Marcus finally gets Natalie, and then a history lesson
Saturday, September 14th, 10:47pm
My back slammed against the hotel door before I even had the chance to turn. Natalie’s lips crushed against mine. Her scent filled my head as her tongue delved deep before I could even process what she was doing. My skull rang from the blow against the dark paneling.
“Mmmhh,” she groaned against me.
Natalie’s hands slid up my shoulders and clamped to either side of my face, holding me in a vise as she tried to devour me.
Not one to be outdone, I threw myself into the fray. My fingers found the silk keeping her dress in place, fumbling at the knot until it came loose. She murmured incoherently into my mouth as her fingers knotted in my hair, pulling hard.
The sash slipped free, silk unraveling in my hand. One tug sent the fabric spilling aside, and I cupped her breast. Warm and full, firm but yielding, it filled my palm.
I’d seen them before—once. Not long after I inherited the money, Natalie and I had made out in her office. Things had just started to get interesting when Phoebe called, telling me my apartment had been broken into. I’d never gotten further with her. She started dating Tyler soon after.
I never thought I’d be here now.
I pressed on her chest just enough to break the kiss, my hand sliding along the curve of her waist. The other side of her dress shifted loose, barring almost everything she had to offer. I took a long, hungry look at my prize.
The dress hung from her shoulders like a robe, falling down her curves, pooling around her heels. Beneath it, she wore a lacy lingerie set… champagne silk and delicate straps. It lifted her breasts, pushed them together, teased just enough with lace to hint at the dark centers beneath. Her panties matched—wet, darkened fabric marking just how well the date had gone. The outfit was finished with a garter belt and stockings.
Goddamn, Erin. You fucking outdid yourself.
She stood there looking up at me, dark eyes wide, chest heaving, lips parted. Her pink tongue grazed her lower lip as though she could still taste me.
“Marcus…” That was all she said. My name.
I yanked my shirt over my head and tossed it aside. Then I crashed into her, ripping the dress from her arms and throwing it to the floor. My arms circled her waist, hauling her off the ground.
A desperate whimper broke from her as she wrapped her legs around my waist and clung to my neck. She kissed me again, hungrier than before, inhaling my breath as though it were hers. I returned it, tongues dueling, as I staggered toward the bed.
My knees hit the side of the bed, and I dropped her onto the down comforter. Our lips tore apart as she squealed, her legs still clamped around my waist. She flung her arms above her head, dark hair spilling like a chaotic halo.
Her eyes traveled down my chest, my stomach, to my belt buckle—then back up to meet mine.
“Fuck, Marcus. I didn’t know you were so fit.”
I glanced down at myself. I’d never thought of my body that way, but I had changed over the last six weeks. The soft edges were gone; the love handles had melted. I wasn’t where I wanted to be yet, but the definition was coming along nicely.
For once, I felt like it was my turn to blush.
Natalie grinned, wrapping her legs tighter around my waist, grinding her damp crotch against my groin.
“Marcus?” she whispered.
She didn’t need to say more.
Her legs slid from my waist as I unbuckled my belt and shoved my pants down in one motion, kicking off socks with them.
Now I stood before her, naked. Her gaze raked me up and down, lingering on the rigid length already pulsing with need. The head throbbed, slick with pre-cum. My heartbeat drummed in my cock.
Her eyes climbed to mine, and she bit her lip as her hand wrapped around me. With the other, she hooked the soaked crotch of her panties and pulled it aside.
For the first time, I saw her bare. A neat patch of hair above smooth lips, glistening with arousal. She slipped her middle finger inside herself with a soft, wet sound.
Her eyes fluttered shut as her head rolled back, throat arched.
“Nnnnghh…”
A low moan spilled as her finger slid in and out, her breasts straining against the lingerie I’d chosen for her. She looked at me through half-lidded eyes and gave my cock a teasing tug.
Message received.
I placed my hands gently on the insides of her thighs. The silk stockings under my palms were smooth and decadent, but not what I wanted. My fingers drifted lower, drawn toward the treasure waiting between them.
The tips of my fingers brushed the edge of her stockings, then found her bare skin—soft, hot, better than any fabric. Heat radiated from her core, enough to melt ice in seconds. Dampness clung to the spots where thigh met groin, a slick testament to her need.
She tugged on me again, more insistent this time.
“We’ve waited long enough, don’t you think?”
I leaned forward, bracing my hands on either side of her. Slowly, deliberately, I pressed my hips forward until the head of my cock nudged against something impossibly hot and wet.
“Can I have a taste?” I murmured.
Natalie grinned, lifting the finger she’d just had inside herself and holding it out to me.
I studied it, glistening with her juices. The scent was intoxicating—clean, sharp… hers. My mouth watered.
She pressed her finger to my lips, and I opened them just enough to let her in. My tongue rolled over her skin, savoring her taste, already regretting that I hadn’t done this sooner. I sucked her finger clean, every drop of nectar, while my cock mirrored the act—sliding between her soaked lips.
She was so wet I sank into her in one thrust.
Natalie gasped, her lips parting, her eyes going wide as I buried myself to the hilt.
“Oh, fuck, Marcus!”
I spat Natalie’s finger out and reached for one of her bra cups, pulling it down to capture a dark brown nipple in my mouth. She squealed, her hands wrapping behind my head, fingers digging into my scalp.
I moved to the other breast, peeling the cup down before teasing that nipple with my tongue and teeth. Her back arched into me, her hips grinding against mine as I stayed buried deep inside her.
And then I started to truly make love to her. To Natalie. The woman I’d spent a year longing for.
I worked myself in and out of her, slow and deliberate, kissing my way down the center of her chest. My lips explored the deep ravine between her tits—the spot I’d stolen glances at for hours when I thought she wasn’t looking.
I traced upward, between her collarbones, across the hollow of her throat, up the smooth caramel skin of her neck. I mapped her jawline with lips and teeth, my tongue tasting, sampling, indulging in all the things I’d once only fantasized about—things that would have sent me to HR if I’d dared back then.
And she gave it all back. Her legs stayed locked around my waist, keeping me buried inside her, but she devoured me as hungrily as I did her. Her lips wandered over my cheeks, my neck, my shoulders, until they found mine again. We ate each other alive, kissing, gasping, panting as I thrust into her dripping heat. Her juices ran down my cock, coating my thighs. Her scent filled the air—thick, intoxicating, as overwhelming as the smell of bacon curling off a skillet in the morning, only far dirtier, far more primal.
There’s no way to make it sound prettier than it was: our first fuck was raw… intense… hungry.
We rode the knife-edge between making love and animal frenzy. She couldn’t keep her lips off me. I couldn’t keep my hands off her. Her eyes gleamed with overdue desire, her shallow breaths shuddering in the thick haze of our lust.
Natalie came hard. Her nails clawed into my back, scoring fire down my spine as she clung to me. She buried her face against my neck, murmuring things I couldn’t understand. Moisture traced my jawline—I couldn’t tell if it was sweat or tears.
Her hips kept pumping against me, chasing every aftershock of the climax I’d given her. And before the tremors even ended, another ripped through her.
“Oh my God! Oh my God! Marcus! Marcus! Oh God!”
She clung like she was afraid to lose me. When her lips found mine again, I tasted salt—tears mixed with sweat.
I propped myself up on my elbows, thrusting feverishly as I kissed her face—her lips, her nose, her eyes. I brushed hair back from her forehead and laid a trail of kisses across it.
“Oh, god,” she whispered as she lifted her face, trying to kiss my lips but getting my chin instead. “You’re so much…”
I lowered my lips to hers again, reveling in what I’d longed to feel for so long. The speed of my thrusts increased as I lost myself in her…
And blew my load deep inside her just in time to feel another orgasm rip through her.
We both cried out as release washed over us—her tearing my back to ribbons while I carved out her insides with a cock that wouldn’t go soft.
It was a long fucking night.
The next day was even longer.
***
Monday, September 16th, 11:45 am
I slapped the thick manila folder on the table. Thick enough to qualify as a small-town phone book, it landed with a thud that startled everyone else in the room.
Accounts receivable. Accounts Payable. Depreciation. Discretionary budgets. Equity. Quarterly returns. If I had to look at another goddamn accounting statistic, I was going to slit my wrists and give myself a blood deficit. It was all I could do to keep my eyes from crossing.
“You okay?” Vikram asked, peering at me from over his laptop.
I’d asked Chandler and Erin to gather as much information as possible on Sunday so we could take a look at the books first thing Monday morning and see if we could get some answers. Two very prominent people had threatened to go public with the information they had on the Gerrard estate, and I’d been foolish to go this long without fully understanding what was in my portfolio.
Not that I could simply pull up a spreadsheet and see it all. I’d been warned that Colin Gerrard Sr. had a complex, highly compartmentalized company structure, but now that I was getting a good look at it all, I was starting to see just how intricate the web really was.
There were so many accounts! Money would flow into one, transfer to another, then that money would split and go into two more. Follow one trail only to find out that it was a shell corporation in Ireland. Who was the executive there? Some guy I had never heard of with a phone number that didn’t work.
Rinse and repeat.
It was the largest metaphorical cluster of tangled Christmas lights I’d ever seen.
We’d set up in one of VistaVision’s largest conference rooms. The massive table was littered with file folders and the boxes they came in. Laptops rested along the edges so we could verify some of the old data while examining the new data for the companies that had since gone fully digital. They were all manned by lawyers provided by YPV and forensic accountants recommended by Erin and Psalter.
“Nope,” I responded to Vikram’s question, leaning back in my chair. We’d been doing this for over three and a half hours without a break, and as someone who hadn’t looked at financials for well over two months, I was getting rusty. “This is frustrating as hell.”
“Colin had to have people managing all this,” Erin said without looking up from her laptop. “But all I could find were in-house money-crunchers who didn’t know anything outside their lanes. Even the ones here…”
Chandler swatted away a folder and sat down on one of the corners of the conference room, a cup of hot tea in his hand like the walking stereotype of a Brit he was. “While I don’t doubt Erin’s capabilities, Marcus, I daresay I’ve done almost everything humanly possible to account for every penny associated with VistaVision. I’ve gone much further than what is typical for the sake of thoroughness.”
“Same on our end,” Vikram said. “There’s a lot of money that we can’t account for that we’ve put into what’s become known as the ‘Roger VanCamp bucket.’” He made air quotes with his fingers as he said it. “Every time we have an unanswered question, it all goes there. Apparently, he’s been at this for a while. We’re finding big question marks that go back years.”
“How do they get away with shady shit equaling billions of dollars?” I asked.
“Companies like VistaVision and Gerrard Holdings are siloed,” Chandler said. “Departments use software that other departments don’t use… have budgets that are approved through department heads that don’t necessarily know what other departments’ budgets are. No one person can be aware of what all departments are doing at all times in a company this big. A few inscrutable people in key positions would be allowed to get away with so much, as long as they exercised a bit of caution.”
“People like my grandpa and Roger VanCamp,” I concluded.
“Yeah,” Vikram said. “It’s the same with YVP. I have no idea what goes on over in injury law. I just mind my own business.”
“Precisely,” Chandler said. “Only, in this case, it was less your grandfather and more his children.
I eyed Chandler for a long moment until he started to look a little uncomfortable.
“Hey, guys,” I finally said to everyone. How about you take an early lunch and give us the room? Chandler, you stay. You too, Vikram.”
The rest of the law and accounting nerds looked around at each other like they were suddenly worried that their jobs were on the line, but then they slowly gathered their things to leave—except for those I asked to remain.
Erin stayed as well. My assistant continued typing away on her laptop as if she hadn’t heard anything I’d said, already aware that she was meant to stay.
Chloe did the same, still leaning back in her chair with her phone in front of her. Her golden-brown eyes peered from under her eyebrows, dispassionately watching all the people getting up to file out of the conference room.
Eventually, it was empty of everyone except the five of us.
“Okay,” I said, spinning in my chair to look at Chandler. “I’ve heard enough to get the gist of what happened, but I’m gonna need you to lay out as much of the family history as you can.”
It was long past due for me to get a full recounting of the Gerrard family drama that had led to death, prison, and estrangement. Unfortunately, anyone in the family who could give me that recounting wanted nothing to do with me, so Chandler was the best I had.
“I see,” Chandler said, “And where precisely would you like me to start?”
“The Kelly Madison shit,” I said. “Apparently, everything came to a head when she was fired, including the death of Michael Haley.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know much about the specific reason Kelly was let go,” Chandler said carefully, “but I suspect that Colin discovered she was going behind his back.”
“Like, stealing money?”
“I assumed it was something as simple as that,” Chandler mused, “but roughly a year and a half ago, your grandfather said something I thought quite curious. We were in the middle of a legal dispute with another company while apparently having a non-compete agreement with one of their competitors. I recall him muttering to himself that he wished he’d kept it in his pants. I think he was referring to Kelly Maddox.”
“So, they were having an affair?”
“Anyone working closely with Colin knew it was happening,” Chandler scoffed. “Kelly Maddox was his worst-kept secret. Your grandfather was a master at keeping things close to his chest, but she didn’t share his talent.”
“And that was enough to tip you off that Kelly was dipping her hand in the cookie jar?”
Chandler huffed. “Not stealing so much as making deals and decisions behind his back that he wouldn’t have approved of. You see, after that comment, I went back to look at some old irregularities and found enough to justify my suspicions. Not that it mattered… by that point, Kelly was long gone.”
“And she was able to get away with it because of silos?”
“And she had the help of his son.”
“My dad?”
Chandler shook his head. “I don’t know what role your father played in subverting Colin’s authority, if any. I’m referring to Logan.”
“The one in prison for murdering Michael?”
“Yes. Colin put a lot of faith in your uncle.” Chandler shook his head, looking a little sad. “They were so much alike, those two. They looked alike… had the same mannerisms… the same temperament…”
“What did he do in the company?”
“Well, he was training to take over the empire one day. Colin insisted on making him the Chief Operating Officer for Dynistat—another of Colin’s companies specializing in research and development in computer hardware. I suspect that’s where the rot began in the Gerrard conglomerate.”
“But you don’t know for sure,” I said.
“Anytime I broached the subject of possible corruption, Colin would tell me to butt out,” Chandler said, looking mildly offended. “He would say things like, ‘Mind your own store, and let me worry about the rest.’ He was a terribly proud man.”
Chloe snorted, reminding me that she worked for him near the end of his life. She’d also mentioned that he could be stubborn and mean.
“Anyway,” Chandler continued. “That was years ago. I simply let it lie and continued to focus on where I was needed—here.”
“So, when she was fired…”
“Yes! Many of us felt it was a long time coming! Only when she was removed from her office, Colin replaced her with his son-in-law. Up until then, Michael oversaw VistaVision’s theme park division, which had resulted in the most profitable three-year streak that still stands to this day. Colin was so impressed that he decided to move Michael into a position with more responsibility, helping him manage the entire estate—Gerrard Holdings.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how Logan felt about Michael getting to work so close to his father. That kind of position had to come with all sorts of perks.
“Things went well for about three months, and then everything fell apart. Michael was found in bed with an intern from VistaVision. Both had been murdered—a nasty bit of business.”
Helen had been the one first to mention the murder, but it was in passing. Getting more of the details made it seem more real, though. I’d heard that my grandpa was a hard man, and I’d witnessed Tyler’s asshole behavior firsthand. To think some of my family was capable of murder, though…
“Logan was arrested the same day, and it came to light that he had been responsible for selling hardware for new guidance missiles to The People’s Dawn.”
I leaned forward in my chair. “What’s that?”
“A terrorist organization masquerading as a liberation group for some country in Africa. The chips were confiscated by the government and reverse engineered. Within a year, we received word that the technology had made its way into the Near East and Russia. Three months after that, they were used against American strategic assets.”
Chandler’s jaw tightened, clearly affected by the memory. “The technology produced in our labs had been used against our own countrymen. I even knew one of them. Attending his funeral was… difficult.”
Feeling a little sick at inheriting this kind of legacy, I sat back in my chair. How the hell had Colin managed to recover from something like that? Had he suffered any sort of major fallout?
Did the government have my name?
Well, of course, they had my name, but did they have it for more reasons than I’d originally thought? “Jesus…”
“Indeed,” Chandler said somberly. “Things might have been much worse had Michael not approached Colin with his findings.”
“So, Logan sold the tech, Michael found out, and Logan killed him?”
“Well,” Chandler said, “that’s the official story. Colin wanted to go after Kelly, but the only evidence we could find on Michael’s death was linked to his son, so Logan went to prison, and Kelly remained free.”
“How was she able to just walk in here and vote in that board meeting, considering everything?”
“Because she has powerful friends,” Chandler said. “Tanaka respected Colin, but they cooled to each other. Kelly Maddox also commanded his respect but was also more willing to compromise than Colin. It made her preferable to work with for people like Hiro Tanaka, Rajesh Desai, Daniel Hahn, Torman Håkansson…”
“Daniel Hahn?” That was the first time I heard that name.
“Yes. He owned roughly… two percent of VistaVision, I believe. He also owned small percentages in a few other companies under your grandfather’s estate.”
“What happened to his shares?”
“Bought out by Brantwood Holdings.” Chandler looked unhappy. “There used to be many more investors with significant shares of VistaVision. Brantwood bought out many of them.”
“The company that Amber Bell represented, right?”
“The very same.”
“Isn’t that a little suspicious?”
Chandler shrugged. “Not particularly. Many investment firms take an interest in successful companies and look for any opportunity to buy more. They’re not the only ones. Tanaka bought out someone from Mexico, and the twins managed to double their shares.”
I nodded, not completely convinced, but something else was bothering me— bringing up Amber’s name had sparked another thought. “Chandler, do you know a… Phillip…”
I couldn’t remember the entire name and looked to Erin and Chloe for help.
“Phillip Castor,” Erin said, pulling the name from her perfect memory.
“That’s the one.” I glanced back at Chandler.
Chandler’s expression grew thoughtful as he mused over the name. “Phillip Castor…”
He walked over to his computer and began tapping away.
“Who’s Phillip Castor?” Vikram asked.
“A guy murdered last month in a minimum-security prison,” I said.
Vikram’s brow furrowed. “What does that have—”
“Ah!” Chandler looked at me over the spectacles he’d donned while searching his computer. “There was an accounting contractor by the name of Phillip Castor working for Gerrard Holdings for a few years!”
My heart skipped a beat, and I jumped to my feet.
Some goddamn fucking answers…
“What does Phillip Castor have to do with anything?” I finished Vikram’s question. “A hell of a lot, considering Amber Bell killed him.”
“Excuse me?” Chandler asked, bewildered.
“We can’t know that for sure,” Chloe said.
The touch of exasperation in her voice irritated me. “She fucking kidnapped and interrogated me, so I know what she’s capable of. She was identified at the prison where Castor died… on the day he died. Of course she did it!”
Chloe shrugged. I wanted to hurl that phonebook-like folder at her. Instead, I turned my attention back to Chandler.
“What are the odds that something was on that drive she wanted—the one they kidnapped from the Catskills home. Like… shadow records or something?”
Chandler eyed me skeptically. “Shadow records? As in, a secret ledger?”
I looked at him expectantly.
“I mean, it’s possible that a secret ledger was stored on a flash drive. I’m not very knowledgeable regarding encryption or cyber security, but I also recall using flash drives as a kind of key for accessing secure computers.”
“Okay,” I said, “So… recap. Kelly works with Logan to get rich by taking advantage of the company’s size. She uses her closeness to Colin and his trust in Logan to enrich herself. There’s some kind of paper trail. Colin figures out what’s going on and fires Kelly.”
I looked to Chandler. He nodded.
“Okay, so Kelly gets fired and Michael Haley is hired in her place because of his track record?”
“Yes. Logan was considered, but Michael had years of experience, and I believe Colin had learned his lesson regarding hiring based on feelings over actual qualifications.”
“So,” Erin said, “Haley gets Kelly’s old position and notices something is going on… he does some digging, finds more stuff he doesn’t like—”
“Michael and Colin did have some heated arguments,” Chandler said. “He was famously one of the only ones who could successfully stand up to the old man.”
“Disputes over what?” I asked.
Chandler shook his head. “It was rare to know the details. Colin’s pride kept their conversations quiet. They may have had their disagreements at times, but Colin had a lot of respect for Michael, and Michael returned it. Outside of those private moments, they kept a united front.”
“Okay,” I said. “Michael finds more evidence, possibly implicating Logan, and Colin doesn’t want to hear it. Michael is eventually murdered…” I looked toward Chandler.
“Only a few months after filling Kelly’s position,” Chandler answered.
“Wow… okay. He’s killed, and Logan ends up in prison. Do you know what the evidence was that tied Logan to the death?”
Chandler shook his head. “I’m afraid not—Colin and his pride.”
I glanced at Vikram, who gave me a vacant look.
“Oh, I wouldn’t bother,” Chandler said, aware that I was considering whether YVP could provide any answers.
I felt my shoulders slump. “Colin didn’t use his regular lawyers for all this, did he?”
Chandler simply sighed.
“Jesus Christ, Colin Gerrard,” I muttered. “So, why was Castor in prison?”
“I couldn’t tell you,” Chandler admitted. “Until a few minutes ago, I was unaware of his existence.”
I huffed, unsatisfied with the answers I had. Granted, it was more than when I first walked through these doors this morning, but still… for a guy with an entire staff working for him, Colin Gerrard managed to keep so many secrets.
“What about Nina?” I asked.
“Oh,” Chandler said. “I never really spoke to her about any of it. Not really my place. I do know her grief was tempered by anger at her husband, considering his corpse was located in bed with another woman.”
I made a mental note to try to talk to Nina. She hadn’t shown me any warmth when we met, so I didn’t bother. However, if I were trying to get to the bottom of her husband’s death, then perhaps I could find an ally… no matter how upset she was with the man. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.
“What about Tyler?” I asked.
Chandler’s eyebrows climbed high. “As in, your brother? I’m afraid there isn’t much to say about him… or your sister, for that matter. They were never part of the company. Your grandfather always took care of them after your father’s death, but they were quite spoiled. Colin wouldn’t let them anywhere near the estate. Especially after everything that happened with Kelly.”
“Oh yeah… I forgot she had a twin sister,” I mused.
I recalled ‘the twins’ having a lawyer represent them at the vote for CEO instead of attending the meeting themselves. I’d meant to follow up on that, but kicking Tyler in the nuts before flying off to Europe had kept me occupied. “Where is she?”
“Last I heard, Allie was in Spain,” Chandler said. “She and Tyler had some kind of falling out, and she wanted nothing to do with the family after that. That was… three years ago, I believe?”
“And their mom?”
“Connecticut,” Chandler said. “She’s married to a surgeon and has little to do with the Gerrards since the death of your father.”
“Hey, Erin?” I said.
“Got it, boss,” Erin said without looking up from her keyboard. We’d been together long enough now that I knew she was creating a task list that included trying to hunt down Tyler’s twin sister, their mom, and Nina Gerrard, so I could try to meet them. Now that I was running into dead ends with Chandler, I hoped that they could provide more.
“So,” I said, looking around the room, “I have three burning questions.”
“Only three?” Vikram asked.
I glanced around the room at the myriad of papers and computers representing decades of Gerrard bookkeeping, “Well, more than three, but three big ones. I want to know what’s on that flash drive. I also want to know who has it, because I’d bet a hell of a lot of money that it’s how we make sense of all this.” I waved my hands at the paper-strewn desk.
There was only one person I could think of—Amber. That bitch had to have it.
“And the other question?” Erin asked.
“Why did Amber Bell murder Phillip Castor?”
No one spoke, and I couldn’t blame them. There were plenty of guesses—he was an accountant, so it’s possible he had some kind of dirt on Kelly… or maybe Logan.
But if that was the case, then why was he in prison? Protection from Kelly, maybe? Had he been helping Kelly? Was the murder because Castor had actually been helping make backroom deals?
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out to take a look.
And then I froze.
Hiro Tanaka’s number was on the screen.
It buzzed again, and I looked up at Erin, who had started to say something about Castor, but grew concerned the moment she saw my face.
“What’s the matter, boss?”
It buzzed a third time and then went dead.
I gripped my phone and turned toward the door. I didn’t want several sets of eyes watching me while I talked to Hiro Tanaka.
“Where are you going?” Chandler asked, suddenly appearing agitated.
I glanced around the room. “Me being here is pointless. Keep these guys working on this. I want every single answer I can find. Meanwhile, Tanaka just called me. I’m gonna call him back.”
“What?” Chloe’s tone was sharp.
“Is that a good idea?” Vikram said.
“Why?” Erin asked.
“Because it’s the polite thing to do!” I said and reached for the doorknob.
“Erm,” Chandler said, “When were you planning on talking to Mrs. Tanaka?”
I looked toward the ceiling and groaned. I’d forgotten that I’d promised Chandler that I would talk to Carla and try to move her out of VistaVision. Chandler was a good guy, and I didn’t want to reward his hard work and loyalty by plaguing him with someone like Carla.
But then it hit me—Carla could provide some insight into Tanaka that could be useful.
“Yeah,” I said, whirling on Chandler. “Tell her to meet me in that small conference room across the hall from your office. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Thank you, Marcus,” Chandler said, looking a little relieved.
I stepped out of the conference room, already searching for the number Tanaka had called me from the other day, Chloe hot on my heels. I could feel her watching me.
“What?” I asked as I found his number.
“Why are you really calling him back?”
“Because I don’t want that fucker thinking I’m afraid of him. Who knows… maybe I’ll straight-up ask him if he killed Rajesh.” I said.
“You might offend him.”
I pressed the call button next to his number. “Then he needs to put on his big girl panties.”
I only hoped she couldn’t tell how nervous I was.
The phone rang as we began meandering our way down the office hallway toward the small conference room. One ring.
Two rings.
On the third, someone picked up. “Hello?”
It was a female voice with perfect English, which threw me off, considering it was Hiro’s phone number. “Hello?”
Silence on the other end.
“Uh… this is Marcus Upton, calling for Hiro Tanaka?”
There were a few moments of silence accompanied by some shuffling. I could hear something rustling in the background, and then what sounded like a door shutting. Finally, the person on the other end said. “Yes… Mr. Upton…”
“This is Hiro’s phone, right?”
“It is, but Mr. Tanaka is not available right now.”
“I just got called from this number. Where is he?” I almost asked if he was still washing the blood off his hands but decided against it. It was one thing to ask Hiro personally, but if I started randomly throwing accusations at some of his minions, who knew what he might do to an innocent secretary who just so happened to answer the phone at the wrong time.
“Forgive me,” the woman said. “My father is indisposed right now. I was the one who called you.”
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I said.
“It might prove fruitful for both of us.”
“Doubt it,” I said. “Who am I speaking with?”
“His daughter. Sachiko Tanaka.”
I stopped in the middle of the hallway, stunned. This was something I hadn’t expected.
“I was hoping we would get the chance to talk,” she said in a lowered voice.
“We’re talking now,” I said.
“Not on the phone,” she replied. “In person, perhaps?”
Glancing at Chloe, I said, “I’m not really interested in showing up to your lair. Your family and I aren’t exactly on good terms.”
“In a neutral place, then. Would lunch work?”
“Would your dad be there?”
She didn’t immediately respond, and just when I was about to ask if she was there, she said, “No. It would just be me.”
I sighed, still watching Chloe. She seemed to get the gist of what was going on and was eyeing me.
“There’s a sushi place on Eighty Fourth,” I said. “Sushi Smash… want to meet there?”
“American sushi?” she asked, a hint of dryness in her tone.
“The best American sushi,” I clarified.
More hesitation, then she said, “I can do one o’clock.”
I repeated the time for Chloe’s benefit, “One o’clock…”
My bodyguard seemed to do some quick math in her head and then nodded.
“Yeah. I can do that. I might be ten minutes late.”
“One-thirty then.”
“What’s this about?” I asked.
“We can talk at the restaurant, but in short, it is about my brother and father.”
“I’m not letting your brother go without some kind of deal,” I said.
“I understand.”
“Okay,” I said. “But just a heads up… my security will probably check you out before I come in.”
“Considering that my family and you are not on good terms, I would expect as much,” she said.
The way she tossed my words back at me caught me off guard enough that I almost gave her a weak chuckle. “Alright. Talk to you soon.”
She hung up without another word, and I blinked at Chloe. “Well, that’s interesting.”
“The Tanaka daughter is supposed to be smart,” Chloe said.
“Yeah. I remember,” I said. She’d been briefly mentioned on the way to meet Ryo.
“She’s going to use her femininity to appeal to your sense of mercy,” Chloe said as we continued down the hall.
“You think she’ll try to seduce me?”
“Or just express some vulnerability,” Chloe said.
She had a point. Sometimes, a pair of big doe eyes was just as effective as a pair of bedroom eyes. “What are you suggesting?”
“Bring Helen with you.”
“Not Erin?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Erin, too,” Chloe said, “but Helen should be there.”
“Why not just Erin?”
“Because Erin’s almost as bad as you are,” Chloe said. “And I wouldn’t care if it were anyone else, but this is a Tanaka.”
I gave her a look.
“I’m not saying you guys are helpless, but Helen has more control over her libido than you two.”
Maybe she was right. Helen certainly enjoyed sex as much as I did, but she did seem a little more level-headed when it really counted, and she’d also known Tanaka for a long time. “Okay.”
We continued down the hall toward the conference room, where we ran into John standing at the door.
“She in there?” I asked.
John nodded. “She and the room are clean.”
I glanced at Chloe, “Does that mean I can go in by myself? She seems a little more forthcoming when it’s just me and her.”
Chloe nodded. “I’ll be here in case you need anything.”
“Thanks,” I said as I opened the door and stepped inside, keeping my eye on her as I began to shut it. “I’ll be fine.”
I shut the door the rest of the way and turned around to see—
“Jesus Christ, Carla!”
Carla Tanaka wasn’t sitting in one of the three chairs surrounding the round conference table. She was sitting on the table. Wearing a dress… a dress which was currently bunched around her thighs.
And she clearly wasn’t wearing underwear.
Her frosted, bottle blonde hair hung over her shoulders. One shoulder strap on her dress had ridden down and rested on her forearm. Her palms were pressed into the table between her spread legs, gripping the wood’s edge… her baby-smooth pussy peeked at me from between them.
Carla bit the corner of her lip as she grinned, staring at me with those smoldering brown eyes.
“Hey, stud! Did you miss me?”
“No!”
“No!?” She repeated, her smile immediately replaced with a pout. “Why not!? It gets cold in Europe!”
“I managed,” I said dryly.
Her pout intensified. “Well, this isn’t the reunion I expected.”
“What did you expect!?
Carla put her hand to her chest and feigned a conversation— ”Carla! My precious gem! I haven’t seen you since that night we shared! How have you been since I hid you away in my building to protect you from your mean husband!?”
She pivoted to the other side, pretended to blush as she held her hand to her cheek shyly, and said, “Marcus! You’ve been gone for so long, travelling beautiful Europe without me, while I’ve been imprisoned in this dreary castle without you! I’ve not been with another man since we were last together. Come! Make love to me!”
Leaning forward, she spread her legs a little wider, giving me a clear view of what was between them. The look she gave me would have had a lifelong priest blushing as he undressed.
“I can’t believe you abandoned me here,” she said, “while you galivanted around Europe with half a dozen women. Then you waited four whole days after your return to see me! You even had a party and didn’t invite me!”
“Last time you came to my party, you slept with one of my best friends.”
Her lips curled into a sly smile. “Nuh-uh! It’s not technically sex. The President said so!”
“I don’t need the details.”
“Aw… what’s the matter? Are you jealous?”
“No! I just don’t want Kai to end up dead because he couldn’t resist a pretty woman!”
Her predatory look melted into something a little more genuine, and a slight blush—a real one—crept across her cheeks. “It’s nice to hear you think I’m pretty.”
Fucking Christ. This woman made me miss Astrid.
The brief thought of the Nordic woman made me touch my phone, remembering the image she sent yesterday.
“I missed you,” Carla said, drawing me back to the present. She actually sounded sincere.
Part of me felt sorry for her. Nothing interesting had happened to her since she moved into my apartment and started working for VistaVision. Once a week, I heard the same thing from Chloe—Carla was escorted to work by my security, and she was escorted home by my security. When she did eat out, it was by herself. Apparently, she’d been stood up by her friends twice. She’d literally had zero visitors since everything went down between me and Hiro. Her one, single saving grace was her time at VistaVision, where she got the most human interaction.
And according to Chandler, most of them only tolerated her.
“I…”
I started to say it back because I knew it was something she wanted to hear, yet I couldn’t bring myself to form the words. I didn’t miss her. She was a pain in my ass and much of the reason I was in this hot mess.
But she could also prove to be useful.
“It’s good to see you again, Carla,” I finally said. That was at least partly true. I was happy to see she wasn’t dead. No one deserved what I imagined Hiro had in store for her.
She brightened. “Please tell me you brought me here for a little workplace fun.”
“Uh… no… that’s not what this is.”
“Marcus! It’s been ages!” She slid off the desk and took a couple of steps toward me. A hand slid to the strap on the other side of her dress, and she began to slowly work it down her lovely, tanned shoulder. “I have needs, you know.”
Oh boy, did I! Carla Tanaka was a hellcat in the bedroom. She’d given as good as she got, and there was not a single area in the sexual arts where she didn’t excel. If she’d gone a month without… I could only imagine what my back would look like the next day.
“I’m here to talk about your husband, Carla,” I said, taking a single step back.
“Ugh,” she groaned, any sexiness fading from her demeanor. “Ex-husband.”
“I don’t care what he is,” I said. “He killed Rajesh Desai last night.”
The bratty, seductive trophy wife routine vanished as her brown eyes grew wide. “What?”
“He came to see me Friday night,” I said. “He threatened me on behalf of Hiro unless I gave up you and Ryo.”
Carla took a couple of steps back and fell back until her perfect ass hit the conference table. She started idly playing with her hair as she stared at me.
“The cops found him hanging in his hotel room this morning,” I said. “They’re suspecting suicide—”
“They haven’t ruled out anything yet,” I continued. “But my people are pretty sure Hiro did it.”
Carla eyed me carefully. “How are they so sure?”
“Because Rajesh just threatened me the night before and seemed really upset when he didn’t get what he wanted,” I said. “I talked to Hiro earlier the same day, too. He sounded pissed.”
I eyed Carla, noting that she looked more disturbed than concerned that someone had been murdered. “Besides… from what I hear, he’s capable of it.”
Carla shook her head, staring at the space behind me. “Yeah… he is.”
“I called him on the phone,” I admitted, “just before coming in here.”
Her gaze turned back to me, sharp. “What did he say?”
I shook my head. “His daughter answered the phone. She said he was busy.”
Carla blinked. “Sachiko is in town?”
“Guess so,” I shrugged. “I called this number, and she answered.” I pulled up the phone number on my phone and flashed my screen at her.
“Yeah. That’s his personal cell.”
“Does Sachiko being here mean anything? I barely knew he had a daughter.”
Carla crinkled her nose, and despite myself, I couldn’t help finding it cute.
“He doesn’t utilize Sachiko much unless he feels…”
She crossed her arms over her chest and remained silent, once again staring at the wall behind me, seemingly lost in thought. The strap on her shoulder, which she’d been working on, rode a little further down, on the cusp of slipping free and succumbing to gravity.
“Carla,” I said, tilting my head to the side in an unconscious effort to gain eye contact. “I need to know everything you can tell me about Hiro. People are dead because of him, and more people might die.”
She looked up at me, her brown eyes like stone. “What do I get out of it?”
I blinked. “What?”
“What. Do. I. Get?”
I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Carla knew I’d been protecting her from the man, and now I’d just let her know that he’d killed one of his own for failing him. She had to be scared out of her mind.
“Me keeping you safe isn’t enough?”
She looked at me like I was the crazy one.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I’ve been cooped up in that apartment for over a month, Marcus! I want to go out!”
“I’m not stopping you,” I said. “Just let the Hannon guys—”
“Oh my god, you’re dumb!” Carla stamped her foot—literally stamped her foot like a petulant child. “I want to go out with you! I want another date!”
“This again?” I huffed. “Fine. We can go out on another date if you—”
“No!” she cut me off. “I don’t want another mediocre date with half-ass sex.”
“Half-ass!?” I felt like that had been some of my best work! What the fuck did she mean by ‘half-ass!?’
“I want you, Marcus. All of you.” She pushed off the table again and took one step toward me, then another. That tigress spirit shone brightly in her eyes beneath that fringe of frosted blonde tips. “I want a real date with you. Make me believe it…”
“I might be taken,” I said. That wasn’t precisely true, but Carla didn’t know it.
Carla scoffed. “I’m better. Ditch her.”
“What!? No!”
She halted and shrugged, her dress barely managing to stay over her breasts since she’d freed both straps from her shoulders. “Fine. Then good luck with Hiro.”
“I’ll just talk to Ryo,” I said.
She snorted. “Good luck.”
“He’s got a punchable face,” I said, “and I’ve got a guy who likes punching it.”
“It’s not that,” Carla said. “He probably caved and gave you everything he knows.” That wicked half-smile returned. “He’s just too stupid to know much.”
“And I suppose you’re a font of information?”
“You came to me,” Carla pointed out.
“How about this?” I said, stepping closer to her. I wanted to tower, but considering she was a naturally tall woman, standing at five feet and eight inches while also gaining another three inches in her heels, she wasn’t much shorter than me. I was still bigger, though. “You tell me what you know, and I let you stay in my apartment under my protection.”
We were close now—close enough that as she exhaled, I could smell her breath. I could easily glance down and probably see her fit abdomen through the canyon between her breasts.
Her tits lightly brushed my chest as she leaned forward ever so slightly, her eyes taking on a playful glint. “Mmm… now this is something I could get used to. What if I say no? Gonna bend me over that desk and spank me?”
“I’m not kidding, Carla,” I growled.
“I’m not either, baby. Date me.”
Jesus… now she wanted me to date her? This was escalating quickly.
“I told you. I’m taken.”
“I’ll take so much better care of you than anyone else. What we did that night? That was a four out of ten. Baby… I’ll give you eleven every night. Date me. Let me move in with you. Let me keep working here, and I swear to god, not only will I give you everything I know about Hiro… you won’t be able to walk straight another day in your life.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? I could throw you out?”
“Fuck, I get wet when you talk to me like that,” she breathed. “Go ahead, if you really want, but then you lose everything up here.” She pointed to her temple.
Fuck it. If she was dumb enough to gamble with her life like this, maybe I needed to throw her out. “How do I know you have anything up there worth preserving?”
“Because I’m a dumb bimbo bitch who doesn’t know what a ten-ninety-nine is,” she said. “He never cared what I heard, so I heard a lot. He underestimated me every chance he got, and it already bit him in the ass once. Play your cards right, and it’ll bite him so hard that he’ll bleed out.”
I had to work really hard to keep the surprise off my face. The sheer amount of manipulation… I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised after what she did to me at the board meeting, but I was.
She had a point, though. Her scheme had seriously undermined Hiro and resulted in this entire feud.
I wasn’t sure what to do. It was very possible she knew a lot. It was also possible she knew very little. If I called her bluff and handed her over to Hiro, she would lose, but so could I.
Thing is… Carla was crazy enough for me to believe she would actually go to the grave with her secrets if she didn’t get what she wanted.
But I didn’t want to date this woman.
“You really wouldn’t have a problem dating someone based on extortion?”
“Honey,” Carla said. “By the time you no longer needed me, you wouldn’t want to be rid of me.”
“Doubt it,” I said.
“Only one way to find out,” she grinned, and I hated myself for thinking that she looked like a fucking angel when she smiled.
I stared at her, and she simply stared back, smirking. Her dress still clung to her… barely.
“I’ve got bigger shit on my plate,” I finally said. “Let me think about it.”
“Don’t keep me waiting,” Carla sing-songed as she slid one of the straps back up her shoulder and rummaged through her purse. She was clearly not bothered that she didn’t get an answer. It was as if she already knew I would say yes. It made me want to say no right out of hand.
Frustrated, I started to turn to leave, then paused.
“Do you really not know what a ten-ninety-nine is?”
Looking up from her purse, Carla narrowed her eyes as if trying to concentrate on something. “It’s a football thing, right?”
“Jesus Christ…” I left the room before I could say something I’d regret later.
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