“So why would Parker necessarily know he has those accounts?”
“They were never a huge secret from his top employees,” Athena said, with a shrug of her shoulders. “But Parker, in particular, knows about them because he wanted me to create an account for him in the same bank. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now in hindsight I wonder why it was so important to him. Having me make the account specifically, and in that same bank. It’s very suspicious, if you ask me.”
“So this guy, he’s skimming the funds and putting them into the bank, how did he get caught anyway?” Kady wanted to know.
“One of the clients figured it out,” Athena said. “Some woman, I guess.”
“What was her name?”
“Cheryl Jenkins,” she said, after a moment to remember. “I’ve never seen what she looks like or anything. I think she’s in her thirties though.”
“Have you asked Samuels to find out more about her as well?” Kady wanted to know, feeling like she was still missing a piece to the puzzle. “It couldn’t hurt, right?”
“I did, but I haven’t heard back from him yet,” Athena said. “But, back to the point at hand. Ellen, now that you know Mia is not to be trusted, if she comes into Dazzle again I want you to have security escort her out, and inform her that she is not welcome on my property. I don’t have the time or the inclination to put up with that woman or her malicious lies about my son. Kady, however, may come and go as she pleases from now on.”
“Wait a minute, did you just say Cheryl Jenkins?” Ellen asked, slapping herself on the forehead. “There’s a Cherry Jenks working up on the third floor, isn’t there?”
“Yes, there is, as a matter of fact,” Athena said. “So what?”
“What if she’s who Mia has been coming to see?”
“So you think that the accuser came and interviewed for Dazzle after discrediting my son?” Athena scoffed. “Why would she do that?”
“I really don’t know,” Ellen replied, with a small shake of her head, looking as confused as the other two women.
“We could easily find out if it’s her if we can tap into the footage of the trial,” Kady said. “We could get a picture of her face and see if it’s the same person.”
“You know how to do that?” Athena asked.
“I didn’t go to school for four years for nothing,” Kady reminded her. “Just lead me to a computer that’s connected to the internet, and we could possibly solve this mystery ourselves.”
Chapter 31
Kady stared with a look of shock at the picture of Cheryl Jenkins that she was now watching on her screen. This woman had a very familiar face. In fact, she was one of Mia’s sidekicks, and was the one who had been with her in the kitchen of Archer’s home on the day she returned with news of her pregnancy. But that being the case, it made even less sense now than it had before.
“Do you know her, Kady?” Ellen asked curiously. “Shall I call Athena and let her know you have her on your screen?”
“Have a look yourself, and tell me if this is the woman from floor three,” Kady suggested instead.
Ellen stepped over to look at the screen over Kady’s shoulder and nodded her head. “Yeah, that’s her all right. Who would have thought a woman like that would be in our midst? Athena must be told right away.”
“Yes, have her come here, but don’t say anything about the outcome yet, will you?” Kady said. “I am wondering if we’d be better off to watch her than to throw her out on her ear. Maybe we could determine what she really wants.”
“Money, of course,” Ellen scoffed. “What else?”
“This woman broke into our home along with Mia a few months ago,” said Kady, glaring at the image accusingly. “If all she wanted was money, she should have gotten that from the settlement when Archer admitted the wrong-doing of his employee and sent her the amount she’d been shorted. There must be more to it than that.”
“It’s blatantly obvious what Mia’s after,” Ellen said, making Kady scowl even more. “But what purpose does this woman have in all of it? Why would she extend herself to become involved when she doesn’t stand to profit further?”
“She and Mia are friends,” Kady said. “And from what I’ve seen, she pretty much will do whatever Mia tells her without question. Why do you suppose she’d do that?”
“I’m not sure,” Ellen said. “Maybe she’s somehow involved with Parker as well.”
“Oh, so now there’s a big ol’ conspiracy going on, and they are all out to get my boyfriend?” Kady sighed. “This situation just keeps getting worse as the months go by, doesn’t it?”
“Are you happy with Archer, Kady?” Ellen asked her, her tone suddenly soft and serious at the same time.
“I am,” she said, wiping at a tear as she smiled. “We just seem to get each other somehow, you know? Which is really the weirdest thing of all.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re from completely different worlds. I mean, I’m a girl from the slums who managed to pull myself out with just my brain and some really sharp claws,” Kady said. “I still can’t figure out what Archer wanted me for when he could have had anybody he wanted. But I wouldn’t change it, though. I may not come from the same place as him, but I intend to end up wherever that man does when all is said and done.”
“And if he became poor and you had to support him?” Ellen wanted to know.
“Why would that matter to me?” Kady scoffed. “I’m used to being poor in the first place, right? Besides, Archer is too smart and driven to remain poor for very long. I’m sure he would find his way right back up to the top again.”
“That’s great, Kady,” she smiled. “Let me get Athena back down here and we can go from there, okay? Why don’t you keep an eye out for Mia now? She usually shows up around two and it’s already a quarter till.”
Even as she spoke Mia stepped up to the secretary’s window and glanced inside. With a gasp, she gaped at Kady, and Kady glared back at her. Mia looked hurriedly around her, and seeing no easy escape, she went on the attack.
“What is that little tramp doing here?” asked Mia, feigning outrage, her shrill voice piercing the silence in the marble lobby. “She doesn’t belong here, she’s trying to steal Archer from me. You need to throw her out right now!”
“Sorry, Mia, your little game won’t work anymore,” Ellen told her, an edge of hostility sharpening her usually friendly expression. Her voice brooked no nonsense. “Just turn around and leave, and don’t come back here again. Athena and Kady have told me all about you.”
“But—but it’s not true!” she wailed. “Those two are conspiring against me! Archer’s mother hates me and wants her for a daughter-in-law, but it’s never going to happen. Archer’s my boyfriend, not hers! We’re even going to have a baby of our own.”
“How would you be having a baby with Archer?” Kady snapped, finally losing all patience with the woman’s obvious lies. What made it worse was the edge of desperation in Mia’s voice that made it sound like she had almost convinced herself that what she was spewing was actually reality instead of complete make-believe.
Kady shook her head, driving the point home. “You can’t have had sex with him, he’s in prison.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she said. “We had sex before he went in there, of course. He only wanted sex with you so you’d get pregnant anyway, but now that I’m having a baby after all, he’s not even going to keep you around at all. You might as well pack up and leave right now.”
“Why are you doing this?” Kady demanded. Mia’s paltry excuses to get her out of Archer’s life were almost laughable. Well, they would be if she wasn’t causing Kady so much trouble and drama. She just didn’t understand what Mia could possibly gain from all this. She must know that she had no chance in hell with Archer, and her lies would only put them further at odds with each other. Kady took a step forward, her words sharp as she demanded the truth from Mia.
“Why are you lying like
this? You can’t possibly prove what you’re saying it true. All they’d have to do is check your baby’s DNA to prove what a liar you really are.”
“You are so stupid, Kady,” she replied. “You’ll see, they’ll find out this baby belongs to Archer, and then you would have to believe what I’m telling you. Don’t you remember when you found me in your kitchen? We had sex right before that, when you were gone to your appointment.”
“You’re lying!” Kady yelled, temper finally snapping, and she surged forward to slap Mia right across her face.
“Don’t you hit me again!” Mia shrieked, slapping her back. She grabbed the collar of Kady’s shirt and awkwardly hauled her right across the desk into the reception area. Kady landed hard on the marble tiled floor, curling around her stomach instinctively to protect her baby against the mad woman’s attack, when what she really wanted was to strike out with a few more slaps of her own. Or she quickly thought, punches would be more forceful and hurt Mia even more. Before she had a chance to duck away, Mia struck out with her foot, landing a kick in her side before the security guard who had rushed in could stop her.
The fight had started and ended in a matter of seconds, and everyone stood, stunned as the security guard had to physically hold back Mia, who was still shooting daggers at Kady through hate-filled eyes.
“Ellen? What the hell is going on here?” the guard demanded as he struggled with Mia, who had started to complain that he was injuring her, even though it was definitely she who was the threat.
“Pregnant cat fight,” Ellen replied, with a wide-eyed look between Kady, who was still standing with her arms around the swell of her tummy, and the instigator. “Throw out the yellow tabby, would you?”
“And the black cat?” he asked with a shake of his head as he pulled Mia farther away for Kady.
“That one’s probably a new resident,” she said. “Best leave her here so I can help her lick her wounds.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed. Mia shrieked with outrage all the way out the door.
Chapter 32
Kady told Archer the whole story during their visit the following day. He was as completely perplexed by the entire story as she was and shook his head over it. “Why would she tell you something like that anyway?” he wondered. “While you were at the doctor that day, I took a nap and then woke up and got onto the computer.”
“Maybe she’s just trying to get me to break up with your or something,” Kady decided. “You know that to her messed up, crazy way of thinking, if I wasn’t in the way it would be much easier for her to have you instead.”
“It seriously concerns me, though, that you’re out there where she could go nuts and try to hurt you or our baby, and I’m trapped in here where I can’t do anything about it,” Archer said as he rubbed at his temples. His handsome face looked drawn and haggard, the black ring around his eye finally starting to fade into splotchy greens, yellows, and purples.
“But the only person who got attacked so far is you,” Kady pointed out, looking him over for any new signs of violence. “Have they bothered you again since then?”
“Warden couldn’t make me go to solitary, so he put all six of them in instead,” Archer told her with a negative shake of his head. “That’s probably just going to make them angrier than ever once they get out again.”
“Great,” Kady grumbled, trying to cover the fact that she was filled with worry over him. She knew he had enough on his plate to deal with without having to comfort her as well. “The legal system at work again, huh?”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ve already hired my own squad of goons,” Archer said. “They won’t get close enough to lay a single finger on me with these guys around.”
“Yeah, unless Parker is paying more than you are,” Kady pointed out. “Say, Archer, how much do you know about that guy anyway? How long did you two work together?”
“Who, Parker?” Archer scoffed, a hint of anger sparking in his dark eyes. “We actually were at college together. He used to complain all the time that I got better grades and then later on better opportunities, you know, that sort of thing. But he was always more than willing to hang on my shirttails, and I was nice enough to give him a job later on. You’d think he’d be a little grateful.”
“Grateful?” she said, a small piece of the puzzle finally starting to click. “What about jealous?”
“What? What are you saying?” Archer asked.
“What if he was so jealous that he wanted to get even with you?” Kady asked. “How far do you think he’d go to do that?”
“You mean as in completely discredit me and then send his crazy sister around to try to get me in her clutches, that kind of getting even?” Archer asked, giving credence to the idea even though it was completely crazy, and rubbing speculatively at his chin. “But if that’s what this is all about, then how does that other chick fit in?”
“I’m still working on that part,” Kady said with a sigh. Unfortunately, there were a lot of pieces that made up this crazy puzzle, but she was determined to figure it out. “But whoever Cherry Jenks really is, she’s completely unaware that we’re on to her. Your mother agreed that we’d be better off just to watch her for now. However, if these three are willing to go this far for whatever it is they’re after, I really don’t know how much farther they’d go beyond it.”
“Yeah, I know,” Archer agreed. “But you’ll believe in me no matter what, and that’s really all that matters in my book. You have no idea how much I want to kiss you just because of that right this minute.”
Kady forced a chuckle. “Well, that’s not going to happen.” She missed him so much it was like a constant ache she carried around with her, right next to her heart.
“Put your lips to the glass, sweetheart,” he suggested.
“No way, they told us that’s against the rules,” she reminded him. “You’re trying to get me thrown out of here.”
“I’m not,” he protested. “I just really miss you, that’s all.”
“I miss you too, Archer,” she said softly. “But you haven’t been naughty in there, so it shouldn’t be that much longer.”
“Did you do your photo shoot?” he asked her then, changing the topic of conversation before either of them could get too sucked into the depressing topic of their forced separation.
“Oh yeah, we did manage to fit that in along with all the mayhem,” Kady chuckled, remembering how much fun that day had been, and how good it had felt to do something actually productive and worthwhile. “How did you know that camera guy would be—um—uninterested, anyway?”
“Because my mother always tends to hire photographers who will be disinclined to flirt with their subjects,” Archer said with a grin. “I just figured I’d have fun teasing you a bit before I told you that.”
“Alfonso is a real sweetheart,” Kady said. “And he has an excellent eye for color schemes.”
“Well, that’s good,” Archer said with a nod. “I look forward to seeing what the two of you came up with together.”
“You know me too well, I think,” Kady grumbled.
“I think I like knowing you too well,” Archer said. He kissed a finger and held it to the glass. Shyly, Kady took the kiss and put it onto her lips.
“Oh yeah, Dee told me that the nursery furniture just arrived and she’s having loads of fun putting it together,” Kady chuckled. “Something tells me she’s going to like becoming a nanny as well as a housekeeper. She might actually be more excited about this baby than we are.”
“That’s impossible,” Archer grinned, the tenderness in his voice breaking her heart all over again. She couldn’t help but feel that he was missing so much as they readied for the baby’s impending arrival. “Take some pictures and send them to me, will you? You can send some of yourself as well as the nursery too, if you will. I really do miss your face, you know.”
“I love you, Archer,” Kady told him with a tremulous smile, instantly covering it up with a naughty wink. “You’l
l have those pics in the mail before the end of the night.”
“Good girl,” he grinned, knowing she hated it when he called her that. “Now I won’t have to spank you.”
“Oh, really?” Kady chuckled, her voice suddenly husky. “Then I’ll have to think of a way to make you change your mind, won’t I?”
The pair of them were giggling like crazy by the time Kady had to go.
Chapter 33
“So what does that mean, Doctor Franz?” Kady asked with a furrowed brow, her panic spiking at the doctor’s news.
“Well, in regular diabetes the body is unable to properly process sugar because the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to pump into the system to do so,” he explained. “That’s sort of what is happening with gestational diabetes except that it’s a temporary condition which is being set off by the hormones from your baby. We generally want to keep your sugars down as low as possible, so we’ll be starting you on some insulin shots which the dietician will explain to you further. But what it all boils down to is a strict change of your diet for the rest of your pregnancy. If you don’t follow it, the baby will grow big really fast and you’d probably be looking at a C-section birth.”
“I’d definitely like to avoid that!” Kady gasped. “I doubt anybody would want to hire me as a bikini model with a huge scar like that on my belly.”
“I think you ought to focus more on your after-pregnancy weight loss than that at this point,” he said. “Having babies in general can pack on pounds, but for most women the boys can tend to put on more than the girls.”
“Did you just tell me the gender of this baby?” Kady laughed.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot you’d asked not to know,” he said, with a slightly abashed look and a shrug. “Must be my senility catching up to me.”
Dazzle: The Billionaire's Secret Surrogate (Contemporary BWWM Romance) Page 13
