HIS STRIPPER, HIS WIFE novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Bianca

55 vouchers

Vague messages? I shook my head, I never cared about them. I dropped my phone and looked around the room, can’t believe I still did not know what city I was in.

That was the part I kept circling back to while I unpacked my bag and arranged my things on the hotel bathroom counter. I had been so caught up in everything that happened that I didn’t even ask before we left.

And now asking Felix felt like the kind of question that would make me look incompetent in a way I could not recover from. So I decided I would figure it out quietly, like an adult.

I woke up the next morning feeling extra refreshed and I immediately went to have my bath. The bathroom alone was bigger than my bedroom at home and I spent a moment longer than necessary standing under the shower because the water pressure was the kind that made you forget you had problems.

I let it run and stood there and did not think about the plane or the text message I had received the night before or the way Adrian made me feel..

When I came out and got dressed, the next problem introduced itself, which was food. I had no idea how ordering worked in this hotel, I had no idea if I was supposed to call someone or go somewhere or if there was a menu on my phone or what. I stood in the middle of the room in my robe, damp and slightly helpless, trying to figure out the least embarrassing way to eat breakfast.

Then I heard a soft knock on the door, I opened the door and had to take a small, private moment to compose myself because the man standing on the other side of it was unfairly attractive. Tall, easy smile, the kind of face that made you forget what you were about to say.

“Good morning ma’am,” he said, polite and professional. “From Felix. I will be your go-to person while you are here, so what do you need this morning?”

My brain, still processing his face, sent back a very useful response.

“Eat,” I said. Then, “food.” Then I stopped talking because that was not a sentence.

He nodded like I had communicated something completely reasonable, turned around and closed the door behind him, and I stood there for a second before going to sit on the bed and have a quiet word with myself about basic human

communication.

He came back maybe twenty minutes later with enough food to feed four people. A tray loaded with things I hadn’t asked for specifically but all of which turned out to be exactly what I wanted, eggs done properly, fresh bread, fruit, juice and other things that could last me the whole day.

He set it down, told me his name was Adam, Felix’s cousin, and dropped his number on the table beside the tray.

“You can call me for anything you need,” he said simply, and left.

I sat down and ate like someone who had not eaten properly in two days, which was accurate. While I ate I scrolled through my phone and looked at everything that had piled up since yesterday.

Felix had sent documents through the night, there were spreadsheets and briefing notes and a draft agenda for one of our projects. I put my fork down and started going through them properly because that was the job and the job did not pause because I had made questionable decisions on a private jet.

Amanda had also sent me messages. Several of them, spread out over the previous evening and into the morning, each one a little more pointed than the last. I read through them and then sat back and thought carefully about what to say. Amanda can be very sneaky and if I gave her anything that sounded like I was hiding information she would ask six follow-up

11:54 Wed, Jul 22 d

Chapter 24

questions and I did not have the energy for that this morning.

55 vouchers

I was still composing the reply in my head when my phone buzzed with a new message. “Event tonight. 7pm to 11pm. Bringing your dress in a few minutes.”

“Oh Adam” I said, placing the phone on the table and then I put my forehead on the table next to it.

An event for tonight? which meant everything I had planned to finish lazily this evening now had to be done before 6pm, which meant starting immediately.

“Arghhhhh.” I picked the phone back up.

“I had an emergency, thank you for checking in. I will catch up on everything today.” I sent to Amanda

Short and not enough detail to invite questions. I sent it before I could second guess it and went back to Felix’s documents/

For the next few hours I worked, properly worked, the kind where you forget to check the time and when you look up you are surprised by how much of the day has moved. The hotel room turned out to be a good place for it, quiet in a way my apartment rarely was, no noise coming through the walls, no interruptions.

I went through the briefing notes, pulled out the important sections, started a clean summary document the way Felix liked them, and only stopped when Adam knocked again.

He came in with two garment bags draped over one arm and a woman beside him who had a full kit bag over her shoulder, I could guess she was the makeup artiste. I didn’t even ask questions, I just sat in the chair they pointed me to.

The makeup artist worked quickly and without much conversation, which I appreciated because I still had one document open on my laptop and I was reading it between glances in the mirror.

Adam unzipped the first garment bag when she was done, the dress was black, fitted through the body and elegant without being stiff. I changed, came back out, and Adam looked at me with the brief, professional nod of someone confirming a job

well done.

“Good,” he said. That was it.

He came back about twenty minutes later in a suit that explained immediately why Felix had sent him specifically. He was presentable in a way that made sense for wherever we were going.

We went down together and got into the car waiting outside and I finally looked at the buildings passing the window and started to piece together where exactly I had landed. The streets had a particular feel to them, the signage, the pace of things, and I decided I would look it up later and pretend I had known all along.

In the car, I checked my phone one last time. It was a message from Felix.

“When they get to the insider segment, don’t miss anything. Take notes. Everything”.

“Understood.” I typed back that and put the phone in my clutch.

The venue was large, there were cars lined up ahead of us and people moving toward the entrance in beautiful clothes. When our car stopped, Adam came around to my side and offered his hand, I took it and stepped out.

The paparazzi were quick, There were more of them than I expected and the cameras started before I had fully straightened up. I smiled widely trying to fit into it and kept walking. Adam’s hand was steady at the small of my back, guiding without pushing, and between the two of us we moved through it without stopping.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify