Jessica had never actually had a job. Not the nine-to-five kind, anyway. No one had ever interviewed her and hired her on. She had never filled out employment paperwork, paid taxes, or watched training videos. College had never been an option for her, and she had never wanted to go, seeing how it never did her mother much good. But as she strolled into the building, passing people carrying Starbucks and briefcases, wearing a tight, black business dress with a red, patent leather belt cinched snugly around her waist and red high heels that struck the floor with precise, menacing clicks, she felt like she belonged to this new alien world. After all, she was Lisa Allen, a charity executive who had always been at home in the corporate atmosphere. None of this was new. None of this was weird. She fit like a puzzle piece.
“Good morning,” she called breezily as she strode in the executive office suite. She beamed at everyone as if she wasn’t overcome with hatred for them.
“Hello, Miss Allen,” Evan said warmly as he came out of his office. He looked her up and down briefly, and she knew what that look meant. He was already imagining her with her clothes off. She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he figured out that she had totally screwed him.
“Please, call me Lisa,” she replied sweetly. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”
“First, we like to start our days with some coffee. We have a full coffee bar.” He led her back into a sleek break room, where a trim barista was making caffeinated beverages behind the counter. “What would you like?”
Jessica was not much of a coffee drinker. But she figured that Lisa Allen was. “Just a coffee, please. Black.”
Evan looked surprised. “You didn’t strike me as a black coffee drinker.” Then he grinned as he ordered two black coffees. The barista gave him a dazzling smile and Jessica wondered if they had slept together. All the ladies seemed to like Evan.
“So how are you feeling about this project?” Jessica asked him. “I must admit that I’m thrilled.”
“Oh, so am I.” Then Evan’s smile slipped. “I agreed to take this project on myself so I apologize for my overbearing mother. She gets…a bit overinvolved.”
Jessica nodded slowly, wondering if this was an angle she might be able to play later. “My mother was always the same way.”
“Really? Tell me about your family. Why did you get involved with orphans?”
“Because I became one and entered the foster care system when I was sixteen,” Jessica said, pretending to be reluctant to reveal her past.
“I am so sorry.”
“Yes. My mother passed away from cancer.” Jessica felt that sudden, violent vise grip of grief on her heart. She liked to sprinkle her characters with elements of truth from her own life to avoid getting her stories mixed up too much. Too convoluted of a story was too hard to keep track of. But she should have lied about this. Her mother really had succumbed to cancer during Jessica’s senior year of high school, and had died right after Jessica turned eighteen. Her meager life’s savings had not been enough to cover her extensive medical bills.
Evan placed a hand on the small of Jessica’s back and rubbed. Jessica flinched away. “Sorry,” he said hastily. “I just have this urge to make people feel better. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine,” Jessica shrugged. Really, she was bothered. She hated being touched by men, especially pigs like Evan Davis. “Let’s get to work, shall we? I have finished most of my coffee.”
“Oh, sure, of course.” Evan looked confused as he led her into the office. Evidently he was not used to women rejecting his touch. “So today I wanted to start by explaining a bit about our development process. Then we will get started on the finer details of how we are going to design and build your project.”
They took seats at the large glass conference table. Everything here was so sleek and perfect and clean. Jessica imagined her own mother sitting here, over twenty years earlier, eager to start work as well. Would her mother be proud of her?
“Are you okay?” Evan seemed concerned as Jessica hastily regained her composure.
“Sure, sure, I’m fine,” she told him hastily as she adjusted her skirt. “Just a little cold in here.”
Evan peered at her face. “You looked so sad for a moment. Were you thinking about your mother?”
Jessica was impressed by his astuteness. Then she shook it off. After all, he was a CEO and they were usually pretty good judges of character. She shouldn’t be impressed by his smoothness or ability to see into her soul. He was just another playboy, hoping to get laid. Well, he was about to get screwed. Just not in the way he thought!
Chapter 3
Geno was a big Italian guy from the East Coast somewhere. He had a disturbing scar across his nose and an unwavering watery stare. He slapped some photos onto Evan’s desk. Evan’s heart skipped a beat when he recognized Lisa Allen’s beautiful heart-shaped face and long brown hair in them.
“There ain’t no Lisa Allen,” Geno declared gruffly. “Hate to tell ya but this gal is not who she says she is.”
Evan felt like he couldn’t breathe. After a wonderful day working beside Lisa, inhaling her intoxicating perfume, this was the last news he wanted to hear. He also hated when his mother was right. Often she was wrong and his character discernment never betrayed him.
“So who is she?” he finally asked, dreading the answer. He pushed his thumbs into his eyeballs and breathed deep.
“Jessica Collins. A little ghetto rat from the south side. She has her own place but no job. She changes addresses every few months. I’d say she’s a con artist of some type. Probably lurks in the casinos and plays rich men. But get this. Her mother was Gail Collins.”
“Should I know who that is?” Evan stared down at the photos, wondering how this sweet thing had managed to con him.
“Gail Collins was a former employee of your father’s actually. Almost caused your parents to split up.” Geno chuckled and his voice betrayed his penchant for cigars. “Died of cancer a few years back. Now this little filly is gunning for your money. I’d be careful around her.”
“Why would she be conning me? We’re investing millions in her idea and none of that money goes to her. I don’t know what she is hoping to accomplish.”
“She’ll get you somehow. Maybe you’ll be giving money to some foundation that don’t exist. Maybe she is trying to get you in bed so she can snatch your wallet. Who knows?” Geno shrugged. “All I know is, she’s a typically gold digger. Watch your back around her.”
After Geno shuffled out of the office, Evan gathered the photos before him. Then he picked up the phone. His mother had been curiously absent all day, which was a blessed relief.
“Hello?” she answered crisply. Soft jazz played in the background.
“Where are you, Mom?” Evan asked.
“The country club, having supper with some girlfriends. Why, Evan? Did you run into trouble with that hussy yet?”
Evan groaned. He hated telling his mother that she was right. “Who was Gail Collins, Mom?”
She let out a bark of a laugh. “Excuse me,” she told her friends. The background became quieter as she relocated to another area. “So I was right? She’s Gail’s daughter?”
“How did you know?”
“I can recognize that face anywhere. Her mother had a special place on my shit list.”
“So who was she? Geno said she worked for Dad.”
“She did. For a while. I made sure to put a stop to that. You should have seen the way she made eyes at him every chance she got. And she was pregnant! She thought my husband would support her and her little illegitimate brat, but I wouldn’t have it. I made sure that Cole fired her.”
“She was pregnant with Jessica?”
“That’s her name? Yes, I suppose that’s her. I remember she had a little girl. She got pregnant while she was just an intern here and told Cole her sob story about how her good-for-nothing boyfriend dumped her. Personally, I believe that she didn’t even know wh
o the father was, she was such a little hussy. She had Cole so charmed, he was willing to do anything for her. Gave her two months of paid maternity leave, full insurance, paid time off, a full-time position right alongside in the property acquisition office.” Her mother barked with laughter again. “All for a mere intern! You should have seen how moony-eyed he was for her. He couldn’t see that she wasn’t worth a penny. Certainly not worth a job at this company.”
Evan glanced at the gilt-framed picture of his father on his desk. While he did things a little differently than his father in the company, he still admired his father’s sheer level of honor and nobility. Cole Davis was the kind of man who liked to help people, even people who had nothing to give him in return. He hired disadvantaged workers and gave his employees more benefits than any other hospitality or development company in Nevada. He was square, honest, fair. Whenever Evan was faced with a business decision, he would ask himself, “What would my father do?”
“And you really think she and Dad were having an affair?” Evan persisted.
“Who knows about that. But if they were, it certainly did not last long. I made sure that he fired her and cut off all of her benefits. I even checked our accounts to make sure he wasn’t sending that whore money in secret. He did a few times, but I put an end to that, too. I figured that she could find some other rich man to mooch off of. But not my husband. I won’t be made a fool of.”
Evan just shook his head.
“So little Jessica is trying to run the same game now, huh?” she said pertly. Evan pictured her preening herself, proud of her sharp detective skills.
“I don’t know, Mom.”
“I’ll alert security to escort her off the premises tomorrow when she shows up.”
“No. I want to talk to her tomorrow. I want to find out what this is all about.” Evan couldn’t believe the words leaving his mouth. It was a gut decision that he had not even thought about. Intuitively, he already knew that he would give this Jessica Collins a chance. Let her play her game and see what she was hoping to win. He couldn’t shake the idea that there was more to her than some gold-digging hussy. Some reason that she chose his company after her mother had been screwed over here years before. She had a depth to her eyes that he couldn’t deny, a depth to her soul that went far beyond a simple thirst for money.
“Are you serious?” she snorted. Then she was silent for a moment. “So another generation of that blasted family gets to bamboozle me.”
“She is not bamboozling you. She’s bamboozling me.”
“Sure. And you are going to let her. Just like your father let Gail con him. Ridiculous! What is about these women that makes you men such damn fools?”
“I am not a fool,” Evan declared sharply. “I know what I am doing.”
“Sure. Think with the head on your shoulders, son, not the one between your legs.”
“I know what I’m doing,” he repeated. In reality, he did not. Not at all. He had never encountered a situation like this and there was no guidebook for how to navigate it properly. “I will handle this.”
“I hope so or you are going to regret it. Your father and I did not break our backs just to have you give it all away to some scammer.”
“My father always did what was right. Maybe this woman needs help. I intend to help her,” Evan replied. Then he hung up. His mother hated being hung up and called him several times, but he ignored it. It was time for him to go to the gym and decompress from all of the feelings swirling around in his head.
Evan left work to his favorite CrossFit gym. He was toned and fit, not for the sake of vanity, but for the sake of health. He loved the health club and ate chia seeds with his lunch. After a good sweat session, he took a shower and drove his black Porsche back to his apartment, where he began making organic pad Thai. He only ate organic and most of his meals were vegetarian. As he stirred the food around in the wok, he thought about Jessica Collins, and about Gail Collins. Something terrible had happened to Gail, he sensed that. Something unfair that had trickled down to hurt Jessica. Now Jessica was posing at that Lisa Allen character to get justice somehow, and to perhaps earn the money that her mother had lost after being fired.
When Evan was seven, he remembered his mother leaving. She kept screaming at his father, “Keep sending money to that whore! See what happens when I clean out your bank accounts!” She didn’t even kiss Evan goodbye as she slammed furs and jewels into a suitcase. After a week, she came back, pleased with herself because Cole had cut off the widow with five children that he was routinely donating rent and grocery money to.
Then again, when he was eleven, she had appeared at the dinner table with a list of expenses from the Davis Enterprises business spending account. “What’s this?” she had demanded, pointing to an item. Evan had tried to see what she was pointing at, but he couldn’t from his distance at the family’s massive mahogany table.
“It’s a charitable donation,” his father replied. He had a certain level, even tone that he used with Linda, to avoid provoking her anger. In fact, this tone seemed to reflect who he was as a person, incapable of ever becoming angry. He always told Evan, “When you feel angry, that means there is a problem before you. And you must solve that problem. Anger is just a warning sign, not something to act on.”
“To whom?” she demanded.
“To the Las Vegas At-Risk Youth Shelter for Christmas presents. See, honey?” He pointed at the paper Linda was flapping before his eyes.
“Who do you know there?” she demanded. “You know that I needed a new car for Christmas. And you’re donating fifty-thousand dollars to drug addicts and juvenile delinquents? They’re all crack babies, Cole. They don’t deserve our money. Their families should be taking care of them.”
“A lot of them are seeking help. They are not there by choice.”
“So? They’re not our problem. I’d like to see you cancel this.”
Cole just smiled at her. “I can’t cancel a donation, dear. They have already written me up in the paper for it. In fact, we get to attend the benefit next week.”
Linda scoffed. “Some publicity is enough to sweep you off of your feet?”
“You will still get your car,” he replied patiently. “I put aside money for your Christmas present.”
“Well it’s not a present if I know about it. You better get me something else besides the car,” his mother said tartly. But she was gloating, the way she did when she negotiated successful business deals.
It had always been like that, Linda controlling and curbing Cole’s generosity. And now Evan could picture Gail Collins, a new mother out of a job, struggling to get by. Hopefully she found a job at another company, perhaps another hotel company. But his mother was a powerful and ruthless woman. She was the same woman who had hounded a former employee and blacklisted him from getting a job with any Fortune 500 company or hotel company because he had dared to argue with her and prove her wrong at a meeting five years ago. Though Evan had tried to prevent her from ruining his life out of spite, he had little power. His mother was the one with connections all over the world and a very calculated plan for revenge on her enemies. Therefore, it was possible she had done that to poor Gail Collins twenty years ago. Now Gail was dead and Jessica was all alone, no father and no mother.
Evan could not let his mother ruin this poor girl’s life as she had ruined Gail’s. Evan had to intervene and make things right. He would not be able to sleep at night until he did. It was his nature, to solve problems and help people. He wished that he could do that for a living, but since Davis Enterprises was more concerned with urban development than charity, he did what he could on the side. Whenever he saw an opportunity to help someone, he did what he was able to do for them. From giving beggars change to donating massive amounts of money to charitable causes, he was a philanthropist, but not for show. It all came from within his heart.
Chapter 4
Jessica did yet another search on Gary. She ran various aliases that he had gone
by during their time together. Nothing yielded any results. She had heard from a mutual friend that he had taken off with the profits they had acquired from posing as casino executives buying up failing casinos around the city, their biggest and best scam yet, and was living in Oregon on a houseboat. He was running scams up there too with some new, young female partner and he was doing pretty well. Gary sure knew how to get the needy and lonely young women to trust him. He played such an endearing father figure. Then he would disappear on that new one too, probably to go hole up in the Riviera or something with the savings of dozens of young women. She was certain that he had been plotting this for a while and was running scams on other con artists as well as his obvious victims. Such a slimy piece of crap.
Jessica hissed in frustration as she slammed her laptop lid shut. She was so sick of thinking about Gary and dreaming about him. Growing up without a father, or really even boyfriends of her mother’s since her mother was always too busy working to date, Jessica had felt that Gary was all she had been looking for. She was so happy, so complete, with him around.
He taught her the tricks of the con artist trade. For their first heist, he hid behind a curtain at a casino bar, to make sure that she felt safe as she flirted with older men. She couldn’t believe that she was the same Jessica, as she leaned against the bar in a skintight dress, her hair teased huge and her makeup dramatic and smoky, trying to lure men into her trap. Finally, a man in a brown business suit paid for her. He seemed unaffected when she informed him that she was only seventeen as he led her up the stairs to the room he had rented.
“I require the money upfront,” she told him first.
Daddy Plus One: A Single Dad Secret Baby Billionaire Romance Page 2
