by Claire Adams
“You awake?” he asked as he started to stir behind me.
“Nope.”
“Me neither.”
“I think we can stay here for a few more hours.”
“I’m running to the bathroom, but I’ll be right back,” he said and then pulled his warmth away from me and took off.
I took the opportunity to find my purse and check my messages. Even though I knew Connor was in good hands, it always made me feel better to know that no one had tried to call me and I hadn’t missed anything really important.
My phone was blissfully silent with only one message from Mattie talking about how Markus was trying to win her back. I had been afraid that he would try to do something like that and I really thought she wouldn’t fall for it, but historically, she had given in when he wanted to get back together. For such a strong and independent woman, it baffled me how she was willing to go back to Markus over and over again. She didn’t seem to value herself enough not to let that guy go.
While I waited for Brandon to come out of the bathroom, I took the opportunity to glance at my email. Typically on weekends, my inbox was filled with junk from sales pages and shops I frequented, but one message stood out. I clicked the message as I looked over toward the bathroom and tried to figure out what was going on.
Subject: YOU HAVE A MESSAGE FROM BRANDON ON DATING THE RICH
I’m using you as an alibi while I commit illegal activities.
My heart sank as I read the message. Obviously, it wasn’t actually from Brandon; it had been sent in the middle of the night while the two of us were together. Plus, it wasn’t likely a person would warn me about actions he was committing himself. The only thing I could think of was that there indeed was a hacker and I had not completely kicked them out.
I scrambled to find my dress and gather my things so I could head into the office. If I had received this message, it was entirely possible that other clients were getting scary messages, as well. This could be detrimental to the company and I felt at risk of losing my job over it for sure.
“You’re leaving?” Brandon said as he stood in the bathroom doorway with a towel wrapped around him.
I heard the shower in the background and saw one of the largest showers I’d ever seen before in my life. The floor-to-ceiling tiles filled a ten-foot area that had both a rainforest showerhead above and massaging shower heads on the wall. It was one of those showers that I suspected had been in a magazine before and I really would have loved to spend a nice long hour feeling that water beat down on my muscles.
“Look at this.”
I handed him my phone as I tried to zip up my dress and grab my shoes all at the same time. There was no time to waste: I had to get this mess fixed before I lost my job. As fun as it was to hang out with Brandon, I had a son and a house and bills that I needed to pay and to do that, I had to keep my job.
“Well, I was with you, so of course, I didn’t send this. Are you angry? Is that why you’re leaving?”
“No, don’t be silly. I’ve been fighting the computer programs and all these errors at work. There must have been something I missed. I need to get to work and hopefully stop this from happening to anyone else. I’m really confused, maybe there’s a virus or something… I just don’t know what’s going on.”
“Don’t go. I need to tell you something,” Brandon said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the small bench at the end of his bed.
The serious look on his face instantly had me worried that something in the message had been truthful. It couldn’t be, though; I knew Brandon and he wasn’t the type of guy who did illegal things – or at least I didn’t think he was. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t know as much about him as I thought I did.
“What’s going on?”
“You might not have a hacker that’s targeting your whole system. I think there is someone specifically targeting me.”
“Someone is after you?”
“Yes, there’s been a lot of strange things going on lately. Is there someone you can call to check if anyone else received a strange message? I suspect it was only you, and that it’s because you had contact with me.”
“Yeah, my co-worker Tom is going to be back on Monday. I could have him take a look at it.”
“I’d do that. There’s a lot I haven’t told you.”
“Like, a lot about you? What do you mean? Is the message true? Are you doing something illegal?”
I couldn’t stop asking him questions. They were coming to my mind faster than I could think through them. There was a secret Brandon had been keeping from me and I wanted to know what it was. My heart had already started to open up to him. I’d given in to all the things I said I would never give in to. This couldn’t all be some scam for him to cover up illegal activity; I knew it couldn’t be that. Or at least, I thought I knew.
“No, I’m not doing anything illegal. I’ll tell you everything I know, but I warn you I don’t know all that much. I’m just as confused as you are.
“My trading account had a red flag on it and there was a scary-looking guy who lied and pretended like he worked for the federal government. When I let him into the house, he threatened me and Josh and then left. My credit card was frozen, as well, but I thought that was unrelated, and now I just don’t know.”
“Who would want to do this to you?” I asked as I tried to process everything.
If someone was out to get me, I would think that I’d have some sort of idea who it was. Maybe I wouldn’t know the exact person, but I’d know if there were people I had made so angry they didn’t like me. Certainly, Brandon had to have some clue to who might put this much effort into ruining his life.
“I don’t know for sure.”
“What do you mean? How could you not know?” I yelled at him.
I hadn’t yelled in years and it scared me how emotional I had gotten all of a sudden. This guy had won my heart – I couldn’t deny it – and now he was telling me there was at least one person on earth who hated him so dearly that they wanted to cause this kind of chaos in his life. That was scary to me.
Hate and love were emotions that stayed tied together. It was hard for someone to hate strongly if they hadn’t loved the person previously, or loved someone involved in the situation. I remembered this tidbit from my psychology classes in college. Hate and love were connected, so it was a big deal that Brandon couldn’t tell me who he might have loved and hurt so badly that they would take this sort of revenge.
“I tried to be an honest businessman who did deals that were good for myself and other companies. I can’t think of someone in that area who would be this angry to personally attack me.”
“And, your private life? Have you hurt anyone recently?”
Brandon laughed and turned back toward the shower in the bathroom without answering me. I followed him and stood there while he ran his hands through his hair and contemplated what he wanted to tell me.
“I’ve hurt a lot of people. If I’m being honest with myself, I’m sure there are plenty of women who are angry with me. I honestly don’t know who would be this angry, though. I’m sorry, Delilah. I haven’t been the greatest of men over the last few years.”
His eyes looked gloomy and dark as the memories of his past filled them. I knew that feeling, though. As much as I wanted to judge him for his past, I couldn’t judge a man who had acted just as I had since losing my husband. There were probably plenty of men from the last year who were angry with me. Certainly, I didn’t think they would sabotage my life, but women were much different creatures. A scorned woman wasn’t someone you ever wanted to deal with blindly.
“I understand. Was there someone recently?”
“I can’t remember. I’m not a good guy, Del. I’ve tried to show you the true and honest side of me, but there’s a dark side. I have a side without emotion. I have a selfish, hurtful side that women have loved and I have ignored them.”
His emotions were surrounding him and I s
aw the panic growing in his eyes. He was a guy who liked to be in control and his life had slowly slipped away from him. Within only a few short years, he had gone from a happily married father with a booming business to a single man without a son and without a company to occupy his time.
“Let’s get in,” I said softly.
I slipped back out of my dress and climbed into the warm shower with Brandon. We didn’t talk, we didn’t have sex, we simply let the beat of the water wash away the sins of our pasts. We both had lived through things others could only think of as a nightmare. Yet Brandon and I survived the life we had. Whatever else was going on in his life, I wanted to be there for him, at least until I found out why this person was targeting him.
His hands moved over my wet curves as if they were gliding over melted butter. I hadn’t lied when I said I liked the feel of his hands on my body: I sure did. No matter what else was going on with him, I had him there with me at that moment, and I decided I wasn’t ready to let him go. I wasn’t willing to give up my time with him yet.
Water was meant to be erotic, I was convinced of it. What other substance could warm your entire body while making your skin shimmer and entice? I couldn’t think of anything else.
“If you stay here another moment, I’m not going to be able to control myself.”
“Then don’t,” I said boldly.
He quickly flipped me around and held my wet body up against his as the water continued to pour down on us. His hands wrapped around me and he cupped a breast in each of them while his lips made their way unhurriedly down my neck. All the while, I felt his body throbbing and pressing up behind me.
I leaned into him as my breathing quickened, and I used my body to urge him forward. The thrusting motion of my hips backward allowed him permission to take me, and he soon pressed my hands forward onto the bench as he thrust from behind.
The quick motions and full movements had us both screaming in pleasure within moments. My body felt the tension dissolve, and I gave in to the pleasure without concern for what I sounded like or looked like. I wanted to feel him inside of me; I didn’t want to make love to him, I didn’t want to spend hours touching and enticing each other. Instead, the unbridled thrusting of his desire was the perfect remedy for what I needed from Brandon in that moment.
“Damn, I love this shower,” I laughed as he pulled me back up toward him.
“Me, too; it was a big selling point.”
His hands moved through my hair as I leaned back and let the warm water beat down on me. I explored his body with my hands and grabbed the soap as we lathered each other up. I’d never felt comfortable in the shower with someone before. Even with my late husband, it had always been awkward for me, but I didn’t care about awkward as I stood there with Brandon. We just washed up and then wrapped ourselves in towels as we made our way back out to the warmth of his bedroom.
“I do think I should head into the office and see if there is anything I need to do. I can’t afford to lose my job.”
The reality of my situation was still there. No matter how much fun I was having with Brandon, and even if I knew the message had not been sent from him, I needed my job. To keep my job, I had to ensure that no other accounts were affected.
“I understand. Is there anything I can help with?”
“Figure out why this person would come through the Dating the Rich app to get to you. That would be very helpful.”
“I’m on it,” he laughed. “I’ll let you know if I figure anything out.”
“Have you met anyone else off the site?” I hated to ask, but it seemed like a logical connection if he was being targeted through it.
“No, I’ve answered some messages through there, but I hadn’t set up a date with anyone except you. Del, ask me anything – I will answer you truthfully I promise.”
“Where did you meet women at before you joined the dating site?”
“At bars and the usual spots like that.”
“All right, I’ll see what I can find out. I suggest you think back through the women you’ve had in your life and see which one has a broken heart. Hatred like this comes from love. Whoever is targeting you is close to you in some way – maybe a friend, ex-lover, or some other person that has a stake in the game. People don’t just come after a person so intimately unless there is something in it for them.”
“Okay,” he said quietly. “I just don’t want you to worry about it too much. Get your work stuff in order and I’ll handle the rest. And if you get anymore messages from the dating app, it is not me. I am going to delete the account right away.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said as I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Call me tomorrow and we can talk about what we were able to find out. I don’t want to be worried about you all week long.”
He grabbed me and held on like he wasn’t going to let me go. I was perfectly fine with it. Being needed by someone other than my son was a feeling that had evaded me for years, yet it flashed through me like a familiar love I welcomed and felt at home with.
“I’ll see you sometime this week, won’t I?”
“Call me and we can make some plans, but take care of yourself and this mess. I can’t have you getting arrested for all this illegal activity you’re doing,” I joked.
Brandon walked me downstairs and waited with me while he called an Uber to pick me up. He had offered to drive me to the office, but I was fine with the car coming to get me. There was a lot running through my head and I needed to step away from Brandon before I was going to get it all straight.
“I’ll call you. Take care of yourself, and please let me know if you get any other weird messages. I’m worried that someone out there has the capacity to cause some real harm in my life and actually get me arrested.”
“Okay, will do,” I said and climbed into the Uber as said my goodbyes.
While the car pulled away, I replayed his last words to me in my head.
People who didn’t commit illegal acts weren’t afraid of getting arrested. I know that was the case for me. Even if someone was after me, or hated me, I never would think that I could get arrested because I didn’t commit crimes. My gut said there was more to this story, and I didn’t like it one bit.
Chapter Sixteen
Brandon
“I’m one hundred percent certain that someone is after me, and it isn’t the SEC.”
I had been reluctant to think that all the things that had been happening to me were on purpose; that just wasn’t the type of person I was. I gave people the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible before I gave in and started to think the worst of them.
Over the years, I’d had weird things happen before, and they were mostly chalked up to coincidences and other very lame reasons. Most people around me thought the worst of situations and I had paid them to think that way. My executives at my company had to always be planning for the worst and preparing for how they would handle things. Their preparation made it easier for me to look for the positives in situations, which was my job as the CEO.
Now things were different, though, and this was personal. Someone was clearly attacking me personally and possibly going after my financial accounts, as well. As much as I hated to think the worst, that message directed at Del had me thinking all sorts of crazy things.
“I’ve had my friend looking into things and he’s not finding much – which is both a good thing and a bad thing, I guess. He said there is no investigation into you, at least none that he could find.” Josh looked disappointed at the revelation.
“So, what does this all mean?”
“It means that you’ve pissed someone off who’s capable of some serious shit.”
“What do you mean?”
“Either you really aren’t under investigation and that was a real life bad guy who showed up at your door, or you are under investigation and it’s under some sort of clearance.”
Josh had a point, and it was exactly what I had been thinking. I’d been replayi
ng my last few relationships, thinking about the women who I might have wronged and even thinking about the business partnerships I’d been part of. Nothing came to my mind. Was it possible I was so out of touch that I actually didn’t even realize who I had hurt? It was looking more and more like that was the case.
I only trusted Josh and a few other very close people in my life. It shouldn’t be too hard to find who was doing these things because I kept my circle of friends rather close and didn’t let new people in very often.
Many of the wealthy, young guys I knew did a horrible job of keeping their lifestyle quiet. They were throwing parties every weekend and buying bottles of champagne when they went to the clubs. I wasn’t like that. I didn’t live my life like that.
Whether I was poor like I had been growing up, or rich like I was now, I liked my semi-quiet lifestyle and wasn’t too flashy about it. Yes, sometimes I went out with the guys and got a VIP room and splurged, but I wasn’t being plastered across the tabloids like the others, and I was pretty damn proud of that.
“Del said something to me that made a lot of sense. Whoever is doing this has some seriously hurt feelings and that means it has to be a woman I’ve had a relationship with. There’s not a dude out there who would go to this level of trouble if I pissed him off. Guys are much more likely to just punch me in the face.”
“What about a guy who was with the girl you hurt?”
“Like a new boyfriend? Why would any self-respecting guy bother? No, it’s got to be a woman. Maybe she’s capable of manipulating a man into doing what she wants him to, but it’s a woman behind all of this.”
“What about your ex-wife?” he asked.
It was a reasonable question, but Josh didn’t know Rose like I knew her. She and I got along much better now that we were divorced than we ever got along while married. Rose didn’t have anything to be upset with me about, either; we had decided to separate mutually. Sure, she was hurt and angry because our dreams of a happily ever after life ended, but it was so long before that I couldn’t imagine that she would still be angry enough to mess with my life.