“Rian is fine. He’s playing with your mom. I’ll call you again before bedtime. You take care, Aaliya and remember what I told you–tell Damien the truth.”

There’s a knock on my door as soon as I hang up and Jonathan peeps in.

“Hey babe! How are you?” he says in his usual affable way as he enters my office. The space is bright but small, with just a window at my back and a little space to seat two people in front of me, that’s it. It is however on the same floor as Damien’s office and I’m glad for that as it gives me a reason to be close to him.

“I’m good. What brings you here?”

“Oh, I was just in the vicinity and wanted to see what my favorite designer was up to.” He rounds my desk and stands directly in front of me.

I look up at him and smile. “I just finished finalizing the designs for your glass room. I was going to email them to you, but now that you’re here, maybe you can see them and we can discuss your opinion first hand.”

“Oh! Work can wait, babe. Tell me, how are things with Damien. Have you told him yet?”

“I’m going to Jonathan, soon.”

“Babe, you have to tell him. I do not agree with Gabriel. You can’t keep this from him.”

Jonathan’s been after me since he found out to tell the truth to Damien and Gabe’s been against it. So far, I have listened to Gabe as I know the risks at play but twice now, in the space of fifteen minutes, two people I trust have advised me to open up to Damien. My time is running out. I have to tell him soon.

“The longer you delay, the worse it’s going to be. I know him and he doesn’t like surprises,” Jonathan warns me.

I narrow my eyes at him. “And you didn’t think of that when you sprung me as a surprise to him at your home in Scotland?”

He leans against my desk, giving a dismissive wave of his hand. “Of course, I did that to annoy him. Somebody ought to keep him on his toes. Not that I knew about you and him then. But come on, you have to accept that it is because I invited you there that you’re in his life again.”

“True that,” I grin. “I thank ye, the all-knowing, almighty Jonathan Wright, Earl of Sommerfield. What would I have done without you?”

I stand and press my hands together, my fingertips pointing upwards and my thumbs joined at my chest and I bow to him. “Namaste,” I tell him. “In India, this means I bow to the divine in you.”