Chapter 17

The ticking of the clock above my bedroom door sounds like that of a timer counting down my doom, the silence of the penthouse is stifling. Dressed in an empire twist, cap sleeve, floor-length, silver satin gown that has a peek-a-boo slit that runs up to my left upper thigh, complimentary to Alexander's unique taste in women's clothes. I sigh heavily as I wait for Damian to send me a message that he's downstairs. Having kept my makeup to a minimum since I have no clue how to do my make-up other than face powder, lipstick and mascara, Danny giggles as he watches me through the bars of his cot.

With three-inch silver heels strapped to my feet, I click my way towards Danny who raises his hands for me to pick him up. Smiling warmly, I pass him my clutch bag to hold as I pick him up, taking him out to the living room where I should be able to find Mr Ford.

"Now, I'm going to be out for a little while," I explain to him as we leave my room, Danny's big grey eyes hold my gaze as his little fingers play with the china clutch. "I want you to be a good boy for me while I'm out. Okay, Danny?"

As if he understands what I'm talking about, Danny gives me a million-watt toothless smile which for some reason gives me some reassurance that there won't be a repeat of last night. Finding Mr Ford in the living room, I pass him the baby who readily goes into his arms, behind the kitchen counter, a blond-haired woman in her early forties, dressed in a black shirt and ankle-length pants with peeks of white at the end of her sleeves and her collar who I assume is Mrs Denise, smiles warmly at me as she dishes up a plate of bangers and mashes for Mr Ford.

"Have a pleasant evening, Ms Summers," Mr Ford calls after me as my cell phone begins ringing.

"Bye," I call back, rushing to the elevator, and answering my phone as I go. "Hello?"

"I'm at the lobby of your apartment," he answers curtly as I enter the elevator.

"I'm on my way."

The elevator speeds down to the ground floor uninterrupted, walking out of the building, I head straight for the black Audi A3 parked on the curb, opening the passenger door, I slide into the passenger seat. Dressed handsomely and sitting next to me in the driver's seat in a midnight black suit with a black tie and business shoes is Damian Higgens.

Brown hair, pale skin, brown eyes. That's all the similarity there is between us. His body alone is a differentiating factor, unlike me, Damian is all muscle under his suit, his chest is broad and his jawline is defined. He is the perfect picture of a male underwear model and I look like someone who you'd find in a bookstore.

"So, why did you move out of Olivia Grey's house?" He asks suddenly, breaking my self-comparison, as he pulls out off of the kerb. "Also, how on earth do you afford to live in The Scala of all places? Did you rob a bank or did you start up a very successful company in three weeks?"

Rolling my eyes, I flash him my left hand where on my ring finger, I wear my engagement ring. Yes, I have taken to wearing it not for material purposes but for publicity's sake...and I do like the thought that the ring is a symbol of someone's love for me though that someone doesn't exist...

In the passing street light, the bold square-cut diamond sparkles caught my brother's attention. Slamming on the brakes at a red light, he pulls my hand up to his eyes, examining the ring.

"You're getting married?!" He exclaims, throwing my hand back to me in shock as the car behind us honks for us to move since the light has turned red. "When? Who? How? I thought you planned on being single forever?"

"Well, I'm not single," I huff slightly offended that he'd think of me that way, glaring at him as he turns into another street. "And where did you get the idea I was planning to stay single forever? I do want to have kids of my own one day."

Shrugging, Damian responds thoughtfully, "Well, you were still living with your roommate from university and she's the crazy party type of girl right? So, I thought that since you have your hands tied with her, you won't have time to find a date much less get engaged or marry someone."

Ah, he does have a point...hey...speaking about Olivia...I was supposed to call her back yesterday after that brief meeting with Alexander's mother...then again a lot of things happened...she's going to be ballistic about it the next time I call her...

Making a mental note, which seems to always help me remember to do something(more often than not), to call her back, we travel in comfortable silence as I begin to doze off from last night's exertions. Not caring that my hair is down around my shoulders and that I'm wearing makeup, I just have an underlying call to sleep.

"Your glasses will break if you lean your head against the window like that," Damian warns, jolting me back to wakefulness. "Am I that boring a travel partner?"

Yawning, I stretch my arms in front of me to get some of my blood flowing, "Well, it's not your fault. I had a rough night last night."

"Nightmares?" He inquires knowingly, his eyes glancing over at me.

"Yeah."

Pulling up about fifteen minutes later outside the Palisade restaurant behind a few cars, I begin to feel very much underdressed as women decked out from head to toe in fine silks and fur coats exit the cars in front of us, with only a 0.5-carat earring that my adoptive mother bought for me before she passed as a form of jewellery on me, it probably seems very clear where I stand in society.

Middle working-class or possibly lower compared to these people...

"Did I mention this is not only a family dinner but also my company's anniversary dinner?" Damian laughs, as he unbuckles his seatbelt. "My people got the whole restaurant booked out."

My eyes widen in shock that he did not think to tell me this piece of information sooner, it's one thing to go to dinner with his adoptive parents but to meet his entire company in one night with him being the CEO is a whole different issue.

Getting out of the car, Damian passes his keys to the valet before he comes up to my door to help me out. Discreetly glaring at him, I rest my hand on his offered arm as we enter the beautifully lit restaurant, my heart almost stops when Damian stops us a little bit before we enter the main dining room.

Behind us, in pairs, couples also have their arms linked up together, if anyone can see my face in the dim lighting they would say I either look very terrified or utterly confused about what's going on.

"Calm down, Janette," Damian whispers as some music causes the chatter inside the restaurant to die out and starts playing, squeezing my hand gently in comfort. "It's just the walk-in. My parents are already at the head table waiting for us to enter. Remember to smile."

Pulling my lips into a small smile as he begins walking into the restaurant, I tremble under the eyes of everyone in the room, little murmurs rise among the tables as we pass, some inquiring about me and others commenting about what the women of the men in this line are wearing.

"Is that Alexander Holt?" A woman somewhere near the front whispers to her companion. "How come he's alone? Wasn't it released in the papers that he now has a fiance?"

A chill makes its way down my spine when I hear this, I pray that the Alexander Holt the woman is talking about is another billionaire CEO who just got engaged but my prayer goes down the drain as I sit down at the head table, my eyes involuntarily coming into contact with Alexander's as he sits opposite me.

Oh. My. Crabs.

As usual, he has on a blank face but his eyes are a cold and emotionless grey as they stare heatedly into my soft, timid brown ones. My face grows hotter by every second he continues to stare at me, being the first to break the steady eye contact between us I am speechless that this was the dinner he was talking about in the morning.

He's not mad...is he? I mean the way he's staring at us spells out D-A-N-G-E-R like a neon sign across his forehead, my subconscious notes, trembling in fear despite her snark tone. Considering what might have happened last night that everyone is denying happened and that you do not remember, we might die this time.

Don't be silly. He can't be mad at us for not telling him about this event, I mean we forgot about it ourselves until we saw Damian's email and besides, he didn't say with whom he was having dinner tonight, my inner incubus swats my subconscious's worries off as if they were nothing more than flies, not looking as confident as she sounds.

"Dear Directors, partners and colleagues. Good evening and a warm welcome to our company's tenth anniversary. I started this company ten years ago as a teenager fresh out of junior college with no knowledge about an acquisition or anything about running a proper business." Damian announces in a jokingly serious voice taking my attention away from my internal war. "Never in my nor, my father's wildest dreams did we expect Higgens and Co. to become what it is today Therefore we thought it fitting to celebrate this achievement with the people who helped to make this possible - you, our partners and staff. Please enjoy your evening."

That was short.

A serenade of applause rises from the tables as the chatter that died down when he stood starts up again as the appetizers come rolling out of the kitchen. Gently placing a warm plate of wood oven-roasted crabcakes with crisp apple-jicama slaw on the side with drops of tarragon mustard aioli decorating the plate in front of me, I smile softly at the nervous waiter in unspoken appreciation.

"So, you must be Ms Summers," Mrs Higgens, a beach wave blonde-haired woman in her late forties dressed in a square neck, midnight blue number, starts as we begin to dig into the food. "Damian has talked about you non-stop for the last three months, it's so good to finally meet you in person. I honestly thought he was making it up."

Next, to her, her greying black-haired husband in a three-piece suit snorts into his crabcakes as Damian shifts uncomfortably next to me, a smirk plays on his lips when I reply timidly, "Well then I'm probably a figment of his imagination sitting here then."

The table bursts out in comfortable laughter at our delightful exchange, unconsciously I find myself looking into Alexander's eyes once more and I drop my eyes to my plate when I see that his eyes have never left me since the beginning.

"Well, I see you're engaged," Mrs Higgens continues, spotting the giant glistering stamp of ownership on my left hand. "Does your fiance know you're here?"

Mumbling under my breath that if he didn't then he'd be blind, I force myself to smile brightly to respond to her inquiry clearly, "No, he doesn't. He had another function to attend this evening so I didn't get the chance to tell him about this before he left for work this morning."

"You should have brought it up over breakfast," Alexander suddenly chips in, taking a sip from his glass of wine, his blazing grey eyes boring into my brown ones across the table. "He would have appreciated being made aware of your whereabouts."

Crabiolies...I'm as dead as this crab on my plate. He's not mad. He is freaking furious.