Chapter 26

Bad news.





We left Paris, boarding the plane in the late afternoon. I sat down, knowing that in an hour I would be back in my apartment without him. I couldn't pretend that I didn't have feelings for him. Soon, I would have to reveal my secret.
"Why are you so quiet, firecracker?"
"Because I don’t want to go back."
"Me neither, but we both have to get back to work."
"I know."
"Just relax. I'm not going anywhere."
It would be so much easier if I could just tell him what was mounting inside my head. I didn't want to be rejected. I was too afraid to tell him the truth. On the outside, I was a strong, independent woman, but inside, I wanted to be loved by Nathaniel La Caz.
We arrived in London just after twelve, and Nathaniel dropped me home.
When I passed through my door and went upstairs I instantly knew that something was wrong. I remembered locking the door before I left, but now the door was unlocked. I swallowed a giant lump in my throat and pushed the door. Straight away, I was hit with the realisation that I had been robbed. My flat looked like it had been turned upside down. All my stuff was on the floor, all my furniture damaged. My books, clothes, and everything else that I had in the drawers had been ripped out and tossed on the floor. My skin tingled; I could smell and feel the magic. I was so glad that I had a landline. Shaking, I picked up the phone and dialled Nathaniel’s number. Then I called my dad and told him to come over. My thoughts were tangled as I went through my destroyed belongings. Someone was looking for something here. I felt like there was nothing else to do—I started sobbing.

***

"Are you all right?" Dad asked, releasing me from a tight hug.
"I'm fine," I replied, wiping up my tears. I had to pull myself together, everything could be replaced. The Paranormal Unit was all over my apartment, checking the intensity of the spells and collecting evidence. My best clothes and jewellery were gone. At least I had the stuff that Nathaniel bought me in Paris, but everything else was either damaged or hexed. My clothes were torn, my dishes in pieces, and furniture was going to the skip. Someone made an effort not to leave anything at all and to make me very miserable. Whoever it was succeeded. When Dad arrived, I sobbed like an idiot for at least ten minutes, pouring out my tears and frustration. Nathaniel wasn't here yet.
"Cheer up, hon, I’ll help you clean everything up," Dad said, patting me on the back. "Tell me about Paris; how was it?"
"It was great. We both enjoyed ourselves; I met Nathaniel’s family," I sobbed. "They’re all very nice."
"Good, I'm glad that you had a good time. You deserved a break." Dad nodded. "Oh, there’s La Caz now."
Nathaniel arrived nodding to Dad.
"Julia," he said, cuddling me, "I'm sorry that it took me so long. There was an accident and I was stuck in traffic."
“It's fine. I'm just being silly."
Nathaniel scanned my apartment and his body tensed. "Do you have any idea what went on here, Mr. Taylor?" he asked while my dad was in the process of giving orders to one of the officers.
"The magic is still in the air, and the unit is collecting necessary evidence. Julia mentioned that all her magic artefacts are missing."
The artefacts that were missing didn't have any value, so I didn't understand why anyone would want to take them. I bought them when I was younger during school trips. Some of them were given to me by friends and my grandmother.
"They made sure that everything had been trashed, hexing the whole space." Dad said, then added, "While you were away, the unit got an anonymous phone call about Rufus."
"So, what happened? Did you find him?" I asked, feeling that after an evening like this I could do with some good news.
Dad shook his head. "No, it was a false alarm. I'm guessing that someone is trying to tell us that he’s alive."
"Mr. Taylor, I presume that someone knew that Julia was away; this doesn’t look like an amateur job." Nathaniel shifted the subject back to my apartment.
"I agree with you La Caz. Hon, I didn't mention anything to your mother because I didn't want to worry her, so keep it quiet, but this is starting to worry me."
"I don’t understand why anyone would hate me so much."
"What about your ex-boyfriend, Jasper? He threatened you before?" Dad confirmed, narrowing his eyes.
"I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so," I replied, thinking about Jasper’s obsession with me. But after our last meeting, I would guess that he might be capable of doing something like this.
"Your ex-boyfriend or not we won’t be taking any chances. You’ll stay with me until your apartment is sorted," Nathaniel said.
"You don’t have to do this, Nathaniel, I—"
"No discussion, Julia,” he insisted, cutting me off. “Take whatever you need. You’re staying with me."
"I think Nathaniel is right,” Dad agreed. We can’t worry your mum. Two officers will be outside checking for any intruders."
"Thank you, Mr. Taylor. I promise to look after your daughter."
"I'm sure you will, La Caz," he muttered, kissing my forehead. "I need to take care of this investigation, hon. I’ll call you later."
I grabbed whatever I could and left with Nathaniel. Roberto picked us up outside. It started raining when we got to Nathaniel’s place.
"Listen, I appreciate what you’re doing, but I’ll be out of here as soon as I can," I said when we were just about to leave the car.
"Julia, you’re being silly," he said, kissing me. "We’re in a relationship and I wouldn't want you to stay anywhere else."
I smiled and decided to shut up. Maybe I was being paranoid. He didn't want to get married, but I was still his girlfriend and he was going to take care of me. Once we were inside I put my stuff away and we both made dinner. It was late, and I still couldn't get over the fact that I was going to live with him, even if it was only temporary.
"I'm sorry that I have to bring this up again, but I know that you like your independence and I’ll only distur—"
"All right, enough. Tell me what’s on your mind." He was serious, standing in his pristine kitchen holding a knife.
"Listen, here is the thing, maybe someone deliberately started a fire in our hotel? Then I arrive home and my whole apartment has been vandalised?"
"I can check that," he said. "Stop worrying about your apartment. I’ll get people there tomorrow. No one is going to hurt you. McGregor lost his power and resources."
"How do you know?” I protested. “I mean, Rufus is still out there."
“I've got my people looking for him," he said, tensing his jaw. "Stop worrying and leave this to me and your father. You’re safe."
"I don’t have any clothes here, the stuff you bought me is nice, but I can’t wear it to bed.”
"There are clothes in my wardrobe that you can use," he said. "I asked my assistant to get something for you while I was stuck in traffic.
My jaw dropped, and I stared at him bewildered for several seconds. "Thank you.”
He smiled. Indeed, in his bedroom I found bags with a new nighty, underwear and some office clothes. Nathaniel’s assistant knew my style and size. Nathaniel had thought about everything. I had a long, relaxing bath and then we had a fabulous steak for dinner with wine. I had an early night, feeling slightly agitated sleeping in Nathaniel’s apartment. I fell asleep, and when he slipped in next to me later, I felt happy.
***
The following morning was hectic. We both woke up late and after a quick shower, Nathaniel dropped me at work. Two undercover officers followed us and watched me as I ran into the office around ten o’clock in the morning. Dad probably asked them to be more vigilant about what was going on around me, but it felt more like they were just stalking me.
"Morning, Kate. I'm sorry that I'm late; it’s a long story," I said, breathless. Kate was already in the office going through some of her files.
“Don't worry, you can’t be that late. Sara isn’t here yet." She chuckled. "So… spill; how was Paris?"
"Fantastic." I smiled widely. "Apart from the fact that we had to be evacuated from our hotel; a fire broke out on our floor. Then it was great again, and the next thing I knew when I turned up at my door, I discovered that I’d been robbed."
"What? Someone broke into your apartment?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yes, and trashed all my stuff."
"Shit," she muttered. "Is anything missing?"
"Some magical objects," I explained. "My father doesn’t think that it was just a random robbery. Whoever did it, must have known that I was out of town."
“It's easy, then, McGregor or your mental ex-boyfriend."
"I thought about him, but that’s not his style."
"He looks like that sort of scum," she said. "So where did you stay yesterday? Your parents?"
"No, I stayed with Nathaniel in Canary Wharf."
"Lovely, so, I guess the trip to Paris went well?"
I smiled, remembering the happiest days that I spent with Nathaniel. It didn't matter that he didn't want to get married right now. Who knew what future could bring to the both of us?
"It was amazing."
"Are you sure?" she asked. "You don’t seem yourself."
"I'm fine, just worried. I mean I enjoyed myself, but Rufus is still missing while I was out having fun. His wife must be going through hell."
“Don't beat yourself up over this. Everyone needs a break once in a while." “I've got some news as well."
I sat on my desk and raised my eyebrow. "Yeah and what’s that?"
"I had a date.” She smiled, waving her magic wand to switch the kettle on. "Kelsie introduced me to him on Friday. He’s a shifter, and works as an accountant."
"Really? Wow."
"Yeah, I know. I didn't see this coming either, but he seems intelligent and down to earth, so I decided to go."
We were soon interrupted by a client, so our conversation had to wait. An hour later, I asked Lucinda to let me know if she was willing to hire Kelsie. I managed to get through to her after eleven. She wasn't very much impressed with her, but after some convincing she decided to give her a chance. Sara showed up in the office apologising for being late. I couldn't deal with her today, so I waved it off.
I called Kelsie straight after my conversation with Lucinda and gave her the good news. After going through important matters, I told her about my trip to Paris and the robbery in my apartment. Kelsie also had some news: she was dating a new shifter. She even mentioned that they were already pretty serious. I did a lot of eye rolling during this conversation, but hey, that was Kelsie, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Dad called in the afternoon. Apparently, one of my human neighbours heard a group of women in the late hours of the morning, but no one could describe what they looked like. The police found some traces of magic. Dad’s phone call only made me more confused because one of his wizards discovered that that all the spells had been cast by a fairy. This didn't make much sense and Dad seemed as lost as me. He was going to go through all the CCTV around my block, but I doubted very much that he would find anything on any of those recordings. I began to wonder if I was missing something. I didn't know any fairies apart from Nicky, and she didn't have a reason to break into my apartment
I went for lunch around one o’clock and bought a bowl of pasta. When I got to the office a half an hour later, I felt exhausted.
"You need to look at this," Kate said as I stormed through the door. She was holding a copy of the Daily Secret; the paper that focused on the lives of the most famous paranormals. When I saw the title I nearly fell off my chair.
Pharmaceutical millionaire brings his date to Paris.