HACKING THE BILLIONAIRE: Part 2 (8 page)

Riley glanced back at the Trent house one more time, mouthing goodbye to its occupants. Especially Dirk. When he woke, he’d realize this was for the best. They didn’t meld. Their worlds didn’t meld.

She climbed into the cab that would take her to the airport. She had a flight back to Manhattan that she was paying an outrageous amount of money for, but she wanted to be gone.

After her flight, which would land in Newark, she still had to take a train to Manhattan. She was tired, but she had to make the break.

The puddle jumper flew her to New Jersey in the middle of the night. The train was empty, and she dozed on the way into New York. This was still less time than driving back. If she drove, Dirk might beat her there, and she didn’t want a confrontation with him.

It was time. The case was off her hands. She needed to be assigned to another one. Away from him. It was also time for them to end it. They weren’t going to last forever.

She had some tears, but refused to give in to them until she was home. Which was still an hour or so away. She had to pack.

For right now, she’d get her essentials and then get the rest when Dirk was at work. She didn’t want to see him. It would hurt too much. What an ass for falling in love with him.

The idea took away her breath. They couldn’t work. He needed too much control. She needed too much freedom. Her work was important.

A cab brought her to Dirk’s building. She held her breath as she opened the door. He wasn’t here. Was he far behind? He hadn’t called.

Maybe he was realizing what she’d already figured out. That they were wrong for each other. She packed while she called Joan.

“I’ve finally done it,” she said.

“What?”

“I’m leaving Dirk and getting back to my life,” she said.

It sounded odd now that she was saying it out loud.

“Are you happy about it?”

“I guess. I’ll feel better when I’m home and he can’t talk me out of it.”

“Why would he?”

“Because Dirk likes control,” she said.

“Maybe he loves you.”

She threw as much as she could into an overnight bag. The rest could wait until Dirk was at work. He wouldn’t hold her clothing hostage. He’d probably be happy to be rid of her.

“No. I think he would have said it.”

“Maybe he was afraid.”

“The man runs a company. He pilots a helicopter. He isn’t afraid of anything.”

“You are a formidable woman, Riley.”

She frowned at the phone. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“That you have your way of doing things or the highway. Sounds like Dirk is the same way. You both need to meet in the middle.”

Riley shook her head. There was no middle ground with Dirk. Maybe Joan was right and she had no middle ground either. “We have no middle. We’re too stubborn.”

“Do you love him?”

“No.”

She crossed her fingers when she said it.

“Then why did you sneak out in the middle of the night?”

Damn. Of course Joan would get to the heart of the matter. “Are you going to be my friend and bring me ice cream while I get over this?”

“No, because I’m in a grownup relationship. Not pretending. Not playing games. Just being honest.”

“Well, that ship has sailed for Dirk and me. Sorry I can’t count on you.”

“You could if you just told him how you felt. You wouldn’t be any worse off than you are now.”

Yes, she would. She’d be shattered if he didn’t feel the same way. “I’m going to go now. Sorry to wake you.”

She disconnected, feeling dissatisfied with the conversation. She looked around, and she’d gathered as much as she could in one bag.

“The rest will have to wait.” She wondered if she could use Dirk’s driver one more time.

No. She couldn’t. She had to leave all of this behind. Make a clean break. Don’t look back.

But she did look back as she walked to the subway station that would take her out to Brooklyn. She was leaving behind the bodyguard. The playboy. The rich guy who had to be in control.

She didn’t fit into his world. He didn’t fit into hers.

The streets of Brooklyn were quiet this early in the morning. Soon the bread trucks would be on their deliveries. Riley’s heart hung heavily in her chest. She’d made the right decision. She was sure of it.

Her heart didn’t agree, but her head did. She sighed as she rode the subway home.

Home. The place she hadn’t been too much lately. She’d been living in a penthouse. What the hell had she been thinking?

At least she didn’t have to go to work tomorrow. She’d have a few days off before she started her new job. Whatever the next case would be, she’d know then.

Anything was better than some rich guy who only wanted what he wanted. She opened her door, then dropped her bag and laptop case on the floor. She didn’t have the strength to eat. Bed. All she wanted was her bed.

Then she remembered making love with Dirk, and she had to rip off the sheets and wash them. With clean sheets on, she crawled between them. She didn’t smell Dirk. Only fabric softener.

She sighed. He was out of her life. Just to be sure, she turned off her phone. She’d planned on sleeping for three days if she could. Her head hit the pillow. Her body sighed with the familiarity of the bed.

Then she drifted off to sleep.

***

Dirk had no idea how Riley got out of Martha’s Vineyard, but she was gone. He knew it with all of his being. She was gone. Hopefully back to the penthouse, he thought as he fired up the helicopter.

Luzy came out to see him as he was doing his preflight check.

“Where’s Riley? I found my dress on the door knob to my room this morning.”

“She left.”

“You don’t sound like you know what’s going on.”

His sister had always been pretty perceptive. “I don’t. She left in the middle of the night.”

“I liked her, Dirk. Don’t be a butthead. You have to go after her.”

He looked at her from his perch in the cockpit. “That’s what I’m doing as soon as I can fly back to Manhattan.”

“Oh, right.”

“You staying here?”

“Yeah, I am, but Riley got me thinking.”

Of course she did. Riley questioned a lot of things. He’d seen her innate curiosity, but she hadn’t ever really questioned him. Had she ever really been interested in him? “Oh?”

“She mentioned something about never relying on a man.”

“That sounds like Riley.”

Was that her problem with him? She didn’t want to rely on his money? She didn’t need to. It just made life easier.

“She said my cookies were good and that maybe I should be doing that. What do you think of that?”

“Instead of programming?”

“Yes. I only did it for Chad. So he’d have someone to help him. You know me. I’ve always relied on whatever man I was with.”

“And where did that get you?”

“Heartache and two divorces.”

“Maybe there’s something in what Riley said.”

She was so smart. Once again he marveled at how much smarter than him she was. Not that he was intimidated. Kept him on his toes. Kept him running back to Manhattan, chasing after her.

Should he be?

Of course. One of these days, he’d catch her permanently. What he’d do with her, he didn’t know.

So torn.

“Go get her, Dirk. She’s a keeper,” Luzy said.

“Thanks.”

His sister walked back to the house. He started up the chopper then took off for Manhattan. He landed on his building later on and let his pilot know the aircraft needed to be back at its hanger.

The day was warm and sunny and had very little breeze. His flight had been smooth despite the turmoil in his heart.

He hadn’t wanted to wait to see Riley. He didn’t want to give her any more of a head start. He rushed down into his penthouse only to find it empty. His heart sank.

He ran around, looking for her stuff. The closets were empty. Her suitcase was gone. He plopped on the bed. “So this was it.”

He could still smell her on the sheets.

They were done. No. He wasn’t ending it without a fight. She would have to face him and end it. He called her. It went right to voicemail.

He called Joan instead.

“Hello, Dirk.”

“I need your advice.”

“I’m not sure what you should do.”

“How do you know what it’s about?’

She laughed. “It’s about Riley. I already know she’s left you.”

“She has for sure. What do I do?”

“I’m not sure there is anything you can do, Dirk. She’s pretty insistent that it is over and that you’d be happy about it.”

“She was fine yesterday. Until we went to aparty. Then all of a sudden she wasn’t fine.”

He didn’t share the other details of their last night together. Too personal, and not something he was proud of. He was angry and gave in to what she wanted. He should have done things differently.

Guess his actions played into her decisions. Damn.

“She didn’t mention that.”

“Should I give her space?”

“I’m not getting involved in this. You two are on your own. I refuse to be collateral damage between the two of you.”

“Collateral damage? You sound like we’re at war.”

“Sometimes it feels as if you are.”

He hadn’t thought of that. Was he at war with Riley? Or did she not care enough for there to be conflict? Maybe that’s why they got along so well. She didn’t care.

If that was so, he needed to move on with his life. She wouldn’t come back. She didn’t want to come back.

If she didn’t feel anything for him then she shouldn’t come back. He sighed. He’d never been so out of his depth. Women had always been easy. They flocked to him. He had his pick.

The one he really wanted didn’t want him. The irony.

He called Zeke, who was now home.

“Hey, buddy,” Zeke said.

“Can we talk?’

“Are we girls? No, come over and watch the fight with me,” Zeke said.

As if he knew what was going on with Riley. He and Zeke still hadn’t chatted about what the man knew because he had lost some of his memory. The doctors thought he’d get it back, but they didn’t know when.

Maybe a beer and male company might soothe his ego and his aching heart.

“I’ll be over. I’ll bring some beer,” Dirk said.

He bought a six-pack of Zeke’s favorite, even though he didn’t think his friend could drink yet. It would be good to see his kids and his wife. He’d forget about Riley for a few hours.

He fired up the Aston Martin and drove out of the city towards Staten Island, where Zeke lived. The last time he’d been in the car was with Riley.

He hated that she was so part of his life. This getting over her thing was going to take longer than he thought. “Ugh.”

He’d never been in this position. Never. The women dumped him and he didn’t care, or he dumped them. There’d never been any emotion involved. No hearts breaking.

It had always been just about sex for him. Whatever romancing he did was to get the woman in bed. End of story.

Today he finally knew what they all felt when he dumped them. Why they cried.

Worse, why they tried to hang on.

Riley sat at home by herself for a few days. Watching movies. Eating ice cream. Her laptop was her only companion. Part of her brain still worked on the puzzle of the leak in Dirk’s company.

Only because she hadn’t wanted to give it up. It was a nice mental exercise. As she was watching her third movie of the day, her e-mail made a noise. A noise that it should have.

This was another notification from the firewall at Dirk’s company. She slid the machine onto her lap to open it.

As far as she could tell, someone was using Zeke’s log-in and send-in information. At least she was even more sure that Zeke wasn’t the leak. He was still at home recovering.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this information?”

She forwarded it to the FBI agent, but wasn’t sure that would be enough. They hadn’t made any progress as far as she knew. Not that she expected them to keep her updated. They should have been keeping Dirk updated, and as of a few days ago, they’d had no breaks in the case.

She’d done the legwork for what they had now. They were supposed to be better at this than she was, and they hadn’t take her investigation any further. Should she tell Dirk?

She didn’t want to talk to him. She called Joan instead.

“I don’t want to talk about Dirk,” her friend said.

“Well, this is business. Not personal.”

Well, sort of personal.

“What?”

“Someone has been using Zeke’s account to send stuff through the firewall. I don’t know if I should tell him.”

“The case isn’t yours anymore.”

“I know, but that program is still there, and it sent me a notification.”

Riley really was torn. She didn’t know if Dirk would want to know. Or should she just let the FBI guys deal with it?

She’d forgotten to have the notifications forwarded to them, but the agents didn’t seem to care. She wondered what exactly they were doing.

The doorbell rang.

“Hold on. I have to get the door.”

She walked to the door with her phone in her hand. A delivery person had flowers.

“For me?”

“Are you Riley Adams?”

“Yes.”

He handed her the flowers. “These are for you then.”

She found some money then tipped him, closing the door.

“Who was it, Ri?”

“Flowers.”

“From whom?”

She read the card. “Dirk.”

“What does he say?”

“He’s been thinking about me.” Oh crap. “What the hell does that mean?”

“That he’s been thinking of you.”

She sighed. “Well, I think it best that I let the FBI guys deal with Dirk.”

“You could call him.”

Her phone beeped. “Hold on. I’m getting a call.”

She clicked to the other call.

“Riley, it’s Max.”

Her boss. Guess there was another job.

“Hey, Max.”

“Enough moping. I have another job for you. Come in tomorrow morning to get briefed,” Max said.

Riley sighed. Guess she’d been sitting around long enough. “Okay. I’ll be in by nine.”

“Good. Be ready to work, too. This customer is in great need.”

“Okay, Max. Will there be travel?”

Impersonating a girlfriend? Falling in love? Scratch the last one. She refused to believe she was in love with Dirk. She was not. Her heart ached because he had become such a large part of her life.

That was it.

“There might be. Is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

A new location might be just what she needed. Now she was looking forward to a new case.

She hung up with Max.

“Hey, Joan. It was Max. I have a new job beginning tomorrow.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I’m elated. I need to get out of this house. Get Dirk out of my brain.”

“You go, girl. Let’s go get a drink.”

“I’m watching a movie. Come over here. Wait. No date?”

“No, Kent has a class tonight.”

“I see. I’m second choice.”

Joan laughed. “Of course. I’ve never made it a secret that I want to get married and that a man is important to me.”

That’s true. Riley couldn’t understand that. She’d rather stand on her own two feet. She’d bet if she’d stayed with Dirk her personality would have gotten swallowed up in his alpha male persona. She would have lost some part of herself.

That would have been bad. She’d dodged a bullet.

“I’ll be over in half an hour,” Joan said.

At least for Joan she didn’t feel the need to clean up. If it had been a man, she would have felt obligated.

Another reason not to have a man in her life. She eyed the flowers that she’d placed on her coffee table. What was the meaning? Was he trying to mess with her head? They’d broken up. She’d run out on him. Why didn’t he get the hint?

Her phone rang. Dirk. There was no way she was answering it.

No. Way.

She was just getting to a point that her heart was beginning to not hurt every time she thought of him. Only every other time.

She was not going to rip that wound open again. She sent the call to voicemail then stopped the movie. Joan would want to see it from the beginning.

***

Dirk cursed as he realized Riley had sent his call to voicemail. He sat in his office pondering what he should do next. He’d given her space. That had nearly killed him.

He’d taken turns being sad and mad and frustrated since then.

He wanted to see her. Would she open the door for her? He didn’t think so. He wished he knew what had changed. What had made her change her mind?

He wanted to talk to his mother, but she was just out of the hospital. He didn’t want to disturb her. Zeke would have no words of wisdom.

Maybe his sister.

Antsy, he went out for lunch. By himself. On the street, he heard someone call his name.

He turned to find Ivana, one of his ex-girlfriends. She kissed both of his cheeks then squeezed his hand.

“You look great, Ivana.”

“You sort of do, Dirk. I see a sadness in your eyes.”

“Yeah, that happens.”

“Is there finally a woman who has bested you? Made you fall in love with you?”

He didn’t want to talk about Riley. Not today. Not with Ivana.

“Let’s go get lunch,” he said.

Ivana nodded, but he knew she wouldn’t order anything. She was at the end of her career, and she had to fight to keep her name in front of the agencies. And she had to fight to keep the pounds off.

That made him think of Riley, who was shaped like an everyday woman. Not a model. She was gorgeous, but not because she used makeup. She just was naturally beautiful.

“I feel like you are not here,” Ivana said after they’d placed their orders at a neighborhood restaurant.

Ivana was dressed to kill.

“You on your way to an audition?”

Ivana frowned. “I’ve retired. I’m done. This is a young girl’s game.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I found someone. And I’m starting a business,” Ivana said.

“Wow. What kind of business?”

“Personal shopper. I’ll shop for clothes for people. Combines two things I love, shopping and fashion.”

Dirk had to laugh. “You a really are making the best of it.”

“I am, Dirk, but why the sadness in your eyes?”

She wasn’t going to let up, was she? Guess he’d better spill.

“I think I’ve fallen in love.”

“Only you would be sad about that. It happens to everyone. Even bachelors like you,” she said.

“But it wasn’t supposed to be me.”

“That’s why you dated models. We are so vain and shallow that we didn’t notice you. We all treated you the way you treated us. I bet this person treated you well.”

“Yes, she did.”

How could Dirk sit here and be with Ivana, a gorgeous woman, and be thinking about Riley? Guess he had to admit it. He had fallen in love with her. Maybe it was better that they were apart.

“Then why are you with me?”

“She won’t talk to me. I’m trying to woo her back.”

“Back? You lost this woman?”

“I didn’t tell her how I feel,” Dirk said.

“You are an idiot, Dirk.”

Yes, he felt that way. His sister had told him that. His mother would probably say it also. He was an idiot. He’d let the one woman out of his life that should be in his life.

Riley.

The flashbulbs distracted him. He and Ivana had chosen a table on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. The paparazzi had shown up to take pictures of Ivana. Guess she was still in the news.

The maître’s shooed them away, but not before they took some pictures. With Dirk. He didn’t think about it at first. Then he realized that his picture would be in the paper. With Ivana.

He certainly didn’t think Riley would see them, but what if she did? What would she think?

“Crap?’

“What?” Ivana said.

“Those pictures. I’m with you.”

“You don’t want this woman to see them. She may get the wrong idea.”

Dirk nodded. There wasn’t anything he could do about them. Guess he’d better hope Riley didn’t see them. He didn’t think she was a tabloid reader.

“Relax. If she loves you, she will listen.”

He wasn’t sure she did. She couldn’t love him if she walked out on him.

Then he saw Joan walk by. He looked down, hoping she wouldn’t see him. But she did. She stopped.

“Hello, Dirk,” she said.

He stood and introduced Ivana.

“Well, didn’t take you long,” Joan said.

“What?”

“To get back in the saddle,” Joan said.

Back in the saddle. “This isn’t a date. We’re just having lunch.”

“Not a date? I have trouble believing that. I’m glad Riley dumped you.”

“What? No, Joan. It isn’t what this looks like.”

Joan frowned at him. “I don’t believe you. I have to tell Riley. She did the right thing. I’ve been wrong all along.”

Joan stomped off. Dirk didn’t have the energy to follow her. He sat back in his seat.

“Not sure my day could get worse,” Dirk said.

“Riley is the woman?”

“Yes.”

“She is not a model?”

“No. She was investigating something going on in my company,” Dirk said. “She was posing as my girlfriend, and we became lovers.”

“Mixing business and pleasure,” Ivana said, tutting.

She was right. He’d been wrong. His phone rang. Marcia. “I have to take this. Sorry.”

“Dirk. You have to come back to the office.”

“Why?”

“Because your biggest client, Alfred Maynard, is here and demanding to see you.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes. Did he give a reason?”

“He says his personal information has been compromised. That’s all I was able to get out of him. He said he’s going to tell everyone, including the press, that you are unreliable. He wants to ruin you.”

Dirk’s eyes fell closed. He hadn’t thought his day could get worse.

He hung up. “I’m sorry, Ivana. I have to go. I’ll give them my credit card and pay for lunch.”

“No bother. I can afford this restaurant now. Go put out your fires.”

He kissed her cheek then left her to eat her lunch in peace.

He hadn’t thought losing Riley could be the worst thing. But it was intertwined with her being off the case. The FBI agents hadn’t updated him recently, and he wondered if they were giving it any time. Riley had been the sole investigator when she was on it.

Now, he had another leak and was about to lose his biggest client. He’d recover, but he’d have to lay people off. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

He steeled himself before he entered his building. He couldn’t let these people down.

No. He’d have to do damage control. Right. Now.

~~~