Epilogue
Vivienne
“It's hard to believe it's been more than two years since you moved in across the street from me,” I said to Everett, watching through the window as the newest family in the neighborhood directed a delivery team delivering a red couch into their home.
“I can’t believe you’re stalking the new neighbors,” he joked.
“Well, technically it’s still my house. Maybe I want to know what they’re taking into it,” I jabbed back at him teasingly.
“They’ve been living there for almost a year. You’ve been in the house several times since then. Nice try, Nosy Nancy,” he said with a laugh.
I smacked him in the arm. “I’m just glad they seem to be fitting in well here.”
“They are, aren't they?” he remarked. “Doesn’t hurt that they have a six-year-old for Jane to play with too.”
“Yeah, well, I’m also glad they get along so well. It's great for her to have a friend the same age in the neighborhood.”
“It really is,” he agreed. “Kids these days don't do enough of that. When I was growing up, there was a whole crew of neighborhood kids. We used to play football or baseball in the street every afternoon, or go climb trees, or all that other good outdoor stuff. It was great for me, too; gave me the chance to get away from the house. Wasn’t the happiest place on Earth.”
I turned and slipped my arms around his waist. “Well, despite everything you went through as a child, you didn’t turn out so bad,” I teased.
“You must not think I’m too bad. You did agree to marry me.”
“You have a good point. Then again, maybe I didn’t really have too many options,” I jabbed back.
He hugged me tightly. “It’s true. You settled. I don’t know what you were thinking.”
I smiled sweetly up at him. “I’ll tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking that you are very likely the best man I've ever met, to be honest.”
“See, now you’re just trying to butter me up, aren't you?” he laughed and gave me a kiss on my neck that sent a delightful shiver down my spine.
“You know, as much as I want to take you back to our room and have my way with you, isn't it about time for us to pick Jane up from Stacy's house?” I asked.
He glanced at his watch. “You're right; we did say we'd be there at five. Guess you’ll just have to make it up to me tonight. Come on then, let's go.”
I grabbed my purse, and we headed out of the house and locked up.
We drove for just five minutes to the house where Jane's friend from her first-grade class lived and parked outside then walked up to the door and knocked.
A bubbly blonde woman opened the door and smiled. “Mr. and Mrs. James,” she said. “I'm Bianca, Stacy’s mom. I’m so glad to finally meet you! Stacy has been having such a good time with Jane.”
“Lovely to meet you, too! I’m Vivienne, and this is Everett,” I said introducing ourselves. We had met her husband a few weeks earlier, but Bianca always seemed to be away on business. “Jane always talks about how much she likes Stacy, so I guess those two have been getting along like peas in a pod.”
“Ah yes, they certainly have been getting along well,” she said.
“Is Jane ready to go?” Everett jumped in.
“She is, she is. Let me go get her. Would you two like to come in for a while?” Bianca asked.
“I'm afraid we can't, we have a few things that we need to get back to at home,” I replied.
“I understand. But, we would love to have you all over sometime and get to know you guys a little better. I can already see the girls are going to be great friends,” she announced.
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “We'll make a time when we can all get together.”
“Great. Well, I'll go get Jane now,” she said. “I'll be back in a minute.”
We waited on the porch while she went inside to fetch Jane.
“She seems really nice,” I said to Everett.
He smiled. “She does. We'll have to take her up on that offer to hang out sometime.”
Bianca returned with Stacy and Jane in tow.
“Say goodbye to your friend now,” Everett encouraged Jane with a smile.
Jane hugged Stacy like they’d been friends forever. “Bye, Stacy,” she said. “I enjoyed playing at your house with you. You should come to my house soon.”
“Can I, Mom?” Stacy looked up at her mother with a shy smile.
“I’m sure we can work that out,” Bianca assured her daughter.
“Good,” Stacy turned her attention back to Jane. “I like you! You're my best friend.”
“Aw, isn't that so cute,” I remarked, squeezing Everett's hand.
I reached down and took Jane's hand.
“Come on now, Jane; I’m afraid we have to go. You'll be able to see Stacy again tomorrow at school.” We waved goodbye to them and headed down the steps.
“Yay!” Jane said with a big grin. “I like playing with Stacy.”
We walked out to the SUV, and Everett chatted with Jane as we got into the car.
“So, you had a good time there, huh sweet pea?” he said.
“Yeah, Daddy! We played with her Barbie dolls, and she has another doll that's like a real baby! Its eyes open and close, it can even cry! You got to hold it really careful, or it'll cry, just like a real baby!”
“That's good, that's good,” he said as he drove. “And did you just play with dolls all afternoon, sweet pea?”
“No, we also colored. Stacy has some pretty coloring books.”
“That sounds like fun. You didn't play video games or anything like that?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Stacy's mom says she can't play on tablets or cellphones or play video games. But it's okay, I think; I liked playing with dolls and coloring.”
Everett shot me a sideways glance and a wry smile. “I think we should definitely encourage this budding friendship, huh?” he remarked. “Sounds like they're good people.”
I chuckled. “An electronics ban doesn’t make them good people,” I said. “But they do seem to be on the same wavelength as us when it comes to raising a child.”
We pulled into the driveway and we all piled out of the SUV.
Jane jumped out and immediately looked across the street and saw her friend playing on the porch of his family's house – my former house.
“Hey, there's Jason!” she exclaimed. “Can I go play with him for a while?”
“But, sweet pea, you've just spent the whole afternoon playing with Stacy,” Everett said.
“But I'm not tired yet!” Jane declared.
I took Everett's hand and squeezed it suggestively. “Let her go, honey, there's still an hour or two of daylight left... And I can think of something nice we could do in the house once we're all alone.”
Everett grinned, picking up the hint immediately. “Well … okay, sweet pea, you can go and play with James for a little while.”
“Yay!” she said and ran toward the street, stopped and looked both ways for any cars, and then sprinted across. She immediately sat down next to Jason, who was playing with toy cars and trucks on the porch. His mother looked across the lawn and saw us, offering us a friendly wave.
“I'll keep an eye on them, don't worry!” she shouted across the street.
“Thanks, Liv!” I shouted back.
“Alright, my handsome husband,” I purred to Everett. “Why don't you and I head inside and see what sort of things we can get into to pass the next hour or two?”
He sneakily squeezed my butt with one of his strong hands. “I can think of a few things that you might find especially...entertaining,” he remarked with a grin.
“Oh, of that I have no doubt!” I shot back as I pulled him to the couch for a make-out session.
“I love you so much, Viv,” he whispered into my ear as he pulled me into his lap. “So very, very much.”
“And I love you, my amazing husband,” I replied, kissing him slowly and deeply.
I’d been trying all day to find the perfect time to tell him the news, the news that I had only just found out that morning.
“Everett,” I said, taking his hand and placing it gently on my belly. “I've got a little surprise for you.”
“Oh yeah?” he said, clearly not getting the hint. “And what's that?”
“You know how Jane is always asking for a little brother or sister to add to our family?”
“I do,” his eyes widened, and he tilted his head slightly. “That would be amazing,” he said, his tone a little lower as if maybe he was catching on.
“Well, right under where your hand is now... he or she is growing.”
“You're serious?” he said, his voice full of surprise. “I'm about to become a dad – again?”
“You are,” I confirmed.
“That's the best news I've had all year! And I am the luckiest man alive!” he stated, kissing me then pulling back and resting his head against mine.
“How about I show you just how lucky you can be?” I said, and then led him to our bedroom to celebrate our news.
BILLIONAIRE IN HIDING
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Claire Adams
Chapter One
Garrett
“I don’t know what you did and I don’t care. While you are here, you are just any other drifter who’s looking for a job before moving onto the next location. I won’t treat you any different.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What’s your name, son?” the older man asked me.
“Malcolm — I mean, Garrett Reynolds,” I replied. Instantly, I knew the mistake I had made. Luckily, I also knew that this man in front of me was the only one who knew that I wasn’t who I pretended to be; his job was to take me in and keep me safe.
I was scared, I readily admitted that. I was in a strange city — hell, a strange state even. I was dressed in clothes that I would never have worn in my day-to-day life and the only thing keeping me alive was a government organization that wanted to trade my testimony for the conviction of a drug smuggler.
My life was very clearly in danger and I was grateful to be at the ranch with the silly cowboy clothes on. If working as a ranch hand and living in the middle of nowhere was what I had to do to stay safe, I was going to do it.
“It’s hard, but you can’t make that mistake again. Whoever you were before doesn’t exist right now. You are Garrett Reynolds; don’t forget that.”
He was stern with me and I appreciated the reminder. It was going to take practice for me to learn this new person that I was supposed to be. In my normal life, I was charismatic and social. I loved hanging out with my friends, partying, and traveling. But all of those things were gone now. Instead of traveling and having fun, I was relegated to lowly, ranch hand duties and I was going to have to like it.
The agent had given me two choices in where I could relocate to. Either take the ranch hand position in Montana or head up to Alaska and try my hand at fishing. Because I knew myself to get violently sick on a boat, there really was no choice for me: I had to go with the ranch.
“I know, sir; I won’t let it happen again.”
“I’m Sid Miller; it’s nice to meet you, young man,” Sid said as he reached his hand out and shook mine. “I promise you’ll be safe here until they come back for you.”
I trusted Sid, which was strange for someone I had just met and considering the circumstances in which I had arrived at his ranch. But Sid Miller struck me as the kind of man who always kept his word and wouldn’t do anything to let my secret out.
He was probably in his mid to late fifties with a big, gray mustache and weathered skin. He wore cowboy boots, jeans, and a button up shirt that were probably part of his daily wardrobe from the looks of the wear and tear on the clothing. Sid also had a well-worn cowboy hat that seemed to fit him as if it were custom made. There was no doubt that he wore cowboy gear better than me.
I struggled with the boots the most. They felt like I was wearing ladies high-heeled shoes. As I took each step, I put my heel to the ground and then felt off balance as the front of my foot hit the ground in odd timing. I would have to practice walking in them so I didn’t look like a total idiot as I started my job.
My new identity was Garrett Reynolds and I was supposed to be familiar with horses and farming. The problem was, I wasn’t familiar with either of those things. It was going to be the best acting job of my life if I could actually convince people that I belonged on that ranch.
“Sid, thanks for everything.”
“Okay, that’s enough of the pleasantries. These will be your quarters; I suspect they are far below what you’re used to, but you’ll be safe. Depending on how long you stay here, and how hard you work, I’ll move you up in position just like anyone else around here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“For now, you’re a ranch hand. You’ll work with the younger boys who are here for the summer. This bunkhouse will be where you sleep and that building across the way is where the ranch hands eat.”
The ranch felt a little like a summer camp I had went to as a teenager. The bunkhouse was filled with several sets of bunk beds and small lockers at the foot of each bed. The lockers had padlocks on them, which I assumed was to keep personal belongings safe. Although I only had on small bag of personal items with me, and none of them were all that personal.
When I left my home in Los Angeles, I wasn’t allowed to take any photos or items that could be used to identify me. So, I grabbed my journals and a few other small items that were important.
Normally, if I went on a long vacation I would have my sister or one of her friends housesit my house, but it was too dangerous considering the current situation. Instead, I just paid for the highest level of security and I’d have to hope everything was still there when I got home.
“Yes, sir,” I replied. “I truly am grateful for the safety you’re providing.”
“Do you know when the trial will be?”
I looked at him in surprise. I didn’t know that Sid had been told anything about the trial that I had to testify in or the dangerous men who were threatening my life. As I followed him up to the main house, we talked briefly about the realities of my situation.
“Maybe a month, or maybe two years, I’m not sure how long the process takes.”
“I’ve had men here as long as six months, not much longer than that. So hopefully that gives you an idea.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully.
Back home, I had left a thriving business in the hands of my Corporate Vice President, Casey Zane. It was a tough job and would require him to work harder than he was used to. I had confidence in Casey though; he had only been with me a year, but he had proven his abilities. Luckily, we had a top-notch team of leaders to support him in my absence as well.
The worst thing that could happen would be that my private jet business would go bust while I was away. And after having my life threatened and having one of my co-workers murdered, bankruptcy didn’t seem like the end of the world.
I had fought the idea of going into witness protection, though. I really didn’t like the idea of leaving my employees exposed to the evil character who wanted me dead. But the truth was that none of them knew about Frank Gordano and his drug smuggling business like I did. The only other person who worked for me that had known him was dead. So as much as I didn’t want to go into protective custody, it was much better than being dead.
“I’m going to introduce you to my wife. She’s the one that feeds you men and she’ll help with any questions you might have.”
“Does she know?”
“She knows that we take in witnesses, but she prefers not to know which of you are in the program and which are genuinely just here to work. It’s easier for her that way.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The large farmhouse looked much bigger as we approached it. There was a sweeping, wraparound deck and a white porch swing. It looked as if it was right out of a storybook, and when Sid’s wife walked up to the front door and let us in, I thought we were certainly in some sort of make-believe land.
I had a girlfriend once that made me watch made-for-television movies with her. As I stood on the porch of Sid’s perfect home, in the middle of his perfect, Montana ranch, I felt like I was right, smackdab in the middle of a made-for-television movie.
“This beautiful woman is Meredith Miller, but you lot usually just call her Mrs. Miller.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” I said with extended hand.
Meredith pushed my hand aside and gave me a warm hug. She was beautiful, warm, and clearly cared about the men who came to work at their ranch. I knew instantly I was going to enjoy my time at Miller Ranch.
Hard work had never scared me. I hadn’t become a success by being afraid of hard work. My aviation company was one of the top, private jet companies in the world. I had more than one thousand planes in the air and twice that many employees. Sure, testifying in this case had put me in a precarious position, but I couldn’t have forced my employees to do it. What kind of CEO would I have been if I hadn’t been willing to keep them safe and testify myself? Plus, any of the employees who had had contact with Frank Gordano weren’t even aware of what he was transporting on our planes. I was really the only person who know the whole story.
Meredith was tall, thin, and had beautiful, caramel-colored skin. It was obvious that she didn’t just sit in the house all day while Sid managed the ranch. As she pulled away from our embrace, she looked into my eyes and for a moment I felt like she could see right through me. I didn’t think she needed me to tell her that I was there under protection; something told me that she knew it right away by looking at me.
“What’s your name, young man?” she asked.
“Garrett,” I replied with a smile. Partially because I was proud of myself for remembering the right name to say and partially in response to the beautiful grin on Meredith’s face.
Just being near her and talking to her had calmed my nerves a bit already. She had a gentle way about her and I could see why Sid had married her. Someday I hoped to find a woman that I could love like they seemed to love each other.
I watched as Sid put his arm around Meredith and pulled her toward him to give her a quick kiss. She laughed and smiled like a schoolgirl. Life would be so great if I ever found a woman I could make smile like that with just my touch.
Women and I had never really mixed all that well. Sure, I liked women and I spent lots of time with them. I had them in my bed, at my parties, out for dates. But I never seemed to be able to find a woman that felt like a true match for me. When I envisioned my life with a partner and wife, I wanted someone who was truly my equal. That didn’t mean I was looking for someone who owned a billion-dollar business or anything like that; I just needed a woman who felt like she could hold her own around me.
But all of that was on hold for the time being. I wasn’t going to be dating anyone and I certainly wouldn’t be finding a lifelong partner on a ranch full of men. I had to hope that my time on the ranch wouldn’t last longer than a few weeks. I could use it as a vacation, time to relax and reflect on my life a bit. If it dragged out longer than a few weeks, I was likely to go stir crazy alone on the ranch with all the free time I was going to have.
“Have you ever been around horses?”
“No, ma’am,” I said and then quickly remembered that my new identity really had been around horses before.
I shot Sid a look and shrugged my shoulders at my mistake. It was going to take a lot more practice than I thought to remember this new man that I was supposed to be. I had a hard-enough time remembering the man I already was.
“That’s a pity; I think you’d do well there. My daughter, Sarah, will likely be home for a few months very soon. If you’d like, I’ll have her teach you about them and you could be in charge of their care with her.”
“Anything you’d like. I’m here to work, ma’am. I can do anything.”
“Have Walter start him in the horse house tomorrow,” Meredith said to her husband before leading us into the house. “Have a seat; let’s get some lemonade into you and chat for a minute.”
The idea of chatting had turned my blood cold. In my old life, I would have loved to sit down and talk with a nice couple like the Millers. But I could barely remember the name of my cover story, and certainly couldn’t remember any of the facts about this pretend person I was supposed to be.
I was going to need to distract her and quickly. One of my favorite conversation techniques was distraction. When a woman I had been dating for a few weeks started asking about more long term decisions I always distracted her with gifts and trips. It worked surprisingly well, at least for a little while, but eventually they came back to nagging about a commitment.
With a good woman, I had no problem being loyal. I wasn’t a cheater. I liked one woman and would date her exclusively. My issue always came when they started talking about moving in together, getting married, and having babies. I wasn’t ready for all of that. Not with them at least. I knew that someday I would be ready and hoped that I would magically know that it was the right woman. But up until that point in my life, I certainly had not been ready.
“Is this your daughter?” I asked as I looked at the picture on the wall.
“Yes, that’s Sarah.”
“Well I can see where she gets her good looks.”
“Careful, boy,” Sid jokingly replied.
“Why is she coming back home? She looks pretty successful in this photo.”
I watched as Mr. and Mrs. Miller looked at each other and it was clear neither of them wanted to discuss the situation. But at least we weren’t talking about me, for that, I was very grateful.
Their daughter was pretty, but didn’t look happy at all in the photo of her standing in an extremely large office. The background looked like New York City; I had been there many times throughout my own career. But I had enjoyed the climb to becoming a successful CEO; their daughter did not look happy to be on her climb to the top at all. Her face was grimaced and she leaned stiffly against a large desk. Sarah had brown hair that was swept up in a bun and a stiff body position, I could tell even from the photos she was stressed out.
“Politics,” Sid replied. “Everything is always about politics.” We all laughed.
I knew he was joking, but he really wasn’t all that far from the truth. Politics did seem to run the world. It had taken me several years of business to figure that out, but when I finally got my brain around it, I did much better in my business.
Whatever the reasoning for their daughter coming home, it had to be a pretty big deal. All of the people I knew who had large offices in New York had large salaries that went with them. If their daughter was coming home, I had to guess that she was either fired, pregnant, or sick. People just didn’t leave their large salaries to move back home with their parents.
“I’m pretty exhausted; would you all mind if I made my way back to my bunk and got some sleep before work tomorrow?”
“Oh, sure, dear; I’m sure you’re tired. We are happy to have you here and I’ll see you in the morning. Breakfast is served at half after four.”
My face had to have gone as pale as a ghost at those words because both Sid and Mrs. Miller cracked a smile at my reaction. This little trip to a Montana ranch was clearly going to be much more difficult than I had expected. But then again, how was I really to know what to expect?
It had only been 72 hours since I’d agreed to testify against Frank Gordano. I was new to the whole witness protection world and had mistakenly thought I would get to hide out in a luxury cabin at the ends of the earth until the trial came. Actually, I guessed that I wouldn’t be totally comfortable wherever they sent me, but I just hadn’t thought that lack of comfort was going to include a lack of sleep.
Agent Walker, who had been my escort to the house had been surprisingly vague about what it was that I was going to be doing while on the ranch. He had given me my cowboy clothes and laughed at my inability to put them on right. He had put me at ease about how long I’d be at the ranch and even made me think that a good day’s work would be good for me because otherwise I’d be bored.
I didn’t mind work. I honestly did think that working during the day would keep my mind off of everything that was going on. And if I had to start my day at that ungodly hour of the morning, at least I would be done early and would get the afternoons to myself. I hoped to get some books to read and maybe even work on writing my own book. I had wanted to do that for years. Perhaps this was going to be the perfect opportunity to really start writing my dream book.
“Is there an alarm in the bunkhouse?” I asked.
If they wanted me to get up that early, I was certainly going to need some strong alarm clock to pry open my eyelids. I was normally a fairly early riser, but to me, that was getting up at six and heading to the gym. I liked to get a good run in and use the weights before heading to the office. This was going to be a bit of an adjustment for my internal clock to deal with.
“You won’t need one. I’ll see you in the morning,” Mrs. Miller said as she smiled and hugged me one last time and walked me out.
Sid also had a huge smile on his face and I couldn’t help but wonder why it was so funny that I was afraid of getting up that early. Had they worked on a ranch so long that they actually thought that was a normal hour for human beings to be awake?
They clearly didn’t understand just how much I valued my sleep. I was pretty damn sure there was no way I could climb out of my bed in the morning without a swift kick in the ass. But I had to trust her; we were an hour away from the nearest town and I didn’t have the means to get anywhere. Part of the simplicity of being placed at the ranch was that it was so far away from everyone that it made me much harder to find. I needed to avoid going into towns or being seen by anyone else outside of the ranch.
“Thank you again,” I said as I turned back toward the Millers.
Their generosity and home made me feel safe for the first time in the last week. I was happy to be out of Los Angeles and even happier as I climbed up into the empty bunk bed that had my things on it. Sleep had eluded me since I had first been pulled in for questioning regarding the murder of one of my employees and their involvement with Frank Gordano. My stomach had turned into a knot at the thought of my friend and employee losing his life and fear had overcome me.
Thomas Randal had been a pilot for me since my first year in business. He had grown with me and had been the one to introduce Frank Gordano and me, getting us into business together. Thomas and I knew that Frank was bad news; we had talked about it at length on several occasions. Neither of us thought he would go so far as to murder one of us though; that was the shocking part to me. We had been good business partners for several years and I couldn’t think of a reason that Frank would have ordered Thomas’ murder.
Sure, I knew Frank Gordano was a dangerous man; I knew he was capable of murder. But we were good business associates. Everything he requested, we did for him. Our planes flew him internationally several times a month and we returned home with the cargo of drugs and guns that he had purchased. We took our payment and never spoke a word of our interactions to anyone. There were only two people in the company that knew what Gordano was transporting: Thomas and I.
The other people who had any interaction with Frank had also been well paid. We had been careful not to bring anyone fully into the business end of things, so there was no reason for any of my other employees to be in danger. It still baffled me as to what on earth had happened on the plane that day that ended up getting my friend Thomas murdered. Thomas was a smart man, and much more street-smart than I was.
Thomas had told me it was time to get out of business with Frank Gordano and I had agreed with him. The problem we were having was that Frank made a lot of money because of his trips and our service was essential to him. When I even hinted at not working with him anymore, Frank had threatened to blow up one of my planes. He tried to play it off as a joke, but I knew better.
My suspicion was that Thomas had tried to break the relationship off with Frank that day on the plane. It was the only thing that made sense to me because I couldn’t think of another reason to murder Thomas. Even from the criminal perspective of Frank Gordano, murdering Thomas didn’t really make sense. He murdered the man who had been flying him where he wanted to go. He murdered the one person who was giving him exactly what he was asking for. It scared me. The nonsensical nature of the murder scared the hell out of me.
I had barely laid my head on the small pillow when I felt my body drifting away to sleep. It wasn’t even dark out yet and none of the other men were in the bunkhouse; I assumed they were probably still out working or maybe at dinner or relaxing. But it didn’t really matter to me. I was safe, and for the first time in several days, so I was going to sleep. I took in a deep breath at the realization I was about to have to work harder physically than I had ever worked in my life. But I was confident I could keep up.
After working out with a trainer twice a week, my body was chiseled and strong. I had never wanted to be one of those CEOs who got a big belly and looked like they were two steps away from a heart attack. No, I worked hard to keep myself in shape and I had a feeling that was going to come in handy as I worked on the ranch.