The Undercover Billionaire (18+)

Chapter Seven - Stained

AUTHOR'S NOTE: 26.02.2022

So, I had these chapters for quite a while now and only now decided to post them... in the middle of a war. 

Smart. 

Anyway, I wanted to say that my heart goes out to those who've been affected by this war. Even though I don't have many followers or readers at the time I'm writing this (and may never have as many as I want), that doesn't stop me from wishing that it would be over as soon as possible. 

If you are reading this in the future and are from one of the countries that have been severely affected, or have lost a loved one to this or any other war, I am so deeply sorry that that happened to you. Know that the strength you have to continue on despite all that has happened to you--to be reading with all that has happened to you--is incredible and I truly admire it. 

However, while the world sheds its light on Ukraine and Russia, I also don't want to forget that war-ridden countries at this time also include Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, Syria, Lybia, Iraq, Yemen, Bosnia, Pakistan, and Kashmir. If there are more, I apologize for not mentioning them here. 

The politics of these countries are none of my business. But I am sorry for the people of these countries who've lost their homes, loved ones, and everything else because of them. 

I'd like to end off this author's note on a bright note and say that this will all be okay, it'll be over soon, but the truth states the opposite. As shown by human history time and time again, war is in our nature regardless of who it affects. 

My heart is broken and I wish that could do more than type out a message on a screen. 

Stay strong. 

Hopefully, we see the end of this soon. 

~ Geneva. 

********

(THIS CHAPTER WAS TYPED BEFORE THE START OF THE WAR AND IS DEDICATED TO SOMEONE WHO NEVER FAILED TO MAKE ME SMILE.)

CHAPTER SEVEN – STAINED

~To letting this Goddess see your vulnerability, and introducing her to pretty forms of wordplay. You occupied my thoughts as I edited these words. ~ Geneva...

NATASHA

When the car stopped, signaling that they'd arrived at the building, Nat looked up through the car window at the very first building that she'd ever built with her own cash. It was beautiful and it had held up well throughout the years. Though the same thing could be said for everything that she'd built, this was the one that she checked on personally most frequently. She smiled when she looked up at it.

"Who adds Devil's Ivy to every single apartment building they own?" She heard Adrian ask from the opposite side of the car. 

She almost rolled her eyes. Clearly, he was pissed about something. But given that he was right about the lack of candidates to take his place and that he'd seen an action that could land Mitch in the police station if Adrian talked, she bore with it. She'd be lying if she said it wasn't getting on her nerves though. 

"It's an air-cleaning plant, Einstein," she replied. "We live in a city. The least I want my tenants to have is clean air." 

"Considerate," he replied. She didn't have time to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not because by the time she turned to face him, he said, "I'm sure the manager's waiting. Don't want to be late a second time, Amira." He didn't wait for her to reply before joining Rick and Michael outside the car. 

"I wasn't late the first time," she muttered even though he couldn't hear her. She took a breath before getting out of the vehicle.

While she was speaking to the manager of the complex, she noticed that Adrian had been casting glances at her. Most of them were  ...surprised, if she read them properly. Perhaps at the fact that she knew this place like the back of her hand, or at the fact that he'd learned that the manager was initially a tenant. He outright stared at her when he'd seen some of the tenant's children come up and hug her.

She knew that it was a bit unconventional and probably unprofessional for her to allow them to do that but ...damn it. There was no excuse for why she'd continued to allow it. Her last assistant hadn't had the gall to comment on things like these. He just sat quietly as she spent hours here.

It seemed that Adrian bothered to look at her occasionally.

Adrian's face changed multiple times throughout the experience. And whenever she asked him about it, his answer was always the same. It was nothing.

Halfway through the ride back to the office, the work phone that Adrian had kept going off.

"The mayor wants to know if you're still going to be available for the meeting this evening," he said after reading the text.

Nat sighed and rolled her eyes. "This damn woman is relentless," she said under her breath. She propped her hand on the door handle and held up her forehead. "Tell her I can't make it."

He heard him typing out the message and within seconds of sending it, another arrived. "She wants to know if that means to postpone or cancel the meeting. And if it means to cancel, she wants to know what's the status with your decision on the sale."

She pursed her lips and looked at him. He only stared back with the smallest hint of amusement on his face.

"Tell her that I've decided not to sell and that's my final answer."

"Why does she even want the land so bad anyway?" He asked as his fingers began moving. "This is the third time this week she's messaged about the meeting--And the other two times were to confirm that there was still going to be one."

Her own phone began ringing. One glance at the screen had her ignoring the call, her face immediately casting into a scowl. "Her company wants to build another power plant and she's had her eye on that land for it for the longest while."

"So, why don't you just sell it to them?"

She took a breath. "Because the land crosses over into some ancient tribe land. That's how I ended up buying it in the first place. To protect it from her. The chief came to me and asked for my help to protect his tribe. He didn't have to ask twice." She looked down at her intertwined fingers.

Her phone rang again. She turned it off. But not before Adrian's eyes caught the movement. He arched his brow and she had the feeling that he was about to ask about it when the work phone rang.

He furrowed his brows. "Wonder who that could be," his words were laced with sarcasm.

"Yeah, don't answer it." She wasn't sure why, but she felt the need to not speak to Mitch at all when Adrian was around.

He took a moment before speaking again. This time, he squinted his eyes at her like he was putting pieces of a puzzle together. "You sure you don't wanna answer Mitchy-boy? Wouldn't want him jumping me after work." He shook his head like it was funny. She supposed it was. 

She didn't reply. Instead, she turned her gaze out the window at the scenery passing by.

"What's the deal with you and him anyway?"

She scoffed. "Why should I answer that, for you to give me an even colder shoulder?"

"I'm not giving you a cold shoulder."

"Oh? If this is warm, I definitely don't want to see cold."

He sighed. "You don't like being called Amira. But you should. Maybe then you wouldn't allow pieces of shit like him to treat you anything less than a princess."

Nat turned to meet his eyes. But they were unreadable as they looked back at her. A second later, the car stopped. And he got out, leaving her wondering what he meant.