The Hated Billionaire by Erica Frost

Chapter 18: Brett

I drove into work early the next morning. It had been a long, restless night. I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that Christina might just be sleeping with me because she couldn’t say no to her boss. I didn’t want to believe that.

“I am going to ask her.”

I parked smartly in the ground-floor parking, sprinted to the elevator and got in. I got out at the third floor where the finance offices were and where my office was at the front of the hallway with the big window looking out over the busy traffic.

“Christina?” I murmured. I was outside her office, but the door was closed. I knocked, but nobody was there. I wondered if I should try the door. Maybe she hadn’t heard me? It was unusual for her to be late. I went back to my office.

I didn’t want to disturb her if she was on an important call.

I sat down at my desk, feeling my spirits lift. The investors had received our presentation extremely well, and it looked like the capital we needed for the expansion was coming in. I allowed myself a moment of excitement. This would allow our company to grow to almost double its size in the next decade. I wasn’t just excited about the profits – though of course that was exciting too – but about employing people.

We were creating hundreds of new jobs.

I let myself feel excited about that, forgetting the disappointment of not being able to talk to Christina. Maybe it was better that I got my words sorted.

I still didn’t know exactly how to address it with her.

I worked until ten o’ clock, mostly writing emails, and then I went out to get coffee. I couldn’t resist checking Christina’s office again as I went past the printing-room.

I felt bad. I was starting to wonder if my brother hadn’t been right. If she didn’t even feel close enough to me to let me know something like that, maybe I had coerced her.

“Stop stressing so much,” I told myself – after all, it was just what my brother had said, getting to me.

“Brett?” my CTO asked, coming up behind me as I walked into my office. I’d forgotten I’d asked him here to meet and discuss the new equipment. I nodded to him, trying to look unconcerned and confident.

“Hi. Sorry. I was distracted. Come in. How was your weekend?”

“Fine, thanks.” He grinned. “I went hiking, actually. It was such great weather, I had to go outside.”

“Great.” I reached for the papers that had the information I needed to discuss. I felt restless – I didn’t really want to be sitting, talking about the latest in printing technology so tediously: I wanted to sitting in Christina’s office, talking about stuff that really mattered.

I eventually settled and had a productive discussion. I was pleased when the questions were cleared up.

“Thanks, Brett. See you at lunch.”

“Yeah. I might work through lunch,” I replied. He looked surprised. I bent over my desk, looking over an email from one of our board members. I really didn’t intend to work through lunch – my intention was to go and find Christina and spend the lunch hour chatting with her. I really wanted to get my concerns out of the way. I tried to focus on jotting down notes from the discussion I’d just had, but I couldn’t focus and after a while I gave up and stood. It wouldn’t do any harm to check if she was there and ask her for lunch, I thought swiftly.

I walked past her office again, to find the door open. A young woman was there, a frown on her brow.

“What’s up?” I asked, coming and leaning in the doorway. “Is Ms. Bradfield needed for something?”

“Morning, Mr. Caden,” the young woman greeted me. I recognized her as the secretary for the finance department. “Yes. I needed Christina to sign this form. I’ll just leave it for her – she can do it tomorrow.”

“Is Christina in?” I asked, frowning. “I mean, did she come in?” It looked like she hadn’t been here all morning.

“She called in sick,” the woman said.

“Oh.” I felt my frown deepen.

“Did you have to give her a message?” the secretary asked me.

“Um, no,” I replied, wondering if I should call Christina to ask what happened. “No worries. It can wait.”

“Have a nice day, Mr. Caden.”

“Thanks.” I smiled and did my best to look friendly, but inside my heart was racing. I went swiftly back to my office and shut the door. I didn’t want anybody to disturb me if I was going to call Christina.

“That is paranoid,” I told myself. “She was fine last week.”

She had been in to work every day after that night when we’d first made love together. If she had objected so strongly, wouldn’t she have said something then?

But not if she felt too intimidated, I reminded myself. Not if she was too scared to say no to me.

The thought made me feel horrible. I couldn’t bear it. If I’d forced myself on Christina I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t apparently objected – it mattered that she wanted to.

“You’re being silly.”

I tried to get a hold on this. I had no evidence that she had stayed off work to avoid me – that was pure imagination on my part. I had no evidence to speak of that she had hated being with me. All I had that made me think that was my brother’s words, stuck in my head, and I couldn’t get them out no matter how I pushed them down.

I pulled out my phone, to check that she hadn’t messaged me. She hadn’t. There was nothing to stop me getting hold of her. I paused – should I call or should I text? I felt that she might not want to talk to me.

I knew it was just my imagination that she was avoiding me – she might really be sick. At the same time, I hesitated to call her on my phone – if she refused to answer it, that was a good indication that she really was mad at me. Even though it would make things a bit clearer, I didn’t actually want to find out.

I decided to call her from the landline. If she picked up, good. If she didn’t, I’d just have to wait until tomorrow. Or try and get hold of her another way.

I sighed, put my mobile back in my pocket and called her number on my office phone.

No reply.

I leaned back in my chair and put the phone down, feeling confused and upset, even though I knew I had no reason to be. It was understandable, really – after all, most people don’t pick up the phone to numbers they don’t know. In itself, that meant nothing. I went ahead and texted her anyway, even though I had this weird feeling that she might not want to hear from me.

Hey Christina. I saw you weren’t at work. I hope you’re okay.

I sent it. I reckoned that couldn’t do any harm. After all, even a colleague would be permitted to write something so neutral, especially if they discovered she was off sick.

I felt better after having sent a message. I turned to my computer and tried to concentrate on the emails I had to reply to, but my mind was focused down the hallway in Christina’s empty office and I couldn’t stop thinking about her.