Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (131 page)

“They were willing to do it up until the
time that hundreds of barrels of oil were spilled into the Gulf and people all
over this country wanted the billionaire oil mogul to pay for his sins. They
wanted him prosecuted and if Miles Brigham IV were to fall, a lot of other
people were going to go down with him. The EPA was investigating, the Feds were
investigating, and as you both know, the reporters in this city have dug up
every piece of dirt on him that they could find. That was when people started
getting nervous.

“These were people in high places with
powerful positions and six figure monthly incomes. They didn’t want any of the
dirt being dug up on Brigham to be connected to them in any way. They started
trying to cut ties with him. We believe Vick’s murder was part of that. We have
some ideas about who the biggest players were and who may be responsible.”

Adam and I sat silently trying to absorb
all of this information. There was one primary question on both of our minds
and Adam asked it first,

“Why are you telling us all of this?”

“Well, we believe that your ex-wife’s
murder was related, as well. Someone is also afraid of what you know. You’ve
been working closely with Brigham and as you said yourself, Alex Fritz is a
close friend of yours. We believe that whoever killed Marjorie was actually
looking for you that night.”

I didn’t want to think about what may have
happened if Adam had gotten home before Marjorie that evening. I pushed that
thought to the furthest reaches of my mind and said, “What about Jack Grant? On
the phone, you said he was a part of this, too.”

“Yes, Mr. Grant’s family also has
significant monetary ties to the President’s campaign. Vick was the connection
early on when the donations were still legitimate. At some point, the money
started coming in at such massive rates that we began to get suspicious that
the Grants were using these donations to launder dirty money. Interpol has
already been investigating them.

“We believe the senior Mr. Grant has ties
to a very sophisticated international smuggling ring. A huge part of getting
his textile business into the U.S. was to have an outlet for smuggling other
items in, as well as another place to hide the illegal monies. The junior Mr.
Grant was sent here to make sure that no one found out exactly how much of our
money had already been moved into the United States.”

I had been suspicious of Jack’s motives
lately and I had seen him arguing with Alex that day not too long ago, but from
what I knew, Jack had never been interested in getting involved in his father’s
business. It had always been a point of contention between the two. Jack had
spent hour upon hour talking it over with me when we had been together. I
couldn’t imagine how now, less than four years later Jack had become willing to
get his hands dirty.

“So, the Grants sent large amounts of
money to the United States under the guise of making political donations and
establishing a business here. But it was dirty money?”

“Yes,” David said. “That, we believe was
the money that had been disappearing. We made it look like it was Brigham’s
money and that Vick was the one taking it, when in actuality we were moving it
around.

“Once we had given the money to the
campaign, we needed people on the inside to make sure the money didn’t stay in
politics, and instead when into business accounts that we could access.

“We couldn’t just approach someone like
Vick. He had no criminal history, and there was no reason for them to believe
he would be willing to become involved in such a scheme. If we had approached
him and he had agreed, we wouldn’t have known if we could trust him. We needed
our own man inside. That, I’m afraid, is where Mr. Fritz came in.”

Adam scratched his head, “I still can’t believe
that Alex is involved in this. He is my best friend. How could I not know?”

I put my hand on his arm and looked back
at David. “What do you want from us?”

David waved over the other two agents.
They sat down at the table and the one that David had introduced as Agent
Williams took the lead.

“All of what Agent Tyler has told you thus
far is so that you will believe what I have to say next. Mr. Hanson, we feel
very strongly that your life may be in danger. Through your connection to Mr.
Hanson and your connection to Brigham, we are concerned for your safety, too
Ms. Winston.

“We are here today to give you a few
options. You are free to choose, as I’m sure you both as attorneys know, which
option is best for you without any repercussions from us. The issue may be
repercussions with regards to your safety.”

Adam raised a skeptical eyebrow. “What are
these…options you are offering?”

“The first option is that we put you both
into a safe house and remove you completely from the danger.” We both shook our
heads in the negative simultaneously and the agent went on. “The second option
is that we offer you both incentive to work with us, to help us find out who
exactly is responsible for Mr. Field’s and Mrs. Hanson’s deaths and bring this
mess to a close.”

We looked questioningly at each other and
then I asked, “And the third option is?”

“The third option is that you continue on
with your lives and choose not to be any part of this at all.”

I looked at Adam again. I knew him well
enough to know what his choice would be. I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure
myself that it was the choice I wanted to make, but I also knew I would choose
Adam no matter what.

“I won’t hide, or be hidden,” Adam said,
dismissing the first choice off-hand. “I need to know for myself, see firsthand
what Alex has gotten himself involved in. I also want Marjorie’s murderer
found. She wasn’t much of a wife, but she deserved better than to be murdered
naked in her tub, especially if they were there looking for me and she was an
innocent bystander.”

He looked at me and went on, “I don’t want
you involved in this, though. These people are dangerous. I want you somewhere
safe, until it’s over. I couldn’t lose you, Alicia.”

I sighed. “You know me better than that. I
won’t accept less than being wherever you are. I won’t be hidden and protected
while you’re out there putting your life at risk. I will do whatever I need to
do to catch these people, as well.”

Adam started to speak, but was silenced by
the look of determination on my face. I was right, he did know me well enough
to know I wouldn’t accept being whisked away and protected like a fragile
princess. I was tough, probably tougher than he was when you got right down to
it.

“What about our ongoing cases, though?
Adam is lead counsel in Brigham’s civil case. Does he continue with that as if
nothing happened? If so, he can’t give you any information that is privileged.
He could be disbarred. And what about me, I am defending him in Vick’s murder
trial.”

Agent White took that one. “Ms. Winston,
you have our word that we will not ask you to do anything which compromises you
or Mr. Hanson’s law licenses. We are not interested in whether or not Mr.
Brigham wins or loses his civil case. We have what information we need with
regards to that.

“As far as Mr. Field’s murder, the police
have arrested and charged Mr. Brigham, but we are continuing our own
investigation. Mr. Brigham won’t go to trial for quite some time. Perhaps we
can have these issues resolved prior to that happening.”

“Do you have any ideas who took the files
from our offices?” Adam asked.

“Yes, it was Grant’s men. Grant is the one
who gave some of the information to the press, too. He has been meeting with a
reporter named Rose Dugan.”

“Figures,” Adam said with a disgusted
tone. “I knew she was trouble the first time I met her. What is Grant’s goal
here?”

“To get Brigham convicted of murder and
locked up, to cause him to lose billions of dollars in the civil case, and
ultimately, to ruin him. If Brigham is so preoccupied with his own problems, he
won’t have the time or the funds to dedicate to investigating why the money is
still disappearing, even though Vick is no longer around to take it. Fritz can
explain it away for a while, but we all know that Mr. Brigham’s tenacity will
drive him to pursue an issue as far as he can.”

I looked at my watch and said, “I need to
get to the office. I have a meeting with a client at ten. What do you want us
to do?”

“In your case, Ms. Winston, we know how
close you are to Mr. Grant. We would like you to continue that friendship, and
perhaps he will share information with you that we can use.” Adam started to
object, but I put my hand on his arm to quiet him.

“I can do that, as his friend. I won’t go
any farther than that, however, do you understand?”

“Absolutely, again, we do not wish to put
you in harm’s way. We would just appreciate if you could share with us anything
Mr. Grant tells you which may be of suspect.”

“I can do that,” I said and gave Adam a
reassuring look.

Adam sighed heavily and said, “And what
about me?”

“We need you to find out what you can
about Alex Fritz’s involvement, if you can.”

Before Adam could speak up, I interjected,
“He tells you only what Alex chooses to share with him, right? He’s not going
to be on a fishing expedition that will make Alex realize he knows something.”

“Same rules apply. We ask only that you
share with us what you find out in normal conversation. We are not setting you
up to take any type of fall here. You will be watched closely by our undercover
agents. You won’t even know we are there, but you will be safe, of that I
assure you.”

We got a few remaining details from the
agents before we left to head back to Manhattan and the office. We were both
quiet on the drive. each lost in our own thoughts.

It was a lot to absorb, and I couldn’t
help thinking about the Jack I used to know versus the guy he’d allegedly
become. I remembered all the time I had spent listening to Jack talk about
wanting to be one of the good guys. He wanted to defend and protect the
innocent and had told me over and over that he wouldn’t compromise his values
to become part of his father’s business. He had known even then that everything
his father did was not on the up and up, and he had told me countless times
that he wanted no part of it. I couldn’t help but wonder what leverage his
father may have used to convince him otherwise.

PART
IV

CHAPTER
ONE

ALICIA

We made it back to the office by
nine-thirty and each went our separate ways. The woman whose husband was trying
to take everything from her due to her infidelity was coming in to meet with me
this morning and I needed to prepare. Carla had gotten copies of everything
together for me to replace what had been taken in the robbery. I was hoping
that the client, Patricia, would still want me as her attorney.

Adam had work to do on the civil case.
Thus far, Miles hadn’t fired him so he was still making preparations to be in
court on Monday morning. He went to meet with Mac to finalize their opening
statements.

Patricia Lewis arrived at my office at
precisely ten a.m. I welcomed her, and while Carla was getting her a cup of hot
tea we made small talk about how the woman had been getting on. Once Carla left
I asked her,

“So, Patricia, have you had time to think
about what we spoke about on the phone the other day?”

“Whether or not I still want you to
represent me?” she asked. “Yes, Alicia, I’ve thought about it, a lot. Whatever
happened here the other night was not your fault. I can’t hold it against you.
My biggest fear is that the copies of the photos of me and my lover will end up
posted online, but I suppose there is just as much chance of that happening
because of Nick’s anger and need for revenge.”

Patricia was a successful interior
decorator. She had established her business prior to her marriage. She and Nick
had met five years earlier and from what she had told me, it was love at first
sight. They had married and Patricia put her business in Nick’s name, as well.
She told me it was on the advice of Nick’s accountant, for tax purposes.
Patricia found out later that Nick had not transferred his computer website
building business assets into her name. Everything Nick owned when they were
married, and anything his business had acquired since was in his name alone. He
was trying to keep it that way – and take half of what Patricia had worked so
hard for.

“I’m so glad you’ve decided to keep me
on,” I told her. “I have to tell you again how sorry I am for what happened. I
can assure you that we have beefed up our security here. We have security
officers on site twenty-four-seven now. I wish we had thought of it before.”