by Mary Peart
Chapter 11
Brian was finally living in the big leagues. He had worked so long and so hard and had kissed so many asses and it had not gotten him anywhere but now something had. When he had come to him with the idea he had told him a succinct no! He was a straight arrow and was not about to mix himself up with something like that. He was a respectable man with a wife of twenty years and two children; the boy Brad in college and the girl Samantha almost finishing high school. He still had a heavy mortgage and the teaching job his wife did hardly made a dent but they were managing.
Until their son had gotten himself mixed up in college with drugs and had become indebted to a blasted loan shark and then the offer had come and he had taken it. He had told himself that it was just that one time but he had seen what the money could do for him and his family. His mortgage had gone down drastically and his son was out of the woods and he had bought himself a new car, he could not resist it, his old Toyota needed an upgrade so he had treated himself to a Porsche, maybe a little flashy but it was worth it. His wife had asked him where he had gotten the extra cash for and he had told her he had gotten a hefty bonus from work.
He parked in the designated spot where he always parked he got up and patted the hood of the sparkling clean vehicle and brushed a leaf off the windshield, a satisfied smile on his face as he pressed the alarm to secure the vehicle and went towards the building.
The sun was out and there were birds chirping in a mahogany tree nearby and finally his ship had come in. He was almost whistling as he pushed the door and went in. The shadows came just when he reached up to his office on the third floor.
There were three men there waiting for him and he felt his bowels turned to liquid as he recognized them. They were auditors. “Mr. Glover we have been waiting for quite some time.” The older of the two stood up and was looking at him as if he was the lowest specimen on earth.
“I am sorry I –“ he began striving to make his voice sound neutral but was interrupted by another of the trio.
“Let’s take this in your office shall we?”
*****
“He is driving a very spiffy convertible, boss and his mortgage has decidedly gone down. His boy had a drug problem sometime ago and the problem magically disappeared.” Marcus was meeting Christopher in his office. He had told Tiffany to hold his calls. He had been keeping his suspicions from Sophia, not wanting to get her involved. “Are you sure sending the auditors and not confronting him was a good idea?”
Christopher looked at him coolly with a raised brow that had Marcus lowering his eyes. “That’s all for now Marcus I need to find out who started him on this. He is not smart enough to cook up this plan by himself.”
“Okay boss.”
He had wanted to confront the little weasel himself but he had decided to do it the legal way. If he had confronted the man himself he would not have been responsible for his actions. He had been doing it for years, putting the company in jeopardy and for what? A few measly bucks? Actually it was more than a few bucks: the man had been living the big life and had even gotten himself a side piece; a girl young enough to be his daughter and he had set her up in an apartment where he was paying all the bills. Mid life crises at its worst. He thought grimly.
His buzzer sounded just then and he pressed it. “Your wife is on the line Christopher.”
“Put her through.” His mood lifted as he picked up the extension. “I am experiencing something very painful just now.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked him in concern.
“My dick is hard and I need my wife,” he told her huskily.
“Christopher,” her tone was resigned even though she could feel her body heating up.
“How about we go away this weekend to the inn and leave the kids with the nannies. How does that sound?”
“Sounds perfect,” her voice was soft. “I want you to look at some things for me. I have been looking at this restaurant downtown and there is an apartment building that I think would make a hefty profit once it is fixed up.”
“Send them over or better yet why don’t you swing by the office and come and sit on my lap and we go over it together? While you are doing that I can lift up that short skirt and slide your panties aside and put my dick deep inside you.”
There was silence and the only sound was the raspy breathing coming from her. “You do know that is grounds for sexual harassment don’t you?” her voice was strangled.
“It will be worth it.” He told her softly. “I have an hour before my next meeting so I am free and waiting.” He hung up before she could respond.
She got there in a few minutes and barely had the presence of mind to smile at Tiffany as she went straight in. He was leaning back against his chair with a smug smile on his face and an unreadable look in his piercing dark eyes. “Took you long enough.” He drawled.
“What do you think you are doing?” she barely made it towards him on her trembling legs. Her body felt hot to the touch.
“I needed my wife and what’s wrong with that?” he asked her softly reaching out to pull her onto his lap.
“I am an employee here Christopher Tang and I have work to do you cannot just call me into your office-“
He cut her off by bringing her head towards his and placing his lips on hers; crushing her mouth with his effectively silencing whatever she had to say.
*****
“Daddy I don’t think I am well enough to go to summer camp tomorrow.” Christine said fretfully as she was getting ready for bed. They were having summer camp some place on the school grounds and Christopher’s company had sponsored everything including the tents, the equipment and most of the food. The twins would be going as well and he was not sure he could let them out of his sight for two weeks.
“Are you running a temperature?” he placed a hand on her forehead. It felt slight warm but he was sure it was nothing.
“My stomach feel achy and I have a little headache.” She murmured looking at him underneath her long lashes.
He looked at her in resignation. “Are you trying to play your old man?”
“You are not old! I heard one of my teachers talking about you and she said how young and very handsome you were.”
“Is that so?” his tone was amused.
“I am going to have a talk with that teacher,” Sophia came into the room. The boys were still in the playroom picking up their toys under the nannies supervision and she had come just in time to hear the tail end of the conversation between them.
“Our daughter thinks she is not well enough to go to camp tomorrow,” he pulled his wife down onto his leg.
“What’s wrong honey?”
Christine shifted a little bit. She knew she could get away with saying things to her father but her mother not so much. “I don’t want to be away from home for two weeks,” she cried. “I don’t want to spend the time outdoors with all kinds of bugs crawling around and maybe coyotes and bears.”
“Coyotes and bears are not around these parts honey and we are going to make sure you guys are okay,” Christopher assured her. “Jack and Miller will be coming along for the ride and will be there in case you need us. If you feel anyway uncomfortable we will whisk you out of there in a hurry.”
“So if I do not want to stay the entire time I can come home?” she asked hopefully.
“You have to at least give it a try though honey,” Sophia reminded her gently.
“I will and I promise to take care of Christian and Christopher Jnr.” she said with a shake of her head.
“That’s my girl,” Christopher bent to kiss her on the cheek and she reached up and hugged both of them.
“I love you Mommy and Daddy.” She murmured.
“We love you too baby girl.”
Later that night after the children was tucked in bed and asleep they continued the discussion. “Do you think you should be sending bodyguards on a camping trip?” Sophia asked him as she creamed her skin before going to bed. He was in bed
with his hands propped behind his head watching her. He loved her nightly rituals and was fascinated at how methodical she was about maintaining her beautiful skin. She was thirty years old but looked ten years younger and even freshly scrubbed and without a stitch of makeup she looked glowingly beautiful.
“I want to make sure they are okay.” He told her lightly. He had not told her about the pharmaceutical mess. Brent Glover was still under investigations because they wanted to find out who he was working for before they closed in on him but so far they had not been able to. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing and had doubled up the security on the children. He was taking no chances.
“I have a feeling we are going to be the ones dropping them off tomorrow and you are going to be spending some time looking around the place to make sure that there are no threats lurking round.” Sophia said dryly.
“You know me too well,” he reached for her as she climbed on top of the bed.
“Now let’s talk about the teacher who thinks you are so handsome,” she murmured climbing on top of him.
“What teacher?” his tone was mild, his dark eyes twinkling as he played with the ends of her fat braid.
“Exactly,” she murmured bringing down her lips to his. “I don’t want some teacher talking about my man.”
*****
He took them himself in one of the SUVs with the two guards following behind at a discreet distance. The school itself was on top of a small rise and afforded a spectacular view of the hills and wooded areas around them. It was a stately building and was run with gently iron clad hands by the now principal Mrs. Kennedy who had taken over from her father ten years ago.
It was secluded and private and offered a lot of securities but Christopher was not taking any chances. He had his security walked around as he chatted with the principal and the teachers. Sophia spent some time getting her children settled in. She noticed in amusement that Christine who had been complaining about not feeling well had ran off as soon as she had arrived with a group of her friends and the twins had found children their age to bond with.
She had told Christopher that the children could not exist in a vacuum and they needed to be with children their own age. He had said that he was going to take a week off work and take everyone to Europe but she had reminded him that he was dealing with a lot of things right now and it might not happen yet.
He pulled the two bodyguards aside to talk to them. “Make sure nothing happens to them,” he told them briefly. They had done the walk through with him and had made sure that everything was okay.
They said their goodbyes to the children and watched as they tore off to join the other kids.
“Don’t worry Mr. and Mrs. Tang they are in good hands,” Mrs. Kennedy told them as they watched the children playing with the others.
“I am leaving my security detail to make sure of that.” Christopher told her with a nod towards the two men who had wandered over to where the children were.
“I don’t think there is a need for that-“ the woman started to protest but Christopher cut her off smoothly.
“It will make me rest easier.” With a nod to her and the two men he left with Sophia’s hand in his.
“I think she is vibrating with disapproval.” She commented as they reached the vehicle.
“I don’t give a damn,” he muttered opening the door for her.
“Is there something you are not telling me?” she asked him mildly as he came inside and buckled up.
“It’s nothing, I am just making sure.”
*****
“I am sure we are out of the woods it was just a regular audit and everything is back to normal now.” Brent told the man on the phone. He had spent several sleepless nights wondering if he was going to end up in jail and he had called the man who had been responsible for introducing him to the idea in the first place.
“Are you sure about that?” the rough voice asked him and sent shivers down his spine. He was someone to be terrified of and he was also one who did not take kindly to anything or anyone getting in his way.
“I have not heard anything to think otherwise and I have been putting my ears to the ground,” Brent told him hastily, sweating in the coolness of his office.
“Has Tang been in touch with you?”
Brent shivered at the name. “He has not so you see if there was anything untoward he would have called.”
“If you hear anything otherwise call me immediately. I have no intention of anyone messing with what we have going on.” The man said grimly.
“What are you planning on doing?”
“Don’t worry about it.” The way he said it made the sweat erupted from his pores and he the phone felt slippery in his hands.
“Christopher Tang is not a man to come up against.” He ventured to say.
“And I am?” the tone was scathing. “Do your job and I will do mine.”
*****
They were talking at least. Sybil had invited him over for dinner several times and he had met Lauren, Jeremy and his son.
He had told her of his insecurities and the feeling that he had no right to any happiness because he had not been there much for his wife when she was ill.
“What are you talking about?” Sybil asked him with a little frown on her brow. They were having dinner outdoors and they were by themselves. It was late Saturday afternoon and Lauren had taken her grandson shopping and to the park while Jeremy had turned in early to get some rest. He had been feeling a little nauseous and ill due to the treatment he had had yesterday. He looked a lot better but he was still not up to much physical activities.
“I was happy with you and happy for the first time in a very long time and I was wondering if I really deserve to be that way.” Matthew reached for a piece of pineapple and put it inside his mouth enjoying the cool and sweetness of the fruit.
“And you decided to walk out on our marriage and not discuss it with me.” Sybil was intent on being hard on him. She had been through too much already.
He hung his head in shame and guilt. “I know I did the wrong thing and I am so sorry about that.” He looked at her intently. He had missed her and he had been battling with his demons but now he wanted to come home to her. He was biding his time and waiting on her to accept his apologies. She had told him she wanted out of the marriage and he was praying that she had changed her mind. He certainly did not want to live without her in his life. “Do you think we could start over?”
Sybil looked across the table at him. He had lost weight and looked drawn and she felt her heart go out to him. But still, she was not willing to let him get away with it just yet. “We need to take it slowly right now Matthew and really get to know each other. We got married without knowing a lot about each other.”
“I guess you are right,” he said with a sigh as he dug into his salad. “This time we do it right.”
*****
The man was still doing it, Christopher thought as he looked at the report. Even with the auditors showing up at his office, it still had not stopped him from what he was doing. Greed was a powerful motivator and he guessed that the person behind the whole thing was an even more powerful influence. Marcus had still not find out who it was, the man covered his tracks well and even though he had had Glover followed, there had been no meetings between them. He had a feeling that their transactions were done via phone calls and several checks had revealed that no one number had been used. The man knew what he was doing.
With a sudden decision he reached for his private phone and dialed the number. “Glover this is Tang how are you doing?”
There was a very evident pause before the man answered. “Mr. Tang I did not expect to hear from you.”
“I am sure you did not,” Christopher told him mildly. “How is everything there?”
“Good good!” the man said with false joviality “We have increased profits by twenty percent in the first quarter, as I am sure you have seen.”
“Let me tell you what I h
ave seen,” he told the man coldly. “There are inconsistencies in the sales figure and your bank account tells me that you have become a very lucky bastard over the past several months. You are also driving a fifty thousand dollar car so why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Are you accusing me of something?” the man blustered.
“Should I be?”
“I will not sit here and be insulted by you Mr. Tang no matter who you are. I have been pushed around by rich people like you too many times and-“
“Who is the person behind the grand scheme you have going on Glover?” Christopher interrupted his tirade rudely.
“What?”
“I know you are not smart enough to think this up yourself so who is he? You can make it easier on yourself by giving me a name and I will make sure you do not spend even a night in jail.”
The pause this time was longer. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” The man muttered and to his surprise he hung up the phone.
Christopher had put Marcus on high alert. “He just hung up from me Marcus so either he is going to call the jerk he is working for or he is going to go and see him, so be alert.”
*****
“I told you never to meet me,” Brent quaked at the raw anger in the man’s voice. He had tried calling him but his number had not worked and he had torn out of his office to go to the place they had met before. It was a nondescript warehouse downtown that was in an isolated part of town and looked seedy from the outside.
“I could not help it man I am in trouble,” Bent was trembling so bad that he could not keep still. “Tang called me.” He told the man standing in front of the open hood of the car and looking down into it. The warehouse was supposed to be a mechanic shop but Brent knew better and also knew that the several muscular men standing around or tinkering underneath the vehicles were anything but mechanics.
