Chapter 9

That was enough talk for now. Sure, she could easily keep chatting for three days straight, but a little modesty wouldn't hurt. Once she shut up, the car went dead quiet. A few minutes later, Elaine couldn't help but ask, "So... where are we going?" "Taking you home," Marcus replied flatly. Elaine assumed he'd drop her off and be on his way, but to her surprise, he turned off the engine and followed her inside. As soon as they got in, he reminded her, "Go change your clothes." Elaine tugged at her dried sleeve and shrugged. "It's fine, it's already dry." "Go change," Marcus said again, this time with that unmistakable tone of command. Elaine dropped her head and trudged up the stairs like she'd been sentenced. Halfway up, Marcus added, "Wait for me tonight." Elaine hesitated, turned around and looked back at him, clearly struggling to say something before finally blurting out, "Mr. Sinclair... I mean, you really don't have to come back on my account. I'm doing fine now. Go wherever you want. As long as you're happy, that's what matters." Marcus stepped closer to her, closing the distance until there was barely a sliver of space left. Then he leaned down and said, "What I want... is to stay here." Elaine instinctively pulled her neck back. "Suit yourself." Not gonna lie, at that moment, her heart skipped a beat. As someone who'd never been in a relationship for twenty-five years, she was definitely a little thrown off by Marcus's unexpected charm attack. Back at the office, first thing Marcus did was call Henry into his office. Henry always showed up like he was on fire – no way was he risking his paycheck by being late. "Where did she go today?" Marcus came straight to the point. Henry blinked, caught off guard. Usually Marcus couldn't care less about Mrs. Sinclair's whereabouts. Why the sudden change? He didn't dare question it out loud though. Work came first. He quickly checked in with the bodyguards they had tailing her and reported back, "She was near the Valtros Plaza over in the East District." "Then turned around at some company called... Valtros Group." "Valtros Group?" Marcus's eyes narrowed sharply, his gaze locking onto Henry. "Yes, that's what they said," Henry confirmed. Valtros again. What was her connection to them? Marcus dropped his head slightly, caught deep in thought, then looked up and said, "Dig into Valtros Group." Henry found it hard to make sense of—Valtros sounded like a no-name company. What's the point of digging? Still, an assistant's job wasn't to ask why. Keeping his tone neutral, he asked, "What exactly should I look into?" "Everything." Marcus paused, then added, "And Elaine." "Got it." Henry nodded without question. "What's on the schedule for this afternoon?" Marcus asked. Henry flipped open the planner. "Mr. Jones will be back this afternoon. You've got dinner with him." "Alright," Marcus nodded slightly, signaling Henry could leave. After lunch, Elaine was happily out shopping at the market with Mrs. Thompson tagging along. She bought tons of snacks—so many that she couldn't carry them all by herself. Mrs. Thompson was honestly stunned. Elaine knew Audrey never touched junk food. Things like chips? She wouldn't even go near them.