Billionaire Decoded (8 page)

He shook his head. "I don't
know, Heather, but I promise you that I'll do the best that I can to find out.
Do you have someone you can go visit? Someone who lives out of town?"

Now, he wanted her to get out of
town? She stared at him. What could she say? He had already assured her that
there was not anything that his company was involved in that would lead to her
personal harm, but-

"Look, Heather, I'm not trying
to scare you. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that this is just some sort of
revenge manufactured by one of my competitors. I will get to the bottom of it.
While I'm gone on my business trip, I'll make sure that my security detail
works on it full time. We will find out who is at the bottom of this. Until
then, I suggest that yes, if you have someone you can go visit that's out of
town, you'll feel more comfortable, won't you?"

She thought of her parents, living
up in New Hampshire. "Yes, I could probably go visit my parents," she
said.

"I’ll tell Cynthia. She'll make
sure that you have access to my jet at Logan Airport. I would suggest that you
leave by tomorrow, if not today. I don't want you to spend your weekend looking
over your shoulder and afraid to even leave your apartment. Okay?"

She looked at him. He did seem
genuinely concerned and regretful that he couldn't stick around. Once again she
was drawn to him, to his eyes and his apparent concern over her welfare. She
wanted to be in his arms again. More than that, she wanted to feel his lips on
hers.

Even though she had known him for
less than two weeks, she nevertheless felt the attraction, the pull, the sexual
tension between them. Did he feel it, too? She shook her head, clearing her
thoughts. She didn't expect him to cancel his trip and babysit her. In fact,
the thought of getting out of town for a week rather pleased her. She hadn't
visited her parents since Thanksgiving, and it would be nice to spend some
quality time with them rather than just a rushed weekend.

"All right, Brecken, I'll go
visit my parents up in New Hampshire for the week." She paused. "But
it only takes a little over an hour or so to drive. I can drive-"

"You'll take my jet," he
interrupted.

"But your business trip-"

"I have more than one jet,
Heather," he grinned.

For a second, she noted the slight
tone of arrogance. He could afford to be arrogant, couldn’t he? He probably had
a handful of jets.

"Heather?"

She nodded. "I got through a
lot of the paperwork that was backed up, but I'll be behind again when I get
back if I'm gone for an entire week."

He waved a hand. "Don't worry
about that, Heather. The paperwork will still be there when you get back. I'm
more concerned with your frame of mind. I want to keep you here. I want to keep
you a happy, contented employee. Like I said, things will work out all right.
I'll take care of this issue, and by the time you get back, it will all be
over. Okay?"

While she had no idea how he could
accomplish all that when he was away on a business trip, she didn't much concern
herself over it. As long as it was taken care of as quickly and efficiently as
possible, she didn’t care.

*

Two hours later, Heather followed an
airport employee toward a private hangar with the massive logo of Shaw &
Burks emblazoned on its side. Inside were two sleek Leer jets. A third was
outside the hanger, the ramp down. The employee guided her to the ramp and she
stepped up into the craft. She gaped in amazement. The interior was outfitted
with luxurious tan upholstered seats for six passengers, nice woodwork,
carpeting, and pull down tables. Everything was exquisitely clean and fresh.
Every piece of woodwork and trim was highly polished and glistening.

It was empty inside. She had the
plane all to herself? As she stepped aboard, she immediately saw the pilot and
copilot engaged in a preflight checklist to her left. The copilot glanced at
her and smiled.

"Welcome aboard. Make yourself
comfortable. There’s a coffee bar at the rear if you'd like to help yourself.
We’ll let you know when we’re ready for takeoff so you can get to your seat,
fasten yourself in, and then enjoy the flight, which shouldn't take long."

Heather made her way to one of the
chairs and sat down. Early evening was settling over the sky, casting gentle
shadows throughout the interior of the cabin. The upholstered seats were plush
and unbelievably comfortable. She took a seat in one, admiring the beauty of
the interior. Not for the first time, she wondered what she would do if she had
so much money she never had to worry about work.

She had a feeling she wouldn't be on
the corporate jet very long, but as it taxied onto the tarmac and then surged
down the runway prior to taking off, she couldn't help but feel a flutter of
excitement. Maybe it was a good idea that she gets away from Boston for a few days;
spend some good, quality time with her parents.

She looked forward to seeing her mom
Stacy and her father Robert. They were good, down to earth people. Her dad
owned his own mechanic shop, and her mom had just retired from long and fulfilling
career in nursing.

They had always supported her, even
though they didn't understand the appeal of computer programming, accounting,
or working with formula or figures like she did. They didn't always agree with
her decisions, but they had never had a serious falling out and she was
fortunate for that. She had met several friends in college who had difficult
relationships with their parents, and she found that hard to wrap her mind
around. She supposed that was easy for someone to say who had a great relationship
with their parents.

When she landed at Manchester-Boston
Regional Airport, she looked forward to nothing more than renting a car to
drive herself south along the back roads toward Peterborough, and then toward
Keene, where her parents lived in a secluded, beautiful, New England Cape Cod
style home.

It didn't take her long to rent a
car from a small municipal airport. She didn't get anything fancy even though
Brecken told her he would reimburse any expenses she had incurred while away.
She rented a simple Ford Focus. As she pulled away from the airport, she began
to grow even more excited. She was looking at this more as a vacation than an
I-have-to-get-out-of-town deal. She realized how much she missed New Hampshire
and her parents. Not that Massachusetts wasn’t beautiful, but there was
something about her native hometown and region that would always be extra
special and beautiful for her.

She lived in the Mount Monadnock
area, and to say it was beautiful was an understatement. Her parents’ beautiful,
four bedroom home on Lake Swanzey, where she had grown up, had a thirty-foot
wrap-around screened porch that looked out onto the lake. How many hours she
had sat there watching the fire bugs at night, the canoes out on the lake, and the
fishermen coming and going at dawn and dusk?

As she drove she admired the
mountain ash, the birch and beech trees, interspersed here and there with
hickory and hazelnut, recalling joyful times of her youth. Trees surrounded the
home. Growing up a tomboy, Heather had spent much of her time climbing them,
watching the birds above and the small animals below. She remembered picking
blackberries and blueberries and then waiting impatiently for her mother to
bake the pies.

Even though her mother was busy with
her own job, she loved to bake and the house always smelled wonderful. Every
fall, her mother made dozens of pumpkin pies following Halloween, with most of
the pumpkins donated by neighbors contributing to "the cause" as they
called it. Everyone in town who wanted a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving received
one. It was like a community tradition.

The dogwood shrubs often sheltered
wild turkey and grouse, and it most of the year also sheltered squirrels,
rabbits, and an occasional duck. Looking upward, she began to recognize a
number of birds that brought a smile to her lips – mockingbirds, blue jays,
robins, and towhees foraged for food in the shrubs and vines along with
chipmunks, white-footed mice, rabbits, and squirrels.

By the time she pulled up into the
curved dirt covered driveway of the family home, covered now with reddish
shredded bark, Heather was definitely feeling nostalgic. Virginia creeper vines
had nearly covered one side of the old garage, where a number of birds would
make their home every fall and winter.

Heather still insisted that the most
beautiful place to watch the changing colors of the trees every fall was her
native home state, but it had been years since she had been able to enjoy the
glorious beauty of the changing leaves. Maybe, if everything turned out all
right with her new job and Brecken took care of the issues that had brought her
here in the first place, she would be able to afford to take time off a couple
of times a year to come up and visit.

In fact, this was a place that she
would love Brecken to see. She had no idea if he'd ever been in New Hampshire,
but he didn't seem like the rural type. He was all city boy. Then again, she
didn't know much about his personal background. She had been unable to dig
deeply into his past, even with her impressive computer skills. Of course, he
had the skills, as well, and could have literally erased a lot of digital
information from the Internet. She would have to think about that. Brecken Shaw
was a well-known figure in the Northeast. His biography shouldn't be that
difficult to obtain. The fact that he was super private and obviously a bit
secretive still should not prove a barrier to finding out more about him.

As she pulled up along the path of
the circular driveway of the home, she smiled. She spied the hammock still
swinging between the trees, the canoe placed upside down on sawhorses, the
beautiful lake… No matter what had brought her here, she glad to be spending
time at home. There was something about this place that made her feel very
comfortable, secure, and of course, loved. She had spent so many hours
wandering around these woods, sitting by the lake, contemplating where her life
would take her.

The crunch of tires in the driveway
brought her father to the screen door. He stared at the car, probably wondering
who had come to visit. Seconds later, she saw her mother step behind him. Still
smiling, Heather got out of the car and waved.

"Surprise!"

Her parents’ expressions immediately
changed from wariness to happiness as they came down to greet her at the car.
Amid hugs, kisses, and laughter, she was barraged by questions.

With her arms wrapped around each of
their waists, they began to make their way back up to the house. "I can't
believe how long it's been since I've been up here," she commented.

The minute she walked into the house,
she was assailed with memories. The living room opened up into a gorgeous
space, complete with well-used stone fireplace and hardwood floors. The
furniture was the same as from her youth, a little worn around the edges, but
still cozy and comfortable. Multi row nine-paned windows looking out into the
woods in back and toward the lake in front provided a nearly three hundred sixty-degree
view of the beauty surrounding them. White filmy curtains were drawn back at
the moment, inviting in the colors of early evening.

"Oh," she sighed, closing
her eyes as she stood inside the living room. The smell, the atmosphere, the
love inside this house!

"Let me just go turn off the
stove," her mother commented. "Heather, sit down. Robert, why don't
you go get her luggage? I'll be right back."

"I can get my suitcase later,
Dad," she said. "Mom, whatever you have on the stove smells
delicious. I hope there's enough for three?"

Her mother laughed. “Isn't there
always?"

She watched as her mother quickly
stepped in the kitchen and her father headed back outside to the car to get her
suitcase. She sank down onto the plush gray sofa and remembered the hours and
hours she had studied or read her favorite books here. Wasn't there that old
saying, something about everything changed, but nothing really changes at all?
That's how she felt about her home. She supposed that she brought her childhood
memories along with her every time she visited.

In a matter of minutes, her mother
had returned to the living room, as had her father. He carried her small
suitcase down the short hall to her old bedroom, now a guest bedroom, complete
with brass fittings on the bed, fluffy white curtains, and a gorgeous soft teal
paint with white trim. Her mother had done an exquisite job choosing paint
colors and furniture that gave the house an incredibly warm and inviting, yet
elegant look.

The last time she'd been in the
kitchen, her parents had just had a renovated with dark oak wood cabinets,
glass fronts, and pitted black iron fittings and hinges. The countertops were
gorgeous gray and black speckled granite that came from the quarry not far
away. The floor in the kitchen was still the original grayish plank with wooden
nails.

She shook her head and smiled as her
father reemerged into the living room and took the armchair beside the couch.

"Honey, we’re so glad to see
you, but what's wrong? What brings you up here? Are you all right?" Her
mother didn’t mince words and glanced at her husband, her eyes widening as she
glanced back at Heather. "You're not sick, are you?"