“Please,” Chloe said. “I really doubt that.”
After breakfast, he actually had work for her to do, which was a relief. She hadn’t been sure that there would be. The to-do list that he spoke of had to do with handling a lot of loose ends. He brought her a laptop, pens, and a legal notepad. She emailed certain vendors, logged on to inventory websites, emailed back answers to Michael. Who had been handling all of this before I was hired, and how long have things gone on without anyone in this position? she wondered.
Chloe could only imagine how much worse Michael’s workload was with all these details added. A lot of her work was just tracking products and making sure that research and development had whatever they needed to operate. Chloe got comfortable and sat back, so engrossed in her work that hours later, she again didn’t hear when Michael somehow crept up behind her.
“You haven’t moved from that chair for hours now. You should go downstairs and take a walk or something. It’s a lovely day out,” he said.
She looked up at him, and for a moment was about to protest. There was something in his eyes that let her know that this wasn’t a request.
“All right, I see you giving me the laser look,” she kidded. “I’ll go now. How long would you like me to take?”
“Laser look?” he repeated, frowning.
“That thing you do with your eyes when you want me to do something right away,” she said. “It’s disconcerting.”
“Oh. Um, take an hour and fifteen. You worked straight through your morning break.”
***
“You’re having her work up here in the penthouse,” Sharla said as she walked in to Michael’s living room.
“She’s comfortable enough. Besides, how am I to train her if she’s in an office three floors down from mine?” He sat down on the arm of the couch, poised for the news that he had for her. She’d texted him only moment before, and he’d gotten Chloe out of there as soon as possible.
“Excuses, excuses,” Sharla said, hands on hips. “The child is still alive though, so I suppose I should not complain. I’m wearing my favorite heels today. Don’t make me have to come up here to figure out which incinerator I’m putting her into.”
“Speaking of keeping Chloe alive,” Michael snatched the portfolio she carried from his hands, “what did you find out about this Quinn person?”
“Preliminary information so far. I will know more in the next twenty-four hours or so. He was telling you the truth about going to school with Chloe, for one thing. High school records place him at the same school at the same time. I have no way of verifying if they were friends or how close that relationship was, not so far anyway. There were several newspaper stories about his parents who were murdered. By exsanguination. An obvious vampire kill by someone who didn’t care if people thought it was a peculiar homicide or not.
I have him being followed by some of my people. He hasn’t gone anywhere today. He’s holed up in his apartment, sleeping. I thought you’d like to know, he was spotted outside Chloe’s apartment yesterday afternoon.”
“Why wasn’t I called?” Michael got to his feet.
“Nothing happened. He was just shadowing her, and my men had instructions to kill him if he did anything threatening. Which he did not. Besides, it was your idea to leave him dangling, wasn’t it? So we can find out who his master is?”
“It was,” he admitted. “It’s so very odd. Why would a vampire use someone from her past to follow her?”
“Well. Maybe it really has nothing to do with Emerson and his research. Who knows? Maybe she just has a garden variety stalker. I don’t know.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he accused.
“I would, honey,” she said. “Only because there would be an easier solution for that problem.”
*
Quinn didn’t have much money, but he did have enough for a decent bottle of whiskey. After seeing Chloe walking along, groceries and flowers in hand, humming to herself as she made her way to her apartment, he wanted nothing more than to curl up with a bottle. His master had warned him that he was to look, and not touch. He was not to speak a word to her, not to enter her physical space. Even though he wanted to. He stood in the shadows of the stairwell of her building, arms crossed, and his eyes tearing up.
It had been so long since he saw Chloe. He could almost pretend that everything that happened that night was a bad dream, something that never happened. But seeing Chloe again made it all real. She was the only one who knew what he went through. And to see her so comfortable, so happy? It made him angry in ways that he couldn’t even articulate. His life these last years had been anything but content. How was she able to just go on that way? What entitled her to the peace that he was never able to find?
As soon as he heard the door of her apartment slam shut, he walked down to the liquor store to buy his bottle. Over the long night that followed, he’d nursed his drink. He didn’t care about food, or water, or sleep. He was trying to erase the jumbled visions that crowded his mind, bits of memory that haunted him, repeating without rhyme or reason.
He drank until he lost consciousness, and when he woke the next morning, he got up and finished off the last of the liquor he’d somehow missed.
Quinn fought with everything in him not to remember what he found the night that he came home, all those years ago, and everything that happened to him afterwards. Despite all the other things he couldn’t remember, that night was burned into his memory. Pulling the covers over his head once more he pressed his eyes closed and hoped that the images wouldn’t come surging back into his dreams.
***
Monday and Tuesday streamed by in a flash. Both nights Chloe returned home exhausted and was in bed long before her usual hour. On Wednesday morning she was informed that her office was ready. She finally had her own space and didn’t have to go up to the penthouse! The double monitors on her new computer and comfy chair helped make her feel at ease. The one addition that she didn’t enjoy as much? Her phone. She wasn’t sure where the calls were coming from; most likely they were being redirected from the operator. Within the first hour she answered probably eleven calls from various media outlets.
Most were either looking for comments from Michael regarding news within the industry, but a few were requesting interviews. As he’d warned her, she got used to saying “no comment” and “no thank you” very quickly. Around mid-morning, the calls tapered off.
It was afternoon before her phone rang again, and this time it was Michael. “Come upstairs, please,” he said, and hung up before she could respond.
When she got to the penthouse, her heart caught in her throat. Michael was sitting on the couch, and Sharla was standing by the fireplace.
“Hi Chloe,” Michael said. “Come in. Have a seat.”
“Sure. Hi Sharla,” she said, choosing to sit on the couch furthest away from either of them.
“First off, don’t be scared. You’re not in any trouble.”
“You mean, no trouble with her job,” Sharla scoffed.
Michael gave her an angry glare, and she pretended to inspect the tips of her manicured nails. The one thing about Sharla that Chloe liked was that the woman seemed not to give two shits about anyone’s opinion. Problem was, this was the same quality that made her absolutely mean.
“Well then that is a relief,” Chloe said. “It just leaves the question of what I’m actually in trouble with.”
Sharla and Michael exchanged a look. When she turned back to Chloe, there was an actual smile on her face.
“So, of course, we’ve been sending a car for you in the mornings. Adrian’s main job is as security, and he noticed someone hanging around your apartment building a couple of times that he came to pick you up.”
“I want you to know, we take everyone’s security here very seriously,” Michael added.
“I don’t understand, why didn’t Adrian say anything?”
“Those wouldn’t be his orders,” Sharla replied. �
��He came to his superior officer, and when I was brought in, I put a couple of our people near your home to make sure that this wasn’t some type of threat that we should be concerned about. Since we didn’t know anything yet, I made the decision to do a little digging before making you aware. After all, there wouldn’t be any need to alarm you if this were someone that happened to live in the area, or if he was a homeless person who frequented it. We caught him on camera loitering near your home at different times of the day.”
Michael pushed a folder on the coffee table toward her. “Have a look.”
Chloe opened the file and stared at the photograph that stared back at her.
“Do you recognize this person?” Michael asked.
Chloe felt as if both Michael and Sharla had somehow drawn closer to her without moving. She felt her heartbeat slow. That feeling of chilly apathy crept up her neck and settled at the base of her head, spreading its tentacles to her temples.
“His name is Quinn Masterson,” Chloe said. “He was my high school boyfriend.”
“Has he spoken to you recently?” Sharla questioned.
Chloe shook her head. “No. I haven’t seen him since he left for college.”
“Did you have a fight? A bad breakup?” Michael asked.
“No. He just left, and I couldn’t do the long distance thing. He was always nice to me. What’s he doing hanging around my house?”
“We don’t know why he’s here, but the important thing for you to remember right now is that you cannot talk to him under any circumstances. We’re going to find out what’s at the bottom of this, that I can promise you.”
“Chloe, you’re not going to remember this conversation at all. Michael just called you upstairs to say what a splendid job you’re doing. And right now, you’re going to go downstairs and have lunch. Then you’ll go through your day as normal, and Adrian will take you home.”
“Yes,” Chloe said, touching her temple. She got up and walked to the elevator without another word.
Sharla could barely wait until the doors closed behind Chloe to speak.
“Why is she so hard to work a compulsion on?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t know,” Michael said. “It takes, but she’s about half aware that something is being done to her.”
“There’s only two reasons there could be for that,” Sharla said. “Either she is extremely hard headed. Or maybe she’s been messed with by vampires before. And I don’t mean a little, I mean a lot. We know this Quinn person is being controlled. What do you think the chances are that she is too?”
“Sharla, I don’t believe...”
She raised a hand. “I know you don’t. That’s okay. I’ll bring you proof.”
***
After lunch, Chloe’s day seemed to drag on. She had a faint headache again, but it subsided after a half hour or so. She wished that she knew what was suddenly causing this. Maybe it was stress, or some kind of hormonal thing. Either way, if she kept having them, she promised herself to see a doctor soon. It might be nothing, but she’d like to know for certain that it wasn’t a precursor to something more serious.
She was sending out her last emails of the afternoon, clearing up loose ends for the day, and looking forward to what she might pick up for dinner when her phone rang. Not her work phone, bur her cell. Most of her friends knew better than to call during work hours, and a couple of them would text if they needed to let her know about something. She picked the phone up out of boredom and curiosity about who might be calling.
“May I speak to Miss Bishop?”
“This is she. May I ask who’s speaking?”
“Miss Bishop, my name is Lara Hanover. I am a reporter for The Sun. Would you have a few moments to talk?”
“If this is about Mr. Andreas, he has no comments about anything to the press at this time. And I would like to know how you got my personal number.”
“We can speak about that, but it would need to be in person. And this is not so much about Mr. Andreas as it is about your own safety. A few months ago, a woman who worked in your position disappeared.”
“I don’t see what that would have to do with me,” Chloe replied bluntly.
“You will see the connection if you give me a chance to explain,” the reporter said. “Can we meet somewhere public? It is very important that you not mention this to anyone at work.”
“There’s a diner over on Strauss Road. Do you know it?” Chloe asked.
“Betsy’s?” Lara asked. “Yes, I’m familiar with it.”
“Good. I’ll see you there in an hour and a half for dinner,” she said, and hung up.
Chloe took in a deep breath. She knew that she could be risking her job by talking to a member of the press. But there was something very strange going on in this place, and maybe she couldn’t afford to continue ignoring it.
CHAPTER 9
Adrian drove Chloe home as planned. She thanked him and slammed her door closed before he drove away.
She went to her room and changed into jeans and a light sweater. With evening coming on, it was getting chilly. She decided to put on an old leather jacket, and her favorite tennis shoes. She was going to walk to Betsy’s, and she didn’t need to dress up for this woman, whatever it was that she wanted to say. Instead of going the way she usually would to the diner, she took the long way around, through smaller streets. When she got there, she was about five minutes late.
Chloe shouldn’t have worried. Not only was the woman waiting for her in a booth at the back of the restaurant, she had asked the waitress to show her to the back as soon as she got there.
Lara Hanover had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. She was tall and slender, the kind of reporter you’d expect to hang out with rock stars or football players with ease and maybe a little flirting. She wore a short black dress, a blazer, and a pair of ballerina flats. She shook Chloe’s hand. “I appreciate you coming,” she said. “I know you must have a lot of questions about why I’m reaching out to you, and I’ll do my best to answer them. For now I’d appreciate it if you hear me out first.”
Chloe sat back. She knew she wasn’t about to like what this woman was about to tell her, but she’d decided to give her a chance to speak her mind.
“First off. I can’t tell you how much of this is really about the company that you work for, but I will say this. The place is like Fort Knox. And they keep very close tabs on all their employees on and off the clock. I’m sure that they probably have someone that drives you to and from work. If you stay on long enough, they will offer you a company car to drive, which they will have outfitted with tracking in order to know where you are at all times. It’s likely that you’re under surveillance now, but I had to reach out to you. It’s a chance that I had to take.”
“Go—go on,” Chloe stuttered.
“There are policies in place that segregate different groups of employees from the other. You’ll see very little interaction among them, because it keeps rumors from spreading. There’s communal areas, supposedly, like the cafeteria. But have you ever been there? Since you have been working for the company, when was the last time you saw any of the other employees, other than seeing them rushing back and forth to their own offices? Have you had the chance to speak to anyone who isn’t your superior?”
“Now that you mention it, no.”
“I won’t say that they aren’t doing good work for the community, because they are. Whatever it is that they’re developing, they’re protecting it. That’s not what my real concern is, or why I’m here.”
“You said something about Michael’s last assistant?” Chloe urged.
“Her name was Jennifer,” Lara said with a sigh. “She was my sister.”
“You said she disappeared?”
“Believe me, she’s dead,” Lara told her flatly. “No one who has ever worked for that company who disappeared has ever been found, and she won’t be any different.” Her hands shook. She reached into her purse for a pack of cigarettes and lit up
without asking if Chloe minded. The waitress shot her a dirty look. “That ain’t the smoking section, just so you know,” she said, and handed Lara an ashtray.
“I’m sorry about your sister,” Chloe said once they were alone again. “What exactly happened?”
Lara shook her head. “She went to work and she was never seen again. The company claims that had security footage showing her leave, which was probably doctored. Jen told me about how incredibly paranoid the atmosphere is in that place. That woman, Sharla. Watch out for that bitch. She’s Michael’s lawyer, and she’s the head of security too, and she knows where all the bodies are. Literally. She runs that place more than he does. Whatever is going on there, they have secrets that they don’t mind killing to protect.”
“I can vouch for the fact that they’re paranoid,” Chloe said. “I’m surprised that they would hire someone related to a reporter.”
Lara shook her head. “My name wouldn’t have come up on any database. Jen was my baby sister from my mom’s second marriage, so we have different last names. Which, to be honest, I don’t use my real last name for my byline anyway. And she didn’t mention having any siblings when she filled out the forms they gave her when she applied. They look for people that don’t have a whole lot of connections. It means for less fuss for them when something happens to you. I’m guessing you don’t have much family in the city.
You probably have friends here, but no one that you see on a daily basis. Which means no one will look for you right away, until you miss a weekly lunch or a phone call, something that you would be expected to do on a regular basis. If you’re not familiar with neighbors, that’s another plus. It’s likely a landlord wouldn’t come around looking for you until your rent comes due and no one pays it.”
Chloe felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise.
“I’m not really looking for a story. Jen thought that she would be fine nosing around that place, even though I told her not to, and she got herself killed. You can do what you want with the information, but at least you’ve been warned.”
Bitten By The Bad Boy: A Bad Boy Vampire Romance Page 14
