Chloe looked at the little group that hovered over their laptops and she wondered why they decided to do their boring finances in the library. It was even more annoying that they kept talking at intervals. And it annoyed her even more when they were not having a conversation that could give her a lead.
Raising the book in her hand to make it seem like she was still interested in its content, Chloe wondered how on earth Nathaniel's words of them being a family was going to work out.There is Lucille who is always either doing something in her room or throwing dagger glares at her whenever Nathaniel happens to pass by. Amir on the other hand could be in a corner of the house making phone calls with his women if he is not busy with work.Gabriel as usual is his quiet self. He spends most of his time in the library while Nathaniel was always looking so serious and having one call after the other most certainly about business.Chloe did not see how them being like a family was going to help her sniff out information. Flipping the page of the novel almost absent-mindedly, she knew it was time she employed fully the good old method of divide and conquer.“I can tell you are distracted.”A startled Chloe dropped the book in her hand to see that Gabriel had found a seat opposite her. Throwing him a defeated smile, she said, “I have been reading the same page for the past ten minutes.”“We are quite noisy, aren't we?” Chloe nominee with a shy smile.“I know you all are businessmen, but what exactly do you do?”"Business of course." Chloe's brows quirked. Like she didn't know that."We do anything that makes us number one in the country. From investments to production even to entertainment, name it."Now, she was getting something. “Why do you guys want to be number one always?”Nathaniel butted in with his masculine bass voice, “We are obsessed with being in power. That has been a drive for us since high school.”Surprised, Chloe asked, “You have all known each other since high school?”“Yes,” Gabriel replied instead.“I see. You mentioned that you would do anything to stay in power. Does that include anything even illegal things?”“Illegal?” She had attracted the full attention of the men.“Yes. I mean, a lot of rich people out there dip their hands in dirty stuff to stay in power. So…”“We don't do that here,” Nathaniel interrupted a bit harshly. “Everything we do is purely legal .”Chloe replied and did not push it any further.“Why the questions though?”She gave a nervous-like chuckle as she a gruff Amir. “I tend to ask a lot of questions when I am bored. Besides, I tend to be curious by nature.”“Know what is good for you and learn to be less curious. You are here to work not investigate our lives.” Amir, who she was seeing for the first time after his attempt to seduce her, sounded so pissed you would think she was the one that tried to force herself on him.“Amir…” Nathaniel glared at him before facing Chloe. “You should not forget his words Chloe, learn to mind your business in here. Only do what we want you to do and there won't be any problem.”Nodding, Chloe began to reason within her. There definitely was something up with them. Their response sort of gave that off. Too bad she was there to actually investigate. Too bad she won't be minding her business at all. "Of course Nathaniel. I will be less curious.”After a long silence of awkward glances, Gabriel sighed and got up, “I don't know how you guys find it so easy to act so defensively when she just asked a simple question. And Amir… shouldn't t 'you be apologizing to Chloe for your action the other day?""Stay out of my business too, Gabe."Amir walked out of the room muttering.“He is just being cranky,” Gabriel explained to Chloe who just gave a short smile.Getting up, Chloe made for the entrance, she had thought of a way to get to Amir. But she was stopped by a new voice that graced the room. “Thank goodness you are all here.”The man who had just entered was quite huge in structure. He had the body and height of a bouncer, or better put, a bodyguard.'Maybe he is their bodyguard,' she thought as she walked back a bit to take in his face properly as he talked to the listening men. Immediately, a frown took over her face. He seemed familiar, but she couldn't place exactly where she could have met him.“The shipment's arrival is being delayed.”Nathaniel immediately neglected his laptop. “Why? What happened?”“Something about some sudden search.”“How long is this search going to last?”“Well, this time of the year has a lot of shipments flowing in, so…” It was then he noticed Chloe who had been listening in with rapt attention.“Who is she?”“Oh, I forgot she was here. She is our new help.”“Hmm…” His tiny eyes eyed her.“I should…” She motioned at the entrance. “I should leave .”“Wait.” Even the guys had their curiosity aroused. “Have we met somewhere?”“Uh? No.” She shook her head vigorously. She just recalled where she had once seen him.“I feel like I have seen you somewhere, like at a dangerous place.”Chloe chuckled and waved off his statement. “Oh no. As much as I love to try new things that bring money to the table, I don't do dangerous.”She had met him at a club and that was when she was on a mission.Her first mission. The mission that cost her a lot.Eyeing her even more suspiciously, the tall man said, “I'll have my eyes on you until I figure out where I have once seen you.” Chloe managed a small smile and slipped out immediately.Recalling the situation that led to her first mission was not a good sign but she was not ready to deal with that emotional baggage. So she chose to do what she normally did to push such drama aside.Train.Or rather, work out.Practicing some martial arts would do more than make her look suspicious.After a few minutes, she was dressed in more suitable wear and headed for the gym room.On entering the huge and well-equipped room, Chloe let out the heaviness chained within and set out to angrily get it out of her system.“Don't you have a job to do?"She really did not expect to see Amir."I am done with everything that needs to be done." Amir nods slowly. Her head peering a bit, Chloe asked, "Do you need me to do something?”“No.” It was a sharp response.“Okay then…” Facing the other side where dumbbells lay lazily, Chloe could not help but swear underneath her breath as she recalled Natalie's video. It would have been nicer if she could get rid of her fury by nabbing Amir or better still bashing up his face, then nabbing him. But…“I just don't get it.”Chloe was surprised he was still around and that element was evident in her question. “Get what?”He pocketed and stared her right in the eyes. “How could you reject me? No one has ever rejected me.”“Did you say no one? Well, sir, I am glad to be the first to break that record.” He did not respond and Chloe took it as a chance to slip out of the conversation.” Please, excuse me.” She gave him a sarcastically dashing smile and made for her first stop, the treadmill.“Too bad Nathaniel wants you…” she had to put a stop to her swaying. “If he didn't, I would have totally made you regret what you did.”Her head swinging sideways to trace out Amir's outline which stood tall and had its arms folded, Chloe found herself bothered by his statement.No. Not the part where he threatened her like he was a predator and she was his prey.It was the statement about Nathaniel. Hearing it again stirred something within her and for a second, she wanted to turn and ask questions, but she certainly wasn't willing to entertain any more of Amir's issues.So, like the proud woman she was, Chloe ignored Amir fully and went on with her reason for being in that room.Deep in thought, Chloe wondered when she was going to get that one lead she was looking for. Time was moving fast and having nothing to do but chores upon chores was starting to get on her nerves.True, it was part of her work so she had to be very patient and vigilant to get what she was there for. But, she didn't have all the time in the world to spend months in a huge house working her butts off. She had issues of her own to deal with.Her hand clenching the edge of the tiled surface, Chloe let out a swear word.Then, her train of thought drove in another direction.Recalling Gabriel's and most importantly Amir's words about Nathaniel liking her, she wondered if she wanted to use that channel to get what she wanted.Toying with real emotions was something that could become dangerous for her.She let out a huge sigh, nothing was clear to her anymore. Maybe that was because her reason for being there was not yielding results. Assuming she had gotten that one lead she was so desperate
“How do you manage to make any dress look good?” Gabriel complimented from the doorway.“Oh, Gabriel,” Chloe said shyly as she played with the end of her curled hair.“I think the dress just happens to fit me. But, isn't this a bit too much?"She looked into the huge mirror that came with the team that had come earlier to take care of her appearance. The dress which was long and black with a bit of silver sprinkled at its silted ends, really took Chloe aback who was just expecting a regular-looking gown.“I think you look amazing.” Gabriel moved closer and stood just behind her to continue admiring her look. “I love how daring your eyes look, it suits your personality even more.”“But what do you know about my personality?”“I know for sure that you have a crazy side that you are managing to keep in check because of your job.” His hand came up to help adjust the strand that was resting uneasily on her shoulder. After, he looked at her image with a small smile that brought out his cuten
Chloe hated the fact that she was finding it hard to get the feel of his lush lips against hers out of her mind. She hated, even more, the fact that it was the next day already.As she almost unconsciously recalled the night, Chloe turned on the tap of the wash hand basin and let the sound of rushing liquid ease her a bit.Nathaniel didn't come back after he left her standing in what one might as well call shock. Instead, after she had stood for almost an hour, he sent a driver to come get her and take her home.It was quite rude of him, but it was established that he did weird things sometimes.Sucking her lower lip in, Chloe got off the toilet seat and walked to the door handle where her smartwatch which kept vibrating was hanging.After she successfully connected her headset, she said, “Agent Pepper here.”“How did yesterday go?”“It was a short night. I noticed a few things though.”There was a brief silence before Agent Connor said, “Do tell .”“Well, Nathaniel Stone seemed to be
Nathaniel kept a hand on his waist as he almost confusedly watched her crawl out from under his bed. “And what on earth are you doing under my bed?” He finally asked once she was standing.“She gets weirder every day,” Amir mumbled loudly earning himself a glare from his friend."Well, I thought you were the one coming into this place with a woman. I definitely won't want to watch you go down on a woman," Chloe kept her arms folded as she talked, her shoulders occasionally shrugging.“But you were listening anyway,” Amir muttered again and the half-naked Lucille beside him nod in agreement causing Chloe to almost sneer at her.“There was nowhere else close by to hide,” Chloe continued her glare at Lucille.“It is okay Chloe. I don't have any issue with you but I have with this man-whore on my bed.”Amir immediately got up. “Who the heck are you calling a whore? Look, pretty boy, don't -""Don't what?" Nathaniel squared his stance and glared back at the seething man in front of him who
“So,” Chloe leaned in on the wash basin. “If it is not a car's plate number, does it at least have something to do with a car?”“No.” Agent Connor made a tutting sound before continuing. “Suarez thinks it might be a coded bank account number. So, I think we could work with that and sees what comes out of it.”“This Miss Sanquire, what do we know about her so far?”“She owns a clothing line and changes boyfriends the way she does with clothes.”“Is she rich enough to pay Nathaniel twenty million pounds?”“Actually, no.” Chloe's ears picked a knock from outside.“I see. I have to go, sir.”“ Good work so far Chloe, just make sure to go about undetected.”She took a look at her dirty uniform which reminded her of the remaining work waiting for her in what Amir called hispersonal space. “I sure will sir.”As the call ended, Chloe turned off the tap, and took a deep breath which she instantly regretted- she had also inhaled dust in Amir's abandoned space. Just when she thought she knew th
Knowing how reluctant her body would be to get up in the middle of the night- especially after the day's work, Chloe had made sure to set an alarm on her phone. And it was currently piercing her ears and doing a good job of keeping her from hugging her pillow closer. As Chloe got off the bed, her eyes landed on the clear night outside and her mind immediately went to the reason she was up at that moment. The screams had a message but there was no way for Chloe to fully understand the message until she found the source of the cries. That was her main problem. It was as though the noise came from somewhere far away this minute, the next minute, the noise resonated all the way to her feet sole. So, she had two choices to work on. She could search for any alternative routes at the two places she had heard the noise. And the other- easy yet difficult- option was to look for the blueprint of the building. “Okay, let's do this,” she said as she checked the time. In no time, she was
Chloe never once thought she would have so many opportunities to step outside once she stepped into the abode of the NAG brothers, but there she was neglecting an expensive gown to put on a more comfortable wear of jean trouser and denim shirt with a very convenient pair of block heels.And... there she was, trying to remind herself not to get carried away with the date, her senses had to be up and working throughout.Chloe wished, she really wished that would be the case. Nathaniel's voice had began to find it's way into her head at night before sleep comes for her. The way he used the word 'craving' the other night made something stir in her.Immediately, she shook her head. Once again, she needed to be focused.In no time, she found her way downstairs which was as silent as an abandoned church, Chloe wondered if no one else was at home but her. Indeed, Nathaniel had sent a message home di
The ride to the clubhouse was a very fast one. Without a doubt, the rush was to make sure the news didn't get out. Chloe doubted that. Such news never wasted time.As she adjusted the strap of her shoes, she wondered if she would find any strong evidence at the scene. It was high time she found that very, very strong lead that would change the game."Does she have to come along?" The grumpy man asked Nathaniel who waved off his question. "But we hardly know her.""You hardly know her. I am not leaving her out here, it is too dangerous." He got down and helped her with her door. Chloe inwardly appreciated his sense of protection, but she would have been able to take care of herself if she were to be left alone.But she was nonetheless more glad that they were allowing her accompany them.Chloe's darting eyes did not miss the two police vehicles around a corner which meant either the cops had come for Amir or they just came to have a crazy n