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“She needs us,” Lana declares.
So before Kendall can chime in and they can bulldoze all over me, I hastily say, “She’s with her parents. For now, the main goal is to rescind that contract that Darren made her sign and put a restraining order against him.”
Kendall shoots Caleb a look. “Can’t you make him disappear or something? I know you’ve got people for that.”
Caleb gives her a faint half smile. “I’m not in the mafia, Kendall. I don’t just get people picked up.”
“So, fire him!” She exclaims, fiercely.
Caleb now looks in Lana’s direction and it is then that I see the two files scattered on the elongated coffee table before her.
“His work is fine. There have been no complaints from his supervisor.” She looks helplessly angry. “I can, however, call him in for spreading baseless rumors but all that will result in is a warning and since Elise isn’t showing up to work there is no evidence and she can’t claim damage of any sort.”
Kendall looks unsettled at this news.
I ask Caleb, “Did your people find anything about Darren’s past?”
Caleb studies me with a quiet intensity and the whole room falls silent. He finally says, “His documents are falsified; the ones he used to enter into the company. There is no trace of his family whatsoever. Also…” He walks over to the wine cabinet, taking out a bottle of wine and pouring himself a glass while considering what he’s about to say next, “He applied for a job two days after it was announced that I had acquired the company.”
Lana frowns, sitting up. “I remember that. I didn’t want to hire him because there had been no opening but he had contacts and glowing recommendations. And the day after I rejected him, one of our female data analysts just up and left. I hired him two months before Oliver took over.”
“That is odd.” Kendall clambers onto her feet and moves towards her fiancé to steal his glass of wine.
Caleb lets her but he also traps her against his body, his arm wrapped like a band around her waist, her back pressed to his.
Kendall doesn’t complain. Instead, she looks over her shoulder at him. “You must have some lead.”
Caleb just stares at her until she looks away muttering under her breath.
“For now,” I insert. “I’ve sent in the documents to a judge I know. And I’ve sent a copy of Darren’s employee file to somebody. If Darren’s prints are in the criminal database, we’ll be able to find out who he is.”
“We could beat it out of that little fucker,” Kendall suggests, darkly. “Caleb could hold him down and I could pepper spray him until he goes blind.”
Everyone turns to stare at her, startled by the viciousness.
Caleb just meets our gazes, calmly. However, once he’s sure no one is gaping at his fiancée, he just murmurs, “I’d rather you didn’t end up in prison so quickly.”
“You’d visit me though, right?” Kendall demands.
He squeezes her arm, saying assuredly, “Every day.”
It’s always a wonder to me how when it comes to this woman, Caleb doesn’t give a crap about his dignity. I’ve seen her boss him around and he obeys her quite happily.
For the cold eyed CEO whom I’ve known for so long to do this, I find it disturbing, and oddly romantic, it makes perfect sense to me now.
“No one should approach him,” Oliver says, always a man of few words. “Until we find something concrete, we should just keep an eye on him. I don’t think Elise is his target, though. He’s simply harassing her. It could be that he’s trying to use her to get to someone else.”
“Her parents are pretty well off,” I say, slowly. “If he manages to take Sophie’s custody, he can extort a pretty large amount from Elise and her parents to get her back.”
“Well, it still doesn’t make any sense why he joined right after Caleb took over?” Lana looks towards me. “It couldn’t just be a coincidence.”
I shrug, helplessly. “At the moment, it looks like it is.” But even I don’t believe that. “He said he came from money or that his family has money,” I add. “Maybe have your people look into that?”
Caleb nods.
The conversation goes on, coming back and circling around the same point until I finally decide to leave.
As I drive home, my thoughts are constantly on Elise and how someone like her managed to get drawn into this mess to begin with. Of all the women to choose from, why did Darren go after her?
