Time turned into days. I’d spent the weekend working the mystery of the cash. By Monday after work, I’d gone through all the accounts. There were over a hundred. Kevin hadn’t shown up that day, for which I was thankful. So engrossed in my work, I made a mistake. I found myself in a lit room staring out the glass into the dark. The low-walled cubes made it easy to see that no one was around.
Packing up, I headed out the door expecting the light to turn on with my movement outside the conference room. Nothing. I started to take swift steps to the elevator when computer screens across the room lit up. The message that scrolled across the array of neon colored backgrounds on various monitors throughout the open space said, “Last warning, STOP.”
Feet don’t fail me now
, was my mantra when I hightailed it to the elevator banks. Hitting the down button with rapid fingers that mirrored my heartbeats, I stopped breathing until the ding of the elevator alerted me to its arrival. Jumping in, I did the same furious tapping on the L button.
With the final ding, I ran out of the lobby into the dark with New Yorkers streaming down the sidewalk. The walkway wasn’t thick with people, but there were enough to make me feel marginally safe.
After heading to the subway, I leaned against the wall. I pulled out my phone and remembered that Lizzy was in Chicago with Matt. If I called they would both be worried and catch a flight back. So I made a decision and dialed Kalen instead.
When he answered, I hadn’t expected it. “Kalen,” I breathed.
He’d obviously heard the panic in my voice and said, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m scared,” I began. Then I explained what happened.
“Stay where you are. I’ll be right there.”
And I did. I didn’t feel safe until his hands cupped the sides of my face and peeled me from the wall. Tucking me in his embrace, I breathed in his scent and the comfort that came along with it.
Taking my hand, we walked over to the SUV and got in the back. He didn’t speak to the driver, but we headed away. “Are you alright?” he asked.
It was the only thing he said to me. “Yes,” I said, still shaking.
Puzzled, we ended up in that same garage from our last date. We entered the same elevator, except this time it opened into a lavish apartment. Floor to ceiling windows lined the wall ahead. Dark wood floors filled the place as far as my eye could see. A spacious living room and dining room area was filled with minimal furniture. Each piece had been carefully selected to look more like art that cozy pieces. A floating, twisting staircase led upstairs to places unknown.
The kitchen was large with wood cabinets complementary to the dark floors. Shiny stainless steel appliances sent shine to the granite countertops. It was all mastery decorated with splashings of brick red, oranges and green placed fluidly throughout the space. Apparently he liked the outdoors, because that was what the space felt like, bringing the outdoors in.
And as exciting as it was to finally see his place, all the emotional fear and sorrow from the past few days caught up with me and I began to crumble inside. First there was a tear. Then my knees felt weak. I wasn’t weak normally, except in his presence, but today I couldn’t help it.
Kalen had me in his arms. “I’m sorry,” I cried on his shoulder.
He didn’t speak. And I had to get it out. “You’d left me the night before pissed. I didn’t know if I was ever going to see you again. Then Matt offered to help. I didn’t know he was going to kiss me. And I told him afterwards that my heart belonged to you.” Stepping back, he searched my face. In response, I added, “Yes, even though I wasn’t sure if I would see you again, I turned him down. It was always you.”
Without any words, he closed the little distance he’d created and kissed me. It felt so right being with him. The L word bubbled in my chest. Could you love someone after about a month of knowing them? I didn’t know. I did know that I was in deeper than my waist in a lake of L feelings with this guy, like, lust, and maybe on my way to love.
“This Matt guy should feel pretty damn lucky I haven’t met him. I don’t take kindly to one touching what belongs to me. And you, Lass, most certainly belong to me.”
As much as his words sent flutters in my belly, I said, “I don’t want to belong to anyone.”
“If it’s flowery words you need, Lass, I don’t have them. I can’t say meaningless words. I can only tell you no other woman has made me want. No woman has ever stirred things in me you have. You are like no other woman.” His hand cupped my cheek.
Placing my hand over his, I said, “I don’t mean to put you on the spot. I hardly know you. But I’m not the kind of girl to go around sleeping with guys for the hell of it. I don’t need flowery words. I don’t even need promises. But I need to know that you think that this could go somewhere. That I’m not just a good sex partner. I wasn’t raised to give my heart away so easily, much less sex.”
When he didn’t speak, I added, “I should go home.” My heart was breaking as the words tumbled out of my mouth. But I didn’t allow it to show.
“Bailey,” he said, reaching out to me. It was so very weird to hear him say my name. “I can’t promise you forever because I wasn’t planning on staying here in America. And I won’t be selfish like my father and ask you to leave your home, your life, and move to Scotland with me. We barely know each other and look how that turned out for my parents.”
“So you are leaving?”
Letting go of my hand, he looked away for a second before focusing on me again. “If it wasn’t for my father’s rule about funding my college, I wouldn’t be here. I paid him back in service the last four years, spending much of my time at various international offices so I wouldn’t have to be near the man. Then, just when I thought I could leave, he up and dies, surprising everyone by leaving everything to me. I was here to get the company stable after his death with plans to leave as soon as that was done. Then I met you.”
“And?” I asked, tentatively hopeful.
“And you’ve turned my world inside out. I can’t close my eyes without seeing your face. I don’t have a free moment when I’m not thinking about you. My dick is a loyal son of a bitch and only has eyes for you. You weren’t supposed to matter. No woman ever has. Yet I can’t let you go. I can’t let you walk away.”
“And you can’t promise me anything either.” Okay, maybe I was a hypocrite. I’d told him I didn’t need promises. And really I didn’t. I needed hope for future promises.
“You deserve a guy better than me, Lass. I grew up a scoundrel on the streets, stealing and preying on young girls’ hearts to get in their pants. I don’t deserve a woman like you. Sweet, kind, thoughtful, true.”
“How can you know this about me?” I asked.
He reached out, caressed my cheek and said, “Because I’ve seen how you act. I’ve talked to you. Even though you left home, what your family thinks of you matters. You care about this Matt guy enough not to string him or me along. You’re passionate about a company you’re not even invested in to take your own time to find a potential fraud even when your boss tells you to leave it alone. You have principles. You care.”
“And you make me feel safe, you make me feel beautiful. You care or I wouldn’t be here. Yet we stand on opposite sides of a river bank.”
“Lass,” he said, letting his hand fall away.
Then it was my turn to stop him. “I’m not trying to trap you. We should just stop before one of us gets hurt,” I said. Namely me, but my heart was already breaking. “Just let me know where I can sleep.”
With his hand on the small of my back, he guided me up the stairs and into a room that held a huge bed with a leather footstool at the end. The only other furniture in the room was a tall chest. Stepping out of his reach, I headed for the open door that looked like a bathroom and shut myself in.
I heard his retreating footsteps and the door to the bedroom close. Stripping, I got in the shower wondering if I would ever be the same. Finger brushing my teeth with toothpaste I found in a drawer, I stepped out into the empty room in a towel. The chest proved fruitful. This was Kalen’s room despite its impersonal nature. Slipping on a white tee shirt I found, I slipped under the covers and prayed for sleep.
Sleep was as elusive as Kalen’s heart. I missed Lizzy so damn bad and had to fight from calling her. I didn’t want her to worry. Buried in the pillows, I smelled his familiar woodsy scent. With eyes closed for so long, I wondered if it were possible to sleep here. Just when I felt the tug of dreamland, arms tugged me close. Not wanting to talk but just enjoy this final time in his embrace, I continued my even breathing, drifting. Just before sleep claimed me, I swore I heard a murmur of words. “I can say I don’t think I can live without you.”
It wasn’t the sun or a blare of an alarm that woke me. Instead, I just got up on instinct alone. He was gone like a ghost, and I couldn’t be sure he’d even been there holding me last night. My phone buzzed to life a few seconds later. Kalen.
Reading several texts, he urged me to speak to my boss or go to the CEO of the company and explain what was going on if my boss wouldn’t listen. He told me that he would have a security company come to beef up the locks on Lizzy’s apartment because if he could so easily get in, so could someone else. He offered me to stay at his place, but I would decline that. It was clear things weren’t going to move any further between us. None of his texts mentioned us. The last text said my clothes were on the chair. I turned because I didn’t remember a chair in the room. The only furniture had been a chest. There was a flat screen mounted on the wall, but that was it.
Rolling over, I saw the chair and my clothes neatly laid across it. My clothes. He’d gone to my apartment. Walking over there, he’d also brought me a matching bra and panty set from my drawer. The funniest thing about the outfit was that it was a pant suit he’d selected. Kalen had been super intent on me always wearing a dress or skirt. What was he saying with this outfit?
Shrugging, I couldn’t think about it more. I just got dressed and walked to the kitchen where coffee, a bagel and fresh fruit he’d mentioned waited for me. Eating, I also knew his driver would be there to take me to work. However, I called a cab. This would be a clean break. With my dress folded up and pushed into my messenger bag, I headed out, not alerting his driver I was ready because I wouldn’t be using his services.
When I walked into our workspace, Kevin was there. Goodie. He sported a shiner and I waited for him to tell me I was off the team or something, but he said nothing. Anna looked at me, but with us all in this room with no privacy I couldn’t tell her anything. So instead, I told them all about what happened Friday night.
“No way,” Anna said.
“Come on Bailey, that’s just not possible,” Kevin said, looking at me like I was a crack pot.
“Are you calling me a liar?” I asked Kevin, because Jim, as usual, was quiet.
“No, but-,” he began.
“Well, I think we should report this.” My face let him know I wasn’t moving on this point. I wasn’t crazy. This happened. Someone was obviously telling me to stop my looking into this problem, which only made me a firm believer that I was on to something.
Kevin got on his cell phone and Anna mouthed the word lunch. I nodded and stepped out of the room. I feared that Kevin wasn’t going to fully support me and that Kalen was right. I’d already gotten the main line phone number and called to speak to Mr. Glenn, the CEO of the company. It was privately held, but they had a board. However, I didn’t have time to request that the entire board get together. Who knew if this person would resort to violence next?
“Mr. Glenn’s office,” his secretary said as I stood in the hallway near the bathroom on my cell.
“Yes, I need to see Mr. Glenn today if at all possible.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Glenn has meetings scheduled all day. In fact, he’s booked for the week. Can I ask what this is in reference to?”
I needed to see him and my only way was through his secretary. So I had to tell her something. “My name is Bailey Glicks and I’m an auditor. I think I may have found some oddities on the books that I need to inform him about asap. I just need five minutes of his time.”
She paused. “Give me a minute.”
When the Muzak came on, I hoped he would be interested enough to give me some of his time. Going over my supervisor’s head may cost me my job, but I didn’t know what else to do. I could have called my former supervisor in Boston, but what could she do from there? I would, however, tell her what I’d done after I spoke to Mr. Glenn.
Coming back on the line, his secretary said, “He’s in the middle of a conference call, but he can see you in fifteen minutes.”
Nodding, I realized she couldn’t see me. “Okay, thanks.” And I hung up. Heading back to the room, Kevin was waiting for me.
“Their IT department said something like that is highly unlikely. But they are going to look into it.”
Time moved like molasses. My heart raced and I’d already saved my spreadsheet on a thumb drive, prepared to present it to the CEO. The picture of the guy had his hair all grey and a face sterner than my father’s. I could only hope he took me seriously. My dad didn’t look at women as powerful or smart enough to listen to, not even me. I seriously was betting on this man to trust what I found.
When ten minutes passed, I got up and Kevin looked at me. “Where are you going?”
“Bathroom,” I said. I lied, but there was no way I could tell him what I was doing.
“Didn’t you just come from there?” he asked to my back as I exited our conference room. I didn’t bother to dignify that with an answer. I was an adult. He wasn’t my keeper. My boss, maybe, but even that was debatable.
It didn’t take rocket science to know that the head man’s office was on the top floor. When it pinged, I was greeted by a woman in her thirties, hair pulled back smartly in a simple low knot. Her crisp suit made crinkle sounds as she moved.
“Miss Glicks,” she said. I nodded. “Have a seat. He will be with you shortly.”
I sat in one of the four leather chair arranged conversational style a ways from her desk. The only thing I’d brought with me was the thumb drive. So I turned it all about in my fingers as I waited nervously, playing out my speech in my head. I would be concise and to the point. I’d offer the thumb drive. If he thought I was some whack job, I would be looking for new employment. I’d just have to convince him. Despite the relatively small amounts taken from each account on a monthly basis, added all up over a years’ time it totaled a considerable amount across all accounts.
There was a ping or a buzz and his secretary said, “He will see you now.”
Standing, I straightened my jacket and took a deep breath. I stepped forward and opened the office door, closing it behind me. Taking another breath I turned and froze.