I sighed and looked down at my laptop. I was trying to do a quiet activity while Jonah took his afternoon nap, but my mind kept wandering to William. It had been a few weeks since we came home and had the court trial, which resulted in Kelly, Winston, and Natasha being sentenced to jail for about seven years.
Now, I was worried about William. He was really stressed out because he had left his company for so long and had to catch up on a lot of paperwork and such. I told him I could help him out, since I knew a few things thanks to Dad and Alex, but he refused to let me. He thought I needed to rest, even though I was perfectly fine. All my injuries had healed and there wasn’t anything else I had to worry about.
I shook my head and closed my laptop. I was tired of sitting around. I wanted to make myself useful, which wasn’t going to happen if I moped around the house. I stared at the coffee table for a few more minutes before I got up from the couch. I was going to help this crazy man whether he liked it or not. I ran upstairs and changed into a black pencil skirt and white blouse, tying my hair into a high ponytail. I carefully picked Jonah up so he wouldn’t wake up and put him in his new baby carrier. Then I texted my mom, asking her if could drop him off for a few hours, to which she happily agreed.
***
I walked up the steps and greeted the kind doorman before walking into the lobby. People in suits and pencil skirts were rushing all over the place; it was very chaotic. I walked over to the receptionist desk.
“Good morning!” I greeted the woman at the desk.
She looked up at me, startled. “Oh, good morning.”
“What floor does Mr. Solace work on?” I asked.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you? Mr. Solace has been a bad mood, and I’m not sure visiting him at this time would be ideal.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to bother him. I’m Heather Solace, by the way,” I said, shaking her hand.
Her eyes widened and she pulled her hand back like she was shocked. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, Mrs. Solace. I didn’t recognize you. Please, come with me. Would you like anything to drink?” she asked, standing up and walking around the desk.
I shook my head. “No, thank you, I’m just here to check up on William.”
She smiled and nodded. “That’s a good idea, maybe you can calm him down. He found a lot of mistakes in the finance department’s work, so he has been very irritable and angry these past few hours.”
I nodded. Looked like I was heading to the finance department first. “In that case, what floor is the finance department on?”
“The thirtieth floor.”
“Have they already fixed the mistakes?” I asked.
“Last I checked, they were still working on it. Mr. Solace was going to go through the files and fix the mistakes himself, but he had a meeting to attend.”
I nodded and thanked her before making my way to the elevator. I went up to the thirtieth floor and looked around the noisy area. Several employees were going through files and typing furiously on their computer keyboards. As I stepped out of the elevator, a heavy silence filled the floor. Everyone was staring at me in shock.
I smiled. “Hi!”
I looked around and saw a young woman fall to the ground. I stepped toward her worriedly, but she sat back up and stared at me in fear.
“Mr. Solace sent you here to fire us, right?” she asked.
I furrowed my eyebrows and shook my head. “No, I came here to help you.”
They stared at me blankly. I chuckled and walked over to an empty desk. I put my purse down and turned around, opening my mouth to speak, when a man stepped out of the office on the other side. He was tall, slightly pudgy, and looked to be in his late forties. There was this no-nonsense aura that came from him.
“What is going on here?” he asked furiously.
“Sir, this woman came here saying she wanted to help us,” a man said, pointing at me.
That was odd. Didn’t they already know who I was? I was sure they would have seen me in the newspaper, especially since there was so much going on about the trial. I guessed not, because the man turned to me and looked at me curiously.
“Excuse me, young lady, but may I ask who you are?” he asked politely.
If I told them who I really was, they would never let me help them.
“I’m Heather, sir,” I replied, leaving my last name out on purpose.
“Well, Heather, what makes you so sure that you can help us?”
I picked up a couple of the papers lying around and glanced through them before looking back up at him. “I know how to fix these mistakes.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really now? You know how to fix the mistakes that even I’m struggling to figure out?”
I nodded and he narrowed his eyes. “Fine, let’s see what you can do. But if you can’t fix them, I’ll have to fire you. I’m only letting you help due to the circumstances.”
Ah, so he thought I was another employee. Oh well, I didn’t really care.
Everyone went back to work and I began looking through the files he handed me. I was very thankful my dad forced me to learn about finance. After examining all of them, I stood up and began explaining how to fix some of the mistakes to a couple of employees. They nodded and got to work.
An hour later, a lot of the mistakes were fixed and the finished files were being sent back up to William’s office. I handed one of the files to an employee and walked over to another one who had a question. I scanned the report thoroughly and made markings here and there.
Suddenly, everyone became quiet, and I looked up from the file, confused.
I was startled when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into a hard chest. I swallowed and turned around, looking up into a pair of angry green eyes. Uh-oh, busted!
“Hi, William,” I squeaked.
He raised an eyebrow. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked stupidly, before mentally face-palming myself.
He looked at me amusedly. “Last time I checked, I was the CEO of this company.”
“Right,” I replied lamely. Gosh, this was embarrassing.
He smirked and pulled me closer. “Care to explain what you’re doing here?”
“Mr. Solace!” a voice called, interrupting our little talk. We turned our heads, and I saw it was the same man who thought I was an employee. He was walking toward us quickly, and it looked like he was sweating.
“Mr. Solace, I am so sorry! Was she bothering you? I’ll have her fired immediately, sir,” the man said, glaring at me.
William frowned. “Frank, how are you planning on firing her when she doesn’t even work here?”
Poor Frank looked at William with a puzzled face, and I pursed my lips to keep from laughing.
“Sir, you don’t understand. This woman is an employee,” he said, pointing at me.
William looked down at me in amusement. “Sweetheart, you told him you were an employee?”
I cleared my throat and stared at his black tie. “No, he thought I was and I let him believe that.”
He kissed my temple before turning back to Frank and the rest of the employees. “Frank, she isn’t an employee. She’s my wife, Heather Solace.”
They gasped and the same woman fell to the ground again. She really liked doing that, didn’t she?
“I…I…” Frank stuttered.
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to mislead you,” I said, giving him an apologetic look.
The man smiled at me slightly and shook his head. “I’m sorry too. I didn’t even recognize you, and I was rude.”
“Well, now that we have that cleared up. If you’ll excuse us,” William said.
I looked at him, confused, but he just smirked and picked me up, putting me over his shoulder.
“What the hell, William?” I shrieked.
I was wearing a skirt! I could be flashing everyone for all I knew.
He chuckled and I heard him say, “I want the rest of the files fixed by five o’clock.”
He walked into the elevator, and once the doors closed, he put me down. I stepped back, wobbly, and glared at him. He still had a smirk on his face, and he raised an eyebrow.
“Even after I told you to stay home, you showed up,” he said, loosening his tie. He walked over to the button panel and pressed the emergency stop button.
I stared at him, wide-eyed, as he began stalking toward me like a predator. I stepped backward, but I hit the wall. I gulped as he leaned down with both of his arms on either side of my head and his knee between my legs, basically pinning me to the wall.
“Do you know what happens to naughty girls?” he whispered, brushing his lips against mine.
I swallowed and shook my head, unable to think properly.
He bit my lip seductively and whispered, “They get punished.”