Chapter 37

Grant

I couldn’t focus on anything pertaining to work. All I could focus on was last night. Things didn’t go well at all with Crissy, and to top it all off, I was pretty sure she had ended things last night between us. The words weren’t explicit, but what she said suggested she no longer wanted to engage in our games. I couldn’t blame her. I tried to make the dinner perfect and have all the information at her disposal because I knew she wouldn’t be able to separate herself emotionally from what was happening.

Hell, I’d been in the business world for three fucking decades, and I was still having a hard time separating myself from this.

I called her twice last night before I finally gave up. My heart ached for her, but I knew what I had to do. I knew cornering her father and addressing this head-on would solidify that she wasn’t mine anymore, but I could no longer allow her father to steal from me and rob this company blind. He’d already stolen close to one million dollars, and he was about to commit the closest thing he could to insurance fraud.

I had to figure out what the fuck was going on in his mind.

Crissy was sitting at her desk, but she wouldn’t look up at me. Instead of having her headset on, she had her earbuds in, meaning I’d have to walk out there if I needed her. She was angry. I got that, but this was still a professional environment. She was still my personal assistant, and I would still need to ask her for things every now and again.

But right now, I needed to call Alex.

I picked up the phone and dialed his office, asking him if he could come see me. He told me he’d be there in a few minutes, and I took the time to set all the papers out on my desk. I ordered them and laid them out so he could plainly see them. Then I stood and buttoned my suit coat. This was going to be a difficult morning, and if it panned out the way I thought, I would lose both my best friend and the woman I’d fallen in love with.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

“Hey there, Grant,” he said as he walked in. “What’s up?”

“Come here a second. I need you to take a look at a few things.”

He came over, and his eyes started scanning the papers. I looked up and saw I had Crissy’s attention, the earbuds now discarded as she tried to get her headset on. She pressed the intercom button, ringing out a dial tone into the room, but I shut her off completely. The look on her face grew from confusion to panic, and my heart sank to my toes.

I wanted to throw my arms around her and tell her it was going to be all right, but I couldn’t. So, I controlled the situation the only way I knew I could.

“Keep your voice down,” I said. “Your daughter doesn’t need to hear any of this.”

“What the fuck is all this?” he asked.

“Don’t play stupid with me, Alex. It’s all plain and clear. You’ve been caught, both with the skimming and with the insurance claim on the company acquisition. What the hell were you thinking?”

“What the hell was I thinking?” he asked. “Grant, you’re screwing my fucking daughter.”

“Excuse me?” I asked. “Most of these transactions were made well before Crissy came to work here.”

“I followed the two of you down to New Orleans,” he said. “I saw you two cuddling up to one another, wrapping your hands around her on the fucking balcony. What kind of sick man are you?”

“I’m going to ask you one more time before I have your job and escort you out in handcuffs. Why the fuck are you stealing from this company? A company you built with your own two hands?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “How could you fucking touch my damn daughter with your two fucking hands?”

“Did you throw Crissy in my path to distract me?” I asked.

“What?”

“Your daughter’s beautiful,” I said. “We all know this. She was a hellion when she came here, and you knew if I took her on as a mentor, she’d be a distraction. Did you lure her here in an attempt to sway my attention elsewhere?”

“I’d never fucking do that with my own daughter, you monster,” he said.

“Then what’s going on? I know you, Alex. You not only skimmed this money, but you had plans to pay it back—with the income we’d make in the first month on the acquisition and merger. It’s all here in the paperwork. Take a deep breath and look before you say something I can no longer unhear.”

His eyes were raging, and I could tell Crissy was on the edge of her seat. She was standing at her desk, hunched over like she was working, but I knew what she was doing. She was poising herself to go after her father. To run after him and make sure he was all right. She was a wonderful woman and a fabulous daughter, and I’d run Alex into the ground if he used her as a pawn in all this.

I’d have his fucking head over it.

“Shit,” he breathed.

“Alex, what’s going on? I have proof, but it’s also proof that can go away.”

That caught his attention, and he panned his tear-lined eyes to me. I realized then just how tired he looked. How drained and worn down his eyes were. How dark the bags underneath them were. How many wrinkles had deepened on his face. My best friend was struggling. So much so that he was robbing his own company and trying to make bad business deals so he could make even more.

“Are you in trouble, Alex?” I asked.

“No.”

“Are you sick? Is Mel all right?”

“No,” he said.

“What was that ‘no’ for?” I asked.

Raking his hands through his hair, he turned his back to me. His eyes connected with Crissy’s, and I saw her react. She stood to her feet and looked her father straight in the eye before she came around her desk. I had my eyes locked on her, wondering if she would burst into the room and defend him at any moment.

It was what I expected her to do.

But instead, she twirled her finger, just like I’d done to her so many times.

At that moment, I realized the strength she possessed as a woman, and my heart soared at having been able to have her in my life.

“No, I didn’t put Crissy in your path to distract you,” he began. “But things with Mel aren’t all right.”

“Is she sick, Alex?” I asked.

“No. Fuck, nothing like that,” he said. “She just…”

“Alex, fucking talk to me. Let me help. Let me in. I’ve known you for years. We run this fucking company together, hand in hand. What is so fucking bad that you can’t just tell me? That you’d risk life in jail for?”

“She won’t stop spending my damn money, Grant!” he said, his shoulders slumping.

Tears poured from my friend’s eyes as he flopped down into a chair. His face crinkled, and my eyes widened. I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.

He had risked all this because Mel couldn’t stop spending money?

I sat down in my chair as Alex openly wept in my office. Crissy pressed her hand to the window, her soul reaching out for her father while she silently begged me for answers. I wanted to wrap this up so I could tell her. I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her it was going to be all right. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her and how proud I was of her ability to emotionally separate herself from all this.

But I had to pull shit out of Alex first.

“I’m two months away from declaring bankruptcy, Grant,” he said, shaking his head. “We’ll lose the cars, the house. My daughters won’t have anywhere to live. We won’t fucking be able to rent a six-hundred-dollar apartment somewhere, let alone live the way she wants to.”

“What is she buying?” I asked. “What could she possibly want?”

“First, the engagement ring I bought her wasn’t big enough, so we upgraded. Then there was the gigantic wedding and the month-long, fully-loaded honeymoon. Then I promised her a massive boat one night while I was drunk, but I had to sell the boat we had in order to afford the down payment. Then it was the pink Mercedes convertible and the renovations to the house. The extravagant vacations she went on without me because I couldn’t afford to take the time off work. She’s bleeding me dry, and no matter how many times we fight about it, she just won’t fucking stop.”

“So you started taking from the company in hopes that…?”

“That I could get her to eventually stop. So I could keep a roof over our heads and get the bills paid. Food on the table and shit. Hell, at this point, my own damn daughter’s got more spending money than I do. I literally cannot afford my own wife anymore.”

“So you thought you could steal from the company if you eventually had a way to repay it,” I said.

“Just to pay the bills, Grant. And keep her from fucking leaving. I can’t do this without her. She’s my life. Had you not fucking swooped in on your white horse and taken my company from me, I wouldn’t even be in this situation, you greedy bastard. And now you’ve got your paws on my fucking daughter. Don’t think I’ve left that behind.”

“Alex, your company would’ve gone under had it not been for me. My money and my expertise and my ability to take on debt grew this company so you had money to embezzle in the first place. If you needed money, all you had to do was ask.”

“Oh, like you would’ve just loaned me fucking four hundred thousand dollars,” he said.

“I would’ve. In a heartbeat, considering the financial issues you’re hitting. We’re not talking about repossessing a car, Alex. We’re talking about you losing your fucking house.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he spat. “You think I don’t know the bullshit web I’ve weaved for myself? You don’t think I’m aware of the bed I’ve made?”

“Then take responsibility for it,” I said.

“Then it’s about damn time you took responsibility for your own actions,” he said. “I could have the board throw you out of your fucking post in this company if word got out you were screwing the former owner’s daughter.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway, Alex,” I said. “I have to fire you. This is serious, and because of the people it took to dig into all this, I’m not the only one who knows. It’ll leak eventually if I keep you on staff, and the revelation will take this entire company down with it.”

“Please don’t fire me,” he begged. “We can come up with something. I need this fucking job, Grant. She’s gonna leave if—”

“Then maybe she should,” I said. “If the only thing she wants is your money, then she doesn’t want you. She doesn’t give a flying fuck about your daughters, and quite frankly, she’s turned you into a bit of a pussy. But I can cut you a very serious deal.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“I care about your daughter, Alex. Greatly. She’s a phenomenal woman with a wonderful head on her shoulders. I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with her professionally and personally.”

“I knew you were fucking around with my daughter,” he said.

“I’m aware you fired Dylan Anderson. Might I ask why?”

“Because he took advantage of my daughter, and she decked him in the jaw,” he said. “Why?”

“That story is only partially true,” I said. “Crissy found out what was going on and tried to take him out to get information from him. To protect you and to help this company. He got her drunk, tried to shove her in his car and take advantage of her, and I found him. I’m the one who hit him.”

Shock rolled over Alex’s face as he slowly turned toward his daughter. She was standing at the window, her eyes cast down toward her feet, patiently waiting to see how this would pan out. I was trying to mitigate the damage, to help her hurting heart. I was trying to make sure this turned out the best for all players involved, even if it meant revealing some things I wanted to keep secret still.

Like the fact that I loved her.

“You defended my daughter,” he said.

“And I’ll do it a million times over. Whenever she needs me. Here’s my proposal: If I can keep seeing your daughter, in a personal and professional capacity, I won’t press charges. I won’t make you repay the money, and I’ll take the blame for the failed acquisition. Your name will stay out of everything. You can keep your benefits and the pension you’ve built up, and I’ll work with you on investing your 401(k) under the condition that Mel is not the beneficiary or secondary on that policy. That should go to your daughters.”

“And you won’t press charges?” he asked.

“I’ll help you figure out your financial situation, but your wife is your problem. Cut up your credit cards. Close down your accounts. Fucking take her off your checking account. Do whatever it takes. You mean to tell me the great Alex Marks is being railroaded by a twenty-six-year-old little girl? Come on, you’re better than that.”

Alex sat back as he considered my offer, and for a split second, I thought he wasn’t going to take it. I saw this look in his eye, like he wanted to ask a question but was concerned I wouldn’t answer.

“Do you love her?” he asked.

“What?”

“My daughter. Crissy. Do you love her?”

My eyes drifted to the anxious woman in the window, and I saw the vulnerable little girl she was. I saw how scared she had become and the tears that had lined her eyes. I saw the way her palm pressed into the glass, reaching out to her father. I sat back and sighed, wishing for all this to be over so I could provide her with some relief, but the smirk crawling across Alex’s face ripped me from my trance.

“What?” I asked.

“You’ve got a deal,” he said.

“I’ll shred the documents as we speak, then. Alex Marks, you’re officially dismissed from the company. H.R. already has the paperwork. Go down there and meet with them, and they’ll talk about your severance package. I think you’ll be very pleased with it.”

He nodded as he stood, and I stood with him. The moment our hands touched, shaking in agreement, Crissy ripped the door open and stepped into the room. Her body was shaking, and her eyes were big with sorrow. She swallowed hard, wiping her hands down her shirt as she tried to keep her composure. Alex looked back at me before he looked at his daughter, then he went over and hugged her tightly.

I began to shred the documents while the two of them stood there and embraced.