“Have some more, Val,” Grandma calls over the noise at our packed dinner table, showering her with the same love she’s always given me and my five siblings. Grams throws me a stern look, and I grit my teeth as I reluctantly add more glazed carrots to my secretary’s plate.
I can’t figure out why Grandma favors Valentina so much. Our weekly dinners are strictly a family affair. There are only two exceptions to this rule: Raven, my sister’s best friend, and Valentina.
Now, I’d understand if Valentina was invited every once in a while, a few years into our working relationship — but that wasn’t the case. She’s been invited to family dinner once a month, like clockwork, from the moment we started working together. She claims not to know why my grandmother treats her so well, but I call bullshit.
I’ve been trying to find out if my grandmother pays her to report on my every move, but I’ve found no paper trail evidencing that. But then again, I never would. My grandmother would never slip up in that way.
Valentina smiles at Grandma, and I stare at her in wonder. Why is it that she never behaves this way in my presence? It isn’t just the genuine laughter escaping her red lips — it’s the easygoing conversations she holds with my brothers, and the inside jokes she has with my sister, Sierra.
Valentina, Sierra, and Raven giggle about something I can’t even begin to comprehend, and I tear my gaze away, focusing on my food instead.
Valentina is on great terms with every single member of my family, except for me, the man that actually pays her an exorbitant salary. I can’t tell which version of her is real. When she’s around my family, she’s so fucking sweet that even I almost fall for her act. If only they could see her at work. That illusion she’s trapped them in would shatter instantly.
I take a sip of my wine, my eyes settling on my older brother, Ares. At this loud table, he and I are the only ones who are quiet tonight. I follow his gaze to find him staring at Raven. She’s laughing at something Valentina said, and he can’t seem to tear his eyes off her.
I look away, trying my best to hide the hint of concern I’m feeling. Raven isn’t just our sister’s best friend. She’s also Ares’s fiancée’s younger sister. She’s the last woman he should be looking at that way. I shake my head and empty my wine glass. An arranged marriage is what awaits all of us siblings, but at least I’ll go into mine without feelings for someone I’ll never have.
“You’re quiet,” Valentina says as dinner wraps up. “Is everything okay? Is there something urgent we need to work on?”
I look up at her in surprise and shake my head as I lead her through the main house where my grandmother lives, toward my own condo. “Do you ever think about anything but work?”
She smiles at me in that way I despise. “Do you?”
The edges of my lips turn up. “Touché.”
Valentina presses her thumb to the scanner at my front door, and it swings open. She exhales softly as she slips out of her high heels, leaving them by the door as she heads to my living room barefoot.
Without her heels on, she looks so fucking tiny. It’d be so easy to pick her up and push her against the wall. Would her lips taste as venomous as the words that escape it?
I run a hand through my hair and shake my head. What the fuck am I even thinking? Valentina is beautiful beyond compare, but I have no doubt she’d be just as cold and unpleasant in bed. If I tried fucking her, I’d walk away with frostbite, no doubt. I shudder, annoyed with myself for even thinking about it.
“Interesting,” she says, staring at her phone as she sits down on the sofa. I take a seat and lean in to look over her shoulder, a whiff of her signature lavender scent involuntarily making me breathe in deeper. “He asked his son to step down. I’m surprised.”
She turns to look at me, her face so close that her nose nearly brushes against mine. My eyes drop to her perfectly full lips, an unwelcome hint of desire rushing through my body. “Why?” I whisper. She doesn’t move away, and neither do I.
“Why, what?” Her voice trembles.
“Why are you surprised?”
She blinks and moves back, that irritating professional mask of hers slipping back into place. Valentina Diaz, one of very few women I know who has never once wanted me. I suppose that is why we’re still working together after so many years — because we’ve never crossed any boundaries. That’s how I always wanted it to be, yet somehow, her indifference irritates me tonight.
“I didn’t think he’d ask his son to step down as CEO, but even more so, I’m surprised you gave him a chance to save his company at all. In all the years we’ve worked together, you have never once given anyone a second chance. You’ve always been decisive and ruthless. What was different this time?”
She stares at me pointedly. I wonder if she realizes that no one but her would ever dare demand an explanation from me — and no one but her would receive one.
I hesitate for a moment and reach for my pocket watch absentmindedly, my fingers brushing over the Windsor crest engraved on it. “Jackson was friends with my father. The decision to invest in his company was my dad’s.” Speaking about my parents hurts less than it used to, but even though it’s been over twenty years, the pain is still there. I suppose it’ll never truly fade. Some wounds never heal. This is one of them.
Valentina looks down, shielding her expression from me. “I see,” she says, her tone devoid of emotion. For a split second, I worried she’d ask me about my parents, but I should’ve known better. Valentina never intrudes. I used to think it was because she was scared she’d lose her job if she did, but I’ve come to suspect that it’s because she genuinely doesn’t care. She truly is made of ice.
“I suppose that explains why you refused to cut him loose despite their company performance declining year-on-year for five years straight.” She looks up then and smiles mischievously. “Perhaps you do have a heart buried somewhere deep within there.”
Her eyes twinkle as she presses her index finger against my chest. That heart she doesn’t think I have? It skips a fucking beat. I can’t remember the last time she smiled at me so genuinely, and I don’t recall her ever touching me in this way.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I’ve got my hand wrapped around her wrist and her palm pressed flat against my chest. Valentina’s eyes widen a fraction, but she gives me nothing. She doesn’t look as affected as I am.
“You tell me. Do I?” Does she notice that my heart beats a little faster than it should?
“No,” she says, grinning. “I stand corrected. You’re as heartless as ever.”
The edges of my lips turn up as I loosen my hold on her wrist, letting her hand fall away.
Valentina is smiling as she reaches for my laptop on the coffee table, and I can’t tear my eyes off her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile like that when it’s just the two of us. She’s given those smiles to every single one of my brothers, but never me.
“We need to finish the restructuring plans, and don’t forget to go in for a final suit fitting for Ares and Hannah’s wedding. It’s coming up far sooner than you think.”
I lean back as I think about everything we have on our plates for the next few months. If I can pull this off, I’ll finally be able to make my father’s dreams come true. We’re so close.
Each of my siblings and I handle different areas of the Windsor conglomerate. Between us, we handle finance, media and PR, hotels, motor vehicles and tech, real estate, and some foreign holdings.
They’re all industries the Windsors have entered in the last fifty years, under my grandmother’s guidance. We’ve been tremendously successful, but it’s the Finance industry we entered first. It’s Windsor Finance, and The Windsor Bank, that we’re best known for.
The company I run is the one my father ran before me. He may no longer be here to witness the direction I’ve taken with his firm, but I still want to make him proud. The vision he didn’t have a chance to realize is the one I’ll pursue.
Valentina logs into my laptop with a swipe of her index finger, and it suddenly occurs to me how much I’ve grown to trust her over the years. She’s the only one who knows about my expansion plans. I might not like her a whole lot, but I suspect Windsor Finance wouldn’t be what it is today without her.
When did it all change? I hated her when Grandma hired her and forced me to take her under my wing. Being employed directly by my grandmother meant I could never fire her, no matter how badly I wanted to — and I tried. I’ve tried everything to get rid of her, but I never could. At what point did I stop trying to chase her away?
“You’ll be my date to Ares’s wedding,” I inform her, my eyes roaming over her. “You know the drill. Keep every one of those fucking airheaded socialites away from me and steer me toward everyone we must network with. I’ll give you the guest list, and I expect you to know everything about everyone. This isn’t just a wedding.”
She nods and pastes a smile on her face. “Of course. I’ll be there, and I’ll be sure to remember everything there is to know, right down to names of every pet, child, and mistress.”
I nod and lean back against the sofa, my eyes drifting over her body. When did she go from being the woman I hated more than anything to becoming the one I trust above everyone else?
