After I returned to Blair Digital, I could barely focus on work. My instincts screamed, and I knew that meeting with Kaiden was a huge risk, but avoiding him would have been a significant gamble as well. The fact that Killian hadn't called me back only helped my anxieties grow, and by the time I returned to the penthouse, I was a bundle of nerves.I took a quick shower, reapplied my makeup, and managed to find a dress that didn't reveal too much skin. I kept my phone close to me in case Killian decided to call, but that didn't happen. He had surely chosen the worst possible moment to go MIA…My restlessness rose by the second. I sent Killian another text, this time informing him about my dinner with his cousin, but even this message remained unanswered. Groaning in frustration, I sat in front of my laptop and tried to find whatever I could about Kaiden Blair. I needed anything that could give me leverage. It was possible that Kaiden already had a full report on me lying on his desk, wh
A hysterical laugh bubbled in my throat, but I somehow managed to stop it before it burst out. I stared at Kaiden, stubbornly reading every line of his face.“Please, don't make jokes like that,” I muttered, shifting my attention to the wine glass.He let out a long sigh. “I made you feel uncomfortable... again.”I took a decent sip of wine before facing him. “It's not about making me feel uncomfortable, but we promised each other honesty, right? And yet, words like that make me wonder about your true intentions.”Surprise surfaced in Kaiden's expression. “And why is that? Is it so hard to believe I'm good at reading others? That it takes a few minutes for me to establish whether they're worth the effort?”My lips curved in an angry smirk. “Reading others? Does it mean you didn't ask someone to prepare a full report on me? Should I believe you didn't know a thing about me before I appeared in your office?”He laughed, loud and hard as if my words had triggered something inside him. He
KILLIANMy hands fisted and opened as I strode around my hotel room. Curses slipped through my throat every few steps I took. The fury raging inside me was almost impossible to contain, not without a punching bag at least…“Well played, Kaiden. Well played,” I strained through my teeth.I underestimated my cousin yet again. I had gotten rid of the spies he'd planted in Blair Digital Entertainment. I made sure he wouldn't sabotage the ongoing projects and the newest marketing campaigns. I had expected him to either do something to mess with Blair Digital's profits or go directly after me. He had chosen the third option: he'd gone after Josie.“Fuck!” I roared, punching the wall with my fist.She said that she was all right, but the truth was I'd left her almost unprotected. Hugo was no longer enough. I needed to install someone to watch over her from a distance and inform me immediately when things were about to go south.There was no coincidence in Kaiden's timing. He had chosen the m
JOSIEKillian's words still swirled in my head. I certainly found Kaiden's behavior disturbing, to call it the least, but hearing he might have done something to the women he had been dating made my stomach churn.I was glad that Killian's cousin hadn't tried to call or text me after our dinner had ended. That way I could fully focus on preparing the Happy App for the official launch, and those preparations were a real pain in the ass.With an army of people working on our project, one would assume everything should go smoothly, right? Wrong! We were told that the group of people sitting in the large open space on the opposite side of our office would consist of well-trained specialists, but this group did not exactly meet those standards…“Amateurs! Fucking amateurs!” Ashley roared as she strode through the corridor on the way to our office.I pinched the bridge of my nose, too tired of dealing with problems on my end. “What now?”She walked over to me, her hands fisting. “They messe
I hadn't spoken to Killian in the last three days, and his last text mentioned some unexpected issues he needed to solve before coming back to New York. I texted him back, asking if it meant he wouldn't be back on Saturday like he'd promised… He didn't reply.Even after Michael Kearn's issue had been handled, we still had tons of other problems to deal with. That made us work non-stop until the late evening on Friday. I let my teammates enjoy their free weekend. I needed them rested and ready to face new challenges on Monday, but I still came to the office on Saturday just to fix a few glitches that appeared during the recent uploads.It was nine o'clock when I finished dealing with the final problem and decided to call it a day. I barely shuffled my feet forward as I reached the penthouse floor. The two bodyguards standing by the door exchanged looks before giving me sympathetic smiles. God, I must have truly looked pitiful.I dragged my tired butt to the bathroom and took a shower.
An hour later, we were sitting in Killian's study with his lawyer, Mr. Kevin Morrison, and the one who called Killian earlier, Mr. Gunner Stiles. Mr. Morrison was the one preparing the case against Dylan. Killian said he was one of the best lawyers he had ever worked with. Officially, as a criminal offense, Dylan's case was handled by the police investigators and prosecution, but recent events had proven this case would be lost without additional help. Fortunately, Mr. Morrison had friends in the NYPD and the prosecutor's office and agreed to this collaboration for the sake of efficiently bringing Dylan behind bars.The other man who joined us in the room was much more peculiar. Killian explained that Mr. Stiles was a military specialist, a person he called whenever needed, as he named it a “special kind of approach.” I was wondering what his words meant until a tall, bulky, and highly intimidating man entered the study. Once he did, I decided it was better not to ask any questions. T
I stood in front of the mirror, sucking in a ragged breath—an inept attempt to calm down. Next, I tried to smile. Stretching my lips caused me to look even more nervous than I did as I simply stood in place and watched my hands shake. I had been accumulating restlessness for the last few days, and now I reached the level of being stress-paralyzed. Now, with only two days away from the official launch, I had become a barely walking and nearly suffocating bundle of nerves.“I can't do this,” I muttered.Ashley's hands landed on my shoulders as she leaned from behind me, locking her eyes with mine in the mirror's reflection. "Sure, you can. Your Monday interview was fantastic. This time, you'll do just as well.”I shook my head, laughing hysterically. “The Monday interview was for the radio station with two people in the room. This one is in a studio with an audience and a live transmission.”Ashley rolled her eyes. “It's just a livestream, for God's sake. It's not like you're going to S
The crowd moved, a few people rising to their feet and cheering for me, covering the man who looked like Dylan. Normally, I would have laughed at the crowd's reaction, but right now, I was more concerned about them obscuring the view. When Mia calmed them down, they returned to their seats…Only then did I notice the man looking like Dylan was gone, his seat empty. A shudder rushed through me. Was it truly him, or was I losing my mind? I refused to think it was just a coincidence. Either it was him, which would prove that the security hired by Killian hadn't done their job right, or it was someone who resembled Dylan all too much. If this was the latter, I wouldn't exclude the possibility that Dylan had actually hired someone to act as his doppelganger just to mess with me.I glanced at the backstage area and the exits. The security guards were everywhere. Even if Dylan had somehow sneaked inside, someone would have surely seen him and called the police. This room wasn't large enough