Forbidden Secrets

Chapter 3 – Mr. Smith

Gabe’s POV

I made it to the office just before 8.30. I wasn’t the only one stupid enough to be working on a Saturday, but encouraged my staff to always have Sunday off, if not the entire weekend if their job allowed. I may be ruthless heartbreaker, a solitary soul, and a tough businessman, but I was not a heartless boss.

I was quick to learn, happy staff were productive and loyal staff, and I was more than aware working here was sought-after, in any role. I loved that we had a loyal team, and productivity meant bigger profits, it was a win win situation.

As I walked out of the lift and into the suite, I went straight to the kitchenette. The floor was laid out almost like a home from home, only more productively. It had a kitchen, boardroom, my office, a washroom and always locked was my office bedroom. I rarely stayed here, but I had it added in case I did.

The entire space was clean, crisp and a mix of light oak, white gloss, and glass. I hated the dark rich mahogany so many male offices had, I found it dated and a little power hungry. I turned on the coffee machine and waited for it to come to temperature.

Coffee in hand, I walked into my office. There was a large window on the back wall behind my desk, where I often spent time looking out, thinking. The glass had the option of being tinted by the flick of a switch. During the day, I preferred it tinted, it was easier to work in the slightly muted light and there was less glare.

My Desk sat just in front of the widow, facing away from it so I wasn’t distracted by the city. In front of my desk sat two comfortable leather office chairs, to the right a bookshelf and to the left a sideboard, with some plants on it that I was likely to kill, above it, a perfectly placed picture of some abstract art that covered my Safe.

I sat in my luxurious leather chair and switched on my computer, three screens in front of me, in the centre, my laptop which I just hooked up to them. I opened my briefcase and took out my phone and placed it next to my laptop.

I sipped my coffee as I waited for everything to warm up. As my screens came to life, my office phone rang.

‘Mr. Mathews, Sir’

‘Amberly, how may I help you?’ My reception manager Amberly, rarely bothered me this early on a Saturday.

‘There is a gentleman here to see you’

‘One moment Amberly’ I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I took a quick look at the monitor and didn’t recognise the man on the screen ‘Do you have his name?’

‘Mr. Smith’ she tried to keep the drawl from her tone, but we had so many Mr. Smiths’ show up, it was difficult not to laugh.

‘I guess he didn’t mention his reason for the unexpected visit?’

‘The usual’

Which meant he probably said something along the lines of he was here for business. He was much younger than my usual clients, maybe mid 20’s at the oldest. He was clean shaven and had fair, well-groomed hair. He was average height and build and honestly, nothing about him stood out.

He looked smart, wearing a decent enough suit, tie and held a briefcase, which I knew would have gone through security checks. I was intrigued, yet unimpressed by his presence.

‘I have a waiting list’

‘He knows’

‘Okay, thanks Amberly, make him wait for an hour, and if he is still here, send him up with Brennan’

Brennan was my head security officer’s and happened to working today. I wasn’t taking any chances with an unexpected visitor, some of them were genuinely here because they wanted to do business, but occasionally it was a disgruntled client or worse, the person on the receiving end of one of my investigations.

An hour later, the lift door opened, and Brennan stepped in the gentleman who had been in the foyer earlier. Brennen knew the drill, he stayed on hand in case he was needed. He didn’t look intimidating, which I liked, he was often underestimated.

He was an excellent mixed martial arts expert and knew how to handle even the most brutish of blokes. He has never failed me yet. He gave me a small nod as the gentleman walked towards my office door and I stood to greet him, offering my hand as I came around to the front of my desk.

‘Mr….?’ I asked.

‘Smith’ he was almost looking a little smug, and I already didn’t like the look on his face.

I was usually able to tell if an unknown ‘client’ was hostile or not within 10 seconds of meeting them, this guy had me on edge. I gave Brennan our signal and he was on standby.

‘I think we both know it is not Mr. Smith, and if you want to do business, I am going to need your real name’

With that he proceeded punch me square in the jaw, which made me lose my footing slightly and as I steadied myself, Brennan took him down. It was exactly the reason I employed Brennan and wanted this meeting in my office.

In reception not only would it cause a scene, but his chance of escape was much higher, not that I doubted Brennan. However, as much as I was half expecting the hostility, even I was a little taken aback by the sheer brazen attack. This guy was an i***t.

‘Not quite quick enough Brennan’ I rubbed my jaw, it wasn’t the most proficient punch, and it seemed a weak attempt at hurting me, most people tried harder and a least tried to ruin me somehow. This was tame.

Brennan shrugged as the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly ‘Sorry Boss, thought you would at least have ducked’ cheeky bastard.

Brennan had worked for me for almost as long as his place had been open, we had a good relationship, and he knew when and more importantly when not to banter with me. It wasn’t an easy gig to get right, I could be an insufferable asshole when I wanted to be.

‘LET ME GO!’ Mr. Smith not so subtly demanded.

‘You answer my questions, do as I say, and Brennan here will let you leave. Fail, and I will call the police and press charges. Don’t think I won’t’

‘Oh, I have no doubt that you would’ he spat, as Brennan stood him up, keeping tight hold of him.

 ‘Well, what will it be then?’

‘My name is Philip Rainer, I’m 19 and you ruined my life. Satisfied.’

I guess he thought he knew what I was going to ask. That was easier than I thought it was going to be ‘How exactly did I ruin your life Mr. Rainer?’

He struggled in Brennan’s grip, but I had no concern Brennan had tight hold.

‘You destroyed my family’

‘And how did I do that?’

Often when I caught cheating spouses, their offspring blamed me for spilling the beans, but it had been a long time since I took on a job like that, those jobs were much more suited to a PI, I tended to look more into problem Business partners, encrypted files, security issues and my personal favourite, matters involving secrets, lies and deceit.

‘You slept with my mother!’ wow! I was NOT expecting that. I couldn’t help my eyes widen, and even Brennan couldn’t hide his shock. I was only 8 years older than this guy, and as far as I knew, I had never slept with anyone old enough to be his mother!

‘You are mistaken. There is no way that happened’

‘Yes. It did. And the fact that you can’t even remember makes this worse! You make me sick. My stepdad left her, and she signed a f*****g prenup and were left with nothing! You owe us!’

‘If she did, indeed sleep with me, she did it of her own free will. I owe you nothing, she cheated, I did not. I have never knowingly slept with a married woman, nor would I. Consider this a warning Mr. Rainer, set foot within 50 yards of me again, and I will throw the book at you’ I turned to Brennan ‘Get rid of him’ I had had enough of this conversation.

Brennan proceeded to drag a very uncooperative Mr. Rainer to the lift, and I went to the kitchenette to get some ice for my jaw. It stung a little. I had barely been in the office for 2 hours and I had already had a more eventful time than that of the entire last week.

I watched Brennan kick him out on the security feed and watched him leave down the street. Who was his mother? Maybe I should have gained more information from him before letting him go, but honestly, what good would it do, it was dealt with, and he had gone.

I opened a new file on my laptop and took clips of the incident and stored them in it, then spent the next hour getting as much info as I could about this Philip Rainer. Not that I thought I would need it, but I always started and kept files on people of interest just in case I needed them.

I didn’t get anything particularly useful, but I had enough if I ever needed to dig a little further. I had several of these files stored in safe keeping, rarely had I needed to re-open one, but it was the nature of the business I was in.

Feddie had it easy, he took care of the real company, the Tech surveillance equipment sales and installation, which was the forefront of our development. What I did, I did independently, mainly because I trusted no one to share the information with, but also for this exact reason, Freddie was better off out of it, Thia would kill me if I involved him in this side of the business.

Being in Oxford, Freddie mainly worked from home, I paid for him to have a home office built in the garden of his home, which we converted into a Tech office dream, it was state of the art and had everything he would need and more.

Part of the deal was Thia insisting on it looking pretty ‘’I’m not having an eyesore in my garden’’ and it had to be child proof, this one I was more on board with, it had state of the art security, no one was entering that office!

He never needed to step foot in the London office, but he still dropped by several times a month to check in and meet and greet the staff. He was well liked, and he did a brilliant job. Not once did I ever regret hiring him, even if he was family, we never mixed business with pleasure.

Sundays were a sacred day, and I was looking forward to tomorrow, but I knew he would ask about my thick lip, so to avoid the conversation tomorrow, I called him. I knew he wasn’t working today and probably out with the kids, but better I tell him now than tomorrow.

‘Gabe, everything okay?’

‘Yeah, yeah, just a little trouble in the office, thought I had better pre warn you before you see my face tomorrow’

‘s**t, what happened’

‘LANGUAGE FREDDIE!’ I heard Thia in the background, she wasn’t subtle.

I ignored Thia, I inwardly chuckled, she was Freddie’s problem, ‘Oh just another Mr. Smith, Brennan took care of it, it was nothing really, just didn’t wanna turn up with thick lip and have to talk about work, so just giving you the heads up!’

‘As long as it’s sorted’

‘Yeah, all good. Oh, s**t, also, can you let Thia know to set an extra place for dinner, I’m bringing a friend’

‘hang on’ the phone went a little muffled.

‘GABE!’ Thia.

‘Sis, everything okay?’

‘You are bringing a date to Sunday Dinner…. must be serious?’

‘Not a date Thia, a friend’

‘Is this Jada from last night, because she’s beautiful Gabe, but one night doesn’t constitute a relationship you know’

‘Thia’

‘What?’

‘She is a friend! Nothing happened last night’

‘Have you read the papers?’

‘I never read the papers’

‘Maybe you should’

‘And maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you read!’

‘Fine. Friends. I’m looking forward to meeting her’

‘Good. See you tomorrow’

‘Bye’

I went back to my laptop, and the reason I came to the office in the first place and worked until the sun set. I called Archer to come and pick me up when I was done, I was ready to crash. My Jaw ached and I was in no mood to go out tonight.