by Sherie Keys
She sat opposite him and looked at him through narrowed eyes. "My name is Hannah Iverson. I own this business. What can I do for you, Mr. Jamison?" she asked in a clipped tone.
He lowered his own brow. He couldn't understand what her problem with him was, but her attitude and tone were insulting to him. "You can tell me what in the world is going on. Why did you fire Brandy Keller?" he demanded.
Her mouth closed in a tight thin line and she lowered her gaze at him slightly. "I don't mind telling you, Mr. Jamison, that I am not at all pleased to have you back in my facility again, after what you pulled here. I am not going to allow you to come back for appointments with any of my girls, and the only reason that I'm going to tell you why I fired Ms. Keller is because it directly involves you."
Kyle's mouth fell open at her audacity and he felt an anger growing deep in him. No one ever spoke to him so callously, except his wife, and he wasn't going to put up with much more of it.
"I fired her because you and she had an illicit affair right here in this very building." She leaned forward and her voice took on an icy sharpness. "Do you realize how long it has taken me to build this business up from the ground and earn myself an excellent reputation? Do you know how important it is to me to keep that reputation up?
“You came in here and acted immorally with one of my employees, and now you're back looking for her again! Well, she lost her job because of what she did with you. I'm not about to keep anyone in my employment who is willing to disgrace all that I have worked for to make this business a success. If you think you can come in here and turn my spa into your bordello, then you have another thing coming.
“I'm not about to let you do that to me, or to this business. I lost one good worker to you, Mr. Jamison, and I will not lose another one. You are not welcome to visit this spa ever again." She nearly growled at him as she spoke.
He leaned forward and met her over her desk, his gaze fierce and intense upon her.
"How dare you speak to me like that. First of all, you don't know if it's true or not, you only know what you've heard from others. Secondly, the time I spent with Ms. Keller in here is my business, not yours. I paid for the time, I paid for the room, I paid for privacy and for the services that I came here to receive, just like your other patrons come here to pay for whatever services they receive.
“What I do in that room is of absolutely no concern to you once you take my money and the door is closed. I'm not saying I did it, and I'm not saying I didn't do it, but I am saying that it doesn't matter whether or not I did, and what I do is none of your business. Now I want you to tell me exactly who you heard it from that I was having an affair in your business,” he demanded of her, speaking low and hard to her.
She lifted her chin. "I am not at liberty to tell you who informed me of your actions here, and everything that goes on in this facility is my business, Mr. Jamison, so don't you dare come in here and tell me that it's not."
He gritted his teeth. "You tell me who told you or I'm going to have my team of attorneys drag your sorry old ass through court for liable and slander. I guarantee you that I will not only own your business by the time I'm done. I will rip this entire place apart, piece by piece, until it is nothing more than dust on the ground.
“You've made serious accusations against me and I can promise you that you've unquestionably made a considerable mistake in doing that. I am a man you do not want to find yourself at odds with, Madam. I am a man who does not take threats idly, nor back down when they are made, and I am a man who does not fail, particularly when it comes to things that are of significant importance to me."
Kyle leaned further over her desk and glared hotly at her. "Let me make this crystal clear for you. You could not possibly be in a more precarious position than you find yourself in at this very moment. You are keeping information from me that I want, and you are about to lose every single thing you have worked so hard for.
“I suggest to you that you start answering my questions immediately, before I pick up my phone and make one call to my law team that will end your career before you can figure out what's going on. I didn't become a billionaire by letting others walk all over me and treat me like dirt, Madam. Do not test me. You will not come out in one piece at the end of it if you do. Now, answer my question. Who told you that I was having an affair here?"
Hannah looked as if she had swallowed her own tongue. "Your wife told me all about it," she said in a much quieter and more humble voice than she had yet used with him.
His eyebrows shot up. "My wife? Veronica told you that I was having an affair here? What exactly did she tell you?"
Hannah shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, she told me that you were coming down here for your massage appointments and that instead of a massage, you were having intimate relations with your masseuse, with Brandy. I asked her if she had any evidence to the fact and she told me that she had plenty of evidence."
He could not believe it. Veronica had done this. She had discovered his relationship with Brandy and in whatever jealousy she was feeling, had gone after Brandy, taking him down with her in the process. That explained why she had suddenly become so affectionate toward him, and so needy of his time. She was jealous of Brandy. He was amazed that she even cared, and he was astounded that she would go so far as to contact Hannah and get Brandy fired.
"What else did she say?" he asked, seeing that Hannah was holding something back.
Hannah squirmed a little, and bit her lower lip.
"Tell me! Now!" he demanded sharply.
She quivered a moment. "I said I wanted to see the evidence, but she refused to show it to me. She said instead that she would give me an incentive to let Brandy go."
He cocked one eyebrow and frowned. "An incentive? What incentive?" he asked, barely keeping his anger under control.
She looked down as shame colored her pale cheeks pink. "A monetary incentive."
Kyle looked at her in shock. "A bribe? She paid you? How much did she pay you?"
"Fifty thousand,” Hannah answered quietly.
Kyle stood straight up out of the chair and towered over the desk, looking down at Hannah and raising his voice at her. "You took a bribe of fifty thousand dollars from my wife solely on her word that I was having an affair and you fired Brandy because of that bribe? Is that what you're telling me?" he hollered.
Hannah nodded meekly and seemed to shrink back in her chair.
"What kind of morality is that? You can sit there and smugly insult me on my own actions, when you have taken a bribe from a woman you don't know for something you know nothing about and have no proof of, and for that money you are willing to let your best employee go? How dare you!" he shouted at her and she looked up at him finally.
"Your wife was very convincing. She said that she was going to take me to court as well. I really didn't feel as if I had any choice in the matter," she offered defensively.
He glared at her again. "Where is Brandy? What spa did she go to when she left here?" he asked sharply.
Hannah rubbed her fingers over her forehead. "She didn't go to another spa."
Kyle blinked and looked at her hard. "What do you mean she didn't go to another spa? It's her job. She has to make a living. She had to have gone somewhere after she left here. I'd assume that wherever she has gone, the business would have called you for some kind of reference, and so you must know where she's working now."
Hannah shook her head. "I told her I wouldn't give her a reference, and I doubt that any spa or salon would hire her, because I told them not to. At least, all the spas that are of any rank or name in the city. All the same, I haven't heard from any other spas, so I don't think she's gotten a job anywhere," she admitted to him.
"You what?" he shouted at her. "How could you do that to her? She was one of your best workers for years! How could you throw her out like that? For what, for the bribe you received? What in God's name is wrong with you, woman?" he asked angrily.
She shook her
head. "I'm sorry. I did what your wife paid me to do."
"You are going to have hell to pay when I'm through with you,” he said, looking at her as if he was ready to crucify her on the spot.
She looked miserably regretful. "Mr. Jamison, you aren't going to find Brandy in this city." She looked as if she was making a last ditch effort to try to lessen the damage she had caused.
He leaned back and looked carefully at her. "Where am I going to find her?" he asked pointedly.
Hannah sighed and pulled open her desk drawer, lifting out a piece of paper and copying the information written on it. "You'll find her at her parents’ house in Boston. This is the address. This is where she had her last check sent."
He took the paper from her hand and shook his head at her. "You're going to lose everything," he promised her. He turned and reached for the door handle and she called out to him.
"Mr. Jamison, I'm sorry for what's happened," she spoke quietly. "There are a lot of people here who need to keep their jobs. Please consider that.”
He turned and looked coldly at her. "You mean like Brandy? Yes, there are people here who need their jobs, and there are people who have been fired from here who need their job, but who were let go so you could get your hands on a bribe."
With a disgusted glare, he turned and walked out of the room and left her sitting miserably behind her desk.
Kyle was home in record time. He flung the door wide open and called out to his wife. "Veronica! Veronica where are you?"
She came rushing in to meet him, scantily dressed as she had begun to dress around him regularly, hoping to attract his attentions and affections. She was grinning happily until she saw the look on his face, and then she seemed to wither back a little bit.
"What is it?" she asked worriedly.
Anger raged in his eyes as he looked at her and she drew in her breath, her hand covering her mouth when she saw just how angry he was.
"You had Brandy fired from the spa. You called up the owner with stories you know nothing about, and you had that girl fired from her job. What in the hell did you do that for?" he asked furiously.
She looked as if she was floundering for moment, trying to figure out what to say, and then she lifted her chin and said sharply, "I did it because you are mine and she can't have you!"
He glared hotly at her. "Explain yourself!"
She looked away from him and began to pace a little. "I got a call from Candice and she told me that she had seen you with that girl when she was out at the island for a weekend. I should have known you were cheating on me, because you haven't touched me in ages. I should have realized you were getting laid somewhere else. You haven't wanted me in a long time,” she accused him, shooting daggers at him from her callous eyes for a quick moment.
Kyle bit his tongue and resisted the urge to fight with her about who it was that was neglecting whom. He needed to hear the rest of what she was going to tell him, and in order to do that, he'd have to let her talk without interrupting her.
"So Candice told me all about how she saw the two of you making out at some ice cream place, right there in front of God and everyone. I can't tell you how ashamed and embarrassed I was to find out that you were having an affair!" She pouted and whined and wiped at her eyes, though there were no tears there.
He watched her pace and let her continue, all the while feeling the anger inside him building to a pitch.
"Well, it wasn't hard to find out who she was after that. All I had to do was look in your phone and there were dozens of messages and photos and phone call records to and from her. Everything I needed was right there. I copied all of it out of your phone, so you gave me all of the evidence I needed. Then I went and saw her." She stopped pacing and looked at him, turning on the spot and smiling her wicked smile at him.
He stared at her. "You went and saw her?" he asked, as his stomach seemed to fall from his body right through the floor.
Veronica nodded. "I did. I told her that I wanted her to stop seeing you, and I told her that if she did, I would give her fifty thousand dollars, and she took it. She took it so fast it made both of our heads spin. She took the money and ran, and she told me that you never meant anything to her and she was never going to talk to you again. So she's gone."
He shook his head. It couldn't be. That didn't sound at all like the Brandy that he knew. He was in complete shock. "That wasn't good enough for you, though, was it?" he asked angrily.
She shook her head. "Well, you know what they say. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." She walked up to him and looked up at him with a seductive little pout, placing her hand on his chest and smiling at him. "I did do one other little thing. I guess I had to feel like I got her back a little for sleeping with my husband."
"You had her fired,” he said in a low growl, pushing her hands away from his chest.
"I had her fired." She admitted it freely, looking at him with growing anger.
"How could you do that? How dare you do that? You ruined that poor girl's life and for what! For what, Veronica? You don't love me. You don't want me! What's the point of going after her? She didn't hurt you or do anything to you! You're just insulted because your pride was hurt!"
"Wrong!" she shouted back at him. "I do want you, and I realized what a threat she was to me, so she had to go!"
He scowled at her angrily. "You do not want me! You haven't wanted me in ages! What the hell does she even matter to you? What kind of a threat do you think she was?"
Veronica shook her head at him. "How can you even ask me that? She stole your heart away!"
Kyle shook his head slightly. "No, she..." He stopped speaking, but he shook his head again.
His wife scoffed at him. "Oh, how cute. You don't even realize it. What a fool you are! What an absolute fool you are, Kyle. It's ridiculous! You don't even know it! You fell in love with her, Kyle. I read all your messages to her. I saw the photos you have on your phone of her. You're in love with her. You don't even know it. How absolutely adorable."
He stood there, speechless. He wanted to say that he wasn't in love with her, but the words wouldn't come, and all he could feel was a tightening in his chest.
Veronica shook her own head and planted her hands on her hips. "You are so pathetic, do you know that? You are. God, you made such a huge mess with her and I had to come along behind you and fix it. You might be denying it to yourself, but you are in love with her, and that threatens me because I'm not about to lose my lifestyle just because you gave your heart away!
“Grow up and learn about the real world, Kyle. Love doesn't exist in the real world, and it doesn't matter. Money is all that really matters, so just keep the money coming and I might forget what I know about you and your little fling. I don't care if you screw other women on the side. Who knows, maybe I'll go find myself a boyfriend and we'll just change it to an open relationship; God knows I don't want you in my bed, you sappy, ridiculous, romantic, sentimental idiot.
“I do want the lifestyle I've grown accustomed to. I do want to keep living like this for the rest of my life, and I'm not about to let some stupid little girl from the other side of the tracks sneak in here and steal your heart and make you fall in love with her. Then you would want to get a divorce from me just so you can go off and marry her and then I'll wind up with nothing! That's not going to happen!"
His anger had grown tenfold as she had been talking, as had his amazement that what she was telling him was true. No matter how much he wanted to, he could not deny that he was in love with Brandy and it was incredible to him that his wife had seen it and he had not.
He realized that she was also right about only being with him for the money and not for love. He had wondered earlier why they were even together, and now he had his answer. They were together because she wanted his money.
"I can't believe your audacity, you little money grubbing bitch. You are so wrapped up in your social climbing that you have no idea what marriage is about, do you?" he shouted at her.
"Yes, actually, I do. It's best done as a business arrangement, and most people from all over the world who exercise the practice of arranged marriages know that. Ours has been a business arrangement right from the start. I knew you wouldn't marry me unless you thought that you loved me, so I made you fall in love with me, and now here we are. I'm at the best end of the deal.
“This was a brilliant business move on my part. You see, I came from the other side of the tracks, too. I had nothing when I met you, and I knew that if I wanted the lifestyle I had dreamed about, that I had to find a rich man to provide it for me. I wound up with you. I will admit that you were fun to screw in the first couple of years that we were together.
“You're a good looking man, and you're a riot in the sack, but after a while I got bored with you, and I just couldn't stand to have you touch me anymore. See, that's where my sacrifice comes in.