10. SHACKLED
A cool breeze drifted through the rooftop as the music trembled to the sway of clicking heels and loosened ties. BeeBuy knew how to throw a party, and the rapidly disappearing glasses of sparkling elixirs were evidence of it.
Laura barely had time to soak in the sunset on the city when Alan Glass ambushed her and Charlie. He spun her around – "My dear, I'm going to need the brand of your barebacked dress for my wife" – before hurriedly introducing them to his best friend, the open bar.
"If neither of you is slurring by the end of tonight, I'm wasting my money," he guffawed above the buzzing crowd.
In the corporate world, where many chased the happy medium between business and pleasure, alcohol guaranteed a near-perfect success rate. Two goblets of golden wine found their way into Laura's palms, and she thrusted one into Alan's hands.
"For posterity – and prosperity," she quipped, earning a hearty chortle from the friendly drunk.
"My dear, you didn't need any alcohol to play with your words!"
By goblet number three, Alan was pliant to every word about PillBox, rewarding each sentence between Laura and Charlie with an eager nod and an even more eager gulp.
"I love where you're taking this. Charles here has a good head on his shoulders. I see a lot of your father in you. Except... with more modern sensibilities," he chuckled. "You'll do so much for your company."
"Not if Laura does it first." Charlie returned Alan's smile and gestured to his empty glass. "Another round?"
"My boy, there's no need to get me drunk off my rockers! Here's my promise – I'm agreeing to sign!" Alan laughed.
"Don't mind if I do, then." Charlie patted him on the back and slid away towards the bar.
His mouth pulling to his ears in delight, Alan ushered Laura to a table by the glass barrier. Glittering skyscrapers winked at them from the skyline, backed against a never-ending velvet night.
"Come, sit." He settled opposite her and helped himself to the snacks on the table. "I'm just going to squirrel away here before my team starts asking me to 'say some words to everyone'. You'd think I haven't been saying enough words every day."
She chuckled and lifted a shrimp tart from the tray, pulling her eyes to the party. Technicolour lights doused the milling crowd, where professional pleasantries bowed out and gave way to raucous, champagne-fuelled merrymaking.
Charlie's tall, masculine figure stood among them, his laughter lost in the sea of sounds. Her gaze trailed over him, admiring the devilish marriage of black leather and knit on his torso that ran down to his dark slacks and sharp white sneakers. A scotch was enjoying the embrace of his palm, and his attention was locked on a red-haired lady with a dazzling smile.
An ugly feeling gnawed at Laura's chest and she doused it with a generous helping of champagne.
Alan popped a shrimp into his mouth. "I'm glad Henry's boy is finally stepping up to the mantle. When he turned his back on the business, Henry was so worried he'd never see his son again."
Laura hummed contemplatively as she gazed at the crowd. She wanted to dig, but she couldn't risk offending her business partner. The wine may have smoothed his edges, but Alan always kept his mind sharp.
Just then, Charlie caught her gaze and threw her a wink.
Biting down on her tart, she curled her red lips into a furtive grin and dusted off her hands.
"Sorry, Alan, I can't cover for you any more," she joked. "I have to use the ladies'."
"That's just as well. If my team doesn't see me at the bar, they might think I've been kidnapped."
She left him with an airy laugh and found the washroom, eager to splash some cold sense into herself. The mirror above the sink returned her stare with the guilty reflection of someone helplessly smitten.
"Did you see who's here tonight?" The door opened and two ladies walked in, exchanging murmurs. "The Spectre boy is back. I heard he flew to Cambodia and got into some gang shit, and his father had to bail him out."
"I heard he ran off to join an extremist group. But you know what, I don't even care who he is. I just want those sexy lips all over my body."
You and I both, thought Laura bitterly as she dried her face and exited the washroom. She turned the corner and collided with leather.
"I was wondering where you'd run off to."
She blinked, her eyes catching the silver light that sifted through feathered brown hair. The collision had propelled her into the arms of the devil himself.
Charlie lowered his head to study her. "How can you teach me anything if you disappear like that?"
"You seemed to be coping just fine," Laura quipped, her teasing tone an attempt to veil the feeling that bit into her heart. "You're a big boy. You can be alone for a while."
"That wasn't part of the deal." The warm grasp of his hands suddenly registered on the exposed skin of her back. He held her stare with a clouded gaze as his fingers grazed up her shoulders, jolting electricity down her spine and between her legs. He reached for her hair and curled a finger around a lock. "Hard and fast, remember?"
She loaded up a retort, but it retreated as his touch suddenly fled from her skin. He pulled out his phone that buzzed for his attention, its screen glowing brightly with a name.
Celene Langford.
For a split second, an unreadable expression flickered across his face. He pursed his lips and exhaled.
"I have to go. There's a matter I must attend to."
"What's wrong?" Laura jabbed, barely catching her breath. "The Cambodian mafia called?"
He shot her a sarcastic look. "Just tell me when you're home."
And with that, he slipped away into the crowd.
Suddenly left alone, Laura wandered to the bar and grabbed a glass of whatever. She cast an empty gaze over the party, her energy shrinking with the cubes in her cocktail. The garish pop music screeched from the speakers and fizzled her brain.
Gingerly, she drowned her ugly emotions with a generous gulp.
♥
The buzz from the previous night still prodded her head, but the ten million-dollar injection from BeeBuy was enough to put a pep in Laura's step the next morning.
She breezed into the office, earl grey in hand, the pestilence of disappointment discarded with last night's trash.
Reaching her desk, she'd barely dropped her bag down when Henry's voice boomed across the floor.
"Laura, my office, please."
She whisked her ceramic mug with her – hell if she was going to dive into the day without her tea – and strode into the room, pushing the oak door in.
Henry leaned over his teak desk with clasped palms, like a dragon lording over gold and brass. Charlie stood by the wall, his hands shoved into his navy slacks.
Beside him was a stunning woman of Laura's age. She had sleek, black hair that cascaded over a dark maroon dress.
Laura shut the door behind her, trapping herself in the sombre air of the room. She shifted in her patterned shirt, slightly regretful that she had turned up to this sullen affair in a loud print.
"Alright," Henry chimed. "Now that we're all present – Laura, I'd like you to meet somebody of utmost importance to the Spectre family."
She regarded the stranger, doubtful that she was a new employee. No other department head was with them, and neither was human resources. Shaking off her confusion, she reached forward to introduce herself, but Charlie promptly cut in.
"Laura, this is Celene Langford," his voice rumbled in a strangled baritone. "She is my fiancée."
♥
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