Page 46 of In Bed with Her Billionaire Bodyguard

‘But Hope deserves more than that. She deserves someone who will stand by her side, and I deserve that too,’ he said, standing up from the table. ‘Get your staff ready, Anna. It won’t take long for people to put two and two together.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she attempted.

‘I’m sorry too. But I’m sure you’ll find a way to spin it to your advantage. After all, you’re about to begin promoting your new film.’

Luca left the airport and hailed a car. After giving the driver instructions, he contacted the analyst on Hope’s case and asked them to look into the call that Hope had received that night. He had a suspicion he already knew, but he wanted confirmation before he did anything that might jeopardise the vote being held tomorrow in London.

His heart pounded so hard in his chest, powered by a forceful combination of self-recrimination and fear. Fear that it was too late. He never should have believed what she was saying. And the words he’d said to her that last time in the chalet had been terrible. He punched a fist against his thigh.Bastardo.

How could he have been so stupid? Hope had spent almost her entire life going it alone—unable to trust people, unable to count on people. And he’d gone and proved her right. He, who had fallen so hard and so fast in love with her he’d not even realised it.

Well, he wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. If Hope thought she could shake him off that easily, she had another think coming. And this time he was going to bring reinforcements. Hope was about to face the biggest challenge of her life, and Luca was going to make damn sure she wasn’t going to do it alone.

Hope had skipped her early morning workout for this. And as much as she disliked being off her routine, she also knew that she needed it. Her driver had dropped her off in the garage, and the cleaning crew had watched her as she’d stepped out onto the floor.

There was a smell to a department store. Clean, fresh—all carefully manufactured, but this was unique to Harcourts. Her heels clicked against the floor, echoing in the silence. The subdued pre-opening lighting made the shadows deeper and the sense of expectation greater. As if the store was holding its breath before opening time, when doors would be sprung open and streams of people would fill the aisles. Hope couldn’t help but wonder if there was a sense that it was waiting for more today. Waiting to see who would stand at its helm and guide it forward into the future.

Was she doing the right thing?she asked herself.

She could only hope so.

She was putting all of her dreams and wants in one basket. Well, all but one, at least. She passed the perfume counters, the make-up stations, the cosmetics shelves and the skincare stalls. She reached out to adjust an expensive handmade Italian leather handbag on a tower of luxury purses and bags. She caught sight of the tie displays near the shirts—just a taster of what the men’s section would offer on the third floor, and wondered what people would think of her plans for a non-gendered clothing section.

As she came towards the centre of the ground floor, in her mind she heard her eight-year-old self laughing as Nate chased her around the empty store. In the famous arch that had been used in at least three romantic comedy films, she saw her father kiss her mother under the mistletoe. She felt her grandfather’s watchful gaze from the top floor, as he would stand there surveying his kingdom. A kingdom she wanted to inherit so badly it hurt.

But not enough to override the hurt caused by Luca’s absence. One day she might be able to go to him. To explain. One day when she wasn’t a threat to him and what he guarded. But not today. No, today would decide her future. And it was one she would meet head-on.

She took one last sweep of the ground floor, the soft glow of the overhead lighting coating everything in gentle gold, and turned back towards the door to the staff stairwell that would take her up to the new wing, where the meeting was due to start.

Two uniformed staff stood either side of the boardroom doors and they greeted her with a small bow and shortly after she made her way to her seat the doors were closed. It always made her think of the phrase ‘behind closed doors’, of secrets and deals done in back rooms. And she hated that culture. Wanted it gone from the business that was as much a part of her as her family.

Finally, she forced herself to look at the man who wanted to blackmail her into stepping down from the vote. She wasn’t surprised to find a smug grin and a knowing gleam in his eyes and for the first time she felt saddened by that, not angered. This man was also a member of her family—this man who had sold stories to the press about her, who had tried to push her and Nate aside so that he could reach for something that not only wasn’t his by right, but by worth either. He just didn’t deserve it. And if she hadn’t already made up her mind, Hope thought that this realisation might have just swayed her.

Her grandfather stood from the head of the U-shaped wooden table and waited for silence to fall. Three rows of chairs behind each of the long wings of the table seated the entire number of board members and shareholders. The sense of heady expectation was thick in the air, most of the board darting frantic glances between her and Simon.

‘Before we vote on the next CEO, is there any business to address?’ her grandfather asked. Was she imagining the tone in his voice that made her think that Simon had warned him to expect her to step down? Or was it something else?

‘I have something I need to bring to the table,’ she said.

He gestured for her to proceed.

She stood, and almost instantly her legs nearly gave way. From the position of her chair, she’d not been able to see the rows at the back, and she hadn’t even thought to look when she’d entered the room. She should have, though. Then she wouldn’t have been so surprised to see not only her brother but Luca, standing right behind him, a mixture of thunderous frustration and admiration in his eyes, making her want to sob his name.

She hadn’t wanted him here for so many reasons, but that he was, that he had somehow managed to get into this highly private and closely guarded business meeting meant the world to her. Apologies screamed from her silent lips and she could only hope that he might understand.

‘Well?’ Simon demanded, as if he had the right.

Refusing to give him even the courtesy of a glance, she faced her grandfather, the outgoing CEO and the CFO.

‘Gentlemen,’ she said, refusing to hide the emotion clogging her throat. ‘Ladies,’ she said, nodding to the hallowed few who had risen through the ranks. ‘Before we get to the vote, I thought it would be good for you to know a little about me and Simon as people. You may think that because you’ve worked with us nearly all our adult lives,’ she said, ‘and knew us before that, even, you’re aware of the kind of people we are. And it’s possible that you do,’ she admitted, shrugging. ‘But, just in case you don’t, I have something I’d like you to listen to.’

She removed her phone from her bag and tapped across the screen to pull up what she needed. To what she’d been able to record midway through the conversation which had taken place what felt almost like a lifetime ago.

Her voice broke into the silence from her phone. ‘What do you want, Simon?’

‘Let’s not be coy about this. I know you have some kind of deal on the table in an attempt to woo the shareholders into voting for you in two days’ time. But I doubt any deal would trump another sex scandal from you.’

‘There hasn’t even been one sex scandal.’

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