Assets (Balance Sheet #1)

by Shannon Dermott

  “This Matt guy should feel pretty damn lucky I haven’t met him. I don’t take kindly to one touching what belongs to me. And you, Lass, most certainly belong to me.”

  As much as his words sent flutters in my belly, I said, “I don’t want to belong to anyone.”

  “If it’s flowery words you need, Lass, I don’t have them. I can’t say meaningless words. I can only tell you no other woman has made me want. No woman has ever stirred things in me you have. You are like no other woman.” His hand cupped my cheek.

  Placing my hand over his, I said, “I don’t mean to put you on the spot. I hardly know you. But I’m not the kind of girl to go around sleeping with guys for the hell of it. I don’t need flowery words. I don’t even need promises. But I need to know that you think that this could go somewhere. That I’m not just a good sex partner. I wasn’t raised to give my heart away so easily, much less sex.”

  When he didn’t speak, I added, “I should go home.” My heart was breaking as the words tumbled out of my mouth. But I didn’t allow it to show.

  “Bailey,” he said, reaching out to me. It was so very weird to hear him say my name. “I can’t promise you forever because I wasn’t planning on staying here in America. And I won’t be selfish like my father and ask you to leave your home, your life, and move to Scotland with me. We barely know each other and look how that turned out for my parents.”

  “So you are leaving?”

  Letting go of my hand, he looked away for a second before focusing on me again. “If it wasn’t for my father’s rule about funding my college, I wouldn’t be here. I paid him back in service the last four years, spending much of my time at various international offices so I wouldn’t have to be near the man. Then, just when I thought I could leave, he up and dies, surprising everyone by leaving everything to me. I was here to get the company stable after his death with plans to leave as soon as that was done. Then I met you.”

  “And?” I asked, tentatively hopeful.

  “And you’ve turned my world inside out. I can’t close my eyes without seeing your face. I don’t have a free moment when I’m not thinking about you. My dick is a loyal son of a bitch and only has eyes for you. You weren’t supposed to matter. No woman ever has. Yet I can’t let you go. I can’t let you walk away.”

  “And you can’t promise me anything either.” Okay, maybe I was a hypocrite. I’d told him I didn’t need promises. And really I didn’t. I needed hope for future promises.

  “You deserve a guy better than me, Lass. I grew up a scoundrel on the streets, stealing and preying on young girls’ hearts to get in their pants. I don’t deserve a woman like you. Sweet, kind, thoughtful, true.”

  “How can you know this about me?” I asked.

  He reached out, caressed my cheek and said, “Because I’ve seen how you act. I’ve talked to you. Even though you left home, what your family thinks of you matters. You care about this Matt guy enough not to string him or me along. You’re passionate about a company you’re not even invested in to take your own time to find a potential fraud even when your boss tells you to leave it alone. You have principles. You care.”

  “And you make me feel safe, you make me feel beautiful. You care or I wouldn’t be here. Yet we stand on opposite sides of a river bank.”

  “Lass,” he said, letting his hand fall away.

  Then it was my turn to stop him. “I’m not trying to trap you. We should just stop before one of us gets hurt,” I said. Namely me, but my heart was already breaking. “Just let me know where I can sleep.”

  With his hand on the small of my back, he guided me up the stairs and into a room that held a huge bed with a leather footstool at the end. The only other furniture in the room was a tall chest. Stepping out of his reach, I headed for the open door that looked like a bathroom and shut myself in.

  I heard his retreating footsteps and the door to the bedroom close. Stripping, I got in the shower wondering if I would ever be the same. Finger brushing my teeth with toothpaste I found in a drawer, I stepped out into the empty room in a towel. The chest proved fruitful. This was Kalen’s room despite its impersonal nature. Slipping on a white tee shirt I found, I slipped under the covers and prayed for sleep.

  Sleep was as elusive as Kalen’s heart. I missed Lizzy so damn bad and had to fight from calling her. I didn’t want her to worry. Buried in the pillows, I smelled his familiar woodsy scent. With eyes closed for so long, I wondered if it were possible to sleep here. Just when I felt the tug of dreamland, arms tugged me close. Not wanting to talk but just enjoy this final time in his embrace, I continued my even breathing, drifting. Just before sleep claimed me, I swore I heard a murmur of words. “I can say I don’t think I can live without you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  It wasn’t the sun or a blare of an alarm that woke me. Instead, I just got up on instinct alone. He was gone like a ghost, and I couldn’t be sure he’d even been there holding me last night. My phone buzzed to life a few seconds later. Kalen.

  Reading several texts, he urged me to speak to my boss or go to the CEO of the company and explain what was going on if my boss wouldn’t listen. He told me that he would have a security company come to beef up the locks on Lizzy’s apartment because if he could so easily get in, so could someone else. He offered me to stay at his place, but I would decline that. It was clear things weren’t going to move any further between us. None of his texts mentioned us. The last text said my clothes were on the chair. I turned because I didn’t remember a chair in the room. The only furniture had been a chest. There was a flat screen mounted on the wall, but that was it.

  Rolling over, I saw the chair and my clothes neatly laid across it. My clothes. He’d gone to my apartment. Walking over there, he’d also brought me a matching bra and panty set from my drawer. The funniest thing about the outfit was that it was a pant suit he’d selected. Kalen had been super intent on me always wearing a dress or skirt. What was he saying with this outfit?

  Shrugging, I couldn’t think about it more. I just got dressed and walked to the kitchen where coffee, a bagel and fresh fruit he’d mentioned waited for me. Eating, I also knew his driver would be there to take me to work. However, I called a cab. This would be a clean break. With my dress folded up and pushed into my messenger bag, I headed out, not alerting his driver I was ready because I wouldn’t be using his services.

  When I walked into our workspace, Kevin was there. Goodie. He sported a shiner and I waited for him to tell me I was off the team or something, but he said nothing. Anna looked at me, but with us all in this room with no privacy I couldn’t tell her anything. So instead, I told them all about what happened Friday night.

  “No way,” Anna said.

  “Come on Bailey, that’s just not possible,” Kevin said, looking at me like I was a crack pot.

  “Are you calling me a liar?” I asked Kevin, because Jim, as usual, was quiet.

  “No, but-,” he began.

  “Well, I think we should report this.” My face let him know I wasn’t moving on this point. I wasn’t crazy. This happened. Someone was obviously telling me to stop my looking into this problem, which only made me a firm believer that I was on to something.

  Kevin got on his cell phone and Anna mouthed the word lunch. I nodded and stepped out of the room. I feared that Kevin wasn’t going to fully support me and that Kalen was right. I’d already gotten the main line phone number and called to speak to Mr. Glenn, the CEO of the company. It was privately held, but they had a board. However, I didn’t have time to request that the entire board get together. Who knew if this person would resort to violence next?

  “Mr. Glenn’s office,” his secretary said as I stood in the hallway near the bathroom on my cell.

  “Yes, I need to see Mr. Glenn today if at all possible.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Glenn has meetings scheduled all day. In fact, he’s booked for the week. Can I ask what this is in reference to?”

  I needed to see him and my
only way was through his secretary. So I had to tell her something. “My name is Bailey Glicks and I’m an auditor. I think I may have found some oddities on the books that I need to inform him about asap. I just need five minutes of his time.”

  She paused. “Give me a minute.”

  When the Muzak came on, I hoped he would be interested enough to give me some of his time. Going over my supervisor’s head may cost me my job, but I didn’t know what else to do. I could have called my former supervisor in Boston, but what could she do from there? I would, however, tell her what I’d done after I spoke to Mr. Glenn.

  Coming back on the line, his secretary said, “He’s in the middle of a conference call, but he can see you in fifteen minutes.”

  Nodding, I realized she couldn’t see me. “Okay, thanks.” And I hung up. Heading back to the room, Kevin was waiting for me.

  “Their IT department said something like that is highly unlikely. But they are going to look into it.”

  Time moved like molasses. My heart raced and I’d already saved my spreadsheet on a thumb drive, prepared to present it to the CEO. The picture of the guy had his hair all grey and a face sterner than my father’s. I could only hope he took me seriously. My dad didn’t look at women as powerful or smart enough to listen to, not even me. I seriously was betting on this man to trust what I found.

  When ten minutes passed, I got up and Kevin looked at me. “Where are you going?”

  “Bathroom,” I said. I lied, but there was no way I could tell him what I was doing.

  “Didn’t you just come from there?” he asked to my back as I exited our conference room. I didn’t bother to dignify that with an answer. I was an adult. He wasn’t my keeper. My boss, maybe, but even that was debatable.

  It didn’t take rocket science to know that the head man’s office was on the top floor. When it pinged, I was greeted by a woman in her thirties, hair pulled back smartly in a simple low knot. Her crisp suit made crinkle sounds as she moved.

  “Miss Glicks,” she said. I nodded. “Have a seat. He will be with you shortly.”

  I sat in one of the four leather chair arranged conversational style a ways from her desk. The only thing I’d brought with me was the thumb drive. So I turned it all about in my fingers as I waited nervously, playing out my speech in my head. I would be concise and to the point. I’d offer the thumb drive. If he thought I was some whack job, I would be looking for new employment. I’d just have to convince him. Despite the relatively small amounts taken from each account on a monthly basis, added all up over a years’ time it totaled a considerable amount across all accounts.

  There was a ping or a buzz and his secretary said, “He will see you now.”

  Standing, I straightened my jacket and took a deep breath. I stepped forward and opened the office door, closing it behind me. Taking another breath I turned and froze.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “Kalen,” I said, looking at him standing in front of the desk as if he’d risen to meet me. “What are you doing here? I can fight my own battles. I don’t need you to hand hold me to talk to Mr. Glenn.” My eyes narrowed. I stepped to the side to see that no one sat behind the desk. “Where is he?”

  “Bailey,” he said. Something in his voice held caution. With each time he said my name, and not Lass, it felt more final that our short love affair was over.

  “Kalen, this isn’t the time. I need to explain to Mr. Glenn this problem. You even said yourself I should.” My forehead wrinkled in my confusion. “How did you know where I worked?”

  “I didn’t,” he said. There was a pained expression on his face I didn’t understand, at first.

  “But,” then I saw it. The red blob hung on his wall. “Your name isn’t Woodrow Glenn, is it?” Even though the words tumbled out of my mouth, I knew otherwise.

  “No,” he said. “My name is Jeremy Kalen Brinner Glenn. Woody Glenn was my father.”

  And the world tilted on its axis. My back slid down the door of the office I’d been leaning on. Kalen rushed over. In a whisper, I said, “You lied to me.”

  “No, I didn’t tell you my full name because it was nice not having someone know who I was. I wanted to see if you’d like me as Kalen and not the son of a billionaire.”

  Billionaire. The word made my heart stop. I knew he was well off, like Lizzy, but billionaire? “Still you lied. Lizzy knew who you were. But I told her your name and she thought you were someone else.” There had been a Jeremy Glenn at her showing. And Kalen had been there.

  “Bailey, I never meant to lie to you. Women are always out to get me for what they think I have. Honestly, I didn’t believe you didn’t know who I was at first. But you didn’t.”

  “No,” I said, still finding it hard to breath. “How long have you known I worked here? Was this a game? Is everything you told me a lie?”

  “Lass, I had no idea you were an auditor here. I swear I didn’t know until my secretary cut into my conference call saying you needed to see me. And no, everything I told you was truth.” But how could I trust him?

  “And what are we going to do?” I asked, holding up the thumb drive. There was no need to explain about the potential fraud problems because I already had. And our relationship or whatever it was then was a problem because we’d crossed many boundaries in terms of my fiduciary independence in his audit.

  He stood and brought me to my feet. He kissed me like it was goodbye, holding me in his arm around my waist. His kiss was like fire and it said so many things. “I love you, Lass.”

  “What, wait, why are you saying it now?” I asked, confused by the look of sorrow on his face.

  “Because I need you to remember that.” And he walked me to a chair in front of his desk and made a call. In a matter of minutes, his top in-house counsel was in the office sitting in the chair as I recanted what I found and Kalen filled in the bit about how we didn’t know about each other’s work place.

  The man looked at me and asked, “You can honestly tell me that you didn’t know who he was?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “John,” Kalen warned. “Trust me, she didn’t know.”

  “What, did you find her under a rock? You’re in the news,” the man said, sounding contrite.

  I didn’t like that he was talking about me like I wasn’t there. “No, I don’t read or watch the news that often. It’s depressing.”

  “Okay fine,” he said, holding up a hand. “Say I believe you two. You said you guys went out. How did either of you not find out you were in the same office?”

  Opening my mouth, Kalen beat me to it. “I constantly have meetings outside of the office. We never met at her work place. I’ve explained this to you.”

  “Well, you know you two can’t see each other now. The auditor that found this problem,” he waved a hand over in my direction then at my spreadsheet, which Kalen had pulled up on his monitor. “And the head of the company. The FBI is going to have to get involved in order to follow the money trail.” When Kalen didn’t answer, the lawyer said, “Jeremy.”

  It was so strange to hear him being called by another name. “We ended things yesterday.” Kalen looked at me as if to say I’m sorry. And I got it. He’d confessed his feeling to me because he knew we wouldn’t be allowed to be together.

  “No more contact,” the lawyer warned. “No email, phone or any contact at all.”

  My day and chastisement didn’t end there. My supervisor and the partner in charge of this engagement were brought in. I had to explain the whole sordid affair again along with my findings. It didn’t help that Kevin was there. Thankfully, he didn’t mention the fist. That would have only complicated things further.

  Even though I would be a hero if I’d discovered fraud, I was placed on administrative leave. And the team would be replaced and the audit started from scratch. I was admonished again and warned to keep my distance from Kalen.

  In the conference room, Anna and Jim were already gone by the time I came to get my things.
But Kevin was there moments later. “Trying to sleep your way to the top, I should have known.”

  “If you don’t stay away from me, I’ll give you a matching black eye.” Proudly, I walked out of the room and headed home. But that wasn’t my final destination. Four hours later, in my rental car, I pulled up to the security gate.

  “Bailey, long time no see,” a guy I grew up with said.

  “Hi, Samuel.”

  “Go on ahead,” he said, raising the gate. We lived a simple life, but curiosity about the Amish had brought reporters and other people to our door even though we weren’t Amish. Darn close, if you asked me. We lived for the most part without modern conveniences. Our community was based on old traditions and very old fashion values. Women’s roles were far from progressive. And the jeans I wore wouldn’t be allowed.

  As I drove to my parents’ home, I thought about my call to Lizzy. She’d been supportive and tried to convince me to come to Chicago. She even tried to talk me into giving her brother a shot. But another man wasn’t what I needed. I hadn’t gotten over the one I had. He’d told me he loved me, and what was I suppose to do with that information?

  Pulling up onto the grass because cars weren’t a common sight there, I got out the car, noticing that a man stood working on the front window. Before I got my bag out of the trunk, that man turned. And it was like time had frozen. He hadn’t changed a bit. He was as handsome as the last time I saw him. “Turner.”

  “Bailey,” he said. And my heart stopped.

  <<<<>>>>

  PART TWO ~ Balance Sheet Series ~ LIABILITIES

  WILL BE OUT LATE SPRING/EARLY SUMMER 2013

  Liabilities reduce asset value. And right now, Bailey assumes her assets are worthless and her liabilities endless. Put on a leave of absence and required to stay away from Kalen, she heads to the only place she knows. Home.