Page 42 of Viral Affair

Laura was tall, and she could have easily been a model, but I suspected that life in the spotlight wasn’t for her. She was also beautiful with long blonde hair, sporting those delicate Slavic features—quite unique-looking.

“Now come on, let me take you out for breakfast so you can tell me more about your childhood.”

Rupert’s voice brought me back to reality.

I suddenly forgot about Laura when he leaned closer and added, “And then maybe we can carry on where we left off later on?”

Damn it, he was trouble, especially when he stared at me like he was already very much in love with me.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rupert

I’d thought since I’d gone to her flat and apologised, things between us would go back to normal, but that day when I’d brought her a new phone, she’d told me I had to leave because she needed to be somewhere else. I knew something felt off, but I didn’t question it. I felt like maybe I was pushing it too hard. She obviously wasn’t ready for a relationship, especially since she was still booked up with clients in the club. She obviously knew my stance on her working at the club and her being with me. The two would not intermingle whatsoever.

We had a great time together, we got on well, but she was pulling back, and I couldn’t fucking figure out what that was about. Sure, things were new and dicey—she wasn’t one to trust easily—but the attraction between us was undeniable. I knew I was going to see her on the weekend because she had a client to escort, and as much as I hated seeing her with other men, I couldn’t stop her from working. My partnership with Matthews would be in jeopardy, so I had to find a way to get her to quit on her own.

Deep down, I hoped Katharina would hurry up and give the contract to Veronica, but these things took time. Katharina didn’t make decisions in a rush, so I had to sit tight and be patient, no matter how hard this was for me. I had tried to schedule an appointment with Spencer all week, too, but he’d been busy, so I hoped to see him on the weekend. We needed to discuss the upcoming summer holidays. Spencer had mentioned that he wanted me to go with him and Maja to Sicily as he was taking a whole six weeks off. I didn’t think this was a bad idea, although I was reluctant to leave Veronica.Something wasn’t quite right, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe she was just panicking about having to replace all her cards. That was a headache in itself to deal with.

Matthews was out of the office most of that day, so that gave me an opportunity to mess around with Veronica’s schedule. I personally called every fucking client she had and made sure that she only escorted the ones who weren’t expecting to fuck her at the end of the evening. It was a tedious task, and I had to remind myself a few times that maybe I was stepping over the line with her.Then, I reminded myself that she was fucking mine. I would do anything to ensure that she would stay mine, even if that meant calling half of Britian to ensure that I was the only man fucking her.

This need of always being in control burned through me. It was one of my flaws that I’d been trying hard to break, but so far, I’d failed. I needed to go to therapy, but I was reluctant, still pushing through my shadow self. Veronica was mine though, and I was willing to fight for her. I was just frustrated that things weren’t moving as smoothly as I’d hoped, let alone how quickly I wanted.

On Saturday, I got a phone call from one of my partners who looked after the land I’d recently purchased in North London. He always sent me all the CCTV recordings, and I only had a chance to glance through them that afternoon. There was a lot of footage to go through, so I hoped I could get James to review it, but he was still away in Europe. When he was working, he hardly ever picked up his phone. I could wait, but still, that land had cost me a small fortune and I wanted to utilise it the best way I could, but lately there had been many odd activities going on in that area. I didn’t want to get the police involved just yet. They would slow things down.They always do.

By the time I arrived at the club on Sunday night, I was pretty exhausted. I spent most of my Saturdays in meetings, negotiating new deals and building relationships with a few new investors. I’d built my small empire on solid relationships and still followed the same route as when I’d first started out in the business. I didn’t do it as often as before, because that required a lot of energy on my part. These types of meetings were very draining, hence why I felt completely wiped out on Sunday morning.

I headed upstairs to see Matthews. Apparently, he was planning to work late tonight as we had an influx of new clients and each one needed to be vetted. I was ready to enter his office when someone walked into me. I glanced up- Veronica. She must have not seen me approaching, and when I saw her face, I could see she’d been crying.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” I managed to steady her up.

“Oh, hey, Rupert. Don’t worry about it. Just some family stuff.” She tried to wiggle out of my arms.

She didn't want to meet my gaze, so I lifted her chin, wanting to know why she was so upset. Veronica had avoided me all this past week for some reason, so we needed to catch up.

“Come on, sunshine. Let’s go downstairs so you can tell me all about it,” I said, ready to fucking kill the twat who’d upset her.

She was reluctant, but eventually she went with me, and we sat by the bar. She was so cute, her incredible body hugged by a flowing blue dress in all the right places, but I reminded myself not to get distracted by her beauty. She needed someone to listen, and probably solve, whatever was bothering her.

“It’s my mother. She passed out at work. One of her friends called me from the hospital, so I’m trying to book the train to Gloucester, but it seems that the rail is going through another strike.” She wipedher nose with a tissue.

“I see,” I said, already pulling out my phone to call Chris. “My driver is in the area, so we could leave now. Do you have your bag packed and do you know which hospital your mother's in?”

“Rupert, seriously, you don’t have to do any of that—”

“I apologise if that came out as a question,” I cut her off with a smile. “You need a ride, and I have one. Besides, my driver is already on the move. I’ll let Matthews know, and then we can leave. Have you got your bag packed?”

“No, I got the phone call only twenty minutes ago, so I came here to tell Matthews that I might be gone next week,” she explained, instantly looking relieved. I knew that she just needed a little help in solving whatever problem was at hand. “Thank you so much. I wasn’t sure what to do since I don’t drive, but now I wish I did, even though parking is always a nightmare in London.”

“It’s good that I decided to pop into the club today. We should be in Gloucester in around two hours if the road is good. Let’s get outside so you can take some stuff from your place."

Ten minutes later, Chris arrived and he handed me the car keys. Soon we were driving through London traffic. We headed to head to Veronica’s flat first. She went quickly to pack her bag while I waited for her downstairs. Only then did I realise that I didn’t really know much about her, apart from the fact that she’d grown up on a council estate and struggled in the past. I had no clue about her relationship with her mother because she didn’t talk about her past much—but I should have asked. We were now more than just acquaintances.

Soon, we were back on the road. Veronica seemed a little flustered.

“What about your stuff, Rupert? We don’t even know how long we are going for?” she asked.

I wrapped my arm around her briefly.

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