~*~
Julie finalized the plans on the corporate house and she was genuinely pleased with how it was going to look. She arranged everything for the three houses Tiffany had sold on Saturday and brewed a new pot of coffee for Chuck when he walked back in after dealing with inspectors.
Everything was brighter today. Everything made her happier today. For the first time in her life, she felt part of something. How could meeting someone’s family do that? She didn’t know, but it had happened to her. She now understood them—all of them.
When the door opened to the trailer, Julie looked up expecting that Tiffany had sold another house. She cleared the files from her desk and smiled up. But the smile fell away when she saw Libby Grayson standing before her.
The room went absolutely cold.
Libby looked around. “So this is what it looks like when you fall from grace?”
Julie wanted to stand. She wanted to look the woman in the eye, but her body was frozen in place.
Libby looked down at her. “I guess sleeping with your new boss doesn’t get you a cushy job. It’s dusty and messy in here.”
“Why are you here?” Those were the only words that would come out.
“I came for what’s mine. I think it’s time to hand it over.”
Julie felt the blood rush from her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Libby’s red painted lips turned up at the corners. “I don’t believe you. Your husband came to you. He thinks he’s being sneaky, but I know his moves. Now, you need to give it to me.”
Fear and anger balled up in her stomach and gave her the strength to push to her feet. “I’ll tell you again. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have anything that belongs to you.”
Libby set her hands down on Julie’s desk. “You’d better find that husband of yours…”
“Ex-husband.”
Libby pursed her lips. “Find him. Get what is mine or that precious project you’re working on will be a pile of ash once it’s framed. Do I make myself clear?”
Julie swallowed hard. “What do I have?”
Libby stood and the smile grew. “I’m not going to tell you. I think it will be much better if your lover finds it first.”
She spun, walked out of the trailer, climbed into the taxi that waited out front, and drove away.
Julie fell back into her chair and looked at her hands. They shook. She needed to find out what Libby was talking about before Spencer did. She tried to gather her thoughts. Julie didn’t have anything that belonged to Libby. What could she possibly have?
Her stomach clenched and she thought she might vomit. Sweat beaded on her brow.
The door opened again and she snapped her head up as Tiffany walked in. Her eyes grew wide. “Are you feeling okay?”
“No. No, I’m not. I think I should go home.”
Tiffany nodded in agreement. “I can get a ride for you. Maybe you shouldn’t be driving.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said as anger pumped through her.
“I’ll call Spencer and…”
“Don’t,” she bit the words out harshly. “Don’t call him. Don’t tell him anything. I’ll be back in the morning. Just put my work on my desk.”
She pulled her purse and bag out of the drawer in her desk and walked past Tiffany.
“Hey,” Tiffany called after her. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? Are you and Spencer okay?”
She didn’t even know how to answer that. At that very moment, she didn’t know anything—let alone what Spencer might think if he found out first—whatever it was.
~*~
Spencer watched his father flip back and forth through the pages of the report he’d brought him.
“What do you think?”
“I think sixty-thousand dollars is a lot of money.”
Spencer stood from his seat and paced in front of the large bank of windows in his father’s office. “What do we do? This impacted our business but happened before we took ownership.”
His father leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in thought.
“Someone must have been very desperate to do something like this.”
Leave it to his father to consider that someone was in some kind of trouble and not just vindictive.
“Fine, but our trucks aren’t on the roads when they’re supposed to be because someone was desperate.” Spencer shoved his hands in his pockets. “If this person is still employed by us then we need to plug that leak.”
His father nodded. “So we need to go through the personnel records and find out who worked in areas they could get to information like this. And then find out who has been let go in the last six months. Chances are it isn’t someone who’s been fired or the leak would have stopped.”
Spencer loosened his tie. “I was hoping not to fly back this soon.”
His father smiled. “You’re a man with his hands in many things. This new venture is one of them.”
“Do you think I could pass off the high-rise builds to Ed? They’re fairly established.”
His father gave him a long slow nod. “I don’t see a problem with that.”
“I think the farmer will decide to sell this week too.”
“One more thing on your plate.”
Spencer raked his hands through his hair. “What did I get myself into?”
Now his father laughed. “You’re a Benson and you’re ambitious. You might think of slowing down, but you won’t.”
Spencer let out a long breath. “Right.”
“But I learned from my father’s death that you can be ambitious and you can enjoy what’s there. Don’t forget to live a little too.”
“When is there time?”
“Make time.” His father’s eyes locked with his. “If she’s important to you then don’t lose her to work.”
Well, he could cut right to the chase couldn’t he, even when Spencer hadn’t brought her up.
Spencer bit down on his lip, diverted his eyes away, and then back to his father. “She’s recently divorced.”
His father stood from his chair and walked to him. “And your mother was running from a man who tried to kill her. She kept her secrets.”
“It doesn’t bother you then?”
“Is Julie the person you think she is?”
“Yes.”
“You care for her?”
Now Spencer nodded. “I do.”
“Do you think you love her?”
He’d expected to have this conversation with his mother, not his father, but he knew the answer. “I do. I haven’t told her, but I do.”
His father rested his hands on Spencer’s shoulders. “Let her know how you feel. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that relationships are built on trust, not time. You’ve known her long enough to know her character. You thought enough of her to bring her to your family. And they all seemed to take to her.”
“Mom?”
“Loved her,” he clarified. “Take her to Oregon with you this time. Not only can you bond away from all of this, but maybe she knows things that will help.”
“Knows things? Like what?”
“She was there a long time. She’d know people who came and went. She could be a valuable source to you. And, some time alone in a hotel room is always well spent.”
The heat under Spencer’s collar was nearly unbearable now.
“I’ll let you know what plans are made,” he said moving from under his father’s protective hands and toward the door.
“I’ll be here.”
Spencer turned and looked at the man he most admired. “Thanks, Dad. I appreciate the trust.”
“If you can’t trust those you love most, who can you trust?”
His father was right on so many levels. It was time to make plans to travel with Julie—even if it was to only use the hotel room.
As he walked toward the elevator, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. Amber’s text displayed on the screen.
CARSON GRAYSON IS HERE TO SEE YOU.
~*~
Julie had come to Nashville with only a suitcase and her car. Whatever Libby Grayson was looking for Julie didn’t have. That only meant one thing. She needed to head back to Oregon on the next flight and go through her house.
She’d thought Steven was being very genuine when he’d come to her, but she should have known better.
Julie began piling clothes into her suitcase. If she could figure out what was going on then Spencer would understand her leaving at the spur of the moment. And if her ex-husband was doing something to hurt Spencer she wanted to stop it.
The thought of the corporate house going up in flames didn’t appeal to her either. She knew that was just a threat of words, but all the same, it made her anxious.
Just as she turned off the lights in the little apartment, there was a knock at the door. Julie stopped and just stood there. Who could possibly be on the other side? Fear paralyzed her.
There was another knock. “Julie, are you in there? Are you okay?”
Avery’s voice echoed in the outside stairwell.
Julie opened the door. “Hi. I’m fine.”
“Tiffany called and said you were headed home. I just wondered if you needed anything.”
Her brain scrambled. She wished she could come up with something, but there was only one thing she needed right at the moment. “I could use a ride to the airport.”
Avery’s brows drew in. “Where are you going?”
“It seems as though there is some unfinished business in Oregon I need to take care of. I should be back by tomorrow. But I could really use a lift.”
Avery nodded her head slowly. “Sure. Let me get my things. I’ll meet you out front.”
He’d know now, she thought as she closed the apartment door behind her. Damn Tiffany for saying anything, even though it was out of friendship and love that she’d done so. Regardless, it would give her a day to find out what Libby was talking about.
Julie looked down at her phone and turned it off.
For the best, she thought. As soon as she knew what was going on she’d call him.
Perhaps luck was on her side. There was a standby seat to Denver where there would be a flight to Portland. She’d made a few phone calls and could get a ride from there to her house.
A mere twelve hours later Claudia was waiting for her at the airport.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Julie said as she loaded her suitcase into the back of Claudia’s Subaru.
“Sure, I owe you one after you helped me with that identity fraud. I mean I could be in jail or something.”
“Why would you be in jail?”
“Well, you know, if they’d done something illegal with my name.” Claudia pulled away from the curb. “It’s totally cool what you can do as a lawyer.”
Julie wanted to laugh. She knew Claudia wasn’t much younger than she was, but her lifestyle might have been less mature than Julie’s.
She wore a stocking cap over her dreadlocked blonde hair. A hoop shimmered in her nose under the streetlights at one in the morning.
But, she’d always been a good friend and that was what Julie needed.
“So where have you been? Like no one has seen you around for like a month.”
“I’m living in Nashville now.”
“No way. You went country?”
Julie laughed. “I’m embracing Blake Shelton.”
“That dude from the voice? I’m so team Adam.”
And Julie knew she was too. “I needed a change of scenery.”
“Your husband go with you?”
Julie shook her head. “He’s my ex-husband now.”
“No way!” Claudia snapped a look at her. “You ditched the old dude?”
“He wasn’t that old.”
“Right,” she said on a laugh. “His hair was gray.”
“Silver and not all of it.”
“Weird that you both left PLL. I mean what was with that?”
Now Julie knew she had her foot in the door. Claudia worked the mailroom in the corporate office. She’d know the ins and outs of what was going on around there.
“I was let go before the merger finished. I guess the Grayson family didn’t like my work.”
Claudia snarled her lip up, which was also pierced with a hoop. “Are you kidding me? You were their best attorney. Why fire you?”
That was a good question. “I was asked to leave so I did.”
“Don’t make sense,” Claudia said pulling into the driveway of Julie’s dark, hillside home. “I heard a rumor that your husband was seeing Libby, but I put a kibosh on that.”
“He was,” she said matter-of-factly. “Caught them in my bedroom.” She pointed to the window.
“Really? Couldn’t she splurge for a room? She’s a Grayson.”
“Not a Grayson on the payroll.”
That made Claudia laugh. “Her and her sexy brother. Why not let them take over the company? Why sell it?”
And that had Julie’s radar going off. “Good question. I don’t know Carson Grayson very well. He didn’t seem to be a player like his sister.”
That caused Claudia to laugh again. “Hey, can I come in and pee? I had a Big Gulp waiting for you at the airport.”
Julie held in the laugh. “Of course. Maybe the ex left a beer.”
“Cool.”
Julie pulled her things from Claudia’s car and walked up the front steps. She unlocked the door, pushed it in, and reached her hand in to turn on some light.
“There. Bathroom is the first room down the hall on the right.”
“Did you take everything with you?” Claudia asked as she walked in.
That had Julie stepping in carefully. Son-of-a-bitch had taken all the furniture out of the house. So much for that letter he’d written saying she could have everything. There was nothing left.
She heard the toilet flush and a moment later Claudia was walking toward her. “You wanna stay with me? Do you have a bed?”
“I have no idea,” she said. “This isn’t what I expected.”
“Not to sound mean, but I never liked your husband.”
“Ex.”
“Good,” Claudia said. “Hey, I can wait for you to look around.”
“Thanks.”
Julie did just that. She lit up the house turning on every light. It wasn’t much of a surprise to find the entire house empty. The only thing left was a pile of mail on the counter.
“Take everything that belongs to me and leave me the bills,” she growled through clenched teeth. “I guess I’ll take you up on that place to stay.”
~*~
Spencer stood with the fire chief and watched the frame of the house burn in the early morning light. His gut twisted with anger as water shot at the fire that consumed the house he’d designed and Julie was to fill with her colorful touch.
It was just the frame. It was just wood. In a few weeks, it could be rebuilt and everything would start over.
He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck as he watched Tiffany walking toward him in a pair of sweatpants, her hair piled atop her head, with bottles of water in her hands and a pair of athletic shoes on her feet. The contrast to her normal attire should have lightened his mood. But it did nothing of the sort.
“Have you heard from her?” she asked, her voice cracking in the early hour. He simply shook his head as she handed him a bottle of water.
Tiffany took a sip from her bottle of water. “Don’t go jumping to conclusions. You don’t know why she did it.”
He felt the twitching in his jaw and the anger hit boiling point in his chest.
Spencer grabbed Tiffany’s arm and pulled her far enough away from the chaos of the fire to have a word without everyone hearing him.
“Sixty-thousand. That’s a lot of conclusions to jump to don’t you think?”
“And where is it? She lives in your aunt’s house in the basement. Have you seen how old her car is?”
>
“And she sleeps in my penthouse.”
Tiffany’s eyes narrowed on him. “Spencer, this is bigger than her. I don’t believe for a minute that those papers Carson Grayson brought you are real.”
Spencer pulled his fingers through his hair and then again. He did find it very interesting that Libby was sitting on his desk only a few days ago trying to seduce him. Then she shows up in Nashville, and so did her brother.
But it was all too convenient for Julie’s ex-husband to show up too—right before she disappeared and Avery of all people drove her to the airport.
He’d have thought perhaps she’d been kidnapped if Avery hadn’t called him.
She’d left on her own. “In a big hurry to get back to Oregon,” Avery had said. No calls or texts from her and when he called her he got her voice mail.
Tiffany placed a hand on his arm. “You love her.”
“I thought I did, but…”
“You love her.” She bore those blue eyes into him. “Something is wrong. Don’t you see that? Why do you think she left there to begin with? She’s not running now. She was running then.”
“And you of all people believe in her why?”
“Because she’s my friend,” she said with determination and he knew in his heart Tiffany believed in Julie’s innocence.
Spencer shoved his hands into his pockets.
Tiffany was never the voice of logic. In fact, if he’d met anyone more illogical, it was her. But even though watching the flames engulf this house, this all too important house, had his insides tied in knots he somehow knew there was more.
She had the money. He’d seen the records Carson had brought to him where she’d funneled it out bit by bit. And yet, he didn’t feel it.
He was filled with anger at the thought of the embezzlement, her running away, and the fire. But he’d seen her eyes that night she’d kissed him in the elevator. Those weren’t the eyes of a woman who was screwing him over for his money. He’d touched her, kissed her, made love to her. There wasn’t anything vengeful in her.
The bitch lawyer was her shell. Julie was more than that. She was a lonely soul who needed love. He’d given her that love. His family—his friends—gave her that love.
The Merger Page 19