In Over Her Head (Corporate Chaos Series Book 1)

by Leighann Dobbs

  "Hi, Charlie. I'm just visiting someone here today." Jasper tried not to let his sadness be visible.

  "Oh. You look sad, Mr. Jasper," Charlie said. Kids. They picked up on everything.

  "You're a smart boy, Charlie," Jasper said. "I am a little sad about a friend. She's going through a hard time, and I didn't really know about it until now."

  "Oh. That's sad. Are you helping her like you helped us?"

  "Well, I would like to, Charlie, but she doesn't want my help. She's a bit stubborn."

  "Mr. Jasper, sometimes you just help people because you can, and maybe they don't even know about it, but you know, and that's all that matters," Charlie said. Words of wisdom from a seven-year-old.

  Jasper leaned over and hugged Charlie.

  "Charlie, you give great advice, you know that? I have to leave now, but I will see you soon. Okay, buddy?"

  "Sure, Mr. Jasper! See you later!" Charlie walked over to the computers, towing his IV beside him.

  Jasper walked away, heading downstairs. He knew what he had to do, whether Marly wanted him to or not.

  Marly sat quietly, watching her mother sleep for hours, the IV full of morphine dripping slowly into her frail body. She didn't know how long her mother had now without the operation. Probably not long. It all seemed so surreal now to her. She wasn't even able to cry. She just had no more tears left.

  The nurse came in, smiling when she saw Marly.

  "This is so exciting, isn't it?! Such great news for a change. We will start prepping her now for tomorrow." She was unhooking the morphine and filling IV bags with other liquids.

  "What are you talking about?" Marly asked, wondering what in the world was going on now. If there was good news, she certainly hadn't heard it.

  "The procedure was just approved by finance—it's all set. Your mom can get the treatment she needs now. I thought you knew."

  Marly frowned. Maybe the check from Tanner really hadn't bounced, or maybe he'd made good on it after all.

  "Are you sure? I mean, I don't know anything about this. I thought the check didn't clear."

  "I'm positive. Go speak with Nancy at the nurses' station. She just told me."

  Marly stood up slowly, stiff from having sat in the same position for the last few hours. She walked down to the nurses' station and spotted Nancy across the hall, tidying up the family room.

  "Nancy, what's going on with my mom? Did the check clear after all? I just want to make sure this is real and not a misunderstanding."

  Nancy gave Marly a big grin as she fluffed some of the large pillows on the couches.

  "Oh, it's no misunderstanding, Marly. Someone donated the money for your mom's operation anonymously. We can't tell you who paid. Isn't it wonderful?" Nancy winked at Marly. "Your mom sure has a guardian angel."

  Marly stood dumbfounded for a few seconds then headed back to her mother's room, hope blooming in her chest. It all seemed too good to be true. Maybe it was a clerical error, or a computer glitch, but if whatever had happened meant her mother got the operation, she wasn't going to question it.

  31

  Raffe Washburn leaned against the mahogany paneling in the elevator at Draconia and looked at the entry form on his phone. The entry was for one of the premier culinary contests in the world. Winning that contest would be a real coup for him and finally prove to his father that he was worth something on his own. His gut clenched. But was he good enough?

  Raffe had already made it in the restaurant world by many people's standards. He owned some of the best-rated restaurants on the planet. But that gave him little satisfaction. Anyone with enough money could buy a restaurant and hire talented chefs. What he really wanted was to be recognized as one of the top chefs in the world in his own right. And this contest could help him do that.

  Only one problem. The contest was for chef couples, either married or engaged. The thought of getting even close to engaged gave Raffe hives. He wasn't the marrying type. Maybe Jasper could help him figure out a way into the contest, though.

  The elevator dinged to a stop, and the doors slid open. He stepped out to the sound of angry female voices.

  "I know you got Marly fired on purpose because you want Jasper for yourself!"

  Raffe recognized the voice as Sarah, the girl that cooked for Jasper. She seemed nice. Girl-next-door type. Definitely not his type, even though she was kind of cute.

  "Please. Go back to your desk and do the important things, like making Jasper his meals."

  That voice was Jasper's secretary, Veronica. Raffe grimaced as he came around the corner to see her waving her red-lacquered talons in Sarah's face. He didn't know why Jasper kept that girl on—she was a viper if he ever saw one.

  "Those meals are some of the best food I've ever eaten!" he cut in, enjoying the angry look that flashed in Veronica's eyes. Apparently, she didn't like anyone sticking up for Sarah. Normally, she would be giving him the once-over, but his comment had pissed her off. Good.

  "Jasper's left the building, if you're looking for him," Veronica said dryly.

  "Oh, shoot." Raffe glanced over at Jasper's office. Disappointment warred with suspicion in his gut. Jasper had acted a little strange earlier, and it wasn't like him not to be in the office at this time of day. "Any idea where he went? He was acting a little bit off…"

  "I don't know where he went. Maybe he's upset because of the way Veronica went behind his back and fired Marly." Sarah folded her arms over her chest and glared at Veronica.

  "I did not. Edward told me to." Veronica's beady eyes darted from Sarah to Raffe.

  "What happened?" Raffe had noticed his friend had taken an interest in Marly. Jasper had acted casual about it when Raffe had asked, but he knew Jasper well. He had it bad for the brunette… but if she'd gotten fired, that spelled trouble.

  Sarah pulled him into Jasper's office despite Veronica's protests. He listened intently, his gut growing heavier as she told him about Marly's sick mother, the fake designs, and how Veronica had outed her in a meeting and then had her fired without Jasper even knowing.

  "I haven't been able to contact Marly, and Jasper stormed out. If you could see those two look at each other, you'd know they were meant to be together. And you know Jasper deserves someone good. Now it's all going to be screwed up."

  Raffe nibbled his bottom lip. Jasper was one of the best people he knew, and even though Raffe liked having a different girl every week, he knew Jasper really wanted to settle down.

  Ding.

  They both looked over at Jasper's computer, on which a screen popped up, confirming flight plans for his private jet to leave for London that night.

  "It's worse than I thought," Raffe said. "He's actually leaving the country over her."

  "What?" Sarah looked from the screen back to him.

  "I should have known. Earlier today, he took a humongous wad of cash out of the safe at his penthouse. And now he's flying to Europe. You must be right about him and Marly. He has it bad, and now he's running away. Ever since his mother died, he's run when his feelings got too deep."

  "Well, you have to stop him. He needs to be here for Marly and to run the company. Marly's new designs for the fall line are so good that I really think they will pull Draconia out of the sales rut it's been in and get us back on top."

  Raffe stared at Sarah. She was right—he couldn't let Jasper screw everything up.

  "What do we do?" Raffe pointed at the screen. "Jasper's probably on his way to the airport right now."

  Jasper weaved through the heavy traffic, pulling his car into the reserved parking space at the Jetway. His phone had been going off nonstop since he'd left the office, and he'd ignored it the entire time. He scrolled through the texts, pausing on one, and then replied, "Approved." The deadline for the fall line—Marly's—was today for the print ads, or they would miss this month's publications entirely. He had been so busy he'd forgotten about the deadline.

  "Good evening, Mr. Kenney. Can I take that for you? We should be de
parting in about twenty minutes."

  Jasper nodded and smiled at the baggage handler, who took his bag and brought it onto the private jet he was about to board to head overseas to London. He was glad Draconia had its own jet. Flying commercial right now was not something he would have wanted to do. Too many people, too much noise. He wanted to be left alone with his thoughts, even if they all ended up drifting to Marly.

  He slowly climbed up the stairs to enter the jet, stopping to let out a sneeze. Too bad the sneezing was too late. He'd had a good thing right under his nose—Marly—and he'd let her go. He turned off his phone as he settled into the plush leather seat. The only one he wanted to talk to was Marly, and she had made it clear she never wanted to speak to him again.

  Marly was still in a daze over the anonymous donation when Sarah called her.

  "Where are you?" Sarah shrieked into the phone.

  "I'm at the hospital. Someone anonymously donated a hundred thousand dollars cash for my mother's procedure! I'm in shock," Marly said, still in disbelief.

  Sarah paused on the other end, and Marly was about to ask if she was still there, when she heard, "Oh my God, Marly. I think it was Jasper who paid! Raffe said he took a big wad of cash out of his safe after I told him everything. I hope you don't mind that I told him, but the shit kind of hit the fan here. I don't have time to explain anything now. Jasper's leaving for Europe. Like as in now. You need to get to the airport and talk to him before the plane leaves!"

  Marly pulled her phone away from her ear, staring at it in disbelief. What the hell was Sarah talking about? Why would Jasper pay? He had just had her fired!

  "Sarah, Jasper had me fired. He didn't pay." But then why had Jasper shown up at the hospital begging her to talk? She felt bad about how she'd treated him, but she couldn't handle much more at the time.

  But he'd looked so hurt. Would he really be hurt if he'd fired her? Was the firing a mistake? Could he have been the one that donated the money? He surely had enough.

  The nurse had told Marly the money for the operation had come from an "angel"—the same word she'd used to describe Jasper when she'd talked about the family room he had paid for.

  Oh my God. Jasper is the donor.

  "Sarah, what airport is he flying from?" The doctor had said they would be prepping her mother over the next several hours, and Marly wouldn't be able to see her until just before the operation. She'd have just enough time to get to the airport.

  "JFK. The private side. He's taking the Draconia jet. I'll call them and give you clearance so you can get through. Hurry!" Sarah's voice was tight with a mixture of excitement and panic.

  Marly flew out the doors of the hospital, her arms flapping frantically to hail a cab. She jumped in and instructed the driver to take her to JFK airport. He grunted and mumbled something about how bad traffic was. She ignored him and called Jasper. He didn't answer. She sent him a text and stared out the window as the cab proceeded at a painfully slow crawl to the airport. Her heart raced.

  She had told Jasper to get lost, and he had paid for her mother's operation anyway. He really did care about her. She needed to get to the airport before his plane took off. She needed to fix this.

  Veronica called the security desk at the private hangar Draconia leased for the company jet. She had heard the entire conversation between Marly and Sarah, thanks to the intercom system on the phones. She had learned that trick a while ago, and no one ever knew she could listen in.

  "Hello, this is Veronica St. James from Jasper Kenney's office at Draconia. I understand that you've been told to grant Marly West access to the plane, but that was incorrect information. She should not be allowed beyond the gate if she comes there. Is that understood?" She used her most serious authoritative business tone, but she knew they wouldn't question her. They never did. She had been dealing with them for years.

  "Yes, Miss St. James. I understand."

  Veronica smirked as she hung up the phone, and reached into her drawer for a handful of M&M's, popping them slowly one by one into her mouth, humming as she did so.

  Good luck, Marly. You don't have a chance in hell of stopping Jasper.

  After what seemed like forever, the cab crept up to the private gate at JFK. Marly threw a wad of money at the cabbie and hit the ground running, heading to the security stand that was in front of the huge gate.

  "Hi, I'm Marly West. I need to see Jasper Kenney, from Draconia. I believe that's the jet right there." She pointed to the only jet visible on the private side of the runway, a sleek black-and-silver number. He hadn't left yet. Thank God.

  "Sorry, ma'am. You don't have clearance to come in here," the burly security guard said, looking down at some papers on a clipboard.

  "That's impossible. The office should have just called. Can you please check again?" Marly craned her neck to see what he was looking at.

  "You don't have access, Miss West. I'm positive. Sorry."

  Marly whipped her phone out and called Sarah.

  Jasper leaned back in the plush leather chair and accepted a glass of wine from the stewardess. He looked out the window, his mind racing with what had happened that day so far. He chuckled at the thought of little Charlie, who had basically been the one who led him to pay for Marly's mother's operation.

  He wished Marly had just told him everything up front. Why hadn't she done that?

  He was a fool to think they'd had a connection. A fool to feel as if he could open up and tell her things. Things he'd never told other women.

  Obviously, Marly didn't feel the same way. Otherwise, she'd have told him about her mother. And needing the money. And Tanner.

  He clenched the tiny white-and-blue cocktail napkin in his fist. He never should have let his guard down. That way, he wouldn't have been hurt.

  "What? Put the guard on the phone," Sarah instructed Marly as she paced back and forth in Jasper's office.

  Marly handed the phone to the guard. "My corporate office is on the line for my approval." Never mind it was just Sarah—Marly made it sound as if it was someone in authority as she handed the phone over to the guard.

  The guard quirked a brow. "Hello?"

  Marly strained forward to hear Sarah's voice.

  "Yes, this is Sarah from Jasper Kenney's office. I called you earlier, giving Marly West access. What's the issue?"

  "After you called, we took a call from Veronica St. James stating that that was incorrect, and Miss West was not to have access."

  It figures! Veronica really would stop at nothing to screw with her.

  "That is wrong." Sarah's voice was firm. "Give her access now. She has critical information for Jasper Kenney."

  The guard looked at Marly skeptically. "I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm going to have to escalate this. I just can't risk the potential security issue. Please hold."

  The guard picked up a phone on the side of the wall of his shack and turned away from Marly. Apparently, "escalating" was something they didn't want everyone to listen in on.

  Marly paced back and forth outside the gate, her eyes glued to the shiny black-and-silver jet.

  What the hell was going on? She watched the grounds crew milling around and then saw what must have been the pilot and co-pilot enter the plane, and the stairs slowly started to lift up. After a few minutes, the engines started to come to life on the jet. No!

  "Sorry, Miss West. You're cleared. But I think it's too late now." The security guard handed her her phone back and pushed the button that opened the gate. Marly burst through the gate as soon as it was open enough for her to fit through and ran toward the jet.

  She ignored the people yelling at her to stop. The jet hadn't started moving yet. She still had a chance. She must look like a crazy person, but she didn't care.

  A commotion outside the jet caught Jasper's eyes. He squinted to see out the window. The plane's wing was blocking his view, but he saw what appeared to be a group of people coming toward the plane… led by… Marly?

  Was that really Marly? It could
n't be. He strained to get a better view.

  Yes, it was Marly. Running toward the jet. What the hell was going on?

  He unbuckled his seat belt and ran to the cockpit, telling them to stop the engines and open the door.

  Once the door was opened and the staircase down, he stood at the top. Marly was only a few feet away and then she was bounding up the steps toward him. She flew into his arms, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  "I'm so sorry. For everything. And you, you are the anonymous donor for my mom, aren't you?" she sputtered out between sobs.

  Jasper's heart crashed as he pulled her in and held her tight, closing his eyes and breathing in the lemon scent of her. His nose twitched just slightly.

  He didn't trust himself to talk, so he grabbed her hand and pulled her further in, closing the privacy door between lounge and crew and sitting her down on the couch inside.

  "Why didn't you tell me what was going on all this time?" he asked her, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

  "What was I supposed to say? I didn't know how to begin. I guess I just hoped everything would go as planned and you would never find out. I never would have betrayed you. Please believe me. I had to save my mother. I had no other choice."

  "I know. Sarah told me everything. I lost my mother to cancer, and I know how desperate it feels. I understand why you did what you had to do."

  "But I should have told you." Marly choked out the words.

  "It's okay." Jasper leaned over and kissed her. Her lips were warm and soft, and the way she kissed him back made his heart swell. And the best part was, he didn't even sneeze.

  He grabbed her hands and pulled her up from the couch. "Come on. We have an important patient in the hospital that needs our support."

  32