His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Two

The one per cent they're called by regular folk, the people who have enough disposable income they could buy a brand new Lamborghini every weekend and drive it into a brick wall just for their enjoyment. People like that were the pinnacle of a child's dreams, they'd always say 'I want to have a red Lamborghini when I grow up', or 'I'll be rich and famous'. For Noah McKenzie, though he'd wanted that success, of course, he'd worked hard for it every day of his life and proved to everyone- his family, friends and even the society he'd grown up in- that he wasn't a layabout, that he could survive on his own.

His family owned a high-end law firm and ever since infancy he'd been exposed to the media, where he'd always been expected to join his parents in their legal occupations; he was the oldest son and it was expected that he would take over the family business. But that's not what he wanted, he wanted to be the one to produce the media, to choose what is put out into society so that other children didn't have to go through what he did. He had no privacy and in turn, his childhood was limited in so many ways. Anything he would wish to do as a young boy had to be checked in with a publicist to make sure it wouldn't reflect badly on his parents' reputation. Not only were his they high-end lawyers, but they were the face of a charity organisation for children with cancer, and he knew because of that, he had a lot to live up to.

"How did it go? Did you give her the job?" Noah tore his eyes from the computer screen he had been studying for around half an hour without getting any work done. His eyes settled on his aunt, Linda, the same woman who was his secretary and personal assistant.

Noah nodded. "She was always going to get the job, you know that."

"I know." She stepped further into the office and checked behind her for any listening ears before closing the door. "I just thought that maybe you'd figured something out. You always do."

"Not this time, there's nothing I can do." He held her gaze for a moment, before she backed out of the office to resume her phone calls and he carried on staring at the computer screen, wishing for the motivation to read a couple of emails. It proved pointless as soon enough it was time to leave the office.

*

He'd stared at a file that sat in front of him for the majority of the day. It was the file he'd added to about Sophia Jenkins, his newest employee. For Noah it was a regular occurrence, he had a filing system with files inside for each and every employee. Their contracts and personal details were inside but Sophia, although she'd only been there for a month, had a file the size of a ring binder containing details of each aspect of her life.

Once again his mind drifted to the woman who'd been occupying his thoughts and preventing him from getting any work done over the last month. Business was still booming, thankfully, but he wasn't able to put 110% into work like he usually did, as his thoughts were permanently occupied by a certain brunette. The same brunette he spotted across the way as he pulled his car out of the parking garage onto the main road. He felt compelled to pull over and he did just that, stopping in the bus lane.

The window rolled down, catching Sophia's attention. "Miss Jenkins, can I give you a ride?" he said smoothly as if he were just a colleague offering another colleague a lift home, when in reality, he was the intimidating boss and she was the new employee who didn't want to do or say the wrong thing.

Before Sophia had a chance to answer, the bus pulled up behind his car that was occupying the stop and pressed its horn. Noah turned around in his seat, looking out behind him.

"No thank you, the bus is here," she smiled gratefully.

"Get in the car," his voice was stern. "I won't ask again." For some reason unknown to him, she did as he said, concerned she didn't put up more of a fight. It may have been that she was scared of the outcome if she didn't or it may have been that there were never any seats on the bus at that time in the evening, but she buckled her belt and turned to look out of the window. "Thank you."

After she'd told him her address, Noah was shocked that she travelled from Brooklyn every day and he asked her about it. "You commute from Brooklyn every day?" He asked. Sophia nodded in response. "I expect an answer when I ask you a question."

"Sorry, yes. I live on the outskirts of Brooklyn so it's really not that far," she answered and he knew that she was feeling as though their conversation was more of an interview.

He was sitting close to her and if he just reached out a couple of centimetres his fingers would brush against hers that were rested on the centre console. She cracked the window open slightly as she felt herself heating up, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Noah, who glanced out of his right eye. The smell of her perfume skipped across the cool breeze through the window and landed at Noah's nose. He noticed her sweet smell and found himself wishing to remember it when she eventually left the car.

"Why apply for a job so far away from where you live?"

"Is this still part of the interview?" She joked, deciding to question his interrogation of her life, with sudden confidence radiating from her. He admired her courage.

"I like to get to know my employees," he stated, ignoring her question, and she didn't push for answers. She was thankful she noticed his lack of enthusiasm in answering them. There was a short pause. "So?"

"I need the money... " She looked out of the window. Sitting in the driver's seat was a man with more money than he knew what to do with, and he knew it made her feel inferior, though it didn't stop his next statement from slipping through his slightly parted lips.

"One of those types," he said under his breath. He felt disgusted with his own words and wondered why he'd even said them in the first place. He knew what it was like to go without and he hated his upper-class view slipping through.

Sophia left the car without speaking another word to her employer as he pulled up outside her apartment. His car door slammed before Sophia had a chance to open the door to her apartment building. A look of pure horror spread across her face as she turned around and saw her employer stalking towards her with such anger and disgust. "What the hell was that?" His question was answered with silence. "I didn't have to drop you home but I did and you don't even say thank you." There was a moment of silence: then, "You know what, don't even bother coming to work after Christmas!" He said these horrid things in the hopes that she'd leave his company and not look back. It was the only way he thought could prevent the future from caving in.

"Excuse me." Sophia clearly felt confidence surge through her body, and it worried him. "You demanded I get into your car like I'm a child and then you say that I'm a certain type of person. Tell me, what type of person am I?"

He didn't know how to answer, he took a step backwards as if he'd just been slapped. Noah had expected her to burst into tears, punch in the code to enter the building, flee into her apartment and not return to work in a weeks time. But that's not what she did, she stood her ground and it made things worse. As stupid as it sounded, he had a plan. Over the past month, he'd had a chance to think things over. There were things that he couldn't get out of, he'd been cornered in. What choice did he have? He had said these things to Sophia to drive her away, she'd been working in his employ for over a month and it was almost Christmas, she'd earned a small sum of money and he knew from the investigator he had research her that she had saved some of it. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough for her to escape and find a motel to stay in for a while; that's what he'd wanted her to do.

Yet she'd just made things more difficult by standing her ground. What was he to do now? He couldn't come out with the truth because not only would she be in more danger, his family would be in jeopardy. He was in a tough spot and he saw no logical way to escape, and he thought in the spur of a moment that firing her would make a difference. But now what could he say to her? He couldn't fire her over this, she could sue him. Was she able to sue? He was sure she could if she needed to, and then all of this would be for nothing.

"I apologise, I shouldn't have spoken the way I did. Have a good Christmas, see you in a weeks time," he said and descended the stairs back to his car. He cursed himself as he watched Sophia look around, confused as he drove away. He knew he'd have to work harder to stop her from getting hurt. It was inevitable, but he still needed to try.