Page 169 of Never Tell Secrets

“No.”

Silence lingered down the line. Was he going to make me say it?

“Just ask, Lo.” Yep. He was really going to make me say it. I should have known he’d need to hear me asking for help. He’d been waiting on this for a long time.

I bit my lip. Asking was huge. Asking meant something. It meant I trusted him not to use this against me. Or maybe it just meant that this was important to my career and I was willing to risk it. “Can you make a call?”

“Sure.” Was that it? He wasn’t going to tease me? Or ask for anything in return?

“I don’t want to put anyone out,” I said and Alfie laughed.

“Trust me, the way they’ll be compensated for their overtime they’ll be begging you to stay all night.”

I had no doubt that was true. “Thanks, Alfie.”

“Thank you for asking me.”

It was after midnight by the time I returned to the hotel. The blue of it stunning in the moonlight.

Exhausted, I headed for my room. On my way, I passed the open door to the study and saw Alfie working, his gaze fixed on his laptop. As if feeling my presence, he glanced up, that familiar softness reaching his eyes when he saw me.

“So, how was it?”

“Incredible.” My mind was still spinning from all the wonders I’d seen today. Works of art that would be my dream to create.

“Come and tell me about it.” He closed his laptop, giving me his full attention, but I hesitated. I wanted to tell him all about it,wanted him to have been there with me so we could experience it together but instead I held it back because of one simple truth.

“It’s precious, Alfie. I’m not ready to share precious with you.” My voice broke and I wished it hadn’t. It betrayed the guilt I felt at keeping him out.

Alfie nodded, trying to hide his hurt. He knew he’d earned this but that didn’t stop him from looking like a wounded little boy. I watched him force his chin up with a colossal effort.

“Well, can I tell you about my day?” He looked so hopeful, holding out his olive branch and hoping I would take it. I nodded and the relief that ran through him was almost palpable. “Come here.”

Heart pounding, I went to sit beside him. I sat quietly, listening as he talked me through schematics, suppliers, everything that went into building a project like this.

As always, I was impressed by him. I wondered how much his high intelligence fed into his intense behaviour, his neuroses and obsessions. Perhaps a man with a lower IQ would have handled our relationship differently. But I wasn’t looking at a man with a lower IQ, I was looking at this one.

“You seem to enjoy this more than I thought you would,” I told him. This wasn’t the half-dead man I’d known.

He sat back in his chair, seemingly relaxed but his body was humming with the same tension that echoed my own whenever we were in the same space. “I enjoy being a boss.”

“You’re good at it. But it’s your father’s company and that’s always going to be a problem.”

He nodded, acknowledging the inescapable truth. “But it’s not tonight's problem.” No, it wasn’t, but the fact remained that no matter how many incredible projects he built on his own, he would forever be in his fathers shadow as long as he ran this company. That was a fact that would have to be dealt with sooner or later.

“Lo, I need to confess something to you.”

My stomach clenched.

“I wasn’t lying when I said the cameras were gone, I had them all removed the night I told you about them. The images though…I still have those. I intended to erase all of them but Priya asked me not to. She wouldn’t say why but I trust her advice. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” His jaw ticked, betraying his fear that he was about to face another blow up.

“I know. She told me during our session.”

His brows twitched in surprise. “You’re not angry?”

“I’m past angry, Alfie.” I wasn’t sure there were words for what I was. I felt like Alfie had thrown me up into outer space and I hadn’t come down to earth yet.

“The images are saved on a secure drive, it’s impossible to hack I assure you. Elliot is the only one with access, not even I can open it. I didn’t trust myself.”