Takeover (17 page)

“Are you saying that you had something to do with what happened to me this morning?”

He looks over at me and laughs. “You can’t be serious. No, I would never do something like that—even to someone that I feel is trying to undercut everything that I’m working so hard to rebuild.”

“Then I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me, sir.”

“We had a conversation about punctuality, didn’t we?” he asks.

“I was in a car wreck. It wasn’t my fault. You’re concerned about sabotage, well, someone messed with my car and I almost died because of it.”

He sighs. “You don’t understand. I need you to be at your best, Rose. If you’re not going to be able to tell the difference between what’s good for the company and what may destroy it, then I think we have a problem.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to stop pointing fingers at members of this company,” he says. “I suppose you know about the phone call I received from your attorney this morning?”

“Jillian called you?” I ask. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but what did she say?”

“Nothing too specific,” he answers. “She didn’t want to show her hand, but she did intimate that there are things that you know and that she knows that could bring this company to its knees. Her words, not mine.” He turns away from the window again and, more quickly than I could have imagined, he’s a few inches from my face, his hands on mind. “Is that what you want? Do you want to destroy something that took years to build and even longer to get to the top? What I’m trying to do is bigger than you, it’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than all of the employees, contacts, acquisitions and structures related to it. We are doing something special here, Rose. I thought you understood that.”

“Are you threatening me?”

He stands and puts his hands over his face, breathing deeply, his face either vermillion or crimson; I never know which is which. “Melissa told me what the two of you discussed last night,” he says. “What am I supposed to do here? She started something with her lies about you that put this company in a very difficult position, and I can only imagine that you know what would happen if these accusations and speculations continue.”

“What are you going to do about it?” I ask, much more combatively than I had intended. “I talked to Melissa about getting back on her medication so hopefully what happened with me won’t happen again.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“Well, what did you hear? I’d be fascinated to hear what she’s come up with.”

“She told me that you were planning to take care of me the same way that you took care of McDaniel. Is that true?”

I scoff. “You can’t actually believe her. The woman is certifiable.”

“Maybe so,” he says, “but bad publicity is bad publicity, and if you’re trying to intimidate me or subvert what I’m trying to do with this company, I don’t think there’s a future for you here.”

“I’m not trying to do anything of the sort!” I exclaim. “To be honest, Mr. Waite, you’ve been nothing but an inspiration to me since we first met in your office a few days ago, and I believe in what you have planned. It’s been a long time since I’ve said that and meant it. If you’re going to believe every lie that comes out of the mouth of a compulsive liar, then
I
think we have a problem. I thought you were more astute than that.”

“Would you like a drink?” he asks.

There’s something wrong. It’s not in the words that he said, but the look in his eyes as he said them. Those eyes are projecting mischievousness at best, thinly veiled contempt at worst. “No,” I say.

“See?” he slams his open hand on his desk. “That’s what I’m talking about. A few days ago, I thought we hit it off. I thought you trusted me. What happened?”

“Where is your pen?” I ask.

“What pen? What are you talking about?”

“The pen you got at the ALS fundraiser.”

“I told you that I broke it a while ago. Why are you asking me?”

“No,” I say. “The one from the day that McDaniel was killed.”

His mouth drops open. The man is speechless. “How
dare
you?” he asks. “Do you really think that I would have or
could
have anything to do with the murder of a colleague? It’s no secret that he and I didn’t get along, but there’s something you don’t know about Rory McDaniel.”

“Yeah?” I ask. “Try me.”

“He was getting ready to sell Opulence to some snot-nosed venture capitalist. You may remember him, your brother. I couldn’t let him go through with that. This company means too much to me, it means too much to the business world. If we can’t turn things around and work an ethical business model, if for no other reason than to shine a light on those who don’t, we are lost.”

“So you had him killed.”

He smiles. Why is he smiling? “I was at a fundraiser when Rory was stabbed. I didn’t kill anyone. Oh,” he says, “and by the way, you’re fired.”

“Do you really think that’s necessary?”

“I will not work with someone who threatens me, do you understand? I may come across as a nice guy, but trust me, Rose, you do
not
want to get on my bad side.”

“I think that ship sailed when
you
threatened
me
.”

“Get out of my office. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be getting quite the severance package after your years of service, despite your week of insubordination.”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” I say. “I didn’t try to kill anyone. Do you know what happened to me this morning, Sam?” this may not be the ideal time to start using his first name, but he
did
just fire me.

“You got in a car crash.”

“Someone tried to kill me. Last night, I received a text from an unknown number threatening me and the next day my car has been tampered with, and I’m lucky to be alive. So, what changed? Why am
I
suddenly a target? The only thing that I can think of is that I left with Melissa, someone who seemed to be rather uncomfortable with you. All of this, and I brandished my little gift from Fyurek. What exactly was it that took you by surprise? Was it the pen? Was it Melissa? What was it, Sam?”

“You’re just as crazy as she is,” he says. “I want you out of my office right now, and I want you out of this building in the next five minutes or I’ll be calling the police.” He picks up the receiver of his desk phone and asks for security in his office.

“Oh, I’m not going to hurt anyone or steal anything. Hell, I hadn’t even planned on making a scene. The thing that I’ve come to learn about you today, Mr. Waite, is that you are a snake. You know just what to say and just who to say it to, but it’s all bullshit isn’t it? You don’t care about the employees of this company any more than you care about me. I think that you’re behind all of this. I don’t know why, but you can bet your ass that I’m going to find out.”

“Back off,” he says in a voice that doesn’t begin to approach natural.

“Now
that
sounds familiar,” I say. “So, you just let me know. Are you going to try to sabotage another car, try to get me to crash and kill myself, or do you like to branch out? I can only imagine how long it’s going to be before anyone else realizes the kind of man that you really are.”

“Get out.” His words are slow and emphasized, and a chill runs through my body. Mr. McDaniel could be frightening from time to time, but he was just a drunk with a few screws loose. This man has a hate inside of him that I’ve never actually felt from anyone in my life, and right now it’s directed at me.

Without a word, I turn and walk out of his office. Security is already closing in, but I’m not too worried. I simply grab my purse, let them do a quick inspection of it and walk two steps ahead of them on my way out of the building.

This is one of those times that I wish I had a friend in the office. For a few days there, I had almost believed that Mr. Waite and I could have been friends, but whether he had anything to do with McDaniel or my car or that text, I don’t think we’re going to be getting together for drinks any time soon.

What I need is proof. I get that he couldn’t have actually killed Mr. McDaniel on his own, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t put the whole thing together.

It’s a little nerve-wracking having these two enormous security guards watching my every move, but I’m not going to try anything. I may not be as naïve as I was even a week or two ago, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to start trying to take down the company or steal from them.

I finally make it to my rental car. The one thing that I’m really nervous about is the conversation with James. Before I talk to him though, I need to talk to my asshole brother. James is letting me borrow his cell phone; after all, he has the house phone and it’s not like he’s planning on going out anytime soon.

Once I’m in my car, I’m ringing Mark’s phone, just hoping that Sarah doesn’t answer. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I tend to feel an uncontrollable urge to take a shower while hugging my knees and rocking back and forth.

“This is Mark,” he answers. “What do you want, Rose?”

“Are you trying to overthrow Opulence?” No point in beating around the bush.

“Yes,” he answers bluntly. “I told you that already. I had a meeting with your boss. He didn’t tell you about that?”

“He did,” I say. “Listen, we need to talk.”

“Can’t right now,” he says. “I’m kind of busy at the moment, and although you’re my sister and I love you, I don’t think you’re going to talk me out of what we’re trying to do.”

“I got fired,” I blurt out.

“For what?”

“Well, I may have intimated to my boss that I suspected him as the one who was behind Mr. McDaniel’s death.”

Mark just laughs.

“And that he’s the one I think tried to kill me this morning.”

The laughter stops. “He tried to kill you?”

“I can’t be sure of that, but he didn’t seem too shaken up by it. The bastard just gave me a lecture on how I was trying to sabotage his company.”

“I’ll be right there,” he says.

“Actually,” I say, thinking better of it, “why don’t we meet tomorrow for coffee or something?”

“I’m pretty busy tomorrow. Tonight
is
a lot better for me.”

“Tomorrow,” I say. “I need your help figuring out a few things.”

“But I can’t—”

I hang up. There’s no use arguing with him; either he’ll help me or he won’t. What I need is someone who can give me some inside information on Waite and the company. Too bad I don’t have Fyurek’s number.

Another call is coming in and I don’t bother to look at the caller ID before answering, “Mark, I’m really not in the mood to argue with you.”

“This is Jillian,” the voice returns. “They’ve confirmed what happened. It was foul play. Please tell me that you didn’t say anything to your boss.”

“Well—”

“Goddamn it, Rose!” she shouts. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“Yes,” I answer. “I got myself fired. He threatened me, so I threatened him back. Well, kind of.”

“This is just fucking great,” she says, audibly taking a drag off of a cigarette. “Rose, there’s more.”

“What do you mean?”

“They were able to trace the number that sent you the text. Are you sitting down?”

“Kind of,” I answer. “I’m driving.”

“We’ll talk when you get home.”

“Tell me,” I respond. “I don’t know that much of anything is going to surprise me at this point.”

She sighs and takes another drag. “The text came from someone in your brother’s office.”

“My brother? Mark?”

“We don’t know that it was him, but apparently, someone there doesn’t want you interfering in their hostile takeover. They used a company phone. It’s pretty obvious that they wanted you to know who did it.”

“When the hell did I become such a target to these people? I can’t even begin to—”

“We don’t know if there was a connection to the text and what they did to your car, but I’d stay clear of your brother for the next few days. Again, I’m not saying that he had anything to do with it, but they got your number somehow. Rose, this is bad.”

“I know this is bad.”

“You don’t understand,” she says, blowing out smoke. “Things like this don’t usually end well. I know you’ve worked in the office of a large firm, but you have no idea the lengths these people are willing to go to in order to get what they want.”

I pull up to my house and just sit in the car for a minute. “I think I’m beginning to figure it out.”

“Just promise me that you’ll stay away from your brother, at least until we figure out what happened and who’s behind all of this.”

“Do you have any idea what I have to look forward to right now? Forget the fact that I’m about to tell my mostly-broke husband-to-be that I just lost my job, but if all of this started with Opulence—hell, I don’t know what they’re going to try next.”

“Just stay close to home, Rose. Make sure that you’re with someone you trust, at least until we can get this thing taken care of.”

“Fine,” I say. “I’ll stay away from Opulence and anyone involved in my brother’s company, including him, but I don’t want to live like this, Jillian. This has to stop.”

“I know,” she says. “Andrew’s going to be coming over tonight to keep an eye on you and James. Call him after you and your fiancé have had a chance to talk. I’m sure that everything’s going to be fine, but you’re going to need to be extra careful unless you—”

“I know what I have to look forward to, Jillian,” I say and hang up.

Now I have to go inside and talk to James. Today’s just getting better and better.

Houseguests

––––––––

J
ames is understanding enough I suppose, but I can see the fear in his eyes. I can’t help but feel bad about who and what I’m starting to become: I’m paranoid, I’m distrustful, I’m certainly not the happy-go-lucky, insecure parcel that I used to be, and right now, I’m not sure if that’s something that I’m ready to go back to.

“What happens now?” James asks, finally.

“I don’t know,” I say. “To be honest, I think it’s probably for the best that I don’t take any jobs in the field of high-power business administration at the moment. This may sound strange, but I can actually feel the target on my back. It’s not a particularly good feeling.”