Chapter 3 Liked, not Like

~Calix~

“Sir, Jamiel and the Hawthorne girl met earlier.” Sawyer, my secretary, informed me.

I nodded and continued flipping through the document in my hands. The report mattered less than knowing that Damian had finally listened to my advice.

I looked up, sensing that Sawyer was still standing across from me. “Anything else?”

He cleared his throat and blinked a tad faster than he normally does as he avoided my gaze.

“Well… The men reported that the girl hadn’t left the ice arena for about five hours now. Apparently, she was supposed to meet with your nephew.” His voice was low, almost a whisper.

I gritted my teeth and set the document down on my desk. I leaned back, massaging the bridge of my nose.

The girl. Or, if I was to call her by her name, then Zhavira Russo. My nephew’s supposed girlfriend for two years now. And the woman he’d snatch right under my nose. That fucking bastard nephew of mine.

“Is she still there?” I asked, loosening my tie as I stood up. I caught sight of the heavy rain raging down without mercy outside.

“Yes, sir.” His response came fast, walking a few steps behind me as I marched to my office door.

“You can clock out for today, Sawyer,” I said, not waiting for his response as I pressed the elevator button to take me to the underground parking lot. He lowered his head until the elevator doors closed.

Damian had taken the bait. The Hawthornes’ investment was exactly what I needed him to notice. And now I just had to wait.

From the scale of the investment, I could already tell what he might be thinking. A merger not just in terms of business, but also something else. Something bigger.

And I would make sure he wouldn’t be able to set his sights on me.

I drove to the ice arena where she was. But as I parked my car and turned the engine off, I saw her as she walked outside of the building, without care if she was getting wet from the rain.

I grabbed the umbrella Sawyer left on the back of the car and walked towards her. And when she lifted her head to look at me, I saw my reflection in her emerald eyes.

Finally, I was the one in them.

---

~Zhavira~

“If we’re having a deal, what will it be for you?” I asked as we rode the elevator to his place, because apparently he had driven straight to his own house without so much as consulting me.

I watched his reflection as he looked at the number going higher and higher atop the elevator’s doors.

“What can you offer me?”

I frowned. Does this man think that I had nothing to give him?

Anger surged through me from the inside, but I kept my cool. It would be bad if he suddenly thought this deal really wasn’t gonna benefit him.

But then, I asked myself. What exactly could I offer him, a Vaughn? From all I know, Vaughns had everything they could ever want from the moment they were born.

Well, that was the case for Jamiel…

A lump built up in my throat as I remembered the phone call from earlier.

“You have a lot to give.”

I snapped out of my thoughts and realized he was looking at me in our reflection. I looked up to him, our eyes locking as I opened my mouth to speak. But the elevator opened before I could say a word.

Great timing.

“Let’s go.” He said and walked out first.

Once I followed him out, my feet became rooted to the spot where I stood. Everywhere I looked was dark. The only color inside was grey and black; only the soft yellow lights created an illusion of warmth in such a gloomy penthouse.

Now that I realized, he had the whole floor to himself. As expected of a Vaughn.

“Sit.” He ordered and pointed at the black sofa in the living room.

I hated how he sounded like a pet owner telling his dog to behave. But I followed anyway.

“So? How are we gonna make this work?” I asked.

But he’d only watched me, not even feeling the least bit of self-consciousness when he shamelessly scanned my entire body before looking back into my eyes.

“I’ll help you get revenge.” He answered and sat across from me.

“I know that much. I mean, how are you going to do it?”

“Hmm…” He pinched his chin as if he really was thinking about it.

I would have believed it had it not for the smile dancing around his lips. I seriously couldn’t understand this man. One moment he was serious, then the next he was smiling.

Heck, he might be bipolar for all I knew!

“I’ll do the heavy lifting. You’ll provide me with information.”

“And what kind of information do you think I have?”

He shrugged and leaned back, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I don’t know, you tell me. What can you provide?”

I couldn’t think of anything. He had either misunderstood my relationship with Jamiel, or he was overestimating me.

“If you think his schedule and routines are useful, then I guess I can give it to you.”

His smile faltered for a second. We both became silent, just watching each other, waiting for someone to talk. Somewhere around the penthouse, I could hear the heater hum.

Then, he chuckled and muttered something under his breath.

“What?” I asked, frowning as I leaned forward.

“You like him so much that you had his schedules and routines memorized.” His voice came out lower. And although he wore a smile, my gut was screaming danger.

The air shifted when he spoke, and the cozy atmosphere the yellow lights had made earlier now felt more like a warning.

“Liked.” I corrected, even though I knew deep inside that my feelings for Jamiel ran so deep that I couldn’t just make myself believe I was already alright.

My feelings weren’t a light switch that I could just turn on and off. Although it would be great if I could.

“And you speak like you don’t know anything about liking someone. Didn’t you know that it’s normal to know the little things about the person you like?”

I immediately regretted asking when he leaned in like whatever he was about to say was a secret I needed to keep or else…

“Trust me, Zhavira Russo. You wouldn’t wanna know.”

The way he said it made the back of my neck prickle. And for some reason, I believed him.