End Game

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Byron had to stop himself from driving past the shop for the third time this week, and it was only Tuesday. It had been one week and two days since Jackson had given him the results of his search. It turned out the woman had lied to him. She in fact did not work at Michelson Fashions. Byron poured over the ten photos he received almost twenty times just hoping that his mystery girl would appear. He went over all the information about each worker looking for any detail that sounded familiar. As much as he tried he couldn't make any of the details match, none of the women were who he was looking for.

He realized that his fixation was bordering on stalker level now, but he couldn't quite stop it. The fact that she had managed to escape his grasp was driving him crazy. No other woman had been this hard to attain. If he couldn't get them off bat he knew they would fall for one of three things, dick, money, or a deal, or a combination of them. He refused to believe there was a woman out there that he couldn't get if he wanted.

****

Cera rolled over in her bed fully prepared to return to sleep; until she realized that someone was cuddling with her. Seeing as she went to bed alone last night this alarmed her. She started to reach for the gun in her nightstand before she heard the person mumble in their sleep.

"CeCe, be still."

Cera exhaled a breath wondering why she even let herself get worked up. There were only a select few that had keys to her place. Even then only one of those people used it on the regular. Cera rolled onto her side to face her sister, Caprice. She leaned up on her elbow and shook her head. Caprice was a cuddler. If she was ever in a house with someone that she knew and trusted and they were sleeping alone then she was climbing in the bed next to them.

Cera sat up and gripped the sheets. While trying not to jostle the bed too much she got herself into position. She had to hold in her laughter so her plan wouldn't be ruined. She brought her knees to her chest and kicked Caprice with enough force to make her fall out of the bed and onto the floor. She hit the floor with a thud and sat up looking mad as hell.

"Cera! What the hell!?"

Cera couldn't hold it in anymore and her laughter burst forward when she saw he sister's hair all over her head. She continued to laugh as Caprice climbed back into the bed pouting. Her breath was coming in gasps now and her stomach was starting to hurt. She tried to calm herself down but every time she did she remembered the look on Caprice's face. She rolled off the bed clutching her side and unable to breathe.

"Oh my God... you about...to make me ... piss myself!" Cera could barely get the words out in between gasping for air and her laughing.

"It wasn't that funny asshole." Caprice threw a pillow at Cera which she managed to catch. Thanks to Caprice's outburst she was finally able to calm down enough to form an understandable response.

"It was that funny. Maybe next time you'll think twice before climbing in my bed." Caprice stuck her tongue out at her sister, which caused Cera to throw the pillow back at her. "What are you doing here anyway? And why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

Caprice stretched out on the laying her head on the pillow her sister tossed to her. "I had a break in my work. And I didn't leave until it was already after midnight. I didn't want to wake you."

Caprice was a freelance photographer. She went wherever her work took her, traveling across the states and even doing some work internationally. Caprice was a spirit as free as they come, blowing whichever way the wind took her.

"Did you lock my door behind you?"

"Of course I did scary cat."

"Good. Do you want to go work out with me?"

"Yeah, sure."

****

After their workout Cera left her sister to go and open her shop for the day. She made sure everything was in order and ready to go before she left the shop in the capable hands of her workers. Cera didn't mind doing the grunt work every now and then. She had done it all on her on for a time, when the shop was first starting up. She wanted her workers to know that just because she was their boss didn't mean she thought she was better than them. She knew the best way to lead was by example.

She had finished all of the business handlings for the shop the day before so there was no need for her to stay, but she still liked to keep a close eye on her workers. She trusted them but knew that if she stayed away for too long things might start to fall apart. She worked too hard and long on this business to let anyone else drag it down. This store was her baby.

Cera said goodbye to her workers and headed to her studio. Her studio was her second home. Or more like her first since she spent more time there than at her actual home.

She bought the warehouse before she really had a need for so much room. At first it was just a place for her to go to create. She would simply come here to just let out whatever design or idea that she had stuck in her head. It was her place to be herself.

It became much more than that as time wound on. It became the place where she birthed all of her dreams. It was the place where she cultivated her fashion line. It was where she worked tirelessly on her plans for her store. It was her home.

She got off the elevator on the top floor where her office was located. She used the majority of the floor as her personal space, save for a few desks for when she needed to work closely with her workers. Her office was on the loft space in the back, raised above the rest of the floor. Her white wood desk was cluttered with a few last minute designs for her new project. She sat her bag down on her chaise lounge chair and got work.

She double checked and triple checked to make sure everything was in order for her meeting in two days. She had to make sure she got what she wanted from Mr. Byron Steel. She knew what Byron wanted from her but she also knew that he wouldn't get it.

Byron treated his women too much like escorts for Cera's liking. He showed them off like arm candy at all of the events he went to, paid them like whores, in either cash of goods, and he used them in bed and sent them on their way. She was nobody's escort and refused to be treated like one.

His honesty was refreshing though. Cera rarely liked to lie herself so finding a guy that was the same way was a bonus. She has been in enough relationships that had too many lies and secrets. Cera tried to be as honest as she could with everyone around her.

She hoped that Byron would be able move past trying to get in her panties long enough to actually pay attention to her proposal. His support would be a really big factor in her future business plans. While she has made backup plans if he won't cooperate, she preferred to work with him over his competitors. She knew that his competitors were good but Byron was one of the biggest players in the fashion business and she would rather work with him than work against him.

While she was working Cera got a call from Caprice. She stopped sketching long enough to answer the phone and she what her sister wanted. "Hey Cappy. What's up?"

"Put your pencils down and exit the studio, Soeur."

Cera couldn't help but laugh at her sister knowing where she was and what she was doing. Her work was her life and she loved it. "Why where am I going?"

"You are going to lunch with your sisters. And don't say you've eaten because I know you've been holed up in that warehouse starving yourself."

Cera rolled her eyes at the phone. She couldn't deny what her sister said because it was true but it still annoyed her that she pointed it out. Instead of telling her that she just asked her sister where they were going because now that it had been pointed out to her she truly was hungry.

"Our café of course."