Chapter 1
- Julian Turner stared at his older brother in shock.
- “You’ll kick me out of my own company?” he asked the
- golden-haired, green-eyed man who towered over him by five inches.
- Anyone who’d lay eyes on Christian and Julian can immediately
- tell that the two weren’t related. And they wouldn’t be wrong in saying so, for
- they weren’t.
- Christian Turner was the legitimate son and heir to
- their late parents, Cecelia and Damien Turner, founders of Turner Security and
- James Bay Medical Center in Canada. While Christian had fair skin and a lean
- built, Julian had a slight olive complexion that hinted of an Italian
- ancestry, bulging muscles, and a body most women fall for.
- Where Christian had blond hair and emerald eyes,
- Julian had midnight black hair and electric blue eyes. There was one thing about
- the older brother, however, that stood out more than his intimidating height.
- It was the scar on one side of his face, which he had acquired during a battle in
- Afghanistan when he was still in the army.
- “Your reputation will be the end of you and this
- company,” his brother said instead. “I’m not going to let our parents’ hard
- work go to ruins because you couldn’t keep it in your pants.”
- Julian gritted his teeth. Yes, he knew he was a bit of a
- player, but it’s not like he forced anyone. Everyone he had slept with came to
- him at their own free will, and no one ever complained about it when it was time
- for him to leave. He wanted to say that to Christian, come up with some excuse
- that he was capable of becoming the CEO, just like his parents had wanted him
- to be. But he couldn’t, not when he hadn’t had a single case in the last two
- months.
- “Give me one last chance,” he said with his hands
- clenched at his sides. “I swear I’ll be worth it. I will prove that my skills are—and
- still—of value.”
- Christian sighed, rubbing at his temples. “I never
- doubted your skills as a bodyguard, Julian. You know this isn’t about that. But
- I’m willing to give you one last chance.” His emerald eyes met Julian’s
- electric blue ones, making sure that his little brother understood his point.
- “But this is it, Julian, no more second chances. You fail this one, and you lose
- the company.”
- Julian’s face was all hard lines, skin taut over his
- cheekbones, as he nodded in understanding. “I won’t disappoint you.”
- Christian hoped that for his own sake, Julian better
- not.
- * * *
- Julian looked at his watch for the nth time before
- turning his gaze towards the closed door. He’d been at Magenta Fashion for
- nearly three hours now, and he could feel all the sympathetic stares directed at
- him by the employees. Apparently, Sia Milton went into these sudden “creative
- sprees” and would lock herself up in her office for hours on end. No one had
- any idea when she was coming out, but Julian couldn’t just up and leave either.
- He needed this job desperately, and he’ll wait the entire day if he had to.
- Besides, he couldn’t imagine a fifty-something-year-old
- woman cooped up in her office all day; she’ll need to come out eventually. This client particularly liked to keep to
- herself as Julian had never seen Sia Milton even though she was close to being
- a celebrity with her popularity. She shies away from the media and even
- avoids coming to her own fashion shows. He had a vague idea that her secrecy
- was exactly the reason he had been called to her office. Now, he’ll need to find
- out the reason behind it, so he could protect her from future harm.
- Julian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. If he
- weren’t so desperate, he wouldn’t be here in the first place, waiting for a woman
- who ran a fashion house who had so much ego but no respect for a person’s time.
- And on top of that, it was Ms. Milton herself who had made the appointment.
- The promise he’d made to Christian ran through his mind
- as he sat outside Sia Milton’s office. It wasn’t his abilities that Julian
- doubted. No, far from it. He was the best in his field with a hundred percent
- job completion rate. It was his character, or rather the lack of it, he feared.
- He knew he had fucked up in the past, and he wasn’t going to blame it on
- anyone. He was who he was. He’d committed no crimes, but people have now become
- wary of him.
- He couldn’t help it, though. He’d definitely hit all the
- right genes in the looks department: tall, over 6’1”, and a muscular built. Strong
- and lethal, he drew attention from miles away. But it was a shame that he
- always found himself involved with either his client’s daughter or his wife.
- This was also why he hadn’t yet had the opportunity of guarding a woman until
- now. Businesswomen and female celebrities steered clear of him, and married men
- have stopped hiring him entirely. If this kept up, Turner Security would soon
- be slammed.
- But he was interested to know why Sia was hiring him
- despite his reputation. She was the head of Magenta Fashion, a medium-sized
- fashion house which had gained popularity over the last eight years for its
- quality for a decent price. Their products were known for their durable
- materials, as well as their casual, wearable designs which flatter not only those
- from the upper class—like most of the fashion houses liked to focus on—but also
- people from the middle-class society. Why someone was after her life rather
- than ruining the fashion house was mind-boggling.
- Such attempts often happen when one party starts to get
- more profit and recognition, and another (or several others) tries to bring it
- down. But they usually try to sabotage the company, not the owner, not to
- mention to attempt an abduction of her thirteen-year-old son. He was cycling his
- way back from school on a rainy day, and the streets were pretty much deserted.
- That was all the detail he had been given upon arriving at Magenta this
- morning, and he had since then, read the file a hundred times over.
- Julian let his eyes wander the room. Purple couches
- lined the wall opposite to the boss’s room and a few potted flowering plants hung
- from the ceiling. A decent-sized bamboo plant was placed on either side of the
- entrance door to the office. The walls were painted in bright-colored patterns juxtaposed
- with the calm colors from a painting of a Victorian ballroom, drawing all the
- attention to it.
- A little further in the office, a sexy brunette
- secretary in a pink pencil skirt, white shirt, and pink killer high heels was
- giving him some serious come-hither looks. And as inviting as she may be, for
- once, Julian found himself more intrigued by the boss than her secretary.
- He was about to stand up to get a coffee from the
- canteen downstairs when the phone on the secretary’s desk began to ring. She
- picked it up hastily and started answering with quick “Yes, Ma’ams.” If Julian
- weren’t so stressed, he would have laughed at the startled expression on her
- face.
- He raised one dark eyebrow at the secretary once she had
- finished her phone call, who in turn blushed and pointed him to the door. “Go
- straight in,” she told him.
- It’s time, he
- thought to himself as he straightened his jacket and picked up the file in his
- hand. Then, he walked to the door and entered the room that would decide his
- future.