Chapter 34 CHAPTER 034
Linc Dmitri POV:
"We finally got his location. He has been moving around a lot because he got involved with some bad elements, gambling away his earnings from his last art sale. He should move again in a few days, so we need to act now. What should we do, sir?"
I love you.
"Mr. Dmitri? Are you there?" Abbie's hard voice intrudes into my thoughts, I haven't been actively listening to the call. My mind is rarely focused these days. It is impossible to be focused or fully present with those three words echoing in my head at every single chance.
I haven't been able to be present since Amelia whispered those three little heavy words and drifted to sleep on my chest three days ago. She woke up and left in a hurry, I couldn't tell if she knew she said those words or it was just one of those things a sleepy person mutters and forgets about.
I don't know why, but I want it to be the second option. Because if it is the first, then that would just be another reason to hide away from me. And I am sick of that game. I want her. Always. Without the barrier of her guilt. I want all of her.
My heart stopped when those words dropped from her lips, and I froze. It took me a while to look down at her to see that she had fallen asleep. And I laid there, heart beating heavily, unable to breathe, those words echoing in my head. Keeping me wide awake with a cold sweat popping on the forehead.
"Abbie..." I say, shaking my head to clear the madness going on in it. It doesn't work. Nothing does. I need to see her. But I don't know what to say. How to breach the topic. Or whether I even want to.
"Yes, sir." She replies immediate. Shehe could be next door and not overseas in Paris.
"Keep an eye on him for now. I haven't heard anything more from him. Though I'm sure he is sure to come back since he didn't get a response the last time. Seeing as he can't stay in one location for long, whatever he, got his sleazy self involved in is tightening the noose around his untalented neck. He will come back again and we will be ready for him." I say, my voice is tight with apprehension.
Fucking Arthur Beau thinking he could use me as a cash cow, using a situation as ugly as Kathryn stepping out of our marriage as leverage. Such nerve. I guess desperate men simply do not think clearly.
But I also know I can't risk his threats. Not when I have Amelia to protect from the mess of that whole situation. Though I let the truth slip and told her about Kathryn leaving me, the world can't know about it.
I also have my own ego to protect. I couldn't stand the hypocritical sympathy. Because everyone warned me against Kathryn because of her reputation. I didn't listen. I thought I was in love. I thought she loved me.
"Okay. Noted sir." Abbie says and the line clicks dead. Leaving me to my thoughts of Amelia and what I am going to do about my stepdaughter saying she loved me.
Love. Love?
She is twenty one and I am forty one. I already feel shitty enough about fucking her, but love?
Of course I feel strongly for Amelia. It transcends mere guardian like affection. It is different from anything I have ever felt in all forty one years of my life and therein lies the problem. I am a man with a long history of passion and lust and power and love and all of that richness. I can't possibly be in love with a twenty one year old at this point of my life.
What am I going to do about it even if I were?
After Kathryn, I resolved to never do the marriage thing again. I was content with just being a guardian to Amelia and living my life as the ultimate enviable rich bachelor.
But here we are. I can't let her go even when I know I should. In fact, I tried. I failed. Miserably. I want her. We fuck and I find myself thinking of the next time. I can't get enough of her. She is so beautiful, so young, so full of life, I feel like she could brighten up my life just by virtue of our proximity. I need her.
"Charlotte, connect me to Marcus at engineering." I say into the receiver that is connected to my secretary.
"Okay sir." She promptly replies like she was breathing down the phone, just waiting for me. See, this is why it is hard to just get rid of her. I wonder how she finds the time to go off on her gossiping rounds. She is always right where she should be when I need her.
"Hello, Mr. Dmitri." Marcus breathes down the line.
"Hey. How's it going?" I try to sound casual but we both already know why I am calling him. This is not the first time I will be calling him unofficially since he took Amelia under his wings over at engineering.
"Fine, sir..." Marcus humours me. I know he knows Amelia is my step daughter but I think he believes the rest of the firm doesn't know. So when I call his office and ask him to send her over, he acts all conspiratory like we are friends sharing a secret.
"Is she busy?" I ask. Still keeping the tone casual.
"Uh, she went out for lunch with her friends." Marcus says.
"Friends?" The calm tone slips.
"Yeah. Tyler and Ashley. They are classmates. Small world, huh?" Marcus replies.
Tyler. I can't shake my apprehension of the kid.
Something about his eager to please attitude to work is suspicious. But I am also aware of the fact that I might just be wary of him because he seemed close to Amelia. He is young. He is handsome. He is intelligent and ambitious. He is what Kathryn would want for her daughter. Not me. God. Fucking hell.
I shake my head to ward off the stupid thoughts but it is futile, "Oh yeah. Tell her to see me when she comes back." I cut the call before he can reply.