Billionaire's Secret: Exposing Jay: A Chicago Suits Romance (Loving Jay Book 2) (14 page)

T
he smell
of coffee roused me from my sleep. Jay wasn’t in bed. I climbed out of bed to go find him and the coffee.

“Morning,” I said, tying the belt of my robe.

“Good morning Beautiful.” Jay jumped out of his dining chair and rushed to my side. He put his hand on the small of my back and kissed my cheek.

My body warmed all over again at his attention. Jay could do nothing but make me feel amazing.

“I need coffee,” I said, moving to the dining table. Room service had brought another huge spread of food with coffee and orange juice.

I busied myself stuffing my face with pastries and exotic fruits while Jay tapped away on his computer.

“We’ll fly home around five,” he said. I pulled the Danish away from my mouth.

“Will I have time to see Jenny tonight?”

“No, we’ll arrive too late.”

“I’m going to have them to our house for dinner next weekend, is that okay with you?” Why am I asking his permission?

“Sure. Just tell the cook what you want him to make.”

“Does this cook have a name?” Jay looked up at me, his eyebrow raised. “It’s just, I’ve never met him, and you’ve never told me his name or anything.”

“It’s Cole.”

“Cole the cook?” I giggled.

“He’ll do whatever you want.” I was more likely to do whatever Cole the cook wants, otherwise I’d only be able to tell him lasagna or chicken parmesan.

Jay’s computer chimed and he turned his attention to it. I chewed on my Danish, watching him. His eyes flicked over the screen, like he was reading the same thing again and again.

“What’s wrong, you look worried?” His eyes flicked up to mine then back down to the screen.

“Nothing.” His voice didn’t sound like nothing. I chewed my pastry, keeping watch on his face. I thought back over the past few weeks, my mind immediately springing to the boat.

I swallowed and cleared my throat. “It doesn’t look like nothing. You look upset.”

He pushed his eyes into mine, glaring. “I said it’s nothing.”

“And I said I don’t believe you. I know you. I’m your wife, remember. Stop keeping stuff from me, maybe I can help you.” His eyes shifted back to the screen.

“No.”

“Why Jay? What are you hiding from me?” I’d meant it as a joke. A half joke.

“I’d never hide anything from you.”

“Then what are you holding back? I can tell, you know.”

“Okay, you want to know? I’ll tell you.” He hadn’t looked back up, didn’t look towards me.

He still didn’t move, so I went around the table and stood behind him. Jay shut his laptop. I hugged him, draping my body over his back. I rubbed his arms, trying to comfort him. To make him understand that he could tell me anything.

I could feel his heart thumping through the back of his ribcage and into mine. He ruffled his hair. This was unlike Jay.

“Is it the boat?” I asked, thinking of the severed fuel line.

“Yeah.”

“You can tell me anything. Stop keeping it bundled up inside. You’ll feel better to get it off your chest.”

He straightened and pulled me around to the front of his body. He studied my face, as if I were the one who couldn’t be trusted.

I smooth his hair from where his hands had messed it up. He looked so vulnerable, a heartbreaking sight that made a tear well in my eye.

“I love you.” I said, my voice dripping with emotion.

Jay closed his eyes and swallowed. “Beautiful, I love you.”

“You can tell me.” My eyes pleaded with him.

* * *

“
I
’m being blackmailed
.” My brow furrowed as my mind raced. I hadn’t expected that.

“Blackmailed? By Calvin?”

“Yeah. He’d been embezzling money into off-shore accounts, and used bad reporting to cover it up.”

“But how is he blackmailing you?”

“When he was fired, he lost access to the accounts. Now he wants the money, and more.”

“What do the police say?” This was far more serious than I’d expected. I sat down on the chair next to him.

“I haven’t told them.”

“But why?”

“Because they set it up in a way that implicates me. If I go to the police, they will investigate me for it.” They?

“Who’s they? It’s more than just Calvin?” It had to be, Calvin is too stupid to set up that on his own. I think. That’s probably why he hated me, because I might have uncovered his little scam.

“A friend of his.”

“Another colleague?”

“Ex-colleague.”

“Jay, you’ve got to go to the police.”

His head shot up, his eyes looked onto mine. “That’s not an option.”

“Okay. Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m negotiating that. But in the meantime, don’t let him anywhere near you.”

I leaned into my chair back and rested my head along top of it. I stared blankly at the ceiling, working through the new information in my head. Calvin. Evil Calvin. Is that why he sent the email of the sex photo at the lake? Because Jay didn’t pay enough? If he’d never sent the email, would I ever have found out who Jay is? The idea sent a shiver down my spine.

Did he have anything else on me? I hated being included in this whole thing.

But Jay had confided in me and that warmed my heart. It felt like a new level of understanding in our relationship. A new level of trust to start our married life with.

* * *

“
Y
ou must be
able to close the off-shore accounts.”

“I’ve already done that. But they’re still demanding the money.”

“How much money are we talking about?” Jay looked at me as if to say mind your own business. “I’m your wife now, remember.” He let out a long, slow exhale.

“Several hundred million.”

I coughed. “Excuse me?”

“Yes, it’s that much.”

“You have to stop them, you can’t let them get away with it!”

“Beautiful, I’m doing what I can.”

“Is it only the two of them?”

“As far as I know.”

“Who’s the other guy?” He retracted his head, looking at me sideways.

“I told you, it’s an ex-worker at Force McAllister.”

“Did I ever work with him?”

“No, he left before you joined.” Jay knew when I joined? He must have read through all my employee files. I wonder what he thought of Calvin’s nasty comments about me?

“How senior was he?”

“Pretty senior. He had a unique role, more like an in-house consultant.”

“An in-house consultant?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re sure there’s no way you can go to the police? Have you spoken with a lawyer?”

“No. I don’t need their advice.”

“But it’s so much money, how do you not want all the advice you can get?”

“Abbie, I don’t care about the money.” My brow creased, this wasn’t making sense.

“Then why were you so upset at the email?”

Jay didn’t say anything, instead stood and left the room. He strode down the hall and I heard the bathroom door shut. My hands trembled at his reaction. Why didn’t he answer? What is he hiding? How many more of those envelopes does Calvin have for me?

* * *

T
he noise
of the shower flooded down the hall. I looked over my shoulder and pulled the laptop in front of me. Should I be doing this? I had to know. I opened the lid. The chance to find out more about this ‘consultant’ was too big to pass up.

Damn. I tried AbbieWhite. AbigailWhite. Beautiful. AbbieWhite1. AbigailWhite1. What could it be? My index finger tapped on the J key. Out of desperation, I tried JamesMcAllisterlovesAbbieWhite. I rolled my eyes at it being too silly to be the actual password but I hit enter anyway.

My heart froze. What do I do now? I slammed shut the lid and ran into the bedroom. After pulling on the second thing I saw, I ran out the door.

I didn’t even wait for the elevator, instead ran down the hall until I found a stairwell. I skipped down the stairs, taking two steps at a time until I’d gone down about four floors from our own. My heart pounding, I ran down the hall to the elevators and pushed the button, my chest heaving from running so fast.

As I waited, I tried to tame my messy bed head hair in the mirror opposite the elevators. What if Jay was on the elevator when the doors opened? I can only hope I got here before he realized I’d left. And that I’d locked him out of the computer.

The door opened, revealing an empty interior. I hit one and tried to calm myself. Where was I going? What was I doing? I didn’t even bring my purse.

How was Jay going to react when he saw the computer message? And what was he going to think about my absence? I had to think up a plausible excuse.

I stepped out onto the casino level. Maybe I could hide amongst the slot machines and pretend I have a secret gambling addiction.

This was stupid. Was I going to hide from him forever? He’s my husband, it’s not like I’m never going to see him again. I have to go back before it’s time to leave for our flight. Am I making it better or worse by not being there when he opens the computer?

I sat on a padded stool in front of a slot machine, letting the blinking lights mesmerize me while I thought over the problem.

It all came down to one question. How angry was Jay going to be with me for trying to access his computer?

I
headed
the only place I knew I could hide for a few hours while giving myself time to mull the problem over.

“Hi, back again already?”

“Yes, I can’t stay away.”

“What would you like?”

“Um, same as yesterday?”

“Let me check.” The spa receptionist tapped away at her computer. She smiled at me and rushed from the room. She returned with another woman, and the two messed around on the computer. My pulse was racing the entire time, half expecting Jay to appear in the doorway.

“I don’t need the hair, mani and pedi, only the massage, body wrap and facial.”

“Okay, that helps. We can start the wrap now, if you’d like to come with me.”

* * *

I
laid on my back
, smeared in honey and hemp and wrapped in what seemed like tin foil and Saran wrap.

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” Tina, the beautician said.

In the peaceful quiet of the room, I considered my next step.

* * *

“
H
i
,” I said, entering the suite. I ran over to Jay at the dining table and kissed his cheek. Butterflies filled my insides but I did my best to seem calm and natural on the outside.

“Hey, where have you been hiding all day?”

“Oh, I’d made another spa appointment yesterday and hadn’t realized the time earlier. I had to rush off to make it in time. I should have…”

“Stop babbling.” I pursed my lips. I always babbled when I’m nervous.

Jay pulled me into his lap and twisted my body so I was facing his laptop.

“I’m not keeping secrets from you, have a look.” He fanned his hand across the keyboard. I jittered on his lap, mortified.

“Go ahead, look at whatever you want.” His voice was becoming more tense.

I put my finger on the touch pad and clicked around. I wasn’t familiar with his computer, so clicked on the browser, Excel. Jay pushed my hand out of the way.

“Let me show you.” He clicked into Outlook and opened an email.

Y
ou need to pay James
, or else this is coming out and the entire world will know.

“
Y
ou need
to go to the police.”

“No.” I flinched at the force in his voice. “I told you, I can’t. They’ve set it up to implicate me in the embezzlement.”

“But you must, the longer you wait the worse you’ll look. And they’re going to keep doing this forever, they’ll always want more money.”

He slammed the lid shut. “You think I don’t realize that?”

“The only way to stop them is to go to the police and put them in jail.” I want Calvin to go to jail so bad.

“Abbie, that’s not going to happen.” He pushed me off his lap and stood to leave the room.

“Don’t walk away. We can figure this out together. As a team.” I walked to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “As a married partnership.”

“There’s nothing you can do to help, it’s something I have to deal with.”

“But why? I know Calvin better than you. I know what pushes his buttons.”
Jay patted my back.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle this.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and broke free of my embrace.

“You told me this morning that you didn’t care about the money, what’s it about then?” My cheeks burned with adrenaline. I’d found the courage to ask.

Jay stood motionless in front of me, his nostrils flaring. I had to put my hand on the wall to steady myself as I waited for his response. I kept trying to reach his eyes, to make eye contact, but his fixed on the floor.

“What is it Jay, what are you hiding from me?” My voice broke, and I struggled to keep my free hand at my side.

“I’m not.”

“Not what? Keeping secrets. How stupid do you think I am?” My heart pounded in earnest now, my voice raised. I hadn’t meant to attack him. Not the day after our wedding.

“Beautiful,” Jay stepped towards me and grabbed me into his arms. The tears rolled down my cheeks. “I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you. You have to remember that.”

“So you are hiding something from me.” My voice was quiet, almost lost in his chest.

He didn’t reply, his silence implicating his guilt.

“Jay,” I said, my voice meek, “did you illegally move that money off-shore?”

“What? No. Of course not. Why would I care about moving such a small amount of money? If I’d done it I would’ve have moved a lot more than they did.”

It’s true, even though it was huge amount of money, from his point of view it wasn’t enough worth bothering with. So what was it then? How did I get it out of him? And what did I do about my marriage?

Even though I was furious at him, I let him hold me and comfort me as I cried. Why did he have to keep something from me? If he’d just be honest with me, our marriage would be perfect. Our life would be perfect.

“Beautiful, you have to understand, I'm not lying to you. I would never lie to you.” He stroked my hair, holding my head close to him.

“But you’re lying to me now.”

“I’m not lying.”

“But you’re not telling me something.”

“I can’t.”

“We can’t have secrets in a marriage, Jay. It doesn’t work like that.” I pushed my hands on him, trying to free myself of his embrace, but he held on and I couldn’t get away.

“Beautiful, you have to understand how much I love you.”

“You keep saying that, but you’re not showing it. If you loved me so much, you wouldn’t keep secrets.” Both out hearts were pounding against each other.

“You know, you’re right.” He hesitated. “But I’m scared you’ll hate me for it.”

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing that matters, nothing that impacts our relationship. I want to forget about it and go on loving you.” His voice had lost all confidence and wavered with his words.

My mind raced with possibilities. Is he running his company illegally? Is he divorced with kids? What could it be? And no matter what else he tells me, how would I know whether to believe him?