So when Sarah heard the elevator ding just a few minutes after Garrett had left for the day, she frowned. Had he forgotten something? Had someone managed to get up here by accident? She waited, listening for the door’s tell-tale slide, and for a long moment nothing happened. Someone must have hit the wrong button, as the elevator wouldn’t open without a card.
The doors whooshed open, and Sarah stayed very still. For a moment she thought of calling security, but she decided that was a bit unnecessary. The rabbit laid out on her desk just a few days prior was still fresh in her mind, but she waited, listening carefully. The clicking of heels sounded on the marble flooring.
Elizabeth McMillin was in her doorway in a matter of seconds, a small, ice-cold smile on her face. She was beautiful, willowy and elegant, every inch dripping with poise. She had a confidence and cool composure that had made her so very sought-after the decade previous. Sarah watched her with a thin smile, trying to feign friendliness.
“Hello, Ms. McMillin. Can I help you?” Sarah asked brightly. “Why yes, Sarah, you can. Quit fucking my husband.”
Sarah’s heart suddenly leapt into her throat and began to hammer. She’d never wanted this conversation; she’d never expected to have it! She swallowed, and opened her mouth to protest, when Elizabeth held up a hand to quiet her.
“You’re a good girl. Don’t lie. I’ve seen you two, just this afternoon. I saw the Skype call you sent him. You are a slut, aren’t you? Now listen, you slimy, little cockhound, if you touch my husband again, I won’t hurt you. I’ll hurt him. I’ll ruin every business partnership he tries to land. I’ll slander his name. I’ll file abuse reports and charges. Do not touch him again, do you understand? “Sarah stared in disbelief; her eyes wide and cheeks flushed. She’d seen that video!? How!? Sarah’s mind raced in ten different directions, her heart thundering and her stomach twisting into knots. Yet even with her fear, she narrowed her eyes right back. She’d never been one to back down. “You don’t love him. Don’t even act like you do!” she hissed. “How astute of you! No, I don’t. Something you’ll learn when you grow up is that sometimes people stay married for their own benefit. I love Garrett’s money, and that’s what I’m staying for. If I suspect you of touching him, I’ll not only let your father know, but I’ll have him arrested for not only beating me, but for harassing you into sex, and taking advantage of you. Your pleas of ‘no no, it wasn’t like that’ will simply be noted as survivor’s guilt. You have nothing no me, you little whore. Stay. Away. From. Garrett.”
Sarah could feel the tears behind her eyes, but she wouldn’t give Elizabeth the satisfaction of hearing or seeing her cry. She clenched her fists, anger rising in her chest. She wanted to strangle the woman. “He’s going to leave you anyway. He’s separated; now he just has to take the trash out. Since he isn’t here, I’ll politely ask that you take yourself out.”
Elizabeth laughed, her ice-cold grin turning manic as she watched the younger woman with a furious gaze. She turned away, pausing at the edge of the door to fix a sad-looking expression on the blonde. “What do you think he’s going to do when you tell him you can’t be with him? He’s going to run straight back to me, and I’ll run straight to his money.” She laughed as she left, her voice ringing off the walls all the way to the elevator.
Sarah sat in her chair, tears streaming down her cheeks. Just minutes ago she’d thought she’d never been happier, with Garrett holding her and kissing her goodbye as he left. Yet her ideas had been a fantasy, one that Elizabeth McMillin had dismantled entirely. She couldn’t risk her father finding out, or worse yet, Garrett’s business and livelihood becoming fuel for her fire. She would have to tell him that she couldn’t be with him. That she’d decided to pursue someone closer to her age and she no longer wanted him. She’d separate herself, put herself in a position where he’d know she was serious. Sniffling, she looked at her phone. It was the best way to do this, as she knew she couldn’t possibly tell him face to face.
TO: Garrett, I have something to tell you, I’ve been putting it off for a while. I’m sorry but I can’t do this anymore.
I’m too young and I need someone my age.
Please don’t be mad, you can still be my uncle.
I just think we’ve had fun and it’s time for me to grow up.
Sorry, Garrett
13
Monday always came with a sense of dread, but this Monday would be the first one since Sarah had told him she had not been serious about their relationship. He hadn’t realized how much he needed her until he was no longer allowed to have her. Sure, he’d tried to push her away before, but that was when he’d decided to do it, and though he felt guilty, he didn’t regret trying to keep her safe then.
As he got up, he rubbed at his face. He eyed the spot next to him on the bed where he’d wished Sarah had been, and where Elizabeth had tried to be. She’d come to his bed last night, and in the early hours tried to rouse him into sex. When he’d realized it was her, he’d sent her away –uncaring when she’d thrown a fit– and drifted back to sleep.
What had happened on Friday to make things go so badly?
He’d delayed going to the office this morning as long as he possibly could. He hadn’t had any intention of going in at all, but Elizabeth had broken the screen to his computer in the library. He could have gone out and bought one, but the set-up would have taken too long and he needed to get to work as quickly as possible, as there were deals he needed to make or break.
Walking past Sarah’s door, he found it shut. A part of him was relieved that he didn’t have to see her, while the other part ached for even just a glimpse of the woman he loved. He yearned to apologize and beg her to return to him, and yet he’d found he didn’t have the courage to be rejected by her again. He set aside his concerns for her and decided he had too much to do to worry about it. He headed for his office without knocking on her door, though for the next hour, he’d wished he had.
At lunch time, he’d still heard nothing from her. She truly seemed to mean that he meant so little to her. The fact hurt him, and as he continued to try to work he found himself more and more distracted by the notion of her alone in that room. All he’d have to do was send her a message.
He decided he’d message her and ask her to come and speak with him. He sent the message, and waited nervously. He hadn’t expected to feel this anxiety with her, and yet, here he was, nervous as a child. He felt his stomach twist when he heard his door open, and frowned up at her.
Sarah was dressed conservatively in her black slacks and a purple blouse with gold accents which highlighted the blonde of her hair. While she could never pull off Elizabeth’s incredible coldness, he found the comparison one that made him uncomfortable. He straightened, trying to brush the thought away.
“I wanted to ask you what you want for lunch,” he finally told her.
“I packed my own.”
“Have I done something, Sarah?”
The question had come unbidden; she’d never once brought her own lunch, and they’d spent almost every lunch happily teasing each other and talking about the next trade or her newest PR scheme. He’d been quick to try to make things more normal, while she sat there looking as cold as his soon to be ex-wife. Yet as the question seemed to resonate with her, he didn’t fail to miss the look of hurt on her face. Had something happened that he wasn’t aware of?
Sarah shook her head, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt as she considered what to say to him. She was clearly nervous, uncomfortable with the conversation, and yet she wanted to say something.
“What is it? You can tell me.”
“I can’t, I really can’t. You don’t understand.”
For a long moment Garrett tried to puzzle out what she was trying to tell him. He furrowed his brows at her, and considered what she might say, when his phone rang. He hit the voicemail button, and turned his gaze back to her.
“At least come to lunch with me? Let’s try…to get back to normal?”
The phone rang again, and this time he glared at the caller’s name: Devon, his IT tech. Garrett hesitated, but held up a hand to Sarah and answered the phone.
“I’m busy.”
“Mr. Skjaervo, please shutdown your computer and come to my office. Leave your computer there.” “Excuse me?”
“This is very important. Please have Ms. Hemmings shut hers down and come to my office as well.”
The phone line went dead, and Garrett glared at the receiver a moment. He eyed Sarah, as if wondering if perhaps she’d done something inexcusable. A pang of worry went through him as he considered what she may have done, or if she’d purposely done something to hurt him. The thought made his heart ache uncomfortably.
“We need to head down to Devon Long’s office. He said to shut your computer down.”
Sarah looked at him for a moment with question in her eyes. She didn’t know, though she clearly suspected their illicit activities had been discovered. She blushed, and nodded, agreeing to meet him at the elevator before she headed to her office to do what Devon had asked.
*****
Garrett was waiting for her at the elevator when she got there, and they took the four stories down in silence. As they entered the IT floor, he headed to the right and she followed. They walked to the back where a small, windowless office sat humming with servers and a tiny desk where a short, young man sat.
Devon was no older than Sarah, and for all his age might have been similar, he was not. He was quiet and hardly spoke. While perhaps he was handsome, his dark, mistrusting eyes and permanent frown detracted from otherwise welcoming features.
“Mr. Skjaervo, Ms. Hemmings. There has been a security breach. The laptops you have been using are compromised, namely, yours, Mr. Skjaervo. Someone has been watching your activity. I am aware that your smartphone is also connected to your computer, and is likely compromised as well. We would like to search your car and home computer too, as this software is designed to spy on its victim.”
Garrett frowned, staring at Devon for a long moment. He wondered if perhaps the boy had lost his mind, but Garrett found he’d never steered him wrong before.
“Why do you think this?”
“Because your computer is sending out data pings at strange intervals. You would use your computer, and it would send out pings as expected. It would ping back and forth for a while, right? Well, in this case it sends two pings instead of one. Then, while you’re gone at night it sends all of your keystroke entries. Everything you’ve seen on your computer in the last week I’d say, someone else has seen.”
Garrett straightened, turning to glance at Sarah, his cheeks flushing. She was the first to ask the question he’d been too uncomfortable to ask.
“All of it?”
“Yes. All of it. Even your video chats, yes.”
Sarah visibly paled, and Garrett glared at Devon. He’d clearly seen what he shouldn’t have, too. Devon held up a placating hand, frowning at his boss.
“I’m not going to say anything. It isn’t my business. You pay me well and don’t harass me. I have complete control over my day here. It’s a sweet deal. I’m just telling you the facts. Someone else saw those.”
Sarah frowned at Garrett, and finally piped up.
“How do we find out who it was? He has enemies, but at the moment Elizabeth McMillin should be considered one as well. The press? They’d dig for any juicy details. I think we should be careful to check bank records and accounting to make sure no one used his information either.”
Devon nodded, and gestured at a computer screen full of columns of numbers. Some were green, some were blue, and even more were red. They kept changing and rising, then falling as the three watched.
“This algorithm is going to help me figure out who was searching for the information, but it could take days. Weeks even. It seems sophisticated, and if it is, then I’ll have a harder time figuring out who did it. That’s the pain with legal datamining.”
“How about illegal means?”
“Garrett, don’t. That’s not going to help anyone,” Sarah chided.
Garrett leaned back, rubbing his hands through his hair. Why now? Was there someone specific that was trying to get his information? What if they had that video and released it? He thought of Matthew’s hurt expression. He’d never forgive Garrett for defiling his daughter, no matter how good of friends they were or how much Sarah had wanted it.
“Alright. I have a meeting I’ll need to take in the conference room downstairs. Sarah, please log into my bank accounts and find out if anything has changed or gone missing.”
Sarah began to protest, but he waved her off. “I want you to use one of the computers Devon has here, and one of the burner phones. Here is all the information you’ll need.”
He handed Sarah a small notebook, and when she frowned at it and him, he grinned.
“Did you think this was the first time someone tried to hack into my bank and steal things? People think I won’t notice.”
*****
Sarah sat in one of the tiny offices on the IT floor. It wasn’t full of servers, but it wasn’t as nice as her usual office either. The people who worked here clearly did not care too much for comfort as there was only a desk and a steel chair to sit at. She had a small phone to use that had been activated only an hour ago, and she had Garrett’s book, with an encrypted laptop in front of her.
For a moment she hesitated. This was involved, and what if Elizabeth found out? There wasn’t much she could do in this scenario, but still, what if she did find out somehow? Sarah’s stomach knotted. She’d cried herself to sleep every night since she’d told Garrett she couldn’t be with him, and it had been of the most painful days of her life. She didn’t want to have to worry any more about his career or his well-being in peril. If she’d only told him sooner how she felt, perhaps they’d have been able to do more.
Yet even as she sat there, feeling sorry for herself, she knew she could do something, anything, maybe, to help. She logged onto the computer and opened the book, already checking the first account as she went. If she couldn’t be with him, she could at least try to help.
It didn’t take her long to find what she’d been looking for.
Within twenty minutes she’d called Devon, asking for a few, colored highlighters and a hard-wired printer so that no one else could see what she was printing. He’d seemed concerned and confused, but he’d agreed to do it. Within another twenty minutes she had everything she needed. She combed through the bank statements, wondering if Garrett had ever bothered to check them. She supposed not, as she’d never seen her father check his balance either.
She printed page after page of bank statements, going back months. She made sure to highlight the ones she was suspicious about, and used the phone to call and confirm her suspicions. When she was done, she changed the passwords and continued on to the next card. Each card she found with suspicious charges, she printed them down and checked back at least a year’s worth of statements. Each time she added the amount to the bottom of the page, and continued on. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been there, but by the time she’d finished each of his eight cards and updated them accordingly, she had enough evidence.
Sarah found Garrett sitting at his desk, staring angrily at a new computer. When she came around the desk she could see the newest slander on Elizabeth’s half. The newsman was discussing with his female co-host.
“I just couldn’t imagine that Garrett Skjaervo could be such a heartless scumbag! The man donates to charity regularly. In fact, he just gave away $2.5 million last month alone to charity.”
“Drop in the bucket for a bigwig like him. Hope prison takes into account his donations, since it sounds like that’s where he’s headed!”
“I sure hope there’s more to this story, Tony. Ron, back to you with the weather!”
Garrett closed the news program and looked up at her, his brows drawn up, and his lips quirked into a frown. He looked defeated; as if ther
e was little worth the fear and worry he held. He sighed, rubbing his face, for once absolutely looking his age.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. Maybe it’s best if you make some distance from me.”
“Why is that?”
“Now they’re accusing me of beating my wife. As if I’d ever do such a thing; no matter how wretched she’s been to me, I’ve never raised my fist in so much as defense. I’ve only ever ducked,” he admitted quietly, his shoulders slumping.
“I don’t believe you’d hit anyone.”
“She says I’ve hit her before, and will again. That this divorce was filed because she stood up for herself and I was afraid she’d go to the police. I don’t want that sort of accusation to rub off on you. It’s impossible to guess what the tabloids are going to be saying about this in the next few days. I think it’s best for you to go home and stay away awhile.”
“I think…that you should maybe take a look at these before deciding what to do, Garrett.”
Sarah sat across from him, and began to detail all of the numbers she’d found, and why they were important. Garrett listened in stunned silence; perhaps he wasn’t in as dire straits as he’d believed himself to be.
14
Garrett drove through the December sleet, his mind still running circles around itself as he drove. He’d sat with Sarah for nearly two hours, detailing the numbers she’d written down and double-checking them himself. It wasn’t that he hadn’t believed her, but that he’d been in shock. How could one woman spend that much, let alone on the things she’d spent his money on?
He felt foolish. He should have checked his bank account more frequently, or even once really. There were a number of things he should have done and had simply chosen not to. He’d turned a blind eye to her behavior for so long, and it hadn’t occurred to him that she’d done anything behind his back. The transaction reports Sarah had laid out showed a much different story.
Unwrap Me Daddy_A Holiday Romance Page 7
