Chapter 79 The Good Old Days
Emily felt pleasantly dreamy the next morning at breakfast.
“Well, it’s confirmed,” Byron said, “My mom admitted to destroying Christine’s tabloid. She reported it for health code violations because of how dirty the office was, and they hadn’t paid their rent, so it was all too easy to take them down.”
“Huh,” Emily said.
“Your eyes are unfocused,” Byron remarked, “What are you thinking about?”
“Last night was fun...” she said. Her whole body felt soft and pliable after everything they did the night before and well-rested after sleep.
“Reminiscing about it already?” he asked.
“I guess so.”
“Why don’t we do something to bring it back to the present?” he suggested.
“Now?” she said, surprised, “Okay.”
“I don’t want us to ever reminisce about the good old days,” Byron said, “Some couples give up too easily and lose their passion.”
“I don’t think we’re there at all,” Emily said.
“Not if I can help it.” Byron lifted her up with ease and placed her on the couch. “Now, what is it that you enjoyed most about last night?”
“Everything...” She snuck her hands inside his robe, pulling it open and getting access to all the angles and valleys of his rugged body.
Several weeks later, Emily had all but forgotten about Christine. While Emily was busy with her own work, she did notice Byron more preoccupied than usual.
He hardly spent time with her in the evenings, reading financial reports and working out figures late into the night.
“This Pierre Pollock is more influential than I thought,” he said one night as he put away his laptop and finally managed to get into bed. “He’s flooding the market with his own companies and getting other investors to buy up my stock.”
“I guess they’re trying to manipulate the prices,” Emily said.
“Yeah, and it’s not easy to prove that they’re doing it on purpose. I didn’t even realize until a few days ago.”
“Isn’t it illegal?”
“Not really. Not unless I can prove they’re doing something underhanded.”
Emily tried to think of a way she could help. Although she was not an expert in the fluctuations of the stock market, she knew Christine was behind this, and Christine was probably the answer to resolving it.
“Do you think Christine is in love with you?” she asked.
Byron scoffed. “She was, maybe. Back when I used ruthless business practices that she approved of. I think that’s why she became interested in me.”
“Have you really changed your way of doing business?” Emily asked.
“Yes, in large part thanks to you. I care much more now about not causing financial damage because I always wonder what you would say. Maybe Christine thinks you’ve ruined me.” He smirked, rubbing the side of his jaw, which was dotted with stubble. He had been too busy to shave lately... or to do other things which Emily craved. This situation was even affecting their sex life, and it had to be dealt with.
“I think Christine is still in love with you,” Emily said.
“That’s very flattering,” Byron said, his eyes smouldering beneath his dark eyebrows, “I know you see me through love-tinted glasses, but not so many other people do.”
“No, remember what she said about how you could have been a power couple? And there was regret written all over her face. She still has feelings for you. Maybe we could use this against her.”
“Even if that were true, how could we possibly save my stock from crashing?” Byron asked.
“I might have an idea... This is all Christine’s doing. I’m sure it was her idea for Pierre Pollock to launch this financial war on you. You can stop it if you tricked her into giving away information on how they did it. I’m sure it’s something illegal. If you convinced her that you loved her back--”
“That’s way too dangerous,” Byron said. “And it would involve getting close to Christine, which is not something I would relish.”
“Okay then,” Emily said, “I hope your financial wizards can pull this one out of the bag.”
Yet there was never any good news from the financial front. Every time Byron talked on the phone with his advisors, he grew more and more gloomy.
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