“But, I…” Emily began, then stopped. She could easily explain the invoices, but not without also exposing the plan to catch Gaines. Even at the expense of her own professional career, catching Gaines was still the priority.
“I’ll have your personal items boxed and sent to you,” Mari continued when Emily paused. “And, I’ll be sending these invoices along to the prosecutor’s office. I don’t intend to let this go.”
At that, Emily just nodded, feeling completely defeated. First, she’d lost Ethan, and now she’d lost her job and her career. Mari would see to that. Ethan might be able to smooth over any criminal charges, but she’d have to call him for that.
She knew their relationship was over. She’d seen to that already. Yet instead of the freedom she thought she’d feel after making it clear to him that she couldn’t be in a relationship with him, all she felt was empty. She’d dated other men before who had wanted to become more serious than Emily wanted. Some of them had been kind, attractive, overall awesome guys. She’d always pushed them away when they got too close, and while she sometimes felt a sense of loss when they left, it was always coupled with a sense of relief.
Emily felt the eyes of every Rivera Productions employee on her as she quietly turned from her desk and started walking toward the door. Nobody said a word. Even Troy stood by mutely, though he did send her a “call me” signal, holding a hand with thumb and pinky out to his ear. Emily didn’t blame any of them for their silence. She knew as well as the rest of them that a single word of good-bye or encouragement, and they’d be following her out the door.
A stern but not unkind security guard waited for her, preventing her from stopping to grab even her coffee mug off the desk before she left. This was as big a walk of shame as Emily had ever taken, and though she longed to scurry out, defeated, she kept her head held high. Everyone in the room might think that she had stolen from the company, but she knew the truth, and that was enough for her to leave with dignity. Still, she couldn’t keep the flush of embarrassment from staining her cheeks as she left.
Once outside, she stood in the glare of the hot sun for a moment. The security guard handed her a box, presumably with her personal effects inside. She didn’t much care, nor did she give much thought to the fact that the box must have been packed earlier in the day, which meant that everyone at the office must have known something was going on and that she was going to be fired. She gave a passing thought to wondering why Troy hadn’t called her with a heads up, but then dismissed it. He’d probably worried he’d get caught and then he’d be out a job as well. She might have felt disappointed in him, or betrayed, but everything was numb. She felt nothing.
The box felt surprisingly light in her arms. The guard mumbled a good bye, but Emily said nothing in reply. She just stood there. She had nothing to do, nowhere to go. She supposed she could go home, but the thought of sitting alone in her apartment in the middle of the day depressed her more than she liked to admit.
Before she could stop herself, she dialed a number that had been saved on her phone for so long, yet was so rarely called.
A woman answered.
“Hi, Mom,” Emily said.
“Emily! What is it? I’m just about to step into a meeting.”
“Oh, I uh, just wanted to say hi. See what you’re up to?” Emily’s voice quavered. Tears itched hers eyes.
“I’m fine,” came her mother’s reply. She sounded annoyed. “I just have to deal with mind-numbing incompetence every damn day, and it’s so hard to just find worthwhile workers, you know?” Without waiting for a reply, she continued, “Well, you probably don’t worry about that. You just need to find someone to cut flowers and throw a cake together. Anyone could do that. But it’s harder for me…I have to find smart people to work for me. It’s so difficult.” A thread of whininess had entered her voice, and Emily knew that her mother was about to go off on a long rant about the difficulties of her own life. She broke in to stop it.
“Mom, I have troubles too. In fact, something just happened. I…” Her voice trailed off. She couldn’t handle her mother’s response to hearing she’d been fired. Why she thought she might be able to get comfort from her mother was beyond her.
“What,” her mother snapped irritably into the phone. “Please don’t tell me you got fired. I just don’t have the time to be all sad about that with you right now.”
“I…no…didn’t get fired. Just thinking about changing jobs. It’s nothing. You’re busy, so we can talk later or something.”
“I don’t know that we need to talk about it, Emily. You either switch jobs or don’t. It’s not like you’re CEO or anything important.”
“Right, of course, nothing important. I guess we’ll talk later.”
“Yes, later.”
“Bye.” But Emily’s mother was already gone.
Emily’s eyes started prickling with unshed tears, and she blinked, hard, to force them away. While she walked to her car, she realized that there was only one person she wanted to talk to at that moment, and it was the one she had turned her back on just hours ago. She’d been afraid to take a chance on him, and her feelings for him, and open her heart to the possibility that someday he might hurt it. Now, when her heart hurt worse than it ever had before, she realized that it was the fear that this would happen that had put her in this situation.
She thought longingly of the warm smile on Ethan’s face, in his eyes, when he’d turned to her this morning, before the coldness had set in when she rejected him. Like it or not, Emily had already fallen for him, and she’d given up on the chance for a real relationship with him.
As she slid the box onto the back seat of her car, her phone buzzed in her purse. Pulling it out, she saw it was Charlotte. After just a moment’s hesitation, Emily answered. Her friend’s voice came through loud and excited.
“Oh, Emily you did it! I’m so excited and happy, and it’s all thanks to you! How can I ever thank you?”
“What do you mean? What happened? They got Gaines?”
“Yes, they got him, Em! Didn’t you hear yet? I thought Ethan would have called you already?”
“Oh, no, not yet…but I’ve been, uh, tied up at work, so maybe I missed his call. Can you tell me about it?” Emily knew, in fact, that he hadn’t called, but she didn’t want Charlotte to know that yet. She couldn’t handle the questions or sympathy, or, god forbid, the derision that might creep into Charlotte’s voice when she heard the news. She’d hold that information close for a while longer.
“Well,” Charlotte continued, “right after you put that program on his computer, we made sure he received some of the invoices you had prepared, and after he huffed and grumbled a bit about how expensive it was, he went into his office and transferred money from one of the secret accounts. That alone would have been great, but then we got lucky, because he started shuffling some other money around, and suddenly Jonas and the rest of the team had access to all his accounts. They were able to track down all the money that he’d stolen. They even found more funds from people who thought they were donating to charities, but really it was just going into his own personal accounts. They found it all, Emily! And none of it would have happened without you!”
Emily dug deep to come up with some words of happiness. “That’s so great, Charlotte! I’m really excited for you all! Does your mom know yet? How’s she taking it?”
“Well, she doesn’t know yet. In fact, we’ve had a hard time tracking her down this morning. She’s not at home and she’s not answering her phone. She did send me a text saying she’d call me soon, but that was over an hour ago. I hope everything’s okay with her.”
“I’m sure she’s fine. Has Gaines been arrested?”
“Not yet. Jonas says they’ll wait until we have a chance to tell my mom, just to try and help her deal with it. I just worry she’ll be crushed. I don’t see her attraction to him, but I guess he can be charming when he wants to be. Ugh. Anyway, she really helped us get him, even though she did
n’t know it. We thought it would take much longer for him to go into those accounts, if he ever even did. It was always a long shot that he’d access them. But when those invoices arrived, Mama was on him to get them paid right away, even though he seemed to want to wait, and even asked her when her own funds would be available again. And without even missin’ a beat, she told him that when you’re talking about a trust fund the size of hers, the government doesn’t work quickly, though they did indicate they might release a quarter of it later this week. But she’d have to hound them every day to get them to work on it, and she didn’t think she could do that if she was worrin’ about unpaid bills in the meantime. She said that she just got so stressed out about money talk, and she couldn’t wait until they were married so Gaines could take over all the financial stuff for her. It was as if she was saying something scripted it was so perfect! You should have seen Gaines’s face when she said that, I swear, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see drool drippin’ out of his mouth.”
“That’s amazing,” Emily said, feeling lame that she couldn’t’ muster up more enthusiasm for the end of the case. Even though she’d blown it with Ethan, there was still a glimmer of hope in her that she would see him if they had to work together again. Now it seemed like it was really over.
“It is, I just hope Mama’s okay. Look, now I’m worrin’ about her again, so I’m going to try and track her down. Ethan can give you more details about everything when you talk to him.”
“Okay, yeah. Thanks, Charlotte.”
The phone went silent in Emily’s ear.
While she and Charlotte had been talking, Emily had gotten into her car and turned it on to let the AC cool her down. Now, she started driving. It was almost like the last time she’d driven blindly through the city, but this time, instead of winding her way through the Spanish moss dressed tree-lined streets, she found herself pulling up to the empty storefront on the quiet, quaint main street that was going to be her new office. A corner of the “For Lease” sign curled up in the humid air, the words fading slightly from the cruel rays of the sun. At first she drove past, then turned around and pulled into an open parking spot across the street. She thought wistfully of her plans for the new business, how she’d had it all planned, how happy it made her to think about it.
While she sat there, she watched an older gentleman approach the storefront. She recognized him as the man who’d given her a tour of the place weeks ago. She’d asked him to let her know if anyone else expressed interest in it. She said she wanted it, but was working on getting the financial side straightened out. He’d assured her he’d call her if anyone else asked about leasing the place, but she hadn’t heard from him. Over the weeks, she’d called him periodically, and asked him if it was still available, and had occasionally driven past, seeking the reassurance she’d get when she saw the “Available” sign still hanging in the window. It had given her hope when she thought she’d never get there.
Now, she watched the man unlock the front door, and then carefully un-tape the sign from the inside before he folded it neatly and stuffed it into his pants pocket. He then relocked the door and shuffled away down the street. Emily could see the faint outline in the window where the sign had hung, a crisp little square where the dust hadn’t penetrated. The crack in her heart widened.
When her phone rang again, and Emily saw an unfamiliar number appear on the screen, she was tempted to ignore it. But she answered, and was surprised to hear Vivienne on the other end.
“Vivienne, hello, how are you?” Emily didn’t quite know what to say, didn’t know how much Vivienne had heard.
“Emily dear, hello. I won’t take much of your time. From what I understand, you’ve had quite a busy morning.”
“Um, yes, I have. But what, exactly are you talking about?”
Vivienne’s soft, comforting laugh curled around Emily like a hug right through the speaker of the phone. She fleetingly wondered what life would have been like with Vivienne for a mother instead of her own.
“Yes, what am I talking about? You’re trying to figure out what I know before you share something that might shock me? Good idea, but you’ll soon realize that I know far more than you think.”
Emily didn’t know quite how to respond, so she remained silent, waited for Vivienne to continue.
“To start, do I know about Gaines and the money he stole from other women, and the money he was trying to steal from me? Yes, I do. Do I know about the program you put on his computer to track the money? Again, yes. Those are the facts that I would have been told after the FBI issued the warrant for his arrest earlier today. That is, in fact, what they told me.”
“I’m sorry,” Emily started. Though she thought Gaines deserved every punishment he was given, Vivienne had always been kind to her, and she hated that she would be hurt by this.
“Please, Emily, do not be sorry for me. In fact, let me say I’m sorry to you. I understand you had a rather unpleasant meeting with Ms. Rivera this morning, and that you are no longer employed by her?”
“Yes, but that had nothing to do with—”
“That had everything to do with what you have been doing for my daughter and for the FBI. They involved you in it, and now it seems that you’re also being punished for Gaines’s wrongdoing. And if you were implying that you were sorry that my relationship with Ron has come to such an abrupt end, again, that it nothing you need apologize for. In fact, my engagement to the man was, actually, a sham. You see, shortly after I met Ron, and I have to say, I was not at all attracted to him, another man approached me. This other man works for the CIA, and he had been tracking Ron, suspecting he was involved with money laundering and possible illegal international sale of weapons. He asked if I would go undercover and pretend to be interested in Ron so that the CIA could investigate him more closely. We were getting close to planting our own tracking device in his computer when you and your FBI friends, and my daughter, shockingly enough, beat us to it. So much of this nonsense would have been avoided if those two agencies had just talked to one another. Anyway, we were able to tap into the frequency the tracking device emitted, hack into Ron’s computer, and recover additional hidden files that the FBI didn’t even know to look for. So in addition to finding the money’s he’s stolen, there’s evidence on Ron for so many other things that he’ll be going to prison, likely for the rest of his life. And all the money he stole will be returned to its rightful owners.”
“Wow. That is not what I was expecting you to say. That’s, just wow.”
“Yes, so you see, I was never interested in a romantic or any other kind of relationship with Ron, and so I have nothing to miss now that he’s gone. In fact, and you are the first to hear this piece of information, I have developed a romantic interest with someone else, the man from the CIA who was, I suppose you might call him my handler. He’s a lovely gentleman, and we’ve become quite close.”
However Emily envisioned this conversation with Vivienne going, this was most definitely not it.
“Congratulations?” She said.
“Not just yet, dear, but I do believe that might be in our future. And I’ll have no one but you coordinate our wedding.”
At that, the reality of Emily’s life at the moment returned to her, and she felt the defeat crush her again.
“I’d love to, Vivienne, but I’m no longer employed at Rivera Productions. There are many other wonderful people there who could help you, though.”
“Yes, I did hear that you and Ms. Rivera had a misunderstanding this morning that might have resulted in your unjustified termination. I have just come from visiting with Ms. Rivera, and I am certain that you will soon be receiving a call from her telling you she was mistaken in her accusations, and that she will do whatever it takes to get you back on board. I think you’ll also find she has reconsidered your salary and will be offering you quite a bit more to make up for the misunderstanding.”
“How did you do that? Mari never changes her mind! That’s, amazing
! Thank you.”
Emily wasn’t sure that she wanted to go back. She couldn’t quite imagine it, actually. She imagined Mari would make her every second hell to pay her back. Nevertheless, it was still a wonderful gesture on Vivienne’s part.
“Oh, I’m not quite finished. I said Ms. Rivera would ask you to come back. I didn’t say you should go back. In fact, a little birdy tells me you’re interested in going into business on your own. I should very much like to encourage you to do that, and I would like to be your first client.”
“Vivienne, this is too much. I don’t know what to think, much less what to say. How did you get Mari to reconsider? And how do you know I wanted to start my own business?”
“Well, I have the ear of a great number of people here in town, and many of them host elaborate, and expensive, events. Mari may have a degree of sway in this town, but my influence is much greater. I think you’ll find that if you choose not to go back to Rivera Productions, and I really hope that you do not, you will leave there with a glowing recommendation from your former boss.”
“I…um…thank you,” Emily managed to stammer.
“Emily, you risked your career, and more, to help me. You stood by my daughter’s side and, without hesitation, gave everything to help us. That’s more than most people would do, and we are deeply grateful. Don’t thank me. I should thank you. I do thank you. The least I can do for you is make sure you don’t lose your job.”
Mind reeling, Emily couldn’t remember later what her response had been, but it must have been at least semi-acceptable because Vivienne ended the call with a friendly chuckle and told Emily they’d talk again soon when the situation had calmed.
Emily wondered vaguely when Mari and the rest of the office would hear about the cancelled wedding, and who would explain the inflated invoices.
Emily’s phone rang again. She felt a second of hope that maybe it was Ethan, but when she glanced down at the screen, it was Troy. Sighing, she stuck her Bluetooth in her ear and picked up.
Private Engagement Page 18