by Ellie Danes
“There is?”
She nodded. “There is. I'll invest. I'll give you the capital you need.”
This was great news—but I could tell that this was no offer borne of simple generosity, kindness, or sympathy.
“And what do you want to ask me for in return?” I asked.
She smiled slyly. “Thirty-three percent of the company.”
“Whoa, Aunt Barbara, that's...that's asking a lot.”
“I know. I'll own the company in equal shares to you and your friend. But think about how good a partner I would be. I have almost unlimited funding. I can provide you with whatever you may need, any time you need capital for new developments. And when the business community learns that I have such confidence in your company that I've invested heavily in it, think about how investor confidence will shoot through the roof.”
What she was saying was right. I had to admit that. But a whole third ownership? That was a tall order.
“I can get the capital you need tomorrow morning, Everett. You can have it right away. It's ready, waiting for you. I can have my lawyers draft an agreement tonight. All your problems can be solved with one stroke of a pen. Think about it.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Aunt Barbara. It's a more than generous offer. Can I just have twenty-four hours before I give you an answer?”
“That's fine. Call me tomorrow evening and tell me what you've decided to do.”
“I'll do that. We'll talk tomorrow.”
* * * * *
I had been thinking about my aunt's offer all day—but I had also been thinking about something else all day—or rather, someone else. I couldn't get my mind off Marie. But she still hadn't replied to my last message, and while I had tried to call her earlier, she hadn’t answered her phone. I had to wonder what was going on here. Had I done something to offend her? I mean, why had she just seemingly cut me off like this? What was happening?
I had decided to take my aunt's offer. I had to, really. Giving up the Ironwood and a bunch of cars was a move of desperation, a last resort tactic. And my aunt had offered me a way out. It wasn't a way that I would have chosen if I had had other practical options—but I didn't. I didn't have any other options at this point. I had to do this.
I got in my car around seven, intending to drive to my aunt's place to sign the papers to cement the deal. As I was driving, though, a thought crossed my mind. I had to find out what was going on with Marie. I just couldn't get her off my mind. We had had such an amazing time together on our date, and I just couldn't understand what might have caused her to cut me off like this.
I would stop at her place in person. Yes. Then she would have to tell me exactly what was going on.
I drove over to her place and parked out front. I drew in a deep breath and walked up to the door and knocked on it.
She opened it with a smile—and then saw it was me, and a look of shock flashed across her face. This look soon turned to embarrassment, and she blushed heavily. She was looking gorgeous, and she was all dressed up and made up as if she was about to go out somewhere.
“Marie, hi,” I said, feeling a little awkward myself. “You look absolutely stunning.”
“Thank you, Jace,” she murmured. “Or should I say, Everett J. Cooper IV?” She fired a sudden, accusatory stare into my eyes.
I nodded. “So, you know.”
“Of course, I know. Did you think I wasn't going to find out?”
“No. I was going to tell you, I just—”
“You just thought that it would be better to lie to me about your background, instead. Jace isn’t even your name.”
“No!” I protested. “I wasn't lying. Jace isn't some made up name. My middle name is Jason, so Jace has been my nickname ever since I was a kid. Everyone calls me that, all right? I never use 'Everett' unless I'm signing official documents and stuff. Look, I'm sorry that I didn't mention my full name earlier, but we were having such a wonderful time getting to know each other, just as two people without the baggage that comes with, you know, who I am, and—”
A car horn blaring in the street cut me off and caused both of us to turn and look out. A red Lamborghini had pulled up, and out of it stepped Cory Burton, dressed in a suit.
“You ready to go, Marie?” he called out. “And what the hell is he doing here?”
“I'm sorry, Jace,” she said, looking away from me and refusing to make eye contact. “I have to go.”
“Marie, wait, please, we have to talk, we—”
She locked her apartment door and pushed past me, still not looking at me. Then she ran down to Cory's car and climbed in.
“She doesn't want to speak to you, Cooper,” said Cory, a smug smile on his face. “She's done with you.”
He got into his car, slammed the door, and they sped off.
I hung my head with disappointment and trudged over to my car. So, that was that. It was over. It was all over. With sadness suffocating me, I drove off in silence.
Chapter 21
Marie
I had almost had a heart attack when I opened the door and saw Jace standing there instead of Cory. I was utterly stunned, so taken aback that I could hardly speak. But then we did speak, and while I still felt a tremendously powerful attraction toward him, I also felt that same anger about him withholding the truth from me.
Thankfully, before a full-blown argument could break out between us, Cory showed up to pick me up for our date. When Jace saw Cory standing there and put two and two together to figure out what was happening, such a look of defeat and sadness and betrayal—yes, there was betrayal too in that look—came across his face that I thought that my heart would just crumble to dust. Suddenly I felt as if I was making a gigantic mistake. I knew, in fact, that I was making a huge mistake. But the wheels had been set in motion and all I wanted to do at this point was to get away from this awful situation.
I pushed past Jace without saying another word to him, hoping that he wouldn't see the tears now running down my cheeks, and ran to Cory's car. I climbed in and heard Cory yelling to Jace, but I was too distraught to pay any attention to what he said.
He got into the car and grinned smugly at me. “You look smokin' hot, wow. I'm a lucky guy to—”
“Just drive, Cory, please. Get me out of here.”
“Your wish is my command, hot stuff,” he said.
He floored the accelerator and the Lamborghini surged forward with screaming, smoking tires, and I felt myself being pressed into the seat with the force of the acceleration.
“You upset about that chump?” he said, glancing over and noticing the sadness in my eyes and the thin trail of tears on my cheeks.
“Just forget about it, Cory,” I murmured. “I don't want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, well I don't either. He's a loser, and so are you if you think he's worth crying over.”
Wow. That struck me as particularly insensitive, but I could tell from his tone that there was a strong undercurrent of jealousy as well. He really felt threatened by Jace, didn't he?
I was starting to regret going on this date. In fact, I could hardly believe that I had agreed to it. It had been a silly thing to do, a ridiculously silly thing to do. I wasn't attracted to this jackass at all! The only reason I’d even done this was because I’d been mad at Jace. I felt like such a fool.
A message came through on Cory's phone, and as he unlocked the phone to look at the message I happened to notice that his lock-screen pin code was 1777. I didn't mean to take note of it, but he had done it right in front of me, and I had an almost photographic memory when it came to numbers. I knew instantly that I'd probably remember his pin code forever.
We pulled up to the restaurant where Cory had reserved seats, a French restaurant that had been getting rave reviews.
We got out at the entrance. Cory gave his keys to the valet to park the car, and then we headed in.
“Great place,” remarked Cory. “I love the ambiance.”
“Yeah, it's nice,” I mur
mured.
A waiter led us to our table and we took a seat. Cory stared at me for a while, licking his lips subtly.
“Mmm,” he commented, “you look so, so fine! Damn!”
The waiter came over and asked if we wanted any drinks.
“Bring us the most exclusive bottle of dry red wine you have, garçon,” Cory instructed. “And hurry up about it, all right? You aren't getting paid to hang out in the kitchen and screw around on your phone, like all you chumps do.”
Rudeness to a waiter was yet another turn-off, and another reason I was regretting coming on this stupid date.
After the waiter left, Cory stood up. “I just need to hit the men's room,” he said. “I'll be back in a sec.”
He walked off. Just about the time he disappeared into the men's room on the other side of the restaurant, his phone buzzed where he’d left it on the table. A sudden sting of temptation ripped through me. I knew his pin code—I could easily look at the message. I knew that I shouldn't, but I couldn’t help wondering if he was as big of an ass all the time or if there was even a nugget of goodness in him. Curiosity got the better of me.
I quickly reached across and grabbed the phone. I hit the pin code—1777—and unlocked it. I felt a rush of guilty heat flood through my body, but a savage little thrill of delight sped through me too as I opened the message. I glanced over at the men’s bathroom door then looked back to the phone.
It was an email from a guy named Samuel. Nothing unusual about that. It was the subject line that really caught my attention, though. Cooper is going down. Breath held, I opened it and started reading, all while stealing glances toward the restroom to make sure I wouldn’t get caught.
“Hey bro,” it said, “so first we took down E's company, and now you're taking his girl out? I gotta say, badass move. You better nail her tonight man. I'll be disappointed if you don't. Cooper is a loser, and you've just about crushed him totally now! And when that old hag, Barbara, buys into his company, you and she will be able to take it over with what we've got planned next. I can't wait to see the look on Cooper’s face when he’s tossed out of his own company. Remember though, you owe me big time for what I did. I'm still waiting on that 20k. Just a friendly reminder—but keep me waiting any longer and the next reminder won't be so friendly. You know what I'm capable of.”
My heart began pounding as I realized whom this guy was talking about. The “E” he was referring to had to be Jace—it had to be! I glanced up to see if Cory had come out of the bathroom yet. He hadn't, so I scrolled up, looking through some of the other emails.
My blood went cold as I found one from the same guy sent on the night of Matthew's accident.
“I managed to slip the drugs into White's beer. Worked like a charm—he's reeling all over the place and can hardly keep his eyes open. I've challenged him to a race, and in his inebriated state the dumbass accepted. Everything is going according to plan. I guarantee you he’s going down and it’s going to be spectacular.”
The next message was even more chilling. I reached into my purse for my phone as I read.
“He wrapped his car around a tree. It was really too easy. Mission accomplished. You can move on to the next phase of your plan.”
I snapped a picture of each email with my phone. I looked up as I snapped the last one and saw Cory walking out of the restroom. My heart pounded madly in my chest as I tried to mark the most recent email to appear unread. My blood shivered through my veins as I managed to shut down the app and throw my napkin over the phone so I could slide it back to its original spot on the table before Cory could see what I was doing.
I had to let Jace know what was going on right away.
“Well, now that that's taken care of,” Cory said as he sat down, “we should probably—”
I stood up swiftly, slipping my phone back into my clutch.
“I have to go to the bathroom, too,” I stammered. “Didn’t want to leave the table until you got back,” I forced a smile and then rushed off to the bathroom. I hurried inside, locked myself in a stall, and then recorded a Quickchat and sent it to Jace.
“Jace, I'm so, so sorry!” I said. “I just went out with this jerk because I was mad at you, but that's not important right now. What is important is that you do not make a deal with your aunt! I have some evidence that this deal isn’t what you think it is. They’ve been conspiring against you the whole time. Whatever you do, do not make a deal with her! And I'm sorry…for all of this.”
I hit the send option and then waited in suspense for a response.
“Come on, Jace, come on,” I whispered. “Please look at the message, please, please.”
A reply came through, and I opened the Quickchat with shaking fingers.
“I'm in my aunt's driveway now,” he said, his face just as handsome as ever and mostly blocking the view of an ornately landscaped garden, “and I was about to call her to let her know that I was here when your message came through. Are you sure about this evidence? And . . . are you in a bathroom stall?”
I recorded a quick reply. “Yes, I’m in the bathroom. I needed some privacy. But we can talk about that later. I am absolutely sure. If you can come and get me from the restaurant, I can show you.” I hit send and waited.
He replied right away. “Tell me what restaurant, and I'll be right there.”
I replied with the name of the restaurant and what road it was on. He responded that he could make it in less than five minutes. I didn't want to face Cory, much less be subjected to anymore of his disgusting behavior, so I decided to just wait out the time in the bathroom instead. After a few minutes had passed I got a message from Jace saying that he had just pulled into a parking space in front of the restaurant.
I walked out of the bathroom and headed straight over to the table. Cory beamed a satisfied grin at me as I approached, but I knew that smug smile of his was about to be wiped right off his face.
When I reached the table, I didn’t sit down. Instead, I announced, “You know, Cory, I’ve given it some thought and this isn’t going to work out.”
A look of total shock spread across his face. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, here’s the thing. You’re kind of a douche bag. You’re rude and arrogant for reasons I really don’t understand. Not to mention a few other things I really don’t care to say in a public setting. So, with that said, this date is over. I'm leaving.”
“But how the hell do you think you’re getting home?”
“Jace is waiting for me outside. Goodbye.” I turned and walked briskly away.
“Hey! Hey, come back here! You can't just leave!”
His argument faded away as I pushed on the front door of the restaurant. Once outside, I saw Jace waiting for me in a silver Maserati. A surge of emotion pulsed through me just at the sight of him. Part of it was sheer elation, but part of it was also guilt that I’d gone out with Cory tonight. Still, as soon as he saw me, he flashed me a huge smile filled with genuine warmth.
I moved quickly over to the car, unable to suppress my own smile.
“Come on, get in,” he said as he opened the door for me.
I climbed into the passenger side. When he got in, our eyes locked and we just gazed at each other for a few moments.
“Jace, I'm so sorry,” I began, but he held up a hand to cut me off.
“No, I'm sorry,” he said. “I should have been honest with you from the beginning. I just—I just wanted us to get to know each other without the baggage that comes with my name. I’ve been burned badly in the past. But that's no excuse. I should have—”
I leaned across and planted my lips on his, kissing him with enthusiasm. He pressed his mouth back to mine passionately, and for a few fiery moments, the rest of the world didn’t exist. When we disengaged, we were both breathing heavily.
“You don't need to say anything else,” I said, my forehead still touching his. “I misjudged you, and I was wrong. Let's leave it at that.”
He nodded. �
��Thank you, Marie,” he said. “That means a lot. I guess you need to tell me about this evidence you've discovered.”
I took out my phone and opened the photos I had taken of Cory’s emails. Jace read through them and his face paled with shock—but at the same time, his eyes brightened with a deep, raging fury.
“That son of a bitch,” he growled. “He set us up! And my aunt, she was involved in this too! I can hardly believe it. And to think I was about to sign a third of my company away to her! Wow. Just wow.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“First, we need to take these photos to the cops. What these guys did to Matthew—slipping some sort of drug into his drink and then getting him to race his car while under the influence of those drugs—that's attempted murder. And while they may not have been the ones to do the deed, if we can prove that Cory and my aunt were involved, they'll be charged as co-conspirators. This is huge, Marie, crazy huge. It's…it's unbelievable. I could see that snake Cory being behind this, but my Aunt Barbara...” His voice trailed off as a tortured look came into his eyes.
“Well, I mean no offense, but she's not exactly the nicest person in the world.”
He nodded sadly. “I know. You're right. And when my family was going through tough financial times—which was most of my childhood—she didn't lift a finger to help, even with all her billions. Actually, now that I think about it, I guess I'm really not shocked. In fact, I'm not surprised at all.”
“I'm still sorry, though,” I offered, taking his hand and squeezing it gently in mine.
“Don't be sorry. As tragic as all of this is, it would have been much worse if I had signed those papers tonight. So much worse. You saved me, and you saved my company too. As much as I hate to say this, I’m glad you went out with the dirtbag because you were mad at me. I don't know how to thank you.”
“Don't worry about that right now. I’m sure we’ll find a way to work something out,” I said with a smile. “Come on, let's go tell the police about what we've uncovered. You might want to call your lawyer too.”
“I’ll call him on the way.”
