★NATHANIEL★
"A six months program?" Raine Mitchell's soft, feminine voice cut through the phone pressed against my ear. My PA had brought me the phone a minute ago. I didn't need to stare hard at the number before I figured it was Raine.
"Expecting it to be a lifetime thing?" I asked, a light chuckle slipping past my lips. I swerved my office chair to face the French, floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the best view in Munich.
I had been born and bred in Germany, particularly Bavaria, in the city of Munich. After our parents died when I was fifteen, Benjamin adopted me into his home. Although the word adopted may feel too far-fetched, he had already been married at twenty when I was fifteen, having his first child at twenty-one. I stayed with him until I turned twenty and got back to my own place. At first I served in a restaurant and had many other part-time jobs. Benjamin was not in support of it, because he had money and had already promised to give me a good life, but I hated depending on people the way I hated the game of golf. After I earned enough to rent my own place, I started building my own restaurant with the help of some investors I managed to convince. Luckily the restaurant came out well and is currently one of the biggest restaurants in Munich. Then I built a fashion empire because as much as I loved food, I loved clothes, fashion models, and everything related. With Benjamin's help though, I had turned into the forty-three-year-old man I was today.
"What? No… no of course not." She was rattled by the question—I could tell from her response. "I just thought… I just thought it would be around a year, tops. Can we convince your family with just six months?"
"We can and we will, although I am certain that isn't really your question." I knew what the dainty woman wanted to ask, but I needed her to say it herself.
"Well…" She sighed, a few shuffling sounds coming from her line. "Can we get back my father's media business in six months? I know you're rich, but theft isn't really a light issue. If we delay any further without evidence of our innocence, Father might go to jail." Her voice strained, and I knew she was probably on the verge of tears. It wasn't new—anytime I saw Raine in the past, she usually looked like she was about to cry or her head was lowered. I wondered how it was possible for a woman as beautiful and curvy as Raine Mitchell to have such unbelievably low self-esteem.
"Your father will not go to jail, neither will you. Six months is far too long for what I am preparing for your father. You do not have to worry about anything," I said.
"Really?" Her voice had lightened. "That is lovely then. Thank God."
I wanted to tell her to thank me, not God, but I was a Christian too, and I knew she was as well. My PA had done a background check on her down to the church she attends.
"Indeed. I will give you a week to finish whatever you have left to do, and then you will move into my place."
"Yes. It will be good," she answered.
"And Raine."
"Yes, Nathaniel?"
It was the first time she had called my name, and hearing it with her soft voice and from her pretty lips was an insane turn-on—though I knew I only thought like that because I had fucked her already, and dear, that wasn't going to be the last time.
"Have you told your father about this arrangement?" I asked. It had been gnawing at me, because if her father didn't agree, I wasn't sure she would continue with it. Although I was providing them with more help than she was, I certainly wanted no one else but Raine Mitchell.
"Yes, I did tell him. He doesn't have a problem with the engagement," she put out.
"Good," I responded, and without any further ado, ended the call. I saved the number as Raine before handing the phone to my PA and waved him off.
"In my mansion, the guestroom beside mine—make sure it's cleaned and dressed properly and femininely before the week runs out." I ordered the younger man. He wasn't going to do it himself. What he was going to do was contact the housekeeper and let them continue the work. He was my PA mostly for Luxe and Gold, my fashion empire.
My gaze flitted to my Patek Philippe wristwatch. The time was fifteen minutes to three p.m. "Has the model arrived?"
My PA, Lucas, began sweating, and I already knew the answer. "She said she was going to be here by eleven a.m. What is holding her?"
"She said it's tra—"
"Don't give me that bullshit traffic, Lucas. We both know traffic is not much, especially around the hour of twelve to two p.m. in Munich. Where is she?" I ground out.
"I do not know, sir. That was what Vanessa told me to say if you asked."
My fingers twitched. I never liked the woman, nor did I ever want her as a model for Luxe and Gold, but given she is the daughter of one of my brother's investors, the man had agreed to invest superbly if Vanessa manages to get her body in one of our magazines.
"Send a text or a call or whatever the fuck you can use to reach her, and tell that young woman that I am giving her until three-thirty p.m., and if she does not get herself here within that short time, she should never bother setting foot in my empire again." I declared, picking up my car keys and rounding the office table. "I am going to have lunch. You stay here, and if she indeed arrives and I have not yet returned, commence the photoshoot without me. Angelina already knows the script."
With that, I left the office, snatching my phone from his hand, not awaiting a response.