AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shrugged. “Lots of places. She met the last one at a bar. The one before that at a park. Then there was one she met doing yoga outside my apartment. He was visiting one of my neighbors.” Ali sighed. “That was a little awkward.”
“I imagine so.”
They pulled into her apartment complex. He parked and came around to open the passenger’s door for her. “Thank you.”
He stood at her side while she unlocked her car and threw her purse onto the passenger’s seat. The day was warming up nicely, but she felt a chill move through her. Daniel noticed and pulled her into his arms. He rubbed his hands along her back, warming her from the inside out. She wanted to stay right there forever.
But she couldn’t. She had to go to work. “I need to go,” she mumbled against his dress shirt.
He lifted her chin and pressed his lips to hers. “I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”
She went up on her tiptoes, giving him another peck on the lips before sliding into the driver’s seat. He stood patiently as she started the car and backed out.
Before she turned out of the parking lot, she glanced into her rearview mirror. He was still in the same spot, watching her. Something pulled at her heart, and she sat there an extra moment, taking in the sight of him. “I love you,” she said to herself. He couldn’t hear her, but saying it helped.
She turned onto the road toward the hospital. The sun climbing in the sky let her know she didn’t have much time to prepare herself.
It was a little after seven when she got to her desk. That gave her an hour to get the report finished before her boss made his appearance. Hopefully, she could get it done by then.
Wasting no time, she logged onto her computer and got to work. She’d done all the research yesterday, so this morning was about compiling the data.
The clock on her computer seemed to mock her. It ticked closer and closer to eight while her fingers flew over the keyboard.
At eight o’clock, she was still working on the report. The end was in sight, but she needed at least another fifteen minutes.
Ignoring everything around her, she concentrated on what she was doing. She didn’t unforward her phone, even though she was supposed to, because she couldn’t have any distractions.
As she was typing the last paragraph, summing up the information, Ali heard the elevator ding. Without looking, she knew it would be her boss.
Clicking save, she waited a moment for the computer to do its thing before hitting print. Her heart was racing as his footsteps got closer. He stopped at her desk, glaring down at her. “Do you have my report?” he snapped.
She tried to hide the fact she was shaking. “On the printer, Mr. Jacobson.”
A flash of surprise crossed his face before he schooled his features. He marched to the printer and removed the papers. After a quick scan, he went into his office, shutting the door behind him.
It was then she realized he’d wanted her to fail.
CHAPTER27
Daniel madehimself comfortable and began going through the file Peter had sent the day before. It was thorough. When he’d told the man he’d wanted to know everything about Grant Jacobson, including what he ate for breakfast, he hadn’t expected quite this much detail.
Peter hadn’t only run a background check on Jacobson. He'd also followed him. Or at least, had him followed. There were huge eight by ten photos of him sitting in restaurants, going into what Daniel assumed was his condo building, even one of him working out at the gym.
After doing a quick scan of the documents, Daniel began going over the information, line by line. He didn’t want to miss anything, so he took his time. Kevin was holding his calls and he had no pressing matters to attend to unless Ali called. By the end of it, he was going to know more about Grant Jacobson than he did any other human being.
It was almost eleven o’clock when he stumbled onto what he was looking for. Seven years ago, Grant Jacobson had lived in a neighborhood where Daniel had purchased a house to flip. He remembered it well. It was the only house he’d ever sold without completing the renovations.
He’d lost his entire crew, too. Not because of anything he did, but because they’d been harassed by the neighbors. Or more to the point, one neighbor. The man who’d lived next door, one Grant Jacobson.
Daniel had only spoken to the man face-to-face once because he never seemed to be home, but Jacobson had made working conditions unpleasant for his crew. He’d leave them notes nit-picking that they’d left something in his yard, things there was no way they’d left, and then he’d ‘return’ them to the house they were working on.
While annoying, it wasn’t the only issue. Somehow, the man had organized with the other neighbors and would often take up all the parking on the surrounding streets. Trucks delivering supplies couldn’t get through, and when they stopped on the street long enough to unload their goods, the police would show up and force them to move. It had been frustrating and eventually, one by one, his guys quit.
Daniel set the papers down on his desk and leaned back in his chair. The man was a colossal pain in the ass then and now.
What he didn’t understand, however, was why Grant Jacobson was targeting Ali. She was his assistant. She was there to help him. The house renovation, he could almost understand. Some people didn’t like the noise or mess that came with construction. But that didn’t explain his attitude toward Ali.
He took a quick break, then continued reading. It wasn’t until he got to the details of the man’s work history that something stood out. Peter had not only provided where he’d worked, his position, and his length of time there, he’d also, somehow, gotten his hands on performance reviews. The ones about him and the ones he’d written about his employees.
