CHAPTER 17: Absolute Chaos

Sybil

I stood completely frozen in the center of the showroom. The store staff moved quickly and quietly around us. Mark locked the glass front doors and flipped the open sign to closed.

I was deeply uncomfortable. I had never seen anyone wield their wealth like a weapon before. Emrys just casually dismissed other people so he could have the entire room to himself. It felt wrong.

"Emrys," I whispered, stepping closer to him so the staff would not hear me. "You cannot just kick people out of a store."

"I did not kick them out," he replied smoothly without looking guilty at all. "I simply bought their privacy. Mark will give them a very nice discount on their next visit to make up for the inconvenience."

"We are supposed to be looking for a suit for you," I reminded him.

"I changed my mind."

He walked over to a rack of tailored dresses and started flipping through the hangers. He pulled out a sleek, emerald green dress and held it up to the light.

"I think we should shop for you instead," he said with a grin.

I shook my head immediately. "Absolutely not. I do not need clothes. I have been provided with a wardrobe at the estate."

"Elias provided you with corporate uniforms," he corrected. "Gray skirts and white blouses. You look like you are going to a funeral every single day."

"I look professional," I argued.

"You represent the Stavros family now," he told me as he handed the green dress to a waiting saleswoman. "You sit directly outside the CEO's office. You are the first person our international clients see when they walk through those doors. You need a wardrobe that actually reflects the power of this company."

"I cannot afford anything in this store," I said. "I looked at the price tag on that mannequin when we walked in. That jacket costs more than my rent."

Emrys laughed. It was a bright, easy sound. "You are not paying for any of this, Sybil."

"I am not letting you buy me clothes."

"I am not buying them," he reasoned, his hazel eyes full of mischief. "The company is buying them. Consider it a mandatory uniform upgrade. It is a strict business expense."

"It is not a business expense to buy a designer dress," I said.

Emrys completely ignored my protest. He walked to another rack and kept pulling items. He grabbed a black evening gown, a tailored navy blazer, and a silk blouse. He handed all of them to the saleswoman.

"Emrys, please stop," I tried again. "I do not even go anywhere to wear a gown."

"You live with three billionaires," he pointed out. "We throw a lot of charity events and corporate parties at the estate. You will need it."

He held up a bright red dress with a plunging neckline. "What do you think about this one?"

"I think it is too loud," I said.

"I think you are afraid of color," he teased.

"I am practical."

"We established in the car that practical is boring," he said. He tossed the red dress to the saleswoman anyway. "We are taking it."

I wanted to stay angry with him. I wanted to maintain my strict professional boundaries. But he was moving so fast, and his energy was so light, I found myself failing.

He made a joke about a terrible yellow suit Arthur Miller wore to a board meeting last year. The joke was so unexpected I actually smiled.

"There it is," he said softly. He stopped looking at the clothes and looked directly at my face. "I knew you knew how to smile."

My cheeks felt warm. I looked down at the floor, suddenly feeling very shy.

"Come on," Emrys said. "Let us go see how these look on you."

He guided me toward the back of the store. Mark opened the door to a massive, mirror lined fitting room. It was bigger than my old bedroom in the city.

Emrys stopped right at the threshold. I tried to step past him to go inside, but the doorway was narrow. He placed his hands on my waist to guide me through.

His hands were large and warm. He did not pull them away immediately after I stepped past him. His fingers lingered against my sides just a second too long.

My breath caught in my throat as I looked up at him.

The playful charm in his hazel eyes shifted. It changed into something much deeper and highly focused. The casual banter vanished. The tension between us spiked, thick and heavy in the quiet space of the fitting room doorway. He was looking at my lips.

I stood entirely breathless. I was acutely aware of his close proximity and his unwavering attention. He did not look like a man buying corporate uniforms. He looked like a man who knew exactly what he wanted.

"Try them on," he said quietly, his voice a low murmur. "I will be right out here."

He finally dropped his hands and stepped back. Mark closed the fitting room door for me.

I took a deep, shaky breath. I slipped out of my work clothes and put on the emerald green dress. The fabric hugged my body perfectly. I stepped out of the fitting room to show him.

Emrys was sitting on a velvet sofa. He looked up. His eyes darkened with absolute approval before he sent me a wink that made my cheeks heat up.

We spent the next forty minutes going through the clothes. I tried on the blazers and the skirts. He approved of everything. He handed Mark a black credit card without even looking at the final total.

The manager packed the clothes into several large shopping bags and Thomas carried them out to the car.

We got back into the backseat amd Thomas drove us out of the city and toward the estate as it was already mid evening.

The heavy tension from the fitting room faded, replaced once again by easy conversation. Emrys told a story about a disastrous charity dinner he attended last year.

I listened quietly as he described a wealthy board member accidentally knocking a towering ice sculpture onto a table of foreign investors.

He described the panic of the catering staff with such perfect comedic timing that I could not help myself. I laughed out loud.

It felt good to laugh. It felt good to escape the crushing pressure of Elias and Casimir for just one hour. To escape my own thoughts.

We pulled up to the estate gates. We were still laughing as Thomas opened the doors for us.

I stepped out of the car, holding two of the shopping bags. Emrys walked beside me, carrying the rest. He finished the punchline of his joke as we walked up the front steps.

We walked through the heavy wooden front doors and stepped into the grand foyer.

My laughter died instantly.

The massive space was completely silent, but Elias was waiting for us at the bottom of the grand staircase. He wore a dark suit, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. He did not look at Emrys. He stared directly at me.

His face was a mask of cold, absolute fury. He looked like a man ready to tear the entire house apart.

I stopped walking as the shopping bags suddenly felt very heavy in my hands. I realized in that exact moment that my one hour of freedom was about to cause absolute chaos.