by Nella Tyler
“Hello there, pretty lady,” I said as I stood up and pulled her chair out.
“Hello back.”
“You are looking radiant,” I couldn’t help but realize just how beautiful she was.
It was a different realization than normal, though. I could see the obvious outer beauty, I had always been easily able to see that in a woman. But as Alicia sat across from me I saw so much more. I saw a hardworking woman who would stop at nothing to get ahead in the world. I liked that determination and thought it helped Alicia to be the best person she could be.
She was such a strong woman who had built her company from the ground up. Independent women had always been my weak point. Strong looked so sexy on a woman. I never liked the women who wanted a man to take care of them. If I was ever going to actually settle down, it was going to be with a woman who could be my equal. A woman who had her head set on goals and worked her ass off to get them.
I didn’t even care if Alicia was mixed up in the illegal stuff that might be going on with her company. At that moment, all I cared about was really getting to know her. I wanted to know what made her tick, I wanted to hear about her childhood, her family; all of it. Well I did care if she was actually doing something illegal, I couldn’t stand the thought of people judging me for being with a woman who had committed such atrocious money acts against people.
“Thank you, Evan. You seem in a particularly good mood today. Did you make a lot of money on the market today?”
“Well I didn’t really work much, I was thinking about our date.”
“Oh is this a date?”
“Hell yeah, it is. It’s like date number eight,” I said with a smile.
“So we are keeping track of the dates?”
“Not on purpose.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I had actually counted the number of times I had seen Alicia in the last couple of weeks. Two things were very strange about that. First off: I had seen her multiple times in the last few weeks. Secondly: I had not fucked her yet.
My brain constantly went back to the idea of having Alicia all to myself to enjoy every last curve of her body. My brain wanted that feeling and my body wanted to figure out how to make it happen.
The humor in the situation was not lost on me. I had never been out with a woman long enough that I could count the number of dates we had been on.
“So, what’s good here?” Alicia asked as she looked through the menu.
“Oh pretty much everything, take your pick. I particularly like the caesar salad. But don’t get it if you don’t love artichokes. There is a ton in there.”
“My mom’s second husband used to make the best salads. I wish she wouldn’t have divorced him just because he always made such good food.”
“How many times was your mother married?”
“She is on her fourth right now.”
“Wow she’s having a rough time finding her match,” I said.
“Yeah, she’s in love with the idea of love but doesn’t really pick her guys very well. When I was younger, I had three different last names before I graduated from high school. I sort of lost my identity throughout that process.”
“Wow, that’s pretty wild. So which last name do you use now?”
“Warren is my father’s last name. I went back to it because it helped me feel comfortable again. It’s the name I like most.”
“That’s a pretty good last name. I mean, considering it’s your company name and all,” I joked.
“Yeah, well my last name was Mankenstark when I had my first company. It wasn’t nearly as sexy.”
I had to laugh. I wasn’t even sure how to spell that last name. It really didn’t seem like a good choice to use for a company.
Suddenly, it hit me. That was why I hadn’t been able to find any information on Alicia when I tried to pull all the old records. She had all the information under a different last name. I wanted to rush back to my office and send off a new request for information.
“So, how is your office coming along? Do you think you’ll stay in New York for awhile?”
“Yeah, it seems to be where all the action is.”
“I agree. Lots of action in New York. But Illinois was nice and quiet, a great place to grow up.”
“Yes, certainly a great place to grow up.”
My mind wondered as our food arrived and we both dug in. I felt comfortable sitting with Alicia. Like the kind of comfortable, you had with a friend. As much as I wanted to find out more about her company, the moment was too perfect to screw it up by leaving her.
“So how did your first company end up? I mean I guess it didn’t work out since you have a second company.”
“Ha, yes. It didn’t turn out very well. Way too young and I made very poor choices in who I hired. I did better this time. My company is solid and I feel like it’s going to be around for the long haul.”
“What’s with that Bill guy? Is he your Dad?”
I didn’t know where the question had come from, I hadn’t actually thought of him as her father before that conversation. But it did make sense that she would keep the guy around if he were her father.
“Oh my gosh, no! He’s not my Dad.”
She laughed so hard she had to stop drinking her water. Soon tears of laughter filled her eyes and I couldn’t help but laugh also. Apparently it was pretty darn hilarious to consider Bill Yobi as her father.
He was a pretty scary looking guy, maybe he was so opposite of her father that Alicia didn’t feel like it was even a possibility that they were similar to each other. Either way, it was obvious that Bill was not her father.
“I’m sorry, I just thought since you didn’t like him, but you kept him around he must be related to you or something.”
“He got helped save my first company when some people that worked for me started screwing things up. I trust him. Although he does have a very dry sense of humor.”
“I guess he’s a finance guy; they aren’t supposed to be the life of the party,” I said as I did a little dance in my seat.
She laughed again.
Oh, how I loved to watch her laugh. I could literally just sit and watch her laugh for a whole entire day. Yes, that seemed a bit creepy. But my point was, she looked amazing when she laughed.
“Yeah, I’m supposed to be the life of the party. Bill is just in charge of paying the bill.”
We continued on with our flirting, talking and eating for over an hour. I was lost in conversation and couldn’t imagine anyplace else I wanted to be. Teasing and flirting with Alicia made me smile.
Instead of trying to figure out what illegal thing her company was doing, I now wanted to make sure no one else was doing anything illegal without her knowing it. I wanted to help her, I just had to figure out the best way to go about making it happen. My intentions were pure, but even the best intentions didn’t always workout for someone.
“So who else works with you, besides mister no personality?”
“We have quite a few people in our main office. Almost thirty now. Plus four warehouses with about two dozen employees at each of them. At my main office, I have two of my closest confidants, Ryan and Isabella; they were with me at the old company too. Top notch in purchasing and distribution. I wouldn’t know what to do without them.”
My ears were on fire with all the information I was getting. Alicia had just admitted that there were over one hundred employees at her company. A far greater number than we had seen on the payroll. So how were all these other people getting paid?
“Did you say you had four warehouses?”
The number seemed odd to me. I had only seen two on the research that I had found when I originally reviewed her company.
“Yep, our fourth one was just purchased out here in New York. It’s in the middle of the state, though. Kind of out of the way, but apparently the community really needed some jobs, so I’m happy we have a warehouse there.”
“Hmm, in the middle of the state? That seems like an od
d place.”
“I know, but Isabella and Ryan assured me since it’s on a direct interstate it’s no extra cost.”
“That’s great Alicia. I’m really happy for you and all your expansions. It sounds like you are about to take over the world.”
We finished up our lunch and I walked her to her car. As we walked, she hooked her arm into mine and held onto me. It felt like she trusted me, like maybe she had finally let down her wall just a little for me. I didn’t want to fuck it up.
If she found out, I was investigating her company all of this would be gone. She would assume the only reason I had asked her out over and over again was because I wanted more information on her company. It was true, sort of.
Yes, I did want more information on her company. But it wasn’t the only reason I asked her out. I liked Alicia. I wanted to know more about her and I wanted to spend more time with her. She was the first woman in a very long time that I hadn’t fucked, besides Natasha. I had started to adjust to the idea of really getting to know Alicia and I liked it.
As we reached her car, I pulled her up against me and she moved her lips to meet mine. It was sweet and comforting and it felt exactly right. Slowly we moved our lips to explore each other as we held on tightly. My mind knew that this girl was different. This girl was something special and I had to think long and hard about how far I wanted to take the whole investigation thing.
It was possible I needed to choose between Alicia and the investigation into her company. As of that moment, with her arms wrapped around me, I was willing to give up the investigation altogether.
We said our goodbyes and I made my way back to my office. As much as I wanted to just drop the investigation, my curiosity overwhelmed me and I knew I had to figure out if someone in her company was setting her up to fail again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Natasha,” I hollered as I got back to my office. “Did a package come for me today?”
“Not yet. What are you waiting for?” She replied as she came into my office and sat down.
“I requested some files on Alicia Warren’s old company. There should be several large packages coming.
“I’ll keep my eye out. Is there anything else I can help with?”
“Yes, please see if you can get a hold of Rebecca, I need her help when she has a moment. No big hurry though, don’t have her stop working, just ask her to come over at the end of the day or something.”
“Will do. I’ll get you some coffee. Anything else?”
“No.”
I went straight to work and tried to pull up research with the other name Alicia had told me. Right away I saw legal charges and businesses under that name. It was the missing piece of information that I needed to finally get some answers. Well as many answers as I could get without the direct files from her company.
My afternoon was spent going through the online information I had found and running into a lot of roadblocks. I just wasn’t as familiar with this type of research as I was with regular financial data.
One piece of information that I had been able to find was media coverage of the legal charges and evidence that was made public against Alicia and her fellow workers. It appeared the federal government had originally arrested both Alicia and Bill, but neither were formally charged. I couldn’t find too many details about why they were not charged, just a lot of statements that said there was a lack of evidence.
Bill Yobi was released first and then the following day Alicia was released. Most of the media coverage seemed to believe they were both guilty but that the government just couldn’t find enough evidence against them.
I decided to delve further into Bill Yobi and his history. My gut said that he was a major player in the first company’s issues and he was probably behind whatever was going on with the current company. The way he micromanaged Alicia, there had to be something he was hiding.
There was a plethora of information on Bill; much of it was very old, though. In the last ten years, the only information I had been able to find was the investigation from Alicia’s pervious company. Bill hadn’t had any other public records issues in the last decade. He had no other legal charges, speeding tickets or divorces. There was nothing else on him at all.
At first it seemed normal to have no other legal actions, but not for Bill. For the first forty years of his life, he was constantly involved in court proceedings. He was married, divorced, had collections accounts, unpaid parking tickets, etc. It looked extremely odd that suddenly, ten years ago, he stopped getting in trouble with the law. Except the one obvious charge from Alicia’s former company.
“You look like you need a friend,” Rebecca said as she came in and locked the door.
It made me nervous that she wanted to lock the door. I wasn’t in the mood to fuck her and I didn’t want to make her feel bad for refusing her. I hoped she had only locked the door to ensure our privacy while we reviewed the information about ALL Warren Clothing.
“I need your help for sure. I have a different name that Alicia’s old files are under.”
“Great, let’s see what we can find.”
Rebecca was a computer whiz and I sat back and watched as she scrolled through page after page of material on Alicia. There were copies of old bank statements, plane tickets, even an old Facebook account. Rebecca moved too fast for me to comprehend everything that she found, but she seemed pretty excited.
“There is a bank account in her old name in Switzerland. I can’t see how much is in the account but I would bet a lot. There would be no other reason to have a bank account in such a neutral and safe location.”
“So were they hiding the money from the feds after the last company went bust?” I asked.
“Probably, but who knows. Alicia could be hiding the money from everyone, or it’s possible she doesn’t even know the account is there. I don’t have the ability to see who else has access to the account.” Rebecca had thoroughly confused me.
“Basically we still have no idea what’s going on?”
“No, we know a lot more. First, we should look at this warehouse in New York. It’s listed as the mailing address for the bank account in Switzerland. Also, we still need that list of employees from Alicia. I think we have clearly established they are not reporting all their employee pay, but we need to see just how deep this goes.”
My mind swirled with all the information we had found. It seemed very clear that Alicia was involved in money laundering. She had a bank account in her name offshore and she had changed her name even. I had held onto hope that she was not involved. Her personality just did not seem like the one of someone who would do something that that, but the evidence was stacking up.
“Oh, Evan, look at this,” Rebecca said as she looked up some complaints about ALL Warren Clothing.
“What is it?”
“These companies are saying that they received extra invoices from this New York warehouse location. Many of these complaints say they tried to contact someone at ALL Warren and they denied that an extra invoice had been sent,” Rebecca said as she continued to search through information.
“Maybe it was just a mistake?”
“Forty-two of them were reported last year. That’s a lot of people claiming there was a mistake. That’s just the ones who reported it. I bed there were plenty of people who just paid the invoices and never realized and extra one had been issued.”
“Wow, I just don’t know what to think,” I said as I leaned back in my chair and looked out my window.
Nothing seemed to fit what I knew about Alicia. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would do something like that. I wanted to believe that someone else in her company had control of these things, but the evidence was stacking up.
“You should go out to this warehouse and check it out. Maybe see if there is anything fishy going on out there.”
Rebecca seemed to think I was some sort of detective or something. She had totally forgotten that I was a tailored suit wearing
stock broker. Investigating businesses only happened on a computer for me, but in this case I had paid for an online investigator to help. I wasn’t equipped to go sneaking around warehouses and trying to find secret information.
“It’s a warehouse. What could I possibly find there?”
“I don’t know. But if you really want to get to the bottom of all this you should go check it out.”
Rebecca got up from the computer and walked over toward me. I could see the look in her eyes and she didn’t want to talk anymore.
“I should get going soon. Thanks for helping me with this research,” I said as I stood up and tried to walk toward the door.
Rebecca stopped me and grabbed a hold of my arm.
“I think we have time for some fun,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, we don’t have to. Thanks for helping me though, I really appreciate it.”
I leaned in to give her a hug and hoped that would be enough to get her going, but as I hugged her she reached down and grabbed my cock.
Her hand started to stroke me and my body reacted to her. It was a natural response that I just couldn’t stop. I didn’t actually want to fuck her though. But my body told her a totally different story. My body told her yes.
Rebecca got onto her knees and unzipped my pants. Her hand slipped in and pulled out my throbbing cock.
“Seriously, Rebecca, I need to get going.”
“Mmm, something tells me you can stay a little bit longer.”
I knew she wasn’t going to stop. She had her mind set on having fun in my office and I either needed to get on board with her plan or hurt her feelings by kicking her out.
I needed Rebecca to continue to help me with my investigation. So I needed to give her what she wanted.
Her lips moved against my throbbing organ and I held onto her hair. I pressed slightly on the back of her head to show her I wanted it deeper. I loved a good deep throat job.
My eyes closed and I found myself imagining Alicia’s lips around me. It made the experience so much hotter. I grabbed Rebecca and pulled her up to my desk. She turned around and bent over the edge while I hiked her skirt up and pulled her panties down.