At the Hotel
Clara got up from bed and went to the bathroom. She needed to change into something more comfortable. Her brothers let her go to bed with her party clothes on. Probably because she had already passed out by the time they got back and did not want to wake her again.
They took turns watching her throughout the night, knowing this was going to be rough on her. Because of her constant nightmares, she didn’t stop crying until she ensured that both of them were near.
She looked at her brothers lovingly at the foot of the bed. ‘What would my life have been without these two? I’m thankful those assholes dumped me in that orphanage. I think this time we will find our closure. Celine is holding our key. I hope next time we find ourselves together, it will be because all of us are happy. I’m sick and tired of being a burden to you both,’ she said to herself.
She changed her clothes into sweats and a tank top and headed to the gym. She needed to exorcise her demons as she hatched out her plan.
It was 10 am, by the time the SST team re-surfaced and made their way to Navio’s headquarters. All they needed to do was iron out any loose ends, and answer any questions.
Sebastian was relieved when they finally showed up. He desperately wanted to know how she was doing without appearing too nosey. Max and Jeremy just texted him she was okay and wouldn’t tell him anything more.
He carefully observes her as soon as she walks into his office. ‘She looks like she has recovered. Her eyes look a little puffy, and she seems a bit sad, but she looks okay.
Was it really food poisoning, though? She had tears coming from her eyes, and what does Celine have to do with it?’
He was investigating the trio and Celine this morning. All Sebastian uncovered was that the Johnson trio were siblings, not by birth but by association. They came from the same orphanage, and they adopted one another by choice. They all changed their last names to Johnson so they could claim to be related. The business was legit and an extension of an old security company, established in the ’80s, nothing he didn't already know from his initial investigation.
Celine, on the other hand, had something interesting in her background. A news article about her family 20 years ago showed that Nathan Jacobs, her father, managed his own firm before joining Navio. This was something he never knew. He always thought Nathan had always been part of their company. He was 15 at that time, so he didn’t really pay any attention to it.
Upon further investigation, he learned that according to the Navio employee records, Nathan just joined their company within the last 15 years without any interviews or recommendations. And this raised a red flag.
One of the news articles talked about the sudden change of CEOs at Nathan’s old company, “Welcoming the new and saying goodbye to the old,” said the article. What caught his eye was the article that read, “Financial Mogul’s eldest daughter dies in a car accident.”
The article had a picture of Celine’s sister, and as he stared at Clara’s picture on his phone, he could see some resemblance to how her eyes crinkled and her smile. Was he imagining things, grasping for straws, maybe, or could there be a connection?
The Johnson siblings talked about the rest of the project, what they could expect when they used it, and all its limits and possibilities. Max did most of the talking. Clara didn’t look like she was up to it, spacing out most of the time and working on her laptop. He let her be, hoping that she would warm up to him after the unusual events of the previous evening.
He invited them to lunch before they left for San Jose, but Max declined, saying he had something he needed to take care of. Clara and Jeremy, on the other hand, accepted. They were too chagrined to say no after what happened last night, hoping this would be an opportunity to clear the air.
Jeremy excused himself to go to the restroom. Max followed him, saying he needed to make an important phone call. Since Sebastian seemed a little calmer this morning, they decided it was okay to leave her alone with him.
He really wanted to connect with her privately, knowing her brothers might interrupt them. He was concerned his questioning would be too intrusive, with all three of them in the same room.
She was thinking about Celine when he sat beside her. ‘How are you feeling? Are you okay?’ he asked. She closed her laptop before he could see what she was searching for. “She’s fast,” he didn’t even get to catch anything important, so he wondered what it was that she was hiding from him.
‘Yeah, about last night. I’m sorry if I freaked you out. I had a severe case of food poisoning, but I feel better now. All ready for lunch,’ she fibbed, and he caught himself looking at her with a penetrating gaze, wondering if she was being truthful.
Outside the Restroom
Max scrolled through his contacts and could not find Celine’s number anywhere. He remembered hearing her phone ring when she dialed her number and was sure about that. When he looked at his recently called list, it all said Lana. ‘That sneaky little cheat,’ he thought, then he recalled her parting words, ‘...if you can find me…’
‘Huh! You think you’re so smart, but I’m smarter than you,’ he sneered as he walked towards the receptionist’s desk.
He asked the secretary to call Celine Jacobs from the Accounting Department and have her report to the President’s office immediately.
Celine nervously walked towards Sebastian’s office, thinking that she was in trouble.
She has never been summoned on this floor before. ‘Maybe it had something to do with last night. Did I say anything inappropriate? Is the president interested in me?
Nah, that can’t be. I’m not interested in him, or am I? He is handsome, after all.’ She shook her head to brush away her thoughts.
She almost ran into Max because she hadn’t been paying attention. He was grinning at her like a cat who ate a mouse. ‘He looks even more handsome in the daylight,’ she thought as she kept her cool, totally forgetting the trick she played on him.
‘So I found you. Are you ready for lunch?’ He said in a low voice. Whispering close to her ear.
She was confused. ‘The president called me here. Do you know what he needs from me?’ she asked Max.
‘The President didn’t call you here. I did. I couldn’t find the phone number you added to my phone, even though I remember your phone ringing. I know it was there, I just couldn’t find it. So Miss Smartypants, what name did you put it under?’ he asked smugly.
It finally occurred to her. She laughed at him. ‘Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that,’ she said. ‘You are pretty smart, though. I’ll give you that much. Calling me here pretending to be the President,’ she grinned, ‘I deserved that.’
‘So as your punishment, you are having lunch with me,’ he said.
Celine thought she was being called to the president's office because of two things, either getting promoted or finally getting canned. Her manager wasn’t really the nicest person, so she expected nothing good. For lunch, she feigned going with someone else, so if she got canned, nobody would be there to witness her walk of shame. But that opened up her schedule to have lunch with Max.
Celine’s hesitation did not stem from dislike. She was actually very attracted to him, but she had a problem that he came from out of town. He won’t be in the same city all the time, which meant dating him would definitely be a bad idea.
In the Office They were eyeing each other when Jeremy suddenly walked in. Sebastian was trying to find out why she was lying and what she was lying about, but now was not the time to pry. ‘So I don’t believe we covered the remote connection to the cameras yesterday,’ Jeremy volunteered. ‘Let me show you how to access it from your phone and from your other devices. This would definitely make it easier for you to monitor the office when you go out of town.’ ‘Okay,’ Sebastian said as he stood up and returned to his desk, giving Clara one last look. She was already busy clicking away on her computer. Clara was not particularly interested in having lunch right now. She was concentrating on finding out more information regarding her sister and her family. So fa
Clara held her breath. There was blatant interest in his eyes, and it scared her that he would kiss her right there and then. His eyes were so intensely green right now, and she couldn’t look away. It was like there was nobody else but them in the elevator, and all she could hear was her heart beating loudly in her chest. The more she spent time with him, the more she felt compelled to do whatever it was he wanted. ‘Kiss me,’ her brain said. Looking into his eyes was a mistake. It drew her in like you would imagine a vampire mesmerizing his prey. He had a very tiny scar on his upper lip that she wanted to run her lips over. The ding of the elevator saved her from embarrassing herself. She almost collapsed on the flo
Clara had been quiet on the plane ride home. She had a lot of things to process. Was she really Carmen Jacobs? Is that going to be good or bad? What does that mean for her and her brothers when they finally find her family? Will they be welcoming? Of course, she would not abandon her brothers for anyone, she’s spent most of her life with them already, and they would continue to be together. It just meant that, finally, she would have closure. She did not remember if she had pictures when she was younger. Not even one with Max and Jeremy as kids. In fact, they were so poor that pictures would get taken only for records and identification. So she had nothing to compare to the photo in that news article. At an age when kids were making memories with their friends, she was already working. In her hand, sh
‘I’m so glad all three of you are here today. I haven’t seen you in a long time, and my, how you’ve all grown. Max and Jeremy, you boys are still very handsome.’ Mrs. Powell patted their cheeks. ‘Don’t make the girls cry, okay?’ and they both smiled. ‘And you, my dear, have become more beautiful. A little thinner than before and with dark circles around the eyes, but still beautiful,’ she lovingly caressed Clara’s cheek. ‘Have you been sleeping well these days? I saw your article in the newspaper and congratulations on the launch of your new product. Some of your staff installed a few of your cameras here as well, but I doubt we’ll need it.’ The Powell family and the Johnson siblings have known each other for 10 years. Mr. and Mrs. Powell asked the siblings to call them Ma and Pa, just like everybody else.
Six months. Sebastian was supposed to see Clara again in six months, according to the contract. But that was way too long for him to wait to see her again. He was getting antsy and frustrated. ‘How is this relationship ever going to start when she ices me out? I’ve been texting her almost every day, and all she gives me is her one-word answers. Ugh!’ The last time he saw Clara, he thought they had made progress. Sure, he might have annoyed her a little, but he thought being honest was the key. And instead of acknowledging his feelings, she blocked them. Jeremy kept him from spending any time alone with her after they had come back from the restaurant. He had business to take care of, but Clara filled his thoughts. She hadn’t even done anything special to catch his attention, except by rejecting his advances and telling him she wasn’t interested. It seemed to
‘Take a seat, Sebastian. We all know you did not come here to complain about the security system we’ve installed or to ask for more enhancements, or even to give us feedback.’ ‘We have been monitoring your system for three weeks. It has undergone extreme scrutiny by your own security team, and so far, it has proven to be stable. So let’s cut the bullshit.’ ‘I know you’ve had our family investigated, and you already know that all three of us come from the same orphanage.’ Jeremy started. Sebastian shrugged, not denying his accusation. ‘Did you find anything useful?’ he inclined his head and moved his lips, showing he found nothing. ‘We love Clara to death. She is our whole world, and we will do everything possible to protect her.’ ‘She is not one of your busines
Clara couldn’t stop thinking about Sebastian, from the cute way he smiled to the intense way he looked at her. She could not forget how he flirted with her the last time they were together. In the elevator, where she almost kissed him willingly, his green eyes hypnotizing her. Then inside his car, when they were sitting side by side. How she could still feel his breath, or maybe his lips when he whispered in her ear. She shuddered just thinking about it. She spent 2 hours exercising in the pool this morning to forget about him and it surprised her when it worked. Her workout had been so invigorating that she started tackling all the paperwork on her desk like she had a deadline. But then, as soon as he showed up in front of her, she felt doomed. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked up and saw his smiling face right there in her office.
‘There she is with her secret smile again. What was she smiling about, anyway?’ Sebastian wondered as he looked at her expectantly. He was still prepared to persuade her with his steely eyes if she offered another excuse, but she surprised him when she acquiesced. Clara raises her eyebrows and looks at Sebastian, ‘How are you riding with me? Did you bring your own bike, or do I need to carry you on my handlebars?’ ‘I don’t think I have a spare bike, but maybe you can use Max’s bike. I think you’re almost the same height, right?’ ‘I have my bike strapped to my car. I... Uhm... I brought my riding shorts. Do you mind if I change in the restroom and leave my clothes here? I can walk down with you,’ he said it like he had everything planned out. He sounded a littl