Deceived - Part 3 Chloe's Revenge (8 page)

Our bodies gently fell apart from each other and I rolled to the side, as our breathing leveled off to normal again. I turned to face Patrick for a luxurious cuddle, as he stroked my hair out of my face. Tracing his fingers down my cheek, he lightly touched a finger on top of my nose and said, “I must say, that diamond bracelet and those silver glitter stilettos go really well with you in my bed. When I saw you laying there waiting for me, you looked amazingly hot, baby...so hot, that the image of you burned right into my retina… in a good way.”

He lifted my arm with the bracelet, turning it so he could kiss the inside of my wrist, placing his lips right over the dainty strand of sparkling stones
.

Hmm. That might make a cool tattoo for the inside of my wrist, a lip print with a thin strand of diamonds across it.

Chapter 7

“I like all these ideas, Patrick. I would love to move forward and start working with you and your new team immediately, but unfortunately, I can’t,” Greg Johnson bellowed out in a gruff voice, as he closed the file folder with our proposal.

Patrick shot me a bewildered glance. Clearly, that was not what he expected to hear. My heart sank as we sat around the conference room table presenting our proposal to the CEO of Urban Revolution, the latest and hottest clothing brand on the East coast.

“Greg, I don’t understand, if you love the proposal, why won’t you move forward?” Patrick queried, his face flush with the gravity of the situation.

“Well, here’s the thing. You know my wife, Helen?” Greg, a rotund man in a grey suit, tossed his ink pen on the table and leaned back into his chair.

“Yes, of course.”

“As you know, she has Parkinson’s disease and for many years, Anna has been a major contributor to our charity in a search to find a cure for Parkinson. She told me earlier this week that as long I stay with her company, she will continue funding the charity, but if I went with another agency, she would pull the plug. So you see, I’m kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place here, because this charity means everything to my wife. If I pull out now, not only will Helen be devastated, but a lot of people connected to the charity could lose their jobs. And as much as I don’t care for Anna’s business tactics, at least for now, I must comply with her wishes. I’m afraid there is no way we can be in business together, Patrick.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Greg. I was counting on you. I know we can create some great campaigns for Urban Revolution and take your company to the next level. Tell me, is there anything I can do to change your mind?”

“I know, I know, Patrick. All I can say is that, unless something truly unethical is going on with Anna and her goons, I’ll have to honor the existing contract with her.

My mind was racing, as I was trying to formulate an argument that would persuade Greg to change his mind but before I could speak, Patrick exclaimed, “Trust me, there are plenty of unethical dealings in her camp. We just can’t prove it yet.”

“Well then, Patrick, come back when you have proof, so we can continue this conversation.”

Patrick confidently stood up, extending a hand toward Greg. “You can count on it, Greg. I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll look forward to it, Patrick,” Greg said, as he shook Patrick’s hand.

I politely stood up to acknowledge Greg’s exit, giving Patrick a puzzled look.
What did he have up his sleeve?
After the door swished shut and we were alone in the conference room, I turned to Patrick with a grim expression. “What are we going to do now?” I collected up my proposal from the table, the edge of the folder crumpling under the tight sweaty grip on my hand. “There’s no way we can launch the company without this contract. And if Anna already got to this client, she probably got to all of them, making it impossible to take any of them with us.”

“Don’t worry. I will think of something. Let’s discuss it with Ryan tonight at dinner.” His face was expressionless, but his eyes were brooding.

As we rode down in the elevator, I couldn't help but admire Patrick’s perseverance and ingenuity. Much like an expert chess player, he always anticipated his opponent's next move. I was clueless on how to proceed, but hopefully tonight will bring some answers.

~*~*~

The red wine spilled out of the bottle freely, as the sharply dressed waiter expertly filed three stemmed glasses around the table. As he turned on his heels and swiftly vanished, Ryan, Patrick and I saluted.

“Ryan, it’s always good to see you and your smiling face.” Our glasses clinked. He had a way of lightening the mood, his exuberant personality was a breath of fresh air.

“Thank you, Chloe. You look as beautiful as ever. So, how did the meeting go today? I’m dying to hear what happened.”

“It didn’t go exactly as planned,” Patrick said. Clearly the Baroness is more devious than I thought, she got to Greg before I did.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan asked, furrowing his brow.

“Basically, Anna told him earlier this week that she will pull all of her funding to his wife’s charity campaign if he terminated his contract with her.”

“That bitch, I can’t believe it. How could she even know what we have been planning? It’s like she’s spying on us.”

Patrick shook his head. “I honestly don’t know, but she has eyes everywhere. After I’d quit her company, she must have approached all the major clients, tighten the squeeze on them to make them stay. The one thing I did get out of Greg was that, if we can find some dirt on the Baroness, he will be willing to reconsider.”

“Dirt? What kind of dirt?”

“Insider trading maybe, like what Martha Stewart did?” I suggested. My mind was whirling with countless possibilities of what kind of skeletons there could be hiding in the closet of this troublemaker.

“Interesting idea, Chloe,” Ryan said. “That might be a possibility. But how do we find out? Maybe...” He shot a glance to the side and took another sip of his wine, as if the vintage grapes would help him think more clearly.

Patrick narrowed his eyes. “I can see you are on to something, Ryan. Tell us...”

“Remember Mark Blunk from our fraternity in college?” He leaned forward and lowered his voice.

“Ah, yea.... I see where you are going with this. That could actually work, but how do we find him? I haven’t seen him since college.”

I was bewildered. Patrick and Ryan seemed to be sharing some kind of cryptic knowledge that I was not privy to at the moment. The suspense was killing me and I blurted out, “What? What are you two talking about? Who’s this Mark Bunk guy?” I waved my hands as my voice escalated.

“Mark Blun-k,” Ryan enunciated. “He was a buddy of ours back in college and he was a genius with computers, but more importantly, he was one of the most notorious computer hackers in the United States. He actually went to prison for a year because he hacked into the FBI’s computer database as a prank, just to prove he could do it. He would probably still be in prison today, if the FBI hadn’t recruited him to help them with their data security.”

“That’s very interesting, but how does that help us?”

“Don’t you see, baby? He can hack into the Baroness’ computer and email. We can find out every move she’s made in the last year, or more,” Patrick explained.

“More than that, he can even hack into her phone and download her voicemail, address book and everything else.” Ryan added with a big smile.

“Yea but, why would this Mark, whatever his name is, help us with this?” I couldn’t believe it. I felt as if I were in the middle of a James Bond movie.

“Oh, he owes us....big time,” Patrick said, as he and Ryan nodded in agreement.

“But is it even legal to do that?” I asked nervously.

“At this point, it doesn't matter if it’s legal or not. All we are looking for is something that we can use against the Baroness, to help expose her as the fraud that she is. It’s no different than how she has been playing us for the last few months. It’s about time she gets a taste of her own medicine.” Patrick turned and looked me straight in the eyes. “Don’t you want revenge, Chloe?”

“I do. I could wish nothing more,” I said, with a solid steely glare. I wasn’t quite comfortable partaking in illegal activities to gather the information we needed, and felt a bit like part of a big CIA operation of some sort, but I also realized that if the Baroness was ever going to be taken down, subversive tactics might be needed.

“I think I know how to get in touch with Mark,” Ryan said. “He used to date my sister years ago and I’m sure she still has his contact information.”

“Perfect. I’ll leave it up to you to get ahold of him and hopefully, he can find something in Anna’s files that we can use.” The conversation screeched to a halt with the appearance of the waiter to take our orders.

“Perfect timing,” Ryan said. “I’m starving. I’ll have the salmon.”

Chapter 8

Two days had transpired and the morning dawned with sweet perfection, as I opened my eyes to the stark white ceiling of Patrick’s spacious bedroom. Patrick was slumbering contentedly beside me, as the two of us nestled beneath the crisp white sheets. I had grown accustomed to his fabulous penthouse and was surprised at how quickly I was adjusting to my so called life of luxury, here in Mid-Manhattan. I still maintained my little apartment with Andrea on the Upper East Side and returned there every other day to get clean clothes and sort of “check in” with the roommate, though it was more like, “check-up” on the roommate to make sure she hadn’t totally destroyed the place.

Patrick moaned a sleepy sound and pulled my body close to “spoon” with me, as I rolled on my side and backed up against him, our bodies melding together as one. He nuzzled soft sleepy little kisses against my shoulder, while his outer arm reached around to cup my beast, pulling and teasing the nipples of each in turn. It felt warm and satisfying to wake up with him every morning. He was still the most handsome man I had ever met and as I reached back to run my hand along his thigh I could feel the power of his muscles shifting beneath his skin. His breath fell hot along my neck as he continued his kisses, sending playful shivers up my spine.

He began rocking his hips forward, as he came more awake, and I felt the hardness of his cock straining against my backside. Following every curve of my body, his hand smoothed its way down and slipping it gently between my legs from behind, he dipped his fingers between my folds, as he glided a finger along each side of my excited nub. I arched slightly and moaned with pleasure as his fingers found my hot spot. My blood rushed in my body, and my breath quickened with each thrust of his fingers, electric tingles racing up and down my skin.

I could feel his powerful erection competing for the space between my legs where his hand was working, his need for penetration moving him to a faster pace, as if his desire could not be contained another minute. Grabbing the base of his hard shaft, he pushed it in my opening, slippery with anticipation, and drove it in with a fervent thrust. Groaning and hissing with pleasure he rocked against me, filling me again and again, as I struggled against the sheets to maintain my position, on my side. His frantic intensity only increased my satisfaction in knowing that he wanted me so completely, so desperately, as if there would be no tomorrow, and he was driven to possess all of me, in this very moment of time.

With his lips parted and panting, he moved on top of me in a commanding gesture. Crawling up over my body, he pushed my outer leg up, so that my knee was practically up to my ear, and my other leg stretched out straight. He continued thrusting deep inside of me from this new position, filling me deeper than before. The directness of his authority over my body for his pleasure and mine, made my head spin, as I closed my eyes, surrendering to his charge.

No sooner had he completed his mission and released his fiery hot passion inside of me, groaning deeply through clenched teeth, when he slid down, and gently pushed open my leg that was pinned beneath his chest. Kissing his way down my body, he paused briefly, whispering his love for each part of my body, and sweetly spread my legs apart, his hot breaths fanning my pleasure point.

The spontaneity of his maneuvers, and the confident directiveness with which he put me in the position he wanted, ignited a primal need in me, compelling me to want him even more. Unwittingly, he exuded a powerfulness that made my blood boil red hot with desire for him like no man I had ever known before, and with my head spinning and breath panting, he licked and swirled me into a carnal heaven of ecstasy.

~*~*~

The smell of sizzling bacon, and freshly brewed coffee, filled the kitchen with the black granite countertops. There was something very warm and comforting about the mixture of those two aromas that gave even a modern contemporary designed apartment a homey feeling. Patrick handed me a cup of coffee, expertly brewed in his fancy stainless steel coffee maker that ground the coffee beans and steeped the java to perfection. “Here’s your coffee, baby. Just the way you like it.”

We sat down on the tall, leather covered, wooden stools at the breakfast bar for omelets, Patrick style. Taking a sip of coffee, I smiled remembering back to when we worked together at Meyer and Meyer, and how he secretly observed my actions, so he could learn that I liked my coffee with cream and sugar. It dawned on me that he had been watching me for a long time back then, although, I had continued through my work days, oblivious to his perusals of me. I chewed on a piece of bacon, as if my thoughts were up on the ceiling, while Patrick struck up a casual morning conversation.

“What’s on your agenda for the day?” He finished his eggs and pushed his plate away, draining his cup of coffee.

“I’m going over to my apartment. I need to do some laundry, pick up my mail, and check to make sure the place is still in one piece. Last I heard, Andrea was planning to throw a huge party. I need to see if the place is still standing.” I said in irritation, as I slid off the stool and began clearing the dishes to the dishwasher.