Edible Arrangements (The Hollens Book 6)

Chapter 24: What Lies Ahead

Zenobia's POV

It was an important day at the office and I was looking forward to closing a deal I made with my uncle. I was in extra early, had my morning cup of coffee and was sitting in the board room, awaiting my uncle's arrival.

Half an hour later, he strolled in with my father, my cousin Jevan and my other cousin Jase.

I stood up just as Lina entered the room and sat down at the projector she would operating as I presented.

"Good morning, and thank you for agreeing to this meeting," I started.

"We didn't have a choice. You literally cornered me, you stalked dad and bullied your dad.. And Jase is here to take notes," Jevan said in a friendly manner and we shared a laugh.

"Forgive my persistent, but I wanted this meeting to happen by any means necessary," I explained.

"Please continue," Uncle Evan said and I did. I was ten minutes into my presentation and I was explaining every new measures as thoroughly as I can and by the looks on their faces, I could tell they were satisfied with everything I was saying.

"And lastly," I said and waited for the last slide to show up on the white wall but instead, a video of Kyle and I surfaced and we were in bed.. not sleeping.

"Turn that off!" I yelled at Lina and I turned to face my family.

"Zenobia Hollen! What the hell?" my father said and he stood up. The chair scraping the tiles as he did.

"Dad, before you become livid, I don't know how that even got on my computer's flash drive."

"That's very irresponsible of you to not double look your major presentation, Zenobia," he said.

"I did. Everything was in order!"

"Wait, isn't he your bodyguard?" Jase asked and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Zen, this meeting is over and I really don't know what is going on with you. You've become so rebellious. You don't listen, you don't take advice. You're in a relationship with your.. Your help!" my father said and he triggered my anger.

"How dare you call my boyfriend 'the help', need I remind you how you got into this world?" I asked.

Every pair of eyes aimed at him and my uncle stood up and defused the entire situation. They filed out of the room and I was left behind with Lina.

"Miss. Hollen, I'm so sorry. Had I known that you were using that flash drive as a porno, I would have never..."

She didn't finish her statement because I was staring daggers at her. I shut the laptop with a force and removed the flash drive. I stormed out of the room and took the rest of the day off as my uncle requested.

Kyle met me at the exit of the elevator and we walked into the parking lot together while I explained the details of what occurred in the presentation.

"But how did it get onto the flash drive?" he asked.

"I have an idea but don't worry about it. I'm handling it."

"I'm sorry this is happening. I feel like it's all my fault. I should be protecting you in every way possible."

"Kyle, you're doing a wonderful job of protecting me. It was my own responsibility to proof my presentation before actually presenting."

"Your dad is going to kill me. He'll want my job and my head for this."

"He's not. The idea probably crossed his mind and he's probably thinking of a way to right now, but he's not going to act on it."

"Your father and your uncle scares me. Especially your uncle. There's something about his eyes. It gets dark when he's angry like he's not only human."

I laughed awkwardly and diverted the conversation as we got into the car. I took the seat next to Kyle and we drove to the beach.

~
"Been a while since I felt sand underneath my feet," I said as we laid out a blanket and a cooler of drinks.

"Kinda brings back memories of seeing you in Greece with your family."

"Yes and you were there with a woman."

"Now hold on, I was there with Aunt Jackie but she had too much to drink the night before so she was nursing a hangover in her hotel room. We took the trip after her divorce was finalized. The girl you saw was someone I met five minutes ago."

"So it only took five minutes?" I teased.

"Haha! She was walking by and she tripped. I helped her up and we started a small conversation."

"Interesting. You have girls falling for you, literally."

"You're the only girl for me," he said before drawing me in for a passionate kiss. I straddled him as the kiss deepened and intensified even more.

I was breathless when we pulled apart.

"I love you," he said in a whisper and I said it back to him.

~

After the beach and getting home, I received a phone call from Tiffany.

"Girl, I missed you at the office, where did you go?"

I explained to her what happened that morning.

"Zen, please let me drag her," she said and I busted into a laugh.

"I just know this has Lina written all over it and she's so messy. Things like that never occurred until she showed up. She really think you wouldn't notice, how stupid does she think you are?" she asked.

"Fret not, I'm handling Lina."

"You're not handling her in the manner she deserves to be handled. You need to hold her by that fake extension and drag her out of HT. If you're scared to ruin your nails, I could do it. I'll take pleasure in doing it."

"I'm willing to see how far she would go, Tiffany."

"Just be careful because you don't know how far she would go. That's a dangerous game, Zen. You need to end it."

"Bet your ass I would."