A Debt Repaid (1) (6 page)

“YOU FEEL THIS BETWEEN US,
Aria. As wrong as everything has been so far…You. Feel.
This
.”

Aria hated him. That’s what she felt. Utter, undiluted, purified hate.

Yeah right. That’s why she was riding the elevator, the same one she’d ridden the day she’d gone to confront him in his office.

What are you doing here, Aria?

She was there to see Lori. That’s what she was doing there. Just stopping by to check up on her, and see how her new job was treating her.

Sure, this visit has nothing to do with what you read online.

Aria chewed on her thumbnail, watching the numbers on the display rush past.

Oh, God. What she’d read. She couldn’t get the words out of her mind. The old newspaper headline.

“Samantha Blaine, Wife of John Blaine, found dead at the bottom of stairs in family home.”

She pulled her nail out of her mouth, inhaling hard, blinking ever harder, and trying her best to stop herself from remembering—

“Mr. Blaine, active CEO of Blaine Medical Technologies, claims accident. Chase Blaine, 5, son of John and Samantha, claims otherwise.”

Fuck.

“He did it in front of the boy. Didn’t he?”

“How...how did you know?”

“I recognize that look.”

He’d watched. Whatever had happened to his mom, Chase had seen it go down. She couldn’t get the images she’d conjured to stop playing.  All Aria could see was the cute little kid she’d seen online, with his big gray-blue eyes, watching his mother die.

His father was acquitted. Proven innocent.

Yeah, okay. Because that meant something. Maybe his father had been innocent, maybe not, but either way, Chase saw his mother die when he was no more than Adam’s age.

That just proves it. He’s fucked up.
Or human.

She’d known something wasn’t right and this proved
it.

Who in their right mind blackmailed a woman whose husband had stolen from them just to get her on a date? He was one of those people who’d had something bad happen to him and it’d scarred him, warped him.

He was sick, possibly gone evil from the trauma he’d experienced—and he’d given Lori a job because he’d felt bad for her. A great paying job from what Aria had heard. A job she’d hoped was treating Lori well, which was why she was there.

The elevator doors slid open on the top floor.

Aria was so not there just to see Lori.

She was desperate to catch a glimpse of Chase. Going insane, her mind twisting, and turning on a constant loop that revolved around him.

Aria was
fascinated
by a man that she should have been running far, far away from.

Maybe the same thing that had happened to Chase as a child was happening to her.  Everything she’d gone through over the last week might be screwing her up. There was no other explanation.

“Aria?”

There went any chance of escape. Still, Aria was aware of the tragic downward spiral she was riding at full-speed, and when the elevator doors began to close, she just stood there, letting it happen.

A hand appeared, sliding between the two closing doors, and activating the sensors that would command them to slide open again.

Fuck.

“Aria?” Lori stood in front of her, in a white blazer and skirt, her left arm wrapped around files. Her eyes were wide, blinking.

Yeah...
Aria’s were probably the same.

“Aria, what are you doing here?”

“I came by to see how you are.”
Mm-hm. Yeah.

The disbelief that shown on the other woman’s face was enoug
h to make Aria want to run away again.

“Why didn’t you just call me? I’m passing by to pick up Adam later, too.”

Obviously, Aria hadn’t thought through her decision very well. “Right, yeah. I knew that. I’m still picking him up from school later. I was just nearby, and it struck me that I could just come and check out the place, see how it’s treating you. I hope you’re liking your new job, and I—”
Just stop talking, Aria. Now.
Aria snapped her mouth closed and pressed her lips together.

Lori nodded, but the way she did it just had “Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay.” written all over it. With a shrug, Lori stepped to the side. “Well, would you like to come out of the elevator?”

Kill me now.
Blushing, Aria rushed out, and then just stood there, tugging on the hem of her cream-colored sweater.

“Well,” Lori said, ignoring Aria’s stupidity. “I have to deliver these files to the other Mr. Blaine. Want to walk with me?”

Seeing Chase’s brother didn’t seem like a good idea. Brent would tell his brother that she’d been there, and after the embarrassment she’d just gone through with Lori, seeing Chase was no longer on her agenda.

But, she’d gone there to see Lori. Who was standing there, waiting for Aria with
that
expression on her face, like she somehow knew what was going on inside of Aria. “Sure. Lead the way.”

Aria fell into step besides Lori as they made their way passed the main reception area, and down the white, steel accentuated hallway. The sound of Lori’s heels clicking echoed down the hall. “So, how’s it going?”

Lori stared at Aria out of the corner of her eye and smiled. “Surprisingly well.”

Aria returned her smile. “That’s great. I’m so happy things are working out for you here.”

Lori paused mid-stride, forcing Aria to do the same. Hugging the files she’d been holding to her chest, Lori chewed on the corner of her lip and stared at the floor.

“Lori, what’s wrong? You said things were going well. Did something happen?”

“He’s getting me an apartment in the building he and his brother own.” Lori’s worried stare had Aria nervous. “He’s getting me an apartment, because he says he doesn’t want me, and Adam waiting in that shelter until I save enough money to get a place. But it’s too much.” Lori paused and shook her head. “He also wants to assign a high profile security team to watch over me until my ex is found. But we just met and I can’t accept all this help from him. It’s
too
much, Aria.”

Aria placed her hands on Lori’s shoulders and asked, “Who are we talking about, Lori?” There was a split second, where it occurred to her that Lori might have been talking about Chase. That it was he who had taken such an interest in Lori
and her welfare.

And that was a good thing. A very good thing. Lori needed all the help she could get. Heck, Aria had been planning on offering Lori a place to stay now that she had decided that Douglas had to move out.

It would still take at least another week or so to get Douglas’ things, and the man himself, out of her home. Chase stepping in and getting Lori out of that shelter sooner would be a blessing.

So why did Aria feel like she was suffocating?

Oh great. On top of everything else that’s going on, I’m now turning into an evil bitch.

“Aria? Are you okay?" Lori asked.

She blinked out of it and refocused on Lori. “I’m fine. So Chase is going to move you—”

“Not Chase...
Brent
,” Lori said in a small voice.

Aria’s breath rushed out of her as her brain assimilated that information—and the odd,
ridiculous
relief that accompanied it.

“Lori, you and Adam should not be in that shelter any longer.”

Lori pulled away from Aria and shook her head. “It’s too much. First, he makes me his personal assistant right off the bat.” Lori drew in a deep breath and began to tic of her list. “Then, he decides to start me off with a ridiculous salary. Aria... it’s ridiculous. And, okay, I accepted it when he was too stubborn to lower my pay. We argued, but he wouldn’t back down. I point blank asked him why he would pay me so much when I was just freaking starting. He got the point real quick that I was insinuating something bad, because he got this expression on his face that was almost sulky.”

Aria’s tightened her lips, trying to hold back a smile.

Lori shook her head. “Aria, I kid you not, the man reminded me of Adam pouting.”

A small laugh burst out of Aria’s mouth at the visual.

Lori smiled and giggled before continuing. “Yeah, it was funny, but not at the time. I was just horrified that he might have been trying to...I don’t know. Buy me or something.”

At least he didn’t blackmail you into a date. It isn’t all lost.

“But I kind of believed him.” Lori rolled her eyes. “So I asked him again, this time in a much different tone, I promise you:
Why would you pay someone you don’t know
,
and that hasn’t proven themselves yet, this much money?”

“And what did he say?” Aria asked.

“I swear, somehow that pout was taking over his face. Then he looked right at me, all angry, and snapped at me, ‘
because I can
,’ before sending me out of the office to get him coffee.”

Aria couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe, he
is
just trying to help.”

Lori shrugged. “Yeah, I get that. Kind of believe it, too. But it’s not necessary. Next week, when I get my
first
check, I’ll have more than enough money to rent an apartment.”

“Have you told Brent that?”

Lori motioned for Aria to follow her, then began walking down the hall. “I did, but he said he doesn’t want us spending one more day in that shelter.”

“Lori,” Aria said, striving for the most sensible tone possible. “That’s not a bad thing.”

“Yeah, well…” Lori paused when a dark-haired woman exited through a door on the right. The woman was on her cell, but her conversation wasn’t enough to distract her. Her eyes cut in Lori’s direction as she passed by and they landed for two seconds on the side of Lori’s face. The side that still had a thin bandage covering the stiches.

In Aria’s opinion, that stare lingered for a second too long.

“It’s okay, Aria.” Lori shrugged one more time. “They’re going to look. It’s like some engrained human trait. It’s a natural response.”

Aria turned her head back around and glared at the woman making her way down the hall. Natural response, her ass. It was called self-control. A decent person would’ve found a way to avoid staring, so that Lori wouldn’t have more of a reason to feel ashamed.

“Aria.” Lori’s gentle touch to her arm, and the way she said her name, had Aria tearing her stare away from the other woman. “It’s okay. Let it go.”

“I just didn’t like the way she stared at you. Your situation is bad enough. You don’t need idiotic people making you feel worse because they have no control over their damn impulses.”

Lori nudged Aria, smiling. “Look at you, all protective of me. That’s how you are, isn’t it? You’re protective by nature. It’s why you’re involved with the soup kitchen. I’ve seen you with all the others that go there.”

Lori’s observation took Aria by surprise and almost made her trip on her next step. Was that what she was like?
Protective
?

The answer to that clicked into place. She was
. If she’d wanted to, Aria could’ve gone back throughout her history and plucked out numerous memories where’d she tried to protect someone.

If she’d wanted to, but Aria didn’t want to. It would serve to point out something that might very well be her biggest flaw.

She’d even been protective of Douglas. Everyone except her father and Douglas’ family had been against her marrying him. And yet, Aria had defended him. Stood up for him against everyone because she’d cared.

Because that’s who she was.
No, wait. No.

This time, she did come to a stop, frozen in the middle of that sun lit, white hallway, her eyes locked on the floor.

No, no, no. What
was wrong her?

“Mr. Blaine, active CEO of Blaine Medical Technologies, claims accident. Chase Blaine, 5, son of John and Samantha, claims otherwise.”