Amanda's POV

I cornered my eyes whilst secretly looking at Mr. Reynolds.  He was busy jotting down the points he considered important.  He played with his pen when doing the same.

I brought my awareness of the projector screen as soon as his eyes met mine. Why does he has to be so cautious all the time, don't be so attentive Mr. Richie Rich?

I looked straight in the direction of the man who was giving the presentation. Every time I had the urge to look at him, I'd bring up an act like pushing my chair or viewing the surrounding through the window, yeah my actions were strange lately but I didn't have any control over them.

You look different, Mr. Reynolds's words echoed in my ears.  I tightened my lips so as to prevent myself from smiling and making a joke out of myself in front of so many people.

Maybe I should compliment him?  Don't be a fool, Amanda,  he's busy focusing somewhere else. Stop acting like a fan-girl all the time and including the fact that the topic already ended a while ago, you'll have a tube-light moment. Train your reflexes instead. I was going mad and to be honest I didn't mind it at all. 

The speech continued boring the shit out of me, thanks to the fact that I knew how to sleep with eyes open. I had no one to talk with so I decided to stay still and wait for the meeting to get over.  I brought my attention in place when everyone stood up and shook each other's hands. 

"It's a deal then ", Mr. Reynolds shook Mr. Henry's hand.  I stood in one corner without disrupting anyone.  I greeted Cody when he came towards me and stood next to me.

Everyone started leaving the conference room one by one. The only people who were yet present were me, Mr. Reynolds, Cody, Mr. Henry, and his wife. Mr. Henry's wife looked beautiful in her maxi-dress. Her age was almost in the late 30's.

"You are here and you no go for sightseeing, let me take you ", her accent was Russian, it sounded so cute.

"Hello! Mrs. Henry ", I greeted her "Well--", I couldn't think of an answer. Sightseeing was actually a good idea but I knew that Mr. Reynolds would certainly be uninterested in it so I decided to tell her a plain no.

"Yeah Aaron, why don't you take Amanda out ", Mr. Henry tightened his tie as he spoke "We're done with today already ", he continued.

"We're fine, I guess ", I replied instinctively as Mr. Reynolds didn't answer.

"you both should definitely explore this beautiful place, its more like a village but it has an alluring scenic beauty ", the couple smiled looking at each other "We met here for the first time, I'm glad life bought me here ", he side hugged his wife.

"I guess Amanda wants to stay in the hotel ", Excuse me, Mr Reynolds, you should ask my opinion first. I want to go out, I do.

I fake smiled at him, he knew what exactly it meant. The inner me wanted to start a fight this very moment but I had great control over my nerves. "Plus, you'll have a gist of the place and the project once you watch it yourself ", Mr. Henry was being pushy.

He did hit the right exact spot at the perfect time, Mr. Reynolds would never actually say a no to something which is related to business. I saw his facial expression and I sensed a 'yes' already. He pushed his sleeves up "fine, I'll take her ", he concluded as he left, I followed him out.

No, he didn't allow me to freshen up, I'm glad I carried my purse to the conference room. It included my compact powder so I fixed my look whilst looking at the small mirror in my compact. We got into the car, I took the passenger seat and attached the seat belt.

"Maybe you should use GPS", I shrugged as I knew that he may not have any idea regarding the roads of this place.

"I don't need it ", he cocked his brows at me and continued driving. Can he actually listen to me for once? One moment I wanted to kiss him and the other moment I had the desire to punch him.

The rest of the drive was silent, I didn't play music as I wasn't in a mood to. I looked outside the window, everything was so green and clean around. This place was silent, there weren't many vehicles on the road. I loved the silence which the atmosphere possessed.

Every time his thoughts clicked my senses I'd indulge myself in thinking about different and way more beautiful things which included Nick Bateman, Francisco Lachowski, Zac Efron, etc.

He stopped the car unexpectedly, I almost pumped away from my seat. I'm glad that I had my seat belts on. On taking a closer view I realized that Mr. Reynolds was already out of the car. I opened the door and followed him in his way out. I stood afar as I observed his actions, he was shaking hands with a tall muscular man. He had his sunglasses on, his body was huge. Very huge.

"Miss Waters ", he called me closer. I moved towards him at once and stood next to him. I looked at him, I am sure that a question mark would've been visible from my facial expressions.

"He's my personal detective, Mr. Caleb Stone ", he also had a Bluetooth device connected in his ears. He nodded looking at me, I nodded back.

"So Miss Waters, you still have the note which James dropped ?, Mr. Reynolds questioned.

"I don't, it's in our room. If I was to be informed, I would've carried it along ", I tried defending myself.

He looked straight in my eyes for a while and then focused his attention towards Mr. Stone "I'm glad I took a picture, I was well aware of the fact that my secretary was careless "

I pouted feeling disappointed by his last line, I controlled myself so as to prevent myself from getting into a debate. "Do you have any picture of that man ?", the detective questioned.

"I don't click pictures and keeping pictures of other people doesn't include in my interests as well ", he was prone to complicating the sentence as a simple 'I don't have his picture' could do justice to this moment.

"I do ", I grinned on thinking about the fact that I had something which Mr. Reynolds didn't.

"This ", on swiping the innumerable pictures in my spam folder I stopped at a picture of me with James. I did regret a bit as I should've shown a decent picture. Mr. Reynolds looked at the picture continuously, I pulled it away from his hand and handed it to the detective.

No, we weren't making out in the picture but his body was extremely close to mine. His hand rested on my stomach as he tightly held me closer to him. His chin was on my shoulder and he was smiling like an idiot. He forced me for this picture when we were in Pallapora town, I should've not allowed him to use me so much back then.

With thoughts like these, I wanted to stab myself. I was such a fool, I maybe was so desperate for love that I agreed to trust the wrong guy. I was glad that I stopped him from taking the wrong step that night on the terrace.

"This will help ", he snapped the picture from his camera. "The person who left the note yesterday, was he James ?', he questioned.

"I don't know, maybe. His back faced me "

"He should be James as he chose you over Aaron, he was well aware of the fact that who was the weaker candidate ", he burrowed his brows thinking deeply .  "just be cautious and keep informing me every minute detail regarding him or whenever he threatens you ", he looked at me with concern "I've booked myself a room in the same hotel as yours so as to stay informed", he started to walk back towards his car.

"Miss Waters ", he called out my name as he turned back again. I and Mr. Reynolds watched him attentively.

"He's going to come back to you soon, I didn't want to scare you but since he's leaving trails it's pretty clear he'll be back. Stay safe ", he turned around again and got in his car. Within moments the image of his car disappeared.

I gasped as I looked at Mr. Reynolds, trepidation could be felt on my face. I tried to act normal but I couldn't. I was agitated by his last words as it echoed in my ears. Will he really come back? Will he kill me this time?

"Miss Waters "

Will he rape or molest me or do something even worse?

"Amanda ", Mr. Reynolds shook me hard and pulled me out of my pessimistic thoughts.

"You'll be fine ", a tear rolled from my eyes. "I said you'll be fine. I won't leave your side. James is supposedly my problem and I won't let him affect you, not even the tiniest strand of your hair ", he was repeating the same consoling words but it didn't felt solacing as James was a lunatic man.

He'd practice innumerable filthy practices until he got what he urged for, I stood in his way in the past. I was the culprit. If I wasn't in the picture back, then he would've had his hands on Mr. Reynolds's wealth by now.

"Let's go ", Mr. Reynolds caught me by my waist and gave a slow push to my body as it was still.

I nodded as I followed him, he opened the car's door for me. Gentleman, much ?.  "Let's go back to the hotel  ", I disrupted the silence.

"I'm willing to have a look at the place around. ", he started to drive. I was silent throughout, I didn't feel like talking to anyone. We stopped at a nearby restaurant and had the traditional lunch of this place. We got ourselves in the car after having lunch.

"Where to ?", he questioned.

"Wherever you want to. Will, you listen to me anyway ?", I rhetorically questioned.

He chuckled on hearing my words, he didn't reply. He was silent. It was evening by now, he slowed down the speed of the car whenever he wanted to observe the place. He didn't leave the car at all.

Didn't I deserve to be happy as every time I was in a jolly mood something bad always happened?  Mr. Reynolds suddenly took a halt at an indecent place, it was a bit more crowded as compared to the other places around here. I saw the tagline which read "Hershey's club and bar"

Seriously? He's taking me to the club in a peplum? He removed his coat and opened the initial 3 buttons of his shirt. He threw his coat on the back seat. He looked effortlessly hot and decent enough to make an entry. He folded his sleeves, I gasped in amazement of the view. His eyes interlocked with mine just before he exited the car.

"What, I am not coming ", I started when he opened the door of my side.

"And the reason is ?", he questioned.

"I am not perfectly dressed, people will definitely laugh at this formal attire of mine ", I replied.

"Are you getting out of the car or do you want me to drag you along ?", he furrowed his brows "You know how unsafe you are alone, right ?", he definitely was trying to scare me and to be honest he succeeded. I got out of the car instinctively.

We entered together, his arms touched mine. I saw a group of girls staring at us, specifically him. I at once crooked my hand in his elbow, I raised my eyebrows while looking at them. I slyly smiled at realizing how bitchy I was. I couldn't stand the thought of other girls staring at him.

The music around was loud, the smell of alcohol traveled through my nose. I didn't usually drink but today I felt like. People were throwing upon each other on the dance floor, the view wasn't very decent. Sensuousness plastered the atmosphere around.

"Let's go to the bar ", I urged for a drink.

"No, I am not allowing you to drink "

"Excuse me, who are you? ", I questioned.

"Your boss ", he answered.

"Not here ", I walked fast knowing the fact that  I left him behind. He followed me as he grasped me closer to him by his hand. His body touched mine,  he bent down a bit as he was a bit taller than me.

"I didn't bring you here to drink and lose your senses, I wanted to--", he stepped closer to me. Our lips almost touched.

***************

Note :

I'd like to thank everyone for reading this book and showing your opinions through votes and comments. It literally makes my day.

I am working hard on this story and I intend to complete it on or before 25th May. Also, I have exams but writing releases my stress so I make sure to write daily.

And Mr. Reynolds POV will be posted soon.

Much love!