“What?” Kenzie quietly asks.
“She never argued with me. She never had a different opinion from mine. She never disagreed with anything I did or a decision I made. At the time, I stupidly thought that meant we were perfect together. I realize now it was just part of her plan.”
“Her plan?”
“Eventually our relationship moved to the next level; she told me she loved me. I had never been in love before, so I thought what we had was real. I believed her when she said she loved me. Looking back I realize now that I only saw what she wanted me to see. I realize now that the reason she seemed so perfect for me was because that’s what she wanted me to think.”
“What happened?”
“Looking back, I can see how things changed, but at the time I couldn’t and refused to believe that she was doing anything wrong. I was convinced of the image that Harper wanted me to see; I believed she was perfect.”
“No one’s perfect,” Kenzie sighs heavily… I think she is more talking to herself than to me.
“They’re not, but at the time I was too blinded to see that. Which is the ironic part: put me in a boardroom and I can tell you within five minutes who is lying and who is only there for the money. Yet when it came to my personal life, I completely misjudged her, and it almost cost me everything.
“I didn’t live at The Accord back then, I had a condo that was a pretty decent size but one that didn’t have guest quarters for Julie and Carter. Carter would stay in one of the spare bedrooms and Julie would come during the day but leave after dinner. One day, Julie came over earlier than normal, which I had known about but didn’t tell Harper about because she wasn’t supposed to be there at that time either. Julie walked in on Harper going through my office. Julie said she was working on my computer and going through my files. The computer didn’t surprise me—I had given her the password one day when she was having issues with her laptop and she needed to order something for her dad. I blew off what Julie said about her going through my files. Why I didn’t think she was snooping on me then I have no idea….”
“Because you trusted her.”
“I did. I was stupid and thought that when someone told you they loved you that they wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. A couple weeks later, the head of my financial department demanded a meeting with me. This doesn’t happen often, so I know when he asks for a meeting, something major is going on. Only it wasn’t just my head of finance there, he also brought my head of IT at PFS. My finance guy said that over the last three months there was evidence of small amounts being withdrawn from several of my business accounts for expenses that couldn’t be reconciled. My initial thought, of course, was that an employee in one of those departments was stealing from me. I demanded answers immediately, with photographic proof of who it was, so we could go after them.”
“It was her, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” I shake my head, still amazed to this day how stupid I was. “Carter knew I would want photographic evidence of the thief, so he had already secured that with my head of IT beforehand. He had several pictures of Harper making purchases using credits cards that were designated to certain departments within PFS. They were small purchases; nothing that would immediately raise red flags... a few hundred dollars here, a thousand or so there… I know it sounds like a lot of money, but you have to remember that we literally have hundreds of employees who hold PFS issued credit cards… ”
“How did she get the credit card?”
“That took some more digging, because we have systems in place at PFS to prevent things like this from happening. All credit card applications require two signatures: the head of the finance department and mine. I often bring work home so it’s not unusual for these types of documents to be in my home. I never once considered it would be an issue. I’ve worked with Julie and Carter long enough now that trusting them isn’t ever a question. When I first hired them, I would make sure everything was locked up before I would leave the apartment. But over the years they have proven that I could trust them, so I stopped locking as many things up.”
“She stole one of the credit card applications from you?”
“She did. She somehow changed the name on the application and the mailing address. Asher, my head of IT at PFS, tracked the purchases; accessed security footage from the stores where the credit cards were used and found out it was Harper who was using the cards. In total, over the three months, she spent more than sixty thousand dollars on various purchases for herself.”
“Holy shit.”
“That’s not the worst part.”
“What could be worse than that?” Kenzie asks in complete disbelief.
“When confronted with the photographic proof of Harper stealing from me, I was left with the decision of what to do. On one hand, this was the woman I supposedly loved and who loved me. On the other hand, there was no disputing the evidence that she was in fact stealing from me.
“I dismissed my team and told them I needed to think before I could figure out how to proceed. Part of me wanted to call the police and have her arrested, but the other part of me was still trying to figure out why she would do something like that. That’s the part that to this day I still don’t understand. You see, Harper is from money—her parents are very wealthy, so she didn’t need it. Everything she has ever wanted has been handed to her. Her full education was paid for by her parents, she was given a brand new condo and top-of-the-line car at graduation, credit cards of her own her parents paid off monthly… she didn’t want for anything. Yet she stole sixty thousand dollars from me… to buy things that her parents would have bought her: a new laptop, gas for her car, plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars…”
“What did you do?”
“I cancelled my plans with her for that evening; I lied and told her I needed to work late or something, I think. I knew I needed time alone to process what just happened before I could determine my next moves. A couple of hours later, Carter had Melody… you met her at my office, she’s my personal assistant.” Kenzie nods. “He had her clear my schedule then came into my office and said we needed to get home immediately. That’s where things got worse… ”
“What did she do?”
“Julie has a very strict schedule she follows when it comes to cleaning various parts of the house. What I learned that day is that every three to four months she pulls all the furniture away from the walls in the spare bedrooms to vacuum behind them. Harper typically used one of the spare bedrooms when she came over… although we didn’t live together, she was there often enough that she had a few items in the closet and the bathroom.
“Anyway, Julie moved the dresser away from the wall and found an envelope containing a thumb drive on it. I suppose Julie was leery of Harper ever since she found her in my office. Julie never voiced her suspicion to me after finding her there, but I think she knew something was going on even then. Anyway, Julie took the thumb drive and brought it to PFS and asked Carter to have it broken into since it was password protected. He had Asher break the password, and when they discovered what was on it, they decided I needed to be away from PFS when I found out.”
“What did she put on the drive?”
“It seems she was preparing to sell me out. She was writing a book about her time with me, documenting nearly everything we did. She had pictures saved of… when we were together. She gave detailed descriptions of our sex life. If that wasn’t bad enough, she had notes on business decisions I made, including formulas I used to determine whether companies were worth taking on or not.”
“How did she find all that out?”
“Up til then, I never thought about how much I stored in my home office, so I imagine she learned most of it by snooping on my home computer or through my files there. A few times she was at PFS and Melody let her wait in my office alone if I was running late, so she could have dug then too. Afterward, Carter went through our security footage and found her essentially tearing apart my office looking for information.
The thumb drive had details about my family and things about me that if leaked could have serious consequences for PFS. We believe she was going to write a tell-all book and sell it.”
“Wow… I can’t believe someone would do anything like that.”
“Neither could I… Well, I guess I could, but I thought those things happened to other people, not to me. When I saw the thumb drive, I lost it, which Carter knew would happen and why he insisted I come home before being told about the drive. I got really drunk; I can’t remember the last time I drank so much.
“I called Austin, who has had more than a few issues with women; he came over to drink with me. By the end of the night, we had finished almost every ounce of alcohol we could find in my apartment, but we had a plan. When we woke up the next day, with incredible hangovers mind you, we went to see a lawyer and took the evidence of her stealing from me with us. I purposely did not bring the thumb drive; there were pictures on there that one’s family should not see. And while it was an invasion of my privacy, I didn’t want to risk that evidence getting out to the public. Her stealing from me was one thing, but the stuff she had on that thumb drive were things that could seriously damage my career.
“After much discussion with the attorney, we decided the best course of action was to pursue criminal charges for theft. My family has very close ties with the district attorney and managed to keep everything out of the press. We entered into a private agreement with Harper and her attorney, which resulted in the records from the preceding being sealed. She agreed to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for a decreased sentence. She served about eighteen months in prison, but her parents arranged for her to be sent to one of the nicest ones out there. The type only people with money go, places where you don’t feel like you actually lose your freedom. She was required to sign legal documents that prohibit her from ever speaking about our relationship to anyone and she is banned from ever working in the media industry again.”
“Wow… I know I keep saying that, but wow, Nicholas. I can’t believe someone would do something like that to you. She took complete advantage of you and then was about to expose you to ruin your business. Why would someone do something like that?”
“To make an easy buck, Kenzie. A book about my secrets and how I run my business would sell, very quickly, no doubt. She could have probably made a couple hundred thousand dollars from books and then more from talk shows, magazines, etc…”
For the first time since I started talking, I look at her, sitting back in her lounge chair and staring out at the water. I can only assume she is taking in everything I just told her. I can’t help but wonder what she is thinking. Does she think I was stupid for allowing her into my life? Does she think less of me because of the decisions I made? Is she wondering what was on the thumb drive that I was so worried about or does she think it was mostly business details that I was worried the most about? I originally planned to leave out the fact that there were pictures on the thumb drive, but once I started talking, everything just came out.
“I get it,” Kenzie breaks her silence a few minutes later.
“You get what?” I can’t say I’m not confused by her response.
“I get why you gave me the check last weekend. I get why you thought I expected that in return.”
“You do? Because honestly, Kenzie, I don’t know why I did it. Alex thinks that I was testing you, but I’m not sure I buy that—“
“No, I think he’s right. It’s obvious now that Harper was only with you because of your money, and she saw an easy way to make quick money with you. After what you went through, I could see how you could expect people to be like that with you. But Nicholas… you have to know that I would never... never do what she did to you. I don’t know that you will ever be able to trust me, but—“
“Kenzie, that’s what freaked me out the most about last weekend. I started to trust to you, even without knowing it. After everything blew up in my face with Harper, I swore off women. I swore I would never trust another woman—“
“Nicholas, you can’t—“
“Why not? It’s been working for me for the last two years—“
“Has it?”
“Of course it has. I moved out of that apartment, got rid of all the memories of her, and moved to The Accord Towers with Carter and Julie. Until last weekend, the only women who stepped foot into my condo, besides Julie, were my mother and sister. You were the first woman who has ever been there; you were there the entire weekend and… I let my guard down. Honestly, that scared the shit out of me. I worked so hard over the last two and a half years to ensure that my guard was always up so something like that didn’t happen again.”
Kenzie’s gaze is once again on the water; I’m beginning to think she understands why I find being on the boat so relaxing. I don’t know what’s going through her head right now, but I don’t ask. I’m afraid to ask… I’m not sure I want to know what she’s thinking right now. It’s been a long time since I’ve opened myself up to anyone like this. I don’t do vulnerable… I don’t do weak, and right now, I know this is exactly how I look to her.
“I hadn’t been alone with a man, in more than two years, before I walked into your apartment that night,” she finally says, albeit very quietly, almost as if she’s afraid of what she is saying.
“What do you mean? I’m sure we—“
“We haven’t, not really anyway.”
I think back at all the times we’ve met before our dates and realize she is right: each time Carter was present. We spent a few minutes once in my office when she brought muffins and cookies when I moved her into The Accord after her apartment was broken into. That was maybe… ten minutes, I think; I had to rush to a meeting so she couldn’t stay very long. Hunter has driven her to the bakery, but that’s only a few minutes drive each way.
“Yet, you still volunteered to stay the weekend with me.” I’m even more shocked now.
“I did.” She shrugs. “Like you, I swore I would never trust a man again. I swore that I would never put myself at risk again. Our exes aren’t that different when you think about it, really. They both deceived us into believing they were the person they wanted us to see, but we both ended up finding out that it was all a façade.
“When Bridget approached me about this arrangement, my safety was my number one concern. I let her know that I would never agree to be alone with someone; I would never agree to meet you at your office after hours if no one else was going to be working. Although she mentioned possible business trips, I let her know that would have to be discussed at a much later date, because in all honesty, I never thought I would see myself spending days in the same hotel room with a man. I swore I would never put myself at risk again, that I would never let my guard down and trust someone again.”
“Yet here we are.” I can’t help but point out the fact that we are entirely alone on a boat in the middle of open water with no one around us for miles.
“Yes, even though I almost didn’t make it here.”
“What do you mean? Did something happen on the way here?”
“I’m surprised Carter didn’t tell you. I’m sure Hunter called him and told him he thought I was going crazy.”
“I doubt Hunter would say something like that, and if he did, he knows he would be fired. What happened, Kenzie? Did Hunter do something—“
“No!” she quickly interrupts. I trust Hunter nearly as much as I trust Carter. I can’t picture him doing anything unprofessional. “I… I guess you could say I kind of freaked out when I realized we weren’t going to the bakery—“
“Oh, Kenzie… I’m sorry.” FUCK I feel foolish now. “I had no idea... I… you weren’t talking to me, I didn’t know how else to talk to you.”
“You could have come to the apartment,” she points out the obvious solution, but I don’t think she realizes that I didn’t want to invade her privacy by doing that.
I may know where she lives now, but I refuse to take advantage of that. The s
tipulation in the contract is there for a reason. Even though we have blurred some of the lines in the contract, I don’t want to take advantage of that one. Her privacy is important to her just as mine is to me.
“I nearly had a panic attack in the car with Hunter when he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. I tried to open the car door to jump out, but of course it didn’t open—“
“Kenzie, I’m so sorry. I never thought… I didn’t think… ”
“Why would you? I never told you about my trust issues, and it’s not like I didn’t know Hunter—he’s been with me for weeks now. I freaked out, and my first thought was that I was at risk.”
“What happened?”
“Hunter must have seen that I was freaking out because the next thing I knew we were pulled onto the side of the road and he was turned around calling my name. He told me that if I wanted, he would turn the car around and take me back to The Accord. I only began to calm down when he told me he was taking me to you and Carter.”
“I’m sorry. I swear I’ll never do that again. I should have known that it would have frightened you not to know where you were going—“
“You had no reason to know, Nicholas. We’ve gone out plenty of times now; sometimes I don’t know all the details of the evenings and I’ve never had an issue with it.”
“Because we were never alone,” I realize.
“Exactly, and today I was suddenly alone in a car with Hunter.”
“But you had no issues coming aboard the boat today?” I point out.
“I know,” she sighs and looks back out at the water. “And I had no concerns about staying the weekend at your apartment when it was obvious no one was able to. As scary as trusting me is, it’s just as scary for me to trust you.”
The Arrangement Duet Box Set Page 26
