SEAL of Approval

by Lynn Faye

  “You’re Senator Storms driver?” The doorman asked Raymond.

  “Yes.”

  “There was a man here who wanted to talk to him. I told him he couldn’t come in and he said he would be waiting for the Senator at his home.”

  “At the Senators home?” Raymond asked.

  “Yes, I just wanted to warn you before you went there.”

  I felt the worry as it ran through my body. Why would someone come to my apartment building looking for Matthew? It had to be someone who knew him really well. But I didn’t imagine that Matthew was going around and telling very many people that he was staying with me as much as he had been.

  “Who do you think it is Raymond?” I said as I looked back toward the SUV.

  “Not sure, but no need to worry. We will take care of it. You have a good evening Kayla.”

  Raymond quickly took off back toward the SUV and I saw him talking to Matthew before he had even closed the vehicle door behind him.

  “Get me a cab,” I said to the doorman.

  He moved quickly toward the front desk and within two minutes a cab was out front waiting for me. I knew Matthew would be heading back to his house to meet with the mysterious stranger, but I didn’t have any idea who it was. And it didn’t seem like Raymond had any idea either.

  As the cab driver weaved his way through the streets of Washington D.C., I felt my heart rate getting faster and faster. I didn’t know why I felt the need to follow Matthew, but I had to know more about what was going on. I just couldn’t stand being kept in the dark for another moment.

  I gave the cab driver directions to Matthew’s house and as we pulled up, I realized that Matthew wasn’t there. Or at least, the SUV Matthew had been in wasn’t there.

  “Just drive around the block please,” I said as I looked for Matthew and his SUV.

  They had to be somewhere around there. Well, that was if Matthew had actually found the person who said he would be waiting at his house.

  “I can wait for you if you’d like,” the nice cab driver said as we made one more pass around the block.

  “Yes, let’s park here. Give me five or ten minutes please.”

  “Sure.”

  I got out of the cab and felt the brisk cold air on my skin as I walked in the dark toward Matthew’s house. I had had the cab driver stop at the end of the block so I could walk the length of the block and look in a couple of the dark alleys that lined it.

  “Good job,” I heard a man’s voice say.

  I couldn’t tell where the voice had come from, but it sounded like Matthew’s. There was another man with him as well. I couldn’t hear the man’s voice as well as I could hear Matthew’s but I could tell there was another person there with Matthew.

  My steps slowed so I could try and avoid detection and just as I walked up toward Matthew’s house I saw the two dark figures in the garden area off the front of his lawn. His manicured lawn had six foot high shrubs in the font and an iron fence. It was clear that Matthew valued his privacy and I really shouldn’t have been there to listen in on his conversation.

  “I’ll contact you when it’s complete.”

  “Yes, please don’t be so obvious about it next time. And make sure there is no question this time. I need real results.”

  “Yes, sir,” the man said as he turned to walk away.

  The man who stood there with Matthew seemed really shady. He was dressed in dark clothes and a ball cap. I couldn’t see his face very well, but his body was built like a bodybuilder with muscles everywhere.

  I stopped to think about how I would explain myself to Matthew if he found me standing there. It didn’t seem like there was a reasonable explanation at all. Matthew had dropped me off at my building, he would have known right away that I had followed him if he knew I was there. So I had to make sure that Matthew didn’t find me there.

  My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I tried to decide if I should stay and listen more or if I should get back to my cab. I wasn’t the type of person who normally followed a boyfriend to see what he was doing. My opinion was; if you can’t trust him, you shouldn’t date him. But I figured the circumstances were a little different at that time.

  I couldn’t believe that Matthew was paying this guy off. I assumed it was for what happened to the Vice President, but that seemed awfully low even for Matthew. As I watched the two men talk Matthew appeared to be at total ease while the other man looked nervous and was continually looking around.

  Bribery and corruption were huge in Washington D.C., so it really shouldn’t have surprised me that I was witnessing it right in front of me. I had always imagined that bribery happened in seedy hotel rooms and dive bars. Never had I expected Matthew and his hired hand to be talking about their work in the middle of Matthew’s living room.

  It was dark outside and I felt well hidden by the shrubbery at the front of the yard, but I couldn’t be 100% sure. There was no way I could risk getting caught following Matthew and listening in on his conversation.

  I had lied to Matthew. I didn’t trust him at all. Matthew was the type of guy who would make sure he did the job right and got rid of a person if they were in his way. But I honestly didn’t think Matthew was the kind of guy who would murder someone. Sure he would ruin a person’s career and leave them without a means to care for themselves and their family, but he wasn’t a murderer. Or so I thought up until that very moment.

  “You make sure the job is clean. I need this done right. There will be a big bonus in your payment if you came get this done as ordered.”

  It was weird to hear Matthew as he directed this man to do his bidding for him. I still hadn’t heard either man describe exactly what it was that needed to be done, but I had seen the stack of money that Matthew handed the man. It was much more money than I had ever seen before, at least, $20,000. I couldn’t even fathom another reason why Matthew would be giving that money to another person if it wasn’t for murdering them.

  I needed to get away from the scene and I slowly started to walk backward. After I had made it about twenty feet away from the shrubs, I felt my foot as it pressed down on a tree limb. The sound was audible throughout the immediate area and I couldn’t wait to see if Matthew had heard it. Instead, I took off running as fast as I could toward the end of the block.

  “Who’s there?” I heard Matthew’s voice yell out.

  It sounded like he was closer than his yard, but I couldn’t imagine looking behind be to see if he was there. I just had to keep running. Even if I ran, I could easily be caught by Matthew or even the other man if they really wanted to; I wasn’t that fast of a runner.

  When I got to the end of the street, the cab driver was still waiting there diligently for me. I hopped in and he pulled away. I was so grateful that the cab driver had been willing to stay and wait for me, but there was still one big problem; it looked like Matthew had seen me.

  Just as we started to drive away, I looked down the street and saw Matthew standing and staring at my cab. My heart almost burst out of my chest as his eyes leered into my yellow vehicle. But I didn’t think he could see who was inside the car. The way his eyes looked at the car, it didn’t appear as if he was actually looking at me; instead, he seemed to be memorizing the license plate.

  Then I looked down at my phone and saw a text message from Matthew, “I’ll be at your place in the morning. We need to talk.”

  I swallowed hard. Maybe he had seen that it was me in the cab. Maybe he knew I had followed him and listened in on his conversation. I needed to figure a way out of the mess that I had just gotten myself into.

  Storm ARRIVES

  The Billionaire President -

  A Dark Alpha Billionaire Romance

  Sarah J. Brooks

  Copyright © 2016 by Sarah Brooks

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, an
d incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Facebook: Sarah Brooks

  Matthew

  Someone had been outside my home when I was making the deal. I couldn’t be sure what they had or had not heard. I really couldn’t be sure they were even trying to listen in on our conversation. It could have simply been a person walking by at the same time we were talking. But I had to take all the precautions that I could.

  The stakes were getting higher and I was only a few steps away from becoming the next President of the United States. There were a lot of individual plans that needed to work out perfectly in order for me to make it to the Presidency. I wasn’t the only one involved, but I had to do my part and ensure my tasks were completed without fail.

  I made my way over to Kayla’s house the next morning because we had to talk. Things were heating up and I needed to know if I could count on her. I had intended to go into the presidency as a single man. But the positive welcoming I had had over dating Kayla made me think that it might be better to lock her down before things got too crazy.

  People hadn’t been as much of assholes as I thought they would be, but that was probably because Kayla actually had skills as my chief of staff. She knew a lot about Washington politics even if she had only learned those things in the few short months she had been there. Sometimes people were just naturally born politicians.

  I wasn’t sure marriage was what I was looking for, but I simply needed to know if she was interested in sticking things out with me as a couple. It would help in my strategic planning.

  Things between us had become so rigid and office like, I needed to get us back to the fun and carefree times. Or at the very least I needed to feel like Kayla and I were a team again. We certainly hadn’t felt very much like a team in the recent days.

  “Coffee delivery,” I said as I waited for Kayla to come to her door.

  When she opened the door, she held it tight and didn’t want to let me in. Kayla looked like she hadn’t slept all night long. Her appearance was shocking to me. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought she was up drinking all night long, but that wasn’t her thing.

  “Hey,” Kayla said as she looked at the coffee.

  “Hi, I brought coffee. Can we talk?”

  “Um, I’m not really feeling well; can I just see you at work or something?” Kayla asked.

  There was something wrong with Kayla, but I had no idea what was going on with her. She didn’t seem interested in talking to me or even looking at me. I filed through my memory of our day at the White House and tried to think of what it was I had done to make her feel like this. I really had no idea, when I had dropped her off at her house the night before she seemed alright. She certainly didn’t seem angry with me when I dropped her off.

  “Kayla, I’m coming in. I’ve brought you coffee. We should talk,” I said as I pressed pass her and into the dining area of her kitchen.

  She allowed me in, but she didn’t look like she wanted to talk very much. She looked angry, or sad, I didn’t really know which one it was. I sat the coffee down and took my coat off. I wasn’t leaving until I figured out what was going on.

  “Thanks for the coffee, I’m still coming to work today, don’t worry.”

  “Ok, well I was wondering if you wanted to go for wine and dinner later tonight. Does that sound good?”

  Kayla hesitated and I saw her look toward her bedroom and then back toward me. For a moment, I thought that there was someone else in her room. Jealousy swarmed my body and I couldn’t resist getting up and taking a look around the apartment.

  “What are you doing Matthew?” She asked as I walked into her bedroom and looked around. I even made sure to look in the closet, as I remembered all too well that I had been stuck in there naked before.

  “What’s going on Kayla? Are you still afraid your apartment has been bugged? I hired a guy to go through the place and make sure it wasn’t. I’m very confident we can freely talk here.”

  “You did what?” Kayla said as she suddenly stopped being quiet and decided to be angry.

  There was no confusion at all about what emotion was going on, Kayla was pissed off. I knew that having someone come into her home and sweep for bugs might not have been the best choice I made. But I had hired him to do the office and my house and it seemed like a good idea to have him check Kayla’s apartment as well. I honestly had meant to tell her earlier, but it slipped my mind.

  “I had the apartment swept for bugs and cameras. After the other day, I didn’t want us to feel so worried about it. I had both our places and the office searched.”

  “Who gave you permission to come into my apartment?” She said with anger that filled her eyes.

  “Well, you did. You gave me a key. Remember?”

  I sat down on the couch and waited to see if Kayla was going to calm down. She was acting totally strange and not like herself at all. She seemed so angry with me. Angry over something that I thought would have helped put her at ease.

  “I need to get ready for work now. Can you please go?” She said as she stood near the door.

  “What the hell is going on? If I did something you are going to have to tell me what I did because I have no idea.”

  “Nothing, I just need to get ready. Please leave.”

  I obliged her and moved from the couch toward the door. I was going to lean in and kiss her on the cheek, but I could tell she didn’t want anything to do with me.

  “Kayla,” I said as I stood in the doorway. “I wouldn’t do anything that would hurt you. Whatever you’re angry about I’d like to talk about it.”

  She just stood there and looked away from me. Her arms were crossed and I could tell that nothing I was trying to say was getting through to her. Whatever had upset her wasn’t going to easily be gotten over.

  “I’ll see you at work. I’m not angry. I just need to get ready,” Kayla said calmly.

  Her words said she wasn’t angry, but I could tell there was something majorly wrong between the two of us. I needed to get it fixed and right away. She was the woman I wanted as my partner for the upcoming plans I had. But I relegated myself to the hallway and decided I could work on making things better between us when she got to work later that morning.

  Kayla slammed the door behind me and I saw her body slide down and sit in front of the door. I went a few steps down the hall and waited to see if I could hear anything that would give me a clue as to what the hell was going on.

  Then I heard Kayla’s sobs coming from under the door. She was sad. I hadn’t made her angry. I had made her sad. Now I really had no idea what I had done.

  Kayla

  I wasn’t exactly sure why I starting crying so hard when Matthew left. Things just felt so out of control between the two of us. The man that I had once looked up to and admired now made me question if he was even a good guy at all.

  It probably didn’t help anything that I had stayed up all night drinking wine. I was exhausted and couldn’t think straight. All I kept thinking about was the deceitful things that I thought Matthew was doing. But I didn’t have any evidence of a single wrong thing that he had done. Besides handing that man money in the dark, I wasn’t sure what Matthew had been part of that was making me feel so unease.

  After seeing him pay that man money, all I could think about was evil things that he was paying him to do. I was afraid Matthew had come over to talk to me about following him, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I was relieved to see that he didn’t seem to know at all that I had been the one who got into the cab. That was one bright spot in the morning at least.

  I really had to think about what it was I wanted for my future in Washington D.C. and as the tears flowed I thought about so many of the different options that I had. The idea of just packing up and going back to Illinois was certainly on my mind.

  When I had first come to Washington D.C., I had such idealized views of what it would be like to work there. I thought if I worked
hard that was all that I needed to do in order to build up my reputation. My education in politics over the last few months had proven to me that I didn’t understand all the layers that were really involved in politics at all.

  Matthew had shown me some of the darker sides of politics, but he wasn’t even truthful with me most of the time. I just wished there were genuine people that could be truthful with me. I really wished that Matthew would be more frank with me. He seemed to lie constantly. Or at least, keep the truth from me. How was I supposed to love a man that I couldn’t trust at all?

  My tears weren’t because I was angry or hurt. They were more because of the lack of direction I felt in everything I was doing. I wasn’t being given all the information with Matthew at work and that made it impossible for me to be a good chief of staff to him. I had to look beyond the immediate job and to my future as far as work was concerned. Matthew was going to be the next Vice President and that would look good for me if I could keep things together professionally.

  I took a couple deep breaths and then got into the shower to wash away my neurotic tears and get myself ready for a new day. I had to go into work with a professional look and an attitude that showed I was ready to get some serious work done.

  As I dressed for work, I thought about what I wanted my legacy to be during this huge national event. I didn’t want to be remembered as Matthew Storm’s employee who he had an affair with. I wanted to be remembered for expertly handling the transition that was about to take place with Matthew. We needed to get him out and into the public eye.

  Matthew needed to talk about the country and his views so that people would feel more confident in him as a choice for Vice President when that time came. We would avoid talking about Senator Masson as much as possible and we would say a simple offer of condolence when we talked about the Vice President. I took a moment to write down some of my thoughts on news stations we could reach out to.

  It would be essential that the reporters liked Matthew. More important for me, was that they believed me as a credible and capable chief of staff. We would avoid all personal questions and talk only about the items that were important to the public.