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Emma wondered why this man had a burner phone with his own number saved but decided not to ask. What with his sketchy art dealings, she wouldn’t be surprised if he knew a few people in the criminal underworld whom he’d rather not communicate with officially. The thought increased her worries. There were worse things than ending up in jail.
Emma took the phone and got to her feet. “I’ll go now.”
“Of course. Enjoy your evening.” Aleksander gestured to the door, and Emma quickly crossed the room.
“Oh, and one more thing,” he called after her.
“Yes?” Emma turned back, expecting another unreasonable request in this already impossible task.
“Take that cart with you.” Aleksander nodded to the maid’s cart in the hallway. “I’d rather not have that sitting around.”
Emma blushed, but she made her exit and took the cart as she passed it. In the hallway, she stowed the cart in the nearest cleaner’s closet and hurried towards the elevators. The whole way down, her heart pounded. When she finally emerged into the cool night air — unusually chilly for October — she took a long, slow, deep breath.
She had been working as a corporate spy for nearly five years now. After graduating, she’d wanted to work as an artist, but that had seemed out of reach. Instead, she’d taken a series of odd jobs while still pursuing her art, until a chance meeting at an office job gave her the first opportunity as a corporate spy. She’d thrown herself into the work, finding she was good at it and it was interesting. Emma missed her art and missed living a more above-board life, but everything had been okay.
She’d never been caught or even suspected. Until now.
And now everything was falling apart. Emma had been caught — by as big of a jerk as Aleksander Ariti, no less. She was being forced to do a job that she didn’t agree with and that went against her code of conduct.
She hurried down the sidewalk towards the small apartment she’d rented for this job. For tonight, all that mattered was that she got home. She needed to be away from Aleksander and the disaster that was her most recent job. Everything else she’d work out in the morning.
Hopefully, Patrick Daniels would be a jerk, just like Aleksander Ariti. Hopefully, he didn’t guard his artwork well. And hopefully, he was so rich that he would hardly notice a missing painting.
Emma shook her head and picked up her pace. She already knew that this was going to be a complete disaster.
CHAPTER 2
PATRICK
Patrick answered the knock on the door and felt his heart swell at the sight on the other side. Three of his company’s art consultants, the best and the brightest, stood outside. Beside them was a small painting box on a dolly.
“You’re right on time.” Patrick stepped back and gestured for them to enter. One of the consultants paused on the threshold to smile at him.
“What a lovely piece of art,” she said, nodding at the box. “I was admiring it when we were packing it up.”
“Thank you.” Patrick smiled at her, but his attention was quickly pulled by the piece of art. It was hard to believe that after all these years, Aurora was finally his.
“Where would you like this again?” another of the consultants asked as he lifted the painting box off of the dolly and carried it inside.
“In the living room, please. Follow me.” Patrick led the team to his living room. He knew Aurora didn’t exactly mesh with the rest of his décor; Patrick kept to a sleek, elegant, minimalist style that fitted a confirmed bachelor like himself. His personal art collection was kept in a separate room, where he could carefully monitor the conditions. The Aurora was something else, though, and he wanted it close by. There was no other place he could imagine keeping such a precious and significant piece of art. He certainly couldn’t relegate it to one of his many galleries or storerooms.
The consultant with the box set it gently on the floor. Working together, he and the other male consultant began to carefully open the box. Despite knowing that they were extremely professional and excellent at their jobs, Patrick watched closely to make sure they didn’t damage the painting inside. It was just too important to risk.
“Are you thinking of displaying it on this wall?” the female consultant asked. I should really learn their names, Patrick noted. He wanted to cultivate a pleasant working environment at LWC Capital, the investment company he’d founded years ago and still ran today. The fact that he didn’t know the names of any of these people didn’t exactly back up those aspirations.
“Yes, um…”
“Mackenzie,” the consultant supplied. She didn’t seem perturbed that Patrick hadn’t known her name. “What an excellent choice. The painting will catch plenty of sunlight.”
“Exactly. Would you work on prepping that spot?” When she nodded, Patrick gave her a polite smile and crossed to the other two consultants. Too late, he wondered if Mackenzie had been flirting with him. While Patrick wasn’t exactly oblivious to the women around him, he was far more focused on his work than anything else. There would be plenty of time for romance and marriage later. Patrick was only thirty-three. His time now was better spent maintaining a successful business and building his wealth, not flirting.
Once Patrick had confirmed with the consultants exactly where and how he wanted Aurora to be hung, he took a seat on the couch to give them a little space. He opened his laptop, which had been waiting for him on the coffee table, and started flicking through the enormous pile of emails that had somehow built up during the fifteen minutes since he last checked. Running a company was an enormous, thrilling challenge that Patrick loved, but sometimes it felt like a little too much.
Especially since he was keeping half an eye on the installation process.
Half an hour later, with the painting hung and everything in place, the consultants started packing up to go. Patrick set his laptop on the side table and stood to shake their hands.
“Much appreciated.”
