Page 49 of The Facilitator, Part 2

I f I thought having jet lag when I arrived in America was bad, it bore no resemblance to how I felt when we arrived back in a cold, miserable London.

Kerry greeted us at the door with news. It seemed our intruder had been Addison, although we weren’t in the least surprised.

A neighbour had, eventually, submitted a CCTV image of our hooded wall sitter, but one showed a lock of blonde hair.

It wasn’t enough for the police to even bother with; no crime had actually been committed.

She showed us where the new cameras had been installed before leaving.

“That reminds me, we still have that flash drive to look at,” he said. He fished around in the flight bag until he found it.

We sat in the kitchen as he plugged it into an old laptop. “I don’t trust her not to have put a virus on this,” he said, as he inserted it into a port.

All it contained was one file of photographs.

Addison hadn’t just taken a lot of shots of Mackenzie and me having sex that time, she’d been stalking us.

A shiver ran over me as we saw a photograph of us on the beach before we left for America, the side of his car after it had been scratched.

She even videoed herself, using her phone it looked like, spraying perfume over the front door. I shook my head, she truly was sick.

“Don’t doubt for one minute, Lauren, this is the only copy,” he said, as he disconnected.

“I don’t. But what more can she do? There’s evidence of trespass there, probable evidence of criminal damage. Even in her state of mind, she knew exactly what she was doing,” I said.

“At least we know where she is. Now we just need to find Daniel.”

“Any news on that?” I asked, as I rose to make my first proper cup of tea.

“Nothing yet. The investigators will keep looking though.”

Mackenzie had decided the most prudent thing was to go after Daniel.

He’d gone to ground, successfully, and there was a hint perhaps Father Dickhead had helped him to do so.

Daniel was just too stupid to become a master at disappearance.

However, Vivienne was confident she had enough people around her to deal with him, should he ever return, and that settled Mackenzie enough to be able to rebook those flights home.

Maybe it was stress, maybe it was the up and down of what should have been a holiday, but I fell ill. I suffered flu-like symptoms and Mackenzie called in the doctor despite my protests it was just jet lag.

I was prodded and poked and the doctor agreed with me.

I was exhausted, emotionally and physically drained.

I just needed a couple of days of being pampered and to chill out.

And that’s exactly what Mackenzie did. He fed me, lay beside me even when he wasn’t tired, and stroked my hair when my body clock had me awake in the early hours, and he was desperately tired himself.

One week after we’d arrived home, it was time for me to kick my own arse and get back to work. I was dressed in a grey trouser suit and about to join Mackenzie in the kitchen.

“I have something for you,” Mackenzie said. He stood and opened a blue velvet box. Nestled on the cushion was a wedding ring.

“I thought you might present that to me in a more romantic setting than the kitchen,” I said, teasing.

“Says she who was about to propose in a kitchen. In fact, I remember having my hands full of dirty dishes.”

“You did not, did you?”

Mackenzie laughed. “I was stacking the dishwasher as I recall.”

I slid the wedding ring on. Although it should have settled the other side of my engagement ring, it comforted me that it would stop the slightly larger one from falling off.

“Thank you, I love it,” I said, angling my hand so I could look.

“Are you ready to face the world?” Mackenzie asked.

“I am.”

I was sure Mackenzie believed my jet lag was also anxiety in returning to work, and he would be correct.

He was always correct and so astute where my emotions were concerned.

I’d been terrified from the moment we had landed.

I hadn’t gotten over the image being shared, but the distraction of Mack meant I had buried it.

I’d had enough of feeling anxious, though.

We travelled in a silver Mercedes to the offices in Canary Wharf. I hesitated in climbing out until Mackenzie leaned towards me.

“Get out the car, get in the building, walk to your office with your fucking head held high, or I’ll put you over my knee and spank your ass,” he said.

I laughed; of course he wouldn’t, would he? When I looked at him, the glint in his eye suggested he would.

We took the lift to my floor and instead of him carrying on up, he stepped out with me. He greeted a few people as we walked to my office, and I laughed as we stopped in front of the door.

“Mrs. Miller, can I get you tea?” Carolyn said; she smiled a huge grin at me. I was a little unsure on what the grin was for, though.

“Tea would be wonderful, thank you.”

I turned back to look at my door. A new nameplate was screwed in place of the one that had Alex’s name.

Lauren Miller—CEO was engraved in the brass plaque.

We walked in and I placed my bag on the floor under my desk.

“There is a file with some crap from the interior designer on your desk as well,” Mackenzie said.

“Redecoration isn’t crap. Did you look at my mood board?” I asked.

Mackenzie wasn’t in the least bit interested in the redecoration of the house in South Carolina. I’d gone for lightly painted wood, shabby chic in white and pale blue.

“It will look gorgeous, no matter what,” he said, appeasing me.

He kissed my cheek before leaving for his own office. Just as he stepped out of the door, he leaned back in.

“Babe, you might want to take a look in the gents at some point,” he said.

“Oh no…” He held up his hand halting my panicked response.

“Head high, remember. Deal with it. Sack them if you want, whatever.” He smiled as he left.

Carolyn came in with my tea. “Can you close the door?” I asked. “Take a seat.”

“Mrs. Miller, I’m so glad you’re back,” she said.

“I’m yet to decide if I’m glad,” I confessed.

We skirted around the subject for a little while. “Have you heard what is in the gent’s loo?” I asked.

“I have. I’ve seen it. I’m guessing most of the men have also, but I know you have the support from all the girls here, and I mean all the girls.

There have been rows; we’ve nearly come to blows with a couple of your old colleagues.

And that is where the stupidity was. The men who worked here aren’t impressed by what’s been done.

In fact, I know one or two had removed the picture only for it to return.

Our guys don’t like that level of disrespect,” she said, emphasising the our and, without realising or intending, alienating me further.

“I appreciate that very much. So the guys we brought over are the culprits. I’m not sure why that surprises me, to be honest. They were total pricks back then.”

Carolyn laughed.

“Do me a favour. If you see one—or more would be great—of them heading to the loo, buzz me.”

“Oh, please, let me come in there with you?” She held her palms together.

“For sure, I might need a wingman. I’m not as confident as I pretend.”

She laughed as she rose. “Oh, congratulations on your wedding,” she said.

“Thank you. I’ve got to do it all again here, I haven’t told my mum yet. I think she might kill me.”

A half hour later, I caught her waving at me through the glass wall.

I rose and stepped out of the door. She walked behind me as I strode, confidently, straight into the gentlemen’s toilet.

Three men, two of whom had been brought over with me stood with their cocks out, pissing in the urinals.

Above them was an A4 image of me. Thankfully, it was a little blurred.

“What the fuck?” Tommy said.

“Oh, don’t mind me.” I said. I stepped forward wrinkling my nose at the smell and peered at the image.

“Carolyn, do you think my nipples are symmetrical?”

She stepped beside me. I tried so desperately not to laugh as she lifted her glasses. One man spluttered, one sniggered, and one, Tommy, pissed on his shoes in his haste to tuck his cock away. I frowned at him.

“You might need to clean them,” I said, pointing to his wet brogues. “As soon as you have, clear your desk. You’re fired.”

“You can’t fire me for that,” he stuttered.

“Oh no, not for that. For being in this office in the early hours of the morning when you weren’t contracted to, and for downloading confidential information onto a stick.”

Security had done a brilliant job of checking all computer stations to see whether anyone had downloaded the image, his was the only one it was found on.

They stumbled across a file that had registered as being downloaded.

When Mackenzie checked it, it contained information on a company we were looking at taking over.

“If any of you would like to join Tommy at the job centre, raise your hand now,” I said, as I tore down the image.

“Well played, Mrs. Miller,” Francis said, as he washed his hands. He had worked for Trymast for a while and was someone I was watching to promote to Assistant CEO.

“Thank you, Francis. Now, let’s get back to work, shall we?”

As I walked out of the loo, all the women stood and clapped. I held the image up. I wasn’t going to be ashamed, and tore it to pieces. I then gave them a low bow. I smiled all the way back to my office. My mobile rang as I reached my desk.

“You are required in my office immediately, Mrs. Miller.”

“Give me a minute, Mr. Miller,” I said, clicking off the phone. I wasn’t about to jump on his command.

Who the fuck was I kidding?

I ran up those stairs to his floor. I power-walked to his office with the frosted glass, and I fell to my knees when I saw his cock in his hand. I sucked and rolled his balls around in mine as I did.

When he came, I settled back on my heels. He handed me a tissue and I wiped the red lipstick from his cock.

“Not for me, I wanted to keep that. For you,” he said, with a laugh.

I joined in that laughter. “I saw what you did down there,” he said. I frowned.

“Cameras, Lauren, everywhere.”

He turned his laptop screen to show the floor below. Tommy was throwing things around and the girls were laughing, standing with hands on hips. One gave a dainty wave as he walked out.

“What do we do now?” I asked. I’d hoped we might have a little time to settle back into normality.

“Now? Now, Mrs. Miller, I guess we come up with a new list.”

I raised my eyebrows. I liked the sound of that.