Chapter 910 - Tom bailed out

~ Chicago, Ellie's villa ~

Ellie is sitting in her design-office, trying to brush of her frustration and to think calmly.

Jasper is on the sofa in the corner, reading business news on a tablet while glancing occasionally toward Ellie. He can't help her, but he hopes that his presence provides some support.

Ellie pursed her lips while thinking: how did she end up in this situation?

Jasper spent the night, everything was great (mmm, more than great).

In the morning, they went to the dining room for breakfast and found that Tom is not there.

Brian was acting strangely, and only when Ellie finished her two pastries he gave her the envelope. It was a letter from Tom: he left stating a family emergency.

Ellie would maybe believe it if he returned any of her calls. In the letter he said that he does not know how long it will take and that she should find a replacement for him for Wednesday's show.

After who knows how many calls, Ellie gave up on calling Tom. She wanted to scold him for his unprofessional behavior. At this point Ellie does not care how upset Tom is that she is with Jasper because she wants to ask Tom: who bails out so close to the fashion show? And the outfits he was supposed to wear are already tailored to fit him perfectly!

To add to her frustration, her assistants are out for the weekend, and they will be back tomorrow morning.

But Ellie needs to focus on other things…

She started calling modelling agencies in search for a male model. She is now one model short! This Wednesday is her last show in Chicago, a grand finale, last EY splash for the year in windy city which is planned to create waves for the months to come!

Just how she expected, other models which are worth something are booked, it is the middle of a busy fashion season, and Ellie will NOT hire some mediocre (or worse) person to pull down the appeal of her designs.

Back to present…

"Any luck?", Brian asked Ellie when he entered the room.

Ellie's exhausted expression answered his question.

"I could wear a third look…", Brian offered.

"No.", Ellie rejected him. "Switching to a second one during the show is already a lot. If I add you a third one it will be too much."

"Why not use him?", Brian gestured toward Jasper.

Ellie saw that Jasper perked up. She thought for a second and then shook her head. "No."

"I am not good enough?", Jasper demanded a clarification. "I might not have any experience, but Brian can show me few things. I have three days to learn something not to embarrass you, right?"

Ellie was touched. But even if she ignores the point that the show is on Wednesday afternoon and that Jasper will need to leave his work for this, there are other factors on her mind. "It's not that. You will not embarrass me. But you are too high profile in Chicago. I'm afraid that if you show up on that catwalk the fashion news will be buzzing about CEO Kiani and not about EY designs."

Both Brian and Jasper had to agree with Ellie's argument.

"Then what?", Brian asked.

"I don't know… I need to think… How is it possible that all good looking men with modeling experience are taken?", Ellie sighed. "At this rate, I need to pull those two outfits out of the lineup."

"Last time you were missing models you asked Sarah and Aiden.", Jasper reminded her. "Why not call them again?"

"How much I know, they are in Europe. But maybe they will return by Wednesday and are willing to come here…" Ellie is not confident, but she is out of options.

~ France, Chateau ~

It's Sunday evening, and Sarah and Aiden are about to head for dinner.

Sarah saw a call from Ellie.

"Do you think she found out that we are digging into her request about Jasper?", Sarah asked Aiden while looking at her buzzing phone.

They know that JoAnna talked to Ellie. Is it possible that Ellie connected the dots somehow? 

Aiden shrugged. "Only one way to find out. On speaker, please."

One minute later, they found out the reason why Ellie called.

Sarah muted the call and looked at Aiden. "Tom bailed out on her, so she needs you to step in. Ellie said that she needs me to tag along as well, but I'm confident that is only to incentivize you to go. Do you need more time to think?"

Aiden shook his head indicating that he does not. He unmuted the call and asked shamelessly: "Do I get to keep the clothes?"

Ellie exhaled. "Of course."

Aiden made a dramatic pause. "Will Sarah get matching clothes?"

"That can be arranged.", Ellie responded reluctantly. She wanted to tell him that those outfits don't have female-matching ones, but she will make it work, somehow.

Aiden's eyes lit up. "Count me in. Send Sarah the details when the show is as well as any other relevant information, and we will make sure we come to your villa in Chicago on time."

"Oh!", Ellie exclaimed. "You are a life savior!"

A minute later, Sarah got an email and told Aiden: "We should be in Chicago on Wednesday, noon-ish. Latest."

He thought for a second while mentally calculating duration of flight and time difference. "We need to leave on Tuesday, late afternoon, if we want to rest before the show."

"So, we only have tomorrow as a full day here.", Sarah concluded.

"Yes. Plan to talk with your Sigma army about changing aliases and confirm emergency steps."

Sarah understood from his words that he will not attend that meeting with Sigma army members. "You will not join?"

"I have work-work piled up."

Sarah looked at Aiden with guilt. She knows that he spent a lot of time with Sigma army members and finding information related to Norman, and that is why he neglected his work for White corp. After the security upgrades at White corp. were completed, Sarah is rather low on responsibilities and other than occasional hack-projects, she has quite a bit of free time. Aiden works just like Sarah, but he has other responsibilities as well.

Aiden could see that Sarah is troubled and decided to switch the topic.  

He kissed her forehead and explained. "I'm not part of your army from the start, so I don't want to influence your decision. But in case you need a tie breaker, you know my opinion: safety first. Everyone should make their own decision, however, make sure to stress the fact that if even one person is stuck on keeping their previous alias, he or she is a risk to the rest of the group."

Sarah responded with a nod. "Let's go and have dinner. I'm sure others are there already."

Her mood dropped when she realized what is coming: "I need to tell them that we are leaving three days earlier than planned."

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