The Billionaire's Bitch

Twenty-Four

Again Adrian found himself surprised at how disturbed he was by Eve's absence.

He tried to catch up on some paperwork; he was combing over all his accounts because he had the sneaking suspicion that someone in his company was skimming from him, and that was just unacceptable, no matter how small the amount. He would find the mole; he always did. This was hardly the first time it had happened and it probably wouldn't be the last.

He was distracted, though, and kept having to recheck his figures against invoices and backlogs.

The numbers blurred before his eyes.

His gaze flicked to the clock.

She had been gone for over three hours now. Where the hell was she?!

He resisted the urge to text her to tell her to come home so he could concentrate, because that was insane. He couldn't control her in her off time, he had no power and no right.

But still...he wondered.

Where was she? At her sister's, no doubt. What was her name? He couldn't remember if Eve had told him. And the sister had kids, but how many?

He didn't know why he cared, why he was thinking about her utterly inconsequential family. Usually he never spared a thought for the PA living down the hall, unless it was of what they could do for him. Now he found himself obsessed with the idea that maybe she wasn't with her family at all, maybe she was with some other man.

Not to say 'other' as though to imply that he was her man, but just...some guy.

Finally he saw on the security monitors as her car pulled into the parking garage.

He found a reason to be in the lobby of the penthouse, as though he were just passing through with a drink in his hand, when she came in.

Eve lifted her gaze from her purse where she was stuffing away her keys and phone, and she seemed surprised to see him, though not necessarily unhappy. She smiled that radiant, too good for the world smile of hers.

"Hey. Weren't waiting up, were you?" She said, and he fixed her with an expression that he knew was hard and unwelcoming. He just couldn't help it.

"Did you have a good time at your sister's?" He said, thinking he should probably say something decent.

She cocked her head, smile dimming. "I thought you didn't care to know anything about my personal life."

He rolled his shoulders. "It's simply none of my business, Ms. Mathers. Goodnight."

He heard her sigh as he walked away from her.

"Goodnight." She said quietly to his back.

He shut the door behind him, feeling like a fool, and the feeling was utterly unacceptable.

###

The next day I could tell that Adrian was in a worse mood than usual and I had to wonder what had set him off.

Our first meeting was with a sophisticated Asian woman with a very elegant updo. They spoke almost entirely in what sounded like Japanese to me, so there was no point in me trying to take notes.

I sat beside and slightly behind him in the lady's fancy office, done in cherry walnut, with beautiful embroidered tapestries on the walls, and an extensive collection of ancient relics from the Land of the Rising Sun; golden vases with painstakingly painted pictures of landscapes on them, and also a bunch of wicked cool looking swords trapped behind a wall of glass.