"I'm glad I could help you. I hope you have a nice trip to... wherever you end up going. Thank you for traveling with Amtrak," she said.
"Oh! Oh, wait a second. Sorry," I said, interrupting her before she hung up. "Could you help me with one more thing?"
"I'm not sure there's much more I can offer," she said. "You've got the biggest room on the train."
I laughed. The way she said it sounded funny. "No, not that. Um... this is going to sound strange," I said.
"Strange?" she asked. "No way. I don't believe it."
I laughed again, unintentionally louder this time. Jeremy gave me a funny look.
"No, well... uh..."
I explained it to her. It was possibly the strangest request I'd ever made. Possibly the strangest one she'd ever heard, too.
***
After hanging up with Jessika, Asher locked the door to her apartment. Hunger guided him towards the kitchen, where the savory sweet smell of the pasta sauce combined with thick cut vegetables lingered. He turned the burner on to warm up the sauce, then filled another pan with water, setting that to boil. Once the water started bubbling, he filled the pot with half of the pasta from a generic brand box. About ten or so minutes later, he had himself a meal.
Not quite the most orthodox breakfast, but it smelled delicious. He ignored the sounds coming from the apartment hallway outside and made himself a plate of food before retiring to the living room.
It was sort of strange to him how easy and compact everything was here. He could see the kitchen from the living room, and it only took a step or two to get there. Granted, this was somewhat similar to how the guest house at the mansion was set up, but he didn't often eat there. Occasionally Jessika wanted to have a nice night in and they'd cook together in the guest house kitchen, but for the most part they either ordered take-out or ate whatever the main house chefs wanted to cook for that particular day. The cooks needed to prepare food for Jeremy, the gardeners, the cleaning staff, themselves, and so on, so there was always a need for food, anyways. It just suited Asher to not have to worry about the small things like that.
Mostly it did, at least. He knew how to cook well enough, and he enjoyed doing it with Jessika. To be honest, he wouldn't have minded doing it every day for every single meal if he needed to, or even if he could have, no need required. It just wasn't something that ever came up.
While he sat on her apartment couch, spinning a fork in the pasta before taking small bites, he considered that option. Would she prefer it? The chefs might take offense at first, but they'd get over it.
He thought about it for a second. Not that exact thought, but he thought about what it'd be like if it was just them. No mansion, nothing extravagant or grandiose. What if they lived here, in this exact apartment? It was somewhat small, but it wouldn't be so bad. They probably couldn't raise children in a one bedroom place, but if they upgraded to two or three, then what?
It was a strange sort of thought to him, to be honest. It was something he'd never considered before.
What if they just stopped? What if they moved into the guest house instead of living in the mansion? As a trial, perhaps? For a temporary period of time, to see how it went, and...? Then see how it went some more, he supposed. If they liked it, they could keep doing it. It wouldn't make much of a difference either way. Mansion life would go on, with or without them. People still lived there, so it wasn't like he'd be completely abandoning it. The guest house was only a short walk away, as well.
Hm...
It was getting loud outside now. How many members of the media were out there? He grabbed the TV remote and switched the TV on, curious as to whether he could see any live footage of someone standing in the halls. How strange would that be? He laughed as he flipped to the nearest news station.
They weren't showing live footage, nothing about any of what was going on outside. Nothing specifically with Jessika, either, which was sort of nice. Except, no, not quite.
"We have some previously unseen, exclusive footage from yesterday," a news anchorwoman said. "There have been a lot of reports about the scandal and possible corruption going on from within Landseer Enterprises, mostly focused around billionaire CEO Asher Landseer and his current wife, Jessika Landseer. Because of that, it's impossible to say with complete accuracy what's going on or what this might involve. Please take a look, though, so you can see for yourself."
The screen shifted and a small box popped up with the footage they wanted to reveal. Asher didn't recognize it at first, but then the camera zoomed in. It was focused on a taxi outside the hospital. When it zoomed in even further, it showed Asher sitting in the backseat of the cab, with someone sitting next to him. It was a woman. She was looking at him, and he was looking down at something. After a few seconds of that, the video showed Asher laughing at something. It kept going, showing him and the woman talking, then it faded away.
It was him and that newswoman, Hanna. That was when she'd shown him the illicit audio recordings of Elise and Lucent in Landseer Tower. Were they going to reveal that? Asher sighed and continued eating, waiting for the worst.
There was no sound to go along with the video, of course. That struck him as odd, because if they had the recording, why didn't they just play that? Why go through the trouble of showing him and some seemingly random news reporter in the back of a taxi? Apparently they were getting to that. He almost choked on his food when he heard it.
"What do you think that was?" the newswoman said to the man sitting next to her.
"It's impossible to say," the man said, though by the way he said it Asher got the feeling he had plenty to say. "What we seem to be able to gather from that clip is that Asher Landseer and Hanna Montgomery are well acquainted with one another. They can obviously be seen sitting there, chatting and laughing. We don't have footage of the exact moment when she entered the car, but witnesses at the scene have pointed out that it seemed like a friendly meeting."
"They wanted privacy, right?" the newswoman asked.
The man nodded. "I think it's safe to assume they did. For those who aren't aware, Hanna Montgomery is a live news reporter for another local station. It's possible she somehow arranged for a private interview with Asher Landseer because of her clear connection with him, but..."
This all sounded extremely staged by this point. "But?" the woman asked.
Asher groaned, staring at the TV screen.
"It's a well known fact that Ms. Montgomery is a heavy supporter of pro-choice pregnancy and alternative solutions in the political community."
The woman gasped, though it sounded so fake it almost made Asher laugh. "Are you saying...?"
"No one can say for sure," the man said with an exaggerated shrug. "What some sources are saying, although I need to be clear that this is just a rumor at this time, is that Asher Landseer has been in talks with Hanna Montgomery involving some alternative pregnancy options. We all know that he initially met Jessika Fevrier—now Jessika Landseer—under similar circumstances. This is an undisputed fact, folks. She was initially supposed to be a surrogate mother for his previous wife, Beatrice Landseer. What happened, though? By all accounts, Jessika and Asher still planned on having children, but it's been over a year since his divorce with no pregnancy in sight."
"So maybe Hanna's taking Jessika's place?" the newswoman offered. "Do you think Jessika's going to become the next Beatrice? Does she know about Asher's ties with Hanna, or is he going behind her back to make this happen? The business world is a ruthless, cutthroat place. We hear about situations like this every day, where big companies buy up smaller ones, all for short term profits, and then dump them when they're not useful anymore. Is Asher Landseer adding some corporate strategies into his personal life?"
"Now now," her news partner said. "Let's not get that carried away. We're trying to contact Jessika Landseer to see what she has to say about this, though. Does she know? We'll find out, and we guarantee that once we get an answer, we'll report it to you directly."
"Perhaps we'll have her reply in time for the evening news?" the woman asked.
"It's a definite possibility!" the man said.
They signed off after that, and it cut to a commercial break. Asher sat there, eating slowly, staring at the screen in a seething rage. Were they serious? This entire situation was getting wildly out of control and he was growing more and more outraged with each passing second.
Unfortunately, there was more to it than that, too. If Jessika heard about this...
Asher frowned, upset with himself. He hadn't told her. He didn't want to tell her. Yes, they'd had such a wonderful and heart-felt conversation last night at dinner. He told her that he'd tell her everything, that they'd become closer despite the odds fighting against them, and yet he hadn't.
Why? He'd told her most of what she needed to know, and some of what she didn't really need to know, but... it just seemed like he shouldn't tell her about the recordings. It'd only hurt her even more, and hopefully it never came to light. Why should he want to needlessly worry and upset his wife like that?
In addition to that, he didn't know what more anyone had recorded. They had Lucent and Elise, which was damning enough, but what else? What if, during one of his relatively inappropriate workday breaks with Jessika, one of them had inadvertently left a laptop powered on, perhaps even facing the event, and some unknown person had recorded their intimacy from within Landseer Tower.
It was one thing to have a private home sex tape revealed to the press, but it was another altogether to have someone discover that they'd been partaking in leisurely sexual activities throughout the work day for...
For awhile. Honestly, he hadn't ever thought about it. He didn't think they went too far. It never interfered with work, and it was always during a break period for them, but it was technically probably inappropriate for him to wrench up his wife's skirt, unbutton his pants, pull aside her panties, lower his underwear, and have a quick sex romp on his private meeting room table. Or his desk. On the chaise? In her office, which was quite a bit smaller. Sometimes if they stayed late after everyone else had left, they commandeered a closed off break room. Mostly that only happened if they'd had an ice cream event with whipped cream sometime earlier in the week and there was extra toppings in that particular break room's refrigerator, but that didn't quite make it acceptable, regardless if cherries and whipped cream were fun for a lot of sexy scenarios.
Well, shit.
Unfortunately, he didn't see much of a way out of this. Regardless of whether Jessika found out about this new Hanna Montgomery scandal—or supposed scandal, at least—he needed to tell her now. And...
He should have told her last night. He should have told her about the recordings, about the mole in Landseer Tower, about all the other issues that were going on besides the sex tape scandal. It just didn't seem like something she needed to know, but what right did he have to make that decision for her?
He didn't. Now he was going to pay for it. That hurt more than knowing that the media wanted to stir up more problems. He told Jessika that he'd tell her the truth in everything, that they'd become closer because of it, and then he hadn't.
This wasn't how he wanted today to go. This entire week was straining every last inch of his nerves. A small part of him wondered if it was his own fault, though.
It was. Perhaps not all of it, but it was. He wasn't blameless, not by a longshot. He couldn't act like some faultless, flawless, pure and innocent person. He was Asher Landseer, billionaire CEO of Landseer Enterprises, one of the richest men in the world, but that didn't make him perfect. Far from it.
He took one more bite of food, though it was bland and tasteless to him now. His mind churned, trying to come up with something, even though he didn't know what.
And then he knew. Possibly, at least. It wasn't perfect. It probably wasn't even a good idea at all. Jeremy was busy with Jessika, so he wouldn't have a driver for awhile. He could either sit here and wait, or...
He turned the TV off, got up, and went to kitchen. He poured the leftover pasta into a small trash bag in the trash can, adding whatever other trash he could find, too. Jessika's apartment key lay nearby on the counter, so he took that, as well. Tying up the trash and taking the bag with him, he opened the door to her apartment, stepped outside, and locked it. A horde of on-the-scene news crew members stood in the halls, trying to create news out of nothing. Almost as if on cue, cameras swiveled to focus on him.
He smiled and waved, then headed outside, carrying the trash bag to the dumpster. It only took a second before everyone started following him. Well and good, they'd definitely get some nice footage if they kept it up. It'd be interesting to see how the media would spin what he was about to do next.
***
Jeremy waited in the car while I went to collect my train tickets. The man at the front desk was older, and didn't really think much of me or the possibly absurd price I was willing to pay. He accepted my ID and credit card as if I were anyone else, no one really important, and handed me my train passes after that. All in all, that part of my journey was rather uneventful.
"You've got about twenty-five minutes until the next train takes off," he said. "If you're planning on getting on that one, they'll start boarding soon. I don't suggest waiting too long, or they're liable to leave without you."
I smiled and nodded. "I just need to grab a few things first. Thank you for the warning, though."
He shrugged as if it made no difference to him.
There was a gift shop nearby, with a small pharmacy next door. I hopped into the idling car with Jeremy and we drove over there, even though it wasn't that far away. He parked the car and we both got out.
"We need to make this fast," I told him. "Ten minutes or less!"
"You don't have to tell me," he said. "What are we getting?"
"I need a few things in the pharmacy," I said.
"Alright, let's go."
"Um..." How to phrase this? "It's kind of personal," I said.
"Oh." He gave me a look. "Woman stuff?"
Sure, let's go with that. "Yes. Maybe you could get me some things from the gift shop? I'm starving, too, if they've got any food. I just need a change of clothes and something to pack them in. Oh, and maybe some overnight stuff? I'll grab some makeup and a toothbrush and toothpaste in the pharmacy, but if you see anything that looks useful, then definitely get it."
"Are you sure you trust me to get you some clothes?" he asked with a wicked grin.
"No," I said. "Thankfully there won't be many options in there, so I feel somewhat safe, though."
"Good point," he said, grumbling. "That's not nearly as fun."
I laughed. "Come on! We've got to hurry."
Jeremy grumbled again and jogged off to the gift shop to do some shopping. I hurried to the pharmacy to do some shopping of my own. Briefly, I remembered last night when Asher and I were playfully arguing over needing to hurry, too. And look how that turned out? We'd had sex in the shower. That wasn't hurrying at all, but I really enjoyed it. If I ever needed to be late in life, I wished it was always for similar reasons, always with Asher.
Thankfully everything had worked out. Everything was still working out, too. Elise and Lucent were... they were going to be fine. Everything would be fine.
I grabbed a small hand basket from the front of the pharmacy and started going through the aisles.
Makeup was easy. They didn't have a huge assortment, but I grabbed some of the bare essentials. Another aisle had moisturizer, so I got some of that, too. Toothpaste, a toothbrush, and...
A few secret things. I hurried quick, fetching everything I needed, trying to look as inconspicuous and regular as I could. The woman who rang me up gave me a funny look, but I tried to ignore her. She moved a little slow for my current preferences, but according to a clock behind the counter I still had time. I counted the seconds as she placed my items into two bags, slow and leisurely.
I didn't want to rush her, I didn't want to be
rude, but... as soon as she charged me for everything and gave me my receipt, I nearly ran out of the store. Jeremy stood on the sidewalk outside, waiting for me. He held a small carry-on luggage bag at his side.
"I even packed everything for you," he said with a grin.
"That's so I can't see what terrible things you decided to buy me, isn't it?" I said.
"There's nothing that bad," he said. "Mostly, at least."
I laughed. "I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or not."
We walked back to the car and got in. Fifteen minutes to spare, but I still needed to get on the train, so...
We drove back to the front of the station.
"Do you think everything's going to work out?" I asked. I didn't want to feel this way, but after what had happened over the past few days, I couldn't help but worry that something more would go wrong.
"I think so," Jeremy said. "I know it's been a little rough, but I think everything's going to work out eventually. It'll be fine."
"Eventually," I said, testing the word for myself. "I just have to wonder how long that'll be?"
Jeremy shrugged. "Who knows?"
That wasn't exactly a reassuring answer, but he was right. He helped me stuff my two pharmacy bags into the luggage bag. He even got out of the car first and came over to my side to help me out and make sure I had everything alright.
"Do you want me to help you on the train?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No, I should be fine," I said.
I gave Jeremy a quick hug, and he hugged me back. I started to leave, but he stopped me.
"Jessika?" he called out.
I turned around. I didn't want to say goodbye, because it seemed so hard, but I felt like I should, and...
He held up my train tickets. I'd left the packet of them on the front passenger's seat in the car.
"Oh," I said, laughing. "Those would be useful, huh?"
"Might help a little bit," he said, agreeing with me.
He handed them to me with a quiet nod. "Everything's going to be fine," he said. "I'll see you later, alright?"
His Absolute Authority: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #3) Page 13
