All Chapters of Mr Strong, I Refuse To Be Your Duty : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

41 Chapters

After the party

The car was warm and quiet. Nicole sat with her hands in her lap and her head tilted slightly back against the headrest, watching the city move past the window in long amber smears of streetlight. She was not thinking about Asher. That surprised her, briefly, and then didn't. She was thinking about the party as an event, the way you think about a film after it ends, what it was, what it meant, whether you are glad you saw it.She was glad she had gone. She felt it clearly, without qualification."You were extraordinary in there," William said.She looked at him. He was watching the road ahead, hands relaxed on the wheel. He had insisted on driving, had sent the company car ahead empty and taken his own, which was quieter and more private and smelled of the same cool cologne she had noticed the first time they met.She let out a long breath. The composure she had maintained all evening did not crack exactly, it softened. Like something that has been held at a particular tension and is

Morning After

She was awake before five.The room was dark and the city was at its quietest, that particular grey-blue silence that belongs only to the hour before light, when even London forgets to be loud. Nicole lay on her back with her hands folded on her chest and looked at the ceiling and took careful note of what she felt.She had expected to feel complicated. She had expected the night to leave sediment, layers of grief and guilt and the residue of five years sitting over everything like dust. She had braced for it without realising, the way you brace for cold water when you step outside.Instead she felt quiet and settled. The particular stillness of a mind that has been through a difficult thing and came out the other side not triumphant, not relieved exactly, but simply clear. As though the last tangled thread had been pulled through and the fabric had finally stopped pulling.She was not thinking about Asher. This continued to surprise her not because she had expected to miss him, sh

Professional distance

His office was on the floor above hers, which she had thought was an odd choice for a company president until she understood that William operated better from adjacent proximity than from central authority. He liked to be near work without being in it and she understood that now.Priya was already in the elevator when the doors opened. She was holding a stack of folders and a coffee that was clearly not hers, judging by the name written on the side."Good morning, ma'am," she said."Morning, Priya." Nicole stepped in. "Whose coffee is that?"Priya looked at the cup. "Graham's. He asked me to get it on my way up." She paused. "I don't know why I said yes."Nicole looked at her. "Did he ask or did he assume?"Priya thought about it. "He said, while you're down there." She made a face. "So. Assume, I think.""Leave it at reception," Nicole said. "If he wants it, he can collect it himself."Priya blinked. Then she nodded, once, with the expression of someone who has just been given permi

Zara's Move

Zara paced around her office for a while before finally sitting down and taking a deep breath.She looked at the documents in her front and opened them, reading the Stardom quarterly projection figures with her office door closed.It was so early to be doing this, but it had to be done. They were not supposed to be on her desk , they were Stardom's internal documents, not publicly filed, not circulated, but Zara had a network that predated her return to London by several years, and her network occasionally produced information ahead of its public release. She did not ask how, instead she simply read.The figures were good, better than good. For a subsidiary that had been posting losses for seven consecutive quarters before Nicole Kevin's arrival, the projected reversal was significant. It was not miraculous, there was clearly a great deal of work still ahead, but the trajectory was unmistakable. The line on the chart went up.

Fire with fire

She took the call standing at her window, with the morning's project files open behind her on the desk and the city spread out below and the article still fresh and factual in her mind."Three journalists in the lobby," the PR coordinator, a young man named Daniel, told her. "They want to comment on the piece.""How long have they been there?""Twenty minutes. We haven't confirmed or denied anything. I didn't want to act without,""I'll see them," Nicole said.A pause. "Do you want me to prepare,""No. Give me five minutes, then show them to the small conference room in two."She hung up. She crossed to her desk and opened the Stardom financial folder , the real one, the internal one with the actual quarter-to-date figures, not the version the article had been fishing around. She pulled two pages. She also pulled the Paris partnership pre-announcement summary, the rebranding rollout timeline, and the staff restructuring report from her first thirty days.She didn't look at the article

A crack in the wall

Asher saw the article at half past eight in the morning.He was at his desk with his first coffee of the day, going through his emails, when the notification came through on his phone. A business press alert. He almost dismissed it. He got dozens every morning and most of them said nothing he didn't already know.But the name in the headline stopped him.He read it once, quickly. Then he put his phone down and picked it back up and read it again, slower this time.The article was about Nicole's press statement. It covered the Stardom Fashion Home's quarterly projections, the Paris partnership, the rebranding timeline. It had quotes from industry people who spoke about her with the kind of respect that takes years to earn. And tucked into the third paragraph, almost casually, were the projected numbers for the Stardom Fashion Home's current quarter.They were good numbers. Very good numbers, for a company that had been struggling.Asher set his phone face down on the desk.He sat for a

Paris

The flight was three hours and they spent most of it working.Nicole had her laptop open from the moment the seatbelt sign went off. She had the investor brief, the Stardom financials, and a list of questions she had prepared for Céleste Moreau that she kept reading and refining. William sat beside her with his own files and they talked occasionally, short, specific exchanges about the presentation, about which numbers to lead with, about how much detail Céleste typically wanted before she made a decision.It was a professional flight for professional purposes. It felt like a professional flight.But once, when the cabin lights dimmed and most of the other passengers had closed their eyes, Nicole looked out of the small oval window at the dark sky and felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. She was going to Paris and she was going there as the President of a company. It all felt like a dream. She had to pinch herself a couple of times to make sure that this was real. She was g

Paris, Night

They walked back toward the hotel along the Seine. The river was dark and the lights of the city reflected in it, broken and shifting. They walked slowly, without rushing, because neither of them wanted to rush.The river was more beautiful than she had expected. Even more beautiful than the images she'd seen around. "What are you thinking?" William asked.Nicole considered the question. "That this is the first time I've done something and been proud of myself," she said. "Not proud of what it means for someone else. Just proud, of me."William didn't say anything. He just nodded, slowly, like he understood exactly what that cost to say.They reached the hotel and got keys to their rooms from the receptionist.The lobby was quiet and the elevator was waiting. They rode up to their floor in silence and walked down the corridor to their rooms, which were side by side.Nicole reached her door and took out her keycard. "Goodnight," she said. "Goodnight." He paused. "Nicole."Sh

What Asher found

The message came back at half past seven in the morning. He turned the moment he heard his phone beep, his coffee pot still in his hands. It was a message from his PA. he immediately picked up his phone with a speed that was surprising even to him. He opened the message and widened his eyes at the content. Miss Kevin is in Paris for a business trip. She travelled with Mr William Grant for an investor meeting with Céleste Moreau. From further findings, the trip appears successful.Asher read it twice as he was in a bit of a shock. How did that happen? It had not been long since she started to work with the Stardom Fashion Home and she was already making waves? What sort of woman was this? He thought.The type that you ignored for five year? An inner voice told him but he shook his head, trying to shake the thoughts off.He then put his phone face down on the kitchen counter and poured his coffee and stood at the window. Paris, with William Grant? That was very fast.He felt his ches

The date is set

They landed back in London on Thursday morning to the news that Céleste Moreau had confirmed the partnership in a formal statement released to the trade press overnight. Nicole was nothing but overjoyed. All her late nights at the office and at home had finally paid off in a way and so quickly too. She hadn’t had the time to actually have a chat with William about their walk yesterday before his brother called him needing his assistance on an urgent matter and truth be told, she was grateful for the distraction even though she missed his touch afterwards. William had sent her a message later that night telling her that he was not going back to London with her the following day. Her flight was leaving very early in the morning so she did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to him physically.She sent him a message, informing him of the good news and focused on her trip. She was headed straight to the office now and had already called Aunt Ciara to let her know that her luggages an

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