Assets (14 page)

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Kalen,” I said, looking at him standing in front of the desk as if he’d risen to meet me. “What are you doing here? I can fight my own battles. I don’t need you to hand hold me to talk to Mr. Glenn.” My eyes narrowed. I stepped to the side to see that no one sat behind the desk. “Where is he?”

“Bailey,” he said. Something in his voice held caution. With each time he said my name, and not Lass, it felt more final that our short love affair was over.

“Kalen, this isn’t the time. I need to explain to Mr. Glenn this problem. You even said yourself I should.” My forehead wrinkled in my confusion. “How did you know where I worked?”

“I didn’t,” he said. There was a pained expression on his face I didn’t understand, at first.

“But,” then I saw it. The red blob hung on his wall. “Your name isn’t Woodrow Glenn, is it?” Even though the words tumbled out of my mouth, I knew otherwise.

“No,” he said. “My name is Jeremy Kalen Brinner Glenn. Woody Glenn was my father.”

And the world tilted on its axis. My back slid down the door of the office I’d been leaning on. Kalen rushed over. In a whisper, I said, “You lied to me.”

“No, I didn’t tell you my full name because it was nice not having someone know who I was. I wanted to see if you’d like me as Kalen and not the son of a billionaire.”

Billionaire. The word made my heart stop. I knew he was well off, like Lizzy, but billionaire? “Still you lied. Lizzy knew who you were. But I told her your name and she thought you were someone else.” There had been a Jeremy Glenn at her showing. And Kalen had been there.

“Bailey, I never meant to lie to you. Women are always out to get me for what they think I have. Honestly, I didn’t believe you didn’t know who I was at first. But you didn’t.”

“No,” I said, still finding it hard to breath. “How long have you known I worked here? Was this a game? Is everything you told me a lie?”

“Lass, I had no idea you were an auditor here. I swear I didn’t know until my secretary cut into my conference call saying you needed to see me. And no, everything I told you was truth.” But how could I trust him?

“And what are we going to do?” I asked, holding up the thumb drive. There was no need to explain about the potential fraud problems because I already had.  And our relationship or whatever it was then was a problem because we’d crossed many boundaries in terms of my fiduciary independence in his audit.

He stood and brought me to my feet. He kissed me like it was goodbye, holding me in his arm around my waist. His kiss was like fire and it said so many things. “I love you, Lass.”

“What, wait, why are you saying it now?” I asked, confused by the look of sorrow on his face.

“Because I need you to remember that.” And he walked me to a chair in front of his desk and made a call. In a matter of minutes, his top in-house counsel was in the office sitting in the chair as I recanted what I found and Kalen filled in the bit about how we didn’t know about each other’s work place.

The man looked at me and asked, “You can honestly tell me that you didn’t know who he was?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“John,” Kalen warned. “Trust me, she didn’t know.”

“What, did you find her under a rock? You’re in the news,” the man said, sounding contrite.

I didn’t like that he was talking about me like I wasn’t there. “No, I don’t read or watch the news that often. It’s depressing.”

“Okay fine,” he said, holding up a hand. “Say I believe you two. You said you guys went out. How did either of you not find out you were in the same office?”

Opening my mouth, Kalen beat me to it. “I constantly have meetings outside of the office. We never met at her work place. I’ve explained this to you.”

“Well, you know you two can’t see each other now. The auditor that found this problem,” he waved a hand over in my direction then at my spreadsheet, which Kalen had pulled up on his monitor. “And the head of the company. The FBI is going to have to get involved in order to follow the money trail.” When Kalen didn’t answer, the lawyer said, “Jeremy.”

It was so strange to hear him being called by another name. “We ended things yesterday.” Kalen looked at me as if to say I’m sorry. And I got it. He’d confessed his feeling to me because he knew we wouldn’t be allowed to be together.

“No more contact,” the lawyer warned. “No email, phone or any contact at all.”

My day and chastisement didn’t end there. My supervisor and the partner in charge of this engagement were brought in. I had to explain the whole sordid affair again along with my findings. It didn’t help that Kevin was there. Thankfully, he didn’t mention the fist. That would have only complicated things further.

Even though I would be a hero if I’d discovered fraud, I was placed on administrative leave. And the team would be replaced and the audit started from scratch. I was admonished again and warned to keep my distance from Kalen.

In the conference room, Anna and Jim were already gone by the time I came to get my things. But Kevin was there moments later. “Trying to sleep your way to the top, I should have known.”

“If you don’t stay away from me, I’ll give you a matching black eye.” Proudly, I walked out of the room and headed home. But that wasn’t my final destination. Four hours later, in my rental car, I pulled up to the security gate.

“Bailey, long time no see,” a guy I grew up with said.

“Hi, Samuel.”

“Go on ahead,” he said, raising the gate. We lived a simple life, but curiosity about the Amish had brought reporters and other people to our door even though we weren’t Amish. Darn close, if you asked me. We lived for the most part without modern conveniences. Our community was based on old traditions and very old fashion values. Women’s roles were far from progressive. And the jeans I wore wouldn’t be allowed.

As I drove to my parents’ home, I thought about my call to Lizzy.  She’d been supportive and tried to convince me to come to Chicago. She even tried to talk me into giving her brother a shot. But another man wasn’t what I needed. I hadn’t gotten over the one I had. He’d told me he loved me, and what was I suppose to do with that information?

Pulling up onto the grass because cars weren’t a common sight there, I got out the car, noticing that a man stood working on the front window. Before I got my bag out of the trunk, that man turned. And it was like time had frozen. He hadn’t changed a bit. He was as handsome as the last time I saw him. “Turner.”

“Bailey,” he said. And my heart stopped.

PART TWO ~ Balance Sheet Series ~
LIABILITIES

WILL BE OUT LATE SPRING/EARLY SUMMER 2013

Liabilities reduce asset value.  And right now, Bailey assumes her assets are worthless and her liabilities endless. Put on a leave of absence and required to stay away from Kalen, she heads to the only place she knows. Home.

Too bad home is like stepping back in time. The only thing that stays the same and quickens her heart is her best friend, her first of many including love, Turner.

Confused about everything, she doesn’t expect Kalen to show up. When he tells her that she may still be in danger, she’s not sure what she should do to protect herself and more importantly to protect her heart.