Keeping the CEO's Secret

Chapter Three

Setting my keys down onto the radiator cover by my front door, I chucked my work bag down and trudged to the bathroom to change. I hated relaxing in my work clothes.

It wasn't long before I returned to my work bag, gingerly taking out the glossy magazine I had hastily shoved inside. Walking past one of the corner shops outside the tube station by work, I couldn't help but stop and grab a copy.

I thumbed the brightly coloured pages, feeling guilt seep through me. It felt so scandalous to be reading the gossip about Callum Moore, but I was curious. That week alone he had made another four IT requests. Every time I fixed whatever 'problem' there was with his computer or printer, I could feel his eyes following me around the room as I moved.

He stared at me like I was a tall, icy drink on a hot day, and it made me want to scream.

In fact, he quite unashamedly watched me. Even when people were in the room, Callum was unbothered in his attraction. It unnerved and excited me, which I hated. He made it hard to fight my attraction to him, but I was also curious about how a man could be so unphased about others knowing his affairs.

'Smiles all around as Callum Moore strolls on Sunday date with new fiancée Freya Lux.'

There was something interesting about how the information was being pumped out. It seemed as if all of the tabloids had gone from regurgitating the same old story about Callum stumbling out of a club with a different woman on his arm each evening to prim and proper Sunday walks with a dog through Kensington and Chelsea. The dark, flashy images outside clubs had been swapped for daytime park pictures.

"Is it staged?" I mumbled to myself.

It certainly seemed that way. Their smiles were far too wide, and they always seemed to be looking right at the camera or staring dreamily at each other. Gone was Callum's bachelor persona and in its place was a doting husband-to-be.

Somebody wanted those photos to paint a certain image, and I was fairly certain I knew who.

Scanning the words written in the article, I shook my head.

'Freya Lux has proved it's possible to do the impossible by actually getting Callum Moore to tie the knot and settle down.'

"Cheating one day into your engagement being public knowledge? Sounds like that knot was tied a little too loose," I scoffed.

I felt horrible for the girl; Freya Lux was an innocent bystander in the storm that was Callum Moore and whether she had any clue about his cheating was beyond me. His reputation preceded him, so it was likely she did, but then why would she even attempt to marry him?

I had so many questions.

My phone began to ring, and I returned to my bag to fish it out of the front pocket. Swiping to answer, I flopped against my bed and held it to my ear to speak.

"Hi, Mum. Did you get the money I sent?"

"Thank you, darling," her voice croaked through from the other end. "You really don't have to. I'll manage without it, you know?"

That was a lie.

"Don't be silly, Mum," I reassured her. "I want to."

"Are you going out tonight, Millie?"

Glancing around my dimly lit studio flat, my eyes settled on my laptop at the end of my bed. The extent of my evening plans lay within the confines of that screen, but I didn't exactly want to tell my mother that my only source of entertainment on a Friday night came from a screen.