Chapter 14 – Adam
I told you that I wasn’t engaged to Bianca, right? She’s a crazy bitch and needs to stay away from everyone, especially me.
It took Jack almost a day to answer my message. I tried to be patient; I mean, he was out in the Pacific with nothing but intermittent satellite access, so I couldn’t expect him to answer right away. But it was hard to wait. I had a lot I had to deal with, and I really felt like I had to have this conversation with Jack first.
Yeah, you told me.
I glanced up, making sure neither Gary nor Bianca were standing in my office doorway. I had just been feeling bad vibes all around—Bianca had been walking around looking smug for days, and Gary had been “forgetting” to tell me important things, like when meetings were changed. Things were just weird, but if Gary knew about me and Chrissy, he hadn’t said anything about it to me, or to Chrissy. And I was positive that he would.
So, are we cool then, bro? I mean, you know I wasn’t fucking around on anyone, right? You said you thought I was a good guy—is that still true? I need to know, because I have more shit to dump on you!
I knew it might be a minute, or it might be a day or more, before he got back to me, so I pulled out my files for a project I was just beginning. The Monroe bid, which I had pulled together, had been accepted, and since it was a government contract, it actually helped us that Bianca was considered an executive. One of the other execs was Hispanic, so we had a pretty good women and minority ratio.
Still, if it were up to me, we would scope out the grad schools and hire more young execs, or at least managers, with diverse backgrounds. I could think of a few from grad school who would do great work and shake things up around here—which was the opposite of what Gary wanted. Gary was a strong leader, but he was old school, and wasn’t thinking about trends, globalization, or the impact of technology.
Oh well, it was his company.
Yeah, we’re cool. Sorry. I had some residual anger over what I thought you’d done, but I’m over it. So, have at it, bro. Dump the shit.
I laughed. It felt good to be back on even ground with Jack. I was crazy about Chrissy, but Jack had been my best friend since we were kids.
I would just have to wait to figure out what I meant by crazy about. I just knew that our current situation was becoming less and less workable. I wanted something more. I didn’t know what, but something.
I’m dating Chrissy, and your parents don’t know.
The pause before he answered was so long that I figured they must be out of satellite range. I sighed and gathered my paperwork together. I had to file copies of the bid and contract with legal and HR, and bring the list of approved subcontractors with me to the meeting with the project manager from the county, plus hard copies of the tax documents I’d already faxed to prove we were an honest company, not shafting shareholders, not selling our secrets to the Russians, etc.
I checked in with Elaine on the way out the door. “Tell the boss I’m headed over to the county to turn in all the paperwork on the new justice center. I don’t know how long it will take, but it’s the government, so probably a lot longer than it needs to.”
She laughed and promised to pass on the message.
An hour later, nobody was laughing.
“Look.” I shoved a hand through my hair. “I had the same paperwork from Accounting that you do, and I didn’t see any discrepancies.”
“I know what you’re saying.” The county project guy, Hanson, was trying as hard as I was to be patient. “Maybe it’s nothing, but what could it hurt to get an audit? Just tell them it’s one more hoop the government wants you to jump through. The fact is, some of these numbers don’t add up, and the way things were moved around, you could make the case that it’s deliberate.”
“Am I going to lose this bid?”
“Not necessarily. Bring us an all-clear from an independent auditor within thirty days, and we’ll move it forward. It’s pretty standard stuff.”
“Standard.”
“Yeah, totally standard. But, Gardner? Arrange for the audit yourself, okay? As an executive and a shareholder, you have that right.”
“Shit, you think someone is embezzling or something.”
“Obviously, I have no idea. That’s just one of a hundred possible explanations, the most likely one being stupid human error. But it is one. I don’t know, man, but I do know it has to be done within thirty days if you want this contract.”
“Okay, I get it. Thanks.”
As soon as I got out of his office, I pulled out my phone. “I need to speak to Chad, please. Or Steve. This is Aaron Gardner. You know what, forget it. Tell them I’m coming by and I need to see them. It’s an emergency.”
****
It took me all day to deal with this and seriously important projects got put on the back burner. It was irritating and frustrating. Chad told me that his firm could run the audit if I had a majority of stockholders consent to it.
“It really is business as usual,” he told me. “I mean, not always, but a lot of institutions need to make sure their contractors and subcontractors are legit and there’s nothing that can bite them in the ass later. I don’t think anyone will give it a second thought if you tell them the county is asking for it.”
“Hanson seemed to think there might be some malfeasance involved.”
“I doubt it, but since it’s always a possibility, they have to check. Just get those consents and call me when it’s time to get started. I can have a team—and by team I mean me and Steve—there first thing in the morning.”
When I got back, I locked myself in my office and started calling board members to get their consent for the audit. I had no idea whether this was proper procedure, but if Gary called me out on it, I would plead ignorance—which was true. I would tell him I didn’t know how else to do it, especially since we were in a time crunch. I called Chad back and told them to come on out in the morning.
So now the question was, did I tell Gary? If there was something illegal going on, Gary should know. Unless Gary was doing it, but why would he sabotage his own company that way? He was hugely successful without having to falsify anything.
I didn’t know, but I was getting damn sick of keeping secrets from Gary.
By six I had a splitting headache, and all I wanted to do was see Chrissy. Not to have sex—and we wouldn’t be having sex for a few days anyway—but just to find some peace.
****
I called in and told Elaine I’d be in late because I had to check in with the county. Which was abstractly true, because I really stopped by Chad and Steve’s office to drop off the consents that had been faxed in to me. I knew that once they showed up, there’d be no keeping the audit under the table, and that was fine. I’d deal with it. I could just play dumb, because hey, this was just business as usual, right? Everybody said so.
I let the guys leave for my office, and I took the long way back, stopping at Starbuck’s on the way. That would give them a good 45 minutes head start. I’d get there just as the Accounting department was pulling all the docs and records that the auditors would need. It would all be good.
I strolled in ready to walk right into my office, and I almost made it. Gary’s door opened and Bianca walked out, smoothing her hair. Her clothes were a little messed up, but before I could give that any thought, I heard Gary’s voice yell from inside the office.
“Get me Gardner!”
Uh oh. He sounded pissed.
“Right now, God dammit!”
I smiled at his Elaine. “No need,” I said casually, although my heart was racing. “I’m right here.”
I strolled past looking like I didn’t have a care in the world, but I knew I was about to get reamed. The audit had already started—I could see Chad and Steve set up in the conference room.
“Hey, Gary,” I said, sauntering into his office. “What’s up?”
It’s normal procedure, I reminded myself. Business as usual.
“What’s up, you asshole, is that you are fucking my daughter behind my back!”
Chapter 15 – Chrissy
I only went to the beach house because I was bored. Adam was working, Raina was working, Mom was working, I’d done my volunteering at the Human Society, and I was restless and irritable. Probably because it was the second day of my period and I still felt achy and out of sorts. And I didn’t like the thought of having no sex with Adam for three more days.
I was becoming an addict, and withdrawals were a bitch.
I unlocked the house just as the phone buzzed to tell me I’d gotten a text.
Adam told me you two are dating.
I closed the door behind me and dropped my purse on the table.
Okay…
I already told you I’m okay with that. But I haven’t answered him back yet. I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.
I breathed in the ocean smell that remained in this house even when it was shut up. But there was something else here too…perfume, or air freshener? I looked around and realized it wasn’t as dusty as it usually was when nobody had been here.
I sat down at the small kitchen table where a bunch of folders were spread out. I had no idea why there would be folders here—nobody came here to do work.
I really like him, I texted. He asked me to be his girlfriend. But he’s afraid that Dad will freak out if we go public.
You can’t exactly keep it secret forever, right?
Who says it will be forever?
Because seriously, if this was just a summer thing that would end when I went back to school, we could probably keep it under wraps.
Do you want it to be?
Trust Jack to ask the awkward question.
Maybe.
LOL.
Well, he could LOL all he wanted, but that was all he was going to get from me. I wasn’t stupid, I knew he talked to Adam as much as he talked to me.
I started flipping through the folders lying on the table.
What the hell?
Half an hour later I was back in the car, folders stacked beside me, flying down the interstate. I was crying, but I couldn’t stop to fix my makeup. I didn’t know what I should do, but all I could think was I had to get to Adam.
****
I hadn’t been to my dad’s office in years, and it took me a few minutes to find the right building in the industrial park. I ran up to their floor and was about to fling open the door into the Monroe complex when the door opened. It was Adam. Thank God. I threw myself into his arms and started sobbing.
His arms came around me immediately. “I was just coming to find you. What’s going on, sweetheart? Why are you crying?”
It took me a few minutes of crying against his chest, but I finally got myself under control and looked up at him. “Why were you coming to find me?”
He reached down and slipped his phone out of his pocket. “You weren’t answering any of my texts. And I couldn’t wait, I had to see you right away.”
“Why?”
“Bianca told your father about us,” he said grimly. “It wasn’t the way I would have had him find out. I was planning to get a few projects in order and then go to him and tell him myself.”
“You were?” I was still sniffling, and he pulled me tight against him. “So what happened?”
Adam chuckled a little. “He reamed me, as we predicted. He said something like, ‘you’ve been fucking my daughter behind my back.’”
I gasped. “He said that? He said it like that?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that part.” Adam shook his head. “I’m an idiot. I’m sorry.”
“What did you say to him?”
“Um, I said, ‘No, I’ve been dating your daughter for several weeks, and I didn’t tell you because you insisted that we all keep our private lives out of the office.’ And then I said something like, ‘If I ever had occasion to see you socially, I’d have mentioned it.’”
I looked up at him in awe. “You said those things to my father? Wow.”
Adam laughed ruefully. “Well, I don’t think he was quite as impressed, and he did yell at me for about an hour, but he didn’t fire me or reassign my projects. I totally expected that. And hey, I got a weird text from Jack.”
He thumbed across his phone for a few seconds, then turned it to show me.
That’s awesome that you and C are dating—she’s had a total thing for you for years. Just be good to her or I’ll kick your ass. But be careful around my dad—something’s not right with him these days, and I’m not sure you can trust him. I don’t know—it’s just a feeling, but then, I’m 5000 miles away, so what the hell do I know?
I swallowed. I hadn’t known anything was going on with my dad. Maybe I was just too wrapped up in Adam to see things clearly.
“Funny thing is,” Adam mused, “when he called me into his office to yell at me about you, I thought he was going to give me the smackdown about something else.”
“Like what?”
“We have a bid on hold because of some discrepancies in the financial records. I started an independent audit this morning without telling him.”
I dropped my chin. “Can we go into your office?” My eyes began to water again and I had to wipe them quickly. “I have some things you need to see.”
“Sure,” he said, taking my hand. “Just—let’s try not to let your dad see us, okay?”
I laughed through my tears. “Okay.”
We walked into the complex and Adam led me off to the right. I passed an office and glanced in to see a stunning young woman lounging arrogantly in an office chair. She glared at me as though I had just stomped on her kitten.
“That must be Bianca,” I spat.
Adam looked back at me and rolled his eyes. “Yes, but don’t let her bother you. She can’t hurt us.”
“You don’t understand,” I said as he led me into his office and shut the door. “She already has.”
“What?”
I handed him the folders. “This makes a lot of sense of the audit too. Just read what’s in there.”
It took Adam about five minutes to read and understand the contents of the folders. He didn’t say anything when he was done, just met my eyes with fury blazing in his own, and said, “I’m not covering this up.”
“I know. I knew you wouldn’t. They’re trying to make it look like you were the one who stole the money.”
“Yeah. Fuck.” He hesitated. “If it helps, Chrissy, this is almost all Bianca’s doing. I just hate what this will do to you and Jack and your mom.”
I started crying again. My poor mom.
“What about you, though? Can you prove that you didn’t do this, with all the money coming from your projects?”
“Come on,” he said, standing up and taking my hand again. “We have to talk to Chad and Steve.”
He pulled me into the conference room where Chad and Steve, those hot guys from the bar that night, were wading through piles of printouts. They two of them met each others’ eyes, then Chad started, “Look, guys, there’s some money missing—”
Adam tossed the folders down in front of him and Steve. “I know. This explains it.”
If it had only taken Adam five minutes to read, it only took these guys about one. They zipped through it, traded folders, and zipped through it again.
“Holy shit,” Steve finally said. “The boss was having an affair that got too expensive? And the mistress was blackmailing him for more. Too fucking classic. And trying to pin it on the new guy. Unoriginal.”
Chad kicked him and gestured back toward me.
“Oh, yeah,” Steve said. “Sorry. If it helps, there’s no record of anything like this happening before. This seems to be his first go-round.”
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “That helps soooo much.”
“He was having an affair with Bianca,” Adam said. He sat in one of the chairs and pulled me onto his lap.
“Your Bianca?” Chad said incredulously.
I hissed at him
“Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “The woman formerly known as your fiancée whom you dumped for being a crazy manipulative bitch?”
“That’s better,” I said.
“Okay,” Steve said, running a hand through his hair. “This is a fucking mess, but the good news—sorry, Chrissy—is that most of the mess is on the personal side. The business can be saved, but the board will probably ask for a change in leadership.”
“So my dad will get fired from the company he founded?”
Steve hissed in air between his teeth. “Yeaaaahh. Probably.”
I sighed. “Seems fair. As long as Adam doesn’t get blamed.” I rested my head on Adam’s shoulder. “I don’t know how to tell my mom.”
“I don’t think that’s your responsibility,” Adam said, looking at me with a frown. “Let’s just see how it plays out.”
Chad gestured toward Gary’s office. “Does he even know the audit is happening?”
“I think he was distracted by Bianca telling him that Chrissy and I were dating,” Adam said, looking up at me.
“I guess I better go talk to him.” I didn’t know what I would say. I didn’t want him to yell at me about Adam, but I guess he didn’t know that was the least of his problems. “Should I tell him any of this is going on?”
Steve and Chad exchanged glances. “It’d make our lives easier if you didn’t, but we will report it all to the board in a few days, so it will be public then.”
“I’m going to tell him,” I said. “I’m furious at him, and he screwed up, but he doesn’t deserve to be ambushed.”
Adam stiffened, but I was already off his lap and on my way to my father’s office.
****
I didn’t see Adam before I left the office, so I went home. I went right to my room and flung myself down on the bed. I wished I hadn’t gone to the beach house, but Dad shuffling money around would have come out anyway. What I wished wasn’t happening was my dad having an affair. I already hated Bianca for what she had tried to do to Adam, and I hated her worse now, but even the most manipulative woman couldn’t have an affair all by herself.
I prided myself on being an adult, but I lay there and cried over my mommy and daddy, because they were probably going to get a divorce. I felt like I was six again. The feeling only intensified when I heard the voices coming from downstairs. My parents were in the kitchen, and from the tone of their voices, I was guessing that Dad was telling Mom about his day.
At least I didn’t have to tell her.
Hey. I can hear voices and I don’t want to ring the doorbell. Can you let me in? No reason to sneak through the back now, right?
Sure. Coming.
I was happy to have him there, but—I don’t know. He was a huge part of what was happening with my family right now. After about one second of thinking like that I had to remind myself that it wasn’t Adam who’d had the affair or laundered money to make it look like Adam had done it. That was all on Dad. If Adam hadn’t discovered it, someone else would have.
“Hi,” I said softly as I opened the door. Adam stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking haggard, like he hadn’t slept in days.
“Hi.” He looked at me steadily for a few seconds. “Want to come out and sit on the porch?”
“Yeah.”
I kept the light off. It wasn’t quite full dark yet, but summer twilight, and it felt nice to sit by him in the dimming light. We sat in silence for a long time before he said anything.
“I guess they’re talking about it in there?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “At least I didn’t have to tell her. He came clean as soon as he got home. I hate this so much, but I do believe that this is the only time he’s done anything like this.”
“Have you told Jack?”
“No. I thought I’d wait until I knew more. Like if—” my voice broke a little “—if they’re going to get a divorce.”
He put his arm around me and pulled me close. I rested my head on his shoulder and felt a little better.
“Chrissy,” he said quietly. “Do you blame me for this? You said today that you didn’t want your dad to be ambushed—is that what you think I did?”
“I don’t know. Did you? That Chad guy said he wasn’t even told about the audit.”
“No, he wasn’t, but part of that is that he was too busy yelling at me for dating you.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t seem like such a big deal now. What will happen to Bianca?”
“She’ll get fired. I didn’t like her, but she was a good marketing exec. It’ll be nice not having to see her every day, though. I don’t know if she’ll go to jail—it’s out of my hands now.”
The door opened and Adam and I looked back toward it. My dad was coming out, but he stopped short when he saw us.
“I talked to the company lawyers,” he said. “If I pay the money back before the end of the month, there’ll be no legal action. Probably be ousted as CEO, but I can still work for the company.”
“It sounds like a good deal, Dad,” I said.
“It’s humiliating,” he snorted. “Might just take early retirement.”
“Can you afford that?” I asked. “After you pay the money back?”
He sighed, and he looked older than I’d ever seen him. “Probably not. Chrissy, I’m sorry you were the one to find out about—about what I did. Not the money, but the other. It wasn’t worth it, and I would have ended it, but I never meant to put you through that.”
I didn’t answer him. I wasn’t sure how I felt toward him right now, but what he’d just said had come way too close to “I’m sorry I got caught” for me.
Instead I said, “What are you and Mom going to do?”
“She’s still thinking about it.”
Adam stood up and looked at my dad. “And what about Chrissy and me?”
“You’re not exactly my favorite person right now,” my dad growled. “I should throw you off my property.”
Adam just looked at him.
“Fine,” my dad said. “Do what you want. You’re going to anyway.”
Adam looked down at me and gave me just a hint of a smile. “Sounds like his blessing to me.”