Chapter 25

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Within two hours Rio and I had packed a bag and stood waiting for the jet to let us on, it had been a considerable amount of time since I'd needed to use it, I'd bought it as a congratulatory gift about two years ago and mostly used it for work trips.

"Damn babe, you really know how to travel in style huh?" I laughed at his awestruck look.

"You know it." I reply cheekily with a wink. He pressed his hand to the small of my back as we were lead onto the plane, the employees greeting us with professional smiles.

"Glad to see you back Miss Boland." One of the attendants exclaimed and I gave her a polite smile.

"Thank you, this is my business partner." I feel his hand snake around my waist. "And boyfriend Rio." She introduces herself as Imogen and we get settled into the comfortable couches I'd picked out. I'd really treated myself with this I'll have to admit, I'd decked it out in all of my favourite things and spared no expense for all the little luxuries. I could see it was impressing Rio as his eyes scanned the place.

"We'll have to get some proper use out of this some time." Rio states, his eyes back on me. "When all of this shit is dealt with."

"What did you have in mind?" I question settling myself in the cushions of the lounge and plucking a glass of champagne from the elegant spread beside me. I began to set up my laptop, hoping to get something done in the hour and a half trip.

"I don't know, where's somewhere you've never been before?" He asks, leaving me to rack my brain, he had now grabbed himself a drink, requesting a bourbon rather than my champagne. I didn't blame him, we'd need something strong to get through the day.

"Work's taken me practically everywhere so I'm not sure. What about you? Surely there's somewhere you've been dying to go." His eyes glaze slightly and I know he has a place in mind. "You can tell me, we can practically go anywhere." I add, trying to reassure him.

"It's not very badass." He states and I raise my eyebrows, urging him to explain. "Well, I always wanted to eat real pizza in Italy. You know, see the colosseum and shit, maybe even the Vatican." I was surprised at the answer, his eyes lit up while he said it, making my heart flutter.

"Let's go then. As soon as this is handled we'll go all around Europe, we deserve it." I reply, going back to typing on the laptop.

"Wait for real? Just like that?" His eyes still held suspicion. "You're telling me you're gonna be able to step back from work for that long? Candace was saying you haven't had a holiday for years."

"I think I'm finally in a position to be able to step back a little. I've come to the realisation that maybe some things are more important than work." I could practically feel the shock emanating from Rio's seat.

"Violeta Boland did you just call me more important than work?" His disbelief thick in his tone.

"If you repeat it to anyone I'll deny it." I fire back, my attention still on scanning the laptop screen. We used the rest of the trip semi-productively as we began to brainstorm more ideas on what we were going to do upon arrival.

Once we stepped into the airport a driver was waiting for us, he took us straight to the Chicago office before dropping our bags at the hotel we were staying in for the next couple of nights. We entered the building and I could feel the tension in the air. Unlike our base office back in Detroit this office had doubled as a small banking firm to keep appearances. It worked mostly in our favour as this was primarily our accounting sector, the higher ups residing on the upper floor.

The actual banking employees eyed us with suspicion as we made straight for the elevator without consulting any of them, obviously a rare occurrence here. The receptionist attempted to stop us from reaching the elevator but was stopped by Indiana who'd waved her off and escorted us up to the the top floor.

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