seat as she devoured an olive and some pickles.
“Today will be a long day and an even longer night. So, we better eat now. Enjoy Miguel’s meze.”
Alex sat back down in his seat with reluctance. He trusted Elly, and what she said made sense. But he still wanted to return to the office. Elly settled herself in her seat. He conferred and sat back down.
“Okay, so how do you know Miguel then?” His random question slipped out with more brusqueness than he had meant.
Elly’s eyebrows raised. It probably wasn’t the right question to ask, but their familiarity had annoyed him since they had arrived at the café.
She glanced over at Miguel, who had just delivered an order to another table. Elly shrugged her slender shoulders in a nonchalant way.
“He’s Bradley’s partner. Bradley, you may remember works in our reception.”
Alex’s cheeks burned red. What an idiot. Yes, he was relieved, but boy did he feel stupid for being so blatantly possessive. What kind of question was that to ask Elly? It was none of his business in the first place.
###
Elly was surprised. His question was not what she had expected. People like Alex were used to calling the shots. Like he had twelve years ago, and probably like he had all his life. That’s what money and power do. But Elly had never thought that a billionaire that looked like Alex would ever be envious of a waiter. It just didn’t stack up. She mused on this for a second as she leaned forward to select another olive. Admittedly, she had been very surprised to see Alex as he strode towards her in the university lecture room. He had overshadowed the students with his presence and masculinity. Her audience tended to be how she was, the stereotypical techie – geeky and often on the quiet side.
Now that their contract had almost come to an end, Elly had wondered how she should go about Alex. It wasn’t Alex that was the problem though. She sighed. Despite Nina’s recommendation to just have a fling with him, Elly was very scared. What if she got hurt again?
Nina had prompted her many times over the week to just call him already and arrange a weekend away. Elly was beyond excited at the prospect of what a weekend together would mean; well actually if she was truthful to herself, her body was on fire at the thought of another night with Alex. But she was still scared.
One-night last week Elly had dropped back into the DN offices after a full day at Hudson. Nina had suggested again that she just invite Alex out for a wild night.
“Nina, I don’t think I can do it. I don’t want to be
hurt again.”
Her best friend stood there with her hands on her hips, tut-tutting her.
“Now is your opportunity. What if you don’t get hurt, and you have the most amazing time of your life? If you don’t reach out now, then you’ll regret it forever.”
“But has he changed? Yes, he’s asked me out for dinner countless times. But I know from experience, he’s ambitious. He’s still the same person who disregarded me because someone better came along. I don’t know what to do. He makes me feel alive. I want him to like me. But what if I’m not enough? He’s out of my league. Self-professed geeks don’t date successful billionaires. Beautiful women like models do that.”
“Rubbish. You have done before, and you can do again. You need to believe in yourself. Look how super successful you are, too.”
“I know I wear the right clothes. But I just don’t think I have that kind of pull.”
“Sorry El. I’m not with you on this. You’re talking to the hand right now. You just need to believe in yourself.”
She had survived his rejection, but it had taken all her resolve. and she wasn’t sure that she would cope with being exposed like that again. She’d built herself back up and created a professional persona that she was proud of. She knew that she now exuded success and confidence and vulnerability wasn’t part of it. All week Elly had deliberated on the pros and the cons associated with pursuing something with Alex. The options as she saw it were a one-off one-night reunion, a short fling, or something more meaningful. And every time it came back to the dilemma between having amazing sex with a man whose mere presence made her body throb and who made her feel alive like no-one else did, and the total devastation and heart break that she’d endured the last time he’d broken things off with her.
Her relationship with Alex in Greece had definitely been a turning point in her life. Her heart had been lost to him the first day when he had showered such attention on her. And every day after that they spent together, she had fallen more and more in love. Never had she imagined the freedom or sense of empowerment that a boyfriend like Alex would give her. But then, when he told her it was over, Elly realised that she had to live her own life and be the person who she wanted to be. If she wanted to be perceived as a woman of confidence, then she had to try and act it.
Inside she was quaking. She felt like an absolute fraud. People assumed that she was super-confident, because she looked it. And sometimes she actually was, like when she was doing lectures or presentations. It was her territory. If anyone took a photo of her now, she knew that the outside of her was picture perfect, she looked the part. Thanks to Nina, she wore the right clothes. She glanced down at her simple yet well-tailored suit. It was a perfect fit. And here she was with a person who Bradley described as a gorgeous hunk as they ate delicious food on a sunny day next to the Thames’ River. It didn’t get better.
Elly corrected herself. A relationship with Alex would be better, with this scene played out day after day. She didn’t want regrets with what could have been, but was she brave enough to put her heart on the line when she didn’t know what would happen?
She glanced up at Alex with an attack of shyness. He leaned back on his seat with his mobile phone to his ear, as he listened to Simon. His brow furrowed in dismay. “It’s not sounding good is it?” He asked as put his phone down on the table. He had a right to be worried. It was his company. It was her job to identify the wrongs that had occurred in his business, and to coach Alex and Simon through this next process.
“Alex. It’s okay. Ivan is working on the final reports. It will be finalised shortly, and then you can start working out your next steps. Don’t try and get too far ahead of yourself.”
Alex looked up, his face void of emotion and his voice flat.
“Thanks El. I can’t stop but go through a mental list of everyone who works at Hudson who would have the level of security clearance that Simon thought would have been needed to access some of those files. They were really sensitive documents that were sent out this morning.”
The effect of many late nights spent at work had caught up on her, and Elly heard the exhaustion in Alex’s voice that she felt herself. They both needed some time away. Maybe a holiday would do them good. Alex worked as many hours as she did, maybe more. She wished that she was the type of touchy-feely person who could erase the tension in his shoulders. But she wasn’t, she wouldn’t know how to even start. She pushed the plate of meze towards Alex.
“Here, eat some of this.” If there was anything that Nina had taught her, it was that working on a full stomach was much easier than an empty one. And Elly bargained that they would be busy well into the night.
“Thanks Elly.” His eyes lingered on her face as he gave her the briefest of smiles. Her stomach flipped upside down. She had forgotten how devastating his smile could be, like she was the centre of his universe.
Alex’s phone buzzed again. Without a word he listened to Simon before he ended the call.
“Ivan suspects the persons of interest are Julia, and that insipid boyfriend of hers, Peter. Julia’s role as an Executive Manager in our marketing department has provided her access to many of the secure parts of our system. And she’s a jolly good manager too. I’ll not have her name dragged through the mud. And Peter has been very popular in our business development department. Though he was unable to get his predecessor’s job when he applied. It seems that Ivan has found emails on our system that shows Peter has accepted a role with one of our key competitors, and that he used Julia’s access to share confidential documents and sabotage the Austin Steel acquisition. Simon is devastated. He wants to protect Julia from this, but Ivan hasn’t been able to yet confirm her level of involvement.”
Alex cursed and shook his head. Elly felt torn for Alex. From her own professional perspective, Ivan and herself had done a good job. But poor Alex and Simon, her heart wrenched for them, and for Julia too. Taking advantage like that is such a crime, especially as she works in a family business. The damage that it could do to them all.
They’d have to get back to the office. There was no way Alex would sit here idly away from the action. She called out across the cafe.
“Miguel, can you pack this up for us to take away?”
Miguel gave her an exasperated look.
“Don’t tell me you prefer to eat working at your computer over this beautiful view?”
Elly shrugged. “Well, you know me.”
Miguel grunted something incomprehensible as he retrieved the dishes from their table.
“I find that walking and talking out loud helps bring a bit of clarity, so come on, let’s stroll back to the office while we chat about your options.”
Miguel handed to Alex a large bag that brimmed with brown paper bags and plastic containers full of food, enough to feed an army.
“Come on.”
###
Elly offered her hand to Alex. He slipped his hand into hers and her warm hand gave him reassurance.
“Don’t dwell too much on how this has happened. We will be able to confirm if it is Peter, and if Julia is not involved, we’ll be able to prove that too. There’s an electronic footprint everywhere. It’s just a matter of us joining the dots. It’s what we do. What you need to work out is how do you feel about Julia if she is involved. If she’s not involved, then how can you protect her?” Elly’s insightful assessment logical and spot-on.
He squeezed her hand in thanks. He appreciated that she wasn’t someone who sought attention Most women he had dated would have made a scene or turned the conversation around to be about them.
Their steps were in unison as they walked back over the bridge. He remained oblivious to the throng of people and the cars that blasted their horns in the traffic jam beside them.
“Julia wouldn’t have consciously decided to bring down Hudson’s. She’s worked so hard and implemented so many innovative and effective campaigns.” Alex didn’t know if he was trying to convince himself or convince Elly. She did
n’t interrupt him, and he was grateful that she allowed him the space to verbalise the torrent of thoughts that rushed through his head. Her concern was evident in her quiet manner and how she squeezed his hand in support as he spoke.
“It makes no sense, unless she’s been taken advantage of. And if Peter has another job to go to, why would he do what he’s done? There must be more to it than this.”
What a nightmare.
“What kind of relationship do Julia and Peter have then? What have you noticed when you’ve joined them outside of work?”
“To be honest, I’ve never socialised with them. That’s not the kind of thing that we do. Ever.” In the few years that both Simon and Julia had worked with him, there’d never been any family issues. They always remained professional with each other and never really discussed any personal stuff. Alex didn’t need to hear about any family gatherings that his siblings chose to attend or not. And he never chatted with them about his latest conquest or any social events that he went to. They’d never had any emotional entanglements at work. It had always come down to numeric figures in a report and the decisions that emanated. Not about their overbearing father. Not about their mothers. And certainly not about boyfriends or girlfriends.
“I guess I only see Julia in her professional capacity at Hudson. As far as I’m concerned, she’s great at her job and a real asset to the company. I struggle to see how she has any involvement. It’s a bit sad isn’t it, that I have no idea what my own brother and sister are like outside of work?”
“It obviously suits you all. Sometimes family are like that. Maybe venturing into the personal lives of your brother and sister will open up too many cans of worms. I’m sure it must be complicated being half-siblings who didn’t grow up together.” Elly hesitated before continuing. “There’s a reason why you have all been attracted to working together in unison. Before you employed either Simon or Julia, you had no idea on how successful or good they would be in their roles. That could have been risky for you. Likewise, for them, they wouldn’t have known the level of resentment that you held against them.”