by Tia Siren
I looked at her and noticed something was off. It looked like she had been crying.
“Everything okay?” I asked with genuine concern.
She smiled and nodded. “Fine.” Her voice was a little too high pitched.
“Kendall, I don’t know you all that well, but I know when something is wrong. What is it?”
She waved a hand. “Nothing. Family stuff. It won’t interfere with my work; I promise.”
“Family stuff?”
“Yes, my dad.”
I nodded, wondering what daddy dearest had done to upset her. “Is he okay? Health-wise I mean?”
She made a weird face. “Oh, he’s just fine, unless he gives himself a stroke, which would really only be his fault.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So you’re mad at him?”
She burst into laughter. It was a little scary.
“No. Yes. I mean—it’s really complicated.”
I nodded. “I can’t say I understand complicated family stuff, but I’m here if you want to talk. I have a big shoulder for you to cry on.”
“I’m not going to cry,” she said a little too quickly.
I watched her jerky movements and knew that she was damn well on the verge of crying. I was curious to know what he had done. Was he pushing her to get more information? I was confident in my IT guys. They told me the product list that was currently in the R&D department was locked down tight. Only me, the department head, and a handful of other people had access to that list. She was probably in trouble for not getting him what he had sent her in to fetch.
“Kendall, I can see you’re upset. Do you need to take some time? I can do without you for a few hours if you need to sort things out with your dad.”
“No. That’s not necessary. Really, I’m fine. It was just an upsetting conversation. It wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last.”
I wanted to press her. I knew she had to be changing her opinion about me. Maybe she would open up if she felt more comfortable with me.
“I’m really sorry. Why don’t you take a few minutes? I’m going to go down the hall and grab a coffee. Can I get you one?”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “No, you can’t get me one. I’m supposed to be getting you coffee.”
I laughed. “I think you know me well enough to know I can get my own coffee.”
“Why are you so nice?”
Her tone was more accusing than complimentary.
“Hey, I’m a nice guy,” I replied, not knowing what other explanation to offer. “What can I say?”
“I’ll get you some coffee,” she said, standing and smoothing her skirt down.
“I don’t actually want any coffee. I was only offering to give you a few minutes of privacy.”
She burst into laughter again, and now I was concerned for her mental health. I had no idea what had transpired between her and her father, but clearly it hadn’t been good.
“I’m fine. Thank you. I won’t let this interfere with my work. Thank you for being so patient and understanding.”
“Of course.”
She seemed to be doing a little better now than when she’d first come in the door. As we reviewed agendas and meeting notes, I kept thinking about her and what had upset her. Despite that she was deceiving me, I was naturally inclined to protect her. I didn’t hate her by any means, and I almost felt sorry for her. I had met Scott Adams on a few occasions, and the man had always given me a bad vibe. I was beginning to understand why.
“You’ve got a lunch in about twenty minutes,” she announced after we had both been working in comfortable silence for a bit.
I checked my watch and nodded my head. “Thank you. Do you have plans?”
She chuckled. “Yes. I plan on going outside to that food truck, grabbing a few tacos, and coming back inside to review some notes. Exciting stuff.”
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” I blurted out, feeling foolish the moment the words crossed my lips.
The look that crossed her face was guilt. That was the first time I had seen it. At least she felt guilty for what she was doing. That was a good sign. I probably should have been feeling a little guilty myself for not telling her I knew who she was from the get-go. Oh well. We were both guilty. Once her real reason for being here was revealed, or once I found real proof about her father, we would never have to see each other again. No harm, no foul.
Chapter Sixteen
Kendall
Wednesday
I walked into Dylan’s office a little too eager to see him. It had been a crazy morning and I hadn’t seen him since we’d walked through the office doors hours earlier.
I knocked once, heard him tell me to enter, and strode in. He was so damn good looking. His head was bent down as he worked a pen across one paper and then the next. I knew the papers were the contracts I had dropped off earlier for him to sign.
“It’s time for your lunch meeting.”
He looked at his watch, as he always did, and mumbled something unintelligible.
“You don’t need me at the lunch today, right?”
“That’s correct.”
I stood there, waiting for him to finish what he was doing.
He set the pen down and looked up. “Do you have lunch plans?”
“I do. Vanessa and I are going to meet. If you don’t need anything else, I’m going to head out.”
He nodded his head. “I’m good. I’ll see you at two.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you then.”
As I walked toward the elevators, I thought about our one hot night. There hadn’t been anything physical since then. The sizzle between us was still there, but it had evolved. I was still incredibly attracted to him and thought way too much about sex, but it was a different type of attraction. I couldn’t let myself think too long or hard about it. I was with him to get information, nothing more.
Vanessa was waiting at the restaurant when I walked in.
“Hi,” I greeted her, wrapping her in a warm hug. “It feels like forever since I’ve seen you.”
“It has been. You’ve been wrapped up with your man and completely forgotten about little old me.”
I took my seat while she did the same. “Stop. It isn’t like that and you know it. How’ve you been? How’s the new line? I really need some new clothes. Hook a girl up already!”
Vanessa smiled. “It’s coming along nicely. I have a couple buyer meetings set up this week. I need to get my stuff in some of the higher-end stores. Macy’s on board, but I want bigger.”
“That’s awesome!”
“So, tell me about the soup kitchen. You said you would tell me later and I never heard back from you.”
I smiled, thinking about the memory. “He’s a pretty amazing guy,” I said before telling her about his volunteer efforts and how generous he was.
“He actually hugged the homeless people?” she asked, horror on her face.
I nodded my head. “He did. It wasn’t faked either. They knew him. He knew them and asked questions about their lives. At first, I really thought he had hired actors to try to fool me. Then I saw it was the real deal.”
Vanessa laughed. “Actors? Really?”
“My dad told me how bad Dylan was. I believed him. Now I’m second-guessing everything,” I said, taking a sip of the ice water that had been delivered.
“Did you stop to think it may be Dylan who is giving you the snow job? He’s playing the nice guy when really he is a dirty rotten scoundrel?”
“I did consider that, and that’s what I thought was happening at first, but I don’t think that anymore.”
The waiter came by and took our orders. I looked at Vanessa, debating whether I should tell her about my dad. I had been carrying around the fear, guilt, and anger for several days, not knowing what to do.
“Come on, Kendall. Tell me,” she said, her voice full of empathy.
She knew me too well. “It’s my dad. He’s acting really strangely.”
&nbs
p; “How? Like he’s sick?”
I shook my head. “No, like he is obsessed with Dylan. He’s super mad I haven’t found anything for him to use against Dylan. I’ve never heard him so angry. He was really nasty during our last conversation. It kind of scared me,” I admitted, feeling way better after getting it off my chest.
“Scared? You think your dad might do something to you or Dylan?”
“I don’t know. That’s the scary part. I don’t know. I don’t know my dad anymore. He’s acting a little crazy. This shouldn’t have him so worked up. He keeps telling me he has to give his investors something or it’s all over.”
“What’s all over?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. I’ve asked and he never gives me a straight answer. He only gets angrier and mean.”
“Kendall, sweetie, that doesn’t sound good. I’m worried about you.”
I thought about the last conversation with my father. He had been extremely angry and paranoid. He was convinced I was trying to ruin him on purpose.
“Vanessa, I have to tell you, I’m actually a little afraid of him,” I said in a deep voice.
“Of Dylan?” she asked, confusion on her face.
“No. My father. He isn’t himself. He basically told me I had to sleep with Dylan. Isn’t that a little creepy?”
Her face twisted in horror. “It is weird and definitely on the creepy side. Your dad should be the last person telling you to sleep with anyone. I would kill my dad if he even brought up the subject of my sex life.”
I laughed, feeling a little better. I wasn’t completely overreacting. I had been talking myself out of being mad or hurt for the past several days, which had only made me feel worse.
When the waiter delivered our cobb salads, we stopped talking for a few minutes and dug in.
“I’m worried about you,” Vanessa blurted out.
“I’m okay.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think you are. You and your dad have always been so close. I’ve admired the relationship the two of you had. Unfortunately, something isn’t right. Somewhere along the way, the relationship took a left turn into unhealthy territory. If he really thought Dylan was dangerous or suspected him of being a bad guy in general, why would he send you into the lion’s den?”
“He trusts me to take care of myself.”
“Kendall, that isn’t trust. He’s using you.”
I narrowed my gaze, not happy to hear her talk about my father like that. I could be afraid, and I could think he was being weird, but I wouldn’t let anyone else criticize him.
“He’s not using me. He’s relying on me to do what’s best for the company.”
“Is that how you really feel, or just what you keep telling yourself because that’s what he told you?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. She was right. I knew deep down that something had changed and what I was doing was wrong on too many levels to count.
“What do I do?” I whispered.
She reached out a hand and covered mine. “I think you need to talk to Dylan. If he’s really the man you say he is, he can help you. I’m sure he’ll fire you, but then you don’t have to carry around this weight anymore.”
“But my dad. My dad needs this. How do I betray my father?”
“It isn’t betrayal. Your dad seems to be going down a bad road. It’s up to you to pull him back. I don’t think your dad is a bad man. I think something is going on and he is acting a little desperate and crazy. Don’t let him suck you in.”
Everything she was saying was true. I knew that. I didn’t know if I had it in me to betray my father or stand up to him though. Family was everything to me, and I had learned that from him. Telling Dylan would make me feel better, but what would it do to my dad?
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good. Now, we need to finish because I have a meeting soon.”
We said our goodbyes and I promised to check in more often. When I got back to work, Dylan was already in his office.
“Did you have a nice lunch?” he asked.
“I did. You?”
He shrugged. “Food was great; company was bad.”
I laughed. “It didn’t go well?”
“No. It was some hotshot kid with an MIT degree who thinks he invented the next best thing to sliced bread. Wanted me to pay him five-million dollars for a program that has already been on the market for years. It was a waste of time.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “It happens. Unfortunately, it happens more often than not. It takes a lot of time and energy to find the one thing that’s going to be big. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, but I do get lucky sometimes.”
“Yes, you do. How do you get so lucky?” I asked, studying him a little closer.
No one could be that lucky. I suddenly had a better understanding of why my dad was convinced Dylan was somehow cheating. Maybe my dad was right. Maybe I was the one overlooking what was right in front of me because I had been wooed by an attractive man into believing what he wanted me to believe. Somewhere, in the course of the last week, he had changed the narrative.
“I have a good instinct. I know my customer base and I know what people want and need in their lives. Another writing program isn’t it. Mr. MIT can take his pitch down the road. I’m sure there’s another company out there that will buy it. Let them waste their money.”
His voice was hard and his jaw set. He looked like the ruthless businessman my dad had described. Was I only seeing it now because the veil had been lifted?
In a flash, his features softened, and he smiled at me.
“What?” I asked, feeling a little self-conscious.
He shrugged. “I think I’ll take you to the next pitch meeting. I want to get your opinion on what’s good and what is a waste of time. I’d like to see what kind of instinct you have. After all, it’s this step in the process that makes or breaks a company. Not everyone can do it.”
I nodded my head. “I’d like that. I want to test my instincts as well. It’s why I’m here after all, learning from the best and all.”
He grinned. “I am the best, or at least I will be once I launch the next product I’ve got in the pipeline.”
“Another one?” I asked, intrigued.
He smiled, his eyes watching me closely. “Yes. It’s a bit of a top-secret thing. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m given the okay to share the details. Right now, it is being kept under wraps. It seems we have someone in the company leaking information to the competition.”
“Really? That doesn’t sound good. Do you know who it is?”
He shrugged, his blue eyes holding mine. “I have a few ideas. I’ve got people I trust looking into it. It won’t be long before I find out who the traitor is.”
Everything I had been thinking and feeling earlier fell away. Dylan had been up to something. I’d been so convinced my dad was losing his mind, I’d nearly betrayed him. I should have known better. Loyalty to family was all I had. With this new information, I slid that invisible wall into place, one that would guard me from Dylan’s persuasions. I couldn’t let him do what he had done before. I had a feeling he suspected me of being the traitor. He had all but implied it.
“I can’t wait to find out more. I’d love to be a part of the product development. That is, if you trust me to be involved.”
The energy in the room shifted. It had gone from a casual, friendly conversation to this weird dance around a loaded gun. Who was going to go for it first, and what would the winner do with it?
I had a feeling I was going to find out very soon. I had to. That investor meeting was only a few days away. I needed to give my dad the ammunition he needed to prove he had the instinct and deserved to stay at the head of the table.
Chapter Seventeen
Dylan
Thursday
It was another typical day with me reviewing various emails, replying to a few, and doing research. It was after lunch and the
office was relatively quiet. Kendall was busy working in her own office. After our conversation yesterday, things had changed. She’d gone back to using that sexual tension between us, lobbing one innuendo after the other at me. She wanted me to fuck her. She couldn’t have been clearer if she had come right out and asked.
I had a feeling her sudden desire had a little something to do with the bait I had tossed out yesterday. She had taken the bait and was now scrambling for a bite of something big. I wanted to believe otherwise, but I had to be careful. Aaron had told me at least a hundred times, but I was still torn.
“You have a phone call from a Jonathan on line one,” Gena said through the intercom. “He refused to tell me his last name.”
“Tell him I’ll call him back,” I instructed, digging my cell phone out of pocket.
Crap, I had missed three calls from him. Earlier I’d put my phone on silent and then forgotten about it. I hit the return call button and waited for him to pick up. For him to call me at work meant there was something big. I had made it clear he wasn’t to let anyone know about doing this work for me.
“There you are!” he growled.
“Sorry. My phone was silenced. What’s going on?”
“The man is dirty. Not only dirty, but very dangerous. I did some more investigating and found out the investors he’s meeting with are actually members of a syndicate crime group.”
“The mob?” I asked in disbelief.
Jonathan cleared his throat. “They’re not really called the mob anymore, but yes, that’s exactly what we’re dealing with.”
“Shit,” I murmured.
The PI chuckled. “Yeah, that’s something along the lines of what I said. These guys are dangerous, like cement shoes dangerous.”
“What the hell?” I said, dragging a hand through my hair.
“I don’t have all the specifics—I’m still digging—but this shit is real. There’s been money exchanged. I wanted you to know right away. You need to watch your back. If you have security, beef it up. The guy could be coming for you.”
I gulped down the lump in my throat. I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t seem real. “Thanks for letting me know.”