Prodigal Son (15 page)

“It doesn’t exist.”

He touched her hand. “It’s okay. This is just a conversation. They’re going to push you, but that doesn’t mean you have to let them. Stand your ground.”

She appreciated the advice, but wished she didn’t need it. “Are you going to be at the meeting?” she asked.

“I wish I were, but I have to be with legal.”

Which made sense, but didn’t make her happy. Somehow all this would be easier with Jack in the room.

“I’ll be fine,” she told him, as much to convince herself. “I have nothing to hide, so what’s the worst that can happen? They’ll get crabby and I’ll endure it. In the meantime I’ll go through my notes and see if I can figure out a time line for putting the website together. I wonder if Arnie has any information.”

“Don’t check with him. It will look too much like collusion.”

Until that moment, Samantha had only been nervous. Suddenly she was scared. “Jack, do they think it’s me?”

“They think it’s everyone. The only thing singling you out is that you were in charge. So you’ve come to their notice. That’s all.” He squeezed her fingers. “I mean that. I trust you completely.”

She saw the sureness in his gaze and allowed herself to draw comfort from it. “You know I would never—”

He cut her off with a quick kiss. “Don’t say it. You don’t have to. I would suspect myself before you. This isn’t about that. It’s about an angry board looking for answers. Nothing more.”

“Okay.” She stood. “I’d better go get ready.”

He rose and smiled. “Before you go…”

“What?”

He pulled her close and kissed her. Even as his mouth brushed against hers, his arms came around her. She leaned against him, savoring the heat and strength of his body.

This was where she belonged, she thought. This was home.

He licked her lower lip and when she parted for him, he slipped his tongue inside. They kissed deeply for a few minutes before they both drew back.

“That could get out of hand in a hot minute,” he teased.

“You’re right and neither of us have time.”

He kissed her lightly. “Rain check.”

“We don’t even have to wait for bad weather.”

“Good to know.” He walked her to the door and opened it. “If it gets rough, if they start to get out of hand, excuse yourself and come get me. I mean it, Samantha. Don’t let them get to you. They’re just regular people.”

“Crabby regular people,” she told him.

“You’ll do fine.”

“I’ll do my best.”

* * *

“Ms. Edwards, what made you come up with the website expansion in the first place?”

The woman questioning Samantha was elegant, well-dressed and obviously furious.

“When I heard about the job at Hanson Media Group, I spent several days researching their positioning in the market. I knew cash flow was a problem and that while they needed to grow, another magazine wasn’t the answer. The website offered a way to expand quickly and target a new demographic.”

“You’ve done this sort of thing before? Launched a website?” a man asked.

Samantha wished they would all wear name tags, because except for Mr. Baynes, the chairman of the board, she had no clue who anyone was.

“I’ve been part of a launch,” she said. “I’ve never been completely in charge.”

The board members sat on one side of a long table, while she sat on the other. There was a vast expanse of space on either side of her, giving her the sensation of being very, very alone. She knew she could call Jack and he would come defend her, but she wasn’t going to take him up on his offer. She would get through this on her own.

“How exactly did you come to work for Hanson Media Group?” Mr. Baynes asked. “You’ve been hired fairly recently.”

“I heard about the job and applied.”

“Heard about it how?”

“Helen Hanson told me. We’re friends.” Samantha clenched her teeth. Should she have admitted to the relationship? She didn’t want Helen dragged into this.

“You’ve known Helen a long time?”

“Over twenty years.”

The board members looked at each other.

“Were you jealous of Helen?” the woman asked. “Did you resent her successful marriage, her personal wealth?”

“What?” Samantha couldn’t believe it. “Of course not. What does my relationship with Helen have to do with the website?”

“We’re looking for a motive, Ms. Edwards.”

“I didn’t do it,” Samantha told them firmly. “I love my job and I’m very supportive of what the company is doing. I would never endanger any child. The team and I worked very hard to make sure we had state-of-the-art security in place. While I do accept responsibility for this happening on my project, I would like to point out that the site itself wasn’t compromised. It couldn’t have been. Someone got into the server. As that is an outside company and beyond our scope of control, I don’t see how we could have prevented that.”

“Perhaps if you’d considered the threat,” Mr. Baynes said sharply. “Perhaps if you’d looked past your quest for glory.”

“My
what?
”

“You were very careful to take the spotlight in all the media interviews, weren’t you?”

“No. This is crazy. I was in charge of the project, so it made sense for me to represent the company.”

“Something that is normally David Hanson’s job,” Baynes continued.

Samantha shook her head. “David was with me. We coordinated our activities.”

“So you say.”

She got it then. She wasn’t sure why it had taken so long for her to see the truth. Jack had been wrong—this wasn’t an angry board. This was a board looking for a scapegoat. For reasons she couldn’t understand, they’d decided that scapegoat was her.

She stood. “However much you search, you are not going to find a motive for me to have sabotaged Hanson Media Group. I wasn’t involved in what happened in any way. I don’t have a grudge against the company or anyone working for it. I was hired to do a job and I did it to the best of my abilities.”

“Hardly a statement to reassure us,” the woman said with a sniff.

Samantha ignored her. “I would never endanger any child. That was my mission from the first. To provide them with a safe environment to learn. Every memo, every e-mail, ever letter I’ve written on the subject supports that.”

Baynes narrowed his gaze. “We’ve spoken with your ex-husband, Ms. Edwards. He describes you as a very emotionally unstable person. After walking out on him for no good reason, you filed for divorce only to change your mind. You begged him to take you back. You threatened his children.”

Samantha felt as if she’d been shot. There was a sharp pain in her chest and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Damn Vance. He’d vowed he would get back at her for leaving him. He’d hated giving up control. By calling Vance, Baynes had handed him a perfect way to get revenge.

“My ex-husband is lying,” she said, trying to stay calm. “However, it’s very clear to me that you’re not going to believe anything I say. What do you want from me?”

“Your resignation,” Baynes said.

Right. Then they could issue a press statement and say the person responsible had been punished. The board didn’t care about finding the person who had actually done this. They simply wanted to make the news cycle with good news. Something they could toss out in an attempt to salvage the company and the stock price.

“You want me to resign because you don’t have any reason to fire me,” she said.

“We’ll get it soon enough,” Baynes told her. “If you go quietly, we won’t give the information from your husband to the press.”

Talk about a low blow and a threat.

Indecision filled her. Her instinct was to stay and fight, but to what end? Wouldn’t her leaving make things easier for Jack? With the board off her back, he could focus on getting the company back on its feet.

She could deal with lies and innuendo, but she didn’t want to hurt Jack.

“I’ll resign,” she said.

Chapter Fourteen

J
ack and the legal team took a break close to three. They had already developed a strategy of crisis control and cleanup. Jack did his best to remember his position as president of the company. He knew he was responsible for making sure Hanson Media Group survived. But every time he thought about what had happened, he wanted to throw a chair through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

He left the conference room and headed for his office to pick up his messages. David fell into step beside him.

“The board is still meeting,” his uncle said. “But they’ve already found one victim.”

“That’s fast work.” He hadn’t expected them to act for several weeks. Investigations took time.

“It’s Samantha.”

Jack didn’t break stride. He simply changed directions and headed for the stairs that would take him to the floor where the board met. David stayed with him.

“I know what you’re thinking,” the older man said.

“I doubt that.” Worried, furious, frustrated didn’t even come close. Dammit, he’d sent Samantha in there by herself. She’d had to face a firing squad alone and he hadn’t been there to protect her.

“Jack, I know you care about her, but think before you act.”

“Why? They didn’t. How long did they question her? Fifteen minutes? We all know that Samantha isn’t guilty of anything. She had great plans for the company. Someone deliberately screwed with that and I’m not going to let him, her or them get away with it.”

“What are you going to do?” David asked as they climbed up to the next floor.

“Take control.”

He walked into the conference room without knocking. The board was in the middle of questioning several of the IT guys. Jack jerked his head toward the now-open door and the three of them scuttled out.

Jack crossed to the long table, pushed the now-empty chairs aside and leaned toward the seven people who wanted to control his destiny.

“I understand you’ve had an admission of guilt,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me someone had confessed?”

Baynes glared at him. “You’re out of line, Jack.”

“Not even a little. Come on, Baynes, how are you going to threaten me? Do you want to say you’re going to fire me? That would only make my day. So how did you get the confession?”

“Ms. Edwards didn’t confess. But as she was ultimately responsible for the program we all thought it was best if she—”

Jack slapped his hands on the table. “
I’m
ultimately responsible. While I’m in charge, then this is my company. You do not have the right to go behind my back and fire my employees for no reason.”

“They had a reason,” David said, his voice cold. “Tell him, Baynes.”

The chairman of the board looked uncomfortable but didn’t speak.

“They want to make the news,” David said. “They want everyone to think they’re making progress so the stock price doesn’t tank.”

“We care about this company,” Baynes said. “Which is more than I can say about either of you.”

Jack swore. “I’ve given everything I had to keep Hanson Media Group from going down. You were all happy about our new program.”

“Until there were problems,” Baynes said. “Obviously you have incompetent people running things around here. Ms. Edwards has a history of problems and I’m sure they—”

Jack leaned forward and glared at Baynes. “What the hell are you talking about? What problems?”

“We spoke with her ex-husband. He was very forthcoming.”

“I’ll bet he was.”

Jack straightened and took a step back. If he didn’t get out of here, he was going to beat the crap out of Baynes and anyone else who stuck around. Samantha must hate him right about now. To think the board had pried into her personal life. He had to find her. He had to know she was all right.

“You want someone to blame,” he said. “Blame me. I quit.”

Baynes stood. “You can’t. We don’t accept your resignation. We have a contract, Jack. You violate that and we’ll haul you into court. We’ll win, too. Then what will happen to your law career?”

Jack started for the old man. David grabbed his arm and pulled him out into the hallway.

“Think,” his uncle told him. “Don’t make things worse than they are. They’re not going to let you go.”

“You’re right.” Jack started for the elevators. “Where’s Samantha? Has anyone seen her?”

* * *

“Here I am again,” Samantha said as she reached for another tissue. “Curled up on your sofa and crying. Isn’t this getting boring?”

“Not yet,” Helen said with surprising cheer. “You always come for a new and exciting reason. That keeps it interesting.”

“Thanks.” Samantha knew her friend was trying to keep her from falling too far into the despair pit by using humor but it wasn’t exactly working. “I never want to go through anything like that again.”

“I don’t blame you,” Helen said. “I swear, if George leaves the majority shares to me, I’m going to consider firing the board.”

Samantha wanted to take that as personal support, but she knew her friend well enough to know that Helen was making a business decision.

“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “I really wanted to stand up to the board, but I don’t want to make things worse for Jack. I hate that this is happening to him. Taking over the business was his way of doing the right thing. I know he and his dad weren’t close, but when it was important, Jack gave up the job he loved to help out. Now he’s getting hit with this. I just wanted to make it better.”

“Have you talked to him?” Helen asked.

“No. I sort of lost it and came right here. I guess I should put a call in to him.”

Helen smiled. “I have a feeling he’ll be looking for you.”

“Why?”

“Gee, I don’t know. The woman he’s been involved with just got bullied by a board of directors he’s already annoyed with. Don’t you think that will make him react? I won’t be surprised to hear he punched out Baynes.”

Samantha sat up. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“Wouldn’t he?”

She thought about all the ways Jack had been there for her. How he’d been patient and supportive and more than a little understanding.

“Oh, no,” she breathed. “You’re right. He’s going to be furious.” She felt her mouth drop open. “He really cares about me.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “You think?”

Samantha grinned. “I care about him, too. I have since we first met.”

“That would be the time when you were too scared to hang on to the fabulous guy who was crazy about you?”

“Pretty much.” She stood. “What if he thinks this is me running again? What if he doesn’t know I’m doing this to help him?”

Helen shrugged. “Have I mentioned how communicating would be a good thing?”

Samantha bent down and kissed her friend’s cheek. “You’re the best. You know that, right?”

“I’ve been told before.”

Samantha laughed, then grabbed her purse. “I have to go find Jack. If he calls here, would you tell him I’m looking for him?”

Helen reached for the phone. “Just go back to the office. I’ll call Mrs. Wycliff so she can let him know you’re on your way.”

* * *

Jack paced in his office, not willing to believe the message until Samantha actually walked in.

“I wasn’t leaving,” she said as she rushed up to him. “Well, okay, I was leaving the company, but not you. I thought it would make it easier for you.”

“Letting the board pin all this on you?” he asked gruffly, as he pulled her close and stared into her eyes. “Why would having you gone help?”

She smiled. “I had a momentary loss of brain function. It won’t happen again.”

“Good.”

She felt right in his arms. Warm and soft and feminine. Also stubborn, difficult and outrageous and he didn’t want her to change a thing.

“Oh, Jack,” she said quietly. “This is a really big mess.”

“Yeah, but we’re going to fix it. For one thing, I’ve refused to accept your resignation, so don’t think you can get out of working here.”

“I don’t want to try, but I did think of something that may be significant. While I was in the cab from Helen’s I wrote out a time line.” She pulled a small piece of paper from her purse. “There’s something we’ve all overlooked. The website crashed.”

He stared at her. “What?”

“Remember? The site went down. The tech guys got it up and running. From this end, the site was fine. But when the site came back online, something happened in the server, switching everyone who logged on to the porn site. I think the two incidents are related. I think the whole thing was rigged to be triggered by the rebooting of the website. Which means it could still be an inside job.”

He grabbed her shoulders and swore. “It has to be. That’s the only thing that makes sense. We’ve been talking about how this all feels personal. You haven’t been around long enough for anyone to hate you—”

“Neither have you,” she reminded him.

“I’ve been around my whole life. Even if I wasn’t here, people knew who I was. They knew I wasn’t involved. Then my father dies and I come in and take over.”

“Or maybe someone was angry at your father and wanted to get back at him through the company.”

A real possibility, he thought. He released her and lightly kissed her. “You’re pretty smart.”

She smiled. “One of my many good qualities. So we have this great theory. Now what?”

“We call in a friend.” He walked to the phone and dialed a number. “Roger? It’s Jack. Samantha and I have come up with a possible scenario. If I tell you what it is, can you tell me who is capable of doing it?”

He listened carefully, then thanked the man and hung up.

“Well?” Samantha asked. “Are there any names?”

“Two, and one of them is Arnie.”

* * *

The two men arrived at Jack’s office less than ten minutes later. Samantha took one look at them and knew Arnie was the culprit. The truth was there in the way he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Jack invited the two men to sit in the chairs by his desk, but before he could start questioning, she walked up to Arnie.

“Why?” she asked softly. “I thought we were friends. We put in all those late nights together. You had great ideas and I listened. I trusted you. I don’t know why you wanted to punish the company and I’ll accept that you probably had a good reason, but you hurt children. Innocent children. What about them?”

Arnie stared at her and slowly blinked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The man with him, Matt, shifted in his seat. “Me, either. I didn’t do it, if that’s what you want to find out. The site went down and I worked on that, but I never touched the server.” He swallowed. “I have kids of my own. Two. I wouldn’t do this.”

Samantha never took her gaze off Arnie. “But you would. I thought we were friends.”

Jack moved up behind her and put his hand on her arm. “It’s not about you, Samantha. It’s about me. Am I right, Arnie? It’s about me and my father and the company. Because I have it all now. The old man is gone and I have everything.”

Arnie sprang to his feet. “You don’t deserve it,” he yelled. “You don’t. You never cared about the business. You never respected your father. Did you think I didn’t hear what you said about him? He was a great man. You’ll never be like him. Never.”

Samantha nearly forgot to breathe. “But you were so supportive of the website.”

“He was playing you,” Jack said tonelessly. “He played us all.”

Arnie’s lip curled. “You made it so easy. Both of you. I knew your father. We were friends. He liked me. Did you know he talked about you all the time? He missed you and wanted you in his life and you couldn’t be bothered. George Hanson was a great man and now he’s gone and you don’t deserve to run his business. You don’t deserve to even sweep the floors.”

“So you wanted to take me down,” Jack said. “You knew there was a good chance that I would be ruined by the scandal.”

Arnie shrugged. “I had high hopes.”

Samantha couldn’t believe it. “This was your plan from the beginning?”

“Sure thing, babe. Did you really think you were all that?” His expression turned contemptuous. “I had you all fooled. I don’t care about what happens to me because the company is ruined. You’ll never recover from this. Face it, Jack. You’re screwed. You’ll stay on to save the sinking ship, but it can’t be saved. I made sure of that. The lawsuits will bankrupt you and even before that, no one will ever want to do business with your company again. You’re in charge of a worthless empire. And you have me to thank for it.”

The door opened and Mrs. Wycliff led in the detective and several uniformed officers. They read Arnie his rights and took him away.

Matt excused himself, as did Mrs. Wycliff, leaving Samantha and Jack alone.

He led her over to the sofa and pulled her down next to him.

“I want to say that was easy,” he told her, “but it’s just beginning. Knowing Arnie did it and why doesn’t clean up the mess any faster.”

She snuggled up against him. “At least it gives us a place to start.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Maybe I should just give the board what they want. It’s going to take years to get the company back on its feet.”

She shifted so she could look at him. “Don’t you dare. I mean it, Jack. Your dreams are too important to give up. You have a commitment here, so stay for now. But only on your terms. Don’t walk away from everything you’ve ever wanted just because of this.”

“What if what I want is you?” he asked.

Her heart flopped over in her chest. She felt the movement, along with a rush of gladness. Her mouth curved in a smile.

“I would say that’s a good thing because I want you, too.”

He stared into her eyes. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I’ve spent so much of my life running from the things that frightened me, but I never once stopped to think about what I might be missing out.”

He took her hands in his. “Me, too,” he murmured. “I haven’t wanted to believe love lasts. For me, it didn’t. Now I’m wondering if the reason I couldn’t give my heart to someone else is because I’d already given it to you. I love you, Samantha.”

Her breath caught. “I love you, too. I think I have from the first moment we met.”

“So we wasted ten years?”