Mason's Revenge

by Lorena Jackson

Chapter 13

  Mason

  * * *

  The meeting was scheduled for 9 a.m. She usually started at 8:30 but today there was no sign of Polly. Louisa hadn’t heard from her either. An hour late, he spotted her at Louisa’s desk deep in discussion, looking her usual frazzled self of late.

  He cleared his throat to interrupt them.

  “What the hell time do you call this? I’ve been waiting for an hour?”

  “Sorry, Sorry,” she replied as she shuffled into his office.

  She wasn’t even wearing work clothes. Just some jeans and a jumper.

  “Have we adopted a casual clothes policy that I’m not aware of?”

  “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t get the chance to go home and get changed.”

  He scoffed. There he was, thinking he’d been too harsh on her but she'd obviously been out all night, judging from her appearance.

  “I’m trying to help you here but if you can’t even be bothered to help yourself…”

  “I know. I know…” she interrupted. “Please, can we just get on with it?”

  “Very well.”

  The olive branch he was about to offer her, he snatched away.

  “I’m not sure what you’ve been doing of late. I haven’t even received any emails or communications from you. I need to know that I can trust my senior management.”

  “You can,” she pleaded.

  “I’m going to give you a written warning. If there’s no improvement, I may have to demote you.”

  Her face crumpled. She burst into tears. Oh god, he didn’t think she’d take it that badly. He buzzed Louisa and asked her to come in.

  “Could you...deal with her,” he indicated over to the crumpled, crying heap on his desk.

  Louisa would know what to do with her.

  “Come on, dear,” Louisa led Polly out of the office and tsked him.

  His phone rang. It was his friend, Rupert.

  “How’s the sabotage going?”

  “To plan,” he sighed.

  “Then why don’t you sound very happy?”

  “Because,” he sighed, “It’s not actually much fun making women cry.”

  The silence from his friend spoke volumes.

  “I’ve taken it too far, haven’t I?”

  “Sounds like it,” agreed Rupert.

  Louisa burst into the office, she looked furious.

  “Got to go,” he told Rupert.

  “That poor girl! How could you be so horrible?” Louisa shouted.

  He’d never seen her like this before.

  “Look, Louisa. It’s none of your business but she’s messing up her work and I don’t expect my staff to cry whenever they’re criticised. It’s not very professional…” urgh, he was getting tired of listening to himself.

  “She wasn’t crying because of you. She’s been at the hospital all night with her Mum.”

  “What? I thought she’d been out all night.”

  “Unlikely, she’s home every evening looking after her mother.”

  He was now confused. Louisa explained how Polly’s mum had MS and there was no one else around to help. She’d had a bad relapse the night before and Polly had been by her bedside all night. Only interrupted by his nagging texts to get to their meeting.

  “Polly’s tough. She’s used to being treated badly in this firm by the silly old men who used to run it. She’s had to fight for her reputation, it will take more than some cocky billionaire to waltz in and reduce her to tears.”

  Had Louisa stopped shouting at him?

  “Is that it?” he asked, feeling well and truly reprimanded.

  “Yes,” she nodded and marched out of his office.

  Now it was his turn to start grovelling.

  Chapter 14

  Polly

  * * *

  A written warning? Could her day get even worse? She looked at her reflection in the ladies. No makeup – red, swollen, bloodshot eyes stared back. What a state. She took some tissues and blotted her eyes and nose, the door opened. Great, the last thing she needed was an audience. But it wasn’t a random woman from the office, it was Mason.

  He walked in looking rather sheepish.

  “Is it all clear?” he asked.

  She ignored him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were at the hospital all night?”

  That Louisa had a big mouth. So much for her discretion.

  “It’s private business.”

  And it was. She hated people knowing about her sad home life.

  “Plus you didn’t exactly give me the chance.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Go home, take some time off. Be with your mum.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t take time off.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m on a written warning remember?”

  He stood next to her and they stared at each other in the mirror.

  “Just go home, look after yourself. I promise it will be okay when you get back.”

  “How?” she asked. How could he make such a promise?

  “Trust me. Just go home and come back next week.”

  She was too exhausted to argue. She packed up and returned to the hospital to be with her mum. If things didn’t improve she knew she’d have to quit.

  And then a turnaround. Mason sent a lovely bouquet of flowers to the hospital. Her mum was sent home and Polly finally stopped worrying about work. For the first time in weeks, she had some decent sleep. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that was making her mess up at work? When she returned after a week, Mason was the first to greet her.

  Calm and composed, she felt like her old self.

  “I’m sorry about everything. I’ve had issues at home and I’ve been exhausted but no more excuses…”

  He interrupted her. “Polly, I had your computer checked out by IT. There was some virus on it that messes with spreadsheets.”

  “What virus?” She never heard of such a virus.

  “It doesn't matter. The point is, it wasn’t your fault and I can only apologise for being so harsh on you.”

  She laughed, that was the best news she’d heard in a long time. It was such a relief to learn that she wasn’t going mad after all.

  Chapter 15

  Mason

  * * *

  The relief on her face made him feel so guilty. He’d been such a bastard and he knew it. It was time to make it up to her. He took away the written warning. He reinstated Louisa as her personal secretary. Anything she needed, she just had to ask. He included her back in the decision making, backed her up in meetings. Anyone wanted anything, it had to go through Polly not him.

  Before long, she was back to the confident, well-presented professional person he first met. He enjoyed seeing her around and looked forward to when she popped into his office. He found himself hanging around in Stillwaters for longer, putting off any meetings he might have that meant him leaving town for a few days.

  He added a meeting in Polly’s calendar. An 8 p.m. meeting. He hoped she wouldn’t mind.

  What’s this? came the immediate email response. Typical Polly, straight to the point.

  A dinner meeting – I need to discuss some business strategies with you.

  Are you going to stand me up again?

  Oh god, he’d forgotten about that.

  No. I promise!!!

  Fine

  He hoped she was keener than she sounded. Then he berated himself for caring so much about what she thought. Damn it, he knew he was falling for her; that was never part of the plan.

  Chapter 16

  Polly

  * * *

  This time around, she wasn’t holding her breath. Unsure of whether he’d show up or not she didn’t make an effort – just the clothes she wore that day. He was such an enigma. So harsh with her at first and now – so kind. Hopefully, she’d get the kind Mason tonight.

  At least she managed to pull it all together after that stupid virus. After all the drama from the last f
ew weeks, she was looking forward to a night out and to be included in the loop for a change. She checked on her mum before she left.

  “Order the most expensive thing on the menu,” her mum reminded her before she jumped into a taxi, hoping he would already be there.

  He was, thankfully. His casual clothes of a well-fitted black shirt and jeans made her immediately regret her choice of office wear. Without his suit jacket on, she saw the outline of his masculine, broad frame. Gosh, he was sexy. She composed herself and reminded herself not to think of him in that way. As she approached the table, he stood up and held out her chair. A gentleman? She didn’t expect that of him. About to kiss her on the cheek, she moved back and held out her hand instead. She never mixed business with pleasure and she wasn’t about to start doing so now.

  Chapter 17

  Mason

  * * *

  She walked into the restaurant, all formal and business-like. This time when she held out her hand, he shook it.

  “You’re so prim, Polly Taylor.”

  “Well, it’s a business dinner. Shall we get straight into it?”

  “Good idea,” he said as he handed her the wine list.

  She signalled it away. “No, no...I meant straight to business. It’s just water for me tonight?”

  “Are you driving home?” he asked.

  She wasn’t...but still.

  “Go on, let me choose something. We should toast to the success of the company.”

  “What success?”

  “Its future success. With you and me behind the scenes, we’ll rebuild its reputation, increase the share price and make it highly profitable. The world is your oyster. Come on Polly, forget about that virus nonsense. You don’t strike me as a quitter.”

  Before she could argue, he ordered a bottle of champagne. She begrudgingly held up the glass, toasted to success and took a sip. Good that she acquiesced. Maybe she’d relax after a couple of glasses of champagne. He knew he needed something to relax this evening. This woman, this old childhood friend, who he now had mixed feelings about sat opposite him and he had to somehow make conversation with her while avoiding his past.

  He stared at her as she raised the champagne glass to her lips. She’d been a pretty teenager but had now undeniably turned into a beautiful woman with her porcelain, almost clear skin except for a smattering of freckles across her nose. Those freckles he remembered so well. Even with her dark brown hair tied up in a neat, tight bun, he imagined what it would look like if he unpinned it. Her bright blue eyes framed by long, dark lashes and her red perfect pout completed the unusual look of this naturally beautiful woman – unlike him, the ugly duckling. He took a sip too, enjoying the view in front of him. Shame she didn't make a little bit of an effort for dinner. She was obviously expecting this to be just a business meeting. He felt somewhat disappointed.

  He noticed a small laugh from her.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Nothing...just thinking how impressed my mum was about me going to dinner with a billionaire.”

  “Hah,” he laughed back. “Well, sorry to disappoint your mother but I’m not quite a billionaire.”

  “You poor thing, in that case, maybe I should pay for dinner tonight?”

  He couldn’t help but laugh.

  “But correct me if I’m wrong, I did my due diligence over you. According to my research, you are a billionaire,” she said.

  “You’re very detail-oriented, aren’t you? Call me old-fashioned but to me, a billion is a million million. But if you go by an American billion, then yes, I guess technically I am a billionaire.”

  Not that he wanted to show off...who was he kidding? He was desperate to show off in his hometown. He took another sip of champagne as if having this much money meant nothing to him.

  “Tell me how you got to this point?”

  “Are you really interested?”

  “I love talking money. Tell me everything,” Polly insisted.

  So after they ordered food, Mason settled back and told Polly in detail how he got to where he was now – the first business deals, his first investments where he got lucky.

  “Are you sure I’m not boring you?” he asked.

  No, this fascinated Polly. She tried to get information about his background and his family but he skimmed over that part. According to him, as a kid born and raised in London with a fairly average upbringing, there was nothing interesting about him. She questioned some of his decisions and gave him some fascinating insights into her understanding of the business world around him. He wasn’t used to beautiful women sharing his interest in business. They usually glazed over after a while.

  Before he knew it, they’d finished their third course and he’d realised, he’d basically talked about himself during the entire dinner. He didn’t want the evening to end and he didn’t want Polly to leave thinking it had been all about him.

  “Let’s get a nightcap somewhere. You must know somewhere good and then you can tell me all about yourself,” he suggested.

  “There’s nothing to tell, honestly. I have the most boring life. I work. I think about work when I’m not working and my mother lives with me. Honestly, there’s nothing to tell.”

  “What about your childhood?” he asked. “Tell me about growing up here. You must like it; you stuck around?”

  She shrugged. “I had a horrible childhood. I thought life was awful and then it got a bit better. Again, nothing to tell.”

  Something snapped. Mason stood up abruptly and asked the staff to call her a cab. He paid the bill and made his excuses. He had an early morning conference call to the states and had to get back to his hotel. He sat in the back of his car, fuming as he ignored questions from his driver. Just when he was beginning to like her. The conscientious businesswoman. The kind-hearted woman who looked after her mum. Then the lie about having a tough childhood. In all that had happened over the last few weeks, he momentarily forgot why he was here.

  That liar, he thought. She’d had a tough childhood? She was trying to get sympathy from him – the most bullied kid in school. All that interest in his career – was it just fake. He needed to find out more about her.

  Chapter 18

  Polly

  * * *

  As she made her way into the office the next morning, she thought about her strange evening. They’d had a lovely dinner together; the time flew by. He apologised for boring her with such details but she hadn’t been – not for one moment. She loved talking business and gaining insights. She especially loved the way his cold, hard exterior seemed to melt when he talked about something he loved. It was like watching a cute child talk about their favourite toy – very endearing. When he suggested a nightcap, she would have gone along with it only to be disappointed with his change of heart.

  He stormed off and left her in the restaurant alone. Maybe the stressful life of a billionaire made them act irrationally? Polly also kicked herself for letting down her guard. She blamed the champagne for that. As far as everyone around her was concerned – life was good – or at least as fine as it could be with her mother’s illness. That’s the way she and her mum liked to play it out.

  Up in the office, Louisa greeted her with her usual coffee.

  Louisa looked around her. “How was dinner last night?”

  “Fine.”

  “I think you must have made a big impression on Mr Hotshot Boss. He’s been asking about you.”

  Really? Polly wanted to know more.

  “He wanted to know if you had a boyfriend. What you like doing. Where you hang out at weekends. He looked rather pleased with himself when I told him you were terminally single.”

  Oh no, how embarrassing. Polly put her head in her hands. She felt such a loser sometimes, single and living with her mum.

  “I think you should go for it,” suggested Louisa. “He’s handsome, charming and I think he’s single. Best catch in town.”

  “Back to work?” suggested Polly.

 
; She hated being set up. And he definitely wasn’t single. He had his model girlfriend...who he hadn’t actually mentioned last night at all. Interesting.

  Later on, he entered her office and sat opposite her. He really did have a nice face. He smiled at her.

  “Yes, Mason?”

  “I just wanted to apologise for being abrupt last night. It was fun but then I remembered the damn conference call. It stressed me out.”

  “Did it go okay?”

  “Yes, yes all fine. I think we were planning on a nightcap?”

  She hesitated. It was not a good idea to go out for a ‘drink’ with your boss.

  “Go on, you know you want to. I’ll even let you pay,” he teased.

  She laughed; “of course, seeing that you’re only a billionaire by American standards.”

  “Exactly! So great, that’s agreed. I’ll pick you up this time.”

  She hadn’t agreed, had she? Before she could say anything, he stood up to leave the office.

  “Friday night, no conference calls,” he said.

  “Should we invite some of the other staff?” She asked before he left.

  He looked at her and shook his head, gave her a cheeky smile and headed off.

  Polly took her seat. That smile he just gave her, that twinkle in his eye. This was a bad idea – a really bad idea but there was something about Mason Archer. It’s a business meeting – just a business meeting – nothing else, she reminded herself.

  Chapter 19

  Mason

  * * *

  Outside her office, he was pleased she agreed to another drink – alone. He remembered the two sides of Polly Taylor. Which Polly was she now?