Beauty and The Beast

Eleven

I helped Greta and Lily cleaning up my walked-in closet. We rearranged the clothes to fit in the new ones.

"I don't understand. I barely touch my clothes, some of them even still have the price-tag on. Now they sent me the new ones ?" I protested.

"I think Master Black's personal shopper just do what Master ordered, Miss. You know how impossible he can be." Greta stated with amusement, i rolled my eyes and shook my head disapproving.

"But he is the sexiest man i've ever met ! I can't stop thinking the way he thanked me." Lily said mesmerized.

"Behave yourself, Lily. We don't want him to hear that." Greta warned.

Lily pouted and I chuckled at her cute face. I scanned the price tag of my new clothes. I snorted at the prices. I used to wear designers clothes, but they were not like these ridiculous-price dresses. He really was impossible.

We finished at 5 pm. I followed Greta and Lily downstairs. I needed to return a book at the library. I put the book on the rack, and scanned the shelf to find interesting one. I tiptoed to get Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I was struggling to get the book, when someone coughed behind me. I jumped and turned. I saw James looking down at me, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, Mr.Black. I didn't know that you're here." I said keeping my head down.

"What book are you looking for ?" He asked.

"Pride and Prejudice, Sir."

He reached the top of book shelf and took the book. He handed it to me.

"A fan of Jane Austen ?" He asked.

"Yes. You have a big library." I said looking up at him.

"I do. I like to read in my free time."

"I hope you don't mind if i borrowed some of your books yesterday." I looked at my toes and bite my lower lip.

"No, please read anything you want. Ask Costner if you want a new book, he will buy it for you." He said, but his eyes focused on my lips.

I shifted uncomfortably. I was fidgeting under his stare when someone knock the door. Costner came in with a file in his hand.

"Sir." He greeted James.

"Hi, Costner." I said with a smile.

"Good evening, Miss." He replied with a big smile on his face.

James gave him a disapproving look and deadly stare. He straighten his body instantly and coughed.

"I mean, Ma'am." He revised his greetings.

I almost chuckled but kept my mouth shut to stifled the laugh. He immediately recovered his mistake.

"Err. . I came here to tell you that we found some of fraudulence in LA, Sir."

"How do you know that ?" James asked calmly.

"We have informants, Sir. They came with a prove."

"Send them in." He ordered.

Costner opened the library door, and four men came in. Then i felt my body freeze. It was the Scar Face. The hideous prick that hit and touched me. I shifted behind James and got hold of his shirt. Instantly, his hand reached my tiny form and pushed me to his back in order to shield me with his body completely.

"What do you have ?" He asked.

The Scar Face stepped forward and handed him a file. I tighten my fist on his shirt i'm sure my nails dig his skin because he flinched. He opened the file and found some of the pictures. One of the photo was a man handing a brief case to a woman, like they were doing a transaction.

"But you are off duty, i fired you a month ago." James crossed his arms over his chest. I didn't know that he fired him, i thought he was still working for him.

"Eerr yes, Sir. I was just passing by when i saw Margret met one of Bill's man. So i followed her." He replied nervously.

"I've checked the financial statement, we missed 1 million this month." Costner chimed in and handed him a file. "And Ukraine hasn't received a package from Uzbekistan."

"Bring Margret to me, and solve the package problem immediately. We don't want our client to nag. Fly to Uzbekistan if you have to." I ordered Costner.

"Right away, Sir."

"You can go, and you're still fired." He pointed to the scar face.

What was it about ? LA , a package , Ukraine and Uzbekistan ? My mind was still on-going when James led me to the door. My eyes widened shock when we stopped at the main room. Five clingy girls circled, wearing too short pants, too show-off-cleavage tank top, and killer heels. My mouth dropped. One of those came toward James and circled her arms around his neck. She kissed him on the cheek, i looked away instantly feeling awkward. She noticed me, giving me a disapproving look. Her eyes lingered to my body from head to toe.

"And you are ?" She asked despising me.

"I'm Cassandra." I answered. I held out my hand, but she ignored it. Turned her gaze back on him.

"Your flavor of the month, Black ?"

I gasped at her question. James tugged her arms away from his body.

"She's not. And you might wanna mind your tone when you speak to me."

His tone sounded angry. The atmosphere dropped a few degrees. I needed to get away from them, i didn't want to see how this cold situation ended.

"I'll go upstairs and leave you two alone." I beckoned but he gripped my hand not letting me go.

"You and your slut friends should go. Don't bother to come back here. Greta will show you the way out." He said to that girl.

With that he led me upstairs to my room. Once inside he didn't leave my room. Just stood there looking down at me.

"I'm sorry about the inconvenience."

"You don't have to kick them out because of my presence." I said softly. "This is your house, you can do whatever you desired, Sir."

"Why don't you call me with my first name ?"

"I thought that you wanted me to call you with 'sir' ."

"Why would i want that ?"

"Because i'm your prisoner."

"You're not."

"I'm not ?"

"Not anymore."

"Why am i still here ?"

"You're my guest."