Chapter Three
Alfie watched Sophie climb onto the elevator, and then make her way down toward the front doors, before finally exiting the building. His men were there to follow her and make sure she got home safely. He didn’t want to put her at any kind of risk.
The meeting had gone exactly the way he had planned.
Her college counselor, Mr. Coleman, had been enlightening when he’d gone to campus to have a little chat with the man who was doing fucking nothing in guiding her. No one seemed to understand that she needed a helping hand, that was all.
She didn’t know what she wanted for her future, nor did she understand what doing nothing meant to her.
From what he’d seen, she had complete understanding that there was a clock ticking. She knew she had to make a choice, and he had helped her in that. The next month he intended to spend every possible minute in her company, showing her, helping her, guiding her. Within nine months, maybe ten, he was hoping to have her pregnant with his child. First though, he planned to make her fall in love with him so there was no way in the world she could think of anyone else but him.
Leaning back in his chair, he spun around, and faced the city with which he seemed to rule.
From a young age he had forged an empire, starting with the simplest of hacking on a very old, very slow computer in his garage. That had moved to him investing his pocket money in the stock market. At first, it had been a slow turn of his money, and as he got older, he became wiser in what he invested in. At the same time he began to set up software, practicing, to see if it was hacker proof. Nothing was hacker proof, but he always planned to design a system that was similar in a way to booby traps. From designing software, to investing in the gaming industry, his company had grown from strength to strength. It had gotten to the point that anyone who thought of Brown Enterprise, it came with respect, with strength.
It was everything his parents had been proud of until their tragic deaths three years ago.
They would have adored Sophia, he just knew it.
His intercom buzzed. “Sir, your three o’clock is here.”
“Okay, send him in.”
Mitch, his PI, and the one who was in charge of the protection of Sophia entered his office, holding a file. When he was sitting down, he handed over the file, and waited as he flipped the folder open.
The picture on the front page was of Sophia and Freya walking the beach. He took a moment to admire Sophia’s curves. Her tits were large, as were her hips. She rarely wore clothes that enhanced her shape. When she belonged to him, he intended to make sure she knew how much her curves turned him on.
“This is good.”
He had investigated Freya, and she was a good influence on Sophia. When they finally got the chance to meet, he would make sure to make a good impression on the young woman. They strolled arm in arm, laughing and smiling. There were at least twenty pictures of them, and he only had eyes for Sophia. Her smile, her body, her personality, her everything. When he was younger, he had been consumed about the future, about picking one path that would stay with him. What if he got bored? What if he hated his life?
They only had one life, and he wanted to live his to the fullest.
“Do I have to worry about any problems?” he asked.
“Nope. Freya, the friend, organized their apartment. I made sure that I posted the flyer about the apartment they are looking into. The number was clear, the amount of rental per month highlighted.” The apartment was in his building, and he was really happy about that. He smiled, looking at their reactions from the cameras that Mitch had taken as he showed the girls around. “They liked it?”
“Yes. You got nothing but positive reports, especially as it is fully furnished with everything they both wanted, and had spoken of.”
“Thank you.” He looked down at the latest information. Freya was going to work in the art department of an advertising firm, which he was more than okay with. The company’s manager was a friend of his, and they had both discussed their … feelings with regards to the two women. Jared Varner didn’t have his thoughts on Sophia. No, he wanted Freya, and Alfie was happy with that.
They had both met up for dinner one evening, and had discussed their feelings when it came to the two women.
Jared was a family friend of Freya’s, and wanted to make sure that the other woman was taken care of. Of course, Alfie had seen that Jared wanted Freya. The possessiveness in the man couldn’t be mistaken for anything less than that. This was more about what Jared wanted than what Freya did.
Of course, Jared knew Sophia. The two women had grown up together, met in nursery, and been close ever since.
Alfie had learned everything he needed to understand the woman that was going to be his. Both had agreed that neither of them would step in the way of the other. However, Alfie hadn’t agreed to staying out of the way if Sophia asked for his help with regards to her friend. Cricking his neck, he flicked through the remaining files, and looked toward Mitch. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“Nope. Sophia is a nice, caring woman. From what I’ve seen, she has no enemies, and makes friends out of everyone.”
“What about men? Potential boyfriends?”
“Again, she never gives any men the come on. Freya, she likes attention at times, but it’s different. She knows when to push, and when not to. You don’t have to worry about her at all. She would never do anything to hurt Sophia.”
“Good, I’m glad.” He gave Mitch the schedule he had planned, and by the end of their meeting, Alfie was feeling rather smug with himself. Everything was falling into place.
****
“So how was it, or do I even need to ask?” Freya asked, piling the last of their boxes into the car.
Tucking some hair behind her ear, Sophia smiled at her friend. “It went great.” She was tempted to tell her about the run in with the boss, and what she had said.
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened?” She lied with so much ease.
“Sophia Cross, I have known you for years, and you cannot lie to me.”
She stuck her tongue out, and winced. “I may have screwed up.”
“Sophia!”
“What? It’s nothing bad, I promise. I may just have told my boss that I didn’t know what I wanted out of life, and yeah, I screwed up big time. On the bright side, I got the job.”
She moved back toward their room to collect the last box. It had been kind of surreal getting the call from the estate agent that the apartment they were moving into would be ready, and they could move into it straight away, like today. She was looking forward to taking a long shower, and to having Chinese takeout tonight. Freya had promised takeout on moving day. They only had a few items, and had their savings to buy any furniture they needed.
The apartment they were moving to came fully-furnished, which was a huge plus as far as she was concerned. She hated spending the time to pick out furniture. She just didn’t enjoy staring at beds, cabinets, picture frames, and all of the other crap that other people seemed to like. Shopping wasn’t something she enjoyed. Freya loved it. Sophia, however, preferred not to get involved at all.
“Whoa, wait a minute there, bestie. You’re telling me that not only did you open your big mouth, but you also got the job?”
“Yep. He promised me a month.”
“A month of what?”
“If I wasn’t interested with the way his company worked, then he was happy to help me pursue whatever my heart desired.” She grabbed the final box of books, and took one last look at the room that had been her home.
“Don’t you think that is a little, I don’t know, weird?”
“No, why?”
“Look, I get that we’re college graduates entering the big wide world, but I’m not stupid. That doesn’t work like that. People who own companies don’t just offer you a month’s grace, and then offer to give you everything you want.”
Sophia frowned, and rested the box on her large hip. “You know, now that you say it, it’s kind of strange, right? Mr. Coleman was the one who organized it, and Mr. Brown seemed really happy with what he had known.”
Silence fell between them, and Freya took her last box as well. “I want you to be careful. Something seems weird, and I’m not going to lie, my gut isn’t sitting right.”
“Do you need to go to the toilet?” she asked.
“Gross! I’m being serious.”
“Okay, fine, fine. I’ll be careful. I got through college, I can get through this month, and you never know, I may love it.”
Pushing the last box into the back of the car, Sophia couldn’t believe that the last few years of her life could fit in one car. She and Freya had never been materialistic. They spent many nights studying in the library or in their dorm. Neither of them wasted their energy with many parties, and she didn’t waste time with men, or boys in men’s bodies.
“I want to remind you that you made the arrangements for this interview, and now you’re behaving like it’s a scary thing,” she said, climbing into the passenger side.
“I know, I know. Something doesn’t sound right, and if I didn’t warn you, what kind of friend would I be?”
“Tell me about your internship. You’re working in the advertising department.”
“No. I’m working at an advertising company in their art department.” Freya turned over the ignition. “I told you before. The guy I’m working for is a family friend. He’s some friend of my dad’s, and he was the one who arranged it.”
“What does your mother think?” Sophia asked. She wanted to turn the questions onto her friend because she didn’t like the direction Freya’s questions were taking.
“You know my mom. She has nothing to do with my father. He was the first guy to break her heart, and she won’t even hear his name.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Whenever Freya got home from spending time with her dad in the city, her mother wouldn’t let her speak of a moment of it. To a lot of people it sounded nasty, but Sophia knew it was down to a broken heart. Freya’s father had broken her mother’s heart, and it was the one relationship she had never recovered from.
“Mom wants me to live my life the way I want to live it. Obviously, she does all of her warning things about men, and stuff. I’m used to it now. Believe me I have nothing to worry about with Jared Varner. He’s only doing this as a favor to my dad.”
“Do you want the job?” Sophia asked.
“You know, I want to know about your boss. What was his name again?”
“Mr. Brown.”
“What about his first name?”
Sophia frowned. “I don’t know it. He told me it, and I completely forgot.”
Freya burst out laughing. “You are priceless. Something tells me the next couple of weeks are going to be interesting.”
“Speak for yourself. I’m going to have to find another form of exercise.”
“Why?”
“I can’t go dog walking anymore. My new working hours conflicts with my old job. I had to call them, and let them down.”
“Let’s hope this job is good. Those two jobs paid well, and helped toward our rent.”
“I agree, Freya, totally agree.”