Jameson
Cindy Forest. That was the woman who helped set me up. I stared into her dull blue eyes as she sat across from me. Her dark roots had grown, covering the top of her scalp and not blending in well with the bleach on the ends of her hair. It sickened me to even have her in my office but now that she had confessed to her misdeeds I had to make sure I’d never see her again.
Flipping through the file Meg compiled on her, I shook my head. “You’ve been busy, Ms. Forest.”
She squirmed in her chair as Miles and Meg stood behind her.
“I said I was sorry,” she said. “I needed the cash. I have kids to feed.”
“Yes, about those kids. Two in high school and one in 5th grade.”
“How did you know that?” I saw the worry etched in her expression. I’d never go after her kids but she didn’t need to know that.
She’d already been arrested for prostitution when she was younger. I promised her I had friends in D.C. that could make that happen again. Once she saw the footage of Conrad handing her the cash she knew I’d had her. She’d admitted staging the scene and waiting in the bedroom. Conrad figured either Miles or CC would show up eventually. It was an easy gig for her since I had already been drugged. All she had to do was wait until morning.
“There isn’t much I don’t know. One call to social services and they’ll know everything I do.”
“Please, I’ve already given you what you want.”
“What did he drug me with?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think your parole officer will be interested in hearing about your extracurricular activities?”
“I told you. I needed the cash. Conrad found me through my ex. It was good money. I didn’t mean to cause trouble. Please,” she begged. “My kids need me.”
“I have people that need me too.” I challenged her. “I have employees who depend on me to feed their kids. I have a family who knows how hard I struggled to stay clean. I have a girl who counts on me. You made me disappoint her. She thinks I fucking slept with you.”
“I didn’t think it through,” she said. “I can tell her what happened.”
“What makes you think she’ll believe someone like you?”
A light knock at my door interrupted the conversation. My assistant, Elle, peeked her head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but you wanted to know when Mr. Hayes arrived.”
“Perfect.” I smiled at Cindy. “Send him in.”
She rolled her eyes as Conrad made his way into my office. His delusional smirk disappeared when he saw the room full of people.
“What’s going on?” he asked as Miles shut the door, standing in front of it.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I greeted him. “Did you actually think I asked you here because I wanted to help you?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” He stared at Cindy, acting as if he’d never seen her before.
“I’m not sure if you’ve met Meg.” I pointed to my efficient P.I. “She certainly knows you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His jaw tightened. “You’re wasting my time.”
“You’ve wasted a shitload of my time this week and I can assure you mine is much more valuable than yours.” I cued the security footage. “Have a seat. I have something for you to see.”
“What?” He grew more agitated as each moment passed.
“I’ve already shown it to Cindy here.” I motioned to my new friend. “I would introduce you but I know you’ve already met.”
“Can I go?” Cindy asked.
“In a minute,” I said. “First let Conrad see what we have here.”
“I don’t know what this is about but...” He stopped talking when he saw the images on the tablet.
“You said that no one would know who I was,” Cindy said. “He knows who I am.”
“Shut up.” Conrad sat down. “He doesn’t have a damn thing.”
“Really?” I wondered if he had any idea that he was fucked. “Because Cindy thought I had enough to tell me exactly what happened that night.” I glared at her. “Now you can go.” I pointed to the door. “Meg will see you out. She’ll also be keeping tabs on you until I’m satisfied you’re no longer involved in my life.”
“Don’t worry.” Cindy quickly got up. “I want nothing more to do with any of you.” She looked at Conrad. “Don’t contact me again.”
“I can promise that when I’m done with him, he won’t remember where Washington is.” I nodded at Meg. “Make sure she leaves me alone.”
“No problem.” Meg towered over Cindy by at least a foot. “We’re going to be best friends from now on.” Meg opened my office door. “You may never turn around again without looking for me.”
Miles snickered when he shut the door before taking a seat beside me.
“Oh, am I supposed to be shocked that you played detective and figured out I was the one who set you up?” Conrad looked disgusted. “I’m not impressed since I’m the last one to have left your oversized boat.”
“If you knew I’d figure it out what was the point?” Why was he wasting my time?
“What was the point?” He grinned. “Causing some chaos in your life is reason enough.”
“Seriously? Is there something wrong with you?” This week had been bizarre on many levels.
“What did you put in his system?” Miles asked.
“Does it matter?” Conrad loosened his tie. “You’ll never be able to prove I did it.”
“What is it that you want? Because I know you want something.”
“I want you to take me back as your client.”
“Are you crazy? After what you did to me what makes you think I’d ever work with you?” I’m going to fucking destroy you in a matter of minutes. “I already told you I was done with you.”
“I did what I did to show you I could get to you at any time.” He was so casual about his admission. “You said I didn’t have the spine for D.C. I wasn’t ruthless enough to get what I wanted. Weren’t those your words when you dismissed me?”
“So you what? Drugged me and paid a whore to pretend she slept with me?”
“Considering I was just with CC and saw how upset she looked, I’d say I did some damage.” His smug smile infuriated me. “It’s only a matter of time before I’m ruthless enough to get her into my bed.”
I shot up from my seat and tried to come at him, but Miles held me back. “He’s baiting you,” my brother warned. “Focus and do what needs to be done. He’ll be out of your life soon.”
“Don’t bet on it,” Conrad said. “That stunt I pulled on the boat was just the beginning. You shouldn’t have kicked me to the curb.”
“This whole thing was to prove me wrong?”
Conrad challenged me with his casual gaze. “Someone had to.”
“Let me get this straight.” I removed my suit jacket and draped it over my chair. “You inconvenienced me. Made CC mad at me and put some foreign substance into my body to show me that you have what it takes to win?” This guy was more screwed up than I thought. I’d kill him if he ever went near CC again.
“Relax.” He glanced at his watch. “It was a strong tranquilizer. Clearly not your drug of choice. If I remember correctly you liked to snort your drugs.”
“That’s uncalled for,” Miles said. “And you’re nuts if you think we’re helping you run for anything.”
“Oh, you’ll take me back.” He seemed so sure. “You’re going to make sure I win too.”
“How am I going to do that?” I asked. “I may be a miracle worker but not even I can get a fool like you to win. That’s why I dropped you.”
“You’ll get creative and sabotage my opponents. I know you’re ruthless enough for that.”
“You’re wasting my time again,” I said. “You got me the other night, I’ll give you that.”
“Thank you.” He was proud of himself. “Now you know who is in control. From now on you’ll listen to my ideas. I want that senate seat. You’re going to get it for me. If not, the next time I’ll make sure your next bender is more public. The next prostitute might take pictures. CC might not get out of this unscathed either.”
I balled my fists under my desk, fighting every urge not to punch this delusional bastard’s teeth in.
“I can be as dangerous as any other politician in this sleazy town. I just need the right person to back me. You’ll do what I say because you don’t want to disappoint your family. Not like last time.”
“Why would anyone believe anything you do to him?” Miles asked. “Especially with me right here. I know your plan?”
“It’s all about perception. Doubt... innuendo. A little blackmail goes a long way. My experiment on the yacht was just to prove a point. Even you’ll admit, Miles, you thought your brother fell off the wagon. Cindy told me how devastated CC was when she saw her come out of the bedroom. Think of the destruction I can cause the two of you next time. I can go after you too, Miles. You’re no saint.”
“Enough!” I yelled. “It’s interesting you mention blackmail. None of us are free of skeletons. While you were busy looking for ours you failed to realize we already found yours.”
“What?” He rolled his eyes. “You have nothing on me. If you did you would have used it.”
“I’m a patient man.” I took his file from my desk drawer. “You should have been a smarter man and figured I knew more than I let on. When I let you go you should have kept on walking all the way back to Boston.”
“That would have been the smart thing to do,” Miles said. “Now you’ve pissed my brother off.”
“I might have let this all go but then you had to go and upset my girl.” I opened the file and showed him a picture of a young woman. “Look familiar?”
“Where did you...” He shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You were a History teacher out of college, right? A popular one from what I gather.”
“It wasn’t for me,” he mumbled.
“All those pretty, young teenagers prancing around that expensive prep school you taught at proved to be too much for you especially when this one.” I pointed to the picture. “Alison Trevor ended up pregnant.”
“Shut up.” Conrad didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “You have nothing.”
“Hmm... according to her birth certificate she was only seventeen, not even a senior yet, when she had her baby. You were twenty-four. I’m going to say that’s a rather large skeleton to fall out of your closet.”
“I didn’t get her pregnant.”
“Why is it that your family deposits large sums of money into her bank account every month?”
“You can’t prove anything.”
“Doubt? Innuendo? Perception? I don’t need to prove anything. It was rather ballsy of you to even think you could run for office and not have that come out. It was buried, I’ll admit, but I can find anything. If you were my client that would have stayed buried but now...” I shook my head. “I can’t guarantee that I won’t leak it.” Who’s ruthless now?
“Leave it buried.”
“That’s entirely up to you.” I flipped through the file. “I know who she is, where she lives, how old her child is. I even know who the father of that kid is even if you swear you’re not. I’ll make this real simple. Go back to Boston. Forget about your political aspirations and leave me alone.”
“How do I know you won’t come after me?”
“You don’t.” If he held up his end of the bargain I had no intention of harming this woman and her child. According to Meg’s file she married and her new husband was raising the kid. I wouldn’t expose them but Conrad didn’t need to know that. “Stay away from CC or you’ll seal your own fate.”
“She means that much to you?” Conrad stood and headed for the door. “I’m not sure how a jerk like you managed to get her to fall for you.”
“I’m lucky, I guess.” Now I had to find a way to get her back. “Forget you know us.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “There’s nothing I could ever want from you. None of this life is worth the aggravation.”
“Welcome to Washington.” You pompous ass. “Too bad you didn’t last that long.”
He left without another word and I was confident we’d seen the last of him. I put my feet on my desk and stretched out, feeling a sense of relief. One I hadn’t experienced in days.
“I can’t believe he thought that lame scheme was going to work.” Miles checked his texts. “Weak, so weak.”
“Some people are delusional and will stop at nothing to achieve what they think they deserve. Conrad’s plan may have worked with someone other than me but he picked the wrong person to screw with especially when it comes to my sobriety.”
“You think that’s the last of him?”
“I’ll have Meg keep an eye on him but yes, Alison and their child mean something to him. I saw it in his expression. I scared him.”
“That’s probably because she wasn’t the only teenager he screwed with. Sick fuck.”
“Another day in D.C.” I got up and gazed out the window, wondering what CC was doing. I’d sent her a few texts this week but her responses were brief, dismissive. I couldn’t blame her. If I’d seen what she’d seen I wouldn’t have been so calm. I’d be very lucky if she ever spoke to me again.
“You going to call her?” Miles asked.
“Eventually.” I shrugged. “I’m not sure how to fix this.”
“She’ll believe you.”
“I’m an addict with a history of lying and hurting people. I’ve shared more with her than I ever have with anyone else. She knows what I’m capable of. What I’ve done.”
Opening up to CC was the most therapeutic thing I’d ever done but in doing so, she knew the real me. The man who could make all her dreams come true but the same one who could ruin her life with one fix. Not that I thought about relapsing but she would always have her doubts about me. How couldn’t she?
“You didn’t do anything. You were a victim the other night. Meg and I can tell her what happened. It’s a bat shit crazy story. She’d have to believe it. No one’s making that up.”
“Maybe she’s better off without me.” She was young, starting a new career. I didn’t know... maybe I wasn’t the guy for her.
“That’s bull and you know it.”
“Thanks for the pep talk.” I patted his back. “Get back to work.”
“Call her.” He headed for the door. “You need her.”
“Thanks for everything. I couldn’t have gotten through this week without your support. The faith you had in me means more than you’ll ever know.”
“I’ll always have your back. The same way you have mine.” He opened the door. “Even if you’re the biggest pain in the ass brother I know.”
“Oh, come on.” I grinned. “Max is way worse than me. He crashed your car.”
“Yeah.” He placed his hand over his heart. “I never did get over the loss of that Corvette.”
“Go to work.” I leaned against my door as he went to his office. I was lucky to have him. I gazed around, taking in all my employees. Everyone was hard at work. It was probably time for me to do the same. It was just that...
“Jameson.” I glanced in the direction of the elevator.
“Cecilia,” I whispered as she ran toward me, barreling into my arms. Holding her tight, I hugged her, breathing in her familiar vanilla scent. “What are you doing here?” I missed her.
“I was coming to see you.” She stepped back to look at me, but I continued to hold her. “I wanted to tell you... well, I saw that woman, the one who was on your boat the other day. She was in the lobby.”
“I can explain that.” Shit! Talk about timing. CC had come to see me. She initiated contact and that wretched woman who set me up was here. “Come here.” I guided her into my office. “We need to talk.”
“No.” She hugged me. “You don’t have to explain. She told me she lied and said she was sorry for the trouble she caused. She said Conrad was behind it all.”
“I told you I was complicated.”
“I was on my way here to tell you that I was sorry I didn’t trust you. I should have been there to work through this with you even if it turned out that you did have a relapse. I should have been here for you.”
I kissed the top of her head, not wanting to let her go. Ever.