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“Miss?” A smooth deep voice rang out in my ear.
I jumped. Man, I was really on edge today.
“Yes?” I squeaked.
Before me was a man with military-short black hair. He was probably a few years older than me, but not much. He was dressed impeccably in a black suit. He was handsome, in a way, but his eyes had a wild look to them. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley.
“I apologize for eavesdropping, but I thought I’d heard you say that you saw Jackson Hayes this morning.”
He smiled at me, and I felt like Little Red Riding Hood. All the better to eat you with, my dear.
“Um. I must have been mistaken,” I said. “He’s apparently in Hawaii.”
“I don’t think you were mistaken,” he said, taking a step closer to me. “Where did you see him?” I stepped back. He was seriously invading my personal space.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I didn’t know who this man was, and I didn’t know what his interest in Jackson was, but I wanted no part of this. “I’m afraid I need to be on my way.” I tried to brush past him, but he caught my upper arm and pulled me into his side. His breath was hot on my ear. “You will tell me where he is.” His voice was cold, and his fingers were digging painfully into my arm.
“I don’t know where he is,” I stammered. “I’m here because I thought he’d be here. I swear I don’t know anything. Let me go.”
Apparently he believed me, because he was gone a moment later, and I was left with my heart beating wildly in the lobby of Hayes Industries. I practically ran down the front steps of the building and hailed a cab. This whole thing was getting crazier by the minute.
Jackson
When I brought my fresh clothes back to the hotel, I showered again. I was going to burn my jeans when this was all said and done. I had spent $42 on another t-shirt, socks, and boxers.
I’d also bought a razor and another toothbrush. I hit up a second hand store for the cheapest pair of jeans I could find. They didn’t fit the same way as my regular jeans, but I could survive for a day or two. They were vintage right? I couldn’t quite convince myself of that.
I got in a couple more hours of sleep and let my mind roll back and forth between Nick and Alissa. At six o’clock a knock came on my door. I let Jason into my hotel room. He was followed by a huge man whom I could only assume was Ben.
“It’s nice to see you again, Ben,” I said. “Thanks for saving my ass the other day.” He smiled at me. “No problem, man. You were actually doing pretty well on your own.” We got down to business. Ben and Sean had been following Nick for more than thirty hours. They weren’t familiar with all of the employees in our company, so they took pictures of every individual that Nick interacted with. They put the large stack of pictures on the bed, and Jason and I started to dig through them.
I stopped on a picture of Kayla. “Where was this taken?” I asked. Ben looked over the photo.
“That’s his apartment. That woman went in about eleven last night and didn’t leave until about six this morning.”
“Kayla Craigan spent the night with Nick Carver?” I asked. Jason shrugged.
I went back to the pictures. From the look of things, Nick and Kayla were very familiar with each other. Ben had gotten pictures of them kissing several times, sharing cab rides, and eating together. When had this relationship developed? Was it before or after I asked Kayla to do the due diligence on his company? How long had she been lying to me?
“Jackson,” Jason asked, getting my attention, “Do you know who this is?” He was holding up a picture taken in the lobby of our corporate office. Nick had his hand on the arm of a woman with long brown hair. He appeared to be whispering in her ear.
Oh God. Alissa.
I couldn’t breathe.
What was she doing there? Her facial expression in the picture gave me no help. It was pretty much a blank expression.
Seeing Nick with his hands on her made my blood boil. Was he targeting her? How did he even know who she was? Oh, no, what if she was in on this? What if she was part of his plan to ruin me?
Jason was saying something, but it sounded muffled to me. I couldn’t fully process it.
Why was she visiting my office? Was she looking for me? She was dressed like she belonged in a corporate office. Did she have a meeting with someone?
“Ben, what can you tell me about this interaction?” I asked. I was trying desperately to keep my voice under control. Judging by the look on Jason’s face, I wasn’t succeeding.
“Um,” Ben said. He flipped through a book of notes. “She was talking to the receptionist, and then he walked up and said something to her. We weren’t close enough to hear what he said, but the whole thing lasted less than thirty seconds, and then he took off. It’s my opinion that she didn’t know him. She looked uncomfortable with him.”
I let out the breath that I had been holding. She probably didn’t know him. She wasn’t involved in this. That meant that she was looking for me. Oh God, that meant that she knew who I was!
“When did this happen?” I asked.
“About four hours ago,” Ben said.
“Who is she?” asked Jason.
“That’s Alissa,” I said. I felt so empty inside.
“Alissa? As in the most wonderful French toast in the world Alissa?”
“The very same. She knows who I am, Jason. What the hell am I going to do? She’s going to think I lied to her. She’s going to hate me.”
Chapter 15: Those We Ignore
Kayla
I sat at a filthy desk in Nick’s warehouse trying to prepare the offshore accounts that we would need. As I waited for the page to load, I let my mind drift to the Hayes brothers. I had watched them last week in the boardroom as they argued in that playful way that they did. It was like they were in their own separate world when they got like that. Sometimes I wondered why they even had an executive board. It wasn’t like they ever took our advice.
Jackson threw his head back and laughed. He really was a beautiful male specimen. He would have made a good United States President – tall, good head of hair, articulate. He was a beautiful creature. It was a shame that I had to deceive him.
I didn’t want to do it, not really, but I’d been sitting in Jackson Hayes’ shadow long enough. When I got the position on the board I thought I had made it big. I thought I would be part of the intimate group that knew what made him tick. I thought I would get to make important decisions, be a part of something larger than myself. You can imagine my shock when I found out that I was to be a glorified secretary.
“Get the due diligence for the Wesin deal, Kayla. Where’s my report, Kayla? Are you sure these numbers are right, Kayla?”
I had a masters’ in business management from a prestigious university. I was not a fucking administrative assistant. I hadn’t worked this hard just to be ignored.
Nick was right. They didn’t care about anyone but themselves. Hell, they didn’t even notice anyone else.
I left that board meeting with a fresh stack of assignments that were just as demeaning as all the others. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered now was Nick. He was going to screw the Hayes for more than one hundred million dollars, and then we would disappear.
It was about time.
Nick had grown on me slowly. I didn’t really like him at first, truth be told. He had kind of a hard edge to him, but once you got past that, he was a great guy. He was ambitious, decisive, and attentive. He asked me out four times before I finally caved in and said yes. That man didn’t like to take no for an answer. I smiled at the thought. There was something to be said for persistence.
He was an incredible lover. He really cared about me. We would be happy together on some tropical beach with endless funds and no responsibility.
Granted, I had always wanted more out of life than to be paraded around in a bikini, but at least Nick would pay attention to me. He was going to marry me. We would have a beach wedding at sunset. It would be everything that a girl could hope for.
Screw Jackson fucking Hayes and the horse he road in on. It was time that he learned some humility.
Chapter 16: Confrontations and Conclusions
Jackson
Did you ever feel like you were on the brink of screwing up the best thing that ever happened to you? It was like Romeo and Juliet, one giant clusterfuck of miscommunication that was bound to end in tragedy. There was no way that I could make this right. There was nothing that I could say.
I was going to go over there, bare my soul to her, and then hope like hell that she would understand. I had planned to tell her anyway, not that she would believe me, but I really did want her to know. I just wished that I had been able to tell her on my own terms. Now she was bound to be upset and confused. How could I have messed this up so badly?
