41. WHO YOU LEAST EXPECTED
Aiden didn't know what to expect from Thomas as he and Julian pulled into the somewhat full parking lot of Grayson Enterprise.
Nonetheless, on the fairly short drive over here, Aiden had been hoping that whatever type of news his father had so desperately wanted to deliver to him in person, that it was something of actual importance, and not a complete waste of his and Julian's time – time that the two of them could have spent reconnecting with one another in the confines of Aiden's bedroom after having been apart from each other for the last three days.
"What's with all the paparazzi today?" Julian asked. Aiden shrugged his shoulders. "I've never seen so many of them out front before. I wonder what's going on."
"With Thomas back in charge, anything is possible," Aiden replied, exiting the car. Julian followed after him, putting an unnecessary amount of space between them. It hadn't been on purpose but instead was done out of habit. "Besides, I don't work here anymore, so I'm no longer in the loop of things, remember?"
Julian nodded as Aiden moved closer to him, taking him by surprise when he grabbed Julian's hand.
"Grayson..." Julian whispered warily, and it didn't take long for the pap's to notice and swarm them as they walked up the stairs of Grayson Enterprise, hand in hand. "There's no going back after this," Julian said to his inexpressive looking lover, knowing that all the photos of them that were currently being taken would probably be up on the web within minutes for the entire world to see. "There's really no going back now."
"I know, Julian." Aiden smiled. "I never intended on going back to where we were before. All that shit is over and done with now. I don't care about what the world's response will be to us being together. Fuck the world. Other people's opinions don't matter to me anymore."
Julian was dumbfounded at how unconcerned Aiden looked. There wasn't anything in his tone that led Julian to believe that Aiden was uneasy or anxious. In fact, Aiden looked like he didn't have a care in the world.
"I've already told my family about us, that wasn't easy, but we got through it," Aiden said. "The rest of the world might as well know about us too, they were going to find out eventually, so why not today? Hell, them all being here is kind of doing us a favor."
"But what about all the backlash—" Julian started.
"Don't worry about the backlash. I'm not," Aiden said. "And stop looking like you want to freak out right now because you're starting to make me nervous."
"Sorry." Julian tossed his concerns aside and grinned wide, even though he really did want to freak out, but from how elated he felt. "I just wish that I had on a better outfit. Our picture is going to be plastered all over the web and I look like...Oh God." Julian paused, laughing. "I sound like Cassie right now."
"Yeah, you do and don't worry about your outfit. You look incredible. You always do." Aiden tried to reassure his lover even though he was also slightly amused by Julian's sudden self-consciousness. "Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot and can answer to me if it's a problem."
Julian blushed, not saying anything back as he found himself actually enjoying being the center of attention for once. Though it was short-lived, however, as the two of them eventually made their way up to the two large double doors and entered the building.
They finally escaped all the bright flashing lights from the various paparazzi's cameras while the two of them then headed for the elevator to make their way up to the top floor to visit with Thomas in his office - an office that, for the last five years, had belonged to Aiden up until a short while ago.
"It feels weird to be back in this building again," Aiden muttered, mostly talking to himself as his grip on Julian's hand tightened. "You know, all of this is actually kind of funny in a way."
"How so?" Julian asked.
"Because I used to hate being around the press and the media, but now, I don't know. I felt more comfortable out there in front of all those pap's than what I feel right now having to be here again seeing Thomas." Aiden sighed, shaking his head, wishing that things could be different from what they currently were. "This is all such a big mess."
"But it's nothing that we can't handle." Julian smiled, kissing Aiden on the hand. "Let's hope this meeting is a short one because I don't want to be here any more than you do."
"I know." Aiden laughed. "I can tell from the dramatic I-Wish-I-Didn't-Have-To-Meet-Your-Dickhead-Father-Again look on your face."
"It's that obvious?" Julian chuckled. Aiden nodded.
Their elevator ride was short. When the doors opened, Aiden and Julian stepped out still holding hands, headed towards Aiden's old office.
"What's this urgent news that you had me come all the way down here for?" Aiden's words trailed off as he and Julian paused at the door, not quite crossing the threshold as Aiden's eyes drifted from Thomas over to the three men that were standing in the corner of the office. "Greg? What the hell are you doing here?" Aiden was beyond baffled to see Greg Mathis and two other police from the Bradford City Police Department standing here. When they didn't say anything back, Aiden turned his attention back to his father. "How did you know Greg was the one on my case for Clarissa?"
"I have eyes and ears everywhere," Thomas answered. "And when it comes to you and your safety, well, I'm always trying to look out for you there. You're my son. I only want what's best for you and with situations like the one you're in now, I only want the best of the best working on your case. And after doing some digging of my own, I discovered that the men at the Bradford City Police Department are damn good at what they do. But never mind why they're here. We'll get to that shortly."
Thomas stood from his desk, holding a thin manila folder in his hands as he walked towards Aiden and Julian. He didn't acknowledge their hand holding or Julian's presence, for that matter.
"It's good to see you again, Aiden. I really wish you knew just how sorry—" Thomas started.
"I'm not here for your apologies," Aiden cut him off. "Just get to the point of why I'm here, Thomas."
Thomas sighed heavily, he knew that getting through to Aiden and getting him to believe that his apology was genuine would be anything but easy; however, no matter how long it'd take, he would continue to fight for Aiden's forgiveness. Kyle's, too.
"These pictures were caught by the security cameras last week." Thomas handed Aiden the folder he'd been holding. Aiden anxiously went through the contents of the folder; Julian couldn't help but peer over his shoulder, eager to see what was inside.
Thomas continued talking. "Ever since your stalker vandalized the building, I've had my men go over the security footage at the end of every day to make she hadn't snuck up on us again. It's a good thing I did that because as you can see, she's been back consorting with one of our own." Thomas watched Aiden's face light up in disappointment after he figured out who Thomas was talking about. "For the original footage, I had to send it off to a specialist to get the images cleared up. I just got the new and improved images back this morning. I called you as soon as they hit my desk."
"I can't believe this..." Aiden muttered to himself, feeling a mixture of rage and bewilderment as he continued to flip through the hard to process images of two women standing at the back entrance of the building.
The scenery in the pictures was dark, so the women had obviously met during the night, but Aiden could still make out the faces of the two women and it was one in particular that sent him flying over the edge of the invisible cliff he'd been standing on because never in a million years did he ever think he'd get stabbed in the back like this by someone he barely knew.
And the worst part about it all, she'd been under his nose the entire damn time.
"You're telling me that Davina, the fucking secretary, is the one who has been working with Clarissa?!" Aiden, blood boiling and hands trembling, passed the manila folder to Julian because he was unable to look at the pictures any further. "She's been the inside man?"
Aiden felt stupid and ridiculously humiliated because not only was he one-upped by a psychotic bitch that couldn't let go of the brief past that they shared, but also by a woman who – as far as he was aware – he's never even held a full conversation with.
"The inside woman," Thomas corrected him. "Yes, she has been. And as soon as I figured out who she was, I had her records pulled and went over them with my team. I found out that sitting behind the desk and answering the telephone isn't all that she's good at," Thomas said in a sarcastic tone.
"Davina Holmes is also pretty tech-savvy, more than your average secretary," Thomas continued. "And not only that, but she's been right down the hall from your, or what is now my office with loads of personal information sitting around for the taking. Now I haven't actually managed to catch her on camera trying to get in there, then again, my men are still sorting through all the footage from over the past month when all this shit started so we can't rule that out just yet. However, there have been some recent attacks – one being successful – on our system that, if you put two and two together, has her name written all over it. I know that it had to be her because this hacking shit hadn't started until this mess with your stalker began. She was trying to get information about you to Clarissa."
"It all makes sense now." Julian's mind was racing as he thought aloud. "Davina had access to just about everything - Aidan's work schedule, the places where he was going to be, the times that he was supposed to be there, his address, probably everyone in his family's address, all types of confidential information. Davina had it all at her fingertips and because she did, so did Clarissa."
"Yeah, and someone tried to erase the footage from that night as well," Thomas said. "They were unable to do it and my men took notice and informed me about it. I'm sure it was that Davina. She hasn't been to work in over a week, right around the time that the footage is dated. She probably—"
"She stopped showing up because she couldn't get rid of the footage and knew that she and Clarissa had been exposed," Julian finished Thomas' sentence, unable to help himself as some of the pieces to the puzzle started to fall into place.
"She's bright, but also very fucking stupid." Thomas chuckled, shaking his head. "She's still in town living her life like she hasn't done anything wrong. I don't know what she's thinking, but she's still at her current address and it doesn't look like she's planning on leaving anytime soon. I had my men scope it out this morning to be sure. I got the message back that she's there right now, like a sitting duck. And for my own amusement, I had one of my assistants call her to see why she's been skipping out on work, and her response was the flu."
"Unbelievable," Aiden muttered, still having a hard time believing what he was hearing.
"The reason why I called down Greg and his team is because I knew you'd want to run off and confront her on your own. But in the instance that the crazy bitch is with her, you'll at least be protected with them by your side," Thomas said. He then looked at Julian and smiled sincerely. "No offense to you."
"None taken." Julian rolled his eyes.
"So, what do you want to do, son?" Thomas asked Aiden. "This is your case. And I know that I shouldn't have interfered, but at least be glad that we're one step closer to ending all this madness. And hopefully, all the answers that you've been dying to know, Davina will be able to provide you with them. So, what do you want to do?"
"I want to go confront the bitch." Aiden moved to go to the door, but Julian stopped him. "Can it wait?" he shouted, unintentionally. "We have to go, Julian. Now."
"You need to wear a wire or something – you have to be smart about this," Julian said. "If you're going to confront her then you need to wear a wire and get her to make a confession, something that'll pin her and Clarissa to all this because Davina can't be arrested off a bunch of blurry photographs. We need more proof and what's better than verbal admission?"
"He's right," Greg Mathis spoke up. "That's why me and my boys came prepared. All of our equipment is in our car outside. It's a really simple process, we can get you set up in no time, Mr. Grayson."
"Sounds like a plan." Aiden nodded to the men. "Let's get going."
. . . . .