Page 92 of Love Among the Ruins
Sensing defensiveness, he asked, “Did dad put you up to this?”
“Like I said, I was in the continent, so I thought I’d pay my little bro a visit. Why do you always have to assume there’s something sinister about my visits?”
“Because I know there always is. You failed to tell me that you spoke to Hector.” His gaze fell to his open door where two of his managers were sitting on the edge of their seats, watching him.
“Hector? How the hell is he?”
“I’ll have words with you later.” Dominic slammed the phone down.
* * *
ELENI
Eleni hobbled into the building and saw the smug receptionist—the one who’d given her such filthy looks on the day of her interview—staring at her flip flops in amusement.
With as much dignity as she could muster, Eleni made her way slowly to the elevator, cursing that she couldn’t go any faster.
This morning had been enlightening.
Her first impression of Alexander had been everything Dominic had told her he would be. With him staying over, Dominic was going to be busy and she didn’t want to get in the way. Or give his brother any ammunition to use against Dominic.
She needed to get herself set up to work from home, which was why she was here. She’d already called and spoken to someone in the IT department to get her set up with everything she needed to work remotely. All she needed was to get her laptop.
Miranda’s shocked face greeted her the moment she hobbled out of the elevator. “What happened?” she cried, standing up and gawking at Eleni’s feet. Eleni limped forward, her gait odd and uneven. “I fell.”
“You fell? Eleni!” Miranda rushed to her side. It was the fastest Eleni had ever seen her move. “Fell where? It looks so painful.”
“It is very painful.” Eleni stayed on the spot, not wanting to move. The pills she had taken earlier were wearing off and the pain in her ankle was starting to get worse. It had sapped all of her energy, trying to be as normal as was possible when Alexander had arrived, and making her way into work had only made things worse.
“Come and sit down.” Miranda took her by the arm and started to lead her towards her seat behind the desk.
“No. I can’t. I’ve only come to pick up my laptop. I’ll be working from home for a few days until I can walk properly again.”
“Why are you even thinking of working?” Miranda stared at her as if she’d turned into an elephant. “Just take the time off.”
“I can’t do that. I need the money.” And temporary workers didn’t get paid for time off.
“How did you do it?” Miranda wanted to know. Eleni placed her hand on the desk and swallowed a sigh of relief at finally being able to shift the weight off her foot, then recited her story again.
“That’swhy Dominic returned without you yesterday,” Miranda said slowly.
“You didn’t know?”
Miranda shook her head. “I called you but you didn’t answer.”
Yes, that. She made an apologetic face. She’d seen the missed calls, but she didn’t call Miranda back because she’d been in too much pain; and she’d assumed that Dominic might have told her. Now she wasn’t sure what to say. Not wanting to lie to Miranda in case she asked further questions Eleni winced as she tried to walk again. “I should get my laptop.”
But alarm bells went off in her head at the sound of a door opening nearby. A door she couldn’t see but knew was around the corner from Miranda’s desk. A door she knew belonged to Dominic’s office.
He appeared in the next second, about to push one arm through the sleeve of his navy-blue suit.
Her heart melted like butter. It took for her to see him again for her to remember how devastatingly handsome this man looked in his white and blue number.
He stopped as soon as he saw her, his gaze falling to her feet. “What the hell are you doing here?” he growled. His voice was stripped of all the softness it had last night as they ate dinner and talked.
“I ... I...” It startled her, his gruffness. She didn’t understand his rage. On one level, her brain guessed that he must have found out about his brother, but why was he taking it out on her?
Miranda scurried back to her desk and began typing away at the speed of light, as if she was trying to set a new Olympic record for typing speed.
