“Ooh, so there is someone special in your life?”
“No. I dated Mark briefly,” I informed her somewhat sheepishly.
“Oh. Like, Mark-Mark? Don’t take this the wrong way, but…why?”
I snickered. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. Let’s just write it off as bad judgment on my part, okay? Speaking of bad judgment, after Mark there was…someone else.” I hadn’t talked to anyone about Hayden and I found myself wanting to confide in Mina. Maybe it would be good to talk through all the drama with someone.
“Details, I need details!” Mina insisted. Lowering her voice to a conspiratorial level, she asked, “Was he tall, dark, rich and handsome?”
Hesitatingly, I admitted, “Actually, yes. But he’s also a complete jackass,” I added quickly. “He might also be mentally unbalanced, I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. It’s over between us.” I already knew that, of course, but saying the words aloud made it seem so terribly final. Inexplicably, it pained me.
“Boo, guys suck,” Mina grumbled. “Or at least they did back when I was actually dating. Ugh. I love my kid to death but sometimes I miss those days of being a student hanging out on campus all day and partying all night, you know?”
I didn’t know, but I murmured something that indicated agreement. As I thought back to our days in grad school, I remembered something. “Hey Mina, this is a random question but didn’t you work part-time in the administration office one semester?” I asked. “You helped with payroll or something, right?”
“Yeah, I did. It was completely boring but it paid pretty decently for part-time work. Why?”
Pausing, I considered how much I wanted to tell her. I wasn’t keen on admitting I’d been snooping through Mark’s emails, but at this point I figured I’d just lay it all out there. It wasn’t as though it really mattered anyway – as it turned out, Mark and I would likely both be out of a job by the end of the semester. Now I was mostly just curious.
“Can you think of any reason why Mark would have confidential information from the accounting department in his email inbox?” I asked. “It was like…charts with expense claims and the annual budget and some other stuff. I don’t know exactly. Is there any reason a sessional instructor would be sent that type of stuff?”
“What? No, absolutely not,” Mina replied immediately. “The college has super strict policies about that sort of thing. Even though I worked on payroll there were some things that even I wasn’t allowed to access…although that didn’t always stop me because my boss was lazy and had me do her work for her. But technically, no one except a handful of people in the accounting department is supposed to see that stuff.”
Well that was strange.
“It was in his inbox?” she asked, barely able to mask her disbelief.
“Yeah, it was.”
“Mark’s always been kind of underhanded if you ask me,” Mina offered. “One time I’m pretty sure I caught him cheating off me during an exam. And there was a rumor floating around that he hacked into the college’s server and changed his grade after he bombed an exam,” she added. “It was just a rumor but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was true.”
“Huh.” I’d always assumed Mark was spending all that time online playing video games, but maybe he was up to more than that. Maybe the video games were just a cover for more devious activities. “I wonder why he’d have that information.”
“I dunno. Is it this year’s budget?” she asked curiously. “Is it a draft or the final one?”
“I’m not sure. To me it’s just a bunch of numbers and columns with a few labels. But then I don’t even do my own taxes,” I laughed. “Hey Mina, I have a favor to ask but it’s totally okay if you say no. I’m sure you’re really busy…”
“I’m not!” she interjected. “My days consist of scraping spaghetti off the walls and listening to the kiddo screech. Please, ask me to do something grownup! You have no idea how nice it is to just talk to an adult! Whatever it is, yes, I’ll do it!”
I chuckled. I hadn’t realized how much I missed Mina until she was no longer a part of my day-to-day life. She’d been a good friend to me during our college years, and not just because she proofread my papers for me. It was a little sad to think our lives had taken such completely different directions, but I was glad to have an excuse to maintain contact with her.
“Can I email you the budget stuff I came across?” I asked hopefully as I picked up the wad of paper and stuck it in my scanner. I knew I could trust Mina to be discreet and if anyone could help me make sense of the financial information I’d come across, it was her. “I’m mostly just curious to know what it is and why Mark would have it.”
“Ooh, revenge of the ex,” she giggled. “Ugh, I still can’t believe you ever dated Mark, Daniella! I’m not letting you live that down any time soon, ha-ha. And yes, by all means send it to me! I’m happy to help!”
After I hung up I couldn’t help it: I checked to see if I had any more voicemails from Hayden. I expected there to be multiple messages, but to my surprise there were none. Huh. A small part of me couldn’t help but be disappointed. But I tried to remind myself it was for the best.
Hayden Slate, it seemed, was nothing but bad news and the fewer toxic people I had in my life, the better.
Chapter 05
That Friday was an eventful one.
Mina called me bright and early as I was getting ready for work. She sounded breathless. “Hi! I’m sorry to phone you so early but I wanted to catch you before you were busy teaching or something,” she said. Then in a singsong voice she trilled, “Peek-a-boo! I see you, sweetie!” I could hear the baby gurgling in the background and smiled to myself, amused that for a moment I’d thought Mina was talking to me.
“It’s alright, I was already awake,” I assured her. “What’s up?”
“I finally had a chance to read your email. Sorry it took so long but the kiddo knocked my drink onto my laptop and I had to keep it shut off until the keyboard dried out,” she explained. “Anyway, I looked at the documents you forwarded to me and something is really off.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well I recognize those graphs,” Mina explained. “They’re the same ones my boss had me do up so she could spend all day watching soap operas in her office. But they don’t look anything like they should. The numbers are inflated and, well, all over the place to be honest.”
“You’ve lost me,” I said as I dabbed on some lip gloss and ran a brush through my long dark hair. I glanced at the clock and saw that I’d lost track of the time and was due on campus right away. I seemed to be absentminded a lot of the time lately.
“I finally picked up the newspaper this morning,” Mina told me. “I read about the budget cuts at the university and the claims of overspending. But here’s the thing: I worked on the preliminary figures. I have a rough idea of what the budgets in each department should be. And these numbers are just…bizarre.”
“So what you’re saying…”
“What I’m saying,” Mina said, “is that someone has doctored the numbers on this chart. I wonder if it could have something to do with the college’s budget being all messed up now.”
“If what you’re saying is true, how come no one else has noticed it?” I asked. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Mina – she was as credible as they come – but the explanation just didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
“I still keep in touch with one of the girls I used to work with,” Mina said. “She quit working in the finance department shortly after I did. I guess there was a lot of upheaval and it’s pretty much all new staff there now – and not necessarily well-trained staff. Apparently it’s a case of the blind leading the blind…not good! But even so, I doubt they could screw up this badly.”
“So someone might be exploiting the department’s vulnerability,” I said slowly, trying to process what I was hearing. “Maybe they’re hoping to pass what they’re doing off as widespread incompetence.”
“It’s a possi
bility, right?” she asked. “I mean, it makes sense to me but I’m so sleep deprived right now that it’s not saying much. Oh god, sweetie no, put the diaper down! Oh! Not on the walls! Oh no…oh shit, literally, shit! Daniella, I’ve got to go!”
Wincing at the nasty visual in my mind, I hung up the phone and hurried out to my car. It was a beautiful, clear morning but I barely had time to notice as I flung my bag into the car and jumped behind the wheel. I was running so late!
Normally I was a law-abiding citizen but I did have one bad habit: speeding. It seemed I had a heavy foot and today it served me well. I weaved in and out of traffic like a pro, secretly pleased that a silver sedan behind me stayed right on my tail. At least someone appreciated my driving!
As I drove my mind was filled with theories, some implausible and others perhaps not so crazy. I was no natural-born sleuth but I felt like my intuition was usually accurate as long as my love life wasn’t involved. Every fiber of my being was telling me Mark was up to no good, but there were still too many blanks to make sense of the puzzle.
It was clear that I needed to do some more digging. I began making mental checklists of people to talk to and dreaming up excuses to ask snoopy questions without raising suspicion.
I got to my parking spot and grumbled a bit about it being so damn far away from the building. I supposed I’d have to start applying to other colleges soon…hopefully I’d be hired on at one with better parking! A twinge of sadness came over me as I surveyed the campus. It really was a beautiful place and it had been home to me for so long…I was really going to miss it.
But I wouldn’t miss having to bring running shoes to work with me just for the long trek from my car to the building. I bent down to remove my high heels and slipped my feet into my sneakers. I heard a car pull up behind me and cringed.
At this time of morning, the only students on campus were those who had classes – and classes were about to start. I’d hoped I could avoid being seen in my grubby sneakers but it wasn’t to be. Hopefully it wasn’t anyone important behind me because wearing a skirt suit with sneakers wasn’t exactly the sort of professional look I was striving for.
I didn’t look at the car, hoping that if I ignored it I’d remain invisible to the driver. I didn’t want to call any unnecessary attention to myself so I just hurried toward the building. That’s when I heard footsteps behind me.
Spinning around, I came face-to-face with Hayden Slate.
He grabbed my arms. This time I didn’t get a chance to scream because a second man seemed to come out of nowhere and shoved something in my mouth to keep me quiet. I recognized him instantly – Hayden’s limo driver. But this time he wasn’t driving a limo. The two men tied me up, forced me into the back of the nondescript silver sedan that had been tailing me and off we went.
Hayden was in the backseat next to me. He held me as I struggled, trying in vain to soothe me. I wasn’t exactly in any state to be comforted. I’d just been abducted! It was one thing for Hayden to act like a nutcase but now he’d involved his limo driver too. What the hell was going on?
“Daniella,” he murmured, his voice calm but his eyes looking panicked. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m so sorry we had to do this but when you made it clear you wouldn’t come with me willingly there weren’t a lot of options left.”
I stared at him, wishing I could speak.
He was talking a lot more than usual, as though maybe if he said enough the words would gloss over what he’d done. All I could do was listen as he explained, “I had one of my bodyguards keep an eye on you after I left but I just wasn’t satisfied it was enough. I’m sorry we scared you. I’m just trying to keep you safe. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”
He reached out and tried to stroke my hair but I jerked away as best I could in my restraints. He looked wounded by the rejection. “Please,” he whispered, lowering his voice so the driver wouldn’t overhear. “I know you don’t understand why I’ve done any of this. To you, I must seem like a monster.”
Our eyes locked and I silently pleaded with him to take my gag out. He seemed to intuitively know what I wanted and he reached out to do it. That’s when the driver interjected.
“Leave her as she is,” he ordered. I could see his eyes trained on us in the rear view mirror. We weren’t in a limo anymore, so there was no privacy screen. I also had a feeling the limo driver wasn’t actually a limo driver, because Hayden immediately obeyed and pulled away.
Since when did he take orders from his staff?
“We’ll be there soon,” Hayden assured me, looking mournful.
I didn’t answer him. In fact, I didn’t even look at him. Instead, I leaned my head against the window and pretended to doze as we drove out into the country. But I wasn’t sleeping – far from it. I was actually doing everything I could to memorize the route we were taking.
When we pulled onto a gravel road, the limo driver stopped, got out and blindfolded me. I kicked and screamed into my gag for all I was worth but it was no use. I felt Hayden’s hand stroking my back reassuringly, recognizing his caress instantly. But it did little to calm me down. I felt like a caged animal.
“Is all this really necessary?” Hayden protested, sounding like he already knew the answer.
“Your father is angry enough that you insisted on going back for her,” the driver replied flatly. “We have no way of knowing if she can be trusted. She could endanger your life. We need to take precautions. You should have blindfolded her right from the start.”
“She can be trusted,” Hayden insisted as we continued to drive down the bumpy road.
“Didn’t you tell me that bandage on your hand is from where she bit you?”
“Yes but that’s different…” Hayden sighed deeply. “Okay, fine. Let’s just get her inside.”
Once we reached our destination, I was led inside some sort of building and laid down on a bed. When my hands were untied I felt a glimmer of hope but then I felt cool metal on my wrists and heard the clink of handcuffs being snapped shut. With mounting horror, I realized I’d been cuffed to a bed!
My mind began to entertain all sorts of awful scenarios and for a moment I felt myself on the verge of panic. But then something inside me took over and I calmed down. Neither fight nor flight was an option for me at the moment…so I’d simply have to rely on my wits and wait for an opportunity to present itself.
“Unless there’s anything else you need, I’ll be going now,” I heard the driver tell Hayden. “As we discussed, I’ll be at the end of the road watching the cabin. We have another agent staked out at the back to make sure no one tries to get in from that direction.”
“Yes, good,” Hayden replied, sounding annoyed by the whole thing. “Thank you.”
As soon as the driver left, Hayden pulled my blindfold off and removed my gag. As my eyes adjusted to the light I looked around and saw we were in the bedroom of what appeared to be a rustic cabin. The walls were made of wooden logs, which explained the faint and pleasant smell of pine I’d noticed upon entry. The four poster bed I was handcuffed to looked antique and expensive, as did the rest of the furnishings.
Under different circumstances, I might be happy to be there. It was like a luxurious wilderness getaway. Except I was there against my will and had no idea what was in store for me. I looked at Hayden questioningly. Part of me wanted to tear him a new one but now wasn’t the time. First I needed to assess the situation.
“I’m so sorry,” he murmured as he propped a pillow behind me. “Are you thirsty?” he asked, opening a bottle of water and holding it to my lips. At that moment I realized I was parched, so I gulped it down gratefully.
Hayden sat at the edge of the bed tentatively, his eyes studying my face intently. “I suppose you have all sorts of questions,” he said. “And after what I’ve put you through, you deserve answers.” He sighed wearily. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
With a faraway look in his eyes, Hayden told me, “I always knew my fath
er was an asshole, but I had no idea just how horrible he could be. When I agreed to work for him I was young and naïve, fresh out of college and with no direction in life.”
A twinge of nostalgia flashed in Hayden’s eyes as he recalled the life he’d had. “I got in a lot of trouble in college, mostly for petty nonsense. My father was convinced I was headed nowhere and I expected him to give up on me. But instead he offered me what sounded like a dream job, traveling the world and brushing elbows with the rich and famous. How could I pass that up? So I agreed to help him build his art empire.”
“On my first assignment, he sent me to Germany to pick up a new piece he was acquiring. It was an original from the Omari Heath collection. It was a lesser known piece, but even so – it was Omari Heath.”
When Hayden noticed the blank look in my eyes, he explained, “Omari Heath is a pretty huge deal in the art community. The piece I picked up in Germany was worth millions of dollars.”
“Oh.”
“It was a deal my father had already made before I came onboard; my role was just to facilitate the artwork’s transport back to his summer home. So, stupidly, I did it. Stupidly, I trusted him, without verifying any of the information I’d been provided with myself. I only came to find out later that the piece was stolen.”
With a bitter laugh of a son betrayed, Hayden scoffed, “My father claimed he didn’t know, but I find that preposterous. He’s in the business of buying and selling art. He’s a collector. He’s an expert. If he didn’t know what he was purchasing, then he should have. He swears he had no idea the sort of trouble he’d gotten me into until the death threats started, but I find that hard to believe.”
I’d been mostly silent until now, just trying to absorb what Hayden was telling me. But now I had to speak up. “Death threats – against you?” I asked, wide-eyed.
He nodded. “I got them for years. At first, a small fortune was extorted from my father – millions of dollars, actually. But it was never enough.”
“What do you mean?”
His for Now (His #2) Page 4
