Red Hourglass : Dark Coming Of Age Romance Thriller

The Last Secretary

I emailed Conan as soon as I got to the office on Monday morning. He and a few of his managers were at a conference in Atlantic City for the week, and he'd left instructions for me to report in every morning and evening. He emailed a few times a day to give me work and check his messages.

As I was finishing up on Thursday, Christophe stopped by my desk.

"Errm, Scarlet, about what happened last week ..."

"Yeah, what about it? You were a total creep. What the hell were you thinking? I was about to ... clock you with my heel." I was still furious about his weird behavior and I almost told him I was about to slit his throat.

"I'm really sorry." He stood up straight and looked very businesslike. "I just wanted to talk to you. I didn't mean to scare you."

"So, what is it?" He looked sort of hot for an awkward creep. What am I thinking? I have to control myself! I'm an assassin, not a pathetic little worker rat looking for love in a large corporation.

"I wanted to warn you about something." Christophe narrowed his eyes and looked around. "It's about Conan," he said softly. "Let me make it up to you. Fancy a pizza? I'm buying."

"You aren't going to get weird on me again, are you?"

"No."

"Okay," I said sternly. I had to know whatever it was that he wanted to tell me about Conan.

"Great."

"Let's get out of here. I'm starving.

* * *

We went back to the pizza place with the wood-fired oven and dug into two medium pizzas.

"You wanted to tell me something about Conan," I said, wiping my mouth.

"Yeah." Christophe took a bite of his pizza. "He's doing the exact same thing to you as he did to his last secretary. She ended up quitting and I'm sure it was because of him."

With his French accent, "exact" sounded like "axed."

"You have to be more specific. What did he do to her?"

"He pretended he had to check on buildings at night and he made her go with him, but he was just bringing her along to impress her or whatever. Then he started buying her nice clothes and taking her dancing. He's doing all the same things with you."

"So what happened?"

"Hmm." Christophe looked down at the table. "I think they got engaged."

"And?"

"She left." He looked up at me. "I don't know the details, but you have to keep your relationship professional. I don't want you to leave because of him." He reached across the table and held my hands. "Scarlet, you're the reason I haven't left yet."

"Hold on a second." I snatched my hands out of his grip. "What are you telling me? Do you like me?"

"Yeah ... a little. You're very attractive." He shifted in his chair and stared at me. "I know you're dating the big dog, but I'm the one for you."

"Christophe, I think you're cute ... awkward and really cute ... and I'm flattered, but I don't think of you that way." I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I didn't know what else to say.

"I understand." Disappointment washed over his face. "But I do care about you. If you ever need anything Scarlet, anything at all, you can count on me."

"Thank you. That's sweet. Finish your pizza," I said, shoving a bite into my mouth.

My blood was boiling. I sometimes noticed Conan gazing into the distance, his mind somewhere else. Am I just another play thing for him? Was he thinking of her, or some other woman?