by Andrea Stein
Heather shook her head. “No. Do you want me to order you something for lunch?”
“Yes, that would be great. The usual. Thanks.”
There was another pause, and then Heather asked, “Did your grandfather really start the firm?”
Caitlyn looked up. Heather was looking at her, hands clasped together, as if that kind of question always followed a lunch order.
“What?”
“I just heard that, you know, your grandfather used to own the company.”
Caitlyn nodded, slowly, not sure why this was coming up now. She thought everyone already knew.
“He did, and then Maxwell bought it from him.”
“No one in your family wanted it?”
“Not at the time,” Caitlyn said evenly.
“Not your father?”
“My father?”
“Didn’t your grandfather want to give it to his son?”
“There was only my mother. She’s an only child, and she’s an artist.”
“But…oh.” Heather turned a little pink. “I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay. My mother and my father weren’t married for long. So that’s why I have the same name as my grandfather. My father lives down in the Caribbean year-round.” Caitlyn didn’t bother to explain that her grandfather had been more like her father anyway.
“I just didn’t realize until recently, until someone said. I’m not from here. My parents moved here after I went to college, so I didn’t know.”
Heather stood there for a few more moments, and Caitlyn looked at her. It had been an awkward conversation to have, Caitlyn thought, but better Heather got some of the truth, rather than whatever gossip was floating around.
“It’s okay. Old history by now.” Caitlyn said it lightly, hoping the girl would take the hint. “Anything else?”
“No, I’ll take care of lunch for you.”
“Thanks.” Caitlyn turned back to the work on her desk, focused on the information in front of her. There was something she was still struggling to understand. From what she could tell, Tony’s empire might not be as impressive as the media claimed. His restaurants were always crowded, and they charged a hefty fee for the privilege of being seen there.
However, Tony didn’t seem very good at keeping much of that money. He was always borrowing to expand, and he didn’t seem to have all that much in other banks or accounts. Of course, she couldn’t be sure of this until he allowed them to look deeper, but it was part of her best guesses. Tony didn’t need any special deals – he needed Finance 101.
Caitlyn stretched. Her grandfather had been a big advocate of Finance one-oh-one, a basic common-sense approach. Slow and steady wins the race. Tony needed to pay himself first, diversify into holdings other than houses, cars and boats, and look into safe and boring stocks and bonds.
She put together her plan, even selecting a picture of a fat, happy and self-satisfied tortoise to put on the cover.
Chapter 28
“Sam, you have a call from Jonathan Glover.” Deborah Muller poked her head into Sam’s office. He looked up and allowed himself a small smile.
“Put him through, will you, please?”
“Johnny, boy,” Sam said, and Jonathan Glover responded with a warm laugh.
“Good to hear you, my friend. Sorry it’s been a while, but they sent me to Australia to take care of some business. When I returned, I saw your messages.”
“No problem. I understand. How’s life over in London?” Sam asked.
“Wet and cold, but I’m used to it by now.”
“It’s about the same here.”
They chatted for a little bit more and then, towards the end of the call, Jonathan added, “I suppose you’ve been wondering if I found anything.”
“Well, the thought had crossed my mind, but it’s your coin, not mine.” Sam had been tamping down impatience during the whole of their chit-chat, waiting for this.
“It’s the bank’s money, not mine, so I’ll talk all I want. Listen, I didn’t check things out for you. Actually, I didn’t have to do that much checking. That woman has quite a few stories going around about her.”
“I’ve heard the stories, Jon, but I need to know if there’s any truth to them.” Sam felt his anticipation rise. He’d been watching Caitlyn Montgomery for weeks, just waiting for her to make some sort of misstep.
“Well, there may be. It looks like she and her old company came to a mutual decision that it was time for her to move on. There was something about irregularities in client accounts. Then there are other stories about her break-up with the fiancé.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Sam asked. He didn’t care about Caitlyn’s personal life.
“Some people say he was out to get her. He was the kind of man, or least he has the kind of name, that could make things happen.”
Sam chewed on this for a moment or two.
“What do you think, Jon? I’ve got her working here for me, and she seems okay on the surface, but there are some things that just aren’t adding up.”
“Are you guys having some trouble again, Sam? I don’t know if we’d be able to bail you out again.”
“No,” Sam said quickly. Last thing he needed was for word to get out that things were looking a little shaky. “Trouble’s too strong a word. She just gives me a bad feeling.”
On the other end of the phone came a laugh. “She’s quite bright, you know, everyone said so, right after they made mention of her looks. Sure you aren’t a bit jealous, some young thing coming over and getting a jump on you?”
Sam forced a laugh back. Of course he was worried about it. Caitlyn Montgomery was a threat to his plans and had been since the day she arrived.
“Look, is there anything solid?”
“Well sure, there is. There was a complaint formally lodged against her with the compliance department of the Capital Trust Company.”
“I am not sure that I follow.” Sam Harris spun around and looked out the window, feeling like he had hit pay dirt.
“She was the subject of an internal investigation that was closed without any action taken. Supposedly it had something to do with misappropriation of funds, but everyone I spoke to wouldn’t say anything about it.”
“Is that odd?”
“They wouldn’t even give me anything off the record. These are friends, Sam. They just clammed up. I think it’s a little odd even if I don’t know what it means. The charge was dropped, so Caitlyn Montgomery is clean. She left the company on okay terms. Everyone said it was because she was passed over for some promotion.”
Sam took it all in. He and Jonathan wrapped up quickly after that. Sam leaned deeply back in his chair, smiling.
Chapter 29
Caitlyn watched Tony carefully. He had enjoyed his poached salmon and pasta salad, and seemed to feel at ease in the conference room. She had told her friend, a local chef, who was coming to lunch. Once the nervousness of cooking for one of the restaurant world’s celebrities had worn off, she had outdone herself. Which was good, Caitlyn thought, because lunch seemed to be the one thing Tony was enjoying the most.
They had chatted and gossiped, and it was going well until Caitlyn started to get down to business. Her plan made sense, and Tony could see that. He was having a little more difficulty in facing the truth.
“I don’t know, Caitlyn. It all sounds so difficult,” he said. “You make it sound like going on a diet.”
“It’s not depravation. It’s not very exciting, I’ll admit, but it works. Was opening your first restaurant sexy and exciting, or was it a lot of hard work, day in and day out, repetitive work until you got things right?”
“True, but…” he said.
“It was all part of a bigger picture for you. I understand that, Tony, and that’s what I want to help you with. Once we get the f
oundation set, you can build whatever you want on top of it. This is a beginning, something to put you on the right course.”
“If I tie up all of my free cash in these other things,” he glanced down at the paper, “I won’t have the money I need to expand.”
“Tony, you need to think about your future – protecting the money you have. You could easily become one of those shooting stars, Tony, white-hot in the moment and then tomorrow, gone.”
Caitlyn thought for a moment and tried to put into terms he would understand. “What if someone got food poisoning at one of your restaurants or you got a bad review? Attendance drops, the buzz switches to someplace else and suddenly you don’t have the money coming in like you’ve always expected.”
“I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor. Rich is better,” Tony said.
Caitlyn nodded. “Exactly.” She felt a surge of excitement. He was starting to feel it; he was getting there.
There was a knock on the door, and Caitlyn froze.
Heather came in, looking nervous. “There’s a phone call for you.”
“I’m a little busy.” Caitlyn kept the annoyance of her voice, but she had told Heather that nothing, nothing was to interrupt her meeting with Tony.
“It’s Mr. Harris. He says it’s important.”
Tony looked between the two of them. “Go ahead, Caitlyn. I’ll just take a look at these things again.”
Caitlyn smiled in thanks and got up.
“I’m sorry, but he said that he had to speak to you.” Heather was apologetic.
Caitlyn went into her office and picked up the phone. Sam was in Boston on business, and his voice came across the telephone crisp and demanding.
“Caitlyn, I need you pull up the statements on the Harts.” The Harts were a couple, her clients.
“Why? I’m busy with a client now.” She tried to keep the waspish sound out of her voice, but Sam couldn’t have picked a worse time to call.
“Who, Tony Biddle?” Sam didn’t think Tony was a proper client for the firm. “I’m supposed to meet with Richard Hart, and I just want to be prepared. Pull them up and fax them to me.”
He gave a number, and Caitlyn did as she was asked. She gave the task to Heather, and the whole thing took no more than a few minutes. Why Sam couldn’t have just asked Heather or his own assistant for it made no sense.
She returned to the conference room and stopped on the threshold. Tony was staring at Tommy Anderson, who was telling him a story. Tony laughed, and Caitlyn felt a pang of unease. They looked like they’d known each other for a while.
She walked in, and they both looked up, undisturbed.
“You were holding out on me,” Tony said, and Caitlyn smiled as she sat down.
“What do you mean?”
“I was just telling Tony about some of our exciting opportunities for qualified investors,” Tommy said, oozing charm.
She looked between the two of them. “Yes, we do have those opportunities, but Tony and I were talking about some basic diversification of his portfolio.” Caitlyn tried hard to keep the ice out of her voice, feeling the familiar sense of a knife inching up her back, ready to be pushed in and twisted.
“I am sure you were, but as I was telling Tony, I’m sure we can accommodate both goals,” Tommy said.
“I would be interested in seeing the paperwork that relates to your ideas,” Tony said, looking directly at Tommy.
Caitlyn might as well have been invisible. “Tony, I know that those deals sound exciting, and profitable, but you do understand the amount of risk that they entail?”
“Caitlyn, if I thought too much about risk, I never would have opened my own restaurant. The world belongs to the risk-takers.”
Tommy agreed, and Caitlyn felt her stomach sink. She couldn’t very well disagree with Tommy in front of Tony, nor could she tell Tony she thought he was being foolish, especially since she had practically been chomping at the bit to show Tony some of those ideas herself. Caitlyn looked across the table to Tommy’s cool blue eyes. He was smiling at her, and she needed to resist the urge to lean across the table and throttle him. Once again, he had bested her.
“You’re certainly right. The new client paperwork is right here. I’ll go over it with Tony, and then we can all talk further,” she said, quelling her seething anger and trying to put everything in perspective. She was not going to let Tony Biddle walk out of here without a signed contract. She and Tommy could fight over him later.
Chapter 30
Michael St. John looked at the Fed Ex package on the desk. It was late in the evening. He was scheduled for dinner in an hour, but he had waited until now to open it. His secretary had signed specially for it. Michael poured himself a drink from the bottle of single malt. Alcohol in private offices was frowned upon, but he didn’t care about the rules. He poured, noticing that he already needed another bottle; he’d replaced it just a few days ago.
He looked at the return address, and his jaw clenched. Throughout the day, he had looked at it, aware of whose it was and what might be inside. She could have sent it straight home, instead of to the office. Several people, including his secretary, might have guessed the contents as well. In that case, it would be all around the office. Caitlyn’s final and big go to hell.
Michael opened the package anyway, and there nestled among protective wrap was the black box. He removed it from the package and flipped open the lid, the hinges stiff and tight. It was there, all fifty thousand quid of it. It glinted in the fluorescent office lights. Almost absently, he moved it around, letting the light catch the stones, creating a rainbow of prisms on the floor, the wall, before he put it aside.
She had included a note. A single cream-colored card, her handwriting, which was beautiful, staring up at him. In no uncertain terms, in black and white, in elegant, cursive script, she told him it was over.
He put the card down and looked at the ring. It wasn’t quite over, he thought. Caitlyn Montgomery had another thing coming.
Chapter 31
“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.” Noah took a sip of his wine.
She was having trouble explaining it herself. It had taken her a few days to cool down after the meeting with Tony. She had gotten him to sign the paperwork; he was officially a client. Even that had been small solace after being outflanked by Tommy.
“You just won Tony Biddle as a new client, something you’ve been working on for a few weeks, and now you don’t seem very happy about it. You’ve been so busy, I’ve hardly had the chance to congratulate you.”
“I am happy,” she had already calculated the commission she could receive and had been very happy. She was thinking she might take the money, offer to buy her mother out of her half of the house. That way it would be Caitlyn’s, all hers.
They were sitting on the couch at his house, in the study Noah had taken over from his father. He’d made it his own, papers and folders stacked around, not one, but two laptops set up on the desk.
“I shouldn’t be talking to you about this,” she said, throwing a pillow at him. He caught it and laughed.
“No, I want to hear about your workday. Tell me,” he slid across the couch and picked up one of her bare feet.
“That tickles,” she said, but didn’t move. All of a sudden, their relationship had slipped into a sort of easiness, something comfortable, like they really had known each other all of their lives. It had taken her by surprise, the way she expected to see him, hear his voice on the phone.
“Sam Harris is acting strangely.” She paused and then followed up, “Not strangely. Just different.”
Sam was checking up on her constantly, the call about the Harts’ accounts just the latest example.
“Maybe he’s just being conscientious,” Noah suggested.
“Maybe.” Sam was taking accounts away from her. She had signed two more small ones last week, but he had already reassigned them, telling her that she sh
ould focus solely on finding new business.
“So you think he’s giving you a hard time on purpose?”
“No, no, it’s not that.” That was the last thing she meant to suggest. It was too difficult for her to speak to Noah about work, sounded too much like she was complaining.
“Are you sure you’re not just getting too worked up about things? I mean, all you seem to do is work.”
“That’s not true,” Caitlyn said, stung. “I’m right here now, with you.” She still refused to go out with him in public, preferring to keep their relationship, or whatever it might be called, private. She was thankful that he didn’t insist, but she could sense that he might start pushing for something more.
“You’re talking about work now.”
“I’m sorry. I guess it’s just natural for me.” It was out of her mouth before she could stop it. She had meant it had been natural for her to speak about work with Michael. They had talked about work all the time.
“Old habits die hard,” she said, hoping Noah wouldn’t notice.
“It’s okay. I know there was a life before me,” he said with a smile, but it didn’t linger.
“Sorry. Let’s talk about something else. How’s your new opportunity going?” Noah had been in and out of Manhattan a lot, meeting with people.
He looked at her. “When are you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“What really happened? With him. Why all of sudden you left your life, your perfect life in London and came back here? And if you tell me it was because my father offered you a job, I’m not buying.”
“You don’t really want to know,” Caitlyn said, but knew it was because she didn’t want to talk about it.
“I think I do. Caitlyn, we spend all of this time together, yet we never seem to talk.”
