Scarlett Vanderburg's POV

"Stop stressing, angel." Calix soothed. "You are going to do great."

"You don't know that."

"I know you are one of the best lawyers in the world, I know how hard you work and how admired you are by everyone around you. And I know how hard you have the world."

I was invited to attend a business awards event tonight. I had been nominated to win an award for being one of the best up-and-coming lawyers of the decade. This was a massive deal. If I won my credibility as a young lawyer would shoot even higher than it is, and it would help push forward my taking over Vanderburg Co. from Meredith.

She was ready to retire, I have seen it in her, especially in the last few years. She has raised it from the ground up, she poured all her blood sweat and tears even after her husband and co-founder passed away. She wants to live out the second half of her life doing all the things she never had time to do before.

I need to prove I am the best candidate for the job.

"I'm nervous," I mutter. There were a lot of very important people here tonight so even if I didn't win the chances of me making great connections were high. Calix knows what he's saying won't impact me right now so he grabs my hand and just squeezes it, that small gesture doing so much for my nerves. "Thank you for coming with me tonight."

I thought I might have scared him off after having dinner at my parents' house but no, Calix was there for me. He held me when I was upset and talked through all my emotions with me. He was just always there and I appreciated it immensely.

"I will go anywhere you want, angel. All you have to do is ask."

"Have you always been such a smooth talker Mr Radcliff or is it just for me?"

"Only for you, my heart has always been yours, even before I met you."

There he goes again, using that sweet talking and making my cheeks heat up like an inferno. I try to control my blush before we are torn apart by the paparazzi waiting for us.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" Once again my face flushed, I scoot closer to him in the car and hide my face in the crook of his neck.

"A couple of times."

"Well, that isn't enough."

Ladies and Gentlemen Calix Theodore Radcliff.

Calix holds his hand out for me to take and I take it letting him lead me through the rows of flashing cameras. We had to stop and pose, Calix was more a public figure than I was but I was still known, more by my name than my face.

Mr Radcliff, are you dating Miss Vanderburg? This is the second event you have been seen together.

Miss Vanderburg is it true you are sleeping with Mr Radcliff who is your client?

Mr Radcliff, are there any details you can share about your court case with Mr Fields?

I want to glance up at Calix, no one was supposed to know anything about him. I hadn't said anything I doubted he had but I couldn't move. Our every move was being scrutinised and would be dissected by the media later. If I made any indication of anything in my body language it would cause a scandal. So I braved out the paparazzi using the extensive media training Meredith had been put into when I was eighteen and started getting big and held my breath until we made it into the salty of the building hiding before closed doors.

I pulled Calix into a quiet passage away from the hallway leading to the event we were meant to be going to. I pull out my phone and type in a number I very rarely use.

"I have someone who has control over the media, she can both squash the story, change it into something that works in our favour and find the leak."

"Are you sure?" I looked up at Calix's face for the first time and I saw hints of worry on his face. He didn't want this to affect his company or his family. A lot of people rely on him for jobs and money so he let this hurt his brand.

"Yes, this person is a very high-profile client of mine, she is very young but has a lot more control over the world than anyone can imagine. She will be able to sort it out and if she can't she has a line of connecting."

"Okay." Calix accepts and after I send the text he leads me to the event we were attending. "How did you meet this high-profile customer of yours?"

"Meredith knows her father, Mer did and still does all the legal work for his company so when she opened her own company she asked Mer for recommendations for a corporate lawyer and she suggested me. I have done her a massive favour one time so she owes me one, we will be equal."

We walk through the event and already I recognise a lot of New York's top people. There are people here from the government, CEOs, politicians and so many more. A waiter walks past us and Calix takes two drinks off the tray, handing one to me. I take a sip while I continue to survey the room.

"Do you want to spit up so we can get through our share of socialising?" I whisper to Calix.

"Sure, just signal to me if you need help or to be rescued from a boring person."

"Same to you."

I had done a lot of schmoozing in the twenty minutes since I had left Calix but it felt like more than enough, I had gotten contact cards for several people it would be great to work with as well as handed out my number to the people who needed it. I was walking back to Calix but I noticed something.

It wasn't uncommon for people to walk around here with guards trailing them Calix had two on him, I suspected one was for me since he had been following me around all evening so I let it go to give Calix peace of mind. Calix was talking to some minister I had briefly heard of and seen on tv but it was his guard who looked familiar.

Far too familiar for me not to recognise him even though it had been seven years since I had seen him.

Gallan's eyes widened when he saw me, but I couldn't greet him here. This minister didn't have the best track record for being nice. I didn't want to get him fired so as I passed him I slipped one of my business cards to him.

Hopefully, he will use it.

I slip into Calix's side, who wraps his arm around my waist. Gallan's eyes trace my movements.

"And who are you?" The minister asked, his name was Gideon Hawkins if I wasn't mistaken.

"Scarlett Vanderburg." I hold my hand out to him, and he shakes it but he looks disinterested.

"You have a very pretty plus one Radcliff, you need to let me know where you found her." Calix and I had mirrored expressions of disbelief on our faces.

"Actually," I interject. "He's my plus one."

Calix glances down at me, he didn't look embarrassed, he only looked proud. "If you will excuse us, Mr Hawkins, we need to find our seats. Don't want to miss the awards."

Calix didn't wait for a reply, instead, he just led me down to the tables. Silas and Imogen hadn't been invited to attend tonight, Quinn had been but since he wasn't nominated he had chosen to spend the evening with his son. So Calix and I didn't know who we were sitting with.

I give Gallan a minuscule nod as we pass by him which he returns.

"So." Calix started, his eyes on me. "Are you into the whole bodyguard trope?"

"You caught that?" He gives a slight nod and his arms tighten around my waist like he didn't want me to let go. "Well no, I think I prefer the CEO trope."

"Is that so?" Calix asks. "Okay, is it too forward to ask why you slipped him your number then."

As we approached the table Calix stepped forward and pulled back my chair for me, I thanked him and sat down. We were the first ones at the table but I'm pretty sure both of us were fed up at this point.

"Do you remember how I once mentioned how I had two friends before I went to Atkins?" Calix nods. "I never saw them again, probably because I had limited screen time at school and because I never went home. They were siblings, there was a girl, she was a year older than me. Vanya. She also had an Irish twin, the one I slipped my number to. Gallan. The three of us had been inseparable since we were toddlers. They were the siblings I never had growing up."

I had siblings but none like Vanya and Gallan. They were the best, they had been with me through everything up until that point in my life. They were my biggest supporters and their family was lovely. Their parents were immigrants from Mexico and they only spoke Spanish at home. It was the reason I was fluent in the language.

"No romantic feelings?"

"None," I reassure. Was it just me or was Mr Radcliff a little jealous?

"Well that's a good thing, you might not be mine just yet Scarlett, but when you are I will be the best person for you. I will try my very hardest to be the best boyfriend and eventually be your husband. I want to have kids with you and go buy a house. Go on a tonne of vacations to anywhere you want. I want to have Saturday date nights and Wednesday movie nights. I just want to sit with you in silence as we work then go to bed and hold you in my arms every night."

This man.

This man is everything I have ever dreamed about. Everything I fully expected never to have. Calix had just come into my life a couple of months ago and fully changed my world completely for the better.

"You keep saying things like that then you might as well propose right now."

Calix just smiles down at me and places a soft kiss on my forehead.

One month, one very busy month filled with court cases and then it's over. I have to win this for Calix and then we get to be with one another with nothing in the way.

I can't wait.

I don't even know if the relationship would work out but I sure as heck want to try. Even if it doesn't last forever, I want to be with this man for as long as possible.

My head lifts towards the stage, people are coming and sitting at the table we are at and the room is clearing of all the standing people.

"We would like to welcome you all to this year's industry awards, let's start with..."

New characters???

Hopefully, school doesn't eat me alive and I can write some more but I am struggling to find inspiration to write this book and oftentimes trash like four or five versions of a chapter before I get to the one I post.

I will be forever grateful if anyone has any ideas on how to continue the storyline.

On another note what would you think of a spin-off with Everett, like academic rivals or something? I don't have time to write it right now with how many books I am working on but I have the characters and everything ready for when I do have time.

Anyways I hope you enjoy, please vote and comment and I will see you next time I have completed a chapter 

Ara <3