“Wrong,” Mikey said, standing from his chair and sauntering over to Luca. “You’ll be leaving, mate.” He took hold of Luca’s arm and lifted him to his feet. Luca tried to shake him off, but he was no match for my brother.
“Felix,” he said, looking at his son for support which just showed how deluded the man was. Felix stood, went over to the other side of Luca and together with Mikey pulled him away from the table.
“Fine, fine,” Luca spat. “I’ll go. You don’t need to strong arm me like bouncers.”
Mikey and Felix let him go and he straightened his suit jacket, pulling the cuffs of his sleeves down in sharp, angry movements. He attempted to leave with as much dignity as possible, but Legolas chose that moment to trot into the dining room straight up to him and head butt him in the groin. That pony was a pain in the arse, but in that moment all was forgiven as far as I was concerned. It was perfectly timed and made Luca’s exit that much more satisfying. Luca stormed off as fast as he could, given the severe pain he was now in thanks to Legolas. Not much later we all heard the front door slam and tyres screech on the drive.
“Well, that’s done,” said Bianca, breaking the tense silence. Then, surprising us all, she turned on the spot back to her chair at the head of the table and took her seat. She whistled, and Legolas came trotting in, followed by both dogs. She gave Legolas an apple that she’d plucked from the fruit basket and chucked the dogs a huge piece of beef Wellington each.
Chapter 36
Pretty-boy business types
Lucy
“Woah, this is nuts,” I muttered under my breath, all of my nerves superseded by shock. The office was completely unrecognisable. Something nudged my leg, and I looked down to see a small, scraggly terrier at my feet, his tail wagging as he stared up at me. He looked just like Benji.
“Lucy!” I tore my eyes away from theactual animalin Felix’s office to focus on Tabitha. She was smiling, which was a little disconcerting. I managed a small one of my own as she bounced, yesbouncedup to me (also disconcerting – Tabitha was not a bouncy human). “You’re here.”
“Well, yes I—” I was cut off as the wind was knocked out of me by Tabitha’s hug. What the hell was going on?
“It’s so good to see you again,” she said, swaying me from side to side. It took a moment for my shock to fade and return the hug. When she finally pulled back, she kept both her hands on my shoulders to keep me near her as she searched my face. “You look fabulous.” A blush crept over my cheeks at the unexpected praise, and I bit my lip. “Does Felix know you’re here?”
“No, I…” I felt my blush deepen as I started to realise how mad my plan was. “I wanted to surprise him.”
The last thing Felix would want in a workday would be a surprise visit from me. When I worked here his pace was relentless – back-to-back meetings with not even a lunch break. The man was a workaholic. I shuddered at the memory of his anger at being interrupted during his negotiations with the Framlingham Estate when I’d brought him a birthday cake. How could I have forgotten about that? I’d been stupid thinking I should surprise him. Work Felix didn’t like surprises. I’d let myself be lulled into a false sense of security recently by Little Buckingham Felix, but I’d forgotten that this version – the one that ruled the office with an iron fist – was not kind, sweet, funny and hot (well, okay maybe he was still hot – it was impossible for him not to be, but that’s where the similarities ended).
“Oh dear,” I whispered. “I think maybe this was a mistake.” I tried to take a step back from Tabitha but her grip on my shoulders tightened and she frowned down at me.
“Hey, no way are you shooting off again,” she said, removing both her hands from my shoulders and looping her arm through mine so she could steer me further into the office space. Since when did Tabitha and I walk around arm-in-arm? “He’s in a meeting at the moment, but I’ll show you around the place whilst you’re waiting. You won’t recognise it.”
The dog at our feet barked once and Tabitha laughed. My eyebrows went up. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d heard this woman laugh. Her arm dropped from mine as she bent down to stroke the dog, who immediately flopped onto his back so she could scratch his tummy. After sufficient tummy scratches, Tabitha further shocked me by reaching down and scooping up the scraggly ball of fluff in her arms. To be clear, this was not a non-shedding dog, not by a long stretch – her previously pristinesuit jacket was now covered in cream fur. The dog licked her jaw and she giggled.
“Lucy, meet Pippin,” Tabitha said, and I automatically lifted my hand to give Pippin scratches under his cute little face. A small smile tugged at my lips at the name. “He’s our new office dog.”
“Office dog?” I said, my eyebrows going up in surprise.
Tabitha frowned at me. “Yes, it was your idea, wasn’t it?”
My mouth fell open but the ability to speak deserted me as I remembered my advice from months ago. I looked away from Pippin and Tabitha, my eyes darting around the office: plants everywhere, desks strewn with personal effects, walls painted warm colours, a beautiful, fancy coffee machine taking pride of place in the central area, flanked by brightly coloured, comfortable looking sofas and funky armchairs. Tabitha let Pippin down and he trotted off to a large, fluffy dog bed next to the sofas.
“Where are the walls?” I muttered, focusing on the far side of the office. Instead of the walls and the heavy oaks doors into the partners’ offices, there was floor-to-ceiling glass. Light streamed in through into the communal space, which was no longer bleak, dark and grey.
“Oh, they were the first thing to go when Felix started making the changes,” Tabitha said, linking arms with me and drawing me further into the office. “After what happened to you…” I stiffened and her words cut off. “Oh Lucy, I’m sorry, hun. I didn’t mean to just blurt that out. I–I…” she paused. When I looked at her, I was shocked to see unshed tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry about what happened.” she was speaking in a very-un-Tabitha-like broken whisper now which didn’t sound right at all.
“Hey,” I said, trying to make my voice firm, “It wasn’t your fault and I’m okay, Ipromise.”
“I should have reported him,” she said, still with that broken voice. “If I’d have known that he was going to do it to you and the others I would have done, but I just… Ineedthis job and I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”
“It’s on him, Tabitha,” I said. “His behaviour is on him.” I reached across and gave her hand a squeeze. “Listen, I’m sorry he targeted you as well. I didn’t know about that either. I know now that Will and the unfair office environment were why you were…” I hesitated, not quite knowing how to phrase the next.
“A raving bitch?” Tabitha put in for me with a smile which I managed to return. Thankfully that broken quality in her voice had receded, as had her tears.
I cleared my throat and glanced away. “Er, I wouldn’t say that… I just?—”
“Hey, it’s okay,” she said. “I’ve been reliably informed that I was a bitch. I’m cool with it.”
“Yup, total b-word.” We both turned to see Lottie and Vicky approach. Lottie had a big smile on her face and Vicky’s expression was set to her normal piercing gaze.
