Illicit Affairs by Holly Dixon
Thirty-Six
“Dad?”Ava shut the door behind her and treaded carefully towards him and Nate. “Wh-what are you doing h—”
“Sit!” Tom boomed with the authority of a magistrate, the type of commanding aura that cut through the thick air and made Nate’s shoulders jump and Ava’s legs collapse into the seat.
“Dad, just let me explain, the account it—”
“Do you realise how many security cameras I have around this department?” Tom asked, stalling Ava’s train of thought as her lips attempted to manifest the confusion she felt into words. “Twenty-six cameras, Ava. Twenty-six cameras including…” His cane lifted and stabbed the air pointing to an object behind her.
Ava turned around and glanced up at the small black box mounted above the office door, a red light blinking down at her as Nate’s hands dragged down his face.
“I don’t understand…” she faltered, turning around to see the reddening face of her father.
“That camera safeguards not only our clients’ assets but this firm’s as well.” Tom pushed off the desk, his walking stick slamming down onto the floor near Ava’s feet as he spat, “What it does not safeguard is my daughter fucking my business associate!”
Twice in her life had Ava heard her father swear: once when he found out about the young gentleman her mother was having an affair with, and now this moment right here. Her brain stuttered, her eyes taking in more light than expected as every part of her went on pause while her thoughts played catch-up. She felt like a camera flash, stuck in time and unable to connect with the world that was spinning out of control, her perfect jigsaw puzzle falling in slow motion to the floor.
Nate’s stomach was so tight with dread that he doubted he’d feel a fist to his gut right now. He turned to look at Ava, her frozen pale expression was similar to that of his own when Tom had busted into his office not long before Ava had shown up.
“This isn’t her fault,” Nate said, reaching for her and almost flinching as he felt the ice cool of her frail hand. “This is on me. I take full responsibility for—”
“Shut your damn mouth, Nathaniel!” Tom snapped, running a hand through his thin wintery hairline. “To think of what you’ve done behind your poor wife’s ba—”
“Oh, come on, Tom,” Nate ridiculed, sitting upright in his seat as he threw his hands in the air before leaning upon his knee. “You of all people know that what me and Nat have isn’t as black and white as it is on paper!”
“Perhaps not, but do you not both realise the gravity of the situation you have forced me into? That footage was not something I stumbled onto by mere chance; it was presented to me by the head of security!”
“Mike?” Ava finally snapped out of her catatonic state as she looked up at her father, who gave a sharp nod of his head. Burning hot betrayal ran through Ava. Mike, the sweet security man who had wished her good morning for the past few years, and sure, likely had a crush on her, had now just grassed her to her father for no gain of his own other than to boost his own selfish ego.
“And since we are not the only people to know about your ludicrous relations, word will spread like wildfire. I cannot be seen to let this scandal be brushed under the carpet. I am forced to discipline you both for this!” Tom stumbled backwards, his hand clutching his chest as Ava instantly jumped to her feet with concern creasing her face. He swatted away her fretting hand and sighed, “What were you both thinking?”
“I wasn’t thinking, it just happened, Dad!” Ava wailed past her heart lodged inside her throat like a piece of glass. “And I swear it won’t happen again.”
Nate’s eyes widened at Ava, and he felt as though she had just blown out the flicker of hope inside of him. She couldn’t have meant that, could she?
“You’re correct, it will not happen again,” Tom attested, straightening himself against his walking stick and clearing his throat. “Ava, you are suspended until further notice, and Nathaniel, you will return to the firm back in Manhattan—effective immediately.”
“What?!” Nate shot up out of his seat as Ava’s jaw shattered on the floor.
“Dad, you are in no state to come back here yet, let alone run this department by yourself!”
“You will not speak of my state! I have run this firm for many years, most of which were spent without much of your aid, and I will continue to do so. Do not forget your position in this department, Ava—you are but a simple assistant to me,” Tom fumed down at Ava, his expression softening for a fleeting moment before turning to stone as he snapped his attention away from her. “Now get out of my sight.”
Nate’s heart was pounding so fast inside his chest, this loss of control making him feel like he was falling down a very dark and lonely rabbit hole. He turned and watched Ava cover her mouth as she darted out of the office, a look of pain twisting her perfect features.
“You’re a damn fool, Tom,” Nate growled with his fists clenched. He couldn’t stand by and let Tom pound down on her like that; it was unfair after the part Nate had played in all of this. He was getting off far too easy.
“I beg your pardon?” Mr. Archer sputtered as though someone had slapped him with a wet fish across the face.
“She practically ran this firm while you were away! You have her sit at that desk looking pretty and quietly filing away your shit when you have no idea what that woman is actually capable of!”
“Oh, and you do? Disgracing this firm, my daughter, and your damn marriage by frolicking around this department and using Ava like a cheap whore that—”
“I am in love with your daughter!” Nate boomed for the whole department to hear and didn’t give a crap about the repercussions. “And she is not a whore.” He pointed a finger directly into his business partner’s face. “I have made many monumental mistakes in my life, but that woman out there, she ain’t one of them.”
As Ava’s finger mashed the elevator button, she wished that Sam had turned up for work today, needing just one person in this department to not be burning their eyes into the back of her skull right now. The doors pinged open and she rushed inside to escape the shame clouding her but just before the doors began to shut, Nate dived in beside her.
“Nate, please don’t,” Ava whimpered as the metal doors slid shut behind him but gasped as his fist suddenly smacked against the red stop button. “What are you doing?!”
His fear of heights and confined spaces was nothing compared to the fear of losing his everything.
“Look, I like control in every aspect of my life but some things I just can’t control. Like the way I feel for you, Ava. However, I can control my circumstance, which is why when I am home, I am explaining to Natalia that we don’t belong together.” Nate spoke with the conviction of a priest, reaching his hands out and wincing when she took a step back and shook her head.
“You cannot do that! You ca-can’t just move your life over here for me!”
“Sure, I can!”
“No, you cannot and will not, I won’t allow it.” Ava moved away from him, her eyes welling with regret. “We aren’t a love story, not after what we have done. There is no happily ever after for us.”
She utterly detested the crushed look on his face, the way the hope drained from his expression, the sweetness of honey turning bitter in his eyes. But then his head lifted, his face lighting up like a warrior mustering the strength for one last stand.
“Then how about a happily ever now?” He gave her a weak smile, a small attempt at lightening a shitty situation—like hell he was giving up on her just because shit got real.
“Nate, I’m so sorry but I—”
“No, no, no,” Nate cut across her and closed off the distance between them as he held her face in his hands and made her look at him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for getting you into this mess, I’m sorry for pushing you away, I’m sorry for ever lying to you in the first place. But what I am not sorry for is for ever meeting you and falling madly and uncontrollably in love with you, Ava Archer.”
Words failed Ava as she stared up at the man who made everything feel so incredibly right in the world. She hated how pathetic she felt when trying to say those three words, feeling as though there was a flaw in her code that blocked her from conveying such things.
Three little words, two hearts joining, and one monumental insecurity were all that stood in her way.
To the ordinary person, that simple phrase could be exchanged as easily as a thank you or hello, but to Ava, it was a mountain that had to be climbed slowly with a clear and promised view of the top.
“It’s okay, I don’t need you to say it out loud,” Nate chuckled softly as his thumb swiped across her lower lip. “I just need to know…do you feel anything for me?”
Ava knew she could lie right now and make her life so much easier. Yes, it would be painful upfront like pulling off a plaster, but then all her problems would disappear, and everything would return to normal. However, she wasn’t much of a liar and ever since lying to her best friend, and everyone else for that matter, she silently vowed to never do it again.
Nate stared down at the shy nod of her head, his eyebrows jumping in bewilderment as his lips failed to hide his glee. There was a chance of her loving him back? Hell, he’d take it!
“But I need some time to think…please, this is all so much so soon.”
“Of course, look”—Nate took a step away from her to give her some room to breathe, not wishing to push his luck any more than he had—“I’ll come over in a few hours, we can talk properly then and take this at your own pace. Will that be alright?” He knew what they had was chaotic and fast, but it didn’t feel rushed, it felt raw and real, something that he didn’t want to wait the rest of his life to experience. He wanted it right now and with her.
“That is more than alright,” she gushed as she reached out for him, her arms securing around his waist as she embraced his comforting scent and pressed her cheek against the heart that was slowly helping her to climb that mountain. “I’ll be waiting.”
Ava’s mindwas like a storm at sea, having no idea what she was going to do now that the cat was out of the bag and tearing up everything around it. She had no idea how she was going to handle her father nor how much damage this affair was going to do to her reputation. Her career would certainly be up shit creek once word got out. And then, of course, there was the matter of Nate being willing to give up absolutely everything for her and not knowing if it was just infatuation or genuine love that guided him.
One thing was for sure and that was that Nate wasn’t thinking with his head. She had never met a man like him, driven by passion, and not just physical passion, but a fierceness to seize life and go after what he desired. Being with Nathaniel Brooks made Ava feel like she was inside some romance book sat gathering dust upon a shelf with wrinkled binding and dog-eared pages. But unlike those stories, his love didn’t burn slow like an ember, it burned hot and fast like a firework. In every sense, Nate was her American dream, her Fourth of July.
She dragged herself up the stairs leading to her apartment, her phone pinging inside her coat pocket. She pulled it out and frowned down at the screen.
1 New Message, RBE BANK ALERT:
Ms. Archer, the funds have been secured and are ready for collection in branch at your earliest convenience.
Ava rolledher eyes at the scam attempt and placed her phone back in her pocket as her heels echoed down the long hallway towards the red door at the end. When she reached her apartment, her hand hesitated upon the brass doorknob, her eyes squinting down at it. The weirdest sensation overcame her, a chill prickling its way up her spine as she reached forward and opened her door that she didn’t remember leaving unlocked.
“Hello…?” she called out as she cautiously stepped into her silent apartment, the only noise coming from the tap dripping into the sink, each sound reverberating around the spacious apartment like a cymbal. “Sam…are you in here?”
Something wasn’t right and she couldn’t place what. The air was so brittle that it could snap, and if it didn’t, Ava knew she surely would. Walking down her small hallway, she stopped inside her tidy living room, but something felt out of place as though someone had been through here, a single ripple disturbing a calm lake.
Apart from family, there was only one other person who knew Ava kept a spare key under her doormat and that person was—bang!
Ava let out a squeal as her apartment door was slammed shut behind her, spinning her heels in a one-eighty to turn around and face the culprit.