“Then maybe you should have been here,” I hissed, “instead of getting drunk with some floozy at Sky Bar.”
I couldn’t believe it.
I could not believe those words came out of my mouth.
Neither could Klaus.
First there was shock, far beyond anything he’d shown so far.
And then there was fury. He started shaking a little, he was so angry.
“You little bitch,” he whispered, low and vicious, “don’t you EVER – ”
“KLAAAAAAUUS!” a familiar voice suddenly boomed out.
…and my stomach dropped through the floor.
41
Connor stood about fifty feet away, his arms open wide, like, What UP, bro?
Klaus whipped around, a look of stark terror on his face.
He obviously remembered the voice, too… and the humiliations he’d suffered because of its owner.
Toss in the fact that he’d been speaking ill of Connor just a few seconds before, and Klaus was not a happy camper.
Me?
I was not a happy camper at ALL.
Connor strolled over, gorgeous and every inch the billionaire. He wore a tailored, grey pinstripe suit, crisp white shirt, and maroon silk tie studded with a gold pin.
I thought he looked a little tired around the eyes… but then I convinced myself I just saw that because I wanted to see it.
I didn’t want to believe he could have dumped me and slept like a baby afterward.
Although that was probably what happened.
I did notice one thing, though, that was undeniable:
He didn’t look at me once.
He kept his eyes laser-focused on Klaus.
Inside, I felt like crying.
You can’t even LOOK at me?!
But I quickly forgot that as the show unfolded.
“Klaus! In the flesh! Oh, how I’ve missed you since our last conversation, buddy!” Connor grinned as he approached, all back-slapping good humor.
He towered over Klaus by a good eight inches. And that was with the lifts in Klaus’s shoes.
Klaus was definitely feeling the disparity in power, because he straightened up as tall as he could.
He got maybe an extra half-inch out of it.
“I have to say, I don’t remember it as fondly as you do,” Klaus said icily.
“Awwww, come on, don’t be like that!” Connor said, plastering some fake puppy-dog hurt on his face. “Especially after how helpful you were!”
“I – what?” Klaus asked, thrown off guard.
“Wait, hold on – I want to make sure your good deeds don’t go unrecognized,” Connor said with a serious look, then turned around. “Hey Dave – Dave, could you come over here a sec?”
Two seconds later, the CEO of our company came around the corner.
My stomach twisted a little.
Klaus looked like he had dropped a load in his pants.
Dave Westerholtz walked over. He was a man in his mid-fifties, short, compact, grey-haired, sharp eyes, all smiles – for Connor, anyway. When he glanced at Klaus, his expression soured a little.
“Zimmerman,” the CEO said in a clipped voice.
I will say this for him: after he dispensed with Klaus, Westerholtz looked over at me and gave me a polite smile. “Hello.”
“Hello,” I said calmly.
After sleeping with a billionaire over the weekend, garden-variety CEO’s just weren’t quite as impressive anymore.
Klaus wasn’t quite as slick, though. “M-Mr. Westerholtz,” he stammered.
“What do you need, Connor?” Westerholtz asked with a smile.
“I just wanted to make sure Klaus’s contributions were duly noted. Not forgotten in the hubbub of the meeting,” Connor explained.
Meeting?
Oh my God – the buyout meeting…
It must be happening soon…
“Oh?” the CEO said as he gave Klaus a more charitable look.
“Yes, he put himself completely at my disposal,” Connor said, gave Klaus a wink, and socked him lightly in the arm like a fellow fraternity brother. “Right, Klaus?”
“Uh… yes,” Klaus said, his eyes nervously flitting back and forth between Connor and Mr. Westerholtz. “Yes, absolutely.”
My initial reaction was shock at the outright lie.
Then anger – that Klaus was taking credit (in front of the CEO!) for doing something he’d palmed off on me.
And then my addled brain caught up.
Only two out of the four of us knew that the buyout wasn’t going to go through.
Klaus wasn’t one of them.
I almost burst out laughing.
Even in my sleep-deprived state, I could see where this was going.
“How he canceled that hot date to come back here and show me those files. Right, Klaus?” Connor continued.
Klaus forced a big smile. “It was nothing.”
“Don’t be so modest, Klaus!” Connor turned to Westerholtz. “He showed me every file I asked for!”
Westerholtz’s eyebrows raised the tiniest fraction, and his smile became just a little bit fake as he glanced over at Klaus. “…every file? Really?”
Klaus’s smile faded a little. “Well, not every – ”
“Teramore, Bennickson, PT & Associates, Zaruder, Telomere Biogenetics,” Connor rattled off. “Plus, like, a dozen more. Right, Klaus?” he asked with a big smile.
He’d been listening the whole time. To everything Klaus had said.
And now he was letting Klaus know he’d been listening the whole time.
To everything he’d said.
A bead of sweat trickled down from Klaus’s hairline. “I, well – ”
“Klaus’s help was invaluable to me in justifying the final decision,” Connor said to Westerholtz.
“Oh, really?” the CEO asked, back to pleased again.
“In a way, you have him to thank for everything that follows today.”
Unbeknownst to Klaus, Connor had just handed him a piece of rope.
Klaus also didn’t realize it was fashioned into a noose.
He blithely slipped it on and tightened it himself.
“Well… I didn’t want to brag… but I did everything I could to help,” Klaus beamed.
“I’m certainly glad to hear you stepped up, Zimmerman,” the CEO said.
“I do every day, sir.”
That was probably a bit much, seeing as the CEO narrowed his eyes a little.
I know I almost threw up in my throat.
Connor clapped his hands together. “Well, now that we’ve got that established, we should head on up to the top floor and go meet the board, what do you say?”
“Let’s,” Westerholtz said, then turned around and walked off.
“After you… buddy,” Connor said to Klaus, and gestured grandly.
Klaus hesitated… then followed his boss.
Only then did Connor look at me.
He gave me a tight-lipped little smile. His eyes dipped to the floor, like he found it hard to look me in the eye. Then he glanced up at me again, and there was a warmth there, a bittersweet longing… and a pained sadness.
And then he followed the other two men around the corner and out of sight.
42
I almost went crazy as I sat at my desk, wringing my hands, obsessing about what was going on up in the boardroom.
Not least of all because I wondered if anybody noticed a stain on the plush carpet, or if they could detect the lingering scent of sex in the air.
“Oh God,” I whispered to myself, and put my head in my hands.
Emails went unanswered. I let calls go straight to voicemail.
I was a nervous wreck.
I played out a dozen scenarios in my head, all of them different in the particulars, but all boiling down to the same inescapable outcome:
Connor letting them know that the buyoff was off.
Would he tell them that the Teramore job was fake, designed t
o test the exec comp division?
Would he repeat the lie that Klaus had shown him all the files on Friday night?
And if he did, what could Klaus do but sit there and take it? Especially after he had lied right to the face of the CEO?
And if Klaus sat there, the scapegoat for the failure… just how mad was he going to be when he came out of that meeting?
I didn’t have to wait too long to find out.
Well, not in real-world time.
But it felt like an eternity until Klaus stomped back into the office.
43
I stood involuntarily as he stormed around the corner, the way people in movies stand up when someone with bad news walks into a room.
He was scarlet red, far angrier than I had ever seen him the whole time I’d been at Exerton.
When he saw me, his jaw set and his eyes blazed. In my mind’s eye, I pictured what a Great White must look like when it’s having a bad day and it spots a baby seal.
“YOU,” he shouted, and stomped over to my desk.
I just stood there mutely as he launched into an epic tirade. I was vaguely aware of everyone around me turning in their cubicles and watching what unfolded in mute horror.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” he screamed. “You didn’t say anything when he lied about me to the CEO?! You stabbed me in the back, you goddamn little – ”
He spluttered, apparently wrestling with himself whether he wanted to drop the ‘c word.’
He didn’t, but he did keep shouting.
“It didn’t go through! The buyout didn’t go through! He pulled the plug based on what he read in those files that you showed him, the ones you made me take the fall for – the ones YOU lied about – and now the CEO’s blaming ME! I could lose my job over this, and it’s not even my FAULT! And his last name isn’t even Brooks, it’s Connor Templeton! As in the fucking BILLIONAIRE!” Klaus shrieked, then pointed a finger right in my face. “You FUCKED us! You FUCKED this company, you FUCKED me, you’re a complete FUCKING – ”
“Shut up,” I whispered.
He stopped and stared at me, hatred and disbelief warring in his face.
“WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!”
“You heard me,” I seethed. “SHUT UP.”
He was trembling so bad, I thought he was going to fall down in an epileptic fit. “DON’T YOU TALK TO ME THAT – ”
“YOU took credit for it when you thought you were going to be the big hero,” I snarled. Now I was the one shaking uncontrollably. “YOU were the one who lied. YOU could have said it was me who showed him the files – you could have said it at any point, but NO, you were sucking up and stealing credit, just like you always do.”
Klaus became incoherent in his rage. “I – YOU – ”
“You didn’t come back on Friday night when your boss told you to, you took credit when you thought it would get you brownie points, and now that you’re getting reamed out for it, you want to put it all back on me?” I asked, colder and more in control than I could have ever imagined myself being. “You’re a shitty boss, Klaus – but you’re a shittier human being.”
“YOU CAN’T TALK TO ME THAT WAY!”
“I just did.”
“WELL – WELL – YOU’RE FUCKING FIRED!”
I clenched my teeth. “You can’t fire me, you asshole, because I quit.”
It was a line from a bad movie, but hell – that’s what I was in now: a really bad movie.
“CLEAN OUT YOUR DESK – YOU’RE THROUGH, YOU HEAR ME?! YOU’RE THROUGH!” Klaus screamed as he stomped into his office and slammed the door.
I looked around slowly. All the other office slaves turned away, averting their eyes from the mortifying scene, not wanting to be tainted by any contact with the pariah.
I stifled my tears and loaded up my few possessions in a cardboard filing box.
Then I turned off my computer and left.
44
I stopped by Anh’s office on the way out. She was white as a ghost.
“I heard the screaming,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I said dully, still in shock. “Everybody probably did, huh.”
“Oh, honey…” she said as she stood up from her desk.
I shrugged. Nothing seemed real. I felt numb, both body and mind. “I just… I… do you think you can cover rent this month?” I asked feebly.
“Of course,” she said, and came around and hugged me. “Of course I can.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t you dare apologize. It’ll all be okay.”
I relaxed a little in her arms, but I couldn’t cry. I felt like I’d used all my tears for Connor the night before, and I didn’t have any left for my present situation.
Besides, I’d be damned before I’d ever let Klaus hear that he made me cry.
“Do you need me to drive you home?” Anh asked.
“No… no, I’ll be fine, I’ll just drive my car… I left it here on Friday…”
She pulled back and looked into my eyes. “Are you going to be okay?”
I nodded mutely.
She hugged me again. “I don’t mind.”
“I know, but I’m fine, really.”
“Will you text me when you get home?”
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
She let me go. “Be safe.”
“I will,” I said, and walked numbly out of her office.
45
When I got to the parking garage, they were towing my car.
“What are you doing?!” I yelled.
The guy hooking up the crane arm to my bumper looked over at me in alarm. Like, Oh great, here we go. “I got a call. Said you’re not authorized to be here.”
“I JUST GOT FIRED!”
He shrugged. “I got a call.”
My overwrought brain struggled to think. Who –
Klaus.
Of course.
He did love his petty little torments.
Still, this was low, even for him. He must have called security as soon as he shut his office door.
“Please,” I begged the towing guy, “can’t you give me a break? Just let me have the car? I’ll go right now, I promise – ”
“Not worth my job, kid,” he said, and got into his truck and shut the door on me.
I watched as he pulled my little beat-up Honda after him, down the parking ramp and out of sight.
I wanted to hate Klaus. I wanted to want to kill him, but I was just too exhausted.
It was too much.
I thought I didn’t have any tears left, but I was wrong.
I burst out crying.
I didn’t hear the rumble of the approaching car until it was too late.
46
It pulled up in front of me, a gorgeous, glossy Lamborghini, the same maroon color as Connor’s tie.
That was fitting, since Connor was behind the wheel.
I took one look as the car stopped in front of me, saw who was driving, then tipped my head back like God, WHY ME? and turned away.
His window whirred down.
“Lily, get in the car,” he said in a soft, compassionate voice.
I turned back and railed at him. “ARE YOU HAPPY? You got me fired – THANKS! Is this how you get what you want? When somebody tells you ‘no,’ you destroy everything they have, and when they’ve got nothing left, then you come back and get your way? Is that how it works in your world?”
He looked pained. He slowly opened his door and got out – but he didn’t approach me. The way I retreated from him probably convinced him that wasn’t a wise move.
“I didn’t want to get you fired, and I’m sorry it happened.”
“Oh, yeah? Gee, thanks.”
“Lily… I have something I have to say, and I want you to hear me out.”
I glared at him, tears running down my cheeks. When he didn’t say anything, I jutted my head forward like, WELL?
“I handled last night worse than anything
else in my entire life. I know I botched it – bad – but I want you to give me another chance. I care about you. A lot. I want you to get in the car and go with me. It’s entirely up to you… but whatever you decide, I already deposited $50,000 in your bank account.”
I stared at him. The cardboard filing box almost slipped out of my fingers.
“It’s a gift. Even if you never want to see me again, I hate to see you wasting your life and your talents here,” he said, and gestured distastefully at the building. “I’m giving it to you, no strings attached, so you can go do what you want. So you can go find out what you do best. So you can go figure out where you belong in the world. I know you don’t want my money – you already told me that – so if you won’t keep it, then donate it somewhere. Give it to orphans, or the Red Cross, or whatever. Do whatever you want with it. But just remember that it’s a gift, nothing more than that. No strings attached.”
He stared at me earnestly, his blue eyes never more beautiful than that moment.
“If you never want to see me again, I’ll understand that, too. I’ll leave, and I’ll never bother you again. But I want you to come with me. I want you, Lily… and I want you to come with me because you want to. If you get in the car with me now, it’s because that’s what you want. You’re free to do whatever – get in, walk away, go live your life, whatever you decide. But just know… just know that I want you to get in and go with me. More than I’ve ever wanted anything. Because I want you, Lily… more than anything I’ve ever wanted before.”
I stood there, tears streaming down my cheeks, with my heart breaking all over again.
“Get in the car, Lily,” he whispered. “Please.”
I trembled slightly and tried to imagine what might lay ahead if I did.
I couldn’t think straight.
But I could still feel.
I looked at him, deep into his eyes…
…and I knew what I wanted.
I crossed silently in front of the car, opened the passenger seat, and got in.
He slipped into the driver’s seat, reached over and gave my hand a squeeze, and smiled.
All That He Demands (The Billionaire's Seduction Part 3) Page 14