The Billionaire Affair

by Parker, Ali

  After swallowing her bite, she took a sip of water. “If you’re suggesting we try every pizza place in the city, I’m going to need to start working out more.”

  “I can help with that,” I said with a smirk on my face.

  Stephanie flushed and shook her head, whispering under her breath. “Fiend.”

  We stayed at the restaurant for a couple of hours after we finished eating. We talked and drank our beers, but I switched to just water after a while because I still had to drive her home.

  When I brought her home and dropped her off, it was late. Stephanie said goodbye but didn’t invite me inside. I held back from inviting myself inside because it’d been a long, emotional day for her and it was, in her words, hours after her bedtime.

  “Thanks for today,” she said, leaning over in her seat to brush a kiss onto my cheek. I turned my head at the last moment and captured her lips for a proper goodbye. We were both breathless by the time she pulled back. “Stop that. I need to get upstairs.”

  I stole another quick kiss and shrugged when she playfully swatted my bicep. “Don’t blame me. You’re a good kisser.”

  “Only with you.” She went beet red as I hopped out to open her door. It didn’t take a mind reader to tell she wanted to take back her words as soon as they were out.

  I opened her door and held out my hand for her to take. “I only am with you too,” I assured her, not wanting her to be embarrassed about her slip. Besides, it was probably something we should talk about at some point.

  The corners of her lips pulled up into a grateful smile. She started walking to her door and gave me a small wave. “I’ll see you in the morning?”

  “I’ll be here at seven,” I said. A pack of wild dogs couldn’t keep me away. I briefly considered inviting myself up again but decided against it. It was late, she was tired, and I needed to think.

  Although I was curious about what her apartment looked like, if she wanted me in it she would’ve invited me. And I probably needed to clear my head. The day gave me a lot to think about, that was for sure.

  Stephanie waited for me to drive off, waving until I joined in the late night traffic. Drumming my thumbs on my steering wheel, all the things I pushed aside during the day came tumbling back into my mind in Stephanie’s absence.

  “Call Tanner,” I said out loud, and his name popped up on my console screen along with the icon showing the call was being made. He answered just before I hung up the phone.

  “He calls to invite us over for football Sunday, and now I get a call the very next day. What’s up, Jer? Dad not giving you enough work?”

  His tone was teasing, and there was no way he could know what happened this morning. “All he’s giving me is a headache and a metric fuck ton of doubt about whether I should’ve joined Williams Inc. after all.”

  “Sounds like you’ve had an interesting day, bud. I was just about to get myself another drink. I can always get two if you want to join me?”

  “I’m headed home.” I would never stay at Tanner’s for only one drink. “I wanted to run something by you.”

  “Since I’m your voice of reason you say? Why thank you, Jeremiah. I appreciate your honesty.”

  I rolled my eyes harder than a teenage girl who got told she had to cover up. “I’m thinking about asking Stephanie to be my girlfriend. Exclusive and stuff.”

  “Aw, you’ve grown up so fast. Getting a girlfriend of your very own.” He said it in a sing-song voice, then dropped the mocking tone. “I’m happy for you man, but why are you calling to give me a heads up on this?”

  I groaned, banging my head back against the headrest. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I wanted to get your advice.”

  “Okay, any particular reason?”

  “I need someone to tell me I’m not doing something foolish. She’s my secretary, I haven’t known her all that long, and Dad fucking hates her. More because he has issues than because it actually has anything to do with her, but if I do this...”

  “Do it,” Tanner said without missing a beat. “If this is what you want, you do it. Fuck what your dad will think.”

  “Amen to that.”

  “Go for it,” he said. “It’s not being foolish. You’ve seemed happier lately than you’ve been in years. The girl is good for you. Don’t overthink it.”

  She was good for me. And I seemed happier because I was. All because of her. I made my decision then and there. “Right, I won’t overthink it. I’m going to do it. I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow.”

  Chapter 46

  STEPHANIE

  I whistled under my breath, dancing along to a pop song on the radio as I got ready for work. The sky outside was so blue and the sunshine so beautiful. I grabbed my hairbrush and shook my ass as I belted out a few lines into it.

  Life held so much promise. It was fantastic. Excitement for the day ahead ran through me in little bursts of joy. It felt like I was walking on sunshine.

  “Wait,” I spoke into my hairbrush. “I have to find that song.”

  I couldn’t keep still as the opening bars started playing. Sashaying over to my closet, I searched for the perfect outfit. I was in such a good mood, I even wanted to put in more effort with how I looked for work. To see Jeremiah.

  He was such a nice guy. And we clicked. My god did we click. I knew it wasn’t a coincidence that I was in such a great mood. It was because of him, and I couldn’t wait to spend more time with him. And more time working on a career that felt like it was going somewhere, with him.

  Finally finding a bold patterned dress and matching it with a pair of purple heels, I dug through my dresser and took out a new shade of lipstick. It was brighter than what I usually wore, but that was what made it the right choice for today.

  I turned in front of the mirror, striking a silly pose when I was done. I felt like a new person, rejuvenated and ready for whatever the day threw my way.

  Tiana smiled when I waltzed into the kitchen, looking at me over the rim of her black Batman coffee mug. “Someone’s cheerful this morning.”

  “It’s a beautiful day,” I said. I grabbed the same two thermoses I usually brought down to the car for Jeremiah and me. “There’s no reason not to be cheerful.”

  “It’s good to see you so happy,” she said, tucking her pajama-clad leg underneath her. “Remind me to bake your boss a cake or something.”

  “Oooh, a cake. That’s a good idea.” I wanted to spoil him, even if I could only do it in much smaller ways than a couture dress or diamond earrings. For now, a new flavor of coffee concoction was going to have to do the trick.

  I mixed it carefully and took a few sips to test it along the way. Once I was happy with the taste, I filled our thermos and grabbed my purse. “I’ll see you tonight, Tee. Have a good one.”

  “Say hi to your beau for me,” she called out.

  On my way out the door, I checked my reflection in the mirror hanging in our tiny entrance hall one last time. I looked good, even if I said so myself.

  I smacked my lips together, admiring the new color on them and wondering if Jeremiah would too. I was overly excited to see him, but I couldn’t help myself.

  Nodding good morning to my neighbors as we waited for the elevator together, I headed downstairs. My heels clacked on the lobby’s floor, a quick succession of steps as I hurried outside.

  Jeremiah’s car was already parked at the curb. A smile touched my lips. I glanced down at my watch. It was only six forty-five. He was early. I took it as a good sign that he was excited to see me too.

  Practically skipping to his car, it took me a couple of steps to realize something was wrong. Cars weren’t my thing. I didn’t know much about them, and I didn’t really care. I had, however, become rather used to what Jer’s car looked like.

  And the body was all wrong. Its gleaming black surface didn’t look right. A group of tourists cleared out of my way and for the first time, I could see it clearly.

  My heart slammed to a stop and s
ped up at the same time. What the hell?

  The driver’s side door was dented and crushed. Someone clearly drove into it. I started walking faster, crossing the street at double speed. The side window of the car was smashed, with pieces of glass lying on the sidewalk.

  The most disturbing thing of all was that Jeremiah wasn’t anywhere in sight. I looked left, and right and left again. Still nothing.

  “Jeremiah?” I yelled, listening for an answer over the city sounds. Nothing. Panic kicked in, and my blood rushed in my ears. “Jeremiah!”

  I went back to my building to make sure he wasn’t waiting somewhere in the lobby and searched everywhere around his car. But he wasn’t there.

  A shudder traveled down my spine, and my fingers and toes went ice cold. Panic properly grabbed hold of me now, making my knees numb and my vision blurry. It was consuming me. “Jeremiah? Where are you?” I yelled again, my voice bordering on wild. I probably looked like a deranged person, but I didn’t care.

  People were starting to stop and stare. I ignored them. I ran back to his car and stuck my head inside. Shards of glass lay on his buttery soft leather seat. I couldn’t see his phone or any of his other personal effects.

  The radio was on, softly broadcasting the morning news. The picture was so warped. On the one hand, his car outside my building was so normal. As was the news and smell of his leather seats.

  Without him in the picture though, and with all the damage to his usually immaculate car, everything that was right was twisted. Contorted into something terrible. What the hell happened?

  And where was he? He seemed to have disappeared without a trace, but that was impossible. People didn’t just vanish. When they did, surely they didn’t leave behind only a mangled luxury vehicle.

  I sucked in shallow breaths one after the other. It did nothing to relieve the panic or bring clarity back to my mind. My thoughts were swimming, bleeding into one. Where could he have gone?

  Nowhere without his car, the thought hit out of nowhere. But it was right here. Jeremiah loved this car. There was a lot of damage to its body, but the radio was still playing. Did that mean it could still drive?

  I didn’t know. What I did know was if he got into an accident, he would’ve been here waiting by the car for a tow. Or he would’ve called me to call one for him.

  It felt like a sharpened dagger speared into my heart when I realized he might not be waiting by the car because he was hurt. Feeling nauseous and fighting off a wave of blackness that threatened to send me crumbling to the sidewalk, I poked my head back in his car.

  I couldn’t see anything that looked like blood. Surely there would’ve been blood if he was hurt enough to take him away from the scene of an accident.

  I tried thinking back over the last hour or so. My bedroom window was just off this street. I usually heard ambulances at all hours, but I hadn’t heard one this morning. You wouldn’t have, over your silly music.

  I choked back a sob. If I hadn’t been dancing and singing along, would I have heard this happen? Would I have been able to come out and stop… whatever had happened to him?

  The rational part of my brain whispered no, but the part that was worried sick about Jeremiah said I would’ve at least stood a chance that way.

  Gulping down air like someone was about to close the tap on the stuff, I forced myself to calm down enough to think. Police.

  I had to call the cops. The thought brought me back to the conversation Jeremiah and I had just yesterday morning, same time, same place, same car. He was going to go to the police to report Jannie after we got the pictures. He was going to tell them she was stalking me.

  No, wait. The realization dawned slowly, the ringing in my ears dying down. Us. Not me. He was going to report her for stalking us.

  I turned back to his car and fumbled blindly in my purse for my phone. Jannie. That was the only answer I could think of for this. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know why, but she had to be responsible for this.

  My fingers finally closed around my phone, and I pulled it out of my bag. Looking down at it, I was about to punch in 911 when it occurred to me I had no proof of Jannie’s involvement. We hadn’t gone to the police to report her after getting the pictures yesterday, so they had no record of her harassment.

  Only one other person had heard from Jeremiah himself that Jannie was stalking the both of us. And it was the last person in the world I ever wanted to have to call. Especially so soon after the argument in Jeremiah’s office yesterday.

  My finger hovered over his office number. A number I only programmed into my phone because Jeremiah thought I might need to have it. In case I ever needed to call him. For work, of course.

  This wasn’t work, but did I have to call him?

  His name stared up at me from my screen. Jance Williams. Make the call Steph, his life could depend on it.

  Decision made, I dragged in a deep breath and held it. Then I punched down on his name and waited for one of the richest, most powerful men in the city to answer his phone. So I could tell him his son had gone missing. Right in front of my apartment.

  Scratch everything from this morning. This was not going to be a good day.

  Chapter 47

  STEPHANIE

  Why was no one answering the boss’s damn phone? Mary Jane, Jance Williams’s secretary, was legendary within Williams Inc. Surely she was in the office by—I checked my watch again—seven oh five. Frustrated, scared, and on the verge of letting out a scream that would probably get me institutionalized, I ended the call.

  When I stared at the number on my phone, I realized I must have Jance’s private line. Not his usual office line that should’ve, at the very least, connected me to his secretary. I paced around on the sidewalk for a second. That was as long as it took for me to prioritize.

  I could either try Jance again so he could confirm that Jeremiah thought he and I had a stalker and that they should arrest her first, or I could call the police and then keep trying to get a hold of one of the richest, and probably meanest, men in America.

  Lifting my phone again, I did what I should’ve done five minutes ago and called the police. An emotionless voice answered the call. I couldn’t say the same for my own voice, which was bordering on frantic.

  In a nutshell, I told her what I knew. “This Stephanie Donavan. I’m Jeremiah Williams’s secretary. He came to my apartment to give me a ride to work, but he’s disappeared. His car is all banged up. It looks like someone might’ve driven into him. I think he may be injured and that he’s been taken.”

  “Jeremiah Williams, as in—” She sounded doubtful as if I couldn’t possibly be insinuating that the city’s favorite billionaire bachelor had been kidnapped.

  “Yes!” I screamed into the phone, losing the ability to control the volume of my voice. “That one. Jance Williams’s son.”

  Ordinarily, with all us regular people, I was sure she would’ve asked a lot more questions when someone called to say a person was missing. Jeremiah was no regular person though. Every person in the city knew his name and that of his father and their company.

  They were as close to royalty as we got in New York City. The operator was no different. I heard her start barking things at people in the background, and then she took my address before hanging up the phone with a curt, “They’re on their way.”

  The police would be here in double time, I was sure. In the meantime, I had to get a grip on my emotions and get back to letting Jeremiah’s father know what happened.

  Sucking in a few shallow breaths, I forced myself to calm down and willed my lungs to expand further, to take in more air at a time until I was managing proper breaths. The effect was immediate.

  My vision, hazy and blurry since the onset of the panic when I first realized what was going on, cleared up. Anxiety and fear over Jeremiah’s wellbeing and his whereabouts still chewed up my insides, but at least I was able to focus again.

  Passersby stared at me and the wrecked car I was standi
ng next to, but no one approached me. Some even glared at me like they couldn’t believe I wasn’t getting out of their way or even worse, making such an emotional scene in public.

  To those, I gave scathing looks in return and texted Tiana before I made the next call. My roommate who was also my best friend was right upstairs, and I needed her now. She would know what to do. And if she didn’t, she would at least be able to keep me from bubbling over.

  Lord knew I was one false word away from Total Meltdown, DEFCON Level One. Some people thought level five was the bad one, but it wasn’t. Level one was when shit got real.

  And shit had definitely gotten real this morning. What could Jannie possibly have done with him? He was at least a foot taller than she was and had to weigh a lot more. A cold shudder ran through me at the thought of him immobilized, knocked out cold and at her mercy. I knew he had to be out cold to have let her take him.

  If it was even Jannie! My subconscious yelled at me. Jeremiah and his family were among the city’s elite. The super wealthy. It wasn’t impossible someone took him for ransom, or even that one of Jance’s enemies had come out of the woodwork to kidnap his last remaining son.

  Jack was dead, but Jeremiah was alive. I choked back a sob when a small voice inside my head whispered, or he had been a couple of hours ago.

  If anyone wanted leverage against Jance, taking Jeremiah sure would hit where it hurt. I shoved the thoughts aside, trying to focus on staying positive. The police were on their way. I would tell them about Jannie, but they would find out what happened to Jeremiah. And they would find Jeremiah himself, alive and well.

  They had to. They just had to. Another sob rose from my chest when I heard Tiana call my name. “Steph? What’s going on? What happened to Jeremiah’s car?”

  “I don’t know,” I managed to choke out between the sobs I tried to keep inside. Crying hysterically when the cops got here wasn’t going to help me help them to get Jeremiah back. “It was like this when I got here, and he was gone.”