Chapter Five

Martin

I stand outside the Carlos construction company building and try to mentally prep myself for the day ahead. I still cannot believe that I'm going through with this ludicrous plan of deceiving my childhood friend, but I've never been a quitter and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to take my rightful place at the throne.

To add to my list of worries is the mysterious woman from the other day she hasn't appeared to me again since then, but I still find myself looking over my shoulder wondering where she might appear next. I briskly make my way into the building, so caught up in my own thoughts that I don't even notice Shaylin standing right in my path until I'm almost directly in front of her. She's standing in front the reception desk, tapping away at her phone ,while saying something in low tones to the dark haired receptionist behind the desk.

As if sensing my gaze on her, Shaylin finally looks up from her phone and upon seeing me smiles," Mr Martin!", she exclaims," you're just the person I've been waiting for. "Good morning Miss Shaylin ,did you need me for something?", I ask as I step closer to the reception desk. It's then that Shaylin seems to notice the bandage around my head and her eyes go wide, "oh my god ,what happened to your head?", she asks me looking genuinely concerned.

" It's nothing serious really, I just fell and hit my head", I say trying to pretend as if it's nothing major, Shaylin does not seem convinced though a frown appears on her face. " Are you sure though? It looks pretty serious, is there anything I can do to help?", for a second I'm really touched by her genuine concern for me even though I'm just supposed to be one of her employees. Then I suddenly remember that I'm in disguise and that I'm supposed to be playing a role here.

Mustering as much cold professionalism as I can into my voice I say," thank you miss Shaylin but I'll be fine and since you are my boss ,I don't think you need to concern yourself with my problems ". A flicker of hurt briefly crosses her face and I realize that I've hurt her feelings, she quickly covers it up though and answers me in an even more cold tone," as you wish Mr Martin, this is Lucy," she says pointing to the woman behind the receptionist desk, " I believe you met the last time you were here, she will show you the way to your new office, excuse me ", and with that she takes off for her own office, her steps quick but graceful.

After being shown to my new office, I spend most of the morning in a daze, my mind still stuck on the mysterious woman from the mirror. I still don't understand how or why I was the only one able to see her and why she was asking me to give up the throne. She also mentioned wanting the King of the Graves to finally rule, I've never heard of such a king but he must be dangerous if he's involved with a woman like that.

"Daydreaming first day on the job Mr Martin?", says an amused but detached sounding voice. I look up and see Shaylin, her slender form leaning against the doorway of my office. She's looking at me in a polite but cold way and I wonder just how long she has been standing there," not at all ma'am ,just taking a break from all the hard work", I reply with a grin. She takes a long dubious look at the unfinished pile of work on my desk.

"Did you need something from me? ", I ask slightly impatient now.

"Yes, actually, I brought some documents with some new projects that I was hoping you could go over", she says while placing some documents on my desk. "I'd like you to tell me your thoughts on the projects by the end of the day".

My phone starts ringing just then and I pick it up without checking the caller ID," Hey babe", comes Camilla's cheery voice from the other end of the line," Just checking to see if you're still up for dinner tonight!".

"Yeah, I'm still up for dinner tonight love". I tell her ,only then remembering that Shaylin is still in my office .I turn to look her, intending to excuse myself for the phone call, but before I can tell her anything she waves me away and leaves my office with a sad look on her face...weird. I quickly finalize my dinner plans with Camilla and hang up the phone.

I try to think of what I could have said or done to make Shaylin's mood plummet so suddenly, but I cannot remember doing or saying anything particularly offensive to her. I try to go back to work, but for the rest of the day I cannot get the sad look I saw on Shaylin's face out of my mind.