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‘And they’re in trouble?’

‘No, we’re in trouble’ His words were clipped Ihts for sixteen years It’s the most lucrative TV deal in the country and now Martin Ellery has put in a hostile bid for it’

‘Martin Ellery?’

‘I don’t want to discuss it, Cara’

He stalked past her and the chill she’d felt moments before turned to ice All of a sudden she felt like they were back at the casino and he was once again the ed her to his room and looked at her with such contempt

Power and focused deter lines of his lean body and she felt a little bit like a prisoner walking towards their own execution as she followed him into the main bedroom ‘Is that why you dislike him so much?’

Aidan threw his clothes out of the cupboard and onto the bed ‘I told you I don’t want to talk about it’

Cara stood poised in the doorway, unsure about what to do Unsure about how to reach hiated her to the slush pile along with all the other hopefuls in his life

‘I have the De the tentative note in her voice but unable to change it ‘I thought … I thought you were going to come with me’

He looked up, but Cara sensed that he wasn’t really seeing her ‘I can’t now This is important’

‘You can’t delegate?’ she asked lightly ‘I ? He seems really capable’

‘No,’ he said, too softly ‘Ben cannot stand in for me Nobody else can do it I have to’

‘Why?’ she asked ‘Why does it always have to be you?’

‘Because if you’re not in control things go wrong’ The look in his eyes was hard and flat Unreachable ‘This week, I’ve let things slip and … that’s never a good thing’

‘Did that happen to you in the past?’

He looked like he was grinding nails, his frustration at her continued questioning palpable Cara had to fight her instinct to bury her head and walk away This seemed too important for her to do that

‘It happened to my father’ He paused ‘You want to knohy I hate Ellery?’ He ran an agitated hand through his hair ‘Twelve o almost to the day my father took his own life and it was Ellery’s fault’

‘Oh, Aidan, I’m so sorry’