Diamonds Are Not Forever

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Elliot

My father and brother were waiting patiently for me in my office when I arrived at Truman & Sons HQ after dropping off Juliette at work.
Mr Truman was in his usual stance, stood prominently looking out of the window down at the city, facing away from me with his hands clasped behind his back.
Frankie was less stiff looking, draped in my chair behind my desk as he spun it around on its rotary. When he completed his spin and spotted me walk through the door, he straightened his back and shot me a too friendly looking smile. "Here he is, my big bro!"
I gave him a cool stare in return and motioned with my head for him to get out of my seat, he didn't move a muscle.
"Elliot." My father greeted me passively as he turned to us both. He gave Frankie a look even chillier than my own, my brother shot up from the chair in response and repositioned himself on one of the leather armchairs to the side of him.
Instead of letting me take the seat at my desk in my office, my father slipped into the chair where Frankie had just sat and placed both of his hands out in front of him, lacing his large hands together at their fingers.
Charles Truman always had to have the seat of power in every room, it's what I admired about him the most.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of the both of you in my office this morning." My tone was formal and flat as I undid the button of my suit jacket and took the seat next to Frankie.
My brother cleared his throat awkwardly, I eyed him as he fidgeted with his family signet ring on the pinkie finger of his left hand – it made me instinctively reach for my own and start to twist it around my finger.
Whatever the reason for us being here was, it wasn't good.
My father let out a long breath. "I had an interesting conversation with your mother last night."
Interesting meant enlightening, enlightening meant trouble...
"She was giving me a run through of Millie's showcase at the Gallery yesterday," He turned his gaze specifically to me, I felt like I'd been called to the headmaster's office for a telling off. "She told me that she was talking to the loveliest young woman, by the name of Juliette."
My throat started to close up at the mention of her name, panic setting in as I didn't know where this was going.
When I kept silent, my father continued.
"Juliette St. James, to be specific. Your mother informed me that she is an employee of Miss Ashley Goulding, at Goulding Jewellers. Is that correct?"
I gulped audibly and nodded, flighting the venom burning in my throat when I noticed the corners of Frankie's mouth turning up in a smirk.
My father's nostrils flared slightly as he brought a hand to his slicked back salt and pepper hair, running his palm through it in frustration. "As I thought."
"Juliette is a lovely young woman." Frankie quipped.
I resisted the urge to reach out and squeeze his throat so tightly that his windpipe exploded, brother be damned.
Instead, I remained perfectly still, letting my father's words wash over me one syllable at a time.
"I'm sure that she is. She is also, as of recently, an employee of Truman & Sons. So, imagine my surprise when your mother told me that the two of you had left the gallery together." He pinned me to my seat with his cool stare.
Frankie was practically giddy in his own seat, happy to be in the front row of the tongue lashing I was seemingly about to receive from our father. "Oh, this is going to be good."
Mr Truman flashed a heated look at Frankie as a familiar vein popped out from his neck, "I'd tread carefully if I was you son, your cousin Millie also had some interesting things to say regarding yourself and Miss Goulding that I would like to address, right after I have spoken to Elliot."
A smirk of my own traced my lips as Frankie sunk lower in the leather seat, all his earlier jubilance long forgotten.
At least I didn't get with the owner of the company, just an employee.
My father set his steely blue eyes back onto me. "What were you thinking Elliot?" He rarely raised his voice at us, he didn't have to, we were born fearing and respecting his authority without the need for a single raised word.
I took a moment to compose myself, I knew I would have to announce my relationship with Juliette at some point if I wanted our agreement to work. I just hadn't anticipated doing it on anyone else's terms but my own.
"Juliette is a lovely young woman." I shot a look at my brother and I repeated is words, he was sat silently in his chair whilst staring at the bottom of his expensive loafers - deep in a thought. "We met before the merger contract was signed." Not a lie, but my father didn't need to know the lengths I'd gone to seek out Miss Goulding that night I'd also met Juliette, or the unorthodox way I'd come across the information on where to find them.
"That may be so," Mr Truman let out a heavy sigh. "But you have to see what a poor decision it was on your part becoming involved with an employee." He said the word involved like it was a dirty word. Dripping with implication.
If I wanted to get him on side, I knew I had to change tactics. Forcing a softer look on my face, I rolled some of the building tension out of my shoulders and set about my fabricated tale.
"When I met Juliette and discovered she was an employee of Miss Goulding, I tried to distance myself. But she is a brilliant, strong and beautiful woman. And, as of last night, she is officially my girlfriend, so I would appreciate it if you could support me in this decision."
My father and Elliot's eyes went wide in unison.
"What?!" Frankie spluttered, a look of horror with a hint of awe splayed across his face.
I bit back a laugh. "You seem surprised Frankie?"
"I am!" Frankie declared, his eyes practically bulging out of his head. "Not at the first bit, Jewel is a real catch...but you in a relationship with her? I'm mystified."
"Your relationship is...serious?" My father asked hesitantly, his face unreadable.
He'd never really taken an interest in my relationships, not that I'd had many serious ones. The closest I'd come to a serious relationship was Maya, and that had crashed and burned.
"As serious as a heart attack." I admitted. She was going to become my wife; you couldn't get more serious than that.
"Well." His body visibly relaxed. "That does change things. In that case, Elliot, I'm happy for you and I look forward to meeting the brilliant Miss St. James myself."
I smiled triumphantly, relaxing back into my chair as Frankie continued to flounder next to me – still reeling from my revelation.
Your turn brother.
A new resolve washed over Mr Truman as he dragged his eyes over to Frankie, "Now, as for you Frankie Truman."
"This is going to be good." I mumbled under my breath so only my brother could hear, mimicking Frankie's earlier words as he began to squirm, his face twisted in a mixture of uncomfortable emotions.
"Elliot, would you mind giving me a moment alone with your brother."
"But-" I had been looking forward to the demise of my idiot little brother, but with the stern and commanding look my father was throwing me, I knew it wasn't up for negotiation. 


I found my assistant Rebecca filing her nails at her desk when I left the room, still musing over the fact I had been kicked out of my own office. Only Charles Truman had that kind of power.
She jumped out of her seat with a squeal when she spotted me staring at her silently, dropping the metal file so it clattered against her desk. "Mr Truman! I was-I was just-"
"I'd like the database information on employee Juliette St. James of Goulding Company." I cut her off. "I'd also like an appointment booking in with the head designer at Hugo Talls & Co, as soon as possible."
I had to admit, I did go in harder on her than I needed to sometimes. She was a good assistant and she worked hard, but a small part of me liked keeping her on her toes. I liked to exercise my power; it was the only way I knew.
A deep red burned on her already rosy cheeks as she looked everywhere except directly in my eyeline. "Yes sir."
Rebecca was an attractive woman, probably a few years younger than me, with a slender figure and dark auburn hair that was always scraped up into a high bun out of her face. I'd never let the attraction go further than a general appreciation for her good looks, I didn't involve myself with my employees, not until Juliette anyway.
After a few beats of silence, I cleared my throat. "Rebecca."
"Yes sir?" She finally found my face, her steel grey eyes flashing with fear.
"I'd like the information now."
Rebecca jumped again, her fingers crashing down on her keyboard as she brought her desk monitor to life and began frantically typing. "Of course, sir. Right away."
After a few clicks of her mouse, she wiped away the small bead of sweat that had formed at her brow with the back of her hand. "I've emailed the file to your work email address. I'll get Hugo Talls on the phone now."
When she started to dial a number on her desk phone, the sound of my office door opening made me turn around.
A stern looking Charles Truman, followed by a sheepish looking Frankie, left my office in silence. Our father didn't say another word to either of us, just disappeared between the rows of desks in the direction of the lift. When he was fully out of sight, my brother shuffled up next to me and leant on Rebecca's desk, his face frayed with nerves.
"That bad, huh?" I asked, bemused.
Frankie nodded.
"What happened in there?"
"Long story short, Ashley and Jewel are coming to our parents' house on Friday for dinner." Frankie grimaced at the thought.
I hit my brother hard on the top of his arm, making him stumble back slightly. "Well done Frank, you fucking idiot!"
I noticed Rebecca flinch at my swearing whilst she was on the phone, but she didn't stop speaking down the handset.
"Hey, I'm not the one that made an employee my girlfriend." Frankie scolded too loudly, a couple of associates looked up from their desks in mild amusement or disinterest.
I growled my response to him. "Keep your fucking voice down will you, half the company will know if you keep running your mouth off like that."
He held his hands up in defeat, a brief look of amusement flashing on his face. He loved it when he hit a nerve.
"Sorry, I didn't realise Jewel was your dirty little secret." Frankie laughed, leaning his elbow on the top of Rebecca's desk as he picked up a business card to mess with.
"She's not." I roared. "And I didn't realise you weren't serious in pursuing Ashley Goulding, seen as you don't want her to meet our parents."
Frankie put the business cards he'd been faffing with back in a neat pile, bringing his index finger up to the blond stubble on his chin and running his finger back and forth over it in thought.
"Its not that I'm not serious about Ashley," He offered, "but we're early doors and something as serious as dinner with the family feels too soon. You know how overbearing our parents can be, they're a force to be reckoned with."
I knew exactly how overbearing our parents could be.
Frankie was right, one night with all the Truman's in one room would be enough to send anyone running from the hills. At least Juliette was contracted to stay with me, Frankie wouldn't be so lucky.
"Anyway, don't change the subject." Frankie narrowed his blue eyes at me. "Juliette St. James is your girlfriend! You kept that quiet."
"I didn't think it was anyone's business." I stated, crossing my arms over my chest to stop my hands from twitching with frustration.
Frankie's mouth turned up in a smug smile. "Well, colour me surprised. What Jewel sees in you; I do not know. What made you change your mind and take the plunge back into all that hearts and flowers crap you hate so much?"
That was a good question, one that I'd not perfected a lie for yet.
I couldn't trust Frankie not to go running to tell Ashley Goulding about the nature of mine and Juliette's agreement if I told him the truth, or our parents for that matter. I didn't doubt for a second that he'd do anything to take the heat off him after the obvious chastising he'd received just moments before, about getting involved with one of the companies' new business associates. Especially one as important to us as the Goulding Company contract.
As I opened my mouth, struggling with a response, Rebecca saved the day by cutting in our conversation.
"Your appointment is booked in for tomorrow at 11am at Hugo Talls & Co, Mr Truman." She informed me formally, before turning to Frankie and flashing him a megawatt smile. I think she was a bit sweet on him.
Frankie ignored her completely. "Why are you going to HT&C?"
I didn't reply to his question, just gave Rebecca a curt nod and turned on my heels to head back towards my office.
When Frankie didn't get an answer, he called after me. "What are you up to Elliot?"
I closed my office door behind me, shutting him out, then proceeded to my desk so I could open up Juliette's file on my laptop.