Twenty-Six

Auriella Everleigh Soleil

I lean against the outside of the building phone in hand, counting down the few minutes until Grayson would come out of the doors.

Ambrosi had things to do and there was no way I was letting Grayson, a small-town boy try and get himself around New York City all by himself.

I lift my head when I hear the door open and a couple of people walk out, one of them being my curly-headed brother. Grayson was normally taller than most people, he was the tallest out of all my brothers but among this group of people, he was the same height, even shorter than a couple of them.

Grayson sees me and starts walking towards me, but unfortunately, he's not the only one who seems to have his attention on me.

"If it isn't London's favourite socialite." I didn't have to look up to know who was talking to me. I had managed to avoid him for the duration of my whole trip, of course, I bumped into him on the last day.

"Jordan." I greet politely but neither of us is oblivious to the sarcastic undertone of my words. My eyes rose to scan over the man as he towered over me, he was taller than both my brother and my boyfriend. He had light brown skin, a mix between his African American father and his Colombian mother. There was a lot I could say about Jordan West but one thing about him that could not be doubted was that he had incredible genes. His dark skin contrasted with his lighter hazel eyes, and his hair was curly and was a lot longer when I had known him but now it was cropped close, he had always been very handsome which was part of his purpose to me but as much as I tried a while ago there was no way he and I could ever have any emotional connection, that seemed to be mutually exclusive to Alexander and I but as far as ex-boyfriends go Jordan West wasn't so bad.

Most of the time anyway.

"Auriella," He drawls out, his Californian accent shining brightly. "What are you doing here, Valiente wasn't in today?"

His sharp hazel eyes scan me and then look over to Grayson, taking in out very similar features one thing at a time. When he looks back at me I know he's perplexed and trying to calculate just how we were related as he and most other people don't know I was adopted.

"Oh you know, just the usual." I drawl out with a smile and a tilt of my head. "Well, it was nice seeing you, see you around."

Without another word I spin on my heels and grab Grayson, pulling him with me.

"The usual?" Grayson asks with an amused chuckle. "See you around? You need to work on your conversation skills, Leigh."

"No, I don't." I glare at him sideways, defensive of my communication skills. He shoots me a look filled with disbelief which has me rolling my eyes at him. "Yeah, well you didn't have to just speak to your ex."

He tried his hardest to look shocked at that revelation but Grayson was easier than a book to read, also Ambrosi had mentioned their conversation to me this morning when we had a moment alone.

It wasn't that I didn't want Grayson to know about my past situations but I didn't ever really want anyone knowing my business. Ambrosi and Adelina wouldn't know it either if it didn't happen that they were my closest friends and watched all the drama in my life unfold.

"I don't even have an ex." Grayson drawls, his southern accent coming out strong. I speed up trying my best to leave this conversation alone but Grayson quickly catches up to me as his strides are infinitely longer than mine could ever be.

"How do you walk so fast in heels?" Grayson inquires looking at me with bewilderment. "Don't women always go about how those things are death traps and are terrible inventions?"

"Don't get me wrong, the wrong pair of heels is a disaster but like everything in life heels are a science and it happens to combine two things I'm very passionate about, clothing and physics, besides they look pretty."

The rest of the walk to the Ambivalent Offices Grayson and I discuss the very safe topic of shoes and inventions but our conversation dies out as we approach the very tall, intimidating building that held mine and Alexander's North American location of our very own creation.

"Come on. Keep your head down." We entered the bustling lobby, I always tried to be as discreet as possible even though only a limited number of people knew who I was. Grayson did as I asked, following closely behind me.

My hand brushed against the scanner to a door, the chips in my rings activating my access and unlocking the door letting my brother and I through. Once the door was shut behind us my head lifted, and now I could walk like I owned the whole building.

Because I freaking did.

Grayson's eyes were locked looking outside the door, it was a one-sided glass, we were able to see the busy lobby but no one was able to see us.

"Miss Soleil." A guard standing in front of the elevators just in case someone ever managed to get past my ironclad doors.

"Afternoon Markus." The golden doors of the elevator open for me and I press the top floor before grabbing lipstick out of my purse, reapplying it in the mirrored walls.

"Do you own the whole building?" Grayson looks mesmerised. His eyes and mine meet in the mirror and seeing the two of us together made me realise exactly why everyone knew immediately that we were related. We were very identical, we had the same eyes, nose, dimples in each of our cheeks and even the same freckles splattered across our cheeks and noses.

"Alexander and I do." I run my fingers along the buttons. "The bottom floor is just the lobby but the first to fifteenth floor is Alexander's architecture business. Sixteenth to thirtieth is my fashion company and the last twenty floors are Ambivalent."

"You have an imaginable amount of wealth don't you." Grayson shakes his head in disbelief. "You're only sixteen, Leigh."

I can hear the heartbreak in his voice because only now is Grayson realising exactly how much of my childhood was sacrificed to build the life I have now.

Spoiler alert, the answer is all of it.

"I'm happy Gray, and I know you might see all this and think I'm tired.

Which I do some days but a lot of the time I love it here. Only when I'm this busy is my brain finally quiet, guess the real world is too slow for me sometimes."

"You're just weird." He comments which has me laughing. No one ever calls me out like that, like a sibling would and in some way, it's kind of nice.

People are always pretending around me hoping to get what they want and it's exhausting. Having a sibling is having a relationship where there are no expectations.

"Thank you, Gray." I scoff but can't keep the smile off of my face.

When the elevator doors finally open I lead Gray into the opulent floor that was mine and Alexander's private office. The whole floor was reserved only for us and spare a couple of heavily vetted cleaners this space was only to be accessed by us and the very few people we allowed into our private space.

The information that was held here wasn't as highly confidential as what could be found in our London office as it was there that held the designs and software for many future projects and some technology we would never let the general population get a hold of but there was enough information that could be lethal if it fell into the wrong hands.

Glass windows surrounded the large space but it wasn't a clear view outside as clouds covered the building leaving an opaque fog covering our view of the cityscape.

"DO you mind if I leave you here, I have to run to a meeting," I ask Grayson. "It shouldn't take too long, there's a TV, Wi-Fi and a bunch of snacks."

"Yeah, of course." He mutters taking a seat in the couch area that often housed a quick nap between meetings for Alexander and me.

"Please don't touch too many things, especially the tech that is half-built, I don't want you to accidentally explode my office, it creates terrible publicity."

Grayson looks at me exasperated from the corner of his eyes. "Of course, that's the thing you focus on."

"What?" I shrug, turning to face the mirror, and fixing my hair to make it look just right. "What does it say about me if one of my biggest headquarters explodes especially if I'm on the premises."

"Maybe they'll rethink purchasing phones from a sixteen-year-old girl."

"Oh shut up." I laugh, thinking about the catastrophe I would have on my hands if anyone ever found out who was running Ambivalent. "You sure you're okay here?"

"You're acting like you're the older sibling, I have a could years on you you know."

"More like a couple of months, you're only seventeen months older than me."

Grayson chucks a throw pillow lightly at me from where he is sitting.

"Go back to work, Leigh."

<><><>

I think I missed this.

I mean I had forgotten how big of an idiot people can be but I was in my element, I had signed far too many papers, I had been in meetings and met with a couple dozen employees and I should have been exhausted but I wasn't.

I was thrilled.

Now though I was feeling a little bit bad because I had left my brother in my office for a lot longer than I had planned.

I make it up to my office and my eyes scan over the room looking for my older brother, and all of a sudden all the exhaustion I had been feeling leaves my body and adrenaline fills me at the sight of my brother standing up with his arms raised in surrender with a gun being pointed right at him.

And to my surprise, there was no fear in Grayson's eyes, only amusement and a little bit of annoyance at the inconvenience. I was convinced now that he was either suicidal or a sociopath.

"Julian!" I bark out, "What is going on?"

Momentarily stunned Julian took his eyes off Grayson and looked at me with shock, like he couldn't believe I was shouting at him of all people. Grayson uses his surprise to carefully move away from him and towards me, he gives me the soft smile he only seems to ever give to me and I still find myself bewildered by his lack of reaction.

I knew Grayson was a lot like me but this seemed to cement the fact in my mind.

"What do you mean what's going on, there's a stranger in your office, the place where no one is supposed to have access to."

I look him up and down taking in all his wild blond hair and red flushed skin and raise an eyebrow at him.

"And how are you up here?"

Julian frowns at me looking a bit betrayed. "You've given me access to be allowed up here,"

"Exactly, no one gets up here without my permission, Jules." I remind him.

"Julian I'd like you to meet my older brother, Grayson. Gray, this is a friend of mine, Julian."

Grayson tips his head down in proper Southern boy etiquette. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Your brother?" Julian's eyes were wide in what I would assume to be shock.

"You're a trained agent, Jules." I point out. "Never mind, what are you doing here?"

"I knew you were in New York, so I came to drop off some things, I left them on your desk before I realised there was a sleeping man on your couch." He winces at the last part.

For someone with such a high IQ, for someone who was a resident doctor at eighteen, Julian was an idiot.

"Thanks J,"

"Alright, well I'm just going to go, I have a flight back to London in a couple minutes, and I wanted to just give those to you, I hope they're useful." With that Julian turns on his heels and leaves the room heading into the elevator.

"Have a safe flight, call me if you need anything."

"Will do, try and stay out of trouble." He calls back. "Okay never mind, that's impossible for you. Call me if you need me to bail you out of said trouble."

Grayson and I watch as the elevator doors close, my older brother turns to look at me. "Well, that was fun."

I run a hand roughly down my face. "I would say you and I have different definitions of fun but I would be lying."

I all of a sudden knew why Alexander was so worried for me, I was often the one in the situation like Grayson was and Xander always had to bail me out.

I walk over to my desk trying to find what Julian had thought so important that he didn't want to send it over and thought it imperative to bring it in person.

I eye the new files that weren't there this morning, there had to be over a dozen of them. I open the first one, my mind taking in all the information on the first page and then the next. I flipped though the other files quickly, not taking in the information but just to make sure they were all the same. Grayson stands far enough from my desk that he can't see what I'm reading but he can read my facial expressions.

"What's wrong?"

"We need to go back," I tell him, closing the files and grabbing a case from one of the desk drawers that can't be opened by anyone other than Alexander or me.

"Okay, we can go and pack our things," Grayson speaks rationally.

"No, I'll get someone to finish packing up the things you brought and they'll be back later, you can tell Crew and them the airline lost your luggage but we need to go back now."

I open my phone to call my pilot to be ready but see a text from Julian waiting for me.

Jules: I called you pilot already, just get to the airport, Ells. Love you.

Love you too, J.

Thank you. I'm not even going to ask how

you came across this information

Jules: You aren't the only one working on this case.

"Our flights ready," I tell Gray, looking at him a little sadly. I wanted the last night to be special for him but life always has other plans.

"Let's go home, Leigh." He smiles at me in understanding.

"Yeah, let's go home."

The difference in our sentences was that he was talking about a place and I was talking about a person.

Well it's been a hot minute, I'm hoping to get back into writing this book as I literally consider it my first child.

I'm hoping you all enjoy this chapter, believe me I've been writing it for months but I had the final burst of inspiration to finish it this morning.

Thank you all for still being here, I hope you enjoyed the chapter

Ara <3