All Bets Are On

by Cynthia Cooke

  “We don’t know that.”

  “Then let’s get into your computer files and take a little look.” He gestured toward her computer in her home office.

  “I don’t have the foundation’s records here,” she insisted.

  “Then where are they?”

  “At the foundation.”

  “Get dressed. We have a lot of work to do.”

  She hesitated. “And why should I trust you? How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  “I suppose you have no choice. Either trust me, or wait for the auditors to knock on your door.”

  “Trust you? When all you’ve done is play games? Make bets? It’s easier to believe you’re lying for whatever reason than to believe Trish has been stealing from the business we both created together.”

  Part of him wanted to grab her by the shoulders and force her to do what he wanted, to look into her eyes and “persuade” her to stop being so damned difficult. And he was sorely tempted. But that would be the easy way, and he was bound and determined to try and get her to see reason. He was there to help her, and this entire process would go a lot easier on all of them in the long run if she did. He took a deep breath.

  “Listen, we can either go down to the foundation today and try and get on top of this thing, or we can wait a day or two for the auditors to come and do it for us. But once that happens, it’s public, Jaclyn. Do you hear me? Public. Not only will the reputation of the foundation be ruined, but if I am right, then you and Trish could face criminal charges. You need to believe I care about you. Let me help.”

  Confusion filled her face. He could see she wasn’t sure what she should do. He placed both hands on her shoulders.

  “Can you trust me?”

  He wanted to put is arms around her, to hold her tight, to make her believe he was on her side, but that wasn’t happening. Not yet, anyway. She was too suspicious, too wary. But as he touched her, he felt something different about her. He held her a little closer. Her body temperature was slightly hotter, and her heartbeat…

  “I don’t know, Derek. I don’t know what to think.”

  Something was wrong.

  Different.

  She tried to take a step back, but he held tighter. Focusing, listening intently, and then he heard it. The second, faster heartbeat pulsating at lightning speed like a baby from him would. He pushed back from her, staring wide-eyed.

  “What is it?” she asked, looking suddenly alarmed.

  “Nothing.” He turned his back to her and tried to compose himself.

  She was pregnant.

  He was going to be a father.

  How the hell had he let that happen?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jaclyn took a deep breath, her eyes closing as the impact of Derek’s words hit her with a sucker punch. Trish was always shopping. Always wearing new clothes, designer shoes and purses. Jaclyn had always assumed she got the money from her wealthy parents, but what if she’d been wrong? What if her friend had been stealing from her foundation?

  Her world rocked beneath her feet. “All right, Derek. But I want to go to the foundation alone. I need to see for myself.”

  His expression had closed up and he almost looked pale. “Let me help you.”

  “How can you help me?” she insisted. This was something she needed to wrap her mind around, and she couldn’t do that if she was distracted by him.

  “I won’t know until I see the extent of the damage.”

  “This is something I need to look into on my own.” She didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not, but she couldn’t just open up all the company’s records to a virtual stranger. “Let me go down there, assess the situation, and I’ll give you a call.”

  He was silent for a moment, then he nodded. “All right. But I want to see you later today. We need to work together on this. Come by my shop when you’re done.”

  He gave her the address and they each drove their separate ways. As she watched him drive away, his words replayed in her mind. You need to trust me. Could she trust him? Even now, after everything they’d done? She’d half expected him to be gone when she’d returned from her run, and she couldn’t help wondering why he’d stayed after his accusations. Did he really want to help her? What was in it for him? What kind of game was he playing now?

  It didn’t matter. She would go to the foundation, sort through every scrap of paper there, and reconstruct everything that happened over the last year. Even if it took her all day. And maybe, if she were very lucky, she would find proof that there had been some terrible mistake. That Trish hadn’t stolen from them.

  She walked into the foundation, tears welling in her eyes when she thought of the blood, sweat, and tears they’d both put into the organization. She couldn’t lose it now. She wouldn’t. Jaclyn swiped the tears away then walked toward the desk in the front room and started recreating everything that had been billed and paid for in the last twelve months.

  As the day wore on, she realized Derek was right. The finances were in much worse shape than she’d thought. She’d known Trish was behind on some of the bills that she’d paid the other day, but in actuality she hadn’t been paying the bills at all. They’d been piling up and the deposits had been few and far between. Luckily, Jaclyn had the checks in her purse from last night’s fundraiser.

  Several hours later, she stood and stretched her back. She had ledger sheets and invoices spread across a large table, stacked into piles in front of her. Most of the paper copies were here. What had Trish been thinking? By the end of the day, she had all the bills entered into the system. Even with all the money they’d brought in from the weekend’s fundraisers, they only had enough to pay off less than half of them. They certainly wouldn’t be getting any playground equipment anytime soon.

  From what she could gather, they seemed to have been doing fine until around six months ago. About a month after Trish had started dating Robert. Coincidence? She doubted it. She took out the cash receipt ledgers and tried to piece together how much was missing.

  How much Trish had actually stolen.

  Two hours later, she had a good picture of what had been happening. Trish had been skimming off the top, taking enough that it wouldn’t be noticeable. Until the last month, when she’d taken more and more. Had she planned to pay it back? Had she only been borrowing it? Maybe she thought that in the beginning, but things had escalated, and were way out of control.

  Derek had found out. Somehow, he knew that her friend had stolen thousands of dollars from the foundation.

  Three days ago, she hadn’t even known him. Three days ago, her world had been exactly the way she’d wanted it. Now everything was in shambles. A coincidence? Or was she once again searching for a reason not to trust him? But after what Trish had done, how could she ever trust anyone again?

  She picked up the phone and called their employees, letting each of them know that due to a family emergency they were shutting the foundation down for a few days. She called as many of the families that came in as she could reach. The ones who had phones. The ones who had stable places to live. It was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. She felt sick and hollow. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and hoped they would be able to fix this situation soon.

  …

  Derek entered the auto dealership, crossed the floor to his office, and shut the door. He had to think about how he felt about Jaclyn. About the pregnancy. About what he wanted to do about it. But most of all, he needed to decide whether or not he should tell his mother.

  He’d been waiting decades for his promotion. Decades. And here it was, waiting for him. All he had to do was grab it. Hand her a grandbaby on a silver platter. But if he did, if he told his mother, what would that mean for Jaclyn? Or for the baby. And truth be told, he’d had it with his mother and her interfering. The last thing he wanted was to give her a reason to be even more involved in his life.

  But the ninth level of Hell. No more Mrs. Fransciscans or Fredri
cks to deal with. No more selfish, greedy little pukes. Now he could deal with those who really deserved his energy. Now he could truly make a difference. Just one phone call and he’d be in.

  But he couldn’t rush this. He had to be sure. Did he want to be connected to Jaclyn for the rest of her life? Could she accept him for who he was? For what he did? That was the real kicker. He could always put her in a fog and force her. But he didn’t want her like that.

  He wanted her to want him.

  But did he want to be a father?

  He walked over to the door on the far side of the room and stepped through into his chamber. The room no one else could get into. The room that would let him see anything and anyone he wanted. Just by sliding his fingertips along the walls, he could focus in on anywhere in the world. On anybody.

  He found Mrs. Franciscan and zoomed in on her eating lunch. The cow was over indulging, as usual. He then zoomed in on her sweatshop and caused a problem. A minor problem, a spark in the wiring, a problem with the sprinkler system, which would send her sleazy manager running right to the phone. Two minutes later it came through, and just as he’d arranged, Mrs. Franciscan rushed right over.

  Just in time for the fire.

  The firemen.

  The police.

  And then the reporters.

  She would now be forever publicly linked to an illegal sweatshop, bringing about her humiliation and public downfall. And not one casualty. Everyone got out safely.

  One down, several more to go.

  By the end of the day he had accomplished much. Finally, he walked over to the wall and zoomed in on Jaclyn. She was poring over papers and looking exhausted. He wanted to call her, to tell her he was coming to get her. That it was time for dinner. Time to let him take care of her. And to his surprise, he did want to take care of her.

  And not just because of the baby.

  The baby.

  He stared at her midsection, as if he could see it growing inside her. And it would be growing, quickly. He didn’t have a lot of time to win her heart. Especially before his sister and the others discovered their secret.

  Before he could pick up the phone to call her, he heard music coming from the showroom floor. What were his minions up to now?

  He left his chamber, entering his office, and walked out into the showroom to find a band set up in the corner playing soft jazz and lots of people milling around drinking champagne. He headed over to Minos and Cerberus standing in the corner. “What’s going on?”

  “We are profitable for the quarter. Thought we’d throw a party,” Minos said.

  “Today?”

  “Why not?” Cerberus asked. “Any day is a good day for a party.”

  “And look who just walked in. Sabine,” Minos said with a wide grin. “And from what we hear, she is more than anxious to pick up where you two left off.”

  “Are you shitting me?” Derek asked. “You did all this to get me laid?”

  “Listen, Boss,” Cerberus cut in. “You are not a happy guy lately, and an unhappy boss makes for a very unhappy workplace.”

  “Yeah, see. We had to do it,” Minos added. “Your bad attitude is beginning to interfere with our work productivity. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

  Cerberus downed his drink and plastered a wide smile on his face. “And we remember how much you liked Sabine.” He walked over to greet her and directed her back to Derek.

  Derek was going to kill them. When he took over the ninth level, he was going to give them offices down in the pit, where they would be surrounded by molten lava, the scent of burning flesh, and obsidian walls. See how they liked that for a while.

  Before he could exit, Cerberus and Sabine arrived.

  “Hello, Derek. I’ve been waiting for you to call me.” She stepped up next to him and slid her hands up his chest.

  “I don’t believe we have anything to say to each other.”

  “Oh, don’t be a spoilsport,” she purred and leaned into him.

  Before he could extricate himself, he saw Jaclyn enter the room. She was standing next to Phlegyas, who was pointing in their direction. Her eyes met his over Sabine’s head and her face hardened with humiliation. She pivoted and strode toward the door.

  “Wait,” he called, and removed himself from Sabine’s roving hands and hurried across the room.

  “Derek?” she called, her voice thick with desperation.

  “It’s over, Sabine. You can see yourself out.”

  …

  Jaclyn felt like the world’s biggest idiot as she ran out of the building. He had told her to come to his shop. He never mentioned a party. She’d been so tired, and certainly not dressed for a party, so she almost didn’t go in until she ran into his chauffeur outside. He was the one who led her in. Who found Derek for her.

  Derek had been standing at the edge of the dance floor talking to that woman from the party last night. The one he said was an old friend. Obviously a very close friend, judging by the way she had her glittery paws all over him.

  “Ah, Sabine,” the chauffeur had said, following her gaze. “Our Derek sure has a way with the ladies. But don’t worry, right now he only has eyes for you.”

  Right now? As in for this moment in time? She didn’t find that comforting and from where she stood, it sure didn’t look that way to her. His eyes were obviously all over that barely-clad girl.

  Jaclyn hopped into her car, and had almost made it home when she saw a large black Hummer behind her.

  With Derek at the wheel.

  Of course. Why should she be surprised? She pulled up into the driveway of her house and sat there as he drove in behind her. She didn’t want to talk to him. And after the day they’d had, she didn’t even want to see him.

  “Derek, go home,” she said, as she got out of the car and headed toward the door.

  “We need to talk.”

  “About what? The problems at my foundation, or that woman draped all over you. Not that there is any reason for women not to be draped all over you. But since you knew I was coming over, a little consideration would have been nice.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. “I didn’t know about the party. I was ambushed.”

  “You didn’t know?”

  “No. I was in a back room.”

  He took a step toward her, his blue eyes catching hers, his knuckle brushing her cheek. “You’re tired. We need to talk. What do you say we grab a bite and talk over how things went at the foundation today?”

  “Why bother?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why waste your time? I’m not exactly your type. And you certainly aren’t mine.”

  “How do you know what my type is?”

  “That’s obvious. Your type is like that woman’s who was hanging all over you—beautiful, sophisticated, well-bred.”

  His jaw stiffened. “Maybe you should take the time to find out the truth about people instead of always jumping to conclusions based on outward appearances.”

  Oh, direct hit. “Is that what I do?”

  “Don’t you?”

  She paused. “Maybe you’re right. I suppose I’m a little slow on the uptake. That happens when I find out my best friend has totally fucked me over.”

  His lips twitched. She amused him. Great, that’s all she needed. Maybe she was a distraction and that was why he was there with her, completely wasting his time.

  “I like you.” His words were spoken casually, but there was nothing casual about Derek Wescott. “And I think you like me, too.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe. Just a little. But I’m still pretty certain I can’t trust you, which doesn’t matter because you’re not my type.”

  “Maybe you need to rethink your type.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe I do. I’m too tired to know what day it is right now.”

  “No problem, I’ll order in. We can eat and talk right here.”

  She hesitated and he moved in for the kill.
<
br />   “You like Chinese?”

  “Yes. But—”

  “Good. There’s a great place just down the street.”

  “Fine, why don’t you go there.”

  “Tell me what you found. I really do want to help you if I can,” he pushed, following her as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge.

  She hesitated then decided she might as well tell him everything. He knew more than she did anyway, and if it was possible he could help her, she couldn’t turn him away. She needed all the help she could get if she didn’t want to lose her foundation for good. But that didn’t mean she had to get close to him again, and that certainly didn’t mean she had to trust him with her heart. She collapsed into a chair at the table and told him the abbreviated version of everything she’d found at the foundation.

  “I just can’t believe I’ve been so oblivious.”

  “You trusted your friend and business partner. You believed in her. That’s nothing to beat yourself up about.”

  “I’m just glad we went to both those charity events this weekend, otherwise I don’t know what I’d do.”

  “First you eat, then we plan.” His fingertips brushed her neck, then edged farther down. “I ordered the food. It should be here any minute. You ready to eat?”

  “I will be once you stop touching me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re rubbing your hand up and down my back.”

  “I am,” he agreed.

  “It’s distracting.”

  “You’re tense. Doesn’t it feel good? I like it when my back is rubbed. In fact, you could rub my back right now. And my shoulders. And other things.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “You want me to rub your back?” she asked dryly.

  He bent down and then his mouth was on hers, distracting her, sending heat flooding through her system.

  She pulled away and stood, facing him, hands on her hips. “Listen, buddy. I am not going to sleep with you again. That is not what is happening here. You are here to help me with my business problems and that is all. I still don’t know whether or not you went out with me to find out more about my business or if you found out about it because you went out with me, but either way, there will be no kissing here. Not now. Not until this whole mess is over, and maybe not even then.”