Page 18 of The Associate

“I have to go home tonight, but I will come back tomorrow.” I place my hands on either side of her face. “And then I will never leave you.” I made the promise to her mother when we were young that I would always look after her. I’ve failed to do that for five years. Now, I won’t let her down again. I won’t let her out of my arms.

“Promise?” she whispers, her forehead resting against mine.

“I promise.” I bring my lips to hers again. I need more of her, to taste her, to feel her.

“Okay. I will see you tomorrow,” she says, leaving one final kiss on my lips.

She stands up and makes her way down to her bedroom. “Good night, Mason,” she says as she walks into her room.

“Good night, Princess,” I whisper back to the space where she once was.

* * *

When I wake up the next morning, I have minimal things packed into a small duffle and I am ready to head back to Genevieve.

After seeing her yesterday, I am ready to throw this all away just for a chance to be with her.

The drive back isn’t too bad; no one asked me questions about what is in the bag as I left the mansion, and I am constantly checking my mirrors to make sure there is no tail.

With the way I am driving, it doesn’t take me long to get there. If it was physically possible, I would be out of the car before I had even had the chance to stop it, and let the car roll down the road.

But I stop the car, pull the handbrake, and jump out, closing the door behind me. I run towards the lifts and keep hitting the up button until one of them opens.

I step into the lift and hit the fourth floor button. What feels like a hundred years to make it to the fourth floor is only a few seconds. The lift dings and the doors open. I start a quick step down the hall to apartment twenty-two.

The door is slightly ajar.

My heart drops. Pushing the door open, I reach behind my back, palming the cold metal that is my gun.

There is a shadow standing at the back of the living room I had been sitting in last night . Only, now, Marie and Genevieve are not there.

“They are no longer here, boy,” the shadow says. “I suggest you turn around and go back to where it is you came from.”

“Where are they?” I ask, wanting to know if they are okay.

“They are fine, don’t worry,” the shadow says. “But I suggest you do not look for them. I can not trust you or anyone else to have their best interests in mind. That’s why they have been relocated.”

My whole world freezes. She has been ripped from me again. I have lost her again, only this time it is going to hurt so much more. I failed. I have failed her and I have broken the promise I made to her last night. I never should have left.

Dropping to my knees, I look at the ground. The shadow walks past me, placing a strong hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, son,” he says, before he continues out of the apartment.

A tear runs down my cheek and I sigh. Sitting in the middle of an empty room, I have the empty feeling of nothing to strive for anymore.

Chapter 6

Genevieve

“Where is he?” I yell as I enter the mansion through the front door.

After that meeting earlier today almost everyone knows I live here now. There is no point in going through the passageway anymore and hiding the fact that a female lives here too. As soon as I walk through the door, everyone drops whatever they are doing and just stares straight ahead. From the front door I am able to see down the hallway to his office. The door is slightly ajar, which means he is there.

I march towards his office just as a large man steps out from one of the adjacent offices. “I’m sorry Miss, but you are not authorised to be down here.”

Oh, no he fucking didn’t. “Of course I ran into the one person who wasn’t in that meeting, or you’ve just been sleeping under a rock.” I look back at Mason, my voice laced with sarcasm.

Turning back to the wall of muscle, I step closer to him. “Who are you to tell me where I can and can’t go,” I begin. Mason makes a choking sound just behind me. “This is my fucking house and I will go wherever I want and see whoever I want.”

The big guy just looks at me, dumbfounded for a moment, before regaining his composure. He takes a deep breath and repeats, “I’m sorry Miss, but you are not authorised to be down here.”

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