Page 32 of As the World Falls

“Good morning, Cecilia,” I repeat with the same enthusiasm as her. She rolls her eyes at me, and I grin as I follow her into my office.

“I wore my strong pair of stockings today. I’ve had them for three years without a single rip or snag, so if you wanted to introduce me to any criminals that could give me a good lead on the corruption of your jewelry industry, then I’m all set today,” she gleams.

I chuckle and sit down behind my desk. “As riveting as that scenario sounds, sadly, today will be just as boring for you. I have emails to catch up on and a follow-up with the marketing team.”

“Yeah, your marketing team kind of sucks,” she mentions unbothered as she gazes at her fingernails. I tilt my head, observing her as she remains unaffected by her blunt rudeness. Usually, I would like that in a person, but because it’s her, I’m annoyed.

“You know what you could do for me today, Cecilia?” I tell her, and her head pops up to meet my gaze.

“What?”

“You could fetch me coffee. Black with only one sugar.”

“You want me to get you coffee?” she grouses, scrunching her face in obvious displeasure.

“You’re my assistant, are you not?”

“Yeah…a fake one, though.”

“Let me put it this way,” I bite out. “Get me coffee, or this little opportunity to spy on your brother goes bye-bye.”

“Speaking of my brother,” she says, flat-out ignoring me and making my limbs burn. Her disobedience, like a relentless hammer, threatened to break my composure. She had a way of driving me nearly to the brink of insanity every time she spoke. Yet, a single look into her eyes, filled with concern for her brother, was enough to dissolve my frustration. At that moment, I couldn't help but empathize with her, and that internal battle always brought me back to reality. “Can I really not tell him I’m working here?” she asks curiously. “I feel like I’m hardly going to see him.”

“No,” I answer quickly.

She blinks in surprise. “Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

“Because…why?”

“Because,” I snap out. “Your brother made it clear that he didn’t tell me about you because he wants his work and personal life separate. I’m also not a nice guy, little owl. I can assure you as much as I like your brother, and he likes me, he doesn’t want you around me.”

“Because you’re a criminal,” she states like a fact.

I can’t help but smirk at her persistence. “What if I am?” I ask her curiously. “What do you actually plan to do if you find out what you think you know?”

“I…” she falters like she hasn’t thought that far ahead. “I will take it to the police,” she says weakly.

“I see,” I muse.

“Then I’ll help my brother find another job and bring him back to Boston.”

“Why do you want to control your brother so badly?”

Her face took on a new expression, filled with sadness and pain, and I couldn’t help but sit straighter in my seat and watch her more intently as she struggled to answer my question. “I just…I don’t want to lose him again. It’s been so long…since I’ve had him in my life in a good way. I don’t want anything to ruin it.”

“You haven’t seen your brother for some time, then?” I conclude.

She shakes her head. “He’s been…well, he was going through stuff.”

“He was a substance abuser,” I finish for her.

Her eyes latch onto mine with surprise. “How did you know that?”

“He told me when I met him. I helped nudge him in the right direction, but I’ve watched him work hard and get clean all on his own these last few years.”

“So, you knew he was struggling with drugs and still hired him?”

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