I took Sally’s hand in my own. “I wanted to talk to you because I know you can’t be happy with how we left things the other day. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry, too. I should have made more of an effort to be home.”
Sally smiled at me and gripped my hand tightly. “Thank you, Adrian. That’s so sweet to hear. I know this case is a big deal, so I should be more understanding of how much work it requires.”
“I’m so glad you see it that way, Sally,” I said. “We’re getting close to being done with the case, so there’s going to be a lot of last minute changes happening. I know we just finished talking about how I was going to work on that, so I promise not to fly off to Massachusetts for at least a week, but then I’ll have to be gone for a while again, okay? But we have a whole week just to ourselves. Is that okay, Sally?” I hoped it was because if Sally was still unhappy, then I didn’t know what to do.
Her smile became slightly strained. I knew it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. If Sally had it her way I would be home every second of the day, but perhaps she could compromise.
“Okay, Adrian.”
The next several days I spent as much time as I could with Sally. I wanted to keep my promise to her, but I also wanted us to regain our footing in the relationship. She and I had been disjointed lately, and I knew it was because I was gone all of the time.
If we could only find our way back to each other, then Sally and I would be able to face anything.
I was waiting for Jackson to arrive so that we could leave for Massachusetts on the last morning of the week I had promised Sally. Danisha and I had spoken a couple of times since I last visited her, so I was up to date on everything, but for some reason I couldn’t wait to get going.
I gathered together the last of my things, phone, keys, etc. I headed into my office to grab my bag. It contained all of the files on Danisha’s case, so it obviously needed to come with me. As I stepped into the room, Sally straightened up from behind my desk, my bag in hand.
“Don’t want to forget this, now do you?” she asked teasingly.
“Thank you, dear…” I said slowly as I took the bag from Sally. Her comment about Danisha’s designs throbbed angrily at the back of my mind; itching, waiting to be mentioned. “Did you know I had left this in here?” I asked her.
“I was just picking some things up and I saw it,” she replied simply. “There were some files on your desk next to the bag, so I put them inside since I knew you would need them.”
“Do you pick up my files often?” I inquired, as nonchalantly as I could manage.
Sally gave me a look. “Sometimes… Why are you asking?”
“Is that how you saw Danisha’s designs?” I asked, ignoring her question. I couldn’t help it, I had to know.
Sally shrugged and raked a hand through her hair. “I guess, sort of… I mean, Victor showed me it mostly, I think. What difference does it make? I already apologized for how I acted before.” She snorted angrily and turned away from me.
“Does Victor share a lot of things with you about Danisha’s case?” I asked, pressing her.
Sally whirled around on me. “What are you trying to say, Adrian?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” I said stiffly. “Thank you for finding my bag. Jack will be here shortly.” I walked out of the room and down the stairs. When Jackson arrived a few minutes later, Sally and I did not say goodbye.
Chapter Seven
We arrived at Danisha and Marisol’s apartment by mid-afternoon, where Marisol and Jackson stayed this time instead of performing their usual disappearing act.
Marisol had sent in her application and had already received an invitation to interview tomorrow. We were ahead of schedule. This was good because it likely meant that Victor and Iraja were feeling the pressure, but it also gave us less time to prepare.
We went over Marisol’s interview a dozen times. Jackson’s role was to escort Marisol and protect her in case anything happened, as well as to help project her wealth. His hardest job would be to remain silent.
It was almost midnight when Danisha finally called it a wrap. I had always considered Marisol to be a bit…flighty. I never understood why Danisha associated herself with such a girl. But after tonight, it was clear Marisol was a loyal friend, willing to do anything for those she cared about.
Amazingly, Marisol and Jackson managed to melt away into the bedroom within mere seconds.
“I’m way too stressed to even think about going to bed,” Danisha said as she flopped down onto the futon.
“Would you care for a drink? I know it’s a little unorthodox for the guest to offer hospitality to the host, but you’ve worked hard for a long time and you deserve it,” I joked.
Danisha smiled at me, and my heart lifted. “Why not?” she said. “It may be my future on the line tomorrow, but I don’t have to interview. I just have to listen in.”
I poured us a couple of drinks and we turned on an infomercial for an amazing rotisserie cooker to amuse ourselves. After a couple more drinks, Danisha and I had begun to ignore the infomercials in favor of conversation.
“What are you going to do when we expose Victor? Everyone knows about the EyeRead now,” I said.
“I’ll put a hold on it until I graduate —that’s for sure. I want to finish school and I think it’ll help generate lots of interest around it. Plus that’ll give me time to find someone to help me work out all of the kinks,” Danisha said.
“That’s smart,” I was impressed. She had a good plan.
“What about you?” she asked. “Your business will be booming again; how will Sally feel about that?”
I didn’t know what to say. Danisha knew Sally wasn’t a fan of my long work hours. I didn’t want to lie and tell her Sally was completely fine with it. She wouldn’t believe me and it would make things uncomfortable between us.
“Sally and I are working through some things right now. It’s hard, but we’re working on them,” I finally said.
“The things you two are working through… Am I one of them?” Danisha pried.
“I don’t want to lie to you, so yes, you are one of the things. Sally doesn’t like that I’m working and she likes it even less that I’m working with you,” I explained.
“Well, I can understand that,” Danisha empathized.
I also understood Sally’s frustrations and suspicions —hell, they were kinda right. But I was only the most recent to have suspicions about Sally and her double-agent role with Victor… I hated suspecting someone I loved. I wanted to be able to trust Sally, but I couldn’t. Part of our passion came from the unpredictability of everything. The best part was always making up, but I didn’t want to have to be on guard all the time anymore.
“Danisha… I’m beginning to think you and Jack are right about Sally’s involvement with things,” I blurted out.
Danisha looked at me, surprised. “Do you think she’s betraying you?”
“The fact that I can’t definitively answer ‘no’ scares me. I don’t want to be with someone I can't trust.” I looked deep into Danisha’s huge, brown eyes. I wanted nothing more than to gather her into my arms right now.
Danisha stood up from the futon and sat down in the armchair across from me. “Things are very complicated at the moment, Adrian. I can’t even be thinking about something like this. It’s too much,” she admitted, quietly.
I reached over to take her hand in mine. “I’m not saying anything has to happen right now, Danisha. I’m just asking you to think about it. To think about…us.” Her response was less than what I was hoping for, but the last thing I wanted to do right now was to pile another issue on Danisha’s plate. I let go of her hand and the topic. “That seems like my cue to head out. I’ll meet you back here tomorrow morning.”
I called my driver to pick me up and left for my hotel, anticipation weighing heavily in my heart.
Chapter Eight
I woke up the next morning with only a minor headache. I popped a couple of aspirin and w
ent to check that Marisol was awake and getting ready. I knocked on her bedroom door and she called back to let me know she was up.
I made myself a small breakfast while I waited for Adrian to arrive. A friend of Jack’s put us in contact with a man involved in espionage. Adrian spent thousands on minute camera equipment with an immense range. Adrian would bring the gear over and I would hide a few different pieces on Marisol.
Jack would not be fitted with a wire as he would be posing as Marisol’s escort and bodyguard, and they would most likely search him.
Marisol came out of her room, dressed in a pinstriped blouse and fitted slacks. She looked pristine. I was helping her pick out a pair of shoes when Adrian knocked at the door. Jack let him in and the two of them began to unload the equipment. A lot of it was to be set up here for me and Adrian to listen in on and record.
I started assembling the gear Marisol would wear. First was a set of black pearl earrings that were actually a set of mini-cameras. Marisol was able to easily put those on. Next I had to sew a thin microphone into the collar of her shirt. The pieces were wirelessly connected to a transmitter disguised as a gym fob on her keychain, which allowed us to watch and hear everything that was happening.
The last step was for me to scramble the radio frequency so no one else would be able to pick up the transmission. Once we had tested, retested, and then tested a third, final time, did I begin to feel comfortable sending my best friend in to trick the most dangerous man I had ever met.
***
“Send in the next applicant,” Iraja said into the intercom.
I sat in the next room over, watching Iraja meet with one person after another through hidden cameras and microphones placed around the interview room. I felt like I had spent months in this room staring at screens, even though it had only been a couple of weeks since Iraja and I had patented the EyeRead. The hunt for an engineer began immediately after we turned out prototype after prototype, nothing ever lasting long enough to be marketable.
After all the hassle I had gone through, Danisha’s invention could end up worthless if I couldn’t figure out how to make the damn thing work. I was pouring money into research for the EyeRead, but getting nothing in return. At this rate, we would be bankrupt within the year.
If it hadn’t been so urgent for us to find someone to fix the EyeRead for us, I never would have taken the risk in coming back to America. After multiple layovers switching private planes and disguises, I made it to New York to begin the interview process. I had stayed in this room the entire time, and only interviewed a handful of people personally.
Movement on the cameras hidden in the interview room caught my eye and I watched as a beautiful young girl and a man wearing a hat and sunglasses entered. I leaned forward, curious as to why there would be more than one person interviewing, but instead the girl sat down across from Iraja and the man remained standing at the doorway. I turned up the volume on the microphones to listen in.
“Ms. Jones, thank you for coming,” Iraja said.
“Please, call me Marisol,” the girl said as the two women shook hands.
I looked at the stack of folders in front of me. They held the applications and information on everyone interviewing today. I quickly flipped through them to find Jones, Marisol. I opened it and pulled out her profile.
She was a student at MIT… Why did that strike me for some reason? We were stationed out of New York City right now; a lot of our applicants were from the surrounding area.
I turned back to the cameras. Iraja was running Marisol through the typical questions.
“Where do you see yourself five years from now?” Iraja asked.
“As a major partner in this company, but that’s going to happen sooner than five years from now,” Marisol said.
That caught my attention. I looked back at her file. She was a twenty-two year old who hadn’t even graduated college yet—this would be her first real job. I couldn’t think of anyone younger than thirty who had ever been a partner for a multi-billion dollar corporation. Not off the top of my head anyway. She had ambition that was for sure. Ambition was a double-edged sword, though.
“That’s very confident of you to say. Do you have any skills or abilities that give you such confidence?” Iraja said, continuing the interview.
“I happen to be extremely capable in working with optical engineering. If I am to be the one to make the EyeRead available to the public, something that is obviously essential in business, then I require an essential position within the company. In fact, I want to be hired as a partner,” Marisol said.
My eyebrows shot up. She had a point, but partner was still a big position to ask for, especially when she had no prior experience. I began to think she might be insane. Either that, or arrogant to the point of annoyance. I looked back at the man standing near the doorway. He hadn’t moved since he stepped in.
“Your argument is only valid if you are able to make the EyeRead work, and that’s a pretty big ‘if’. Surely someone with your intelligence can understand we would want a little reassurance before making you partner,” Iraja reasoned.
“I would invest, of course,” Marisol began. “I wouldn’t expect you to bet any more money on me than I would on myself.”
“What do you mean?” Iraja queried.
I almost felt bad for her. It wasn’t often that Iraja was thrown off-guard. She was the one who usually did the throwing. Marisol had her uncertain and wary.
I myself was intrigued. This girl was certainly turning things on their side right now; something I normally didn’t like… I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I could tell Marisol was going to be important to us somehow.
“I happen to be independently wealthy. Or rather, my parents are. They’re Thomas and Karen Jones of Jones Incorporated.”
I instantly sat up. Jones Inc. was the main pharmaceutical supplier for most of the United States. They were easily worth at least four billion dollars. I noticed Iraja also seemed to sit up a little straighter.
“Well, you’ve certainly proved yourself to be of value to our company. However, we couldn’t simply give the job to you because of the money involved. That would be unethical,” Iraja said evenly.
“Of course,” Marisol agreed. I zoomed in on the camera to notice a small smile playing about her lips. She clearly knew the game we were playing, and she was very good at it. I was enjoying this.
“Incidentally… How much money would be involved?” Iraja asked, far too casually.
“About twenty-five million dollars,” Marisol's smile grew fuller. “But that would be unethical,” she insisted, mockingly.
“Of course,” Iraja smiled back graciously.
I couldn’t stand it any longer. Marisol was holding something back, I could tell. Whatever it was, it was giving her the confidence level to demand a partner position during her interview.
I pressed a button to the earpiece Iraja was wearing. “Ask her what else. She knows something and she wants to tell us, but she wants us to ask. Ask her,” I demanded.
I watched on the camera as Iraja gently raised a hand to her head as though she were checking her hair, but I knew she was listening to my words.
“So, Marisol, besides your…Generous investment, is there anything else you feel qualifies you for this job beyond all the other applicants?” she said, finally going in for the kill.
“Danisha Carter happens to be my roommate,” Marisol informed her, sitting back in her chair.
That was it. When I had been plotting Danisha's kidnapping, I learned details about her life to try and seduce her. That’s where I recognized Marisol from; they were supposedly best friends! The question was, how much did Marisol know? I needed to find out what her motive was and I wasn’t going to be able to do that through Iraja’s earpiece.
“Bring her to me,” I barked into the microphone.
Iraja and Marisol left the room, followed closely by Marisol’s escort. I shut off the camera screens and waited for Iraja to
knock.
“Very nice to meet you, Marisol,” I said once we had all been introduced and sat down together.
“Thank you for the opportunity to interview. I’m very grateful,” she replied with a smile.
“You’re welcome. Not many people make it to that room and even less make it to this one,” I told her. “I understand you have a unique insight to the project?” I pressed.
“You could say that. I am acquainted with Danisha Carter, whom I know you are currently battling in court over the rights to the EyeRead,” Marisol said bluntly.
“And what do you know about Miss Carter?” I asked carefully.
“I know she’s a conniving slut,” she said coolly.
“Interesting words. I was under the impression you two were friends,” I prompted.
“I’m going to level with you, Mr. Vaskov. We were best friends. Until a couple of months ago. She came back from the highlife with her rich boyfriend and decided to steal mine. So now, I’m going to steal something precious to her,” she confided conspiratorially.
“Excuse me,” Iraja interrupted. “If you think this company stole something from Miss Carter, perhaps—”
I cut her off with a wave of my hand. “Come now, Iraja. Marisol knows already. No need for pretenses. Is there, Marisol?” I stared at her intensely. Her bright blue eyes stared ruthlessly back and she said nothing. “You want what’s yours, yes, I understand that. We understand each other.”
“I want to rub her smug face in the dirt,” Marisol insisted.
I laughed. “I have a friend who feels the same way you do about Miss Carter. She’ll want to meet when I tell her about you.” Sally would love to hear everything Marisol had to say about Danisha. She took every opportunity she could to vent her hatred for the girl. “Now,” I continued, “you think you can fix the problem with the EyeRead? Make it sellable?” I challenged.
Marisol nodded firmly. “Danisha and I shared classes and a home. She’s spoken to me about the EyeRead a number of times. If I can’t figure out what the problem is on my own, I know I can talk to her and get information that way.”
Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance Page 84
