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“Shall we shower then head to bed? As tempting as it is to stay inside of you forever, I need to get some sleep if I want a chance to win tomorrow’s game.”

“You played really well today,” I said sounding like an obsessed teenage girl.

“I play well all the time,” he replied with a wink.

“You are so full of yourself!”

“And you are currently full of me.”

I shook my head at his stupid joke causing him to laugh.

Then with a kiss to my lips, he gently eased himself out and began to stand. I followed him to the bathroom where we cleaned up then got ready for bed.

I basically passed out once my head hit the mattress. The last thing I remembered was Ryan whispering, “I love you” into my ear before wrapping his huge, firm arms around me.

CHAPTER 24

I woke the next day to the sound of an alarm coming from my cell.
Weird, I don’t remember setting an alarm.

I let out a loud yawn as I reached for my phone on the bedside table. I turned off the alarm and sat up, turning to the empty spot on the bed beside me. Ryan was most likely already at the stadium getting ready for the afternoon’s game.

Resting on top of the pillow, I spotted a small piece of paper folded in half with my name across the front of it. I quickly snatched it up and began to read.

To my sleeping beauty,

There’s breakfast waiting in the fridge for you.

I can’t wait to see your beautiful face at the game this afternoon. I hope you’ll be there.

Love, Ryan Xx

P.S You were smiling in your sleep this morning. My chest filled with all that gooey girly stuff knowing that I helped put it there. Ridiculous right?

P.S.S Yes, I was watching you sleep, don’t freak out. I love doing it.

My eyes widened reading the last three lines of the note. It unnerved me knowing that Ryan liked watching me sleep. What if I snored? Or worse, what if I drooled? How could he possibly find any of those things attractive?

I folded the piece of paper back in half and placed in on my bedside table. I needed to eat and ready myself for the game.

****

The rest of the weekend went by quickly. I went to both games and I met up with Annabelle, Chiara and Gabriella. The girls were wonderful company and came in handy when I had no idea what was going on in the game. We cheered the loudest when their brother, my boyfriend, batted and hit a home run, winning one of the games for the team. Now I understood the meaning of an ‘all rounder’. Ryan was one of them. It all became clear why the entire city of New York idolized the guy. Was there anything he couldn’t do?

While the games were entertaining, there was something that had me on edge: the mysterious redhead. She attended both games and sat relatively close by. I could sense her watching me and even caught her out a few times. When I did, she would give me a hateful smile and continue to stare me down until I eventually looked away. I knew I had to ask Ryan about her; only thing was that I hadn’t had the chance to speak to him in person since Friday night at my apartment.

The team was busy with training sessions and press conferences before and after each game that Ryan and I thought it’d be easier to spend the time apart. I immediately regretted the decision. I never thought I’d miss him as much as I did and I hated not knowing when I was going to see him again. Today, he was busy hosting a charity event with a few other team members while I had the reading of my fathers will to attend to, and that meant, because he was leaving for Minnesota early tomorrow morning followed by Kansas City, he was going to be away for at least two weeks.

I sighed as I stepped out of the cab and glanced up at the large, sky-high, corporate building with the reflective, tinted windows and world famous red and gold emblem marked above a revolving door. I was standing in front of the Montgomery House, the very place my father and mother founded many years ago. Even though I hadn’t stepped foot inside since I was ten, it felt like only yesterday that I was a small child staring up at the monstrous structure.

I counted back from three quietly to myself before taking a step forward.
This is it.

After passing all the mandatory security checks and dealing with a few stunned receptionists trying to piece together who I was, I was finally able to meet up with my brother in his office. Except, instead of receiving a happy greeting, I was met with a serious-faced Connor, watching me from behind his large, wooden desk with today’s newspaper opened up in front of him.
Oh no, what now?

“Evie…” he said in a tone he often reserved for when I was doing something he never agreed on.

“Hello to you too, brother,” I replied trying to keep my tone casual to help lighten the mood.

I walked towards him just as he stood and greeted me with a firm hug and a kiss on the cheek. After he let go, I walked back around the desk and took a seat on the sofa over by the window that looked down on the city.

The very room that
was
my father’s and now Connor’s was barely recognizable.
What did you expect after twelve years?
The old style wood furnishing had been replaced with a new chic interior. The walls were a light shade of gray while the furniture was all black― including the huge desk Connor was sitting behind. Above me, two large, black, circular lights hung from the ceiling and a large bookcase was to my left. The room was spotless with nothing out of place, even the water jug and glasses sitting at the end of Connor’s desk looked as though they’d been carefully placed there. That was my brother for you, everything had to be organized and clutter free.

As I looked around, I could see splashes of Amelie Lemieux’s signature style. Knowing my brother, as soon as my father stepped down and put him in charge, he told his fiancée to do what she liked with the place. While the rest of the room was black, white and different tones of gray, a large abstract painting that hung on the wall behind Connor added some color to the place. Small, colored vases and abstract sculptures, that matched the painting, were immaculately laid out around the room while a vibrant indoor plant that stood next to the doorway added much needed greenery to the room.

“Are you sure everything’s alright, Evie?” Hearing Connor’s voice snapped me back into reality. I turned to face him. What was he going on about?

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that I know you don’t read the papers or search the Internet but there are articles written about you and your boyfriend every single day.”
What? Why?
“I want to know how you are. You’ve always been afraid of the attention, Evie. I’m worried for you, that’s all.”

I smiled at Connor. He was only trying to be the protective big brother. “I’m fine, seriously. Like you said, I don’t read the papers but Derek generally mentions a few things every now and then.” That was the truth; expect I couldn’t stop the unnerving feeling that was building up inside the pit of my stomach now that he mentioned it. What were they saying about me? What lies were they spreading now?

“You’d tell me if you started getting your panic attacks again, right?” he asked, giving me a worrying look from behind his desk. I just nodded at him, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

Connor knew me well enough to know when to stop pushing the subject. Instead he picked up the paper folded in front of him and set it down in one of the drawers.

“Shall we go grab a coffee? Dad’s lawyers are running a little late and it appears so is the
witch
.” He spat out the last part of his sentence.

That brought another smile to my face. Connor had never liked our father’s girlfriend. He always believed that all she ever wanted was his money. While my father spent his time working hard and investing, she spent her days shopping and spoiling herself with cosmetic surgery. Derek had shown me gossip magazines with photos of her partying at exclusive parties or enjoying an exotic holiday somewhere.

Connor and I walked down the halls of the ritzy building my father and mother once owned and made our way into the tearoom. It felt strange to be back. Nothing looked the same as I’d remembered it and there were all new faces among the staff.

“I cannot believe my eyes.”

I came to a halt and turned to the unfamiliar voice behind me. Connor eventually turned, but unlike me, he knew the name belonging to the aging face smiling at me. “Look at you, all grown up and so beautiful. You look exactly like her, you know.”

“She doesn’t remember you Edna and you’re beginning to scare her.” Connor laughed beside me.

Edna
... The name did sound somewhat familiar.

“I do remember you,” I started, “You used to feed me candy whenever my father wasn’t looking and let me try on the accessories.” I smiled remembering the memory.

“Now see, Master Connor, I told you she would.” Edna smiled stepping closer and pulling me into an embrace.

Connor shook the surprised look of his face and laughed. “Well, I’m glad father will never know what you two got up to then.”

Edna pulled away and held my face between her hands. “You are a splitting image of your mother, child. You have the same stunning features as our dear Karoline. I bet you’re as smart as her too. That woman was also very strong willed. She stood up to your father all the time. This empire wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for her.”

Edna’s smile suddenly vanished and a saddened expression replaced it. “I miss that woman a great deal… I still think about her and Master Alexander all the time.”

I smiled at her. It was nice to hear such kind words said about my mother and that there were others that missed my family just as much as I did. “It’s nice to see that you’re still working here, Edna.”

“I’ll be here until I turn to dust, little one. That’s if your brother allows it.”

“You’re a valuable employee, Edna. I couldn’t possibly replace you.”

Her gaze flicked over to Connor and she smiled.

Edna had been working for my father for as long as I could remember. I was four the first time I came into my parent’s work place, and I remember being picked up and passed around but Edna always had a protective watch over me.

“Your brother is just like him you know? And I don’t just mean his handsome good looks.”

Connor had turned away and started making the coffee, but I could tell that he was listening and had a smile on his face.

“Well, I should get back to work. Listen, Evangeline, you let me know if you ever need anything, okay? I made a promise to your parents a long time ago that I’d be there if you ever needed me. I plan to up hold that promise.”

“Thank you, Edna. And of course I’ll be sure to let you know.”

“That’s my girl.”

“Just no candy and sneaking into rooms to check out stock, got it?” Connor teased, turning back around with cups of coffee in both hands. We all laughed at that.

After Edna hugged and kissed me goodbye, Connor and I made our way back towards his office. His assistant was already waiting for him by the door.

“Ms. Moreno is here with her lawyer, and so are Steve and Mike.”

“Thank you, Belinda, send them all in.”

Belinda didn’t move but stood awkwardly for a moment. “Is there anything else?” Connor asked.

“Connor, it’s just that...”

It was strange hearing his assistant address him by his first name. But Connor showed no signs of it bothering him so I guessed it was how he preferred it.

“I refused to let her in before you got back and she kind of lost it. She threatened to fire me once she had hold of the company.”

Connor burst into a fit of laughter. “Oh Belinda, you have just made my day. Believe me when I tell you that you have nothing to be worried about. There is no way I am giving up this company and handing it over to her. Your job is safe.”

She smiled nervously before turning and walking away.

“Jeez, this will be a very vivacious next hour or so,” Connor deadpanned as we stepped inside.

We didn’t have to wait long until two men wearing expensive, tailored suits; whom I assumed were Mike and Steve― Connor and our late father’s lawyer’s ―appeared. The older of the two had silvery white hair and a neatly trimmed moustache, while the other had his short, peppery hair parted to one side. The woman my father was with, and her young lawyer, shortly followed them. I gripped the mug I held tightly in my hands as the tall, slender woman stepped into the office.

Her eyes scanned the room quickly before settling on Connor, ignoring me entirely.