A Very Corporate Affair book 3 (The Corporate series) (10 page)

"I feel....freer, sad, but liberated. Mind you, it would be impossible to be sad for long in such a beautiful place."

"Oh I don't know, I've sat in here and been depressed many times. It usually depends on what you're used to. To me, this place is just home."

"Yeah, I forget that sometimes, it's grander than the castles I visited on school trips, so I sort of treat it like a museum I'm visiting, and really, it's just where you relax and chill."

"When I was a child, I think I explored every inch of this castle. It was a magical place to grow up. I found secret rooms, a priest hole, all sorts of things. If I ever have children, I want that childhood for them, that's why I work so hard to preserve Conniscliffe."

"I can understand that." Marriage and a family with Oscar would represent an easy life. He was kind and gentle, with ingrained good manners, and a proven sense of loyalty and decency. Idly, I wondered if his odd tendencies could be cured with a vibrating butt plug.

"You have a strange look on your face, what's going through your head?" I blushed.
Why does every thought I ever have show on my face?

"Nothing much." He gave me a searching look.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the weekend?"

"I thought I'd head back to London. I have a stack of work to do by Monday, I need to go to the gym, and sleep off my overindulgence last night."

"You're welcome to stay here you know."

"That's really kind of you, but I have a lot to do at home, and I also need to see James, if he's home tonight that is." Oscar looked quizzical. "His ex has been in touch, wants him back. I think he will. Might mean I have to move out. Threes a crowd and all that. Besides, it's about time I bought a place of my own. Does Goldings do mortgages?"

"You don't need a mortgage, I'll give you the money for an apartment."

"I couldn't possibly accept that, you know that."

"Alright, I'll give you the money, and you can pay me back if you get bonuses. Say 10% of your bonus each year? I won't charge you interest."

"That's incredibly kind of you. How much should I look to spend on a flat?"

"I don't know, up to five mil maybe? If you can get what you want for that. If you need more, just ask."

"I'll add flat hunting onto my list of jobs to do. Ivan's talked me out of leaving Pearson Hardwick, promised me that he won't move to another firm unless I leave."

"That's something, I suppose. You're a bit new into the job to move just yet I would've thought. That in itself might have damaged your career....does that mean you'll look nearby for an apartment?"

"Yes, if I can. I do love living there. It's very convenient for everything, plus it satisfies my 'wanting to live in the city' thing, without having to live somewhere old or rickety."

Oscar glanced up at the castle, "I quite like old and rickety." He laughed at my embarrassment at having insulted his uber grand country pad. "I know what you mean, don't worry. I love my flat. Love that I don't keep having to fix things, and it looks great with modern furnishings. Don't get me wrong, Conniscliffe is where my heart is, but it's quite nice sometimes to not be surrounded by priceless antiques."

I returned to London later that afternoon, arriving home around six, to find James had cooked a meal for Janine, and the two of them making doe eyes at each other. I felt a strange pang of jealousy, and wished that I'd stayed at Conniscliffe. Instead, I took my laptop to my room, and got on with some work. I also rang Lucy, and invited her to the awards bash the following Saturday. She was delighted, as the tickets were pretty much reserved for the partners, and a few high flyers from corporate, so as a family law specialist, she hadn't even had a look-in.

I had just got into writing up a complicated invoice when Ivan rang. "Hi Elle, just thought I'd check that you were ok."

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just doing some work."

"Why are you working on a Saturday night? You sound sad."

"My flatmates girlfriend's here, so I had to get out of the way. Threes a crowd and all that. I can't spend the entire evening in the bath."

"I wish you were here." Ivan spoke softly, not in his phone sex voice, but nearer his 'daddy' voice that he usually reserved for the girls.

"Do you?"

"Of course I do. I miss you terribly. Do you remember our very first Sunday together? I loved it, and that was before we became a couple." I thought back to that day, the easy rapport we had, and the discovery that Ivan was as normal and nice as a Russian billionaire could possibly be, and that he had spaniels.

"Yeah, it was nice, uncomplicated."

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Flat hunting. I think I need to move out of here. I'm going to see if I can view some apartments."

"Whereabouts? You're not moving away are you?" He sounded concerned.

"No. If you're not pulling your account, I'm going to stay put. I'm going to look at apartments in this area. I like it here."

"Do you need me to help you out financially?"

"No. But thank you for the offer." I wasn't going to let on that Oscar was lending me the money for a flat.

"The penthouse of the new building next to mine is up for sale. It's called Cinnamon Wharf. It's very secure. Great river views. It's definitely worth a look. It's on with Savills I think."

"I'll give them a call in the morning, although it's a twenty minute walk from work."

"I can always organise a driver for you."

"Ivan, we broke up. I doubt very much that your next girlfriend will take too kindly to you ferrying your ex around for evermore."

"I don't want anyone else. I only want you." He sounded so sad that my heart broke a little. "The girls are upset too. Tania's off her food, and Bella won't speak to me."
I'll give you points for persistence.

"I'm sure they'll both recover on sausage Sunday."

"It won't be the same without you here. You left all your clothes behind by the way."

"Yes, I know. I thought it would be a bit greedy to ask for them, especially the red dress."

"Well I'm not going to wear it am I? I bought it for you."

"It's not really your colour."

"Very true....have you eaten this evening?"

"No. James cooked for him and Janine, and he hadn't made enough for three. He didn't think I'd be back tonight. I'll have a piece of toast later."

"I wish you'd come down here, I could cook for you, and make you sausage sandwiches in the morning. Mrs Ballard left a fillet of lamb in the fridge for us."

"I need to start flat hunting, plus it's half seven now. By the time I got down to you, it would be nine."

"You can view apartments next week. It's not as though you need to move out tomorrow is it?"

"True, I just feel really awkward here with the two of them." James had been really strange with me when I'd got back from Oscar's. Janine had been pleasant enough, but the pair of them clearly didn't want an audience. They had been tucking into a prawn and pasta concoction when I'd arrived home, and I'd noticed that the fridge had been severely depleted.

"You can always stay with me if you want to. There's plenty of room in my apartment."

"That's kind of you, but that really isn't going to be an option, given the circumstances now is it?" 

"We are still friends though. I can still look after you, and help you. I'm just not allowed to make love to you, is that right?"

"I suppose so. Usually when people break up, they stop seeing each other."

"But we'll still be working together, and seeing each other most days, so spending a Sunday together makes no difference. If you stay there, you'll have to spend all day in your room, apart from the hour that you're flat viewing. It won't be much fun. Roger is only at my London place. He could pick you up in five minutes. By the time you get here, the lamb will be ready."

"Separate bedrooms though."

"Whatever you want, your old room is at your disposal. Shall I call Roger, and throw the lamb in the oven?"
Oh fuck it, yes please.

"Ok. See you in a while."

I gathered up my handbag, keys, laptop and phone, and went into the living room to say goodbye. James and Janine weren't there, and I could hear high pitched yelping noises from James' bedroom. I cringed, and quickly scribbled a note to leave on the island, saying I would be out for the night. I headed down, and waited outside for Roger.

It was a muggy, humid evening, and I was relieved to slide into the air conditioned luxury of the Mercedes. I was also relieved to be away from the flat. Listening to sex noises all evening would have been pretty horrific. At least my mind was made up about moving out. My embarrassment at my drunken shag with James, had been magnified by the fact he was clearly not into me, and very into his girlfriend.

I pulled out my iPhone, and googled 'property for sale in Canary Wharf'. Straightaway, I found the penthouse Ivan had talked about. It was priced at four and a half million, looked a lot like his, and was in a secure, portered block. I emailed the estate agent, left my details to arrange a viewing, and looked at what else was for sale, leaving messages for another six agents. To while away the time during the drive, I wrote a wish list of attributes I wanted in my new apartment. It was relatively short for someone spending up to five million, so I racked my brain to think of things to add to it.

An ensuite bathroom with a good shower, and a bath.

A laundry room, separate from the kitchen.

A parking space, in case I ever learned to drive

A balcony.

A spare bedroom

A study/office (not essential).

I looked at my sad little list. For five million, I didn't seem to be expecting much. I didn't need a built in bar, or home cinema. I preferred going out to the gym, and certainly didn't plan on putting in a sex room as Ivan had.

Chapter 7

Ivan's house smelled fabulous when I walked in. The scent of roasting lamb made my stomach rumble, and the girls were overjoyed to see me again, probably because they suspected that a bit of lamb might find its way into their mouths. He looked delighted to see me, despite my having to be driven over, because I'd been too upset (or pig headed) to stay in the first place. He'd greeted me at the door, the dogs bouncing around with excitement at his feet.

"I'm so glad you came over. Bella was sulking nearly as much as me." I bent down to stroke her ears, only for Tania to shove her out of the way, and stand under my outstretched hand looking expectant. Laughing, I gave her ears a rub, then followed Ivan into the kitchen. He busied himself pouring the wine, and checking the oven, before joining me at the island. "How was Oscar?"

"He was fine. I had a bit of lunch with him, and a walk around the gardens, then went home."

"So what's happening with your flatmate that you want to move out?"

"His ex girlfriend's back on the scene, and I feel like a bit of a spare wheel. They need their privacy if their relationships going to get back on track. Oh, and they ate all my food. Bugger all left in the fridge when I got in, and they were happily tucking into the prawns that I bought. There was barely enough milk left for even a cup of tea in the morning, they'd used it all for lattes."

Ivan winced, "I wouldn't like to see you denied your morning coffee, men have been murdered for less heinous crimes. So is he serious about her?"

"I think so. He proposed to her once, although she refused him, then ran off and married his best mate. He's really weird with me when she's around though, sort of cold, as if he'd rather I wasn't there."

"Are you jealous of her?"

"No."
Yeah, ok, a bit.

"Even though she's forcing you from your home?"

"I'm not being forced out, it's just made me rethink. It really is time I bought my own place."

"Can I ask, how are you planning to finance it?"

"I have savings. It's not really any of your business. I don't ask you how much money you've got."

"You had access to my bank accounts when I was kidnapped. Didn't you look at them?"

"No. I didn't want to be nosy, well, unless I had to make payments to people on your behalf. You were only gone a night, so the issue never arose. I know you have fifty mil inside Russia, but beyond that I didn't snoop." He smiled at my rather naive reply. Most people would have been raking through his bank accounts at the drop of a hat. It hadn't even occurred to me to snoop. The only thing I was mildly interested in was his study, which he'd asked me not to go into. The weekend he'd been missing, I'd been too paralysed with fear to even think of going for a nose around.

"You only have to ask, if you don't have enough for the flat that you want. I don't mind helping. If not, I'll buy you a nice flat warming gift." He got up to see to dinner. Satisfied it was ready, he pulled it all out of the oven, and began serving.

"Do you want some help?" I asked. He shook his head, before efficiently carving up the lamb, and dividing it between four plates. He added some roast potatoes and veg, cutting up the dog's portions into small pieces, and mixing in a little gravy. He brought all the plates over to the island.

"Theirs needs to cool down a bit. They'll be sick if it's too hot." He placed my plate in front of me, and poured us both more wine. He raised his glass, "to wonderful weekends full of food, wine and good company." We clinked, and drank.

I tucked in to my dinner, groaning as the lamb hit my palate. "This is gorgeous. Where did you learn to cook like this?"

"In Moscow, food was scarce, and what we had was limited and poor quality. One of the things that awed me when I got to the UK was how varied and plentiful the food was, so when I started earning decent money, I set about learning as much as I could about cooking and eating well. I don't have the most sophisticated taste, but I like to prepare food. I find it relaxing, and I hate having to rely on my housekeepers, they always make food too fancy when I'd prefer it plainer."