He laughed. “But you didn’t, and that again makes you amazing. I deserved it and you gave me a pass.”
“It wasn’t about you,” she told him honestly. “I just really wanted the job.”
That made him laugh harder.
CHAPTER FOUR
They were finally able to get back to work, and were almost finished when Harlan knocked on the door. Fannie could tell he had something urgent to discuss with Mark, so she began gathering up her things.
“No, Fannie, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to stay. Mike will be here shortly and we have something to discuss…with both of you.”
Fannie sat back down and looked at Mark. He shrugged, as clueless as she was about what was going on.
Mike came in a few minutes later. “Fannie, how are things with you? When I last talked to Grant, he said that you were still having some troubles.”
“Yes,” she told him, “It’s been almost a daily thing since that day with the car.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” he told her. “I’m sorry to involve you in our troubles on top of all of that, but Harlan and I have talked to Susan.”
Mark raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. Fannie waited too, to hear what he had to say.
“She tells us that you “came on to her” over a period of months before she agreed to go out with you, Mark.”
Mark started to protest, and Mike raised a palm to stop him. “You’ll get your chance. Let me finish. As I was saying, she finally gave in, according to her, and you took her out for dinner and then to a nightclub. At the nightclub, you were very “touchy” with her, and at one point, you pushed her into one of the bathrooms and told her to perform oral sex on you. She said that she didn’t want to do it, but she did for fear of losing her job. Then she tells us that on the drive home that night, you again had her perform oral sex on you in the backseat of a cab, and then you had intercourse that night in your apartment. She reports that at least twice weekly since, over the past several months, you have had regular intercourse. She says that you “make her do things” she isn’t interested in by telling her that if she refuses, you’ll have her fired. She needs her job, so she goes along with it, until…”
Fannie looked over at Mark. He looked nauseated, and she actually felt sorry for him. Mike had stopped there, and looked like he didn’t want to go on.
At last, Harlan picked up the story and said, “She says that you hired a male prostitute, and after he “serviced” you, you let him have his way with her. She was disgusted by the whole thing, and was going to cut things off with you after that, even if she lost her job, and that was when she discovered that she was pregnant.”
“Oh my God, she’s sicker that I thought,” Mark said.
“I’m sorry,” Fannie interjected. “But this all seems so personal, why am I here?”
Mike looked at Fannie. “I’m sorry, Fannie. Susan says that you’re the reason Mark doesn’t want anything to do with her or the baby. She says that when she came in here earlier today to tell Mark that she caught the two of you…in a compromising position.”
Fannie was flabbergasted, Mark was right, this was one sick puppy. She sat there stunned.
“Surely you two are perceptive enough that you’re not buying any of this?” Mark protested.
“Not all of it,” Mike said. “But you yourself admit that you have had sex with her, and there is a minimal possibility the child she is carrying is yours. With proof of that, she could tell this story and the press would lap it up like cats around a milk bowl. She can ruin us, Mark.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Mark said. He looked like he was about to be sick.
“Mark and I never did anything…compromising,” Fanny said.
“We don’t believe that you did,” Harlan told her. “Susan seems to harbor a lot of ill will toward you though, Fannie. I think she wanted to throw you into the mix just to try and tarnish your reputation.”
“So what now?” Mark asked.
“Well, we asked her if she would be willing to consent to an in utero paternity test. She, of course, declined. I told her we could compel her through a court order, and she said, and I quote, ‘The sooner you push for the truth to come out, the sooner I destroy your firm.’”
Fannie’s phone had been buzzing like crazy in her pocket. She took it out now and looked at the face. It was Grant, and she also had four missed calls. “Mike, Harlan,” she said, “I may have a way out of this for all of us, if my instincts are correct. Do you mind if I take this? It’s Grant.”
They told her to go ahead.
“Hi, Grant, I’m sorry. I’m in a meeting with Mark and the partners.”
“Poor you,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “Fannie, I just came from Susan’s apartment. She wasn’t there, but Detective Edwards was. He wanted to talk to her as well. We spoke to the manager together. It turns out that Susan is living there as a tenant of the apartment owners, her parents. The manager said that her twin sister, Miranda, lived there prior to Susan coming to Chicago, and suddenly decided to move back to Missouri, leaving Susan as the sole tenant. He says they are not identical twins, but they do look a lot alike. Susan apparently only recently went blonde. About the time you were hired with the firm. Maybe she was worried that you would recognize her since she favored her sister so much.”
“Wow, twisted sisters, huh?” she said.
“You said it. The police are looking for Susan now. They’ll probably show up there first so I wanted to give you a heads up. I don’t know if they’ll be able to prove she’s the own whose been stalking you, but them talking to her may at least scare her away. If not, a known enemy is easier to fight than an unknown one. Oh, and Russell is in the building lobby. He will follow you home and make sure you get there safe.”
“True, thank you so much, Grant. I owe you big time.”
“How about I bring over Indian food tonight. You can start paying me back after we eat.”
She laughed. “At the dining room table?”
“I suppose,” he said with a sigh.
Fannie turned back to Mark and the partners after she disconnected the call. “Susan is the sister of a woman named Miranda. Miranda was the stalker of my best friend. She tormented him for months before he got a restraining order against her. She finally left the state, but it looks like Susan may have picked up where she left off. That would explain her dislike of me.”
“Jeez, how do we miss things like this on background checks?” Mike said, rubbing his temples.
“We weren’t running the background on her sister,” Harlan said. “Let’s put this to bed for tonight. Mark, for the record, I am disappointed in you for taking up with an employee who was your subordinate. You should have known better. But, I do not believe that you engaged in the illicit activities that she described, and I do not believe that you forced her to have sex in exchange for keeping her job.”
Mark stood up and shook the older man’s hand. “Thank you for that. I promise you,” he said, and then looking at Harlan, “Both of you, I will do whatever damage control that I need to do in order to clean this mess up.”
They both nodded.
“Thank you for listening to all of this, Fannie, and for your help. I regret that you’ve had such a negative experience here your first week,” Mike told her.
“Most of this would have followed me wherever I went I think, now that I know who Susan is. I love working here, and I am still very grateful for the opportunity,” she told them.
After they left, Mark looked at Fannie. “You don’t believe all of those things that she told them about me, do you?”
She smiled. “No, Mark. I believe that you exercised poor judgment in getting involved with the wrong woman. That’s a common mistake, and not a crime. Is it okay if we call it a night?”
“Most definitely,” he told her. “Have a good night and be safe. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You do the same.” She didn’t like the idea of not knowing
where Susan would show up next. At least she would have Grant with her. She found Russell in the lobby, reading a book. He smiled and got up to greet her as she came off the elevator. Just as they stepped outside, Fannie’s phone rang, it was Paul.
“Hey, guy!” she said. “I was just thinking about how much I have to tell you.”
“Fannie, its Cassie.”
“Who?” she asked.
“Cassie, the girl I’ve been seeing.”
“Oh, yeah. Paul what’s wrong, what happened?” Fannie could hear the strain in his voice.
“She was hit by a car, right in front of me.”
“Oh my God. Is she okay?”
“I don’t know yet. I followed the ambulance to the hospital. She’s in the back and they won’t tell me anything. The police want to talk to her too, and the doctors won’t let them either.”
“The police? Why?”
“It was a hit and run, Fannie. We were walking her dog, Max. She always takes him for a walk right after work, and then we were going to grab a bite to eat. Max’s ball went into the street near the park. Cassie stepped out to get it, and this car that had been parked there on the street just floored it, ran right into her, and then drove off.”
“Did you see the driver?” Fannie asked.
“It all happened so fast. It was like a blur. I think it was a woman, with blonde hair.”
“Oh dear God. What hospital are you at?” Paul told her and she said, “I’ll be there soon.”
She hung up and called Grant before she left for the hospital. She told him what she was thinking and then told Russell, “I have to go to the hospital. Grant’s going to be a while. I’m sure I’ll be fine if you have other things that you need to do.”
“Nope,” he said, “I’ll be right behind you.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“Oh, Susie! How could you mess things up so badly?”
“I didn’t mess anything up. I took care of that skinny little cunt Paul was seeing. It was quick and easy. I used the fat girl’s credit card to rent the car so they’ll never know it was me. Paul will hate her now, and he’ll be all alone and need comfort. And the icing on the cake is that I have a baby growing in my belly that is going to lead me to everything I ever wanted. How could you even say that I screwed things up?”
“No one was supposed to get hurt, Suz!”
“Oh God, Mandy. Stop being such a namby pamby. You have to go after what you want, head-on. Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve tried to teach you all of these years?”
“What if they find out it was you, Susie?”
“They won’t! I’m taking the car back now. I’m going to leave it on the lot. When they find it there in the morning, it will be wiped clean of prints, but still have that pathetic little imp’s blood and hair on the fender. The only person they will trace it back to is the fat whore. Now get some rest and let big sister handle things.”
“Susie, we’re the same age.”
“I was born first. That makes me the boss. I’ll call you when I get home in a bit!”
Susan started the car with a huge grin on her face. Things were coming together. If Mark couldn’t see his way to becoming her husband and making them a family, well then, she’ll at least have loads of money in return. And once Paul was completely devastated, well, maybe she could just pick up those pieces. She loved her sister, but she wasn’t convinced that she was woman enough for a fine man like Paul.
* * *
Grant was waiting on Susan’s doorstep when she got home. “Hi, Susan.”
She looked surprised at first, but then Grant saw her turn on the sex kitten persona within seconds. “Well, hey there, handsome. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
He watched almost in awe as she pushed her chest forward so that her large breasts were emphasized. The rest of her was so skinny that he figured they were false, but he could see as a man how they had probably worked some magic on other guys for her.
“I was wondering if we could talk.”
Susan slipped the key in the door. “Sure, sweet thing. Come on in.”
She offered him a drink when they got inside. He politely declined. “It’s strange how we work for the same firm and I hardly know you.”
She looked him up and down and slowly ran her tongue across her top lip before saying, “Yes, it is. Is that why you came by? To get to know me?” She had come over to him, and was close enough that he could feel her breath when she talked. No wonder she sucked poor Mark in, she’s good.
“Actually, that’s exactly why,” he said. “We can start by talking about our families. I’m told that you have a twin sister, Susan.”
Her face changed again and she said, “Who told you that?”
“Fannie did,” he said. “She told me all about Miranda.”
“Fannie’s a pig,” she spat out. “And so are you for touching her.”
Grant smiled. “How would you know that I touched Fannie, Susan?”
“Get out!”
“But we’ve barely started getting acquainted,” he said.
“Get out!” she repeated.
He left, but not before he had slipped a listening device under the end table by where he’d been sitting. When he got out to his car, he turned on the receiver. He could hear her moving around. It sounded like she was breaking things, and there were terrible words coming out of her mouth.
“Good,” he said aloud to the empty car, “I pissed her off.”
He left to go meet Fannie at the hospital.
* * *
Fannie sat next to Paul and held his hand, neither of them speaking. When the doctor finally came out, Fannie squeezed his hand and then let it go so that he could stand up.
“Is she okay?” he asked. The look on his face made Fannie’s heart feel like it was breaking.
“She sustained some internal injuries. Her spleen had to be removed, and one of her ribs punctured a lung so we repaired that as well. She has a few other broken bones, but nothing life-threatening. If all goes well in the next twenty-four hours, I think she’ll eventually walk out of here as good as new.”
Fannie was standing behind Paul with her hand on his back. He turned and hugged her tightly.
She whispered, “I’m so glad she’ll be okay.”
He nodded, hugged her again and then with tears in his pretty blue eyes he asked the doctor if he could see Cassie.
Fannie went to sit back down when Grant came in. “We got her,” he said with a grin. Fannie threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. When she remembered they were in the middle of the hospital waiting room, she let go.
“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling her face get hot. “I’m just so excited. Thank you. Tell me what happened.”
Grant told her about the listening device and about a call that Susie had made to her sister moments after he left. They had talked about Paul and Mark and most importantly, Cassie. Grant had the information about Susan using Fannie’s credit card and had given it to Detective Edwards. With Fannie’s help in the morning, the detective would be able to locate the car, and with Susan’s own words, they’d be able to arrest her for the hit and run. If it came down to it, Fannie had been at work with witnesses the whole time, so there would be no doubt that she wasn’t the one in the car.
“I’m starving,” Grant told her.
“Me too,” she said. “How about that Indian food in the dining room, eh?”
“Sounds delicious,” he said. “And then dessert in the bedroom?”
“I love dessert,” she told him.
* * *
Fannie woke up to the sound of the phone ringing the next morning. It was Detective Edwards. He told her that they had taken Susan into custody the night before. They could hold her for forty-eight hours without charging her. They had confiscated her home and office computers since the car had been charged online, He just needed Fannie to confirm that her card was missing, which she did, and then he set up an appointment for her to come in for questionin
g later that day. Paul was going to look at a lineup that morning, When Fannie hung up, she texted Paul, How is Cassie?
She’s perfect, he texted back with a smiley face.
I love you, she told him.
I love you too.
She put the phone down and turned over. Grant was smiling at her. Damn, he was hot!
She scooted over so that their naked bodies were touching and she kissed him softly on the lips. He kissed her back, finding her tongue with his. As they kissed, he ran his hands down her side, and when he got to her backside, he grabbed a handful of it and pulled her into him. She wrapped one of her legs across him, and she could feel his excitement against her bare thigh. As they continued to kiss, she reached down and wrapped her hand around him, feeling him throb.
He rolled over on his back and pulled her up on top of him. It was a position that Fannie had never been comfortable with, because of her size. Somehow, Grant made her feel like a slim, beautiful woman. He looked at her like he was in awe of her when they made love. She closed her eyes when she felt him slide into her and as their hips rocked together in a musical rhythm, she kissed his full lips again.
“I could get used to this,” Grant whispered as he reached his climax.
CONCLUSION
Susan was eventually arrested for hit and run and attempted murder. As far as they knew, Miranda had never returned to town. The authorities told Mark that a DNA test would be done on the child as soon as it was born, and if it was his, he could take it home.
Mark won his case. Fannie was there as the jury found the model-beautiful woman not-guilty of three counts of murder. She was happy for Mark, but a bit concerned about the rest of the community as the woman left with her father-in-law.
Big Riggs (Trilogy Bundle) (BBW Erotic Romance) Page 8
