A Billionaire's Treasure (The Ellsworth Brothers #1)

by Cece Baker

  “I will. Love you,” Landen said as he ended the conversation.

  “Love you too, dear,” Caroline responded and hung up the phone. She thought for a bit and realized what needed to happen. She picked up her phone again and dialed another number. She was going to make things right.

  The week progressed slowly, but Caroline let Thea be for the most part. By Friday Thea had relaxed a bit and was starting to feel like herself again. That morning Caroline called Thea to sit down with her to have a discussion. “Thea, you know I appreciate you and everything you do for me, right?”

  Thea nodded her head and looked at Caroline quizzically. “Of course, Caroline. Is something the matter?”

  “Thea, I’m sorry to have to say this, but I’m going to have to fire you.”

  Thea gasped. “Fire me? But why?” she asked. “Have I done something to upset you? I don’t understand.” Tears were starting to form in her eyes.

  “You haven’t done anything to upset me, but you have done something to upset someone very dear to me. That is, you broke things off with my son. I can’t stand to see you both so miserable. Knowing that you have a rule not to get involved with a client’s family member I decided to take control of the situation. I called your agency and told them that I wanted a new health care worker but only on the condition that they could find another client for you. I gave you a stellar reference and said that you needed to move on. It took the week to find something for you, but they have. On Monday you start with a new client, a gentleman who has Parkinson’s disease.”

  Thea was shocked. “You got me reassigned, so I could be with Landen?”

  “Yes, dear. I did. It’s all worked out,” Caroline confirmed.

  “Caroline. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you’ll go find my son and tell him that you can be together and I’ll be happy.”

  “Ok,” she agreed swiftly, “but only after I get things in order and ready for your new health care worker.”

  “That’s fair,” Caroline responded happily. “Now get to it and get out of here and have a wonderful weekend.”

  Quickly Thea set about her work getting all the paperwork, instructions and whatnot ready for a smooth transition on Monday. Her spirits were soaring. She didn’t even notice that she had stayed a little past her regular ending time. Before she left, she hugged Caroline tightly and thanked her again.

  She had a plan all worked out. She’d go home, take a shower and get dressed up in her sexiest outfit and go surprise Landen at his loft. That’s when she remembered that she’d agreed to meet with Sasha to go over wedding plans. Since Thea was the maid of honor she knew she couldn’t let her sister down. Sighing, she drove home, fed Sinatra and called her sister just to be sure they were indeed going to meet. Once on the phone Sasha wouldn’t even let Thea get a word in edgewise. Resigned, Thea changed into jeans and T-shirt and drove to her sister’s place.

  The planning took much longer than she’d anticipated. Thea kept looking at her phone to check the time and before she knew it, it was midnight. Tired, she drove home and decided she’d surprise Landen in the morning by showing up at his place with bagels and diet Coke. They could then spend the rest of the weekend together. Thea smiled at the thought and fell fast asleep.

  Chapter 10

  The week had been a long one, so Friday evening Landen called some of his buddies to join him for happy hour at a favorite sports bar. Surprisingly, all three of his closest friends were available and anxious to catch up on a guy’s night out. Of the four of them only Jack was married. Pete and Karl were still single and very much on the hunt. Landen wasn’t up for a hook-up but he could play the part pretty well without any of the guys figuring out what was really going on with him. He didn’t want to talk about Thea to anyone. He wanted to keep her all for himself.

  He met the guys at the bar and before long they were playing pool, drinking beer and bullshitting each other as they always did. By about nine they were still going strong, so they found a table and ordered some food. The next thing they knew the waitress delivered four shots to the table, saying they were compliments of the four ladies at the bar. The men turned to look and four stunning women turned and waved at them. Before Landen knew what was happening, Pete and Karl had waved the women over and invited them to join the table. Four more chairs were rounded up and the girls squeezed in between each of the guys. That’s when Landen saw her.

  “Amber,” Landen said with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just out with the girls for a good time. I didn’t expect to see you,” Amber replied. “Do you mind if we join you?”

  “Of course not. Please have a seat. How have you been? You look great, by the way.”

  Amber raised her eyes to his and licked her lips. “Thanks, Landen. I’m well. How have you been?”

  They updated each other on their new jobs, Amber’s new apartment, her sister’s new baby and Landen’s new position as head of Ellsworth Construction. The beers and the shots kept coming and soon it was closing time. Since none of them were in any condition to drive, they all walked to Landen’s loft and spun some tunes so Pete and Karl could do some dancing with the ladies they’d hooked up with. Jack called a cab and left to get home to the wife.

  Finally, by 4 a.m. the party wound down and everyone had left except Amber. She asked if she could crash at Landen’s place. Hesitantly, Landen agreed, but made sure she understood that nothing was going to happen between them. He let her sleep on the bed and he grabbed a blanket and pillow and made up a bed for himself on the sofa in the living room. He stripped down to his boxers and crashed.

  At about 8:30 the next morning, Landen awoke with a nasty headache. Hangover! He snuck into the master bathroom quietly so as not to wake Amber. He put away his blanket and pillow and went to the kitchen to get some water so he could take an aspirin. The cool water coated his dry throat. He stood looking out at the river and the dawning day when he heard the elevator arriving on his floor, followed by a loud knock at his door. Puzzled, he went to the door and opened it.

  There stood Thea. She was carrying a bag of bagels and a two liter bottle of diet Coke. “Good morning!” she greeted him cheerily. “Oh no! I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said when she saw his tousled hair and the bleary eyed look on his face.

  Bewildered Landen asked, “Thea? What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here with some very good news!” said Thea cheerfully. She was about to enter his loft and say more when she heard a woman’s voice.

  “Landen. Baby, who’s here?” Amber asked as she walked out of Landen’s bedroom dressed only in a skimpy lace teddy, her hair tousled. She strode up behind Landen and put her arms around his middle and kissed his shoulder. “Hi. I’m Amber. Who are you?” she asked a stunned Thea.

  Thea just looked at them both in horror. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I… I need to go… I…” Thea tossed the bag and bottle into Landen’s arms, turned and ran to the elevator. Luckily the elevator hadn’t moved so she could walk right in. Thea pulled the metal gate down quickly and pressed the button for the ground floor hurriedly and repeatedly.

  She heard Landen drop everything and run after her, “Wait. Thea! Please! Don’t. This isn’t what…” Landen stopped talking as the elevator disappeared down the shaft. “Fuck!” he shouted as he slammed both hands on the wall, then pulled his hands through his hair.

  He turned and stomped back to this apartment and saw Amber standing in the doorway with her arms across her chest and a grin on her face. “Who was that? A delivery person?” she said scornfully.

  Landen was livid. “Get your clothes on and the get the fuck out of my life. Now!” he yelled.

  Amber was nonplussed. “Okay, okay. No need to yell.” She turned to go to the bedroom, lazily dressed and came out of the bedroom. Landen was staring out at the river. Amber came up behind him, stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on the side of his mouth. “It was a fun night, babe. Let’s do it again soon
.” And she walked serenely out the door.

  Chapter 11

  Landen scrambled through his apartment looking for his phone. Once he had it in hand, he quickly dialed Thea’s number. When she didn’t pick up he left a breathless message.

  “Thea, it’s Landen. Please. It wasn’t what it looked like. I ran into Amber last night when I was out with the guys. Everyone came over to my place when the bar closed and she ended up crashing at my place. Nothing happened. I swear. Thea you have to believe me. She slept on my bed and I slept on the couch. I promise you. Nothing happened with Amber. We were just two old friends shooting the breeze. Please call me back.”

  He passed the next hour pacing the length of his entire loft berating himself for letting Amber stay the night. Thea had looked so happy. What did that mean? Was she going to tell me that we could be together? Why was I so stupid!? Dammit! I’ve got to try and call her again. In his message he said about the same thing, but pleaded with her to please return his call. “I’m so sorry, Thea. I’m going crazy because I can’t stop thinking about you. Please call me,” Landen urged.

  After leaving Landen’s place Thea drove straight home. Sinatra didn’t even greet her because he was well into his morning nap. She found her cat, lay down with him and curled her body around his. The tears began to fall again.

  At some point Thea had fallen asleep. She awoke groggy and disoriented. Her phone was ringing, so she got up to find it. Looking at the face of her phone she saw there was a host of missed calls and voicemails. She saw the current incoming call was from her mother. Relieved, she answered. “Mom?”

  “Hey Thea bee. How are you doing?” Liane asked.

  “Um. Well, I guess I fell asleep and I just woke up and….”

  “What’s wrong Thea? Don’t tell me nothing, because I can hear it in your voice and I know you don’t sleep until 2 p.m. on a Saturday.”

  “Oh mom,” Thea sighed thinking for a few moments. “I guess I got my hopes up. I met this guy and it was good, then it was bad and then it was good again and now it’s really bad,” she said as tears started to well up again.

  “Okay, dear. Well, I was calling to invite you over for dinner. Hearing you now means that you are definitely coming over and sooner rather than later. So, get up, shake off the cobwebs and get your butt over here. I have just the crystal you need that will help you get over this louse of a man, whoever he is,” Liane said vehemently.

  Thea agreed, hung up, stretched and walked back into her bedroom. She changed into jeans and a T-shirt gave kisses to Sinatra, made sure he had food and water, grabbed her purse and jumped in her car. “Off to mom’s we go,” she thought to herself.

  As Thea pulled up in her mom’s driveway she noticed that her sister’s car was also present. “Great,” she thought. “I have to spill all the details to Sasha too. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about it all.”

  Thea walked in her mom’s front door calling out, “Hello? Mom? Sash? Anybody here?”

  “Back here,” she heard her mother call.

  Thea walked to the kitchen and saw both women sitting at the kitchen table. There were myriad crystals laid out on the table before them. They were both sipping tea.

  “Hey, Thee,” her mom said as she rose to give Thea a hug.

  A muffled “Hello,” came from Thea who was wrapped in her mother’s embrace.

  “Hi, Sis,” Sasha said. “Mom says you met a jerk and got dumped.”

  “Something like that,” replied Thea grimacing.

  “Sit down, dear. I’ll get you some tea and then you can tell us all about it,” said Liane.

  With a steaming cup of tea before her Thea began the whole story: how she’d seen Landen on her date with Ben, the charity ball, their dinner, the new client and finally about how she saw Amber at Landen’s place.

  “Geez, Sis,” you really know how to pick ‘em. If you had called Ben back none of this would have happened,” said Sasha with an annoyed tone in her voice.

  “Really, Sasha? The man bought me a corsage!”

  “A corsage? How lovely,” interjected Thea’s mother. Both girls looked at their mother. “What?” she said. “It’s a very nice gesture to give a woman flowers on a date.”

  “I agree. Flowers are nice,” Thea said “the kind you put in a vase that is, not ones to wear on your wrist!”

  “Well, okay dear. Whatever you say. Moving on. Here are a couple crystals I think will help you mend your broken heart and bruised ego, and as a bonus here are a couple we can use to send some not-so-nice energy to Mr. It’s-Not-What-It-Looks-Like.”

  “You know, Thea,” said Sasha, “You should really try these crystals. Mom gave me one to wear around my neck when I was getting this sinus thing and wouldn’t you know, five days later I was fine.”

  Thea rolled her eyes. “So what’s for dinner? Anything I can do to help?” Thea asked in an effort to change the topic of conversation. The women chatted for another hour or so, then began to prepare dinner. The meal was good and they didn’t harp too much on the topic of Landen, for which Thea was glad. After cleaning up, promising to keep them both updated, and saying goodbye, Thea got in her car and drove home.

  Sunday morning she contacted her agency and told them that the new home health care worker would not be needed for Caroline Ellsworth after all. She straightened out all the work details and hung up the phone ready to report for work at the Ellsworth mansion tomorrow as usual. “I appreciate the effort Caroline, but it looks like you won’t be needing a new caretaker after all,” thought Thea morosely.

  Chapter 12

  As if Landen’s weekend wasn’t bad enough, late Saturday afternoon his phone rang. He saw the caller was one of the board members of Ellsworth Construction, so he immediately answered. “Landen Ellsworth.”

  What he learned on that call made his blood run cold. His very own board of directors had held a secret emergency meeting that morning without him. They were “very concerned about the direction in which the junior Mr. Ellsworth is leading the company.” And the person leading the charge to change the direction was none other than his own father.

  “How can this be happening?” he thought to himself. “In the space of twelve hours my entire life has just gone down the fucking drain,” he said aloud to the empty loft. “What the hell am I going to do?” he shouted angrily. Determined not to let this beat him down he went outside for some fresh air. He walked down to the river’s edge. He’d always been able to solve any problem by going to the river and taking out his frustrations by throwing rocks into the water as hard as he could. It was a great release.

  One after another, after another, after another he threw any rock he could find. Then fists clenched at his sides and his whole body tense he let out a gut-wrenching yell that went on for what seemed to Landen several hours although in reality it was only a few seconds. Exhausted, he sank into the dirt and sand on the shore.

  “I will not let this beat me,” he stated with vehemence. “I know my vision for the future of Ellsworth Construction is solid and will carry us into the next century.” With a sense of newly found strength Landen stood up, climbed up the embankment and went back into his loft. He went straight for his computer and began researching information to support his vision. He was determined to win this. The vote of the board was scheduled for the following Friday so he only had days to prepare for the fight of his life. At least he had been given an opportunity to be able to defend his position before the vote. But the opposition had been given the same chance.

  Monday morning came far too quickly for Thea’s taste. She was nervous about showing up at the Ellsworth house knowing that they were not expecting to see her.

  “Caroline will be upset,” she thought ruefully. “I’ll just go in like nothing has happened and be happy and upbeat and everything will be fine,” Thea said to Sinatra as she left her apartment. “Love you, boy,” she said “I’ll see you tonight.” And with that she got in her car and drove to her client’s house.<
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  The first person she saw when she entered the Ellsworth home was Arthur. “Hello, miss,” he said, “we did not expect to see you today. Have you forgotten something?”

  “Hello, Arthur. Actually, no, I haven’t forgotten anything. There has been a change of plans and as a result there is no need for a new home health care worker. You’re stuck with me I’m afraid,” Thea responded.

  “Very well. Mrs. Ellsworth is in her suite as usual. I’m afraid this news will not please her,” Arthur said as he walked away.

  Entering Caroline’s suite, she heard the night staff getting Caroline dressed so that the new staff person would not have to do that on their first day. Sighing, Thea thought, “I’d better get this over with,” and walked into the bedroom.

  “Thea,” said Caroline in a stunned voice. “What are you doing here? And dressed in scrubs?”

  “Hi Caroline,” Thea began, her voice sounding too cheery. “Guess what? Great news! I get to work with you after all. You won’t need to train in a new person. Isn’t that great news?”

  Caroline paused, her face solemn. “What do you mean I won’t need to train a new person? Something has happened, hasn’t it?”

  Tears sprung to Thea’s eyes. Caroline turned to the night staff person and dismissed her, saying Thea could take over. “I told myself I wasn’t going to cry and look at me now,” Thea said sniffing with tears running down her face.

  “Thea you have to tell me what happened.”

  “It’s pretty simple actually. You’ll find out soon enough, so I may as well tell you,” Thea paused catching her breath. “Landen is back together with Amber.”

  “What?” Caroline said incredulously. “That’s not possible. Why would you think that?”

  “I saw them together, Caroline. I saw them together on Saturday morning at Landen’s loft. Amber came out of his bedroom,” Thea said quietly dabbing a Kleenex at the corners of her eyes.