Chapter 95

DORIS

Arthur got me and an assistant for Heritage Properties, who had just gotten her real estate license. She was efficient and eager, and she took over all the real estate deals I thought would close soon.

Arthur recommended an entertainment lawyer, and she went over my music contract and said it was very good, so I signed it.

Arthur took me to a small French restaurant, reserving the entire back room to celebrate elegance without interruption.

Arthur treated me like a princess, feeding me bites of cake at the end of the meal and looking at me like I was the most precious woman in the world.

“I can get used to this,” I said.

“I hope you will because I’ll never get tired of doing it.”

Afterward, we walked through the busy cacophonous and Times Square. One of the billboards featured a photo of Taylor Swift promoting her new concert.

We looked up at the billboard.

“That will be you someday soon.”

“I’ll never be on that level, but I had gotten to the point where my childhood dreams seemed impossible. Now I have hope.”

Arthur softly dragged his knuckles down my cheek. “You taught me to never give up hope.”

We returned to the penthouse and made love, sweet and somehow congratulatory.

I fell asleep nestled in his arms. It was amazing how everything changed. I went from feeling angry and upset to feeling that everything was amazing and right in my world.

We woke to Arthur’s phone. It rang, stopped, rang again.

I opened my eyes. “What time is it?”

Arthur looked at his expensive Patek Philippe watch. “6 a.m.," he said.

The phone stopped ringing and started again.

“Good morning. What’s going on?” Arthur said into the phone.

Every muscle in Arthur's body tensed. “We'll be there soon.” He hung up.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s the pharmaceutical company. The labs and all the offices are on fire.”

We raced to the company, but there was morning traffic.

As we turned the corner about to enter the long driveway, I saw it was much worse than anticipated. The entire large building was completely on fire, the flames licking up into the sky like some devilish inferno.

There were six firetrucks. I’m sure the firefighters were doing their best, but this was 'you can’t believe it's that horrible' level.

We found Emma, the head scientist.

“What happened?” Arthur asked her.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Lab fires occasionally happen, but this is different. I’ve never seen a fire like this. It’s every office, the science labs, the manufacturing plant in the back, everything.”

Emma’s expression was hard. “There weren’t many people in the offices because it’s so early. There were factory workers on the line because we make the drug 24/7. But all the new formulas we worked on are literally up in smoke. They’re gone. All our new research, gone."

We spent a long time staring, watching the professionals try to get the fire under control.

Eventually, the fire chief came over to us. He was a grizzly-looking bear of a man with short hair and wrinkled skin. He looked to be in his late 50s.

“You’re the business owner?” He asked Arthur

Arthur put his arm around me. “We are."

“Everything's under control now. My guys are putting out the last of it. No casualties. We'll have to do a full investigation. There was accelerant in three separate places, so my guess is this is arson.”

The chief paused to wipe some grime off his face. “The police will investigate as well. We'll get our reports to you as soon as we can.” He walked away.

“Arson,” Arthur whispered.

“It appears you have enemies,” Emma said. "This will set us back months, if not years.”

The rest of our day was somber. Arthur had enough money to rebuild quickly, but the new formulas that were lost were a huge blow.

I remembered Noah's treatment and how Dr. John Enoch and Jeff Wasserman had both been underhanded and manipulative. Yes, we still had competition and enemies. They hadn’t forgotten about us, even if we had forgotten about them.

“I will find out who did this and ruin them,” Arthur said. “I will make them so miserable in every aspect of their life they will wish they were never born."

I had never seen such a vengeful expression on Arthur’s face. It was full of raw power. He would crush his enemies, throw them into hell, and lock them there forever.

Arthur's passion, power, determination, and pure masculine energy rolling off him told me he would do it. It was sexy, and if we hadn’t been so upset about all the damage, I think I would’ve stripped him out of his clothes right then.

For the next two weeks, we were absorbed in investigating the arson, rebuilding the labs in the offices, and setting up extra security. The fire did make the news, and Arthur’s PR team managed to spin it into a positive story, never letting on that we had lost some crucial formulas.

Luckily, the formula and sample for one of our main drugs had already gone to the Food and Drug Administration to be tested. The fire encouraged the government to work faster, and our drug moved to Phase 2 trials.

Quinton and Pierre got into a fight on the ice. Quinton got some bad press for supposedly pressuring a woman into going out with him, so this was another strike against him.

Arthur and I discussed it, and Arthur decided to fire Quinton. Then we were looking for another good hockey player to replace him.

It was the start of a new season, so the timing wasn’t great. But I had learned these last few weeks that Arthur knew how to roll with the punches and come out on top.

By the end of the month, Arthur and I were both exhausted.

I was grateful that Becky’s family took Mia on so many interesting trips. Mrs. Martinez also had more free time than usual, so she made it her job to treat Mia like the granddaughter she never had and took her to see a new animated film.

Cathy hadn’t tried anything underhanded in a while, but I didn’t put it past her to come back with something new and even more devious. On the plus side, she did send us photos of her sonogram, and the baby looked like it was doing well.

I had kept my job at the Sultan Room, but now I sang once every other week, on Saturday nights. It worked out perfectly for me. I still got more practice singing in front of a great crowd, but I didn’t have to worry about juggling too many jobs.

Now it was Friday night, and Mia was sleeping over Becky’s house again.

We had ordered dinner from fancy restaurants almost every night this week, but tonight, Arthur and I decided on pizza from his favorite place, which reminded me why New York pizza is famous for its deliciousness.

“Little Dove,” Arthur said, and I could tell he was going to say something interesting. “I want to do something special for you.”

“Oh, Arthur, everything you do is special. I don’t need anything extra."

Arthur reached for my hand across the table and squeezed it. “I found this company that can research your family history."

My eyes narrowed.

“I know you didn’t know your dad when you were growing up, and your mom was taken from you too early. This company does an excellent job of tracing your family tree back 300 years. Then they make a beautiful presentation that you can keep forever, telling you about all of your ancestors and the things they did."

I looked at Arthur. I didn’t know if this was sweet or invasive, but it was an interesting idea.

“They’ll also let you know if you have any distant cousins who are still alive, and if you want, they’ll send a letter on your behalf, contacting them. I know a lot is going on right now, but as I said, I wanted to do something special."

Arthur looked at me with love in his eyes. "This is a great present that I can give you. You said you didn’t know anything about your grandparents and great-grandparents. This will at least let you know where you come from.”

“It’s an interesting idea. Let me think about it. OK?”

“Of course, no pressure. You don’t have to do it. I can always buy your jewelry.”

I laughed. "And I can always have sex with you wearing just the jewelry."

"Well, I do like you naked," he said and smiled that wolf grin that always made my body feel happy from the tip of my hair to the bottom of my toes.

On Monday, Arthur interviewed a sports consultant who combined coaching, sports, psychology, and advising on PR sports branding strategies. Arthur wanted to hire her immediately. She had glowing references, and Arthur thought she would make the difference between the Arctic Avalanches having an average season and a winning one.

Arthur asked me to meet her and give input. That made me feel special because it’s not like I knew much about hockey. That he included me in this decision made us feel like partners, and it was just another thing that made me feel better.

I smiled to myself that night as I slipped between the sheets next to Arthur.

Partners.