Chapter Eleven
James
As Hanna stormed out of my office, I stood there blinking and trying to make sense of what had just happened. My heart was pounding a wild tattoo in my chest, and for a moment, I felt like I was going to pass out.
My secretary, Maggie, rushed in with her hands twisted in front of her. She gasped when she saw the shattered crystal vase on the floor.
“Oh my, Mr. West! What happened here?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I need you to call the cleaning crew, and please get me access to the company’s Facebook page.”
“Do you want me to call Ms. Parker, the social media girl?”
“No,” I said sharply. “I want it myself, Maggie.”
Maggie looked at me expectantly.
“And quickly!” I added sharply. “Move!”
Maggie darted out of my office with all the speed her geriatric body could handle. When she returned twenty minutes later, she handed me a piece of paper with the Facebook login information, a cup of coffee, and a fresh shirt.
“Here,” Maggie said. She clucked her tongue and shook her head. “You’d better change, Mr. West – your shirt got all wet.”
“I know,” I said drily. “Thanks, Maggie. That’s all for now.”
Maggie returned to her desk and I shut my office door before shrugging out of my wet shirt and pulling on the dry one. As I sat down at my computer, I was nervous. What the hell was going on?
It didn’t take long for me to find out.
“To whom it may concern:
I had a sexual relationship with Mr. James West from May through August of this year, and I’ve discovered that I’ve fallen pregnant. Mr. West and I have not been in contact since he departed London for the United States, and I wish to keep this baby at all cost. I am unwilling to terminate the pregnancy, and I demand a sum of six million dollars from Mr. West and Magnate Group for my silence, as well as regular child support payments totaling twenty million, all to be paid in a lump sum once the child is born. I have contacted my barrister and he is more than willing to aggressively pursue what I and my unborn child are entitled to.
Mary Smith”
I sat back in my chair and covered my face in my hands. There was no way this could be true – it was obviously bullshit. And even worse, as much as I wanted to run after Hanna and tell her just that, I knew I couldn’t. First, I was going to have to do damage control – major damage control – before anyone else saw the message, or else Magnate Group was in trouble.
My phone buzzed on the desk, startling me out of my dazed state. Without glancing at the screen, I swiped open the call and held it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“James, this is Andrew Barnes.” He paused. “Remember? The solicitor you hired in London.”
“Oh, thank god,” I said. “I was just about to call you.”
“Yes, well, I’ve received some rather troubling news,” Andrew continued. “A woman has come forward – at this time, she wishes to remain anonymous – but she’s begun spreading rumors that she’s carrying your child.”
A low moan of desperation escaped my throat and I closed my eyes, sinking against the leather back of my executive chair.
“And judging by your answer, I’m assuming that you knew this,” Andrew said. “James, is it true?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I mean, I don’t think it’s true, at least.”
Andrew sighed. “James, please,” he said.
“It can’t be true,” I said, shaking my head. “I only slept with a few women in London, and I used protection every time. I barely dated!”
“All it takes is one time,” Andrew said cautiously. “James, you’re going to need to lie low while we figure out how to deal with this…predicament. I don’t want you to do anything that will attract attention to the company, do you understand?”
I sighed. “Yes,” I said. “I understand.”
“It’s most likely a scam – either an attempt to blackmail you for an absurd amount of money, or to tarnish the reputation of Magnate Group.”
“I know,” I said crossly. “Trust me, there’s no way this woman is telling the truth.”
“Well, it will be nice when we have that certainty, won’t it?” Andrew asked sarcastically. “James, please – listen to what I’ve said.”
“I will,” I said. I sighed. “And how do you know this woman is even real? What if it’s some prank?”
“That’s a very likely possibility,” Andrew replied. “I’ll have a team of lawyers look into it in the morning.”
“Can’t you do it now?” I narrowed my eyes. “If it’s so pressing, I mean.”
Andrew cleared his throat. When I glanced down at the clock, I realized it was almost ten o’clock at night in London.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Tomorrow is fine. Thanks for calling me, Andrew. I appreciate it.”
“Yes,” Andrew said stiffly. “And in the future, James, please be more mindful of the…company you choose to keep.”
I groaned. “Yes,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
When we hung up, I folded my arms on my desk and rested my head on them. I had no idea how I was going to get out of this mess…but I knew that I had to, for my own sake as well as that of Hanna.
And god, Hanna! How on earth was I supposed to face her now, when she wouldn’t even feel like listening to me?
I swear, Hanna, I thought as thoughts of my own demise swirled around in my head. I swear, this isn’t the man I am.
***
The next day, I did everything I could to get Hanna to forgive me. I called, texted, sent flowers, even sent one of those gigantic edible arrangements of fruit and chocolates shaped to look like flowers. Of course, I knew none of those things could possibly begin to undo the hurt…but I had a feeling that once I got the chance to talk to her, she’d understand.
Or maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe I’d fucked up so royally that she’d never give me the time of day ever again.
At Magnate Group, I went by her office. Hanna was sitting at her desk, working quietly. When I knocked on the door and stuck my head inside, her head snapped up. For a moment, I saw confusion in her bright green eyes. But that confusion was very quickly replaced by hot anger, and Hanna flicked her eyes back down to her keyboard and began typing away, pounding furiously at the keys.
“Hanna, please,” I said, stepping inside and taking a deep breath. “I really need to speak with you.”
“I’m really busy right now,” Hanna said. She didn’t look up. “Please, can you leave?”
“When are you free?”
Hanna shook her head. “I’m not,” she said curtly. “Please, James. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“Please, it’s really important.”
“I’m not interested in whatever it is you have to say,” Hanna said. She bit her lip and lowered her head. As I watched her face contort into an expression of pain, I felt like someone was reaching inside my chest and ripping my heart out. “Please leave.”
“Hanna, I would never have done something like that and kept it from you,” I said. “I swear – this isn’t true. Someone’s lying, or trying to get attention. Or get me in trouble.”
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Hanna finally looked up and I realized she wasn’t about to cry – if anything, she was about to take a swing at me. Her cheeks were pink with anger and her green eyes were narrowed into emerald slits. “I’m very upset with you, James, and I don’t think there’s a way to come back from this.”
“You have to hear me out,” I insisted.
“I don’t have to do anything,” Hanna said in a toneless voice. “Now, get out of my office before I call security and tell them you’re threatening me.”
I sighed. “I swear to god, Hanna—”
“Get out!” Hanna yelled. She got to her feet and glared at me. “And stop calling me, for fuck’s sake! It’s ridiculous!”
I left Hanna’s office feeling defeated. If I hadn’t had work to do, I would’ve left the office and gotten very drunk in some random hotel bar. As it was, the urge to give into temptation was strong. But I couldn’t quit now – not when I still had to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was going on.
When I got back to my office, I shut the door, locked it, and sat down in front of my computer. The document I’d been working on just looked like a page full of meaningless words and I sighed, slamming my laptop shut and burying my face in my hands. I couldn’t believe that someone would be vicious enough to try to bring down my entire company with such a false, outrageous rumor. I’d always thought the best of people…at least, I’d always tried to. That was just one of many reasons why I’d stayed friends with Harry, even though I knew he was a dog. Deep down, I thought he was a good person…albeit a very misunderstood one. Picking up my phone, I unlocked it and dialed Andrew. Holding the phone to my ear, I kicked my feet up on the desk and reclined in my chair.
“Hello?”
“It’s James,” I said shortly. “And I need to find out if there have been any development in the case. Things are getting really bad, Andrew. I can’t wait around in limbo forever.”
Andrew cleared his throat. “Yes, James,” he said stiffly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any updates for you. I’ve had one of my paralegals compile a list of everyone you associated with in London, but it’s slow going. And if you could provide information on any possible suspect, that would be greatly appreciated.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I already did that,” I said angrily. “I sent the list over to you last week! Didn’t you get it?”
“James, I assure you, we’re working as fast as we can—”
“Oh, forget it,” I said angrily, hanging up the call and slamming my phone down on my desk. It was only a little after noon, but I knew that I’d be useless if I stayed at the office for the rest of the day. Sliding my laptop into my bag, I got to my feet and walked out of Magnate Group with my tail between my legs.
When I got home to my condo, there was a box sitting outside of my door, wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. Christ, I thought as I squatted down and ripped open the string with both hands. It’s probably a pipe bomb…and maybe I’d be all the luckier if something would just take me out here and now. My heart was in my throat as I tore the brown paper off the box and tossed it to the side in a wadded heap. When I opened the cardboard flaps and peered inside, I braced myself for an explosion. But there was nothing – just a bunch of papers.
Frowning, I reached inside. My hand touched something smooth and I lifted it out, looking down at the photo in my hand. It was me, months ago, in London. I was walking down into a tube station, wearing a long coat with my hands shoved in my pocket. The photo had obviously been taken with a long-range lens, and I shivered at the meticulous detail – even the faint line of stubble on my face was visible.
My stomach twisted into a painful knot as I threw the picture to the side and reached further into the box. All of the papers on top were blank – and once I lifted them away, I gasped. There was a huge pile of photographs, all of me, all taken with a long-range lens. Some of them had been taken in London, some of them in Boston, but they were all unmistakably me.
“No,” I muttered under my breath as I threw picture after picture to the side. “This can’t fucking be happening to me, no fucking way is this real life.” My heart was thudding anxiously in my chest as I looked down at the hundreds of pictures around my feet.
And that was when I saw it. A photo of me and Hanna, walking into Langdon’s Christmas party.
Someone was stalking me.
And if I didn’t figure out their identity soon, I knew Hanna would be in just as much trouble as I.