by Mia Caldwell
Julio shook his head. “I don’t even understand what she thinks she’s offering. She seems to think she can charm her way onto my business team. She doesn’t show much real interest in the project or any aptitude for the serious work that needs doing. Maybe there was some sort of a miscommunication, because she sounded like she was looking for a job doing public relations. I’m not sure how she thinks she’d be an asset in analyzing the site properties or logistics.”
“She thinks you can tell her what you want and have her hire people to do it.”
“I suppose she does. People think all manner of crazy things. Well, at least the food was good.”
“The wine was excellent.” Although the entire episode had taken a different turn than she’d expected, Willa was pleased with her evening. And with Tina effectively out of the way, it was time to wrap up some other loose ends. “Before we call it a night, there is one other thing I should mention. When we checked in, I got a report from the investigator. Apparently Lissa Edwards recently delivered triplets.”
“Triplets?”
“Three boys.”
He seemed to take the information calmly. “I see.”
Willa took out the document and handed it to him. “It seems she didn’t list the father’s name on the birth certificates. I wonder if she even knows who the father is?” As she said it, she realized she had an opening. “I understand you think they’re yours, but we don’t know that. That could be why she never answered your messages. If she had another affair and got pregnant, she could have been ashamed of what she did.”
Julio gave her a sour look. “Then maybe I should demand a paternity test. I suppose I could ask for a court order.”
“Why?”
“So I’ll know. If they are mine… Well, I was thinking about what you’ve learned about her. Her drug problem. I’m still amazed about that. It’s hard to believe, but if it’s true and the children are mine… I was thinking about fighting her for custody of the children.”
“On what basis?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think a drug addict can be a fit mother. And if they are mine…”
Willa needed to cut that short. “She’d just argue that she’s gone through treatment and that taking the children from her would be cruel. She’d find doctors who supported her argument.”
“A woman who never contacts the father, never even lets him know he is one, is being irresponsible.”
“I doubt that would be enough to make a case, either.”
Although Willa didn’t mind him having custody of the children, she had to derail this idea. On a day-to-day basis, nannies and housekeepers would bear the brunt of that, although it would make things messier. The problem would be if Lissa made him take her to court. A legal action would bring out some facts that Willa would rather kept quiet and expose the source of the rehab story as being planted by Tina. A pending case would give Tina a dangerous lever for extracting something for herself. Willa needed to make sure that Julio didn’t get himself worked up so that he started a crusade. Not now, anyway. Once the Milan project was finished, none of that would matter any longer. Right now she couldn’t afford the chance that he might find out how much she’d manipulated him and his life. He’d never forgive her. “Have you talked to a lawyer?”
He laughed. “You run my schedule with an iron hand. I barely have time for a pee break, much less talking to a lawyer.”
“Why don’t you give it a little time and see what she does? Don’t let go of the idea, exactly, but let the investigator keep tabs on things, collect more information before you do anything. I’ll see if he can find a way to see how the children are doing, see that they are being treated well. If they aren’t, we would have the ammunition needed to make a case for you having custody.” Then she added, as a poignant reminder, “Assuming they are yours.”
“Fair enough.” It was easy to see that he wasn’t thrilled about doing nothing, but she had managed to convince him not to be precipitous. She needed time. Fortunately, Julio was telling her what was on his mind before acting. That kept her in the driver’s seat. Right where she wanted to be.
# # #
“I really want to focus on this big project coming up in Milan,” Lissa told Abby. “I want us in on it. It’s a chance to do something truly exciting.”
“As consultants? Who are the big players we need to pitch?” Abbey asked.
“While I was in the hospital, Tina started talking to Tom Acker about it. She said he called her. She sent me some of the information, and I wanted to see how far the talks had gotten, but now I can’t find her files. I’ll need to call Tom and put the cards on the table and see what he can tell me. I need to let him know that Tina isn’t with us any more, although if she’s hustling his work, he’ll know that.”
“Do you want to work with him?”
It was a fair question. “Not really. I don’t like a lot of the things he does… He wouldn’t be my first choice, but I’d work with the devil himself to get involved.”
Abby looked up. “All of Tina’s paper files are gone. Fortunately for us, she didn’t know how to delete the files from the server completely. I’ll search on Milan and see… Well, look here.” She pointed to the screen. “Here is the file that has their specifications, and it looks like that project is covered with dollar signs and big numbers followed by lots of zeros. I don’t see anything that has to do with Acker, but I’ll get everything printed out for you.”
“Look for any surprises. I mean, beyond the fact that Tina was trying to get the job for herself.”
“There is a cover letter that went out, and it looks like Tom Acker and Julio Torres are the big fish going after the job. Given the scale of the project, that makes sense. There wouldn’t be that many folks who could handle it.”
Julio. The sound of his name cut through her like a knife. Well, if she was going to play with the big kids, it was a given that she’d run up against him time and time again. She would have to get over it.
Of course, that was easier said than done. At least her reaction had ebbed some, and she no longer felt the urge to cry. All that was left was the pain of him severing the relationship without a word, and her confusion from not having a clue why he’d done that. It embarrassed her that she wasn’t over the pain, and it galled her to think that she might still care for him. Carrying a torch for the man at this point was the stuff school girls did, and she was supposed to be an independent woman.
“There really aren’t any others that I can think of, although they’ll get hundreds of bids.”
Abby frowned. “Why would either of them consider Tina? She’s weak on the technical aspects.” She laughed. “Oh well, once they start working with her, they’ll learn their mistake soon enough.”
“Abby, since Tina tried to delete her own files, would you poke around and see what else she tried to get rid of? She was negotiating with Tom, and I’d like to see any correspondence between them on the subject, or between Tina and anyone about that project.”
“No worries. I have our IT guy coming in this afternoon to put everything right in the system. A lot of what Tina screwed up was out of ignorance, but we can see what she might be trying to hide while we are in there.”
“In the meantime, I think I’ll give Tom Acker a call. He might be willing to tell me exactly what’s going on.” The more she thought about that, the better the idea seemed. She’d meet Tom, tell him the situation, and see what he said. If he did want to work with her, he’d probably tell her the truth. She wouldn’t play games and pretend that she didn’t know Tina had been sneaking around behind her back anyway. No one would believe she hadn’t figured it out—especially a sharp businessman like Tom Acker.
“Look at this,” Abby said, coming over with a printout. “I think Tina was playing both ends against the middle.”
“What do you mean?”
“This email. It’s from Willa Gruber.”
“Julio’s PA?”
“Right.
It’s confirming a dinner meeting for last night. She was supposed to meet privately with this woman at the hotel bar and the two of them were going to have dinner with Mr. Torres to talk about Milan.”
“Tina went to Spain?”
Abby squinted at the page. “No. Apparently he’s in town. At the Park Plaza.” Abby handed Lissa the page. She watched Lissa stare at it for a moment. “Now you do what you think best—as of course you will, anyway, but if it were me, I’d be picking up the phone and calling the Park Plaza. I’d want to catch Mr. Torres before I bothered with Tom Acker.”
“Because?”
“Well, in addition to the fact that he’s the more innovative person, and the fact that your style would blend well with his approach to projects, so that you’d reinforce each other—it would be brilliant. If that isn’t enough of a reason, I can think of three other reasons to talk to him.” She pointed to the picture of the triplets that sat on her desk.
“Point taken, but I think you know that I’ve tried to contact him many times.”
“Well, that was then. Now he’s in your city and close enough to reach out to. Who knows what gremlins might have been lurking out there and keeping you two from communicating?”
Who knew indeed?
Abby smiled and pointed to the printout. “Why, look here, you just happen to have the phone number for his suite. Even if he blocked your calls on his cell phone, you can call his room directly.”
“So I can.” She held the page, not sure if she should crumple it up or make the call.
“Another thing to consider,” Abby said. “This email came from his office. Tina has been hiding things from you. It isn’t totally impossible that the fact that there hasn’t been any communication from him might not actually be a fact at all.”
“Why would Tina care about that?”
“I can’t honestly say why Tina does much of anything she does. I’m just saying you can’t let your pride keep you from making the call. If you want to know what’s going on, I mean. And if you are interested in being on a hot team for the Milan job.” She walked to the door. “I need to meet the IT guy, so I’ll leave you alone with your angst.”
Lissa took a long, slow breath, and when she exhaled, her body trembled. Fear? The angst Abby talked about? Whatever it was, if she intended to get involved in the Milan deal, she had to make the call. And if she could find out anything on a personal level…
Don’t get your hopes up, kid.
# # #
Julio was in the middle of rereading a report on logistical issues related to the project when the phone rang. He answered with his head filled with information on duty-free zones and customs regulations. When he heard her voice, it all went out of his head. It was her voice. Lissa.
“I heard you were in town,” she said simply, but he heard a tremble in her voice. “I thought we should meet.”
“Meet? You are going to talk to me finally? Now?” He bounced between eagerness and anger, wanting to see her, to talk to her, and outrage that she dared act so calmly, so matter-of-factly. She sounded as if they’d just had a meeting and she wanted to follow up.
“We have a lot to discuss, but I can’t even begin to address even the basics over the phone.”
“A lot? Like children?” Julio said.
“You’ve heard.”
“No thanks to you.”
“To me?”
“Now you’ve decided you’re ready to tell me about them?” He hated sounding so petty and indignant. It wouldn’t help anything. And it shocked him that on hearing that musical voice again he instantly burned, absolutely ached, to talk to her. What a fool! He should refuse. He should wait for her to apologize, beg his forgiveness. The telephone shook in his hand. He stood in his room, terrified that this abrupt and tenuous connection might slip away. Again.
“I want to sit down with you, just the two of us,” She said.
“Why?”
“We need to talk about the boys, and about business as well.”
“Milan?” Now he understood the timing of her call. “You called me because of Milan?”
“Partly. Mostly I called because I could.”
“What do you mean? You could call me any time you wanted.”
“I understand you met with Tina Peters.”
That surprised him. Tina Peters wasn’t important at all. She certainly had nothing to do with them. “Your disgruntled ex-employee? Yes, I did. I assume all of New York knows that by now.”
“It’s likely.”
“She’s trying to position herself as a player in the Milan deal.”
“I know. She’s courting everyone, it seems. I don’t know if she’s more interested in getting the gig or cutting me out of it.”
Despite himself, Julio laughed. “I’d rate that impossible on either score. She’s a second-hander, as Ayn Rand called them. Her idea of innovation is to hire good people and create a genius sweatshop.”
“Well put and accurate.” Her voice was mellowing.
“Tomorrow? The dinner, I mean?”
“Can we do it tonight?” she asked. He heard a quiver creep back into her voice. Uncertainty. That didn’t seem possible, but then this entire conversation was impossible.
“I suppose. Is it that urgent?”
“No. It took all the courage I could summon to make this call, and I’m afraid that if we don’t talk right away, I’ll lose my nerve and not be able to face you.”
The absolute honesty of the words almost floored him. “Me too.”
“You?” She sounded surprised.
Somehow he felt the need to be honest. “Yes. I’m terrified of being a coward. So how about dinner at my hotel tonight? The food is good.”
“No. You have minions there. This should be private.”
He remembered a restaurant she’d mentioned when they were in Switzerland. She compared it to a place they ate there, saying she thought the New York place was even better. “In Switzerland at dinner, when I raved about the food, you mentioned a place in New York that was better,” he said.
“Yes. I know the place.”
“Do you care to prove your claim?”
The door opened and Willa came in. He held up a hand to keep her from talking.
“I’ll make reservations for seven,” Lissa said.
“I’ll see you there.”
When he hung up, Willa looked at him curiously. “Hot date?”
“I made a dinner engagement.”
“Without consulting me?”
He scowled at her. Since they’d slept together, Willa had grown more proprietary. He didn’t care for that change. “Obviously.”
“Who are you meeting?”
“Lissa Edwards.”
“What?”
He enjoyed her look of astonishment. “She found out I was in town and called. It was amazingly amicable.”
“You can’t meet with her.”
“I can’t? I intend to, Willa.”
“But after all she’s done…”
Willa’s intense look of distress was totally out of character, and from what he could see, out of proportion to him meeting the woman. “She wants to tell me some things. I assume we will talk about the children. If she’s willing to talk to me, maybe we can avoid any kind of legal wrangling. You know I hate how readily Americans turn to those bastards. It’s a waste of money, and drags things out in public.”
“I have to object to you meeting her.”
“No you don’t. And I can’t see that any harm can come from talking to her.”
“After she cut you off, broke your heart, the first time she crooks her finger to beckon you to approach, you go to her like a lovesick schoolboy.”
“Perhaps. But it isn’t like I’ve never acted foolishly before. I’m willing to embarrass myself if it clears the air.” It was more than that. Having heard her voice, he ached to see her.
“And then there is our relationship. Doesn’t that give me some right to object?”
Julio stared at her. She spoke calmly, but he saw her anger. She seethed, holding it in. It surprised him, seeing this side of her. He couldn’t imagine what had her in such a fury. It couldn’t simply be jealousy, or she’d want him to resolve things with Lissa. Then he’d be free. No, he’d missed something. It had probably been going on for some time. Whatever she was after was threatened by Lissa.
He wondered if she consciously knew what it was herself.
“Emotional blackmail doesn’t become you, Willa. And although you have the look of a jealous woman, I don’t think that’s why you are upset. As for our relationship, we’ve been a good business team, and we let that become intimate. I think that might have been a mistake.”
“She is trying to ruin things.”
“Ruin things? What things? Unless you mean I’m suddenly aware of how possessive you feel about me, your concerns sound hysterical.”
“Hysterical? Because I’ve been at your side through all this and now feel betrayed?”
“You were well paid to be by my side. And what is it I’ve betrayed? Clearly you have some expectations about our relationship that you’ve never mentioned.”
“Please don’t go see her.”
“I am going, Willa. Tonight.”
Suddenly her face changed. The anger left her eyes. “I apologize,” she said calmly. “Because of what that woman has done to you, I’ve grown to hate her.” She drew herself up. “I’m sorry that I seem to be acting irrationally. I think I’d better retire to my room. I’ll have a long soak in the tub and get room service.”
And she left.
“Women.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Willa wanted to scream.
This turn of events was disastrous. It was unbelievable that things had gone bad so suddenly. She had been surprised and messed things up, made them worse. She should never have tried to insist he not go to the dinner. Now he was suspicious of her. He was right. She had no good reason she could tell him so that he shouldn’t meet with Lissa. Everything she said had made her sound like a jealous madwoman. Worse, it had pissed him off. Showing her anger and frustration did nothing but tip her hand. Now he even suspected her motives for fucking him. That wasn’t good.