Binding Agreement- Book 1 of the Tipton Dynasty

Something Wasn't Right

"Kay!" Julie hollered to get my attention before entering the back room.

"What?" I asked as she finally entered the room. My attention was still mainly on this dress that I was working on for a customer.

"You've been so busy in here today. What are you doing?" I could see she looked slightly concerned.

"Ms. Briar needs this dress for her rehearsal dinner in a couple days. I'm trying to get it finished." I answered.

"Okay, but maybe you should take a break?" Julie suggested.

"Can't do that." I answered as I continued on working on the dress. "It's Friday and I really don't want to come in and work on this over the weekend."

"Fifteen minutes won't kill you. Come on." Julie caught me off guard by how stern she sounded. "You're a pregnant woman, take a break."

I looked over my work and sighed. "You're probably right. I need to call Damon anyway. This might keep me here later tonight.

"Okay." Julie nodded. "But step away from the dress while you do it." She gave me a serious look.

I held my hands up as if I was surrendering. "I won't touch it for fifteen minutes. I promise."
"Good. Cause I'll be checking." She warned before walking out of the room.

I picked up my phone and pulled up Damon's number. It began to ring and I waited for him to answer. He answered after a couple rings. "Hello Love." he greeted me in a pleasant tone.

"Hey. I just wanted to let you know I may be a little later tonight. Is that okay?" I wanted to make sure he didn't need me for anything. "I just want to finish this dress up and I figured if my mother was going to have Sterling and since he insisted on taking Jet it should be fine."
"That's fine. Take your time. Gives me time to cook you something special since Rose is gone for the weekend." He responded.

A small smile formed on my lips. "I definitely am looking forward to that."

I had experienced his cooking only a handful of times but he did a damn good job. He had yet to make me something I didn't like. He seemed to enjoy being in the kitchen sometimes. He just didn't get the chance a whole lot because Tipton Enterprises was his priority and it took a lot of his time.

"Good. I'm leaving the office now to go meet my father by the way." He knew I wanted to know exactly when he was meeting with Martin.

"That's good." I was pleased that he was actually doing this. "We'll talk about it when I get home for the night."

"I have to get off the phone now so I can focus on driving.. I love you." he spoke into the phone.

"Okay. I love you too." I responded and then we hung up the phone call.

I still had a few minutes before this fifteen minute break was supposed to be finished up. I walked out of the back room to check in on the store. Everything was business as usual. Julie kind of helped monitor things and the staff tidied up anything that had gotten messed up while people browsed.

Once my break was up I went to the back room to work on the dress once again. The time consuming part was stitching in all the details that had been requested. I had been hesitant to take this one but Ms. Briar insisted that I do it for her. She even offered to pay extra so there was no way that I could refuse her.

Julie knocked on the door and let herself in. "Hey I'm leaving so Cody and I can go to that concert."

"Already?" I glanced up from the dress to give her my attention.

"It's like five now." Julie responded. "You lose track of time too easily in here boss."

I pursed my lips together. "I guess you're right. Maybe I need an alarm or something." I joked.

"Maybe." Julie chuckled.

"Have fun." I smiled as I excused her for the night.

"Don't work yourself too hard." she spoke with a serious expression.

"I won't. I promise." I reassured her.

I worked on the dress for about an hour and a half more. It was finally finished and I was satisfied with what I accomplished today. I sent the staff home and we closed up for the night. Then I got into my car and made the drive home to Damon.

I noticed as I entered the driveway that none of the lights of the mansion were on. Things seemed quiet, too quiet. I felt an uneasy feeling develop in my stomach. I could feel in my gut that something wasn't right. I grabbed my phone and attempted to call Damon but I didn't get an answer.

I parked the car in the garage and noticed Damon's BMW was parked here. There was no way he wasn't home then. I opened the garage door to enter the house, it was dark in here. I could feel myself begin to get anxious.

"Damon?" I called out to see if he would respond.

Nothing. I walked around the house. The kitchen and dining room lights were off so there was no way he had ended up cooking. I made my way down the hallway to the study. Maybe he had gotten caught up in some work in there and lost track of time.

"Damon?" I called out again. The worry was clear in my voice and I could feel myself begin to panic slightly.

I knocked on the door of the study. There was no answer. I decided to open it anyway just to be sure. There was little to no light in here since the sun had gone down. I was about to close the door when I noticed what little light that came in fell on something that appeared shiny. I was curious and I turned the light on.

"Oh god!" I shrieked as my eyes registered what I saw.

Damon was laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. I rushed to his side and nudged him to attempt to get a response. He was pale and there was a lot of blood on the floor. I put my ear to his chest not caring about the blood getting on me. I could hear his heart but it wasn't beating as it should.

"Damon, don't die on me. Heaven can wait, I still need you here with me." I could feel the tears begin to stream down my face.

Someone had shot Damon Tipton.