Chapter 59 Harmless

Chapter 59 Harmless
"Ricardo!" I said, enveloping him in a hug.
He remained stiff at first, but eventually he let me embrace him. I felt a little sorry for the poor guy because he looked so lost.
"I am looking for Mr. Malcolm," said Ricardo in that adorable accent of his.
"Well, I'm sorry, Ricardo," I said, waggling my finger at him. "You've been gone a long time, senor. A lot of things have changed, and Mr. Malcolm isn't here now."
"Oh," said Ricardo, looking crestfallen. "But I have a very important message to tell him from my father."
"Well, you've come a long way, haven't you? All the way from Mexico is what I hear," I said with a friendly smile. "I'm sure your message can wait a while longer. Let's get you a nice glass of chilled juice. What do you say, eh?"
Ricardo still looked a little confused as I corralled him back to the house. I had the staff whip him up a lovely blend of tropical juices in a glass complete with one of those super cute paper umbrellas. Ricardo, though, barely touched it, and he kept glancing around as if Malcolm was going to pop his head in at any moment.
"Mr. Malcolm, he coming tomorrow maybe?" said Ricardo.
"Now, now," I said. "I told you, he's really busy. I don't know when he'll be back."
"But I have a message..." said Ricardo.
"Yes, so you've said!" I said, starting to feel irritated. "If it's so important, why don't you tell me?"
"No," said Ricard, shaking his head.
"Suit yourself," I said, no longer feeling quite so enthused by his presence. I just couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn when all I'd ever done was treat him in a friendly manner.
"You are pregnant," said Ricardo, looking down at my bump.
"Yes, I sure am," I said with a carefree chuckle. "You're very observant, you are! That's probably why you made such a good groundskeeper. Speaking of which, if you want your old job back, it's yours for the taking. You always did have such a deft touch with the rose bushes."
"The child is mine," said Ricardo, looking me straight in the eye.
"What?" I said, feeling a tiny bit flustered. "That's not funny. Don't even joke about something like that."
"Yes, I am the father," said Ricardo.
"Ricardo," I said. "Enough of this nonsense. My fiancé Jack, soon to be my husband, is not going to be happy hearing you talk nonsense like that."
"It is not nonsense!" said Ricardo, shouting so loud that the staff in the kitchen could hear every word. "My father, he loved Mr. Malcolm, yeah? And what he get from that? Nothing! And now you want to steal my child away from me. The Kent family take everything from us."
"Oh!" I said, my blood boiling with indignation. "What in the world has gotten into you? Did you have a sunstroke or what?"
"I want one million dollars," said Ricardo.
I was so offended by his audacity that I reached across the table and slapped him without even thinking.
"You think I am nobody?" said Ricardo, apparently unfazed. "I will tell the newspaper, yeah? I know all the secrets of this place. You cannot stop me."
"You're being ridiculous!" I said, jumping to my feet. "You cannot just waltz in here and start making accusations about this and that. I simply won't let you!"
"You pay me one million dollars, or I tell everything," said Ricardo.
"My word!" I said, feeling faint.
The truth is, though, that I was feeling quite anxious inside. I had no idea what secrets Ricardo might know about Malcolm, and I didn't really care.
But with my wedding coming up and Jack still establishing his control over the company, it was a delicate time, and the last thing we needed was some salacious gossip being spread around.
"This cursed family owes me," said Ricardo.
"Fine!" I said, throwing up my hands. "If that's what it takes to get you to shut up, then you can have your filthy money, you nasty little man. Because that's exactly what you are."
Ricardo said nothing, only giving me a little smile as he took out a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket and passed it over. He then stood up and walked out of the dining room, leaving me there reeling in shock. Finally, I opened the piece of paper and saw it was information about a bank account.
Aha, so he'd planned all of this from the beginning! Well, I wasn't about to let myself get steamrolled by a lowly gardener, so I made a beeline straight for Jack's office. I knew Jack was on the phone all day with members of the board, but as I expected, I found Gavin, his new head of personal security, in the outer office.
"Miss Allison," said Gavin, giving me a little nod.
"Hi, I'm so glad I caught you," I said, feeling a little giddy.
Gavin was a former British special forces soldier, and I absolutely adored his accent. He had a wiry, almost thin build, which wasn't normally my type, but he had a number of scars which told me that he'd lived a very interesting life.
"Oh?" said Gavin, his bright blue eyes almost making me swoon. "What's wrong, ma'am?"
"Please, I told you. You don't have to call me ma'am," I said with a little giggle. "Anyway, I don't want to disturb my husband. It's just a trifle really."
I then proceeded to tell Gavin all about Ricardo and his ridiculous threat to drag the Kent family name through the mud and ruin the wedding, to say nothing of the risk his lies would pose to shareholders if the stock price plummeted.
Gavin was a simple, straightforward guy, which is why I liked him, and he instantly understood the gravity of the situation.
"So you're saying this Ricardo bloke is a danger to the boss?" said Gavin.
"Well, danger is a rather extreme word," I said. "But yes, I definitely think he wants to cause problems."
"Then I'll take care of it immediately," said Gavin.
"Woah," I said. "Don't do anything too extreme, okay? Ricardo was a good worker. I think his father must've gotten in debt to the cartel or something. Nothing else makes any sense as to why he's behaving so foolishly."
"Don't worry, ma'am. I'll keep it discreet," said Gavin, giving me a wink. "No need to upset the boss, especially right before his wedding."
"Oh, thank you," I said, throwing my arms around his neck and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."
"I'm sure we can work something out later," said Gavin, his delivery so deadpan that it was only the twinkle in his eyes that let me know he was flirting with me.
Truly, Gavin was a wonderful guy, and I could easily understand why Jack had hired him. Alfred had always been so stiff and dour, but Gavin had an understated sense of humor to him that was simply delightful. Gavin also looked pretty good in those olive green T-shirts he always wore that revealed just how in shape he was.
Of course, I knew I shouldn't be thinking about Gavin as anything more than another member of the household staff, but it was hard to ignore him especially when Jack had been so busy handling all his business affairs. In the past few weeks, it seemed like he was always on the phone or meeting with investors, and I was was starting to feel a bit neglected.
Anyway, it was just a harmless distraction if I occasionally wondered what Gavin would look like without his shirt on. It was fun to imagine lying next to him in bed, tracing my fingers along those scars of his and listening to him tell me the story of how he'd gotten each one.
Jack had nothing to worry about. I was fully dedicated to him, and I was looking forward to becoming his wife. Together, we would raise our baby and I would be right at his side as he expanded his empire and became a titan of industry.
In the meantime, though, there was nothing wrong with me having a friendly rapport with his head of security. After all, we were going to be seeing a lot of one another in the foreseeable future, and I definitely didn't want a repeat of all the hostility from the staff like how it had been during Malcolm's reign.
That's why I turned and left Jack's outer office with a smile on my face, and then I threw myself headlong back into preparing for my wedding. It was going to be the greatest event to ever take place, and as the blushing bride, I was going to be the star attraction.
Just thinking about it had me tingling all over!