64__Caught.

64__Caught.
Braden had been called up to the Chairman’s penthouse suite.

He didn’t know why and, frankly, he was slightly annoyed. Sure, he didn’t mind having a chat with his granddad, but he would be grateful if it could be later. Erin had suddenly gone cold on him back at the pool and he’d been in the process of finding out what was wrong when he’d gotten the phone call.

With a sigh, he walked out of the elevator and strolled right into the suite.
Grandpa was seated in the dining area beyond the living room, enjoying a cup of tea and a biscuit.

“Gramps,” Braden called, collapsing on a couch with a giant exhale. Fuck, he was tired. “You called?”

Julius looked up at Braden’s entrance, putting his biscuit back on the plate. “Ah. There you are.”

“Mm,” hummed Braden, his eyes closed.

The Chairman studied him for a silent moment, several things running through his mind. “You look tired.”

“Mm-hm. It was a long night, perfecting that presentation.”

“It was an excellent one, Braden,” said his grandfather genuinely. “That you came up with the idea of honouring the first hotel I ever established… I’m deeply touched.”

Braden smiled. “That was the plan, gramps. That was the plan.”

“The design in your presentation video, the colours, the theme, it was all remarkable. I loved it. You have a good chance of winning this, I’ll be honest with you, sonny. What do you plan to do if you win?”

Sitting up, Braden looked at him. “Run with it, what else? I’ll make it a reality. It’ll be so perfect, you’ll think you returned to 1980.”

With a chuckle, Julius stood, taking his cane to walk slowly over to his grandson. “This presentation was an excellent way for me to see how far you’ve come. Both of you. Such hard workers, such intelligent children, I’m deeply in awe and extremely proud.”

“Aww,” said Braden, smiling. “My grandpa’s getting more emotional with age.”

“Oh, hush,” said Julius, waving a hand more wrinkled now than it had been just five years ago. “We have important matters to discuss.”

“Yeah? Is it really urgent? I wanna go to sleep.”

“If you wanted to sleep so bad, you’d have gone to bed instead of frolicking by the pool with Erin.”

Braden paused for a second, staring at his grandfather. He smiled. “You saw me?”

“Of course, I saw you, you were right there, weren’t you?”

With a frown, Braden’s smile turned into puzzlement and he quietly studied the unfriendly look in his grandfather’s eyes.
He was getting a bad feeling. “Uhm…”

With a sigh, Julius held his cane under both hands, resting his chin on it. “Go to France.”

Braden blinked. “What?”

“Now that this project is over, you should go there and learn the company ropes from that branch. Meanwhile, the board will decide what to do with the Ribeiro island. You spend a year in France and then return. Once you’ve returned, you and Erin can get to work on the island, using whoever’s idea was—”

“Woah, woah, hold on!” Braden was holding up a hand. “Where is this all coming from?”

His grandfather huffed. "What do you mean? Did you think you’d be here forever? No, sonny. Not when Stone Holdings has its roots anchored in so many different places.”

“But why now? Why send me to another country and for an entire year?”

“To learn! Don’t you want to do your best to inherit this empire? Isn’t that what you’re working so hard for? The design team told me how you drew the plans of the hotel by yourself. Will you waste that hard work?”

Frowning, Braden looked away, his jaw clenched. Damn it. A sigh parted his lips. “Okay, fine! But let Erin go with me.”

“No. Erin will be in Dubai. Stephanie has a big project there for some rich Arab family, so they can go together, saving me the stress of either one being there alone.”

Braden was gaping at him, face slack with shock. “You’re kidding. Why would you send Erin to the UAE?! Just… send her to France with me! We can learn together—”

“I said… No.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little too much?! We’ve just finished weeks of exhausting long hours of work and now you’re making us fly across the world to ‘learn the ropes? Are you serious?!”

“Don’t question me, Braden! If you don’t want to lose your place in the company, you better follow my every word.”

With a scoff of disbelief, he stared at his grandfather. “Oh, forgive me. Almighty Chairman.”

Grey eyes narrowed at Braden. “I won’t tolerate sarcasm. Not when I’m only doing what’s best for you.”

“You’re doing what’s best for you,” Braden countered. “As usual.”

“You can quit if you don’t like it.”

“It’s not you I work for, Grandpa,” said Braden. “It’s Stone Holdings. I will always respect your work and everything you’ve produced and, because of that love and respect, I have always wanted to lead Stone Holdings into the next generation. That’s exactly what I intend to do, God knows I’ve worked my ass off for it!”

His grandfather nodded in an approving manner that made Braden just a little angrier. “Good. Both you and Erin should put the company first. There is nothing else you two have worked harder for.”

“Why don’t you send us both to Dubai and then to France?”

“No.”

“Why not?!”

“It saves me plenty of time to have you both learning at the same time, covering more ground.”

“Isn’t it pointless for me to know how we run our properties in France and not know how we do it in Dubai? Same for Erin. When either one of us wins, we’ll have to learn about the other countries we didn’t go to, all over again. Seems like a fat waste of time to me.”

“It’s for the best.”
Dismissively, the Chairman stood, straightening his black suit as he turned to leave while ignoring the harsh glare coming from his grandson.

“Grandpa.”

Julius stopped.

Braden stood. “This isn’t about us learning, is it?”

His grandfather said nothing.

Marching over, Braden stood before him so he could look into his eyes. “You’re trying to separate us, aren’t you? Why?”

“I don’t need to explain—”

“That’s where you’re wrong, grandpa. You do need to explain because I’ll be damned if I get on a plane and fly all the way to France without a proper explanation.”
They faced each other, both holding back suspicions and anger, but neither ready to speak up first.
Braden tilted his head. “Why are you trying to separate us?”

“You tell me, sonny.” Calm as ever, the Chairman walked away. “You have a week before France.”

“I’m taking Erin with me,” Braden said.

His grandfather stopped. “Don’t be stubborn—”

“I’m taking her with. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The Chairman looked over his shoulder at him. “Nothing I can do? I am Julius Stone. There’s always something I can do. Don’t dare me, Braden.”

Braden turned around, meeting his grandfather’s gaze. “Don’t dare me, grandpa. I don’t wanna fight with you. Just let us rest for at least two weeks. Erin and I will discuss it and see if we want to go to Paris and Dubai.”

Julius was going to argue but then thought better of it. Sure, he thought. Let them go to France. It was the perfect opportunity to get the evidence he needed anyway.
Evidence to prove Erin’s breach of contract as well as both children’s sneaky secrets.

He sighed. “Fine. In one week, you two go to Paris together. You will return here exactly a week later.”

Braden gave him a curt nod. “Deal.”

Erin had no idea the Chairman was planning to send her to Dubai for work.

After the conference, Braden seemed determined to be close with her and she had no idea why. She was currently doing the opposite, trying to keep him at a distance, especially in public. She hadn’t told him about that chilly stare from his grandfather, hoping to rectify matters just by showing some sort of distance between them.

Except there wasn’t a distance in reality.
He wrapped her in his arms at any chance he could, dropping kisses and stealing her phone until she kissed him back.

Erin sighed at the whole thing. They’d gone from her biting him in elevators to him demanding kisses in elevators. Unimaginable.
Still, staying away from him wasn’t as easy as Erin had thought. He did everything that made him deserving of those kisses and it was getting harder to keep them from him.

She’d gotten a reservation text for dinner at one of her favourite restaurants and, when Erin had gone, she’d found only Phoebe and Jackson waiting for her.

Apparently, Braden had politely asked for their attendance because he knew Erin was still stressed about how things had ended at Phoebe’s.
Erin didn’t want to be considered soft-hearted, but she couldn’t deny sitting at that table with a heart screaming love for Braden Stone.
He knew her so well, he knew just how to make her happy, it was ridiculous.

When her best friends had hugged her like nothing happened, she’d grown teary and had rushed to try and explain everything as honestly as possible. She’d told them that she and Braden were a ‘thing’. A secret ‘thing’.

Phoebe was surprisingly fine with it but Jackson was worried Braden would mistreat her, to which Phoebe promised to murder him, so everything was dandy. Both her friends decided to trust her and Erin was ridiculously happy.

It was such a dangerous situation to be in. She was starting to find more and more happiness with Braden, Erin was terrified.

Still, every time she tried to ignore her fears and have fun, there was the memory of the Chairman’s chilling stare to snap her back into focus.

Suddenly, Braden announced they were going to Paris for a week to rest and she decided she’d tell him there about the Chairman glowering at them from above like a disapproving god.

It was at a pretty little café in Paris after they’d visited the office and his reaction had been completely shocking to her.
A shrug and an eyeroll.

Erin had gaped at him with a bit of baguette in her mouth. “Are you serious? You had my legs on your lap, rubbing on sunscreen— God! It was so icy, that look. My ears and nose nearly froze; he was like… staring!”

“Meh,” he’d said. “That’s practically all he can do.”

Erin had then spent the rest of their day trying to make him understand that what she’d seen proved that she was right to stress over the Chairman finding out.
Braden’s only response was to complain, for the hundredth time, about how she’d insisted they use separate rooms at their hotel.

There was no getting through to him, so she gave up, taking full advantage of their time in Paris until it was time to head back home.
They had gone to a theatre and Erin had walked into the ladies’ room, only to run straight into Loretta King.

There had been new articles released only a day after she and Braden had had a talk with Chris, killing his public reputation and restoring hers. Still, Loretta had crossed her arms and looked coldly at Erin with poorly disguised accusations of her trying to seduce Chris.

Erin hadn’t had the patience to even form a response.

In total, it had been a great time spent and when they’d gotten on the plane to head back home, she was fully rested and well-prepared to tackle any new projects at work.
Only Braden had seemed a little uneasy, but he’d said they’d discuss it once they landed because he didn’t want to worry her. That had instantly worried Erin.

She'd sensed that something was wrong, but getting home had given her a shock she hadn’t expected at all, and suddenly, her entire world had crashed.

She and Braden both went straight to the main house and had found Stephanie and Alicia entertaining some VIP clients of Stephanie’s when the Chairman had called them up to his office.
Erin was trembling, now standing in the middle of the Chairman’s office, Braden at her side.

Julius sat in his chair, his chin resting in his hand as he looked silently at the two before him.
They didn’t say a word, shock registering in both their eyes.

“S… Sir, I…” Erin managed to get out.

She failed to say anything further. She didn’t know what to do. All her fears, all her worries… everything had gone just as wrong as she’d thought.

Chills ran down her spine as she looked at the Chairman’s desk, staring at the photographs scattered before them.

Photos of her and Braden.

On Miguel’s boat, photos of them kissing in his car, photos of them in Paris looking like a married couple.
Erin felt tears prick her eyes. They were doomed.

“This,” the Chairman muttered darkly. “Stop it immediately.”