The Miami Millionaire

by Dawn Tamayo

  “No wait.” Mark thought for a moment, it wasn’t a bad deal she was offering. That along with the knowledge of what Creative Technology Holdings was about to release he would be able to buy a large number of shares in CT Holdings and in a few weeks time the share prices would rocket sky high and he would make a huge amount of money there too.

  “Okay Victoria you have a deal.”

  Victoria sighed feeling relief rush through her. She didn’t waste a minute and walked across to the house phone and dialled the concierge.

  “Good evening, do you have an in-house lawyer we can use to have a basic agreement drawn up straight away.”

  “Yes Madam, we have a twenty four hour legal service here in the hotel, they are situated in the business suite on the second floor. Would you like me to arrange for someone to come up to your room to take instructions?”

  “No thank you, we will go there.” Victoria put the phone down and turned back to Mark, “Okay let’s go.”

  “Where to?” Mark said as he picked up the file.

  “To the business suite, we are having this agreement drawn up right now and I will sign the house across to you at the same time.”

  Mark looked like the cat who got the cream.

  “But first give me the file. You have my word, but I want the file now.”

  Mark handed the cream file across to Victoria and she took it feeling relieved to have it finally in her hands. She opened it up and checked all the paperwork was in there, and thankfully it was. She closed it again and walked to the door.

  “After this Mark I don’t ever want to hear from you again.” Victoria opened the suite door and walked out into the corridor.

  ****

  Jake’s meetings had gone on all afternoon and finally the last board member left just before seven o’clock. He had been looking forward to dinner tonight with Victoria, so when Andrea discretely passed him a note whilst taking in some fresh coffee for his meeting, telling him Victoria had to cancel their dinner plans tonight, he was disappointed.

  “Thanks for staying until the end, I know it’s late.” Jake said as he looked at his watch.

  “No problem Jake.”

  He knew Andrea didn’t mind working late sometimes, he paid her well and gave her fantastic Christmas bonuses and birthday presents in return.

  “What did Victoria say? Did she come by?”

  “Yes it was about an hour ago, just before I brought the note into you. She said there was something she had to attend to so she couldn’t make tonight, but she would call you later.”

  Jake thought that was strange - he thought Victoria was free tonight and she was looking forward to their dinner at Romeo’s, but then again he knew only too well how things came up at the last minute.

  Andrea closed down her computer and Jake closed his office door. They walked out of the building together.

  “So what are you going to do tonight instead?” Andrea asked as they rode down the escalator.

  “Chill out with a beer and catch a game on the television. I will grab some food from a drive-through on my way home.” Jake shrugged, he was hoping Victoria would finish whatever she had to do and still make it back to his apartment later.

  Jake sat in front of his huge television watching the Miami Dolphins slaughter their opponents on the American football pitch. He had finished his Mexican chicken and rice with black beans and his ice cold beer was washing it down nicely. He cheered again as the Dolphins scored a touchdown and reached for his phone as it rang.

  “Mr Cumberland, this is Bruno from Security.”

  Jake reached for the remote control and turned down the television. He hadn’t been expecting to hear from Bruno tonight – Jake had phoned his head of security just before Mark left his offices and instructed someone to follow Mark and keep an eye on what he was doing. Something hadn’t sat right with Jake, he didn’t know why Mark needed to bring some paperwork all the way across to Miami when he could easily have e-mailed it across, so his gut instinct told him to have the man checked out, and Bruno had been assigned to the job.

  “Hey Bruno, what’s going on?”

  “Sorry to disturb you but I thought you would want to see something. I am sending some pictures across to your phone right now which I think you should take a look at.”

  “Okay.” Jake said as he heard the pinging of the pictures arriving on his phone.

  “I followed Mark Cavendish when he left the building, and he went to the Four Seasons Hotel. I checked with the hotel and he is staying there in room 586. He stayed at the hotel for about forty five minutes and then he went out and stopped at a few shops.”

  “Did he meet up with anyone?”

  “No sir, he just bought a few items in the shops and then headed back to the hotel. However, I have been keeping an eye on his room and he left to go to dinner just before eight o’clock where he went up to the Terrace restaurant.”

  Jake was listening wondering why Bruno needed to phone and tell him that nothing was going on, he could have done that tomorrow. And then he realised why Bruno was calling.

  “Just after eight o’clock Mr Cavendish was joined by a woman.”

  “Wait a moment.” Jake put Bruno on pause and swiped his hand across his phone sending the photographs from his phone onto the large television screen in front of him.

  Jake sat back and exhaled loudly as he looked at photographs of Victoria sitting at the dining table with Mark Cavendish. She looked as gorgeous as always with her bright red hair hanging lose over her simple black cotton shirt and black trousers. Jake swiped through the photographs and paused as he looked at the images of Mark and Victoria standing over the dining table both with their hands on a cream file. He then swiped through more photographs showing Mark walking off and Victoria following behind him.

  Jake got Bruno back on the phone. He didn’t need to ask the question but he needed to be 100 percent certain. “The woman in the photographs, is that Victoria Pembrose?”

  “Yes Sir, and these are the photographs I took a few minutes ago.”

  Another pinging noise sounded in Jake’s ear and the photographs appeared on his television screen in front of him, and then he felt sick as he saw the back of Mark and Victoria walking along the elegant corridor of the Four Seasons hotel, and finally the photographs of Mark holding a room door open and Victoria walking through it.

  Sickness and rage flowed through Jake’s mind and body as he stood up.

  “Did you say this was just a few minutes ago?”

  “Yes sir.” Bruno said, “I am still at the Four Seasons. They have just gone into room 586.”

  “I will be there in ten minutes.” Jake reached for his car keys and ran out the door leaving the television screen on with the photograph of Victoria walking into Mark’s hotel room.

  Jake pulled up his Maserati at the Four Seasons hotel and handed his keys over for the valet to park his car. He walked swiftly with purpose through the grand lobby and straight into the lift. He didn’t wait for the young lift attendant to push a button but pressed the fifth floor button swiftly followed by the close door button. Bruno was waiting at the end of the fifth floor hallway for him, and by all account Victoria was still in a bedroom with Mark and had been there for the last fifteen minutes. Each and every minute of the short drive across from Jake’s apartment had been pure torture for him. If Mark had treated Victoria so badly and he was her ex-fiancé then why was she having dinner with him, and why was she in his suite with him? Jake couldn’t understand it and could only think of one reason, that Victoria had lied to him. His only question now was how much Victoria had lied – was she still in love with Mark Cavendish, and was she still engaged to him? Sadness engulfed him at the mere thought of it, but he needed to know.

  Jake walked out of the lift and up to Bruno. He looked at Bruno questioningly.

  “The two of them are still in there. It has been about fifteen minutes. It’s the third door along on the left.”

  “Thank you Bruno.
I will take it from here.”

  “Do you want me to stay?”

  “No thank you.” Jake said not taking his eyes away from the door to room 586.

  “Good night Mr Cumberland.” Bruno said as he walked off back to the lift.

  Jake walked slowly along the corridor. He didn’t know what he was going to do, he didn’t have a plan, but whatever he was going to do was going to have to start with knocking on door 586 to find out what was going on inside that room. Jake paused past the first doorway and tried to compose himself ignoring the burning pain searing through his chest. Just as he was readying himself to walk on he saw the door to room 586 fly open and Victoria walk out.

  For a moment Jake almost didn’t believe what he saw. He knew Victoria was going to be there, he had seen the photographs, but until he saw her with his own eyes he didn’t want to believe it. And now here she was, his beautiful sweet Victoria, walking out of Mark’s hotel room looking flushed.

  At first Victoria didn’t register the tall man dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt in the corridor, she was too pre-occupied as she rushed out the door calling for Mark to hurry up behind her. But then the sound of her name from a familiar voice made her stop in her tracks and look ahead. Her heart sunk through the floor as she saw Jake standing there in front of her.

  “Victoria?” Jake stood still fixed to the spot as he looked Victoria up and down.

  “Jake!” Victoria said, visibly shocked. She could hear Mark coming out of his hotel room behind her and she willed him to just go back inside and stay there.

  “What are you doing here Vicky?” Jake was sure he didn’t want to know the answer but he couldn’t help asking anyway.

  Mark stepped into the corridor behind Victoria and stopped short as he saw Jake standing in front of them looking like a man who was about to commit murder. Quickly he stepped back into his hotel room and closed the door behind him.

  “Well?” Jake wanted an answer, no matter what it was.

  “Jake I can explain this to you, but I need you to trust me right now and know that this isn’t what it looks like.” How the hell was Jake standing there in the corridor outside Mark’s room? What was he doing there?

  “Really?” Jake laughed cynically, “You mean I shouldn’t be upset about this? I know we haven’t had the chat about being exclusive with one another but after our talk the other day, about spending more time together, I thought we didn’t need to. I thought you weren’t that type of woman.”

  “I am not!” Victoria said hurt and frustrated. She wanted to explain everything but the minute she did then she would most likely lose Jake, and her job. Right now maybe she could just explain to Jake that she was here for some papers, maybe that would work. Surely he had to know she wouldn’t be here for anything more than business, or money, with Mark.

  “What’s that?” Jake asked looking at the cream folder in Victoria’s hand.

  Victoria was silent, she had forgotten about the file in her hand and there it was in blatant view for Jake to see. She looked down at the file and she knew he recognised the folder from her office, he was the one who gave it to her, and now she didn’t know what to say. She was going to have to explain it all to Jake and she had no idea how he was going to take it.

  Before Victoria had a chance to answer, Jake walked up to her and grabbed the file out from her hands and opened it looking inside. As he looked inside the file Jake saw all the information on his latest products soon to be released in the USA and London, the most confidential of all his information which should have been locked in her drawer in her office. His mind flipped back to the photograph of Mark and Victoria at the table and them holding the file he now had in his hands.

  “Why is this file here?” Jake shouted holding out the file in one hand, then he turned away and ran his free hand through his hair and said to himself, “I don’t even need to ask this question do I? I can’t believe I have been so stupid!” Jake tried to slow his breathing but his chest felt like it was going to explode. He didn’t think he had ever been so angry in his entire life. Angry and hurt!

  “The file was stolen from my office and I was trying to get it back.”

  “What? What a load of rubbish.” Jake shouted back at Victoria, “You and lover-boy were stealing it. Who are you going to meet now? Which one of my competitors were you planning to sell this to?”

  “What? No Jake that’s not it, I promise.”

  “Oh save me the, “it’s not like this”, story. I don’t want to hear it. Now I know what that fiancé of yours was doing at the office today, he was sneaking the file out for you.”

  “Ex-fiancé Jake! No that’s not true. Yes he did take the file, but not because we planned it that way.”

  Jake threw his arms up into the air and turned his back on Victoria and strode away at full speed down the corridor.

  “Jake! Wait, you must listen to me. Please!” Victoria said running after him. She caught up with him at the lift but when he turned around she stepped back seeing the hurt and anger in his eyes.

  As soon as Jake opened his mouth and the stone cold words came out Victoria knew she had lost him.

  “Victoria, I have met some materialistic women in my time but you really beat them all hands down. I thought New York women were tough, certainly tougher than the Miami ones, but you? Well you make them all look like pussy cats. I think you are more along the lines of a black widow spider. I fell for it – for you, for us. And it was an act all along. You have been playing me and you nearly got away with it.”

  “Jake no that’s not true, I promise!”

  “Don’t interrupt me!” Jake didn’t want to hear one word from Victoria. “You really are something and trust me I don’t mean it in a good way! You and that so called ex-fiancé of yours are well suited together. But even then I think I would be tempted to warn even him, no man is safe with you. I have to hand it to you, I never saw this coming and I fell for it big time.” He stopped short of telling her how much he had fallen in love with her in the short time they had spent together, because he didn’t want her to know just how much she had crushed his heart.

  Jake’s words cut like a knife through Victoria. How could he possibly believe that something was going on with her and Mark, that was crazy! And the file Jake now held in his hands, how could he believe she was responsible for stealing it and trying to sell it to a competitor? She wasn’t and she had nothing to do with it being stolen, she was just trying to get it back from Mark who had stolen it. Victoria knew she had to explain everything to Jake but first she still had to worry about Mark selling the information to one of Jake’s competitors, he didn’t have the hard copy of the file but Victoria didn’t know if he had taken copies or photographs from the file, and she hadn’t yet managed to get him to sign a confidentiality agreement.

  “Jake I really need to explain everything to you but there is something I must do right now.”

  “Don’t worry Vicky because I don’t want to hear anything you have to say anyway.” And with that Jake walked back into the lift. Seeing the look in Jake’s eyes Victoria didn’t follow.

  As the lift doors closed Victoria tried to hold back the tears which threatened to fall. She took a deep breath and willed her feet to move back in the direction of Mark’s hotel room. She had to get him to sign the confidentiality agreement now - everything else would probably change now, but this couldn’t, she had to make it right. Victoria walked back to Mark’s hotel room and banged on the door loudly.

  “Mark Cavendish get your sorry arse out here now. We have a legal agreement to draw up and I don’t have time to waste.”

  Mark opened the door and checked the corridor was empty except for Victoria, then stepped out.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Victoria phoned Jake so many times she had lost count, but he didn’t answer even one of her calls. Finally giving up with the telephone she tried to visit him at his apartment but the concierge informed her Jake was not home. She didn’t know whether to
believe the man or not, but either way she wasn’t going to be seeing Jake tonight so she went back to her hotel.

  As Victoria lay in her hotel bed her tears flowed freely, and she fell asleep on the damp pillows under her head.

  When she woke up in the morning Victoria felt anything but her usual refreshed self. Today her heart ached knowing what Jake must be thinking about her, and she was consumed with guilt for even unknowingly letting Mark put her in this position. She should never have left him unattended in her office, but she never thought he would stoop so low as to go through her drawers and steal her confidential papers, and then blackmail her with them.

  Victoria dragged herself out of the bed and showered. She put on her favourite skinny black trousers and a simple white linen shirt finished off with a thin red belt to match her red stiletto shoes. Clipping her hair back in a low ponytail she looked at herself in the mirror, her subtle make-up just about hid the dark circles under her eyes, and she decided it would have to do - she needed to get to the office to speak to Jake.

  As Victoria walked through the empty reception she looked at her watch realising she was earlier than she thought and the receptionists hadn’t started work yet. It was just as well as hopefully Jake hadn’t had time to ban her from the office, which she wouldn’t put it past him if he was convinced she really had tried to steal from him. She swiftly walked to the lift and went past the floor to her office and straight up to Jake’s floor. As the lift doors opened she found no one around and Andrea’s desk empty. Victoria walked up to Jake’s office door and knocked on it - even though it was early she still hoped he would be there since he sometimes liked to start work early when no one was around to disturb him, but there was no answer. When she tried the door handle Victoria found it locked. Deflated she took a seat outside Jake’s office and decided to wait, there was nothing else she could do.