‘You don’t have to.’
‘You’re obviously hurt. And, regardless what you think of me and my methods, I’m not a monster.’
That was exactly how she’d thought of him back at her own office. Now she didn’t know what to think of him. He was being kind, and he clearly had reasons to act as he had, even if she had no idea what those were. And, when he’d kissed her, she’d forgotten who she was, never mind whohewas. It was too much to process all at once.
Ashley leaned her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes once more. Life was so much easier, she reflected, if you kept your eyes closed. After a few seconds, she heard the door click shut behind Nico and she knew she was alone. Her breath came out in a rush, and she relaxed further against the pillows, their softness enveloping her. She was so very tired, and there was too much to think, wonder and worry about, with Nico Galletti at the top of that list.
At some point, she fell asleep, only to startle awake when a competent-looking woman opened the door.
‘Hello, you must be Ashley. Did I wake you up? I’m sorry; I’m Pam, a nurse practitioner. Mr Galletti asked me to look in on you.’
‘There was no need,’ Ashley mumbled, pushing her hair out of her face. She felt discombobulated from having fallen asleep, and being in Nico’s bedroom of all places, even if it was some kind of office guest suite, made her feel vulnerable. She needed to get out of here, and back to the shattered pieces of her own life.
‘Always pays to be careful,’ Pam replied cheerfully. ‘Do you mind if I have a look?’
Ashley shook her head. The nurse examined her ankle, prodding it gently, making her wince. ‘It does look swollen and is probably sprained,’ she said, ‘But I don’t think an x-ray is needed, although Mr Galletti offered to have you taken to the hospital for one if I felt it was necessary.’
‘No, thank you, I really don’t think I need an x-ray.’ She needed to get out of here, Ashley thought with something approaching panic. For a little while there, she’d been lulled into complacency because she’d been so tired and it had felt so nice to be taken care of.
But Nico Galletti certainly wasn’t taking care of her employees, and she had to get back to them—and Ruth Boxall. Ruth had seemed to know something about Nico, and Ashley needed to find out what it was. Maybe her friend would have some information that would help her make Nico Galletti see sense.
‘Well, I wouldn’t walk on it for a few days at least,’ the nurse told her. ‘Mr Galletti is having some food and drink brought here for your refreshment. I advise you rest for a few hours and elevate your ankle.’ Smiling, she reached for a pillow and put it under Ashley’s injured foot.
‘Actually… I kind of need to go,’ Ashley told her with an apologetic smile. Belatedly, she realised she still didn’t have her phone or bag. How was she going to get home? ‘Could I borrow your phone?’ she blurted. ‘I just need to make a quick call…’
Pam frowned. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have a phone on me. But I’m sure Mr Galletti will see to all your needs.’ And with that, she rose from the bed and, with one last friendly smile, left Ashley alone in the bedroom, as good as a prisoner. She sank back against the pillows with a frustrated sigh.
A few minutes later, a woman brought a tray of food, leaving it on a table by the door. Ashley hobbled up from bed to examine it—fresh fruit, bread, cheese, a lentil and couscous salad and a vegetable quiche. It all looked delicious, and shewashungry, but it would feel like a betrayal of some kind of eat Nico’s food. To accept his hospitality when he was firing all her employees. What about Tom, who was only twenty-one and on his own? Or Denise, who had two children to support, including one with complex needs? Or Laney, who was eighteen months from retirement? She’d never get another job at her age.
Ashley ran through the list of her employees—all of them wonderful people who needed the work she’d provided for them. She felt responsible for each and everyone. How, she wondered despondently, could she get Nico Galletti to change his mind?
‘We have a problem.’
Nico snapped his gaze away from the view of lower Manhattan he’d been contemplating—except he hadn’t been regarding the city at all. He’d been picturing Ashley sprawled on top of him, her pupils dilated and her lush lips parted, the little mewling sound she’d made in her throat when he’d touched her, the way her whole, delectable body had come apart under his hands…
Why couldn’t he get that image out of his head? The memory alone was enough to have him shifting where he stood, restless with the desire that remained painfully unsated—for hisenemy, the woman he’d sought to destroy. Nico had always been in control of his emotions, his urges—everything. He’d had to be, to survive five years in prison. It made no sense now to have this overwhelming want for a woman he despised.Thatwas his problem, but it wasn’t the one Tony, his head of PR, was talking about.
He turned round to face him, shoving his hands in his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. ‘What kind of problem?’ he asked. ‘And how quickly can you make it go away?’
Tony shook his head, looking grim as he closed the door to Nico’s huge corner office, with floor-to-ceiling views of the city on two sides. ‘This isn’t going away, boss. Not easily, anyway.’ He frowned unhappily as he took out his phone and started scrolling. ‘It’s about the takeover of that tech company. It’s not going well.’
‘I thought it went very well,’ Nico replied in a deliberately mild voice. At least it had on the surface, a textbook case of how to take over a company in three days with very little damage. The fact that he felt very unsettled in his own mind about it all was another matter entirely.
‘Buying out the shareholders did,’ Tony confirmed, ‘But there’s been pushback, and it’s not pretty. One of the employees did something on social media, and two hours in it’s already going seriously viral.’
Nico frowned as he held out his hand. ‘Show me.’
Tony scrolled on his phone for a few more seconds before wordlessly handing Nico the device. Nico glanced down dispassionately at the video of a tearful woman sitting at an office cubicle, shredding a tissue as she detailed how she’d lost her job and had to clear her desk in ten minutes, a security guard menacingly standing over her. She was a single mother with a disabled son, she wept, and she had no idea how she was going to survive without her job.
He handed it back to Tony without watching the whole thing. ‘So? One post.’ He shrugged. ‘People lose their jobs all the time and any business venture of this kind attracts this sort of notice. It’s par for the course.’
‘Yes,’ Tony replied, ‘But this post has racked up six hundred thousand views in just two hours, and there’s more every minute.’
Nico’s frown deepened. That, he had to acknowledge, was a lot of views. ‘How?’
‘Some celeb reposted it, apparently.’ Tony shrugged in dismissal. ‘Who knows how these things happen? The point is, it’s now blowing up. I’ve already been contacted byfourmedia outlets. And it’s not just the media,’ he continued darkly. ‘Your front-facing interests are already suffering. The Galletti Hotel in Los Angeles has already had a raft of cancellations, with guests citing this as the reason.’
‘What?’ Nico could hardly believe it. He understood a little online faux-outrage, but people actuallycancellingreservations because of one woman crying into her camera? ‘All because of this?’ he demanded. ‘Why do people care so much about a simple takeover? They happen all the time. Usually, they barely make it past being buried in the business pages.’
