Let's Play A Dirty Ass Game, Mr. CEO

Chapter 42: ONCE BITTEN

TRISTAN

"How would you like to hear a juicy tale about your new partner?"

My fingers tightened into fists and I fought hard to stop myself from grabbing Madison and flinging her out of my room.

"You seem to have a personal vendetta against Laura Hayes," I said instead. "It’s been five years and it doesn’t seem resolved yet. Do you mind telling me what it’s about?"

She blinked, appearing surprised. Then she laughed hard. "Tristan, you’re hilarious. How about I go ahead and tell you what she’s done this time, instead? I’m worried about you because honestly, I don’t even think you have a top model for Pierce Holdings anymore. I’m sorry, but that deal is pretty fucked now."

She slid off the bed and catwalked to the work desk at the far left end of the bed. Then she picked up her phone and stalked over to me.

"Apparently, Laura Hayes doesn’t even want to work with you. Did you know this before offering her a gig as a top model in your company?"

"Stop moving round circles and tell me what’s happened," I snapped, irritation coursing through my veins at this point. My blood surged violently with apprehension...with the prospect of what could have happened with the woman who I hadn’t even got the chance to work closely with.

Madison flipped her phone and stalked over to me, a smug grin painted across her lips. "Look, she accepted payment to terminate the contract. Can you see the description? The date and time?"

I stared at the transaction receipt for a few moments, my jaw ticking, heart pounding hard in my chest.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course," Madison laughed.

"How did you get the receipt?"

She frowned. "Is that really what you should be worried about right now?"

It was clear enough, what was on the receipt. It was the payment of three million grand wired to Laura Hayes at 4.00pm. But there were still a few streaks of doubt in my mind. Just like back then...when she had been accused of stealing corporate information and selling it out.

This time would be different. I must find out the truth for myself.

I grabbed the phone from my fiancée and forwarded the image to my contact. Then I shoved the phone back into her hands.

She was saying something else but the blood rushing into my ears was too much for me to hear even one word, as I grabbed my keys and dashed out of the house.

In less than twenty minutes, I was back in Laura’s apartment.

Guilt about showing up again unannounced because I happened to know where she lived now, did not find a place to fester in my heart the entire ride. I was too preoccupied with trying to figure out why she would have done it if it turned out to be true.

God. I was still such an asshole. Because why the hell was I already concluding that she did it? Without even hearing from her? Was I subconsciously repeating the same mistake of five years ago?

I pushed the thoughts aside as the car rolled to a stop in front of her apartment gates. Then I got out and rang the bell with the same urgency that burned in my veins.

Laura was at the door moments later, her face tightened into a pretty screw. "Tristan, is there a problem?"

She was wrapping a robe around her creamy skin as she approached the gates, looking behind her at something.

Or someone.

She was looking at a little boy who gazed down at her from the glass balcony two storeys above. The same boy who had been with her the day the scandal was coined.

I gazed at the boy for a few moments, taking in his sharp blue eyes and beautiful black hair. He was a sight to behold, beautiful as his mother. But there was something else about him that pulled at the strings of my heart.

Something I couldn’t put a finger to, yet.

"Did you forget something in my purse?" she demanded, folding her arms across her chest and looking beautifully pissed.

"How about you? Is there something you’re not telling me?"

She frowned. "You left my house a while back. Don’t you think I’d have told you already when you were here, if there really was something you think you should hear?"

I rocked back on my heels and watched her carefully. "What about our partnership? All good?"

"What the hell is this about?"

"I just don’t want to make assumptions anymore, Laura. Not when it comes to you. That’s why I’m here. To ask questions."

"You still haven’t told me what this is about."

I whipped out my phone and brought the image from Madison’s chat box. "Can you explain this to me?" I demanded, flipping the screen to her face.

She stared at the screen for a few seconds. Then she squinted her eyes in confusion. "Why don’t you tell me what it is? It’s on your phone, isn’t it?"

"It’s a transaction receipt obviously, with your name as the recipient."

She shoved her fingers through her hair and chuckled bitterly. "You know, you have no right to come over to my house, not past working hours, not ever, for whatever fucking reason. But you did it, and for all things...it’s to question me about a fucking receipt?"

My jaw ticked hard. "I’m trying here, Laura."

Her eyes sparkled like fireflies. Even in the current situation, I couldn’t help but notice how captivating her eyes were in the dark. They glowed beautifully, like a flourishing forest.

I wanted to stare deeply into them while I’m buried equally deeply inside her.

"You believe it, don’t you?" she demanded in a voice filled with quiet anger. "Isn’t that the reason you’re here? To confront me?"

"I’m here to ask if this is true or not."

"No," she shook her head. "If that was really your intention, you would have reached out to your financial team or whoever is in charge of your money. But you chose to come here to confront me to my face?"

She was right. I fucked up again. God, how did I keep doing it wrong when it came to the one woman I would kill to have?

"Is it such a crime that I want to see your face every fucking second of the day?" I asked instead, unable to help myself.

She blinked, her cheeks burned crimson. But when she spoke, she didn’t sound so affected by my words. "You simply believe what you see." She ignored my last question. "You always have, without failure. It’s no surprise."

She turned to leave and that overwhelming need to claim her in every way possible bubbled in my chest.

"I need to tell you something."

She kept walking, sashaying those shapely hips in an innocently seductive manner. "I don’t want to hear it."

"Laura, please..."

"You should leave. There’s only so much I can tolerate before your presence here becomes a case of trespassing."

I’d just opened my mouth to say something else when a black Escalade pulled up to the gates, stealing my attention.

The engine died and I watched the unexpected company alight from the vehicle.

My eyes smarted in shock when I saw who it was. Even worse... when I heard the little boy shriek in excitement up there.