Blood red love
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After her brother and Tyson left, Charlie offered Vidar to help clean up. But he told her to go and set up her computer and fish tank. She was done and was firing up the machine as there was a knock on the open door and when she looked up, Vidar was leaning against the door frame.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Yes. Everything is working as it should and it looks amazing,” she told him. He nodded in agreement.
“Do you have an hour to give me? he asked.
“Always.” She stood up and walked over to him. He drew her into his arms and k*ssed her. Then he led her to his office and took her to the other side of his desk.
“Here,” he told her and took her hand and let her fingers move over the underside of a sidetable that stood by his bookcases. “Do you feel it?” he asked.
“Yes.” There was a slight indentation on the list.
“Press it,” he told her and let his own fingers press down on hers. There was an almost soundless klick and a panel of the wall slid to the side and revealed a safe.
ome.” He led her to the safe. Vidar punched in a sequence of numbers and there was a beeping sound. He took her left hand and pressed her thumb onto the touch pad. “Enter ten numbers,” he said. For a moment, Charlie only stared at him. Then she quickly entered ten numbers. “Press the green button and do it all over again,” Vidar said. She did as he asked, and there was the clear sound of the safe unlocking. “Good work,” Vidar said, sounding pleased, and opened the safe.
“What? Why?” she asked, feeling confused.
“In this safe there will always be a good amount of money in different currencies, there are also gold and diamonds. There is also the deed to this apartment and a handful of other properties. And there is a burner phone pre programed with numbers to similar phones for the rest of the clan and Caine. There is a gun and ammo. Lastly, there is a list of alias I use
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around the world,” he told her. Showing her where everything was in the safe.
“Vidar, why are you showing me this?” she asked.
“Now that you are in my life, you should know this.”
“Why?”
“In case you need it. Come.” He sat down at her desk and pulled her into his lap. She was expecting him to continue his explanation. Instead, he took out some papers from a drawer. “This will go inside there as well. Please sign it,” he told her, handing her a pen.
“What is it?” Charlie asked as she started to read the dry legal text.
“It’s papers saying that in case of my death or if I’m permanently put out of working order, everything I own and control will be yours. No loopholes, no exceptions,” he told her. She stared at him, horrified, and dropped the pen.
“No. Why, what is happening? No. What aren’t you telling me?” she objected. She felt he was preparing her for some terrible future where he wouldn’t be there.
“Baby, calm down. I just want to make sure that you are taken care of,” he told her.
“No, this is more. It feels like there is more to this. Vidar, I want to know. I know you think you are protecting me, and that is kind of sweet. But I’m not weak. I can handle shit. If something is going on I need to know, I don’t want this to sneak up on me.” Vidar looked at her. They stared at each other for several minutes. Then he sighed and k*ssed her.
“It isn’t a serious matter,” he said.
“It’s serious enough for you to tell me what to do if you aren’t here anymore.” Charlie refused to use the ‘D‘–word.
“Caine still hasn’t found the shooter. It can only mean one thing. They are part of our world. That leads to the conclusion one of my clan–brothers are involved.” Charlie could hear and see how much it pained Vidar to admit it, and she combed his hair with her fingers. Some of the tension left his face, and he leaned his head back.
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“It’s me they are after, though, not you,” she said. The arm he had around her to stabilise her
in his lap, drew her closer to him.
“They are going after you because it would weaken me to lose you. f**k, it would end me to lose you. I will do anything in my power to make sure that will never happen,” he explained. Charlie’s heart ached at the words.
“Including sacrifice yourself,” she said.
“Of course.”
“No, Vidar. You can’t do that. I can’t lose you. How can you sacrifice yourself?” He looked at her with so much adoration in his eyes it made her blush. He caressed her cheek with his thumb.
“You are special, Charlie. You don’t know how brilliant you shine. I have had a long life. It has been both good and bad and in the gran scheme of things, I don’t think I have made the world either better or worse if I left it now. But you, you make it brighter just by being here. How could I not trade my life if it means keeping you here? That would be my contribution to this world.” Charlie felt tears run down her cheeks. This man may not think so, but he was a good man.
“How probable do you think it is it will come to this?” she asked him.
“Very unlikely. If they try again before I get my hands on them, they will most likely use a similar method as the first time. And as you saw, that is not much more than a scratch to me. If they realise, it’s not worth going after you and instead come from me… Well, I’m hard to kill, even for another vampire. Don’t worry too much about it. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed. “I love you,” she told him.
“I love you too, lilla lo. More than I thought was possible. Now, sign the papers please,” he told her. She looked at the papers and she hated them. Well, maybe she didn’t hate the papers, but she hated what they represented. A future that didn’t include Vidar. But if he wanted her to do it, she would. She signed the papers, and he k*ssed her.
“Thank you,” he told her and k*ssed her hair. They put the document into the safe and locked
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it. Vidar pressed the hidden button and the panel closed over it.
“How do you expect me to run your empire when I have no clue about what your business. is?” she asked him as they were walking out of his office. He stopped and looked at her.
“You are right. We need to rectify that,” he agreed.
“So you will name someone else to take over?”
“No, you’re not getting away that easily, lilla lo. No, you will just have to learn the business,” he told her, sounding proud.
“What?”
“It’s the best solution. We can keep to the legal parts if you want. It’s a good start.”
“If you are going to teach me the business, you will teach me all of it. But are you sure? What if I’m not capable of understanding it?” Vidar laughed.
“Charlie, you are one of the most intelligent people I have met. And I have met a lot of people. I can’t see you having an issue with it. But I have an idea. I want to make you an offer,” he said as they sat down on the couch.
“You are starting to sound a lot like a mafia boss,” she told him and they both laughed.
“You know I see you in my future, that even if we haven’t talked about it directly, I am intending to spend the rest of our lives together,” he said. Charlie smiled and nodded. They hadn’t talked about it, but Charlie knew they both felt there was no other option. “Good. I think it would be good for you to get to know the business. But I also know it’s not what you dream of doing. So I have an offer for you. If you quit your job, Grim INC will grant you a scholarship to enable you to continue your studies. It would also include an apprenticeship where you will work for our IT–department and take business lessons from me. Lucas has been nagging me about getting you back,” he said. Charlie just looked at him.
“I can’t just let you pay for my school,” she objected.
“You’re not. My company would,” he said with a grin. Charlie huffed. She knew it was the
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same thing. “And we would insist on you coming to work for us for at least five years after you completed your degree,” he added.
“So you are offering me a way to go back to school to continue my dream, an apprenticeship for one of the largest companies in the city, private business lessons with one of the wealthiest men in the country and a dream job when I graduate?” she asked.
“That sums it up nicely.”
“I have the best boyfriend in the world,” she told him and threw herself around his n*ck and placed k*sses all over his face.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, laughing.
“It is, and a thank you. Thank you so, so much,” she answered.
“To be honest, I think I’m getting the better end of this deal,” he told her.
“No way. I’m the one scamming you. But I can live with it.” They both laughed and k*ssed, When they calmed down, Charlie curled up next to him and he put his arm around her. “Vidar?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
“You already said that a couple of times.”
“I know. But really. Thank you. I can’t put into words how much it means to me to be able to
back to school,” she told him and looked up at him. He smiled at her and k*ssed her hair.
go
“You have had to carry around the burden of this on your own. You don’t have to do that any longer, Charlie. I’m here now and I will help you carry any burdens you have,” he said.
“That goes both ways, Vidar. We will do it together from now on.”