I Need You Now

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  My phone rang close to my head, waking me up. Damn, I’d fallen asleep at the dining table again. I hit the answer button without bothering to see who was calling. “What?”

  “Dude, where are you? It’s after nine in the morning and I thought you went to work at eight. I’ve been waiting for you to come get this laptop. I have physical therapy in an hour and I’m not comfortable leaving everything out in the open.” It was Ethan, sounding exhausted.

  I cursed internally for not having set the alarm clock. I’d expected to work on things for just a bit and head to bed, but exhaustion must have caught up to me. “I’m sorry, man. I was researching some of your theories last night and I must’ve passed out on my dining table. I’ll be right over.”

  I turned the water on in the shower to warm up while I clicked my travel mug into place to brew me a cup of strong coffee. I could hear Gianna bitching at me now about how late I’d be. I’d only planned maybe an hour, not two or three. What a way to start off the day!

  Thirty minutes later I was in Ethan’s room. He handed me an envelope with a couple of discs inside. “Since you’re under cover, I need you to run these after hours. I made three copies so you can do several machines at once. Do they just use laptops or do they have desktops, too?”

  “Only the managers have both, so they can take the laptops home with them if needed. The rest of the employees have desktop computers. Why?”

  “It will make this easier then. The discs are loaded with a detection device based on what I found on your laptop. Your system was corrupted with a nasty virus, a couple of bugs, and ghosting software. If I’m right, you’ve either been hacked and it’s only spread to some of the computers, or worse case scenario, the items have found their way into the mainframe of the company. Either way, it will tell you which computers within the troubled departments have the items on their system. Don’t remove them just yet, because it may alert the party responsible.”

  I was dumbfounded. I took a seat and asked him to elaborate. Nearly twenty minutes later, my jaw was about to hit the floor. I definitely needed to get to Mr. Prescott and, more importantly, get access to the bank accounts and implement some safety features.

  As I was leaving, Ethan headed toward the physical therapy department on his crutches. “Good luck giving him the information. I should be done with my session in thirty minutes. You can call me to let me know when you’d like me to test the firewalls. I’ll let you know what I find and what I’ve done, if I’m able to get in easily.”

  “Sounds great, man. I owe you one.” I gripped one of his shoulders and gave it a squeeze. “Let me know if you need anything. I need to get going before Gianna swallows me whole and spits me out for being late.” I needed to stop using these phrases. All I could imagine was her on her knees swallowing my length into that hot mouth of hers.

  I was thankful when Ethan grasped my shoulder in return. “No thanks needed. I’m happy to help both of you. That’s what buddies are for.”

  Marissa’s parking space was available, so I took it. I grabbed everything I needed and took the back way to Mr. Prescott’s office.

  “Hi, Marjorie.” I smiled, trying to worm my way into talking with him. “Is Mr. Prescott available?”

  She frowned. “I’m sorry, but he’s on a conference call with New York. Can I ask what it is you need to talk to him about?”

  I debated telling her, but decided against it. Mr. Prescott wanted everyone, with exception of Dane, Marissa, and Rafe, out of the know about what I was doing there. “Please tell him I need to talk with him in regards to the manila envelopes he’s been sending down. The topic is of some urgency. I’ll be down in accounting when he has time.”

  “Sure thing, hon.” Her smile was infectious, almost lighting up a room. I couldn’t understand why her husband cheated on her. It was good to see she accepted it and moved on. She’s pretty cute, the kind Ethan might go for. He needs someone with an upbeat personality to pull him out of his funk. I wonder?

  I dismissed my inner thoughts, knowing he wasn’t ready to deal with a relationship and she probably wasn’t either. Her divorce was still being finalized.

  I took the back way down to the accounting department, trying to slip in without Gianna seeing me. I was glad to see her door closed and the walls frosted over. She was either busy trying to correct more errors from overnight, or she was with someone.

  Cameron was the first to talk to me. “Are we taking our time this morning?” His voice held a bit of cockiness to it.

  I shook my head. “I had an appointment.”

  He rolled his chair over a bit and whispered, “You might want to watch your back. The supreme bitch is on the war path this morning. Several of her reports are coming up with missing information and corrupted figures.” He looked back at Karen, who had a smile on her face, before turning to me. “I think she’s about to crack.” He made a twirling motion with his finger around his head.

  I heard Karen clear her throat to let us know Gianna was coming. Before we could even turn around to look we heard, “What the hell do you think you’re doing away from your desk, Mr. Heath? We’re not here to chat or catch up on the daily gossip. I need everyone to pull together to catch up on their workloads. The system is screwing up again and putting us further behind.”

  Gianna looked my direction and pointed. “Thank you for finally bothering to join us, Mr. Michaelson. I’d like to see you in my office immediately!”

  I didn’t bother to put my things down at my desk. Instead, I carried them into her office with me. For some reason I didn’t trust the nosy twins not to get into my things.

  She closed the behind her. “Take a seat, Mr. Michaelson.”

  I looked up at her. “You know you can call me Nate when prying ears aren’t listening.”

  Gianna’s eyes were glaring and her mouth was pressed into a hard thin line. Something was wrong. I watched in horror as she reached in and pulled out a manila envelope, one I forgot to take home with me last night. Damn it!

  She held the package up, removing the file folder with its contents. Her voice was filled with disappointment. “Would you like to explain why you’re in possession of the hard copies of sales receipts?” I watched as she threw the folder and envelope on the desk for emphasis.

  I held my hands up. “I can explain, Gianna.”

  “You will refer to me as Ms. Scott, not Gianna. I want to know why you’re in possession of these items. They are kept under lock and key in our fire retardant vault.” She leaned forward, placing her arms on top of her desk and looking me over. “Are you some kind of spy or something, hell bent on destroying this company?”

  I shook my head. “No. I’m trying to save it.”

  “That’s an unlikely story. Sorry, but I don’t like the smell of bullshit in the morning. Now tell me the real reason you have this information.”

  I shook my head. “No!” I slammed my fist down hard on her desk, making her jump. “You like to cry foul every time I’m around, pushing me away, not wanting to hear the truth. You seem to have it in for me ever since you found out I’d been hired by Mr. Prescott. If you want answers, then ask him! I’m done talking with you.”

  I watched as she tried to regain her composure from my outburst. I refused to talk to anyone who called me a fucking liar!

  She shifted in her seat, trying to look away, barely able to contain the tears that threatened to spill over. I hated to see any woman cry, especially my sister, but with Gianna, I didn’t know what to do. Did I offer comfort? Would she accuse me of trying to get close to her if I did? Or would she put me in my place, insisting nothing was wrong?

  I didn’t know what to say. A long moment of silence stretched before us as we just stared at one another. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to ask, “What do you want from me? You’re throwing mixed signals left and right.”

  Gianna popped up from her seat, her fists landing on the top of her desk. Her face was full of fury, as she yelled out, “I don’t want
or need anything from you or any man, now or ever!”

  I stood up, ready to push through the walls that separated us. I leaned forward on her desk, only inches from her face. I didn’t like yelling at women, but I wouldn’t put up with the way she talked with me. I was the dominant one here, not her, and it was about time she respected me. “Oh, yeah! Bring it, honey! I’m not any man and you do need my help if you want this department to run like it should.”

  She was about to counter me when the door flew open. “What the hell is going on in here? I could hear the two of you screaming from down the hallway.” Alexander stood tall in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and his face quite stern.

  Gianna turned toward Mr. Prescott, while pointing her finger at me. “This asshole shouldn’t be working in this department. He has a folder full of sales receipts and won’t explain where or how he got them. I went up to IT this morning to do a check on my staff to see when people are logged into the system and he’s logging in all hours of the day and night!”

  She started shaking her fist my direction and all I could think of was bending her over the desk and taking her. I wanted to tame her fiery spirit, and the arguing was an adrenaline rush. She knew how to push my buttons and turn me on in a heartbeat. I usually like my women docile and compliant, but not her.

  I tuned out what she was saying and admired how animated she got when she’s passionate about something.

  “I want him fired—effective immediately!”

  I snapped back to reality.

  That’s when I felt the waves of hatred and distrust radiate off her. The contempt she held in her eyes would have set me on fire, if she could. That’s what I loved and hated about Gianna—one minute she showed tendencies of a submissive, capable of being bent to any desire I wanted. The next she could throw up her brick wall and be the dominant boss she longed to be. God, it turned me on watching her play both sides. It was at that moment I looked closer and realized that deep down—she was tired of controlling others, she needed someone else to lead. She needed the dominance only I could give her. Take her! Vixen is a great memory, but she’s right here in front of you.

  Mr. Prescott raised his hand up. “Let’s take this to my office. At least we have sound proof walls there and we can talk freely without the potential for eavesdropping.”

  A crease in her eyebrows formed as she looked past him in the doorway. Every member of the accounting department had stopped working and was listening in on our conversation. She blushed with embarrassment.

  Mr. Prescott walked out of the office and waited for us to follow. Gianna closed the door behind her, but he suggested, “You’ll want to lock your door, Ms. Scott. Given the issues going on, I don’t want any more files falling into the wrong hands.”

  Okay. Mr. Prescott was making our little squabble look amazing. From Cameron and Karen’s points of view, I was about to get canned. I knew otherwise, because I’d caught a subtle shift of his eyebrow when I looked him in the face. This was all a show of power and that he was in control.

  “Let’s go.” We followed him to his private elevator. Gianna kept glaring at me. I knew she was trying to figure me out. Every time I caught her looking, her line of sight would go to the floor, like a true submissive. I wonder if she even knows she does that.

  I made a quick call as we rode the elevator up to the top floor. Alexander ignored my conversation, but I caught Gianna trying to figure out who I was talking to with a perplexed look on her face. “Hey, it’s me. Remember what we were talking about trying? Do it now and text me the results. Thanks. I owe you.” I knew my chat didn’t make any sense, but we had a theory that was about to be put to the test.

  We reached his office. “Take a seat, both of you.” The sternness of his voice made both of us do a double take. He even caused Marjorie to jump in her seat. I thought he’d put on an act for the show of the department. I guess I was wrong.

  Gianna gave Marjorie an apologetic look before walking in and taking the seat closest to his desk, turning herself slightly away from me in an attempt to give me the cold shoulder. I just took my seat and waited for him to close the door.

  “Marjorie, please make sure I’m not disturbed by anyone until I’m done straightening out these two.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Alexander sat back in his chair, one of his hands rubbing his forehead and pinching the bridge of his nose. You could tell he was fighting the onset of a headache and it looked to be a doozy thanks to us. He took in a deep breath. “The two of you are acting like immature little kids fighting in a department that is already in shambles. Gianna, you haven’t bothered to give Nate a chance at anything. You’re too quick to pass judgment, you’re defensive toward everyone—when are you going to learn that no one thinks you capable of pulling off the crap that’s coming down on this company?”

  She quickly piped up. “But—”

  He held his hand up to stop her. “But nothing, Gianna! If you’d come to me in confidence, I would’ve told you that Nate is actually our forensics accountant. He agreed to come in and see the inner workings of the company and to help catch your department up, while he’s been trying to figure out what’s been going on with yours and Marissa’s files. He’s been working pretty much non-stop around the clock to get some kind of resolution.”

  She shifted herself toward me, the look of understanding in her eyes. “You’ve been doing all this work? So the times you’ve asked me to keep it down at the condo, you were working on my problems?”

  I just nodded. “Yes.”

  She threw her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God! I feel like such an ass now.”

  I reached over and grabbed one of her hands, placing it between both of mine. I could feel the pulse of electricity between us and wondered if she felt it too. “I couldn’t reveal myself to you, so I had to play the part well.”

  Alexander cleared his throat to get our attention, causing her to jerk her hand away. “You’ve been trying to analyze our accounts for over a month, Nate. Are you any closer to figuring out who the perpetrator is?”

  I’d hoped to have the person figured out, brought in front of the Prescott family, and the accounts fixed by now, but I was still no closer to a solution. All this time Gianna had been working against me instead of with me on this, to the point it had caused us both extra work and a few headaches, possibly even some heartaches, along the way.

  “I wish I had an answer, Mr. Prescott, but I do have a couple of ideas on how to catch the person. Whoever is doing this is extremely clever,” I admitted.

  “With your permission, I’d like to place some hidden cameras in the departments in question, including in Gianna’s, Dane’s, and Marissa’s offices. We’ll have the cameras face the desks in each department so we can see who is logged in and at what times. We’ll also place one from behind, to see if they’re bringing up any kind of software that’s allowing them to alter the figures.”

  Gianna was quick to speak up. “I won’t allow one in my office. That’s a violation of my privacy. I’m innocent!”

  Alexander nodded, but looked a bit perplexed by my suggestion. He finally asked, “What purpose would that serve, Nate?”

  “You’d be surprised what we see on the cameras. It’ll show any unusual activities. We usually catch people working past their times, sneaking out early from work, some coming in later at night to either catch up or process some illegal activities. The stories I could tell about what I’ve seen.” I almost laughed, recalling one where the guy was caught instantly when the cameras were installed. I could only hope that we’d have similar results here.

  I explained further. “We can usually track the time and date of the video to the activity on the computer. Someone can try to fudge the computer to show a time differently than what it is, but the camera doesn’t lie and we catch them red handed. If anyone is on the computer at the time the reports indicate they’ve been changed, then we’ll have someone of interest to watch a little closer.”


  Gianna pounded her fist on Alexander’s desk. “I still don’t see the need for all this. I’m not going to be watched like Big Brother.” She turned to look at me. “What do you mean when the computer indicates there’s been a change on the reports? I don’t get any kind of alert.”

  Alexander was about to intervene when I held up my hand and sat forward in my chair, turning toward Gianna. I had to pause for a moment to gain my composure, because she seemed to be able to light my fuse at any given time so I wanted to either kiss the crap out of her or strangle her. “Damn it! I know you’re not guilty. The cameras are only motion activated. The idea of putting one in your personal offices is to ensure no one is going in there and tampering with your computer or raiding your files when you’re not around. It’s just an added safety.”

  She was about to slam back at me, but I quickly countered, “I’ll even show you, Dane, and my sister how to disable them when you need privacy.”

  “Your sister?” She looked puzzled.

  “Yes. Marissa is my sister.”

  She snapped her fingers, having realized the connection. “So that’s why you look familiar. You were at their wedding as one of Dane’s attendants.” Her eyes narrowed and she moved back a bit in her seat. “Your hair was slicked back during the ceremony and a little lighter in color.”

  I nodded. “Wait a minute. Why were you at the wedding?”

  Mr. Prescott cleared his throat, drawing our attention his direction. “Nate Lawson, I’d like you to meet my niece, Gianna Prescott.” He motioned back and forth between us. “No one really knew that he’s Marissa’s brother, so we were able to bring him in under an assumed identity, where he could interact with the employees and try to fish for information.”

  He sat back in his chair, feeling a little more relaxed. “Now that we have the proper introductions, can we get back to business?”

  We both nodded.

  “Okay, then. Do you have any more objections to Nate installing the camera?”

  She shook her head. “No, sir.”