Elliot

I am … a liar

 

Things … changed.

After the gym, Ilaria slept in my bed, ate her meals with me, found her way into my office to randomly ask me things, and I didn’t feel the immediate need to push her away. It was … odd. Especially when I learned what proof Ilaria had, and it was of epic proportions. The day I called her down to the gym she hadn’t been as careful hiding the proof as she had been previously. Every daily search of her belongings in the house had come up with nothing, and her things in storage had been thoroughly picked through.

“That day”, as I called it, changed everything. She’d left a medallion in her room, hastily tucked under her pillow. She had no idea what she held, but I did. Between the slots of metal was the proof of my birth—a blood link from my family—shown on the front through the red crest. It affirmed exactly who I was. But, for the first time, I hesitated through my uphill battle of revenge. I waited to act, to put the wheels in motion and take the next step.

Because I found I liked my charge and knew this would break her.

I put it off for days, working and enjoying her wonder at my touch in my bed. I never tired of her and sought her out multiple times a day just to hear her scream my name and submit under my hands. I had yet to claim her entirely. Taking her virginity, stamping her as mine forever, seemed to be a step too far. It was a slide into possession I needed to be wary of. But all dreams come to an end. One must wake up and face the brightness of the sunlight, exposing the world of darkness as only a faded memory. Natalie was my sunlight, my douse of cold water.

“When will you take her to attempt to meet Oren? You know they won’t let her in, but the action will get Lennox sniffing.”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose as I sat at my desk. It was only four in the morning, and I’d been restless, needing to move and clear my thoughts. “We have all the time we need.”

“We found the proof, Elliot. This is what we’ve been working on. Strike while the fire is hot, or you may miss your chance.”

I snorted. “How could I miss my chance? I have her, the medallion, and my in. I can play with them until I’m good and ready.”

“But you aren’t.” One brow lifted as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re playing with her.”

I didn’t sense jealousy in the statement, just a frank observation. Still, it made me clench my teeth. “I do not play with her.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Don’t go He-Man on me. I’m aware of the difference, and you’ve got the wrong equipment for me to ever be interested in. The point is, you’ve been making overtures into Demetri Enterprises’ markets for a few years, putting yourself in the position to attempt a hostile takeover. Lennox taking over the business made that work much more difficult after he staunched the bleeding money his father left behind. The only other option you have is to come in with your heritage, take your place, and strike.”

She was right, of course. I’d hired her because she didn’t pull her punches, said what needed to be said, and always backed my play in the end. I kept her around to keep my routine rolling and the anxiety levels to a minimum. Before, this conversation would have gotten my blood boiling, would have pushed me to race on, but it didn’t have the same draw it previously had. A niggling worry in the back of my head leaned toward Ilaria.

It all came back to her. Maybe I’d let things go to long, lost sight. Maybe Natalie was exactly what I needed right now. “We can go today. Get Ilaria up, fed, and ready by six for us to travel. I want to beat the morning traffic if I can.”

Natalie nodded and left the room without a word. I supposed there was nothing left to say. A few hours later, Ilaria tucked at my side in the back of the limo, we were on our way from upstate to the city.

“Where are we going?”

I didn’t look at Ilaria. “Natalie tells me you wanted to have a meeting with Demetri Enterprises. I have a few things I need to take care of for business around the area and figured this would be a good a time as any to take you.”

Ilaria’s cheeks reddened as she imperceptivity clenched her arm over her breast, the one the medallion was tucked under. I knew her hiding place now; it was why we hadn’t been able to find it before. Clever girl. Pride swelled in my chest. I could respect that sort of ingenuity.

“It’s a personal matter put forth with my mother. That’s all.”

I also liked she felt the need to explain, even if she wasn’t telling me everything. But she didn’t know I was the man who’s future the medallion held. “You are your own woman, Ilaria. I don’t assume to know everything or all your business. You just had to ask me and I would have helped you.”

She nodded. “My mother had a final wish, and I’d like to see it done.”

“Then it will be. Sit back and relax. We’ve got a ways to go.”

I shouldn’t have been so pleased when she did just as I commanded, but I was. A few hours later, I gently woke her as we were parked in front of Demetri Enterprises headquarters. She blinked a few times before smiling softly at me.

“I’ll be back in a few moments.”

I nodded. Naïve girl. She wouldn’t find her way directly to Oren so easily, no matter what she believed. This was a world of money and privilege. She may wear a designer dress and heels because of my money, but she didn’t understand the mechanism and had no clout behind her. She wouldn’t know to use my name, or to pull on the connections I may have. She’d be simple and think she could gain entrance just because she asked.

I know she thought all these things because I had, too, at one time.

A few minutes later, however, she came out of the building, red faced and with watery eyes. Heat spread from my gut and clenched my heart into a tight fist. She stubbornly rubbed at her eyes, flicking away her tears before she forced a deep breath and approached the car. Her broken smile did nothing to hide the heat of embarrassment across her ruddy cheeks or the hurt in her gaze.

“What is wrong? I didn’t expect you out so quickly.”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’ll have to stop again another day, if that’s all right.”

“Ilaria,” I growled, “we may not be in my home, but I still demand your obedience. I will not ask my question again.”

Her head tilted to the side and dropped a bit, exposing her frantic pulse, and she closed her eyes on a slow exhale. Submission. Perfect. Brilliant. Natural. My cock hardened at the sight. She reached across the seat and gripped my hand, squeezing until her knuckles were white. I was reminded submission did not mean weakness. In fact, she may have been the stronger of the two of us.

“I know I’m poor. I get it. I don’t have polish and an important name. I don’t have prestige and some private-school education. But I’m a person. All I did was ask a question.”

It was always the same. The entitled looking down their nose at the impoverished. The wealthy viewing the world through glasses that told them they were the gods. It didn’t always mean money to the point of millions. And what was worse, some of those plucked from the lower ranks were harsher than the rich when they earned positions of any sort of power. A receptionist for Demetri Enterprises may have easily made good money, and that was enough to become a gargoyle of a gate keeper.

I pinched Ilaria’s chin and forced her gaze to mine. “You belong to me. I chose you. Over others. Over pretty airheads with Harvard degrees and daddy’s money. I chose you over shrinking violets that would wilt at the sign of an alleyway. I chose you because you have weathered a storm, staved off starvation, and shucked the coal of your life to reveal the diamond of you underneath. I chose you because you are worthy of me to be proud of. Never, do you understand me? Never let anyone look at you any other way than how I do. To accept their view is to say mine is worthless. Am I worthless, Ilaria?”

“No.”

“Am I weak?”

“No.”

“Am I the one who chose you?”

“Yes.” Her breathless whisper slithered over my arm, leaving gooseflesh on my skin.

“Am I the one who paid just to have your company?”

“Yes.”

“Then who, really, is better than the rest?”

She blinked, her big eyes filled with tears, her mouth trembling. But her steel poked through as she pushed her shoulders back, lifted head, and thrust her chin forward. “Me.”

“You are mine because you allowed it. I have you because I had to ask. Remember that.”

“Why me? How do you know so much?”

“Because I investigate what I want. That’s all you need to know.”

I pressed a heated kiss against her mouth as I reached for my phone. Natalie answered on the first ring, and I spoke against Ilaria’s mouth. “You have five minutes to find out everything there is to know about the woman at the front desk.”

I clicked off the call and lifted Ilaria over my lap until she straddled me. Her hot core warmed my cloth-covered shaft, and I fought the urge to fuck her right here, for the entire world to see. Her hair fell around us like a veil, enclosing us in our own little time and space. Our breaths mingled, and I let her calm down, take strength from me, and in return she eased the anger boiling deep inside.

She became my metronome.

Click. Click. Click.

And the world became only her. Gripping my phone, I pressed it to my ear to stop the incessant ringing. I listened to what Natalie told me and hung up before dialing Demetri Enterprises.

“Demetri Enterprises, this is Hillary. How may I help you?”

“Hillary, my name is Elliott Wilmington.” The short gasp of breath only irritated me further.

“Yes, sir.”

“The woman who just left the office, Ms. Ilaria Paolo, came there for business with me, yet she was harassed by you.”

“I—”

“You’re talking, but all I want you to do is listen. She’s going to come back in there, and you are going to help her set up the meeting she’s requesting. If you ever speak to her like you did a moment ago, I’ll ensure the house you are living in is snatched out from under you because of all those gambling debts from your boyfriend that I now own. Your name will be on a blacklist for employment because of your lack of discretion, and the woman your boyfriend is currently balls-deep in will find herself on his parents’ doorstep, and he’ll lose all the inheritance money you plan to get your hands on. Do I make myself clear?”

Other than a choked sob, the line was silent before Hillary’s shaky voice answered. “Yes, sir.”

“And apologize. A fraud should never think they are worth more than the lies they live on.”

I disconnected the call and smirked at Ilaria. “Keep your mouth open like that and I may not let you out of the limo.”

“I can’t believe—”

“Go get your meeting. I’ve got some of my own to get to. Natalie will keep you company while I work.”

Ilaria scrambled off my lap and exited the limo, her back straight and head held high. The sudden realization I’d destroy anyone who hurt her struck me between the eyes. What was I going to do to myself when I was likely to hurt her the most?