Billionaires At War

CHAPTER LI

The dusty morning air was thick; it blew everything on the airstrip round and round. Harrison popped the boot of the car open and bent low to drag all the bags out, then dropped them unceremoniously to the floor before sending a grin to Cassandra. She stood akimbo, with her head tilted while she watched him with a knowing smile at his discomfort. It gave her great pleasure when he had to admit that the scrape on his arm, the graze he refused to acknowledge, was actually more painful than it looked.

"Just going to stand there and laugh at me?"

A shrug was her immediate reply. The effects of the shooting still weighed on her, but at least she was able to show Harrison a little flash of happiness here and there. Her blood-red sundress glittered in the sun while her plain white belt sat undaunted by the wind as it blew the gown everywhere.

"Not really sure why you insist on carrying the bag when Joshua already offered to do them for you." Cassandra took his hand, turning her palm around so they could intertwine their fingers. "Don't need to do all the work yourself."

Harrison laughed over her head, his eyes drifting to her mother as she sat in the plane with a book in hand and reading glasses perched over her nose. Mother and daughter looked absolutely different to him, both in character, which was obvious and in looks. Taking all the looks from her father's side, Cassandra looked more chiselled and built than her mother, whose beautiful features were round.

"You'd call me as soon as you get into the city, right?"

Cassandra moved closer as he lifted her arms then wrapped them firmly around his neck. "Sure I will. Not sure I should leave you here alone, though, but I can't do anything about it when you don't want me to."

He scoffed and tapped her hips before giving her a perfectly executed eye roll to combat her pout. "You are only staying to feed off work some more and not only to keep me company. I can handle the last contract by myself and don't need you are much as your company does."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes, playing with his hair. "It's just a contract, all it needs is to be signed, and you can handle a signing. You'll keep me informed on everything so I wouldn't be missing anything while I am gone."

He watched the chauffeur as he quietly loaded the bags into the aeroplane. "Thank you very much."

"Still," she nagged and waved her hands in the air before planting them back on his shoulders. "The deal is ours, and you shouldn't be the only one there for the whole thing."

His nod sang out his agreement, but he knew she would allow her mother to leave with the plane if he didn't say something. "Lucky for people like you, the internet has been created for these things. If you want to be a part of it so badly, I'll flip your face to a monitor, and you can be at the meeting. I'll warn you that all you'd see is him putting a pen down on a piece of paper."

She smiled, crushed his face between her hands and slapping a quick kiss over his lips before she began to walk over to the plane. The shooting had taken the joy of most of their last day together, and he didn't imagine it would do anything else. That night, she had laid in his arms, talking to him about her fears of the stranger stalking her. Harrison had encouraged her to go to the police as soon as she returned home, trying not to let his worry show in his voice. He loved Cassandra, it wasn't a scary feeling, but it heightened his worry for her.

Her phone began to vibrate, and Cassandra ignored it. She grinned at him when it stopped, but it immediately started vibrating again. She groaned and dipped her fingers into her pocket to fetch out her smartphone. With a quick swipe across the phone, she looked at the caller then planted the phone in her ear.

"I am just about getting on the plane, Julia."

Harrison scoffed and looked away as she made her call, her voice fading into the back of his mind. There was laughter in the background and some scolding, then she reappeared at his side, using her hands to turn him towards the plane.