The Billionaire's Heart: The Complete Series (Romance, Contemporary Romance, Billionaire Romance, The Billionaire's Heart Book 7)

by Nancy Adams

  He listened for a moment, then his face clouded over. “Are you serious? Can't legal handle it?” He put his hand over the phone and turned to me. “Someone has filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the company, and the lawyers want me back there to handle the reporters.” He uncovered the phone again and said, “Yeah, yeah, I know! Get the plane on the way here, and I'll be there before dark!” He ended the call and turned to me.

  “Babe, I'm sorry, but I've got to go. It shouldn't take more than a couple of days to handle this mess, and I'll be back.” He looked absolutely forlorn as he said it, and I pushed down my annoyance that he was going to be gone again so soon.

  “Honey, it's fine,” I said. “You're the boss, now, so they're going to need you sometimes, I understand. I'll be here, waiting for you, you know that.” I added a smile to soften his disappointment.

  We worked until noon, and then he had me go with him to get packed up again. Whoever had called him had told him the jet was not that far away and would be at the airport by one, so we grabbed a fast lunch together at McDonald’s and then drove out to wait for the plane. We sat and talked in the car until it landed, just a few minutes after one o'clock, and then I kissed him goodbye again at the gate. I drove back to the store fighting off sadness, telling myself that I'd see him again soon, and not to worry too much.

  Donna had gotten in by the time I got back to the store, and she barely even acknowledged me as I walked past her toward the office. Once again I had to fight the urge to ask her to talk about what was bothering her; I was sure I knew, but she wasn't supposed to ever know that I knew, so I couldn't just blurt it out. I waited a bit, and when she came into the office to get something, I took a shot.

  “Donna,” I said, “I get the feeling that there's something wrong. Anything you want to talk about? I'm here if you need a friend.” I felt that I had said it as if I didn't have a clue, so I watched her reactions for any sign that I'd given myself away.

  She suddenly began to cry, and I was floored. I got up and went to put an arm around her, but she waved me off. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I just—I just can't talk about it, not to you, I'm sorry!” She ran out of the room and I just stood there, shocked, but convinced I'd gotten it figured out correctly.

  Donna had been the one stealing money, and she'd probably known that it would look like I was the one doing it. Maybe she didn't mean for it to look that way, but it should have been hard for her not to see that someone would probably blame me. I took her reaction as a sure sign of her guilt.

  I thought about going to her, asking her to come back and talk to me, even assuring her that I wouldn’t be upset, but it seemed best to just let it go. Hopefully our friendship would survive this, and eventually we'd be able to talk it out; until then, I'd just try to be the best boss I could be, and not let the little bit of resentment I felt get the better of me.

  I went on with my chores, making sure the store was up to speed on everything, and finally it was time to go home. I hadn't heard from Nate since he'd left, so I texted him as I was heading for the car, telling him that I loved him and wanted him to let me know when he arrived safely back home. He responded almost instantly that the plane would be landing within an hour or so, and he'd call me then. I smiled, and then realized that I'd need to leave my own car in the parking lot, if I was to drive the Cadillac.

  Hmm. New Cadillac CTS Sport Coupe, or 1999 Buick LeSabre? Not exactly a hard choice, is it? I made sure the old Buick was locked, then got into the Caddy and drove off for home. I hadn't thought to call my folks and tell them that Nate had to go back to California for a bit, so I filled them in when I got there. They both told me they were sorry, but Dad reminded me of what I already knew: Nate was a very important person, and I couldn't expect to have him all to myself all the time.

  My phone rang about an hour after I'd gotten home, and I answered it before the first ring had even finished. “Hey, Baby. You made it in okay.” It wasn't a question, but a statement.

  “Yeah, I'm here. It's too late today to get anything done, but I'll be at the office first thing in the morning, and hopefully I can fly back out tomorrow evening, so we can have the weekend together.”

  “That'd be great,” I said, smiling into the phone. “I miss you already.”

  “Same here, Babe.”

  We chatted while he rode in his limo to his house, and then I let him go. He'd want to go over things with his parents, I knew, but he said he'd call me back in a bit. I went to the kitchen to help Mom with dinner, and she and Dad and I ended up watching Netflix movies all evening.

  Nate called me back a little before nine, and told me that he had a strategy worked out to deal with the problem. We made a lot of love-talk until almost ten, and then we both admitted to being tired, so he promised to call me on my morning break and we blew each other kisses through the phone.

  Friday morning showed up right on schedule, and I was up and dressed and ready for work as usual. I was the first one in, that morning, so I got the break room coffee going and made sure everything was ready for the day. By the time Corie and the rest came in, I was already busy in the office.

  Corie and I hadn't gotten much time for each other, lately, and I thought about that as the morning dragged on. When Nate called during my break, I mentioned it to him, and he suggested I take her to lunch, which I thought was a great idea. Then he told me that he was going to be meeting with the company's lawyers the rest of the day and might not get to call until late. I told him that was fine, I understood, but inside I was wishing I could strangle whoever had filed this stupid lawsuit.

  We got busy for a bit just after that; the newspaper had come out with our new ads in it, and the tablet computers were on sale so cheap that people were flooding in to get one before we ran out. I had to keep getting more from our warehouse, and finally I just had a couple of others help me to bring all of the remaining stock out and set it up on a movable display. Thirty five minutes later, we were sold out, but I'd already called the distribution center and more would be in by morning, so I told everyone to let customers know that we'd honor the sale price the next day, as well.

  Lunch time came, and I grabbed Corie and ran out the door. I'd told her a bit earlier that I was taking her to lunch, so she was ready and raring to go; we were in the Cadillac and out of the parking lot before anyone could stop me from escaping. I took her to Penny's because it was close and would let us enjoy a little privacy, and besides, the food there is awesome! We got a booth and gave the waitress our orders, and then it was girl time!

  “So, give, stranger,” she said to me, and I giggled at the face she made. “Tell me what's going on with Mr. OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy!”

  “Oh, be nice!” I shot back. “It's been wonderful, of course, and we've stopped even pretending that we aren't sure we want to be together. We've started saying things like, 'after the wedding,' and 'once we're married,' and stuff like that. It's hard to even remember when we weren't in love with each other, you know?”

  “How would I know, you never tell me anything, anymore. It's like you've met your prince Charming, or something!”

  I wadded up my paper straw wrapper and threw it at her.

  We chatted through lunch, and I found out I wasn't the only one to notice how odd Donna had been acting. I had to say I didn't know what could be bothering her, because part of the deal was that no one could know about the problem, and I just didn't think Corie, as much as I love her, had any need to know.

  So instead, we talked about things like how my beach afternoon had gone, and how Nate and I had almost gotten ourselves into trouble when we started kissing in the car. Corie teased me, saying I was turning into “such a tramp” since I'd met Nate, but then she admitted that she'd have the same problem, if she had a guy like him, and we laughed at each other.

  We got back to work at one on the dot, and I spent the next hour in the office by myself, getting my reports done and making sure the computer and I agreed on them. I was finishing up t
he last one when I heard a tap on the door.

  “Yeah, come on in,” I called out, and looked up to see who it was. I was a little surprised when Donna came through, but I just smiled as she closed the door behind her and sat down in the chair opposite.

  “Hey,” I said. “What's up?”

  Donna sat there for almost a minute, just looking at me. I was starting to feel strange, but then she suddenly had tears falling down her face, and I softened. She had come to confess; I understood.

  “Donna,” I said, reminding myself that I wasn't supposed to know anything. “It's okay, whatever it is. Let's talk about it, and I'm sure you'll feel better.” I knew I would, because I wouldn't need to pretend to be stupid, anymore!

  She looked down into her lap, and began to speak softly.

  “First, I want you to know that I really, really do care about you, and I would never willingly hurt you, Katelynn. If there was any way I could take it back, do it differently, I...”

  Her voice trailed off, and I wanted to tell her I understood, that I forgave her, but still I had to wait until she revealed the whole thing. I asked, “Donna, what? What are you talking about?”

  And then my world fell apart, as she looked up at me and said, “Mr. Simmons—Nate—he's been coming to my house the last several nights, and making me—making me have sex with him, and he says if I don't, he'll accuse me of stealing money from the store.”

  Chapter Eight

  There Are No Happy Endings

  * * * * *

  I stared at her, and I could feel my breathing growing faster and faster. At first, I couldn't even comprehend the words that she'd uttered, they didn't make any sense. Who was this other Nate Simmons she spoke of, and why would he want to be with her? I knew she couldn't be talking about…

  But then it hit me that she was talking about my Nate, that she was trying to say that he—there was no way he would do that!

  I didn’t even realize I'd opened my mouth until I heard myself say, “You're lying! There's no way he'd ever do such a thing!”

  She continued to look down at her lap, and I heard her sob. “I'm so sorry,” she said, “I didn't want to do it, but he said if I didn't, he'd say I was stealing money from the store, and that I'd go to jail and lose my kids—he made me swear I'd never tell you, but I just—I just can't do this. I can't do it to you!”

  She stood up and turned toward the door as if to leave, but I wasn't done. “Sit back down!” I told her, and she did so without any argument. I leaned forward, with my hands on the desk in front of me.

  “There is no way on earth that I'm going to believe that Nate would want you, when he's got me. I don't know why you think you have any right to be jealous, or to try to ruin this for me, but I'm going to tell you flat out right now, I don't think any man would choose you over me! You're twelve years older, you're thirty pounds fatter, and you can't even manage to dress like you care about yourself, so if you think I'm going to believe...”

  She looked me in the eye, and I could see a hint of anger behind the tears. “You'd probably be right, if he could have gotten into your pants, Miss I'm Too Perfect, but everyone knows what a prudish virgin you are! Well, guess what, darlin', when a man don't get it at home, he'll go looking for the easiest place he can find it! He showed up at my door last Saturday, right after he got back, and told me that someone had been stealing money, and that he'd be back later that night and if I didn't put out, he'd lay the blame for it right on me! He said he'd go in the computer and make sure it looked like I did it, so that I'd go to jail and the state would end up taking my kids, and that if I told you anything about it, he'd just call me a liar and go ahead to send me up the river!”

  I stared at her. “Oh, come on, Donna, Nate would never...”

  She rose to her feet and stared me in the eyes. “Well, maybe that's what he's got you thinking, but he's just a man, and I decided that I wasn't going to be walked on by any man, and I don't care how rich he is, so I got smart! I had my son rig up his web cam to take snapshots every so often, and then I put them on my phone, so just take a look!” She shoved her iPhone at me, and I glanced at it without thinking.

  There was a photo of Nate's face on it, and when I looked again, I could see that his face was showing from over her shoulder. She was facing the camera directly, and there were tears in her eyes, and Nate's arm was around her as he pulled her back toward himself…

  I pushed it away, looked up at her face and tried to speak, tried to deny it, argue with it, but nothing would come out. I'd just been shown proof that the man I loved, the man who had assured me that he was a virgin, just like me, the man who had given me reason to hope and not believe that all men were like the ones who'd tried to seduce me in college—that man was nothing but a liar and a fake.

  I pushed past Donna and ran out of the office, straight out the back door and to the parking lot. I passed the Cadillac and went to my own car, the old Buick, got in and drove like a mad woman out into the street. I couldn't think of where to go, I just knew I had to get out of the store, get as far away from it as I possibly could while I tried to process all of this disastrous information.

  How could I really have been so blind, so naive, so stupid? Nate Simmons was one of the richest men in the country, he could have any woman he wanted. He could date movie stars, models, any woman at all, and I'd been silly enough and immature enough to think he'd want a simple, small town girl like me!

  As for Donna, from what she had told me, he must have thought she'd be an easy mark; she'd be scared to refuse him, especially if he really did threaten her like that, because her kids are her entire life. When I really thought about it, she had shown incredible courage in getting evidence of what he'd done and bringing it to me. As much as it hurt me to see it, she probably saved me from a long life of such infidelities.

  Then there's the fact that you're always hearing about famous and powerful men who use their position to get sexual favors from women, from presidents all the way to movie stars and comedians and singers; sooner or later, some woman would have spoken out, and I'd have learned about this side of him when it was too late to do anything but try to keep it as quiet as possible. No, I didn't want to be one of those wives, no way.

  I guess the thing that really did it was when I remembered her saying that he'd come to see her on Saturday, just after coming back to North Platte. I thought back and recalled that he'd dropped me off at home, and then said he'd had a phone call he had to deal with that made him late in getting back to my house. I'd wondered then why he had needed to be away from me for that time, but now it made sense; he'd obviously come up with this plan while he was out in California, and couldn't wait to get her alone so he could hit her with it. After that, it was just a matter of showing up at her place each night, after spending his evenings with me. That would probably account for why he'd looked so tired some of the last few mornings, as well!

  God, how could this have happened?

  I'd been driving around for about an hour when my phone rang. I looked, and it was Nate, so I hit the ignore button. It rang again a moment later, and I ignored it again. A text came in after that, and I glanced at it out of habit. Guess you’re busy. Call you later. Love you!

  I threw the phone across the car and turned around. I was going to help Donna protect herself from the anger he was sure to direct at her, and maybe even help her sue his butt off!

  When I got back to the store, Donna was on a cash register. I smiled at her and said, “Put someone else on there, and come see me in the office. I'm going to need your help for a bit.” She looked surprised, but didn't let on that there was any problem. “Sure, Katelynn,” she said, “I'll be right there.”

  When she came in, I motioned for her to shut the door and sit down. She did so, and I took just a moment longer to gather my thoughts.

  “First, let me say how sorry I am for the things I said to you. They were crude, and only came from my shock at what you'd told me, but I don't really feel tha
t way about you. I'm no better than you are, and I sincerely apologize for making it seem like I think I am. Can you forgive me?”

  She smiled, and I saw another tear slip down her cheek. “Of course. Do you think I didn't expect you to get mad, to blame me, maybe? I've been on your side of this situation, more than once, so I kind of had an idea what you were going to be feeling. Let's get past that, okay?”

  “Thank you,” I said. “Now, let's talk about the real problem. What Nate has done is inexcusable, and I think you need to take steps to protect yourself. It's true that it looks like there was someone stealing money from the store a week or so back, but I don't think it was really you. I don’t know who it was, but that doesn't even matter, now; what does matter is that we can't let him get away with this, or he'll be doing it to other women in the future.” I took a very deep breath, because I was about to say something that would mean the end to all of my own hopes and dreams.

  “Donna, I want you to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against Nate. I'm going to call my father, who's a lawyer, and ask him to take the case.”

  Donna stared at me for a long moment. “If I do that, he'll go ahead and accuse me of stealing the money. If he's done stuff in the computer to back it up, I could go to prison, Katelynn. I can't afford to...”

  “You can't afford not to, Donna, or you'll never be free of him. If you file the lawsuit, and I stand behind you on it, I'm certain Dad can show that you were a victim, that you were being framed as a threat to make you compliant with his demands. You won't get into trouble, and you'll probably get a huge cash settlement, because his company won't want this going to court and getting into the news. That I'm sure of!”

  She sat there and thought it through for several minutes, occasionally asking me a question. At last, she looked up at me with terror on her face and said, “Okay. If you're sure you'll stand with me, I'll do it. I'm still so sorry for what this is doing to you, but I can't tell you how much it means to me that you're being such a good friend!”