Chapter Four

Ana

Diego was distant. I've noticed he got that way when things were tough at work and I did my best to be there for him when he needed me and not ask for too much. The rate at which things were moving in our relationship was ridiculously fast and made me question everything at times but I tried my hardest to just focus on us. Last night was no different. After dinner I agreed to stay the night. With Alejandro out on a date it gave us time with the house to ourselves and we took full advantage. Diego left early this morning and dropped Alejandro off at school so it was just me getting ready for the day. I had cleaned the toys we put to good use last night and started putting them all away, that's when I found it.

Thrown inside the top drawer of his nightstand was a folder. One I wouldn't have given a second thought to had it not had a picture sticking out the side of it. A picture of me. I picked it up and opened it. Inside was a list of places I frequented, people I knew, past partners I had. Many of which all had their own mini profiles listed as well. The pictures were the most disturbing. Some had been takenin clubs where I knew photography wasn't allowed, and others were from inside the apartment of my ex. There were a lot of them. Which only meant one thing. Diego hired someone to check me out and somehow got his hands on private photos and information about me. But why?

He mentioned having issues at work but never said anything about issues between the two of us. I was normally a pretty "go with the flow" person but the anger inside me was on the rise and I was livid. I grabbed the folder and slid my shoes on before heading out. I wasn't going to jump to conclusions, I wanted answers and there was only one place to get them.

I walked into his office building forty minutes late only to be greeted by a long legged blond with a terribly judgemental face.

"Can I help you?"

"I need to see Deigo Alvarez."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No. This is a personal matter. Please tell him Ana is here to see him."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. His schedule is very full today."

"Then I'll wait."

"All day?"

"I'm sure at some point he will come out of that office and see me sitting here. Then you can answer as to why you didn't tell him I am here."

The perky blonde with an attitude called Diego. "Sir, there is a Ana here to see you."

The way she accentuated each syllable was enough to make me want to come out of my chair and smack her. The anger in me from earlier only seemed to heighten with every word she said. There are people in the world that you meet and you just know deep in your gut they are up to no good. This was one of those people.

She didn't say another word but instead held the phone out and looked at it. At the same time the double doors of the office behind her opened and there stood the man of my dreams. Too bad I was pissed at him. I raised my eyebrows in his direction and he reached a hand out for me to come to him.

"Marilyn, take your lunch."

"I've already eaten sir."

"I don't care, take another."

His tone of voice wasn't one to fuck with and she finally got the hint, reached for her purse and stood. "Very well then, would you like me to pick anything up for you?"

"No."

By the time he responded I was standing in front of him. He reached for my hand and pulled me into his office, closing the door behind him. "Now this is a pleasant surprise."

My arms came up around his neck before I realized what was happening. He kissed me but I pushed back, quickly remembering why I was here.

"What's wrong?"

"We need to talk."

"That's never good."

"No it's not." I said as I turned and took a seat in front of his desk.

"Ana, tell me what's going on."

He stood in front of me rather than taking a seat and I reached into my purse and pulled out the folder. "You had someone follow me?"

The look of shock on his face would have been comical if I weren't still so pissed at the lack of boundaries he had.

"It wasn't me."

"You expect me to believe you were hiding away a file about me, about my past, pictures, and it wasn't for you?"

"It was for me, but not in the way that you think."

"How do you know what I think?"

"Because I know you Ana, if you found this in our room and didn't know where it came from you'd be angry. You would think I don't trust you, hell you might even question everything I had told you about us so far."

"You're not that far off."

"We have a leak at the firm. It's been an ongoing issue for months now and we hired someone to look into possible suspects."

"You think I'm the leak in your firm? That doesn't even make sense."

"No of course I don't think it's you. Somehow the security company found out about you and ran with it. I wasn't the one in charge of the investigation otherwise I would have put a stop to it."

"Who was in charge of it?"

"My assistant, Marilyn."

"That woman?" I said pointing toward the door. "She wasn't even going to tell you I'm here. How could you trust her with something so important?"

"She's worked for me for years. I had no reason to suspect she wouldn't do good work on this, but yesterday when she brought me the folder I realized I had a bigger issue than the leak."

"Me."

"No, not you. Her."

"But she wouldn't be a problem if I weren't an issue. The things in that file are private Diego. Very private and not something I would want anyone to know about, let alone an assistant at your law firm."

"I know, I am working on the best way to handle things but it's complicated."

"I see."

"You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, right?"

I raised my eyebrows in his direction. Sure he wouldn't hurt me on purpose. But if this information about me gets out then he won't have a choice. He'd have to choose his business over me. I saw the pictures, I read the write up. It's not very flattering even though everything I've ever done was in a consensual relationship; Diego couldn't run the risk.

"I think we need a break."

"What?"

"A break Deigo. We have been moving too fast anyway. Maybe this is a sign. Get everything taken care of here and then call me. I won't be the reason that something happens at your business. It's too risky for me to be around now that she knows these things about me. You worked hard for your company and it provides for your son. I'll never get in the way of that."

I stood and reached for my bag.

"Wait, you can't just leave. Not like this."

"I can Diego, and I will. Please don't make this any harder."

"I can't do all this without you."

"Yes you can, you always have. Maybe we just weren't meant to be after all."

My heart hurt as I walked to the elevator. I pushed the button and right as the doors were about to close I saw him running down the hallway shouting for me to wait. I didn't wait. I couldn't. This was hard enough as it was, the last thing I needed was to hear him beg for me to stay. It meant enough knowing he was willing to fight for me. For that I was grateful but it only made everything hurt worse.