Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Julian didn’t get distracted easily and that was a fact, because if he did, people could get hurt. It was something that had been drilled into him from the very first days of training and he had never forgotten that ever since. But today, after nearly eight years of being in the business, he’d been caught unawares and that too, by a thirteen-year-old. What was Sia doing to him?

“How much have you heard kid?” he asked, running his hands through his hair.

“Enough,” Leo said and raised an eyebrow at the door behind him. “Let’s go somewhere else, shall we? Unless you want Mom to come out and join in on the fun?” He gave another amused look at Julian.

He wondered if the kid saw far too much than he should.

“Let’s go,” he said and the two of them moved out of Sia’s room before she could hear anything more.

It was nearly two in the afternoon by the time he had finished narrating his entire story to Leo and not so surprisingly, Martha; they had threatened to tie him to a chair and grilled him for nearly two hours about his life and Sia. Surprisingly, he felt a little less stressed about how he should pursue Sia. They’d all had lunch together while Sia had eaten in her home office, and now they all sat on the chairs surrounding the kitchen counter while sipping a cup of coffee and a piece of cheesecake for Leo.

“Give her time,” Martha said, leaning on the opposite side of the counter to the boys, a coffee cup in hand. “She isn’t used to men courting her.”

Julian nearly spat out his own coffee but recovered with a cough. The word “courting” had never been in Julian’s dictionary, but of course this was Sia they were talking about. In a way, he had been courting her, and the thought had been subconscious before he even had clearly stated to her that she’ll be the one coming to him out of her own free will.

What surprised him the most was that he didn’t flinch away from the thought like he thought he would. Even after all he had witnessed during his childhood: the ways his own mother had devastated his life, leaving him in the dark about his father’s identity and his worth.

But he couldn’t use his birth mother as an excuse, not when he had Cecelia and Damien as an example. His foster parents had been so in love with each other even when they had reached their fifties that it always crushed his chest to watch them. He wanted something like that for himself and who could he ask that for other than Sia?

For God’s sake, she had made him dream of weddings with just one look at her work. She wasn’t just an amazing woman; she was also a great mother. In many ways, he could see Cecelia in her. He could only hope that he would be just as good to her as his Damien had been to Cecelia.

“Anyway,” Leo’s voice broke Julian out of his thoughts. “There’s the Wendy Times Fashion show coming up next month, so Mom will be locked up in her office for the rest of this month buried in fabric and paperwork—as usual. Starting next week would be the model selection, dress fitting, and ramp walk practices. So, we’ll hardly see her.”

“Fashion show? That’s a hell lot of work! How can she finish everything on time in just under a month?” Julian exclaimed. He couldn’t even fathom the entire time in need for its preparation.

Martha and Leo both laughed.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Designers are always preparing for such occasions and besides, fashion shows aren’t announced just a month in advance. The fashion houses are informed well over four months prior to a show, and that’s why they’re duly prepared before then. So a fashion designer always has things ready, and Sia is no exception,” Martha explained calmly and turned her sympathetic eyes on Julian, “So don’t worry about her, okay? She’ll do fine and you should concentrate on your own job which—”

“Doesn’t only include being her bodyguard . . . but winning her over!” Leo finished for Martha.

“What are you two? Crazy twins?” Julian shook his head, but he was smiling.

His phone rang at that moment, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over the room in the aftermath of their conversation. Pulling it out of his pocket, he saw Abhay’s number flash on the screen. Looks like, for now, his bodyguard duties will have to take first priority.

He excused himself and went back to his room to speak in private with his friend. “What’d you find?” He went straight to business.

“Well . . . I have to disappoint you but for now, my search has provided limited results,” Abhay said warily. “But the sonofabitch doesn’t have much in his accounts.”

“Tell me what you got,” ordered Julian. He didn’t like the tone of Abhay’s voice. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that whatever he was about to learn won’t be anything good.

“Background checks. Of Sia Milton and her family,” Abhay replied.

“That’s logical. He was a lawyer and it seems like a normal thing to do to check every detail thoroughly before they take over someone else’s company,” Julian said.

“Well, this one was done almost a year prior to the takeover of Milton Inc. and the wedding,” Abhay said in a grim voice. “As if he knew them from before . . . as if he had been planning this from the start.”

Dread settled in the pit of his stomach. “But that’s impossible! He only came to know her after Sia’s father hired him as their lawyer and he was given permission to take over the company!”

“I know . . . that’s why I said I’ll be disappointing you!” Abhay sounded frustrated as well. “There’s nothing else in there, Jules! Nothing! All the emails, documents, files—everything has been erased! Can you believe an owner of a law firm will have only thirty emails in his inbox for all the time he’d worked?”

“And now that asshole’s escaped from prison, roaming around freely. What about his personal life? Any mistresses or past wives that may provide us more information?” Julian asked, running a hand through his hair again.

“Oh, yes. Found more than ten women he’d dated in the past. Reports say that he generally stayed with one woman for not more than four to six months . . . only . . . Ah! Got it . . . some girl called Jasmine Murray. Been with that chick for almost two years. Some magazine says that he was supposed to marry her—well, her words not mine—but that’s all. He occasionally bumped into her here and there after his wedding but that’s all the gossip I’ve got,” Abhay said. Julian could picture it clearly: his good friend hunched in front of his computer, brows furrowed in search of the most useful data.

“Any idea where she is now? What does she do, anyway?” Julian asked.

“Looks like a gold digger to me. It says here that she met Arthur when she hired him as her lawyer to divorce her cheating husband from whom she managed to keep a good amount of the poor guy’s property.” Clicking noises filled the background as Abhay typed away on his laptop with impatient fingers. “After the divorce, they started dating. So basically, she lives in her husband’s property now and has been leading a quiet life since.”

Simple except . . . “Can you tell me about the cars she owns?”

“Now, that . . .” Abhay continued, “will need some digging. Give me a few more hours,” he requested, “or days would be better!” He finished with a groan.

“What’s the matter?” Julian asked, concerned.

“I was called in to handle a case just a few minutes ago. Government,” Abhay said ruefully.

“Shit,” Julian hissed. “Not only is that time-consuming, but those pricks always want us to solve a case with the minimum amount of info on their part.”

This was going to hamper his search because working for the government usually meant they’ll require Abhay’s complete concentration. But he won’t lose hope just yet. He’s only being delayed, not cut off from his task completely. Meanwhile, he’ll be doing his duty which was to guard Sia and her son.

“Okay then. I’ll get a few extra guards posted in the compound. You keep me informed as much as you can.” With that said, he cut the call and went out of his room to get some fresh air . . . only to come face to face with Sia.

She froze immediately, looking at him with wide innocent eyes, her breath catching in her throat. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. And he knew why. She must have wanted to get out through the back door quietly, most probably to get some fresh air or play with her son, thinking that Leo might not be in his room. But then his eyes went to her outfit, and his expression darkened.

She was wearing a dress paired with a light green sweater and blue leggings. She also had a small purse in her hand and was wearing light-colored flip flops. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and her face bore no makeup. And still, she managed to look like the most beautiful woman on earth to him.

Anger blazed through his eyes as realization hit him: she would risk her own safety if it meant she could avoid him. But he composed himself, smirked, and strode towards her.

Standing so close that their breaths mingled, he leaned his head down slowly so that his lips were infinitesimally close to hers. His breath was cool on her neck, causing a small shiver to pass through her.

“What did I say about going out alone?” He clicked his tongue and had the satisfaction of watching her freeze. “Now little tiger, where were you off to?”

Sia backed away a bit, gulping noisily. Her mind told her to run because this was not the Julian that had kissed her so passionately the previous night. This was the Julian people knew and called Lucifer, the one who had gotten her out of bullet’s range in the nick of time to take the hit himself. Her eyes went to the bandage that wasn’t visible under the white shirt he wore, but she knew it was there.

“I need materials for more cloths,” she said, looking him right in the eye; she was not about to back off and hide because of his challenge. “I thought you were with Leo.”

“Leo isn’t the one in danger here. He’s safe inside the perimeter where a ton of my people are keeping watch over him. So, I’ll be going with you, whether you like it or not.” Leaving no place for argument, he then motioned for her to lead the way.

She hesitated at first but found herself walking out the back door to an old, beat-up truck in the garage, with Julian hot on her heels. Off to fabric shopping with the devil.