His Secret Desire (An Erotic Romance Novel)

by Alana Davis

  He waved the wand over my body, starting at my neck and working down. He was quick and did it without any sort of enjoyment. Michelle had been right, he never scanned me above the neck; he had missed the wire in my hair. When the guard waved the wand over Alex, it beeped on his collar, his buttons, and his cuffs. Mr. Reynolds looked at Henderson with eyebrows raised.

  “Nice try, Alex. Trying to record our conversation in some vain attempt to implicate me in some sort of crime that you think I was a part of. It’s a low move, even for you,” Henderson sneered. “Lose the coat or get the hell out of my office.”

  Alex took off his coat and handed it to Mr. Reynolds. The giant disappeared for a minute and then returned. He waved the wand back over Alex and it made no noise.

  “One can’t be too careful, especially with a snake like you,” Henderson said.

  “You wouldn’t have taken my jacket if you didn’t have something to hide, Willy,” Alex said flatly.

  “Only your father can call me that, and since he’s not here, I’d prefer Mr. Henderson to a boy like you. You really are such a failure. It’s amazing that you could have come from two amazing people who accomplished so much. You were given every opportunity, a silver spoon in your mouth from birth and you’re still the way you are. A fucking loser.”

  I recoiled at the vitriol of Henderson’s words. Before, he had simply reprimanded Alex like a father would when his son had let him down. Now he was attacking him like Alex was the scum of the earth. If Alexander Strauss was the picture of a loser, then there was no such thing as a winner.

  “And you bring this goddamn harlot with you in here. You’re just unable to walk away from this little whore,” Henderson said, his eyes turning black as they fell on me.

  I felt an anger well up inside of me that threatened to spill over. If the giant hadn’t been there, I would have jumped over Henderson’s desk and stuffed his pipe down his chicken neck.

  “You’re just proving to me that you’re not worthy of running this company. You try to entrap me by bringing some professional harlot with you. It’s really pathetic, Alexander. But I’ll start everything anew. I thought I was going to liquidate everything, but I think I may keep this building for my new company, Henderson Enterprises.”

  Henderson breathed out thick smoke and laughed.

  “I’m going to destroy the value of the Strauss Engines stock, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it Alexander. You were born with a silver spoon, but I’m going to bankrupt you and shove the real world right up your ass. You can see what it’s like to be a measly peasant. You might actually have to work, just like I had to do to get to where I am. But you aren’t like me or your father.”

  Alex stood unfaltering. His eyes were filled with bottled rage and his fists were clenched so tightly that the veins were bulging out. The giant was looking at him with a certain look of alarm. Despite the size difference, the giant didn’t seem to want to fight Alex.

  “You can’t just decide to devalue the stock, Henderson. It doesn’t work that way.”

  “Oh yes, but with the new direction of Strauss Engines, the investors are already pulling out and the future profits look dismal. We’ll be in the red in no time. Then the truth about the faulty investments that you’ve been making over the past two years will come to life. You will be shown to be embezzling money from your own company. It’ll ruin Strauss Engines. Hell, you might even face jail-time, but that’s unlikely. Rich people don’t go to jail for stealing. But you will be finished.”

  “I never embezzled a single cent! You know that! Why the fuck would I embezzle money from my own company?”

  Henderson began to laugh. He took another deep drag off his pipe.

  “Does it matter? Rich people are greedy. You wanted more money. It doesn’t matter whether you’re innocent or guilty, it’ll cause enough doubt about you that your stocks will crash.”

  “You set me up.”

  “Yes, I certainly did. Everything is in your name. Everything has your signature. I bet you didn’t know that I’ve been slowly doing this behind your back, using computer specialists to track your every phone call, email, and website transaction. Samantha, do you want to know what kind of kinky pornography your boss is into?”

  Henderson’s snake-like eyes were on me.

  “You know there is a special place in hell where the devil chews on your flesh for eternity for bastards who betray those closest to them!” I yelled at him.

  Henderson only laughed, amused at my outburst.

  “Why?” Alex asked.

  “Because I’m sick of being in your goddamn shadow! Just like I was in Max’s shadow. With Max, at least I recognized that he was the better man. But you... You’re just a little boy.”

  “It’s no wonder that my mother loved my father instead of you, then.” Alex was staring at Henderson fiercely.

  Something clicked in my mind. I remembered when I mentioned Alex’s mother Henderson’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. He had turned from being mildly annoyed with me to downright enraged at me. Henderson had loved Alex’s mother, yet she did not return the feelings.

  Henderson rose from his chair and slammed the pipe down on his desk. Ash exploded from the top and sparks flew.

  “At least I’m not in love with some stupid whore like her! It defies belief that you would have even gone to the trouble of saving her, let alone saving her yourself!” Henderson screamed. He calmed down after he said the last sentence when he realized what he had just admitted. He turned a cold stare on me.

  “I was never going to let you go,” Henderson hissed. “I was going to keep you there until you died of old age. Watching television and growing fat off canned noodles until you went insane.”

  The giant looked over at Henderson and there was a genuine look of disgust on his face. I felt a small pang of pity for Mr. Reynolds when I realized that he was just a hired gun who had no idea of his boss’s true evil. The look of disgust on his face showed me that he was probably a decent person.

  Alex moved forward towards Henderson. Mr. Reynolds made no move to stop him and Henderson recognized that Alex was going to attack him.

  He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a large pistol. He pointed it at Alex.

  “No uh uh. You keep your distance,” Henderson said. “Oh, and Mr. Reynolds, get the fuck out of my office. You’re fired.”

  The giant gave us an apologetic look and walked out of the office.

  “Henderson, you won’t get away with this. That guard just heard you confess to a kidnapping and he saw you pull a gun on me. Put the gun away and let’s talk.”

  Henderson quietly considered this for a moment. Then he shrugged and smiled simultaneously.

  “He won’t talk. I’ve got some good dirt on him anyway. And as for you, well, you attacked me. You lost your mind after I called you out on your embezzling. Then, that bitch Samantha attacked me with a knife.” Henderson reached into his desk again and then tossed a large letter opener over to me. I reflexively caught it to defend myself and Henderson started laughing.

  “You are one dumb whore. You should have walked away when I gave you that option.”

  Something caught Henderson’s eye out of the window and he leaned down to look closer. When he looked back at us, his face was twisted with rage.

  I reached in my hair and took out the hair tie and tossed to Henderson.

  “You’re not nearly as smart as you think you are,” I said triumphantly. “There was a microphone in here. Everything you said was just played for the board members.”

  The elevator doors were opening. Henderson ran over to his office door and slammed it shut, never taking the gun off of me and Alex. Then there came a pounding on the door.

  “Police, open this door! Now!” a voice yelled from the other side of the door.

  Alex had pushed me behind him, using himself as a barricade. The door was rocking as the police pushed against it. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was cover
ed in sweat. Henderson raised the gun to eye level and cocked it.

  “Goodbye Alex,” he said.

  Henderson pulled the trigger. Alex toppled over.

  I screamed. I looked up to Henderson and behind him, the door exploded open as three police officers rushed him. I watched Henderson put the gun in his mouth and then there was another gunshot.

  The walls were sprayed with blood. Henderson’s hand fell as his body collapsed into a heap on the ground. He didn’t move. The cops rushed over to him and pulled the gun from his hand but it was an empty gesture. William Henderson had shot himself in the head.

  “Alex!” I yelled. Tears were flowing down my face. Alex had been shot. My mind was repeating that phrase. Alex had been shot. Please, please, please don’t be dead. I’ll give anything for you not to be dead.

  “Samantha,” Alex said. There was blood on his face and I was sure that he had been seriously hurt. He raised a hand to my face and caressed it softly. “I’m alright.”

  “No, no, no,” I said. “You’ve been shot!”

  There was long gash of blood flowing from Alex’s left cheek. “It grazed me. It didn’t penetrate me. I’ll be fine.”

  Alex propped himself up and looked over to Henderson.

  “Is he dead?” Alex asked one of the police officers who had walked up to us.

  “Yeah,” the police officer said. “He’s dead.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  The police led us out of Henderson’s office. I looked away from his body as we passed. Alex stopped and looked down at his former friend. His face remained passive and he simply lowered his gaze and then walked with me out of the room.

  The police wanted us to make a statement immediately, but Alex would have none of it. He told the police brusquely that he would go down to the station with his lawyer and give an official statement in due time. The officer in charge finally stopped pressing the issue when he consulted his superior over the phone.

  Alex’s face was bleeding, although not nearly as bad as immediately after he had been shot. We were in the main lobby, and it had been cleared of all employees. A paramedic was trying to treat him, but Alex was pushing him away.

  Alex was on the phone with Michelle. He turned to me.

  “We have to get up to the boardroom. The board members are still up there. We need to act now.”

  “Alex, you need a doctor. You’ve been shot! Give yourself five minutes to get a little help,” I pleaded.

  Alex reached into the paramedic’s bag and took out a large bandage and attached it to his face. “I’ll last a bit longer. First we take care of this, then I promise we’re going to the hospital.”

  The paramedic looked over to me helplessly and then shrugged. Alex walked over to the elevator and I followed frowning. What could be so important that Alex had to do it now, before he had his wound examined?

  The elevator climbed up and when the doors opened, Alex strode out into the boardroom.

  There was a commotion as the board members saw us.

  “Alex, listen, we had no idea what Henderson was doing!”

  “That piece of shit, I’m glad he shot himself.”

  “I always knew he was a rat, even from your father’s days”

  Alex stood very still, waiting for them to quiet down. When the board members were satisfied that they had Alex convinced that they had nothing to do with Henderson’s plot, a silence fell over the room.

  Alex finally spoke. “That’s quite enough. The situation with Henderson was tragic. His resentment of my father and me corrupted him, but do not forget that he gave many years of his life in service of this company. We do not need to slander a man who has twisted his own soul beyond recognition and ended his life. But I am not here about Henderson. I am here to talk about the future of this company.

  “A few weeks ago, I made an announcement about the new direction we are headed. Many of you believed that it was a mistake. It is not. It is the only future for this company. Some of you believe that I made the decision to start manufacturing water filters based solely on humanitarian purposes. You are wrong. The world is changing faster than we can imagine. The old days of simply cutting costs to increase our profits are over. We must innovate or die. Our collaboration with the MIT Aqua team is not only an opportunity for the impoverished all over the world to have access to clean and safe water, it is also our only chance for survival in this global economy.

  “As a group, you have voted that I be removed from my position as CEO. Some of you may have voted based on false information, some of you may have voted because you were afraid, and others may have voted simply because you do not believe in me anymore. It does not matter to me why you voted me out. What matters most to me is that this company survives. There are countless people who need the products that we are capable of developing. There are thousands of employees that depend on the salary and benefits that they receive from us. I hope that you can understand that every decision I made was for the best interest of this company. I hope that you will continue on this path that I have set forward for this company instead of the path of destruction that Henderson led you down.”

  The silence in the room was electric. I could feel myself trembling slightly. I wasn’t sure if it was from Alex’s speech or from all the craziness of the day.

  Alex let out a long sigh, as if the speech had exhausted all of his energy, “It was a pleasure working with you all. I leave my father’s company in your hands.”

  He turned around to leave and I walked with him, craning my head back to look at the shell-shocked faces of the board members. One of the grey haired men stood up. I recognized him from when I had stood in for Alex at the board meeting just a week ago. It seemed like ages had passed since then.

  “Alex, wait,” The man said.

  Alex turned around to face the board again.

  “We need you here. If it were not for you, Henderson would have destroyed this company from within, and we wouldn’t even had known about it. I think if there are any here that doubted your ability to lead this company, they must be convinced now that you are the only man for this job,” he looked around the oblong table to see if anyone disagreed with him. “I motion to nullify our earlier vote to remove Mr. Strauss from his position as CEO, as it was based on false pretenses and misinformation. All in favor say aye.”

  They were really going to do it! Alex would have his company back!

  A chorus of agreement rang out around the boardroom. The grey haired man smiled at Alex, “Welcome back, Alex.”

  I watched Alex’s face carefully, but he wasn’t smiling. He just nodded slightly and said, “Thank you all for your faith in me,” he paused before continuing, “but before I can accept my position back. I do have one condition.”

  They listened intently.

  “Ms. Samantha Dubois must appointed as a board member.”

  I looked at him, wide eyed. What was he doing? Me a board member? I couldn’t do that! There was no way that the rest of the board would agree to that! I had been only a temp just weeks ago, and most of the board members were at least 40 years older than me. Why was Alex risking everything for this?

  Alex didn’t stop, he continued addressing the board, “Without her, we would have all been ruined. Not only was she critical in our operation to reveal Henderson’s betrayal of us, but she was instrumental in securing our deal with Sun Industries for production of the BR36 prototype. The cornerstone of our new strategy is based on access to that unit. Though she is still young and inexperienced. I believe that her crucial contributions to the company during this crisis can attest to her loyalty and talent.”

  The board members looked around at each other. The grey haired man spoke up. “All in favor, say aye.”

  I was shocked. I was left speechless. No words would come. The rest of the board actually believed that I was capable enough to join them?

  It was unanimous. I was now a board member of Strauss Engines. I had gone from temporary office worker to
personal assistant to board member in the span of less than a few weeks.

  Alex turned to me. “Congratulations, Samantha.”

  I may have managed to say thank you, but I was overcome with the gravity of everything and I had no recollection of saying anything afterwards. I floated down the elevator with Alex and one of the officers. Another stayed behind to begin escorting the board members down the elevator in groups.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  We rode in the limousine to the police station. Alex’s lawyer was waiting for us there. We gave the police statements and then we told them again our account of what happened. The cops asked us about the kidnapping, and Alex’s lawyer interjected that I was going to make no statement regarding any kidnapping. Eventually, they dropped it.

  After two hours, we were released. With the recording sent over by Michelle, it was a closed case. Henderson, caught admitting his crimes, acted like the snake he was and ran away from facing the music.

  We drove back to the Strauss Engines building. Alexander refused to go to the hospital, but he had at least let a paramedic stitch him up at the police station. There was a bandage over his face. The bullet wound would leave a scar.

  When we returned to the building, a security guard led us up to Alex’s office. We got off the elevator, and Alex opened up the big double doors to his office. He looked around, seeming satisfied.

  “I’m not glad he’s dead,” Alex said suddenly. “Yes, he turned out to be a vile man, but there was a long time in my life when he was like family. I didn’t want things to end this way.”

  I took Alex’s hand in mine. He looked at me and I saw a tear in his eye.

  “I’m so glad that you weren’t hurt. I’d be lost without you,” Alex said. “There is no other woman that I want to be with. Ever. I love you.”

  He grasped my hand in his, leading me over to his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a small black box. “Samantha, I believed everything I said back in the boardroom. You are much more capable than you know. I knew I saw something in you the day I overheard you calling me an arrogant prick in the cafeteria,” he smiled at that memory.