James POV:
The positive emotions didn't last long, unfortunately, even though I agreed to take her to work with me. There were paparazzi parked outside our apartment, but I led her past the pack of ravenous wolves without care, ignoring their existence for one day.
Normally, if there was a paparazzi, I wouldn't take her, but I broke my own rule. The office was pretty dead since the holidays were approaching, but clingy Susan had to ruin the perfectly good office with her existence.
"You're late, mister! You should've called." She said, jumping at me the moment I got in my office. Anaya gave her a dirty look but went to find Yoshan, who had promised to teach her a bit of coding, which she was very excited to learn.
"I had a long morning," I said dismissively, grabbing my laptop and following her to the first meeting of the day.
"Why? Trouble in paradise?" She asked playfully in a happy way that seemed like she would be only too happy for that to be true. I rolled my eyes but didn't comment as we sat down in the board room full of people waiting for my approval. Each person took their time going over boring financial statements and project proposals to 'project us into the future.'
How could my mind not wander? I could see Anaya through the glass walls of the conference room talking with Yoshan, beautiful as always, and laughing at something he said as if the world was perfect, and perhaps that was how she saw life, through rose-colored glasses. Her optimism and brightness, despite coming from one of the worst families I had ever seen, humbled me.
"James..."Someone called, getting my attention abruptly. My CFO looked at me over his glasses, sternly annoyed I hadn't responded yet.
"What was that?" I asked absently.
"I don't recall us having any projects or contracts in Turkey right now. I was just curious. Why are we authorizing 3.5 million dollars to an account there? I know you like to keep secrets about what you're working on, but you can't keep secrets from me. I have to have everything above board." He said promptly, his small frame and thin demeanor misrepresenting the bright mind that I had hired him for.
"Nonsense, I didn't sign off on anything." I snapped, annoyed at such an idiotic idea.
"You did. You approved the invoice earlier this morning, actually. I have it pending my approval, but if I hadn't put a hold on it, the funds would've already left."
I pulled up my email on my laptop and scrolled through the emails hurriedly, absolutely sure I would never have done such a thing. In my deleted emails tab, I found the invoice. I hadn't touched my phone until I got to the office this morning. Only one other person had access to it.
"Let's reschedule this meeting," I said, giving the CFO a pointed look to follow me before I dashed out the door to find Anaya.
She was in a small office printing out materials with Yoshan, her smile falling when she saw me, my anger tangible like a summer storm. I wanted to scream at the idiotic woman, demean her, and insult her so horridly that she would never send her family a dime again.
"What's wrong? Why are you angry?" She asked obliviously.
"You send millions of dollars to Turkey, that's why," Susan said, only too happy to see Anaya in trouble. I shut the door while I calmed myself, something I normally never would have done.
"What? I did no such thing." She said surely, her eyes wide with surprise. She normally looked sweet and innocent, but I saw a fire build in her eyes like a lion.
YOU ARE READING
Arranged to Him
RomanceI want the record to reflect that I didn't want this marriage. My husband is wealthy, which was a relief initially, but he is also friends with some dangerous people. I considered leaving, but I fell in love with him at some point, and now I have to...
