“If you lead the way, I’ll carry the tray in,” she gestures toward Nicholas’s office.
It’s been an adjustment getting used to having her doing so much for me, something I’ve never had before. Growing up, I was always on my own—no one was ever there for me or cared enough to help me even when I was sick. And when I was with him, there was no recovery time when I had broken ribs or bruises that needed to heal. His expectations never changed: it didn’t matter how much pain I was in, I was still expected to have everything done before he walked through the door. So something as simple as Julie making my cup of tea… yeah that’s going to take some getting used to.
“Come in,” Nicholas’s voice comes from behind the door the moment I knock.
“Oh!” I’m surprised to see Carter still in Nicholas’s office, I had assumed they had finished their meeting. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were still meeting. I thought you might be hungry, but I can come back—”
“No, it’s fine. We were almost finished anyway,” he greets me with a light kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll just set this down,” Julie places the tray on the small table.
“Thank you, Julie,” Nicholas says.
“I can come back—” I feel bad for interrupting their meeting.
“No, it’s fine. Carter was just going to brief me on a situation with the press—”
“UGH, what now? I haven’t seen anything negative in a while…”
“Nothing bad,” he assures me. “I’ve been having my team run background checks on all the reporters who have been writing negative publicity about my personal life. Until now, we haven’t found anything that we can use to persuade them to give up their sources.”
“Wait… until now.”
“About a week ago, a background check came back with… some useful information about a reporter that only recently started working for one of those news sources. While the reporter wouldn’t give up her source directly, she provided us with the email address the person uses to communicate with her. That email address was tied back to a company that Carter was just explaining he’s been in touch with.”
“Right, I spoke with Eurotek Air…”
Eurotek Air… the name sounds familiar but I’m struggling to place why I know that name. I rack my brain until it finally hits me…
“Ladies and Gentleman, if I can have a moment of your time,” the distinguished man on stage says through the microphone. “I would like to take a moment to thank the hard working team at Creative Advertising Strategies for always being willing to think outside the box, for going above and beyond to meet our client needs and just as important, for creating a fun work environment,” cheers are heard around the room along with some applause. “Tonight, we are here to celebrate our newest member of the CAS family: Eurotek Air who has signed on with us for all of their advertising needs,” this time the room erupts in a loud applause. “This venture wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of several key members of the CAS family: Mike, Christine, Adam, Susan, Steve and Joshua……”
I’m surprised Richard isn’t mentioned—he’s been working so many hours lately on a project for a new client. Maybe it was a different new client? I’m sure CAS has many new clients, but Eurotek is probably the largest one, which is why we are here celebrating. I chance a glance at him and immediately relax a little when he doesn’t appear angry that his name was left out.
“You said Eurotek Air?” I clarify, hoping that either I misheard Carter or that this is some odd coincidence that they used CAS for their advertising needs and is now coming after Nicholas.
“Yes, Eurotek Air is a large manufacturer of aircraft instruments, located just outside of Denver,” Carter clarifies.
“Kenzie is something wrong? Are you feeling okay? You look pale,” Nicholas squeezes my hand as Carter jumps to get me a bottle of water.
“I… I don’t know,” I admit.
“I can come back—” Carter begins.
“No, stay,” I interrupt, knowing he needs to be here. “My ex… he works for the company who handles, or at least handled, all the advertising needs of Eurotek Air.”
“Are you sure, Kenzie?” Nicholas asks.
“Yes… the night I… I finally left him, we were at a dinner celebrating Eurotek signing with CAS.”
“Carter—”
“I’m on it, sir,” he quickly types into away at his phone. “None of the reports indicate that Richard Westbrook left the state of Colorado since we’ve had him under surveillance—”
“Wait,” I interrupt quickly. “What do you mean under surveillance? How do you know his name? I don’t remember—”
“You didn’t,” Nicholas says. “After you told me about… what he did to you, I had Carter find out who your ex was. We’ve had him under surveillance from a distance ever since.”
“How?” I whisper. “How did you find out who he was?”
“I came across a picture of the two of you attending a holiday dinner for his company. It fit the timeline…” Carter says unapologetically.
“I see,” I don’t really know what else to say. I shouldn’t be surprised, Carter ran a background check on me as soon as we met through Bridget.
“Baby,” Nicholas puts his hand on my cheek and gently urges me to look at him. “That night, when you told me what that fucker did to you, I promised you I would never let him hurt you again. The only way I could keep my promise, was to ensure he was under surveillance, to track all of his movements, and make sure he never stepped foot in the same state as you.”
Well… shit… when he puts it like that how I can be mad?
“I… that makes sense.”
“Kenzie, I need to ask you some questions,” Carter warns, though I’m not surprised.
What does surprise me is the realization that Carter used my first name, instead of referring to me as Mrs. Parker or Ms. Rose as he has always done. The moment I realized where I knew Eurotek Air from, I knew questions were going to be asked—questions that I needed to answer. I would love to be able to reassure Carter and Nicholas that he wouldn’t have done this but I can’t. After I moved in with him, I realized I knew nothing about Richard.
“When was the last time you saw Richard Westbrook?” Carter asks.
“The night of the Eurotek Air celebration dinner.”
“Did you hear from him after that?”
“He called me a few times and texted me a few times after I first left. However, I… I had something on him and threatened to use it if he ever contacted me again. I never heard from him after that.”
“What do you have on him?”
“I… I have pictures, police reports and sworn statements from physicians from the night he almost killed me—”
“You have those?”
“Yes… give me a minute, I’ll get them.”
“Kenzie, you don’t need to,” Nicholas says.
“I do because if Richard is behind this, then he may need to be reminded of why he was to forget that he ever knew me,” I say firmly.
It takes me only a couple of minutes to grab the large envelope from the bottom of a drawer in the closet I now share with Nicholas. I had hoped that he would never need to see these pictures, but I’m not going to let my fear control me. If these pictures help keep Richard out of our lives, then it’s worth having him see them. When I return to the office, I open the envelope and give them each a folder that contains duplicate documentation.
“I’m going to fucking kill the bastard,” Nicholas says.
“I’m adding a second guy on this case now. I have Asher and Brian digging up everything they can find on Richard Westbrook.”
“I want to know everything: where he came from, who is family is, where he went to kindergarten… every-fucking-thing Carter!”
“You’ll be able to find his family information very quickly,” I inform them.
“What do you mean?”
“His father is the reason Richard doesn’t w
ant any of this information leaked to the press. It would destroy his father—”
“Who is his father?”
“Senator Jon Michael Westbrook Senior of Oregon.”
“A senator? His father is fucking senator?” Nicholas asks.
“Richard was the black sheep of the family. He refused to go into politics, despite what his father wanted for him. He should have… he was very persuasive and could convince you of anything he wanted. But he was more into art than anything else and decided to pursue a career in that field. When he learned I had pictures and documentation from that night and evidence from previous… arguments, he swore he would cease all contact with me if I agreed to keep it out of the press. He may have stood up to his father about his career, but he was afraid of him. His father gave him an allowance each month, because he needed his son to look like he was well off, even if he wasn’t.”
“None of this appears on your background check… and my background checks are very thorough, Kenzie. How did you keep all of this quiet? The police reports, the medical exams… all of it should have been there,” Carter asks.
“I worked with a wonderful organization who helped me get away that night. As you can see from the pictures, I… I needed medical attention. They had a doctor on call, who came to the shelter and treated my injuries. Since I didn’t go to a hospital or even to a doctor’s office, you’re looking at the only evidence from that appointment. The same with the police report; the organization worked with several local detectives who would take sworn statements from victims. Those statements would never be filed, but would be documented should the abuse ever be questioned in the future. The detectives, the doctors and the staff from the shelter, if questioned and with my permission, will confirm all the details from that night. They ensured my clean getaway from Richard and gave me the means to keep him out of my life.”
“Are these the only copies?”
“No, I have a folder containing another copy of what you have, along with a USB drive containing a digital copy, in a safe deposit box at my bank.”
“FUCK,” Nicholas hisses.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Jon Michael Westbrook Senior is dead.”
Chapter 31
Nicholas
The pictures tell me everything she didn’t about the night she left him. He squeezed her neck so tightly that each finger left a bruise on her soft, fair skin. Her eye is swollen shut from where, I can only assume, he punched her. Her lip is split and her ribs are a nasty shade of black and red. On her back, I can see old bruises starting to fade, evidence of just how he thought he could take his anger and frustration out on her. My stomach turns just looking at these pictures—I don’t know that I will ever be able to close my eyes and not see Kenzie’s bruised and bloodied body.
Needing to do something other than stare at these photos, I take out my phone and start to search the bastard’s father. In my business, I have many friends in high places, several of which are involved in politics. With the information we now have about his son, a meeting with Mr. Westbrook will guarantee his son either ceases all contact with Kenzie and the press immediately or I will find a way to ruin his political career. A couple phone calls will be all it takes to end his career.
However, my plan is short lived when the first article that appears on google related to the senator is a link to his obituary.
“FUCK!” this explain everything: with the fucker’s father dead, Kenzie’s threat to publicly ruin him means nothing now.
“What’s wrong?” Kenzie asks softly.
“Jon Michael Westbrook Senior is dead.”
“Noooooooo,” her voice tells me she is thinking the same thing I am.
“Carter—”
“I’m on it, sir. I’m going to get Brian and Asher on this; give me a few hours and we will know everything there is to know about this fuc- er, low life, and his father.”
“I want his finances pulled apart… both of their finances. Get Donnelly on it—make sure he leaves nothing unturned. I don’t care the cost. Get someone closer to Westbrook. I don’t want to take any chance that he slips away because we’re covertly watching him.”
“If he’s the one feeding the press information, we need to assume he’s working with someone,” I explain. “He has to have a partner, close to New York, to keep all these tabs on us. Someone who… knows both of us—there’s no way he’s working alone.”
“Yes, sir. All security codes at all of your properties are being changed immediately, and we will remain at the highest level of security. There will be at least two CPOs assigned to each of you at all times when you leave the building. Someone will remain here at all times even when you both need to leave—although I highly recommend against it. Until we have the threat secured, it would be best if you both would remain here.”
“We need figure this out, Carter. I refuse to have my life turned upside down because of this fucker.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll update you as soon as we have more information. Kenzie… thank you for… sharing this with me. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”
“I… I really hope it’s not him, that he isn’t behind this,” I watch a shiver go through Kenzie’s body as she considers the possibility.
“If he is, we will get him,” Carter says firmly. “Whoever did this won’t have a chance to hurt either of you.”
When he leaves the room, Kenzie’s eyes remain fixed to the floor, and I can practically hear her thoughts. I know she’s blaming herself for this, but she couldn’t be more wrong. Even if her ex was the one who is feeding the press information about us, it wouldn’t be her fault.
“Come here, baby,” I need to do something, I can’t just let her sit there blaming herself. I don’t say anything, instead I gently wrap my arms around her waist and urge her to sit on my lap.
“It’s not your fault,” I whisper and wrap my arms around her.
“I’m sorry, so sorry—”
“Stop, this is NOT your fault. I won’t let you blame yourself for that fucker’s actions.”
“But—”
“No, Kenzie. If he is the one behind this, he will pay; I’ll make sure of it. If he turns out to be the one behind some of the news articles, that’s on him. You did everything possible to keep him out of your life—you didn’t ask him to come after you.”
“I know, I just feel like I brought him into your life. If I never—”
“Stop right there. You need to stop blaming yourself, baby. This isn’t your fault. You wouldn’t let me blame myself if the person behind this was tied to me somehow. I won’t let you do the same thing. All that matters is that we’ve identified that bastard as a suspect, so now we will have even more eyes on him. I’m so glad you remembered that his company was behind the advertising for Eurotek. Without that, we wouldn’t have known to look at him closer.”
“I’m surprised I remembered that at all; but we were there celebrating because this was a very large client for the advertising company. I remember thinking that he would be furious because when they named the key people involved in the project, his name was left out. He had put in many late nights working on the project so even I was surprised that his name wasn’t mentioned.”
“Is that what caused…?”
“It’s hard to say. He wasn’t mad in that moment, but he became furious when he stepped away from the table to get a drink and I started talking to the vice president of his company. Even though what we were talking about what was on the list of allowed topics—“
“Allowed topics?” Seriously? He told her what she could talk to people about? Who the fuck does something like that?
“I told you he had rules: how much I could drink, what I could drink, what I would wear and even what I could talk about when we were at his business functions. He said that everything I did and said, reflected on him and in turn his father, so it was important that I avoided any controversial topics or areas that I knew nothing about,” she sighs heavily against me
. “I know it sounds stupid, but at the time, how he said it, made perfect sense. I didn’t realize just how much I was allowing him to control my life. Looking back, I don’t know how I didn’t realize it in that moment.”
“Sometimes you only see what you want to see,” I may not have been in the same situation, but I know there were many things that I didn’t see when I was with her, that I realized after the fact.
“He accused me of flirting with him, saying that I was going after him because he obviously earned much more than Richard did. It couldn’t have been further from the truth. We were talking about gardening as he had struggled with deer, he knew I liked to garden as we had discussed it at previous events. Richard was furious, I guess, because the guy’s wife was at home with their sick kid, which I guess for some reason made him think that I was trying to go after him. He said I let him stare at my chest without doing anything, but the truth was there was nothing I could do. He picked out my dress for that night, as he always did, which was cut very low in the front. He hadn’t left out a wrap for me to wear, so it wasn’t like I could cover myself up. I didn’t think he was staring at my chest, but he could have been… it’s not like it could be avoided.”
“Even if the guy had been gawking at your chest all fucking night, that bastard shouldn’t have taken it out on you,” I can’t believe that fucker would beat her like he did for any reason, let alone because a coworker looked at her chest. Hell, I was furious when I saw Donnelly gawking at her ass the day she met with him, but it never even occurred to me to think she was flirting with him. My anger that day was directed at him, never at her—he was the one staring at her ass.
“You’re right, but it never stopped him. He always took his anger out on me, even when I had nothing to do with why he was angry or frustrated. I thought that part of my life was behind me; I didn’t think I would have to deal with him ever again.”
On Her Terms (The Arrangement Duet Book 2) Page 29