Change.

I guess that’s what Clarise taught me—sometimes change isn’t bad. Sometimes, change is exactly what you need.

I guess I thought that, by changing, I was disrespecting everything that I treasure. God, my honor, my father…  But now, I think that I see it differently. Change is necessary if I’m to learn and grow. What good am I if I remain stagnant for the rest of my life?

Besides, my relationship with Clarise has nothing to do with the way I can help the Donovans. Sure, it might cause some trouble down the road, but that has nothing to do with my capabilities or impartiality right now.

Push comes to shove, I’ll resign. I won’t let my relationship with Clarise hurt the Donovan family, but I sure as hell won’t put a business family above the woman I --

Jesus, I was about to say it, wasn’t I? I was about to tell you that I love her. What’s happening to me? Okay, I need to focus; I can’t be thinking of this right now. I’ve got a meeting to prepare for, and contemplating the meaning of love and life isn’t going to help me with that.

Sitting down at the desk in my bedroom, I crack open the folder sitting in front of me and start reading through the documents. I’m about to start writing down some notes when I hear a knock at my door.

My heart jumps up happily as I think it might be Clarise, and I stand up in a hurry. I walk to the door with wide strides and, without thinking twice about it, I just open it and smile.

It isn’t Clarise on the other side.

“You should've been more careful, Connor,” Earl says, walking past me and inside the guest house. There’s a contemptuous expression on his face, one that means trouble.

“What are you talking about?” I ask him, already feeling a knot forming deep in the pit of my stomach.

“Well, you know … the church has a damn good security system. And, unfortunately for you, the pastor over there owed me a favor.”

“What are you getting at, Earl? Spit it out,” I tell him, balling my hands into fists. Even though I asked him what he’s talking about, I know exactly what he means with his words: he has proof of my involvement with Clarise. It has to be it.

“Oh, I can see it in your eyes… You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? You and my little sister, going at it… Let me tell you, you two sure went really hard at it. I’m surprised that a man of God would have so much stamina.”

“You fucking --”

“Oh, aside from fucking my little sister, now you’re also cursing? You’re a basket full of surprises,” he laughs, the sound of his voice feeling like nails being dragged across chalkboard. “Well, I’ve got the footage,” he continues, taking an USB pen out from his breast pocket. I take one step toward him, ready to crush my fist against his head, but he just throws the pen toward me. Moving fast, I raise my hand and grab it mid-air. “You can keep that one… I have copies.”

“You’re a shame to your family, Earl…”

“Well, I wasn’t the one fucking Clarise inside a church. I’d say that’s shameful,” he laughs, his eyes immediately going toward the orchid that Clarise gifted me on my first day at the estate. “Nice flower, did my sister gave it to you?”

“What do you want, Earl?” I ask him, but then I can’t resist adding a few more words. “Start talking, and start doing it fast.”

“What do I want? Now you’re asking the right kind of questions, Connor…” he continues, the tone in his voice pissing me off more and more with each passing second. Swear to God, I’m seconds away from grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and throwing him out the window. “Well, it’s pretty simple; you either start playing ball or else I’m going to expose your dirty little secret.”

“What do you want?” I ask him, my patience already growing low.

“So impatient, man,” he laughs, reaching inside his jacket at the same time. “If you were more patient with my sister, maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation,” he continues, taking an envelope out of the inner pocket of his jacket. He pushes it into my hands and I just stare at him for a second.

“What’s this?”

“That’s a bit of information on your assignment.”

“My assignment?” I ask him, arching one eyebrow in disbelief.

“Yeah, Connor, your assignment. Now you work for me. You’re my little bitch,” he whispers, his words brimming with threats. “What I want you to do is to get my father to invest in that company.” He nods at the envelope in my hands, and I start opening it.

“Red Lion Aviation? What the hell’s this?” I ask him, reading the red lettering on top of the document. It seems to be a small summary of the operations of a mid-sized airline based out of Indonesia.

“Can’t you read? It’s an airline. And I want you to get my father to invest in it, $2 billion.” His grin widens into something sickly as he tells me the value he intends to invest, and I look at him with disbelief.

“$2 billion? Are you out of your mind? That’s a lot of risk for a piece-of-shit company like this,” I growl, throwing the envelope and the document into his face. They hit him in the chest and then float down to his feet.

“I don’t care what you think, asshole,” he growls back at me, closing the distance between us and pressing his index finger against my chest. “You’ll do what I say, or else I’ll ruin you… and Clarise.” With that, he narrows his eyes and takes one step back. Giving me one final grin, he finally marches out of my house, slamming the door behind him.

Fuck.