Liar Liar Billionaires

31. Definitely hiding something

Her heart jumped. Then it raced; she wasn't able to calm it.

"Nathaniel..." Her voice came out softer than intended.

"That's my name." His smile attracted her, she did not miss how irresistible his lips looked. “Are you done staring?”

"Uh?"

When their eyes met, she faked a cough.

She was acting like a fool again.

To avoid becoming a bigger fool, she tried wringing her hand out of his grip.

But he didn't allow it.

With a dangerous excitement, he asked, “Have you forgotten, Chloe?"

Since she wasn't able to escape, she slapped herself in her mind and forced herself to recover from her dreamy state.

“Forgotten what?” she asked.

“What I said. About…”

“Oh. About wanting me?” Her eyes narrowed. “No, I haven't.”

"Good."

Chloe let out a low yell as he pulled her to his chest with the quickest motion.

His breath fanned her face as his eyes watched every part of her face. He then said, “You must never forget.”

That whisper tossed her back to the dreamy, feel-good state. Intoxicated by his handsome presence, she failed to utter the snarky response in a corner of her brain.

All she could do was stare into the oceanic blue eyes diving into her dark ones.

Before she knew it, his arms began to feel like a home she had been waiting for, and the tension within her muscles relaxed.

Nathaniel's short smile had now reached his eyes and with it, he studied her deeply.

So, he studied her, and she relaxed more and more.

They remained that way for a while; it seemed neither was aware.

Chloe also didn't notice that her right hand was slowly approaching his chiselled jaw.

When her slender touch cupped his face, she said with a whisper, "You have beautiful eyes, Nathaniel.”

“Do I?”

His voice made her jump back in realisation.

“I.. Uh… I should go and clean the uh…” Her pounding heart was distracting her thoughts.

She quickly turned away before she could become a bigger mess before him.

But he took a step closer and hugged her from behind.

When his face landed on her right shoulder, she exhaled hard.

Nathaniel Storm had really become someone important to her.

“I'm sorry for being rude before,” he whispered.

Before she could reply, he left her standing with a loss of his warmth.

And she watched him walk up the stairs with a classy swing in his shoulders.

At this point, Chloe had no idea what to think anymore. What she was feeling was indisputable.

She sighed again and approached the basement where the shipment was.

On getting there, she was surprised to see that the room was empty.

But she didn't back down; she moved further into the room and scanned every corner.

There was nothing saved from a table on the far right.

And there was something on it.

Hurriedly, she shifted to observe the table.

The stain on it was a muddy print of shoe soles.

Certainly, the shipment was in that room.

But where?

As she leaned against the wall before her, she suddenly crashed onto the floor, and she found an answer to her question as the so-called wall fell apart to expose unlabelled boxes.

“They separated the room?” she asked loudly as if someone would provide the obvious answer.

She then snickered and walked further to observe the ‘other side’.

“Ouch!” She cried when she bumped into something after a few steps. “What the heck is this?”

It was a huge glass cube, and it was holding the boxes.

As she got up, a faint beep whirred and a screen came alive, asking for a passcode.

With a snicker, Chloe concluded that they were really hiding something.

Since she didn't have the means to hack the security, she backed out.

Minutes later, after studying the structure of the fake wall, she reinstalled it and returned to her room.

And as she moved, she once again found herself dreading the day her true identity would be discovered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you mean you can't gain access?" Agent Markings asked from the other end.

"It means I can't gain access."

Chloe was trying not to sound disgusted. But she truly didn't wish to speak to Markings. She preferred Agent Conner over him any time of the day.

As she wondered why Conner hadn't been around to speak to her, Markings complained, "Are you even doing your job at all, Pepper?"

“The shipment is guarded by a freaking security box. How do you think I'd gain access, Agent Markings?” She whispered almost angrily.

“There had to be a way to get the password.”

“How?”

“Use your brain, Pepper. You can drug that loose one. What's his name…” A clicking sound followed. “Yes, Amir. Drug him, give him a nice lap dance. I'm sure he'll spill.”

Chloe's disgust grew bigger.

“If you think you're too good to do something that simple, you'll leave us with one choice,” he said.

As her dislike for the man easily grew by a millionfold, she asked, “What choice?”

“Raiding the mansions.”

“What?” Her frown deepened. “We don't have evidence. We can't get a search warrant either.”

“I'll sort that out.”

“Don't be crazy, Agent Markings. You'll put me at risk. If the shipment isn't what we think it is, what will you do then? Joke with them and buy them jugs of beer?”

They exchanged heavy breaths for a few seconds.

Then, his stomach-turning voice asked, "Are they shagging you, Chloe?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is one of them shagging you? Or is it all of them? Did you become a w***e for the NAG brothers?”

Her hands clenched. She was super close to losing her s**t.

But, she glanced at the water noisily gushing out of the tap, took some deep breaths and said, “I insist, Agent Markings. Conducting a raid without evidence is dangerous.”

“I am the f*****g boss here, Pepper. I don't care what you think. Brace yourself. Soon, our team will come down there and expose those men.”

Chloe resisted the urge to scream. "I still-"

"Who are you whispering to?" came from the doorway before her words could land.