The arrogance in his voice tells me something has changed. The last time they talked about Penny staying in Bachelor Tower, they were all quivering with fear. Now, there’s an air of confidence in the room.
“I’m sure you can still invite her up now and then,” Luther says, faking concern. “You don’t have to break up with her all together. But if you do decide to put a ring on that finger, you’ll be gone too. Because Bachelor Tower is not changing. Not for anyone.”
“Great.” I shrug, tipping my head back against the warm wood and closing my eyes. They continue chattering, but I block it out. This is what I wanted. My nightmare is living in a place with kids running up and down the hallway shrieking for crackers and complaining about being bored. I don’t want to see lovebirds, hand in hand, having antique furniture they bought together delivered to the apartment down the hall. If these guys are taking on the new owner, more power to them. That’s separate from anything happening between Penny and me. My lawyers have the lease, and they’re making sure Penny and her sister aren’t at any personal risk. This doesn’t need to get personal. It’s business. Separate.
So, why am I having a hard time convincing myself?
I set my jaw and keep my eyes closed; these jackasses are smart enough to leave me alone. The little jokes stop, and the talk switches over to something else. There’s some insider trading discussions and some stories swapped about the women they had in their apartments last night. The usual.
Everything will be back to normal soon. I halfway believe that as I change up and head back upstairs.
“Hey, you’re a piece of work,” Ben hisses out as he makes a grab for my arm. Bad idea.
“Don’t touch me,” I bite out, still tense as shit, even though I’m claiming things will be back to normal soon.
“You’re a snake. You stole her lease after all the bullshit about not having a dog in the fight and not wanting her to get hurt.”
“What the fuck do you know about her lease?”
“Don’t try and bullshit me, Dalton. Are you that arrogant or don’t you care that the copies of Penny’s sister’s lease have your office letterhead on the top? How nice of you to provide an itemized list of the loopholes and legal issues that could be exploited. How nice of you to not only steal it but package it up with a nice bow.” Ben’s smart enough to have let go of my arm, but he’s still standing in my way.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” How the fuck did they get a copy? Who the fuck betrayed me?
“She doesn’t know yet,” Ben says, looking at me with sheer disgust. “Have the balls to at least tell her to her face what you did. She’s going to be devastated she let her sister down. You feel good about that?”
I nearly launch into an explanation, but realize I don’t fucking owe him, or anyone else, one. “Lesson number one, kid,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him, “I don’t feel shit about shit.”
Blowing by him I head for the elevator. If there is a mole in my office who sold the lease to the highest bidder, I will destroy them. I can tell myself it’s not because of Penny. It’s because they undermined me. That isn’t tolerated. If the assholes downstairs hacked my office, I’ll wreck them too. Retribution. That’s all I have space for in my head right now. An angry fire of loathing for the man or woman who betrayed my trust.
By the time the elevator doors open on my floor I’ve realized that no matter how much rage I bring, it won’t stop Penny from being hurt by this. There’s no avoiding it, no fixing it; I have to tell her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dalton
I can roll with the punches. I can pivot and adapt. Penny is sitting in front of my door with her knees curled up and head low. I can tell she’s been crying, and I assume I’m in deep shit with her for this. I don’t explain myself to people. I warned her that she and her sister didn’t stand a chance here.
Fuck, taking the contract had actually been my attempt to help. I hadn’t moved forward with it because things had seemed to settle. I’d hoped the reprieve would last until her sister returned.
What was I thinking?
I wasn’t.
I let my dick take over, and I lost focus.
“Oh, Dalton,” she sniffles, wiping at her red eyes. “It’s so bad.” She doesn’t make a move to stand up. I expect her tiny fists to be slamming in my direction, but she hardly looks ready to fight.
Penny stays sitting against my door, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Everything is so screwed up. No one can count on me for anything. I try to help one person, and then something I do hurts someone else I care about. It’s like dominos, and I’m a grenade thrown in the mix.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, crouching down to try to understand her. Again, none of this makes sense.
“My apartment,” she croaks out. “One of these jerks bought it.”
“Bachelor Tower doesn’t sell apartments. It’s just leases. They can’t buy here even if they want to.”
“Not here,” she says, twisting her face up as she explains. “My studio apartment with Millie and Sarah. Now we’re being evicted. My roommates and I. I’m here trying to help Kylie, and in the process I get my friends kicked out of the only place we can afford in the city. Now we have to come up with first and last deposit for something else. Sarah borrowed from her parents. Millie’s money’s all tied up in the bakery.
I try to keep up as the words spill out of her like a waterfall, tumbling between tears. “I could—”
She shakes her head.
“Have you asked your sister?”
“We don’t do that,” Penny says. “No matter how complicated my financial situation gets, we never do that. I can’t live with the strings that are attached to money from my sister or my mom. They mean well, but they see it as an avenue to persuade me to be more like them. I can have a loan if I go for an interview and take a job at the company they want me to work at. Or if I go back to business school. I’ve always been able to make it on my own, and I’ll find a way this time too. It’s my friends I’m worried about. They’re being forced to give up their dreams and being punished because of me.”
“You didn’t buy the building.” Logic. When all else fails, use logic. But I know exactly what she’s trying to say. “Can you get a loan from the bank?” I’m doing that epic man thing where I try to reason my way out of an emotional problem.
She lets out a tiny defeated laugh, and it tears at the heart I didn’t know I had. “Not an option. I cosigned on some things for my dad’s business, and you know the state of things there. I’ll figure something out.” She sighs, drying her tears for the final time as she tries to right herself. “It’s a despicable thing they’ve done, but they still won’t win.”
She has no idea how vulnerable she is right now. Not only will she be out of her old apartment, she’s going to be out of this place soon enough too. Unless I can find a way around my first attempt to help her.
“You should call Kylie and tell her what’s going on,” I say, as I stand and put my hand out for her to take it. She does, and I pull her easily to her feet.
“I still have this place under control. I haven’t screwed it up. At least when she gets back everything here will be all right.”
Her optimism is like a cannonball to my gut. This is where a better man would step up and explain everything. This is where you take your shot and lay it all on the line. But I want answers first. I need to know who in my organization sold me out and why.
“Want to stress eat with me?” she asks, managing to get that familiar smile back on her face. “Donuts. I want donuts.”
“I have to get to my office,” I say, shifting around as I clear my throat. “I have something I need to do. Just hang out and lie low. I’ll be back later.” I don’t lean in to kiss her goodbye, and I regret it when I’m halfway down the hall. This is all going to implode and the last kiss we shared will probably end up being our last one.
Fuck.
CHAPTER TW
ENTY-SEVEN
Penny
“Thanks for coming up, Ben,” I say as I let him in and then flop down dramatically onto the couch. “I feel like such a baby, all this crying and carrying on. I promise I’m not being dramatic. Dalton just left. It’s been a day.”
“It’s screwed up. Are you okay? Can I do anything?”
“It’s a lot to ask, but do you think you can use those computer skills of yours to find out which jerk in this building evicted me and my roommates from our apartment? Whoever it was bought up the whole building just to screw with me.”
“They didn’t,” Ben says, dropping his head down. “What the hell is wrong with these assholes?”
“I need to try to figure something out quickly. We have to be out by the end of the month. Maybe if you can tell me who it is I can talk to him. If they listen to the situation and try to understand, they could change their mind.”
“Talking isn’t going to get you your apartment back, and it’s not going to save this one for your sister.” Save this one? Does he think the asshole will buy this building too? Who the hell has that much money?
“This apartment?”
“I, uh, you know what they’re doing with the lease,” Ben stammers, and I can sense there is something he knows that I don’t.
“Kylie’s lease?”
“You said Dalton was just here.” Ben gulps. “I figured he told you.”
“Told me what?” Heat rolls up my back, and I feel like I might get sick. Ben doesn’t strike me as a troublemaker, and I can tell by the look on his face something is wrong.
“You really should hear this from him.”
“Ben, I’m seriously burned out on all this. What are you talking about?”
“Dalton grabbed a copy of your lease from your place at some point. He had his lawyers go over it and find a way to get you and your sister out of here. Then he handed it over to the bastards here. I thought he had the balls to tell you. Guess not.”
“There is no way.” I laugh, feeling bad for Ben. He doesn’t understand what Dalton and I have between us. He doesn’t realize that whatever he heard isn’t true.
He reaches into the bag he has slung over his shoulder and hands me the proof. “I’m really sorry, Penny. You remind me a lot of my sister, and I hate that these guys screwed you over. But Dalton, I mean, to play you like that? I flipped out on him already. That’s not right.”
My head spins as I read the document Ben handed me. It’s here, real and in my hands, but I still don’t believe it. I’ve known plenty of opportunistic self-serving people in my life, but I can usually spot them from a mile away. Dalton’s list of flaws is long, but I still thought his feelings for me were genuine. He’s completely snowballed me. I actually thought there was something real between us. “I’ve got to get out of here.” My words feel far away and I can tell Ben is reluctant to let me leave.
“You’re upset. You should call someone, a friend or someone to come get you. Is it Millie who has your car? Maybe if you call her she can come pick you up.”
“She’s delivering a cake right now. I’m fine. I just need some air. I can find my own ride.” I scoop my coat off the back of the couch and grab my purse. I don’t want to ask this question, but if Dalton is capable of doing as Ben suggests, then what else is he capable of? “Ben, did he have anything to do with getting me evicted?”
“I don’t know.” Ben shrugs apologetically. “But I’ll look into it.”
I rudely leave Ben standing in my apartment as I race for the elevator. This hallway, the whole building, feels like it’s crushing me. I’ve lived my entire life not indulging in all of this because I knew it would hurt me. I was right. This isn’t my world. It’s fine for Kylie and my mother, but it’s not for me.
I’m shattered. How did I manage to disappoint every single person I care about? How could I have been so wrong about Dalton? All I want is to get as far away from this place as possible. Fast.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Dalton
“Tell him to see me; it’s important.” I hear Ben’s voice booming through the lobby of my office, and I roll my eyes. I’m not interested in the tough guy, big brother, thing right now. I’m in the middle of grilling every single person who came in contact with that lease. Lawyers usually know better. They’ve all signed airtight non-disclosure documents, and no matter how much those bastards paid them to leak that document, it shouldn’t have been worth it. I will crush whoever did it.
“I’m not leaving. Tell him Penny needs his help.”
At that I roll my chair back from my desk and shoot to my feet. I’ve been laser-beam focused on crushing the mole in my office. That mission has smothered any other room for nonessential thoughts.
“Ben, for hell’s sake, get in here.” I open my door so wide the knob slams into the wall.
“You didn’t answer my calls,” he barks as he charges into my office, and I close the door behind him. If this is going to come to blows, I’d prefer not to have an audience.
“I’m busy. I have someone in my office to demolish.”
“It’s important.”
“This is important. It’s step one to fixing this shitfest.”
“You don’t have a mole, so if you are spending your time trying to beat the truth out of your legal team you can stop. You were hacked. The same shell company that bought Penny’s apartment owns the IP address that hacked your server.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I hacked your server and followed the trail they left. I was able to see the documents in their original form, including notes indicating your motive.”
“My motive?” I don’t like any part of this. I’d love to tell Ben to keep his fucking prying techie fingers out of my business, but information is power at this point.
“I found your meeting notes. You asked them to shore up the lease and make sure it didn’t leave Penny or Kylie vulnerable. You were trying to protect her.”
“Which doesn’t fucking matter right now, does it?” I ask, but Ben doesn’t waver. “I fucked up.”
“You need to call Penny. I thought she knew about the lease, and she didn’t. She was pissed.”
Shit. I thought I’d have more time to fix it before telling her. “So you ran your mouth about something you knew nothing about and guilt brought you here? Weak.”
“No,” Ben grinds his teeth together as though he’s trying to teach an ape sign language and it’s not sticking. “She was so upset. I saw her talking to Randy. Then she started crying and bolted out of the building.”
My blood boils at the thought of Randy exploiting Penny’s broken heart. My fists tighten at the idea that he might even consider touching her. “Did you call her?”
“I’ve been trying,” Ben says, looking relieved that I finally seem to be catching on. “She’s not answering. You need to call your buddy Randy and find her. Right now she thinks you betrayed her in the worst possible way. She thinks she’s all but lost the apartment for Kylie.”
I dial his number but I can tell by the abbreviated rings he’s sending me straight to voicemail. I queue up a text message and can hardly type through my blinding anger.
Pick up the phone.
I get no response. Nothing.
Randy, you don’t want to fuck with me. This is not a game.
“He’s not answering either.” I’m pacing my office as a ball of fire hits me in the gut. How the fuck did I get myself into this mess, and how do I get Penny out of it? “Her friend Millie might be able to get in touch with her.”
“She said she was on a delivery or something,” Ben explains. “What did Randy say to her? Where would she go?”
“Maybe her father’s place.” I pull up Ziggy’s number and dial, but the line has been disconnected. Considering how bad things were for his business, it doesn’t surprise me that the phone company has shut him down for non-payment. “I’m going to her dad’s. I’m sure that’s where she went.”
“I’m comin
g,” Ben says, and I give the kid credit. He seems pretty damn determined.
“Whatever,” I groan. “I just want to find her.”
“I’ll show her the proof I found that you didn’t steal her lease with the intention of using it against her.”
“Don’t,” I grind out. “I’m not looking for redemption. I need to know she’s all right. That’s all.”
We drive in complete silence and well over the speed limit the entire way to Ziggy’s office.
My phone rings with an unfamiliar number, and I pick it up.
“Dalton,” a man’s voice bellows. “What the hell is going on over there?”
“Who is this?”
“Robert Cannington, and my phone is blowing up with people telling me you’ve gone off the rails. I don’t do business with unstable men.”
“Unstable?”
“You’re on a campaign to keep some woman in an apartment in the Bachelor Tower. Do you know how many of my clients and associates live there? You’re on the wrong side of this fight.”
“Then you should tell them I haven’t yet begun to fight.”
“You realize that’s business suicide? Frankly, you need to get your priorities sorted before I’ll move forward on any kind of deal. You need to back off.”
“I don’t work for you. The deal we made is mutually beneficial and has nothing to do with Bachelor Tower. But tell your friends to watch their backs because this is far from over.”
“You’re insane,” Cannington barks before disconnecting the line.
“That didn’t sound good,” Ben remarks as we pull up to Ziggy’s building.
“I don’t give a shit about that right now.” I’m out of the car and jogging up the gravel walkway before Ben even opens his door. “Penny,” I call through the rickety windows, but I’m met with only silence. The building is dark. Shit. Where is she?
“There’s a sign on the door,” Ben explains. “This business is closed permanently. Please direct all inquiries to Ziggy Fuller. It’s got a cell phone number on here.”
Insatiable Bachelor (Bachelor Tower Series, Book 1) Page 13
