Page 46 of Lost Times

At that, my mouth all but hung open. I appreciated the defense, but I hadn’t thought he’d go that far!

Apparently, neither had his parents, because his mother choked. “You wouldn’t, not over a woman you barely know!”

Ludwig smiled now, cold and hard. “It goes to show how little you know me, because that isn’t a threat, it’s a promise. These rooms are recorded to prevent potential workplace abuse. If you harass her again, I’ll be submitting the tapes to the police and letting them handle it.”

It wouldn’t do much, not with the kind of money his family had. They’d lawyer up and weasel out of almost anything, but I kept that to myself, watching as his parents paled.

It was his father who objected. “That kind of media attention would ruin the other operations I have in motion!”

Oh, well, that would work as a good deterrent too. Ludwig must have known that, because he nodded.

“Yes, which means it’s in your best interest to leave running this company to me,as you planned, and focus on your other businesses. You signed over nearly all your rights last year to make me head of the company, and you can’t undo that now.”

I believed that. If they could, they probably already would have threatened him with it. As it stood, his father shook his head, glaring daggers at me.

“All of this, forher? A scrap of a woman who you’ve known less than half a year?”

Ludwig nodded, mouth in a line. “Yes, because I care for her, and I won’t allow anyone to threaten her as you did. Parents or no. Now if you have no other business here, leave.”

They did, though not without another set of glares my way. Once they were gone and we were alone, Ludwig deflated, running a hand through his hair.

“Words can’t describe how sorry I am about this. I never thought they would corner you like that.”

I shook off the surprise quickly, moving around to face him and cup his jaw. I’d never seen him so exhausted before, and the fact he’d faced off with his parents formewiped away any negative feelings leftover from dealing with them.

“I don’t care about them. Are you okay?” I asked, and his eyes softened, that molten affection sliding back into them as he nodded.

“Yes, I am. Better than I expected to be after something like that, to be honest. I know I should have stood up to them years ago, but there’d never been anything worth fighting them over.”

The fact that I fell into that category swept another wave of butterflies through me.

His smile eased at the edges and he dipped, kissing my head with a tired sigh. “Hopefully they’ll leave you alone now.”

Before I could come up with something to say, the door opened again, and in walked Kelly. I didn’t have time to pull away before she’d spotted us, the papers in her hands dropping as her jaw popped open.

So much for keeping our relationship out of the workplace…

Trying to come up with something to say, I sputtered. “Ah, I can explain-.”

Though I wasn’t entirely sure how. I couldn’t very well lie now that she’d walked in on that, but maybe I could bend the truth a bit, say it was just a casual sign of affection, maybe even sibling? My stomach curdled at the thought of hiding this, of lying as if our relationship was something to be ashamed of, but I forced the unease down.

It didn’t matter; Ludwig had gone above and beyond with trying to make things work lately. I could at least stay within his boundaries for this.

But just as I went to spin a lie, he spoke, cutting me off.

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking.”

I spun to face him, bewildered now. “I thought you didn’t-?” I stopped short, but he must have picked up the rest because he shook his head.

“Generally, I prefer that people’s work and personal lives stay separate, myself included, but there’s no point in trying to uphold that now. I’ll still insist on treating you like any other employee while here, but no more hiding.”

So saying, he faced Kelly, who still watched us with wide eyes.

“Thalia and I have been in a relationship for a few months now, and Jasmine is my daughter.”

She choked, trying to recover. “I’m happy for you two, but what? I thought you’d never met before Thalia started working here?”

I dragged a hand through my hair and sighed. “Long story short, protection failed on a one-night stand, and I couldn’t contact him afterward. The next time I saw him was my first day here.”

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