Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (125 page)

“Great. Don’t forget to sell off the rest
of your stock soon. The price will drop drastically once word hits the
streets about the endless bed bug problem at the Landseer resorts. I have
a few people lined up to file lawsuits, too. I’ll send out supposedly
good-intentioned press releases in regards to the issue and confirm Asher’s
knowledge of the problem months before it grew out of control. He doesn’t
even take a second glance at the reports I show him now, anyways, so he won’t
be able to deny it. I’ll make up some excuse, and…”

Asher left my side. He strode through the
backroom, weaving between bookcases, heading for the source of Solomon’s and
Beatrice’s voices. I hurried after him, trying to keep up, but he was
apparently a man on a mission and refused to let anything stop his
progress. By the time he found them, I was still sneaking between a close
together, tight pair of bookcase obstructing the only access to the corner spot
that Solomon and Beatrice had claimed.

“Hello,” Asher said. His voice nearly
boomed compared to the sly tones of Beatrice and Solomon. “Thank you
for inviting me to this meeting. I definitely appreciate your
concern. I think we have a lot to discuss, don’t you?”

I shoved through to the edge of the empty spot where
we all now stood just in time to see the end of Beatrice’s wide-eyed glare.

“What are you doing here?” Solomon asked.

“Are we going to play this game, Solomon?”
Asher said. “Shall I ask you the same thing, or can we cut through
this nonsense?”

“You shouldn’t know about this,” Beatrice
said, more annoyed than distressed.

“Yes, well, you can thank Jessika for that.”

I’d rejoined Asher by his side, keeping a step back
like he’d asked me. Turning towards me, he acted as if he were
introducing me to the group. Beatrice and Solomon recognized me, but for
wildly different reasons.

“So that’s why you were in my office the other
day,” Solomon said. “If I had known Asher would come for you,
I’d have dragged you somewhere else and had my way with you. Locking the
door against the man with keys to every office isn’t much use, I suppose.”

“You know her?” Beatrice asked him.
“This is outrageous. I let you into my home and was accepting of
you. I went to that filthy doctor’s office just to offer my support for
Asher’s ridiculous plan, and you do this to me?”

“Shut up, Beatrice,” Asher said.
“Stop being dramatic. I know you’re not infertile, too. You
weren’t accepting of Jessika, you were going to use her to further your
plans. Obviously it didn’t work.”

“Well,” Solomon said. “We’re at
an impasse, I suppose. What do you propose now? What’s done is done,
and I have a hard time mustering up the inclination to undo my part of
it.”

“You can stop this,” Asher said.
“Both of you. Let’s be adults here. I’ll need to let you go,
Solomon, but I’ll sign a nondisclosure agreement about your release. For
all anyone needs to know, you left the company for personal reasons. I’ll
give you a good benefits package and a brilliant reference to anyone who wants
to hire you, though I doubt you’ll need it.”

To Beatrice, he added, “And you obviously never
respected our marriage, Beatrice. Why did you have to do it this way,
though? Couldn’t you talk to me like an equal and explain that it wasn’t
working out? I tried, I did everything I could to make you happy, and you
betray me like this? If you wanted a divorce… I would have done
it. I wouldn’t have left you empty-handed, either. We could have
worked it out.”

“It’s not all about you, Asher!”
Beatrice nearly spat his name out. “I do want a divorce, but not on
your terms. I don’t want to settle anything, I want to rip it out of your
hands. I’m tired of you and your presumed kindness. You’re
altogether far too nice. You take in people off the streets, like Jeremy
and Jessika. You associate with the servants in the house as if they were
wonderful people. It’s ridiculous. They aren’t wonderful, they are
hired help. We don’t need to be friends with them, we need them to do
their damn jobs!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I really,
truly am.”

“Yes, well, if you like them so much, then why
don’t I help you become like them? That was my thought process, you
know? It’s wonderful, isn’t it? I’m a very loving wife.”

“How can you be so mean?” I asked in a
sudden outburst. I was scared and worried and anxious, but I needed to
speak. “Asher’s so loving. I don’t understand how you could
hate him so much.”

“Yes, well, you wouldn’t, would you? My
father treated Asher better than me most of the time. He acted like Asher
was the son he wished he had. I was just a bargaining chip, really, to
join our family’s together. I don’t expect you to understand that because
you don’t have the class to. It’s a simple reality and I knew from the
moment I met Asher that we’d need to marry. A necessity and nothing more,
and now I can be rid of him and shame him in front of both our families.”

“And if I tell your father?” Asher asked.

Beatrice cackled, pretending to almost fall off her
feet. “Are we in kindergarten, Asher? Let’s be real
here. Despite what my father thinks of you, he won’t care one bit for you
or your words once you’re living in ruins. I’ll be the smart one who saw
through your ruse, recognized your mistress for what she was, and silently sold
off my stocks in hopes of beginning a new life once I had hard evidence of your
indiscretions. I’ll be the woman every woman wishes she was.
Strong, confident, independent.”

“And you, Solomon?”

“Sorry, Asher, but I never much liked you.
You’re too naive. I can’t even begin to fathom half of your business
plans. Letting the regular office workers leave early the other day?
That’s just the most recent example, too. Do you know how much work we
could have finished if they stayed? You’re far too nice for this line of
work, and I know you’ve made it thus far, but obviously that’s about to
change. You don’t have the mettle to stop it.”

“I’ll go get Jeremy,” I whispered to
Asher. “If they won’t listen to reason, we can call the
police.”

Asher nodded.

When I began to leave, Beatrice screamed at me.
“Where do you think you’re going? Do you think you can just leave
here?”

“I gave you a choice, Beatrice! Solomon,
too.” Asher sighed, looking to the ground. “I gave you
both a choice and you rejected it. You’ve forced my hand and I have no
other option but to retaliate in the only way left to me. There’s plenty
of evidence for me to hand over to the authorities and have you taken into
custody.”

“You think so, do you?” Solomon asked.
He paused and laughed. “Wait a moment, Jessika. You won’t want
to leave yet.”

I hesitated by the close-together bookcases and looked
over my shoulder.

The lights above lit the area around us, but with
their dull glow they left elongated shadows from the bookcases. The
shadows seemed to consume parts of Asher, and Solomon’s lower body, Beatrice’s
left side. Solomon reached into his suit coat, slipping it aside as
easily as if it were a shadow, and pulled out a gun.

I stared, aghast, and then I screamed.

“Obviously I didn’t want it to come to
this,” Solomon said. “If you’re not going to go down quietly,
I’m going to have to force you down, though.”

“Solomon,” Asher said, even and
steady. He acted far more calm than I thought he should. “Do
you really want to do this?”

“Dammit, Asher! Of course I don’t want
to. If you’re going to try and flaunt your control and issue ultimatums
then I’m going to show you who has the upper hand here, though.”
With a smirk, Solomon added, “Take a hint: it’s not you.”

“This wasn’t in our plans, Solomon,”
Beatrice said slowly. “We never talked about this.”

“I don’t care if it was in the plans or
not. If you want to ruin Asher Landseer, then you have to be willing to
take risks. That’s what this has been about the entire time. The
rest of what we’ve done is illegal, too, if you haven’t realized it,
Beatrice. This is no different. It’s just going to be more difficult
to cover up after the fact, but I’m prepared to accept that.”

“Fine, but…” Beatrice
stammered. It was the first time I’d seen her caught off guard
entirely. “Fine. If you think this is best, then so be
it.”

“Are you serious?” I yelled. “Are
both of you serious right now? You want to not only destroy Landseer
Enterprises, but you’re willing to kill Asher, too?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Solomon
said. “You’re from an entirely different world. In our world,
in business, you have to take risks. You can’t do things
half-assed. If you don’t prepare to go all in, then you might as well
just leave before you start. It’s a simple premise, and one which people
like you would never understand.”

“I can’t do this,” I said.
“Asher, I’m sorry, but I don’t understand this. I’m going to… I’m
going to get help. Please… please come.”

I started to wriggle my way between the
bookcases. Asher glanced over his shoulder at me, favoring me with a sad
look. “Don’t worry,” he said.

I was halfway through the impeding bookcases, I was
going to get help, and then Solomon fired the gun. I couldn’t see what he
hit, who or where, but the sound of it blared into my ears, momentarily
deafening me. I screamed and shoved myself through the bookcases, trying
to get help. From Robert, or a customer, the police, anyone. For
Asher. They wouldn’t kill him, they couldn’t, and… if they did, they
would kill me, too.

I was afraid for my life, but it was more than that,
too. People like Beatrice and Solomon, they might think they understand
themselves—
their world
, as they put it—but there was so much more than
that. Yes, maybe I couldn’t comprehend being rich, but maybe I didn’t
want to, either. Maybe I liked the way I was, and maybe if I gained money
as a part of that I’d be fine with it. But it wasn’t necessary for my
happiness, and I think Asher understood a bit of that, too.

He would, he had to. Asher didn’t do things for
money, but he had money because he did things. He loved and wanted and
admired and adored. He controlled his business, yes, and he was
overbearing at times, but it wasn’t because he wanted money, it was because he
loved what he did. It all made sense to me now. He said he tried to
love Beatrice, and I’m sure he did, but he couldn’t comprehend how to do it
because Beatrice didn’t want to accept him.

I accepted him, but it was more than that, too.
I allowed Asher to love me the way he needed to love me. A little
dominating, sometimes infuriating, but that was Asher and if I wanted a part of
him, then I needed all of him. He never pushed me too hard, but just
enough. He never…

I loved Asher so very much and I felt my heart racing
at the thought of it. My fear tangled with my love, fighting for space in
my chest, and I could barely breathe at the mass of emotion. Asher was
dying. Solomon shot him. I needed to get away from here, not only
because Asher had asked me to, but because he couldn’t die. I’d call the
police, get an ambulance. They’d save him. I would ride with him to
the hospital and make sure he was safe and…

“Go!” Beatrice screamed. “Go
after her!”

“Why did you do that?” Solomon asked.

What were they talking about? I had no idea.

“Go!”

Solomon pursued me. I escaped from between the
bookcases and into more open territory, except with unwanted tears blurring my
vision I didn’t know where I was. Where did I go, what did I do? I
bolted for a bright light, unsure exactly where it was but thinking I should go
towards it. To the store, to the front. I could close the door
behind me and lock Solomon in while I ran to Robert and we called for help.

I ran, faster, tripping over the scattered remnants of
bookcases and shelves and metal rods. My feet felt heavy and thick like
I’d worn tight shoes all day and had just taken them off. My blouse
caught on a shattered piece of a bookcase, ripping when I pulled at it in my
frantic escape.

I heard Solomon behind me, dodging past wooden debris,
chasing me. He ran fast, faster, and when I glanced over my shoulder at
him I saw him toting his gun around, the metal gleaming in the dull light from
above.

I dashed forward towards the bright light, expecting
to escape and settle this, except the large loading dock door blocked my
way. I stared, dumbfounded.

I hadn’t run towards the door connecting the storage
area to the shop; I’d run to the unused loading dock in the complete opposite
direction.

Solomon gained on me and, seeing me stricken and
still, slowed his pursuit. He jogged the rest of the way, moving towards
me at a leisurely pace. I stared at him, beyond him, but I couldn’t do it
for long, couldn’t stand to see him approach. Looking down, afraid and
ashamed, feeling distress at having tried so hard and failed, I noticed
something odd.

It didn’t quite stick in my mind as to how, or why,
but the loading dock door was open. Not by much, just about half a foot
off the ground, but enough that…