Charmed by Charlie

by Amanda Uhl

  “Ah, Val baby, it’s not me. It’s we. You promised to help me prosecute Charlie if I showed you evidence. I’d say we have pretty good evidence.”

  I sagged against the desk. How could Charlie have done such a thing? My God, what was wrong with me? Why did I pick dishonest men? My heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces. The man I loved owned a firm, which was charging Reynolds exorbitant amounts of money. He was apparently close friends with Reynolds’s largest competitor. There was no way I could ignore this kind of evidence. I forced my lungs to draw a painful breath. “What…what do you need from me?”

  “I need you to testify in court. You need to state you noticed the fictitious firm and asked me to check into it. You must describe the money trail that made you wonder about Euroknight and the unusual expenses that my stepfather authorized. I don’t care how rich he is, Charlie Solanger is going down, and I need you to help me make the case against him.”

  Stay calm and breathe. The walls of the office seemed to close in around me. I had to get out of there. I turned, put my hand on the door, stopped. “What…what about Larry? I mean, if he’s legitimately suffering a mental illness, won’t it be cruel to drag him through a court of law?”

  Seth eyed me like he was calculating his next move. “I don’t want to do it, of course. But I’m forced to for the sake of the company and all those who work here. I will do my best to make it as quick and painless for my stepfather as I can. Now, are you going to help me?”

  No. No, I wasn’t going to help Seth. I couldn’t prosecute the man I loved. Not in a court of law. In front of everyone. I don’t care what he had done. I…couldn’t do it.

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  Seth frowned. “Valley…Val, I CAN do this without you, but it will much simpler if you are a witness. What do you say?”

  “I quit,” I said and had the satisfaction of seeing Seth’s jaw drop. Before he could speak, I fled his office, banging the door shut behind me.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  I looked around as I left Seth’s office. No one was in sight. I walked as fast as I could without breaking into a run toward my cubicle All the while, my mental to-do list kept time to the furious beating of my heart. Email resignation. Clear out desk. Avoid Charlie.

  God, I couldn’t bear to see or talk to Charlie. Not right now. Not when it felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest and was madly pumping blood all over the place. How could he have lied to me? Why did he want to destroy Reynolds? My cell phone buzzed. I was so intent on getting back to my cubicle, I forgot I clutched it in my hand. I glanced at the number, stopped, and ducked into a conference room. It was the large conference room A, which was composed of two rooms, except the door to B was cracked open and the room on the other side was dark. Thank God.

  “Hello,” I said and fought to take a breath.

  “Val. This is Hugh Dabney. I hope I’ve caught you at a good time?”

  “Uh…yes, yes you have.” The best of times…the worst of times. The words of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities raced through my head.

  “Great. How are you?”

  “Fine, thanks.” The lie, I found, came easily.

  “Great. We were super impressed with your credentials and would like to extend an offer for the position of senior product manager.”

  I pulled out a chair and sat. “I…You would?”

  “Yes, we would. Are you still interested in the position?”

  Manna from heaven. A life jacket at sea. I cleared my throat. “Er…yes, yes I am.”

  “Great. How soon can you start?”

  Right away, I wanted to say. But reason prevailed. “I…er…I don’t have a calendar in front of me at the moment. I’ll need a little time to find a place in Michigan.” I could start looking right away. I doubted Larry would want me to stick around for the rest of the day, seeing as I was going to Reynolds’s biggest competitor.

  “How about having you start right after Labor Day? That’d give you nearly…” I heard the sound of ruffling paper. “Four weeks to find a place here. We can recommend some nearby suburbs if you’d like.”

  “Sure. That…that’d be great.”

  “Excellent. I’ll send a package with the formal offer by courier. You’ll need to look over the material, sign it, and scan or fax it back to me.”

  “Great. Thank you.”

  “Do you have any more questions for me?”

  Has Charlie Solanger been selling secrets to your company? “No. No, none that I can think of.”

  “Okay. If you do have any questions, don’t hesitate to call me. Welcome to Abbott Labs. I think you’ll be very happy here.”

  “Thank you.”

  We hung up, and I stood a minute to calm my racing heart. Thump-thump. Time to go. Thump-thump. Get your things. Thump-thump. Leave Reynolds. Thump-thump. Say good-bye. I dropped my head into my hands. God, I didn’t want to say good-bye. I loved this company. Loved Charlie Solanger. But I couldn’t, wouldn’t think about that now.

  Raised voices alerted me to the sound of Seth and Deirdre chatting, their tone excited.

  They had come into the B conference room but had neglected to close the door. Probably because I hadn’t turned the light on in A, so they didn’t know I was there. I raised my head to listen, tiptoed to the door. I should leave. Seth’s next words caught my attention.

  “I told you Calvin was a mistake.”

  “A mistake?” Deirdre asked. “How can you call him a mistake?”

  “Because he screwed up. Now I’ve gotta straighten things out.”

  I had been in the process of reaching for the door, but my hand stopped in midair.

  “True, but without Calvin, you would never have gotten the information you needed. Let alone sold it to our friends. Even if you don’t win the lawsuit, we still collect. Like it or not, Cal baby was a tremendous asset.”

  “A terrible anonymous caller though.” Seth laughed.

  Cold seeped into my bones. I found myself wrapping my hands around my middle. What had Seth done?

  “Seth, that’s not very nice. He’s your friend.”

  “Correction. Was my friend. I can’t be friends with a prisoner. How would that look? We need to distance ourselves. I suspect Solanger’s on to us.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He knows Abbott’s about to launch the same product. Goddamn, the man’s connected. I wish I had one tenth of his family’s wealth. But we’ve got the proof we need to seize control of the company thanks to goody-two-shoes.”

  “I told you she’d never prosecute.”

  “It was a long shot but worth a try. I thought I could win her over. You know she still has the hots for me.”

  “She’s got good taste.”

  Sucking noises came from the other room. Eww…they were kissing. Gross.

  My cell phone buzzed in my hand. My mother. I sent it to voicemail but not quick enough. The sucking noises stopped.

  “What was that?”

  Someone was coming toward the door! There was no time to run or hide. I did the next best thing. I crouched on the floor slightly behind and under the large conference room table and chairs and remained motionless, afraid to breathe or think. Thank God I had left the light off. Deirdre ducked her head in the door. Her red curls bounced as she turned her head from side to side. She withdrew. She’d never looked down! She’d make a lousy private eye. I let out the breath I had been holding.

  Charlie. Oh my God, he’d been telling the truth! Whatever Euroknight’s involvement with Reynolds, it had nothing to do with being a traitor. Seth was trying to frame him. Charlie was innocent! Joy flooded my body, causing my legs to weaken. This was no time to bask in relief, though. I needed to find Charlie. He needed to know Seth was the one leaking trade secrets to Abbott.

  After I stopped hyperventilating, I quietly opened the conference room door and tiptoed out. The other door to B remained closed, which meant Seth and Deirdre were still closeted in
side. I changed direction, heading as fast as my short legs would carry me to Charlie’s office.

  By the time I arrived, sweat made stains on the back of my favorite blouse. Charlie’s door was closed. I rapped. Waited. Rapped again. Silence. He wasn’t there. Dammit! He must be in with Larry. There was no help for it. I would need to go there. I badly need to up my treadmill workout, I thought as I huffed and puffed, gasping for oxygen.

  “Where’s the fire?” Bernie’s voice was like a dash of cool water. I stopped, turned. She was holding a Coke in one hand and her cell in the other. She had reapplied her pink lipstick after lunch.

  “Oh my God. Bernie! You’re never going to believe this.”

  “Oh man, you’ve heard. How is that possible? I thought for sure I got wind of the story before you…but I guess…of course he’d tell you first.”

  “What…what story? About Seth?”

  Bernie’s expression cleared, and she put her hands together almost gleefully. “Oh goody, you don’t know. C’mon, we need a place to talk.” She looked around furtively and pulled me into the nearest office, whose occupant happened to be on a leave of absence, and closed the door behind us. “Val…it’s Charlie. He bought out Larry. He owns Reynolds!” She grabbed my shoulders and shook them, causing me to nearly lose my balance.

  “He…he what!”

  “I know. I couldn’t believe it either. But it’s true. There was a press release, stating that Charlie Solanger’s the new owner of Reynolds Paints. I saw it on my boss’s desk just now.”

  “But that can’t be. What…what about Julie? Seth?” My voice seemed far away.

  “Charlie only bought out Larry, I think. Julie and Seth still own a smaller portion of Reynolds. The deal must have been in the works for months. Probably long before he joined Reynolds. Rumor has it Charlie’d been scouting Reynolds as a purchase for his family’s empire. Larry must have wanted to sell. The Reynolds and Solangers go way back. Of course, at some point Charlie agreed to be the CEO. Not only that. He’s been sinking his own money into the firm. Millions of dollars to help with the cash flow problem and make some sorely needed upgrades to our plants.”

  “He…he is?” I placed my hands on my cheeks, which were still hot from my mad dash to Charlie’s office.

  “They say he’s bringing a new product to market that will revolutionize the industry. He’s calling it a friendlier paint. Something about being greener for the environment.”

  I grabbed the back of the nearest chair. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Believe it. You are now dating the head of the company. Congratulations.”

  I gripped Bernie’s shoulders. “Bernie, have you seen him…Charlie?”

  “No, I haven’t. But I betcha he and Larry are fielding questions from the press right now. Reynolds is a major employer. One of the few large manufacturers. This is big news for the city of Cleveland. Hey, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  I had let go of Bernie’s shoulders and held my hands to both sides of my head, as if I could keep my troubled thoughts inside. “I…I…need a minute, that’s all. This is a lot…a lot to process.”

  “You want a sip of Coke? Would that help?” She held out the bottle of soda.

  I smiled glumly. “A Coke and a smile? No…no thanks. I’m…I did something I think I might regret.”

  Bernie’s dark eyes missed nothing. “You broke up with Charlie? Is that it?”

  I shook my head. “Worse. I accepted a job with Abbott.”

  Now it was Bernie’s turn to look stunned. “No way!”

  “Yes, way. I thought…I believed Charlie was selling secrets to Abbott.”

  “What! What would make you think that? He certainly doesn’t need the money.”

  “I know. It’s…Seth… He showed me convincing proof. Pictures of Charlie with the CEO of Abbott. The Solangers own a firm called Euroknight. Over the past six months, Reynolds has been paying Euroknight sums to the tune of half a million dollars. It seemed odd to me that we would pay so much to an unknown vendor. I…I told Seth and he…he used it to accuse his father of being mentally incompetent and is suing Larry for control of the company.”

  Bernie’s mouth dropped open the same time as mine did. “Oh my God.” I gasped, gripping her arms hard. “He’s not suing his father. He’s suing Charlie.”

  Chapter Thirty

  It took me a while to recover from my shock. After all, there had been a lot to absorb over the course of the day and—I checked my cell phone—it was only four o’clock.

  Bernie and I had spent about an hour in the empty office, taking a closer look at Euroknight’s invoices and hashing over details. Larry must have been working to sell his portion of Reynolds to the Solanger family long before Charlie joined the firm. Many of the expenses Larry had authorized were for legal and consulting services. Plus, Charlie and his family owned Euroknight. Euroknight had been a vendor long before Charlie came on board, which meant the decision to use them had been Larry’s, not Charlie’s. It appeared Euroknight supplied some of the minerals that went into Reynolds’s newest line of paints. Now that Charlie owned Reynolds, he was billing himself for his own services. Nothing illegal about that.

  Seth was selling trade secrets to Abbott, which was illegal, and making it look like the money trail led to Euroknight. A quick Internet search led us to the photo Seth had included in the file of Charlie with the CEO of Abbott Labs. According to the date on the photo, it was taken two years before Charlie joined Reynolds. And what would Charlie gain by selling his own company’s intellectual property to Abbott? He’d be shooting himself in the foot.

  Seth had also sued his father for control of Reynolds, accusing him of being mentally incompetent. If Seth won his lawsuit, the deal between Charlie and Larry wouldn’t take place. Seth and Julie would seize control, leaving Charlie with…nothing. But if Charlie had proof that Seth was stealing intellectual property from Reynolds, Seth would land in prison and the lawsuit would be dropped. I’d overheard Seth admit he was the one selling trade secrets to Abbott and making a profit. I would offer to testify on behalf of Charlie and put Seth behind bars.

  I…I loved Charlie. I knew I did. But I’d believed him capable of the worst kind of treachery. He had asked me to trust him and instead, I’d believed Seth. Worse than that, I’d accepted a job with the competitor who was illegally buying trade secrets from Seth. What did that say about me?

  I eyed my desk telephone. I’d checked the cubes next door and no one was nearby. I needed to call Hugh Dabney back and tell him I didn’t want the job, and I needed to do it quickly.

  I picked up the phone, dialed, waited.

  “Hugh Dabney.”

  I cleared my throat. “Oh, hello, Mr. Dabney. I…I’m sorry but I’ve…I’ve changed my mind. I can’t accept the job with Abbott Labs. I appreciate your consideration, and I apologize for any trouble I’ve put you to. It’s… After careful consideration, I realize this wouldn’t be the right thing for me at this time or for…Abbott. I hope you understand.”

  “Does this have anything to do with the new ownership at Reynolds?”

  “Yes…yes it does. I’m sorry.”

  “That’s quite all right. It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing to be sorry about. We wouldn’t want you joining us if your heart isn’t in it. Are you sure there isn’t anything we can say to change your mind?”

  “No, I’m…I’m sure.”

  “Okay then. I wish you the best at Reynolds. Thank you.”

  “Thank you for understanding. Good-bye.”

  I placed the desk phone in its cradle with a sigh of relief. Thank God that was done. Charlie would never need to know I hadn’t believed him. It would all be okay. I put my head in my shaking hands. What a day.

  A small noise alerted me to the fact I was not alone. Glancing to the side, I caught a glimpse of lavender. I swiveled in my chair. Charlie had one hand on the cube wall, watching me. His tie had been loosened, dress shirt open at the top. B
lond hair glinted under the fluorescent lights. As always, I took a moment to acknowledge his cool male elegance. How much had he heard? I didn’t have long to find out.

  “When were you planning to tell me? After you’d left the company? Or perhaps after we’d slept together?”

  A muscle twitched in his jaw. He was angry. That was okay. He had a right to be angry. I would be, too, if our positions were reversed. He’d asked me to trust him, and I couldn’t do it.

  “Charlie, I’m…I’m so sorry. I didn’t take the job with Abbott. I told them I changed my mind.”

  “Well, that’s a relief.”

  He came farther into my cubicle, pulled out a chair, and sat. “You know what’s upsetting? Not that you took the job. It’s not that. I can understand being scared and running. I’ve done my share.”

  I stared at him, eyes wide. I wanted to tell him I loved him. Beg him to forgive me. But I couldn’t form the words. Perhaps it was the chill in the air. Charlie was eyeing me with what I imagined was…disgust.

  “It’s after everything I told you,” he said, and his words bit into my heart and devoured a large chunk, “You still couldn’t bring yourself to trust me.”

  “That’s not true. I trusted you. Seth had convincing evidence…”

  Charlie shook his head, as if he couldn’t bear to hear my voice. “I’ve worked so hard to get you to open up to me. Followed you around. Showed you places I’ve never taken another soul. Christ, I introduced you to my parents! That should have been enough to…to convince you of my sincerity. But it wasn’t enough. From the start, nothing I did was ever enough.”

  “It… Charlie, I’m sorry. It was enough. I…I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I love you.” Desperation laced my words, and I cringed inside at the pleading tone. I was like all the other girls who chased him, begging for his affection. How had it come to this?

  “Don’t!” Charlie got up as if my words had struck his face. He shook his head. “I can’t bear to listen to this right now.”