The Billionaire's Secret (15 page)

Trent crossed the room and extended his hand
to Ms. Manning. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Manning. Would
you mind if I called you Elaine?” he asked boldly.

“Mr. Davis, your reputation precedes you,”
she responded without answering his question.

Ouch
. Jon chuckled to himself as he
watched the exchange.

“Is it too late for me to retract the advice
I gave you earlier this week?” he asked Jon. “Best option would be
your original proposal.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Trent, but Elaine
and I have just signed the contract regarding my sponsorship.”

“Well, there goes what could have been a
beautiful relationship.” He winked at Elaine.

“You’ll get over it, Trent,” Jon stated.

Trent ignored Jon’s comment and told Elaine,
“Don’t listen to him, Elaine. My heart is breaking already.”

“I’m sure it will heal before the day is
out,” Elaine said.

Jon laughed, enjoying the fact that she
wasn’t falling for the almighty Trent Davis’s charm. Actually, she
was shooting Trent down. This was something Jon had never seen
before. Not wanting the show to end just yet, he said, “We were
just about to go to lunch, Trent. Would you like to join us?”

“I would love to,” Trent replied. “But Jon,
are you sure you can pull yourself away from work that long? I know
you’re a very busy man. I would be more than happy to take Ms.
Manning to lunch for you.”

Jon laughed again as he noticed Elaine
rolling her eyes. Trent had no idea what he was getting himself
into. Elaine Manning wasn’t one of the starry-eyed girls Trent
normally dated. “Thanks for your concern, Trent, but I wouldn’t
miss this for anything.”
Trent may have finally met his
match,
Jon thought as they left the office
.
Yes, this
was going to be an interesting lunch.

Lizette had told Ms. Manning on Tuesday that
she was ready to return to work, but her request had been denied.
She told Lizette to continue with her time off until she got a
response from Jon. He had promised to call with his decision by
Friday—which was today. Looking at her watch for the millionth
time, she said, “Should’ve known better.”

Just when she was about to give up, her cell
phone rang.
Yes!
It was her office.

“Hello, this is Lizette.”

“Hi, Lizette, this is Jill. Elaine asked me
to call all the staff. There is a mandatory meeting Monday at nine
a.m. I just wanted to make sure you would be back to work and able
to attend.”

“Yes, of course, I’ll be there.” She was
hoping for more insight into whether Jon had called and if they had
a sponsor or not. “Jill, is Elaine available?”

“No, sorry, Lizette, she’s traveling on
business. Is there something I can do for you? Elaine left
instructions to provide you with whatever support you needed while
you worked on getting a sponsor.”

“Do you know where she went?”

“No, sorry, I don’t. Actually, I’m not even
sure what she’s working on. The arrangements were not made through
me. Should I have her return your call when she calls to check
in?”

“Oh, no, that’s okay, I’ll talk to her on
Monday. Have a great weekend.”

“You too, Lizette.”

It was already seven and no call from Jon or
Elaine. This wasn’t a good sign. How was she going to tell her boss
she had failed? Not only had she disappointed Elaine, but she’d let
down all her coworkers and everyone in the community who depended
on Another Chance. They were not just co-workers, they were all
friends and that made this even more difficult. All the emotions
she’d held in during the week hit her all at once. First one tear
flowed down her cheek, then another, until they were spilling down
her face like a waterfall. She sobbed into the pillow on the couch.
Tears flowed for all those she let down, and she shed tears of
disappointment in herself. She had so wanted to be wrong about Jon.
She couldn’t believe he hadn’t even called her after the night
they’d spent together. She was angry with herself for believing
him, trusting him, and, worst of all, wanting him. She punched the
pillow in frustration. He got what he wanted and then discarded
her. She sobbed even harder.
What’s wrong with me?
She
wasn’t a crier.
Pull yourself together, Lizette
. Taking
deep, choppy breaths, she pulled her face from the pillow and
brushed away the tears.

Once she was able to think with clarity, it
was clear she had cried for the company she loved, cried for the
coworkers who would lose their jobs, cried for the community that
needed them—but mostly she had cried for her heart, which was
broken. Even when she’d been telling herself she wanted nothing to
do with Jon, did not want to see him again, they had nothing in
common, her heart had been telling her otherwise. And now it was
shattered.

The sound of her cell phone snapped her out
of her self-pity moment. “Hello.”

“Hello, Lizette?”

“Yes, this is Lizette.”

“Oh, I didn’t recognize your voice. Hope you
aren’t sick too? Do you have a cold? You don’t sound like
yourself.”

“Oh, hello, Elaine. It’s just the sniffles,
thank you.” She left out
from bawling like a baby
.

“Oh, I hope you’re not coming down with the
flu that’s going around. I’m still trying to recover from it.”

“No, I’m fine, really.”

“Good. Well. I just wanted to call to talk
to you about Mr. Vinchi. Did you hear from him this week?”

“I thought I would wait through the weekend
and come in Monday and update you, but now is fine.”
Better get
it over with,
she thought.

“Okay, what is your update?”

“Elaine, um, I, well . . .”
How do you
say, I blew it?
“I really have tried my best. I met with Jon, I
mean Mr. Vinchi, and explained our situation in detail. At that
time, I fully expected he would have been willing to show some
support. He said we would give me his response by Friday, but
unfortunately, he has not contacted me.”

“What I am about to tell you must not be
repeated to anyone. A formal announcement will be made on Monday.
Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I can’t thank you enough for all you
did. I knew you could make it happen. Because of you, Another
Chance will not be closing. I met with Mr. Vinchi today and
everything is settled. Our doors will stay open, and all thanks to
you.”

What? Jon was sponsoring them? “Excuse me,
you said you met with Mr. Vinchi—today?”

“Yes, he flew me out to Vinchi Medical
Engineering for a meeting to discuss our business needs in details.
It was a very productive day. For the first time in a long time, I
can sleep tonight and not worry about tomorrow. Great job,
Lizette.”

“Thank you” was all she could say—she was
still in shock.

“I would like to speak to you in person
after the meeting Monday. There are details that you’ll need to be
updated on, but we’ll talk about them later. For now, relax and
enjoy your weekend. It’s back to work for you on Monday. Good
night, Lizette.”

“Good night, Elaine, I hope you feel better
soon and thank you for calling.”

She didn’t even hang up the phone. She just
looked at it like it the entire call had been a dream—a dream come
true. Had she really heard correctly? Jon was sponsoring them? He
came through for them? Monday could not come soon enough—she wanted
to learn all the details Elaine had alluded to. As they say, all’s
well that ends well, but she didn’t want this to be the end. She
wanted this to be the beginning, a new beginning—and not just for
the company but for her and Jon as well. For the first time she
felt like her dreams of the past week might actually have the
potential of becoming reality.

Lizette was fuming for so many reasons. Jon
had not even contacted her. Yes, she had left his penthouse, saying
goodbye with only a note, but he never called her. Instead she had
to learn the terms of his sponsorship from her boss. Sitting at her
desk, carelessly packing up her supplies with less care than
normally treated her belongings, she replayed Elaine’s words in her
mind again and again. “You will be relocated to Vinchi Medical
Engineering’s office in New York by the end of the week. This isn’t
personal, this is a business decision.” It may seem that way to
Elaine, but Lizette knew otherwise. This was anything but
business.

Relocated
? The word still stung like
a slap on the cheek. Jon was supposed to sponsor the company. At no
point was she meant to be part of the deal. Who the hell did he
think he was that he could just play with people’s lives this way?
And after she opened up to him, shared who she was with him. Had he
not listened to anything she had said about what was important to
her? This community, her home, her parents, Ma and the boys.
Obviously, he was only thinking of himself. The decision, Ms.
Manning said, had to do with convenience, but not for one minute
did she believe that convenience had anything to do with her
accounting reports. If he thought for one minute there was going to
be anything more than a business relationship between them after
this, then she was going to set him straight on day one.

She picked up her nameplate and slammed it
into the box. Oh, she was so angry. And how could Elaine agree to
such terms, especially without speaking to her first? She felt like
she had been pimped out. Her first thought was to stand up and
quit. Just leave this company. But then she thought about why she
worked at Another Choice. It wasn’t because of the company but
because of what they did and how they did it. No matter how hurt
she was at the moment, she wasn’t ready to give up their shared
mission.

When she’d questioned her relocation, Elaine
had said, “Not to worry, it’s only a short-term relocation.”
Short-term. That was funny, because in this instance,
short-term
actually meant twelve months. That might not seem
long to Elaine, but to her, it was an eternity. Especially after
considering her last encounter with Jon. Yes, she was attracted to
him; yes, she found him charming; but none of that blinded her to
the fact that he was controlling and willing to manipulate
situations to get what he wanted, and this contract was all the
proof she needed.

Lizette had been so upset Monday night that
instead of going home, she’d stopped to see her parents to inform
them of the announcement and get some comfort. Then, knowing she
wouldn’t be available for her Saturday dinner arrangement, she
stopped in to see Ma and the boys. Surprisingly, neither her
parents nor Ma had anything negative to say about the transfer.
They were all so excited for her like it was a good thing or
something, especially Ma, who gave her an “I told you so” look.
Arguing with her wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Ma had a special
gift for being able to read a situation, and if Lizette tried to
pretend like nothing had happened between her and Jon, she was just
going to waste her time. Since she had crammed in visiting everyone
on Monday night, she didn’t get to spend as much time with them as
she wanted. She knew the rest of the week was going to be extremely
busy with packing what she would need from her home. Once she was
in New York, she wasn’t sure how often she would be traveling back
and forth, since those details hadn’t been divulged to her. And
during the time she had spent with her family and friends, they all
seemed more interested in finding out more about Jon—and not on a
professional level. No, they wanted to hear about her trip to New
York last weekend, and her parents wanted to know when she would
bring him by so they could meet him, and, of course, Ma reminded
her of Jon’s promise to be back soon. If only she knew what his
promises were worth.
So much for having moral support on the
home front.

She placed the last of her items into her
box and looked around the office one last time. This had been her
desk for the last five years, her first real job after college.
Yes, she still had the job and the title, but she knew starting
Monday in her new office, things would change, never to be the same
again.

Her Friday night wasn’t going be the same,
as it hadn’t been since the night she met Jon. Instead of soaking
in a hot bath, she’d be packing her things at home; the moving
truck was scheduled to be there at eight the next morning. She
didn’t even get to pick her apartment in New York. She wasn’t even
sure if it would have a tub, as everything she researched was
space-limited.

Matt, Jon’s assistant, had called her
Tuesday with all the details he felt she needed at the time.
How
very nice of him
. Once again, they’d planned everything for
her. Only, it was her life. Didn’t anyone care what she wanted? The
answer was simple:
no.
Matt had informed her that Jon had
scheduled a meeting first thing Monday morning to review Another
Chance’s current financial reports. He had told her he’d have a
limo pick her up from her new apartment, but she had refused. She
had proven she was more than capable of finding her way to and from
New York on her own, so she was sure she could make it from her
apartment to the office.

Yes, Jon had called a few times since the
announcement had been made, but his messages had all been the same:
“Just checking how things are going, looking forward to seeing you
Monday.” She couldn’t even tell by his tone if it was a personal or
business call. She would be there Monday, and she would show Jon
she was there on a professional level only and nothing more.

The clock chimed; it was now seven o’clock.
Everyone else in the office had left long ago. She took her desk
keys off her key ring and laid them on the desk. Picking up her
box, she reluctantly left the office to start the next chapter in
her career.
Hope I don’t regret this
.