The Assistant(131)

I watched as her own eyes started to gloss over with tears, before she swallowed and nodded briefly. Not saying anything else, she re-adjusted her handbag on her shoulder and turned around and walked away.

Once she was out of sight, I let out a breath I didn’t realise I had been holding in and wiped away my own tears, before turning around and running straight into a solid figure with a familiar smell of cologne. Adrian’s arms automatically wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me into a hug as he looked down at me with a concerned expression. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I… Rita just came here and apologised…” I whispered, not trusting my voice to reach its full extent just yet.

I felt Adrian’s chest vibrate as a low growl emanated from his throat. “What the f*ck did you just say?”


I opened my mouth to re-state what I said before Adrian glared down at me angrily, cutting me off. “I know what you said. What nerve does that backstabbing bitch have to even bother showing her face near my property?” He scowled angrily.

I sighed before placing my hands on his shoulders. “Adrian. Forget it. She’s gone now, and I didn’t accept her apology anyway.”

“I’m not forgetting what that bitch did to us. I shouldn’t have listened to you and reported her to the police when David Walter’s trial was still on-going.” He glared, clenching his jaw from anger.

“Adrian. Let’s go to lunch. We’re meant to be forgetting anything related to stress. Drop it.” I ordered sternly, looking up at him with my fiercest look.

I watched as his eyes scanned my expression briefly, before I felt him physically un-tense and let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. Let’s go.” He grumbled, reaching into his pocket and unlocking the car.

***

“Where is my lovely soon-to-be fiancé?”

“We’ve just finished filming the new real estate advertisement. They’re going to send you the final edit by this afternoon. It’s actually really funny. Where are you?”

“I’m on the way to the office, make sure you’re up there by then. Preferably naked.” A mental image of Adrian smirking instantly popped into my mind, and I shook my head with a smile.

“That’s all that’s on your mind. It’s crazy. Don’t you ever get sick of it?” I asked in an exasperated tone.

“I can’t when it involves you Shortcake,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Okay, stop imagining it right now,” I stated flatly. “You’re driving.”

His chuckle transformed into a laugh. “How did you know?”

“I have a sixth sense,” I uttered dryly, a slight smirk coming to my own lips.

“Mmmm. Yes you do.” He groaned.

My eyes widened as my face flushed crimson. “Adrian!”

“Keep going Shortcake, you’re just making the scenario in my mind clearer every second.”

I groaned in mortification before speaking up. “I’m hanging up now.”

“I’m going to get the police involved with Rita,” Adrian spoke up before I was able to press the end button.

“Adrian, no. David was the one who was behind the entire plan and Rita had her reasons behind helping. We may not approve of those reasons; but we also don’t want to turn as evil as David and ruin her life.” I frowned at the thought of Rita having to leave her husband and child to go to prison.

Adrian, however, was not on the same page. In fact, he was reading a completely different book. “I don’t give a f*ck if we ruin her life. She helped a man kidnap you Emily; and for what? A couple of thousands of dollars which she could have asked from us. What thick part of your pretty head isn’t getting that?!” He snapped through the phone.

“Adrian, we’ll talk about this when we get home, okay?” I sighed, rubbing my temple tiredly and ignoring the insult. I was not in the mood to argue – especially if this was the topic.

“Don’t use that tired voice with me. You’re the one that’s making this shit so complicated.” He scowled, before the line went dead.

I let out a frustrated growl before throwing my phone onto the sofa in the office and began walking to the matte glass door to get away from the office for a while before soft knock sounded at the office door.

“What?” I snapped, indicating for the person to come in.

Suzie opened the door cautiously, her eyes slightly wider than usual as she took a slow step inside. “I… I’m very sorry to interrupt…” She trailed off, sounding afraid to speak.

Guilt instantly shot through my veins and my scowl instant dropped. “I’m so sorry Suzie, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”

“It’s okay sweetie, what else am I here for?” She laughed.

A guilty smile played at my lips before she spoke up again. “Abby has almost finalised the campaign you and Mr. Kingston confirmed two weeks ago. Did you want to see the last version or do you just want her to finish it all before she brings it up here?”

“Tell her to work on it as much as she can today and then bring up whatever she has tomorrow for us to check. Thank you for letting me know, and… I’m really sorry about before.” I brought up again, still feeling guilty.

Suzie waved me off. “Emily, it’s fine! We all have our moments, you don’t need to apologise to me about it. I’ll let Abby know and leave you alone.” She smiled, before shutting the door softly and leaving me with my thoughts again.