Until My Last Breath

by Tiffany Patterson

  “The leaks are happening because you won’t let me get to the bottom of it. It’s effecting our stock prices, and I just got a call this morning from a partner of ours who is growing concerned with everything he keeps hearing in the papers.”

  “Did you tell him what I told you to tell him?”

  The scowl I wore whenever I was in the presence of my father deepened. “No one is buying that bullshit ‘we’re looking into the leaks and doing everything we can to stop them’ line anymore. It’s been well over a year since the leaks began. Our investors are getting antsy. And you know what happens when investors get antsy.”

  My father’s expression turned grim, and for a second it seemed like he was actually beginning to understand how deep this problem ran. But then he opened his mouth and said, “No, just stick to what I instructed you to tell everyone. This will eventually blow over.”

  My shoulders sagged. I knew he didn’t have the fucking heart to make the right decision. To put his ego to the side and do what was right for the company. He needed to feel like he was in charge, when the truth of the matter was, it had been that way since his stroke.

  I was done playing games. I didn’t say anything—I simply nodded and turned on my heels, to exit my father’s office. I strode down the hall to my office, shutting my door behind me before I picked up the phone on my desk.

  “Hello?”

  “Thiers.” I was relieved to hear his voice at the other end.

  “Robert? Calling in the middle of the day? Must be serious.”

  “It is. I’m tired of these fucking leaks and I need your help to get to the bottom of it all.”

  ****

  “Is this like the last job?” the behemoth of a man standing in front of me questioned.

  Even at my six-foot-three height, I had to look up to meet the gaze of the six-foot-seven former Vietnam vet, turned private investigator, who Thiers had connected me with months ago.

  We were standing in the Buddy’s gym. This was the spot Thiers and I met when we needed to meet during the day.

  Shaking my head, I folded my arms over my chest. “No, that was personal. This is business.”

  His lifted a dark blond brow; his face looked as if it was set in stone. “There’s a difference?”

  I pivoted, turning toward Thiers. He just shrugged and looked between the two of us.

  “In this case, yes,” I responded.

  “How’d you make out with that little filly, anyway?”

  “Little what?” I questioned sternly, my top lip curling.

  “The little filly you had me look into a few months back. She was a looker—”

  “Hey, Rick, I’d calm all that down if I were you. This man’s married to her now,” Thiers interjected.

  Rick turned to me, brows raised, shocked.

  “And her name’s Deborah.”

  He nodded slowly, his lips moving into a smirk. “Well, congratulations. My invite must’ve gotten lost in the mail.”

  Thiers chuckled. “All of ours did. This fucker flew to Vegas and got married by an Elvis impersonator.”

  The big fuck let out a guffaw right along with Thiers. “That must’ve been a sight.”

  “It was. Look, we’re not here to talk about my wife, my marriage, or anything else that doesn’t have to do with getting to the bottom of the bullshit going on with Townsend Industries.”

  Rick sobered up and nodded, his face quickly morphing into a serious expression. “You’ve been having some trouble.”

  “That’s right.”

  “So what are you coming to me for? Townsend has some of the best security around from what I hear.”

  I nodded. “That’s the exact reason I need you. We have state of the art security and a hiring process that is meant to weed out potential corporate spies, and yet we’re still dealing with this shit.”

  “You’re thinking it’s an inside job?”

  “I know it is.”

  “Then why not go to daddy and have him hire new staff?”

  I curled my top lip upward, scowling, but breathed deeply to calm my growing irritation at this line of questioning. I knew Rick was trying to goad me, to feel me out and see what I was really after. This wasn’t the simple ‘look up a person, find out their address and where they worked’ type of thing I had him do with Deborah. This was possible corporate espionage which could be a federal offense.

  “Because his head is too far up his ass.”

  That caught Ricker’s attention. Folding his arms over his broad chest, he stared at me, his sharp hazel eyes assessing me.

  “My father’s an empty suite. He knows it and I know it. But the board isn’t willing to oust him yet, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before he turns the reins of Townsend Industries over to me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he knows I’ll do a better job than he ever could. And legally … for the most part.”

  Rick looked to Thiers. “He’s serious.”

  “As a heart attack,” Thiers quickly retorted. “I wouldn’t fuck with him if I were you.”

  Rick turned back to me. “What do you need?”

  I nodded. “I need to know where these leaks are coming from. Who at Townsend is behind it, who on the outside is gaining from these leaks, and …”

  “And then you need to know how to fix it.”

  I shook my head. “No, I know some guys at the Justice Department, SEC, and the FBI. Once we find out who is behind this, I know who to contact to make sure they’re put behind bars.”

  Rick nodded. “Sounds like a job I’d be willing to take on. I’m always up for a good corporate espionage case. Give me a minute, while I make a call to my office to reschedule an appointment, and I’ll be back to talk to you about some more of the details.”

  I nodded and watched as he strolled off in the direction of the gym’s office to make his call.

  “You trust that guy?” I questioned, turning to Thiers.

  “I do.” He nodded. “He served with my cousin in ’Nam. Saved his life. He’s been back over five years now, and started working as a PI four and a half years ago. He’s done a couple of jobs for me. Helped you find Deborah when you first discovered she was here in Williamsport.”

  I tilted my head. Thiers was right about that, and it was something I’d always be grateful to Rick Kennedy for.

  “He ever take on anything this big?”

  Thiers shrugged. “Not sure but you can ask him. He’s up to the job, you saw him.”

  I pushed out a full breath. Thiers was right. Rick, for whatever reason, felt like the right person to handle this. He was an outsider, didn’t have any ties to Townsend Industries, my father, or the high society world I came from. He didn’t have skin in the game, and he was sharp. He knew his stuff, and from Thiers and other clients of his I’d talked to, he was highly intelligent and capable. All of the traits I would need to get to the bottom of these leaks and stomp them out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Then

  Deborah

  “And have you had a chance to look over the finances for the new Enchanted line?” my manager, Steve, questioned as we sat down to lunch. We were back at the Crown Jewel restaurant. I’d grown a little nostalgic for this place since it was the first time I’d seen Robert again after five years.

  I briefly thought about how much had changed in the past eight months since that day. Not only had I reunited with Robert but he and I were married. A little over six months now.

  “Deborah.”

  I blinked and looked across the round table at Steve who was staring at me, a knowing grin on his face.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  “Marital bliss, huh?” His eyes moved from mine, lowering to my hands as I held them in front of me.

  I glanced down and realized I’d been twisting my wedding ring as I stared off into space, daydreaming about my husband. This was becoming somewhat of a habit.

  “Is it obvious?” I asked. I tried to keep m
y marriage to myself while at work. Not only did I not want to talk too much about Robert, knowing everyone was interested because of his last name, but I also didn’t want to give my supervisors any ammunition to look me over when it came time for promotions. While women in the corporate world had come a long way, there was still much left to be desired when it came to breaking through the glass ceiling, so to speak. The fact that I was now married to an extremely wealthy man, felt like it had almost everyone I worked with making bets as to when I would announce my resignation. They had another thing coming.

  “Oh, only to someone who is looking at you,” Steve said.

  I ducked my head.

  “Don’t be ashamed,” he quickly added. “This world is too small and too crazy to pretend like you’re not happy.”

  An odd feeling came over me at the sadness I saw in his face, but it quickly disappeared, and his friendly smile returned.

  “Back to the Enchanted line.”

  I pulled out the file I’d brought with me to lunch, and we began discussing the financial issues surrounding the production of this new cosmetic line for our company. We spent the hour talking about financial projections, marketing strategies, and the cost of branding and advertisement.

  “We’ll need to meet with marketing and advertising next week to nail down these numbers. You know they do not enjoy this kind of stuff.”

  Laughing a little, I shook my head. “I’m well aware. But it’s a necessity.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’m going over to the building next door for a meeting.”

  I quickly nodded and waved Steve off. “No problem. I’m just going to head back to the office.”

  We parted ways, and I checked the time on my watch to see it was only about ten of one. I’d make it back to the office by one and would give Robert a call. We often talked at some point during the afternoon, if only for a few minutes since both of us were busy at work.

  “Still eating at the Crown Jewel? Must be why you dumped me for your rich boyfriend.”

  I turned, the hairs on the back of my neck raising at the sneer I heard in Cohen’s voice. I faced him to see a deep frown marring his usually handsome face.

  “Cohen …” I was a little stunned at the almost menacing glare he was giving me.

  He blinked and his features seemed to relax but only slightly. “Deborah Tate, how nice of you to join us peasants at the Crown Jewel of all places. How is your boyfriend doing? What was his name? Randy? Roy—”

  “Robert,” I stated firmly, knowing full well he knew the name. “Robert Townsend, and he’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Oh?” he questioned, lifting an eyebrow, a sardonic smile creasing his lips.

  “No. He’s my husband.” To add to my statement, I waved my left hand in front of my face so Cohen could see the diamond and gold wedding band on my ring finger.

  His smile instantly dropped. “He married you?”

  My head jutted backward at the incredulity I heard in Cohen’s voice. As if he was completely knocked over by the fact that Robert would marry me.

  “He must be trying to get back at his father.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Cohen looked at me, his eyes narrowing. “Come on, Deborah. You can’t think a guy like Robert Townsend is actually serious about you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes. I mean, get real. You’re beautiful and all, but you come from nowhere Kentucky. You have no social standing. What would Robert Townsend want with—”

  “Cohen, I think it would be best if you didn’t finish that sentence. I’m going to walk away now. Don’t ever speak to me again. If you see me walking down the street, cross it.”

  Spinning around, I made a beeline for the door of the restaurant to head back to work. I was so angry, I was sure steam was coming out of my head. I couldn’t believe Cohen’s words. They were like a slap to the face. I’d spent time telling him how I felt like an outcast at times. Like I sometimes wasn’t meant to be in the role I was in at my job. Cohen was the one who first introduced me to the term imposter syndrome. And there he was, throwing it all in my face by telling me someone like Robert only married me to score points in a feud with his father.

  “Hi,” I answered the phone in my office, breathless and a little agitated.

  “Hey. Everything alright?” Robert’s voice was on high alert. I could just picture his cinnamon-colored eyes moving from side to side, trying to mull over what had me so worked up.

  “I’m fine. Just ran into someone on my way back from lunch.”

  “Who?”

  “Co—” I paused, knowing that name would not go over well with my jealous husband. “Cochren, a former manager in our finance department. He lost his job after the merger last year and he’s still a little bitter about it.”

  “He was making trouble for you?”

  I blinked, internally chastising myself for getting Robert worked up. If I knew my husband as well as I thought I did, I had no doubt that he’d be looking Cochren up to give him a piece of his mind.

  “No, he just said a few words to Steve. But Steve took care of it. No big deal.”

  “Then why did you sound upset?”

  I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wished I had a husband who wasn’t so damn observant.

  “Hey, you know what I was thinking for dinner? Grilled cheese and tomato soup. The grocer not too far from my job just started selling this amazing tomato bisque. I had it for lunch yesterday. It should be much more pleasing to your palette than Campbell’s.”

  I sighed when he chuckled on the other end of the line.

  “Only if you’re making grilled cheese with gouda.”

  “I told you you would like it,” I said in a ‘gotcha’ voice.

  “You were right. But how about this time I’ll try to make it? You just bring the soup.”

  Tilting my head, I briefly pulled the phone from my ear. “Robert Townsend is going to try his hand at cooking? Well I’ll be—”

  “That’s enough of that.”

  I giggled, covering my mouth so my coworkers wouldn’t overhear me too much. Robert wasn’t one for cooking, having dealt with hired staff his entire life for that purpose. But I loved that he was open to learning. He kept saying that his sons would need to know how to cook, just in case. He was adamant about this four sons thing. Speaking of …

  “Hey, have you spoken to Jason?”

  There was a brief pause on the other end.

  “I called yesterday but they didn’t answer.”

  “It’s been a couple of months now.”

  He sighed. “I know.”

  Jason and his wife, Jesse, had lost the baby she’d been pregnant with. While Robert still had his doubts that the baby was even Jason’s, we had tried to be there for the couple. Unfortunately, it appeared Jason was dealing with the loss in the usual destructive ways he dealt with life. Only this time, Jesse was along for the ride, seeming to stick by his side.

  “Maybe we should invite them over this weekend.”

  “Deborah—”

  “Hear me out, Robert. Jason obviously envies you and was trying to one up you. But he and his wife are dealing with a loss. She was five months pregnant. I remember when they came over a few weeks before it happened. Jesse was so happy to feel the baby kicking inside of her. I can’t imagine the pain she must be feeling. Surely, you can put aside whatever anger you have toward your brother to comfort him and his wife.”

  It took a while for Robert to respond. Finally, he pushed out a heavy breath and said, “I’ll invite them over. We’ll have dinner together this weekend, whether he wants to or not.”

  I nodded even though he couldn’t see me.

  “I love you.”

  “You’re really going to love me after this gouda grilled cheese I prepare tonight.”

  I giggled just before hanging up the phone.

  Minutes later, I realized that my mood had shifted entirely. That short conversation with Robert had been enough to lighten my spirits a
nd shrug off what Cohen had said earlier.

  I didn’t need to concern myself with what Cohen or anyone else thought of Robert and my relationship. In my heart, I knew we were made for each other.

  ****

  Then

  Robert

  “It’s not looking good,” Rick stated as I sat across from him at a local dive diner we’d designated as our meeting spot. The diner was located on the outskirts of Williamsport, far from Townsend Industries.

  “What’s not looking good?”

  Rick parted his mouth but then quickly closed it when the waitress brought us the meals we’d ordered. I immediately pushed my plate aside, wanting to know more about what he’d found in his investigation so far, than in any food.

  I watched as he cut into the T-bone steak he’d ordered with eggs and biscuits. How anyone could eat steak at seven in the morning was beyond me. But that wasn’t my concern at the moment.

  “None of it,” he answered after swallowing his food. He wiped his hands before sliding a manila envelope across the cracked wood of the table.

  Taking the envelope, I pulled out the photos that were inside. I looked them over, as Rick continued to eat. The first three or four photos were of men who worked for Townsend as execs. The photos were of them getting in and out of cars, or meeting with my father or another coworker over lunch. The final photo was what had shocked me. I paused, holding it up, examining every angle of the picture.

  “Is this Deborah?” My eyes went to Rick. It was a stupid question. The image was of a woman from behind, but I knew my wife. I knew what she looked like from every angle. I didn’t need to see her face to know it was her.

  “She look familiar?”

  “Don’t get fucking coy.”

  Rick slowly placed the knife and fork he’d been using to cut his food down, and wiped his mouth with one of the paper napkins before peering across the table at me.

  “Look, this is what the investigation has turned up so far. That looks eerily similar to a woman fitting your wife’s description. And they,” he nodded toward the picture, “are two men standing to greet her. Two men who work for Townsend Industries. One is high up in Townsend’s security staff, and the other is—”