Marco’s Virgin Captive

Chapter Three

Was he going to sack her? She would get another job, she was good at what she did. Gracious heavens they weren’t in medieval age where the war lord could have hung and dismembered her for defying him.

“Whether you care about a deal that has no impact on your life is none of my concern, my concern is, you’ve shared of information to Mr Wesley that could unravel nearly a year and half work of intense negotiation.

“I’m sorry about what happened, it’s a complex job and if I accidentally shared or stumbled upon information I shouldn’t have, then I apologize. I didn’t mean to, in fact I ‘m not interested in your deal, Mr Dandolo. You gave me a job and I’m doing that to the best of my ability.”

“Which clearly wasn’t up to the promised standard, because an error of this magnitude is going to cost me millions of dollars and it is inexcusable.”

“But that is not fair!”

“Remind me to give you a life lesson on what’s fair and what isn’t. I’m interested in you working out a solution to bypass this security breach, otherwise you’ll have your head on the guillotine.”

His criticism stung, she was good with computers…no scrape that she was brilliant with computers. She was good at what she did, to have her competence questioned attacked the core of her being.

“If you look at what I’ve done, sir, you’ll find that I’ve done an excellent job. I realized that I may have stumbled upon information that should not have been available to me, but you have my word that anything I’ve unearthed stays with me.”

“And I’m to believe you because...?”

“Because there’s no reason for me to lie to you Mr Dandolo!”

“I’m sorry to drag you into the face on reality, Miss Kingston, but taking peoples word at face value, including sincerely meant promises, is something I cannot rely on.” He leaned back at his chair and stared at her.

Without trying, Marco could exude the sort of lethal cool that made grown men quake in their shoes, he was finding some of his formidable focus diluted by her arresting good looks.

He went for tall, inane brunettes, who were rarely seen without the heavy compact of makeup, and designer wears just to stay on the limelight.

He rarely enjoyed their company because they had nothing more to offer than just a roll in the sack, and whenever they pushed the topic of commitment they were easily discarded, and were generously compensated. Some wailed and clawed at him, but still cashed the check.

He has seen the damage caused to rich men by bimbos. His fun-loving father was a perfect example, after the death of his wife, he found solace in a succession of sexy blondes intelligence not a prerequisite. Worse than having the nuisance of his father’s bank accounts bled dry by voracious gold diggers, his father stupidly, had always invested in the women he ended up marrying. Hoping that they would be there for him, would somehow give him the emotional support he so longed for. He had been looking for love and that weakness had opened him up to being used constantly.

Marco has absorbed all these and learnt the hard way, avoiding emotional investment. What he did not do were women who demanded anything from him he knew he was incapable of giving.

“Are you still in contact with the man?” he murmured, watching her like a hawk.

“No! I am not!” The heated color made her face burn. She found she was gripping the arms of the chair for her dear life.

“Are you going to sack me, Mr Dandolo? Because if you are you can as well get along with it”

She could feel it in her gut, she’s going to be sacked, there will be no resuming of duties after today.

“Regrettably, it’s not quite so straightforward…”

“Why not?” Hailey interrupted frantically.

“You don’t believe a word I’ve told you and I know I wouldn’t be allowed anywhere now the project again. If you wanted me out you would have told Daniel, my manager and let him pass the message to me. The fact that I’ve been called here tells me you’re going to give me the boot, but not before you make sure I know why. Will you be able to give me a reference, Mr Dandolo? I’ve worked extremely hard for your company, and I’ve had nothing less than glowing reports on the work I’ve done so far. I think I earn some credit for that.”

Marco was marveled at her, and the fact that she could think that he had so much time on his hands and the reason he summoned her all the way from office in SoHo was just to sack her. She was looking at him with an urgent expression, her hazel eyes defiant.

“According to your file, you work twice a week for my company. Why is that?”

“Sorry?” Hailey’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“It’s unusual for someone of your age to work to be a part time employee. That’s usually for women with children of school age who want to earn a little money but can’t afford the demands of full-time job.”

“I… I erm have another job, not job per say,”, she admitted “I volunteer at the community center close to where I live, I teach the children stuff about IT and how to use the computer.”

Marco was fascinated, he watched the display of conflict emotions on her face. The airheads he spent time with care about only themselves, and the spotlight.

“I see, so you really don’t do it for the money?” “Anyways that’s not the point.”

He scanned the file he had on her on his computer. “So, you work for me for the pay and volunteer at the community center just for fun? Or it’s habitual.”

“That’s right, just for fun, I enjoy teaching the children” she said, “So your termination at my company will be a loss on your finances.”

“I’d look for a new job to take its place.”

“I’d suggest you take a good look at the market Miss Kingston; no one will be willing to hire you to work twice a week, but here you are, and I pay you more than enough for you to work just twice a week, it’s going to be difficult to see any equivalent here in London Miss Kingston.”

As a part time worker, she might be tempted to vend vital company information just for the sake of pressing financial solutions. She had pleaded her innocence, but he wasn’t susceptible enough to believe her and take her word for it.

“Money doesn’t mean that much to me Mr Dandolo, I have a place to myself but if it means for me to share with other people, I’ll survive and it won’t be the end of the world.”