His to take

8. Heart to Heart

Charlotte

I was not a big fan of soap operas or rom-coms or Korean dramas but this has to be recorded as a scene from one of them. The female lead all alone in the pouring rain and then the hero with an umbrella and a car. Epic romance novel cliché. Except, the hero probably did not fire the female lead mere hours before this occurrence

“I know I am jaw droppingly handsome but can we leave the rain before you ogle me? I prefer being ogled in the warm comfort of the car” He says and I blink myself back to reality standing up quickly

“I do not need your help” I tell him clearly but I wasn’t fooling anyone

“I do not wish to see you freeze to death after saving you from the same fate already. So just get in the car” He says and I hesitated for another moment before nodding. He started to walk and I followed him to the car which was parked a few streets away.

“Thanks” I mutter as I slide into the passenger seat. He walks around and get into the car too. “Why are you being nice to me?” I ask the moment the door closes

“Was I mean?” He asked and my jaw dropped slightly

“Dude, you attacked me on the alley and then you fired me just hours ago” I say and he frowns thinking for a moment and then he looks at me in amusement

“Dude?” He asked and I wanted to clobber him. I was being serious and all he caught was dude?

“That is what you got from what I said?” I asked

“I did not attack you in the alley Charlotte” He says starting the car probably so the heater would start to work

“Really?”

“I followed you so we could have a conversation. If anything, you attacked me” He stated and I grunted because he was right.

“Why did you fire me then?” I ask

“You lied to me. I do not think anyone wants their employee to lie to them

“I never lied to you. Unless you are talking about me saying I had a cold. That was the only lie I told”

“So you deceived me then?” He asked and I shrugged

“It was not deceit since it is not supposed to matter. One was personal and one was business. I would think hotshot millionaires did not mix business with personal matters”

“We don’t except when necessary” He says

“And firing me is necessary to you in what way? I am a hard worker anyone can testify to that even though it had only been a week”

“Maybe” He shrugged

“So why?” I ask and he gave me a megawatt smile that made my head spin until I heard his next words.

“I am fired you to blackmail you”

What the Eff

“What?” I ask and he shrugs then put on his seat belt

“Where do you live?” He asked but I was not listening to him just then

“What do you mean you want to blackmail me?”

“Where do you live?” He asked again

“Stop messing with me and answer the damned question” I was almost yelling now. He sighed and removed his seat belt then turned to me

“I want, no, need to take Ren down. Call it my personal vendetta” He shrugged “but I want to ruin him” His eyes went cold and held no remorse as he said it “And I will do anything to achieve that goal even if it means using someone else”

“What?!” I could not believe it “That is so freaking selfish”

“It is” He agrees

“You are being a villain”

“I am. I am willing to be” He says looking straight ahead

“Even if I wanted to, I cannot. It is not my secret to tell” I tell him but he shrugged

“I am sure you can work something out with your sister” He nods and I glare at him

“I will not force her to do something she does not want to do”

“Pity. I think Terrence might miss you but nothing can be done about that” He let out a breath and started the car. She was too shocked to say anything as he put on his seat belt again and started to drive

“You have to at least tell me what he did that makes you want to ruin him so bad” I tell him and notice that his hands tighten on the wheel slightly and for the fraction of a second before it relaxed and when he answered, his voice held no sign that he was distressed

“It is as I said none of your business and it is going to remain that way so stop asking”

“You expect me to submit my sister to you while you share nothing in return?” I ask and he smiles slightly and nodded at me

“Exactly”

“You are beyond crazy” I tell him and his smile grew “What is going on in your brain?” I ask and he shakes his head

“Your voice is weird” he says and I almost give in to the urge to slap him “Not weird in a bad way or even in a good way. It is just weird period” He explains as if that made what he said any better

“Well your face is weird” I snickered back huffing

“If by hot you mean handsome then yes. I know I own a mirror. Several in fact” He says and I shake my head. Somehow, he was making me put the fact that he fired me for no reason at the back of my mind.

“Whatever” I pressed play on his radio so I wouldn’t have to talk to him. The sound of violins filled the air and I winced then switch to radio.

“Did nobody ever teach you not to touch another person’s radio?” He asked

“Did nobody ever teach you to not blackmail people?” I ask back and he blinks in my direction “I think we are past the point where we pretend to be civil about trespassing on each others territories” I finally reached a channel where Rock was playing he groaned

“Definitely not” He muttered switching the station

“What? Why not?”

“It is noisy”

“And you like peace?” I switch the channel back

“At least put a talk show on” He requests and I remember a show I used to listen to. I wondered if they still did it. I changed the channel and it was on. “What is this?” He asks

“A talk show. Just listen. Even you cannot dislike this” I tell him and he conceded.

“Not bad” He commented a few minutes in and I smile proudly to myself. The show talked about everything from real life to VR. Today, ironically, the topic was billionaire’s donating to charities. People were calling in and some had really crazy opinions “You still have not told me where you live”

“Just drop me at the nearest bus stop”

“You don’t want to tell me where you live?”

“So you can weaponize it? No thanks” I argued “No thanks”

“I am not that…” He started but his phone rang cutting him off “Excuse me” He asked then put on his Bluetooth and answered the call with a sharp and brisk “Nathan Harold speaking”

His voice was different now from how it was when he spoke to me. Well, not different, just sharper, brisker and a little ruder. He sounded like someone who owned the world and knew it. It made me shiver in delight and I had to sap myself back into reality.

I caught bits and pieces of his conversation. Yes? Pause. And? Pause. What? His voice had lost some of the edge in it and his hands tightened on the steering wheel this time, it tightened till his hands almost hade a fist around it and he did not relax. His voice quivered as he said the next statement “When?” Pause “s**t. I am on my way tell them to do whatever is necessary else I will hold them responsible” Pause “Do not do that. Do not do anything. I will be right there” Pause “Fine” He yanked off the Bluetooth and cursed really low under his breath, I barely heard it and then he cursed louder and at the next light, made a U turn.

He was going the wrong way from my house but I did not think it would be a good time to mention that. It seemed like he had forgotten I was even here. I was proved right when, when I coughed to get his attention, he looked startled

“I have to make a quick detour to the hospital. My apologies” He tells me as an explanation and I did not push. We got to the hospital in record time and he was out the door before I even got my breath. “I won’t be long” He says and leaves without taking an umbrella even though the rain was still drizzling before I could answer.

Who could be in the hospital that has him so worried? His parents? His siblings? But I remembered he had no siblings in the country. His only sibling was an archeologist doing some work in Egypt. My curiosity mounted as time went by and I was shifting in my seat a few minutes later.

True to his word, he did not take long. He was back in the car, half an hour after he had left. “Where do you live?” He asked starting the car

“Just drop me at the station” I say and he growls lightly

“Fine” He pulls out of the driveway and is silent all the while. I did not speak either and the only thing that fills the silence was the radio which was now reporting the news.

When we got to the bus station, he hands me an umbrella which I take and he does not wait to say goodbye or answer mine before he zoomed off the other way. I sigh and open the umbrella then take a look at my broken phone. Oh well, the day had been bad from the get-go.

Luck shone on me when the bus arrived barely five minutes after Nathan drove off in the direction of the hospital-he was probably going back-and I was on my merry way home.