Forbidden Deception (Deception)

11

I notice two men standing near a black SUV outside of my work the next morning as I walk in. My throat tightens. I know exactly who they are and what they are doing here. A shudder passes through me, and I hurry into the building.

They’re looking for me.

Samuel’s people are looking for me.

I smile at Danyi in the elevator but sneeze right after. She playfully scrunches her nose at me, but when her eyes fall to the bow earrings in my ears, she brightens up instantly.

“You’re sick, but I’ll let it slide because you are wearing the earrings.” She gives me a sideways hug.

“It’s just the rain catching up to me.” I sneeze once more, and she jumps away, attaching herself to the far elevator wall. Thankfully, it’s only us two here.

“Ew! Get away, please.”

I shake my head when she scurries away once her floor arrives.

“Text me!” she shouts over her shoulder. I smile.

I tried to call Remo this morning, but he didn’t answer. I’ll have to try again later. The letters about my past, the dead skeletons, can only be taken care of by Remo. I trust him, and nothing in this world will ever change that.

An hour into my day, Rafael sends me an email asking me to come into his office.

Grabbing tissues on the way, I hurry to his office. With a knock, I walk in to see him take something out of his wallet.

“Here is my card. Get us booked at a hotel in Santorini in Greece. We are going to look at land options for that project I recently took on.”

Grabbing his black card, I frown at him. “The hotel resort you recently sent me blueprints of?”

He nods, glancing from his screen to me. He starts to look away but pauses and turns back to me.

“Why is your nose red?”

I instantly touch it.

“Ugh, the rain. I kept walking in it, and now I’m feeling sick. This is so bad. Look, I’m even wearing an ugly jumper instead of a cute shirt.” I twist and show him my jumper, and when I look up, I catch his cheek twitching.

“Get that hotel booked for now, the nearest one to the sites. We need to leave in two days and come back in three to four days. As you probably see in the email today, all plot viewings are back to back,” he continues. “And please, take some medicine, wear a mask and get a new umbrella. Don’t make me sick, too.”

I gasp. “I will cough on you if you say that to me ever again. I won’t purposely try to get you sick.” I narrow my eyes.

“Fine. Now out you go and get this sorted,”

“Stop being mean,” I grumble while walking away.

“—death of me,” I hear him whisper right as I shut the door behind me, making me snicker.

A nudge to my shoulder makes me shoot up and blink my sleep away.

I blink some more to adjust to the lighting. I fell asleep in my office.

And Rafael is standing above me, arms crossed and a faint smirk on his face.

“Oh, I’m sorry for falling asleep. I didn’t even realise it was time to go home.” My voice is raspy, and a throbbing headache pounds at my head.

“Right, grab your things. It’s five in the evening.” Rafael walks over to my sofa in the corner of the room and sits down. His eyes travel over to the small vase of sunflowers I put near my desk. Aurora sent them to me yesterday, and since I was feeling lonely in the office, I decided to bring them here to remind me of people who love me.

Grabbing my bag, iPad, and phone, I nod towards the door, and he rises and follows me. We walk outside in silence. When Rafael grabs my wrist and pulls me to his Rolls Royce, I don’t argue. I’m too tired.

My head bobs against the car window, my eyes close, and my mind goes completely numb the whole ride to my apartment. And Rafael doesn’t bother me either, which I am silently grateful for. Soon enough, we arrive, and I dread waiting outside for Leo to show up. But then I spot his car parked up ahead, and a smile touches my lips.

Thank God.

“Thank you for the ride, Mr Boss. I…” I turn to see Rafael shaking his head while his eyes flit over my whole face.

His gaze leaves a hot trail in its wake. His attention pauses on a lock of hair that has fallen out of my ponytail, but he doesn’t reach for it. His focussed intensity and how close he is makes it difficult to think of anything else.

“Call me Rafael outside of work. It’s weird for you to call me boss all the time. Sounds like I pile you with work all day long.”

A chuckle spills out of me. “You do. You are the meanest boss I have had so far,” I sass.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes,” I mutter, my eyes on the hand that is raised in my direction but drops. Was he going to touch me?

“Out, then.” He nods.

Shaking my head, I get out of the car, then walk towards my building. I climb the stairs to the front door, then make the mistake of looking over my shoulder.

And there he is, standing outside of the car, leaning against it with crossed arms while he watches me.

He nods towards the door.

And I head to it, with many things troubling on my mind.