Unspoken: A Romantic Suspense (The Unspoken Series Book 1)

by Ellie Danes

  “Yes, you’re probably right there. Let me ask you something, Miss Dunning,” The expression on Ashley’s face grew more serious. “Is there any chance that Mr. Parker will actually be in serious trouble for any of this? I mean, you have to know that he would never intentionally cheat someone or harm them. He’s the nicest guy I know.” Her hazel eyes looked teary with genuine affection that betrayed her youth.

  “Unfortunately, yes, there is that chance—that’s why we must get to the bottom of all this as soon as possible.” I paused. “Listen, Miss Murant, if you ever want to talk to me, off the record, I’ll be happy to listen.” I reached in my pocket, pulled out a business card and discreetly offered it to her. She gave me a small grin but didn’t take it.

  “Thanks, but I’m sure I won’t need to go ‘off the record’ anytime soon.” With that she turned and walked away to join Cain, sitting in the adjoining conference room.

  What just happened here? My attempt at befriending Ashley, even if for my own purposes, had fallen flat. I shrugged it off and returned the main conference room.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The group reconvened in the conference room some twenty minutes later, giving me a chance to compose myself after the interaction between Cain and I. Thankfully, it was my father who took the lead on the remainder of the meeting. I was grateful for that.

  “Mr. Rogers, it’s not a stretch to say that you’ve made some missteps with the way you dealt with these privacy issues. I can’t comment on your intentions—I’m sure you wanted to protect your friend and the company—but you have, in fact, placed both in serious jeopardy. I want the full list of complainants sent to our office by the end of the day, and Reese, our investigator, has asked for the company logs that show just who logged in when and where.”

  Dylan looked pale. “I don’t think…”

  Cain cut Dylan off before he could object. “No problem, Mr. Dunning. Dylan and his team will have that info over to you by the end of the day. Anything we can do to make this right as quickly as possible.”

  Dylan shot a condescending look at Cain and then nodded in agreement. “We will get right on that.”

  “I think that’s all we need from you today, Mr. Rogers. Thank you.” My father rose from his chair, dismissing Dylan from the room. Dylan’s face flushed and I could tell he was angry, but not nearly as angry as my father. “Miss Murant, would you please excuse us for a moment?”

  Ashley looked at Cain. “It’s Ok. I’ll be just a few minutes. Oh, could you please move my lunch meeting to Thursday?” With a curt bob of her head, she begrudgingly left us. Reese followed her out, leaving the three of us together.

  “Mr. Parker, I need to know what level of involvement you’ve had with The Arena. I need an honest answer. I understand that this is an elite website that prides itself on screening and exclusivity. I understand that there are members that wouldn’t want their real identities revealed. That would seem like the perfect hunting ground for someone such as yourself, if you were looking for er, love, shall we say.”

  Cain leaned forward on his arms, staring my dad squarely in the eyes. “As I said earlier, I never used The Arena, except during the launch, when our team beta tested it. I’m not interested in hunting, Mr. Dunning. I’m not sure what Dylan is talking about. Today was the first time I have heard I have been accused of anything and I am at a loss.”

  “Do you think he’s lying about it, or are you saying someone used your profile?” I piped in.

  Cain answered exasperatedly. “Well, that I don’t know. I can’t imagine he would lie about it, I’ve known Dylan for at least ten years. Granted, the past few years I’ve sensed some issues there, but I just wrote it off as work tension. I’m not sure, but I can promise you when I leave I will find out. You may not believe me, but it’s true.” He looked at both my father and I. “I’m not a crazy stalker who has to track women on the Internet, and I don’t need to steal their credit card information.”

  My father rose from his chair. “I’m sure you don’t. Oh, Mr. Parker, before you go, one last question.” My father flipped his leather notebook closed and looked at Cain sternly. “How do you know my daughter?”

  I felt my stomach drop and the blood leave my face. I stiffened a little in my chair but kept quiet. Please…

  “I’ll let her tell you the details of our meeting, Mr. Dunning, but I can assure you, I’ve never met this Miss Dunning before.” With that he turned and left. I felt like he had just slapped me in the face.

  “What exactly did that mean, Jennifer? This Miss Dunning?”

  “What, Dad?” I walked to the door, ready to leave the morning’s events behind me. I clutched my notebook to my chest. “The morning of our first meeting. I was rushing into the elevator and Mr. Parker was rushing out. He knocked everything out of my hands and I wasn’t very polite. That’s all. There’s nothing more to it.” I stormed out, not sure who I was mad at—my father for treating me like a teenager, or Cain, who had made a point of trying to humiliate me. On my way to my office, I caught a glimpse of Cain and the pink-decked Ashley, talking in the open elevator. I walked towards them, but Ashley gave me a little smile and the doors unceremoniously closed on me. I got the message.

  I headed toward my office, hoping to bury myself in work. Can this day get any worse? Moments later, my phone vibrated. It was a text from Cain.

  Cain: Meet me for a late lunch. We need to talk.

  I wrote back a simple yet childish message. Three’s a crowd.

  The voicemail icon on my phone showed a new message, the one I had received earlier in the morning, before all of the ensuing chaos. I quickly tapped the button and saw it was from Cain. I hesitated, but pushed play.

  “Jennifer, I’m running into a meeting. I’ve texted you all morning. We need to talk. Please, call me back, or I’ll call you again after this meeting. I miss you…”

  The faint sound of Dylan’s voice could be heard in the background of the message. “Trey! You’re holding up the meeting. If that’s Ferguson…”

  My heart sank as I replayed the events from the morning again in my head as I listened to the message. Cain was calling me as he walked into the meeting. He misses me.

  I quickly tapped the message icon and sent off a text.

  Brown Barrel? 2:30?

  A simple smiley face and a ‘yes’ popped up on the screen.

  “Reese, I’m headed out. It’s been a rough day. I’m going to take some of these files and work from home after I grab a late lunch. Give me a call if you need anything.” I needed a break from everything today, and hopefully my Brown Barrel lunch date would help me see things more clearly.

  “Sounds good, Jennifer. I have it under control over here. Go get your head on straight. Not sure what happened this morning, but you sure didn’t seem like yourself.” Reese sounded genuinely concerned.

  “I just wasn’t prepared for Mr. Parker and Dylan to go at it like that. It definitely threw me off, but it gave me some real insight into who these two really are. Don’t worry about me. I’m good.” I grabbed my files and purse and headed out the door.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I arrived first and found the dimly lit restaurant half empty. I welcomed the quiet; there was more than enough noise going on in my head.

  “Can I have that booth over in the corner? There will be two of us.” I pointed out the booth in the far corner, away from the normal traffic and wait staff. I wanted some privacy. I followed the waitress to the booth and collapsed on the seat. “Cosmo, please.” I knew I shouldn’t drink during lunch, but I needed it.

  I pulled out my phone. Nothing from Cain, or anyone else for that matter. I laid the phone on the table only for it to jump with the vibration of a new message. My heart stopped.

  A notification displayed on the screen from The Arena. I had forgotten I had signed up for a free trial and reminded myself I needed to delete my ‘Jenny Chase’ profile ASAP. I laughed to myself. Jenny Chase’s info is probably all over the net by
now. I touched the notification and read the details.

  DMan512 has flirted with you. DMan512 would like to chat.

  I ungraciously declined his invitation and noticed my lunch date had finally arrived, right on time.

  “I barely found you back here.” Aimee patted her curls and smiled at me.. Aimee wasn’t one to hide how she felt about anything; her blue eyes always revealed everything. I appreciated her honesty and I was grateful that she was always there for me to talk to.

  “It was one hell of a weekend and one hell of a day.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Even I couldn’t believe the last forty-eight hours.

  Aimee grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, that doesn’t sound all that great. Tell me about it. Do you and him…” She winked.

  “Oh God, yes we did…” I thought back to the hot and steamy sex on Saturday night. Cain’s toned body, how he held me… I smiled dreamily for a moment and escaped in the memory.

  “Wow… good for you, Jennifer. Sounds amazing!” Aimee’s eyes lit up with excitement. “It’s about time.”

  “That was the only good part…”

  For the next hour I told Aimee about the date, about Cain’s home, the message and finally his real identity. I gave her the boardroom play by play. The thoughts of the day brought back the anger, the sadness and the frustration.

  “No way! Get out of here? Are you kidding me? He seemed so into you. Really, Jennifer, he was.”

  “Well, I don’t know how to feel. There are some details about his case that don’t put him in a good light, and I really shouldn’t discuss those.” I toyed with the straw in my drink.

  “Really, I can’t imagine what that might be, for goodness’ sake. He’s rich, handsome and smart…what, is he a crazy stalker or something?” She laughed aloud but then became serious when she saw my face. “No! I don’t believe that at all.”

  “I wish I really knew. There’s just so much misinformation, but it all points to him. It just feels like we’re doomed to fail.” I knew I was feeling sorry for myself, but couldn’t help it. “And then there’s Ashley. His perky little assistant, and that damn message. The way she looks at him, and flaunted it in front of me.”

  “Jennifer, stop for a second. You’ve gone from one extreme to another. A few days ago you were analyzing every man in Tarrant’s, and every woman they were with. Now your acting like…” Aimee hesitated for a second, guarding her words. “You’re acting like you did around Christopher. You’re being foolish.”

  “I know, Aimee, I just don’t understand. He has some power over me.”

  “Power nothing, Jen. You like him...and that’s Ok. Less than a week ago he was just some stranger, then a fling, and now some guy you can’t get out of your head. Some guy that you think cheated on you. For all you know, he was cheating with you, not on you.” Aimee always seemed to be able to put things into perspective.

  “No way. There was too much there between us. A connection.” I was certain what we both felt. How much we wanted each other. Not just the way you feel in a fling.

  “What’s your gut telling you, Jen? You read people for a living. Hell, you’re a human lie detector! Use your head, your gut, and feel it with your heart. My advice: hear him out.”

  The table fell quiet while I thought about what Aimee said. Why was I being so irrational? I knew exactly what Ashley was doing in that meeting, and she knew a hell of a lot more than she was letting on. I knew what Cain wanted and how he felt. “You’re right, Aimee. Tomorrow. I’ll hear him out and then, when I see he’s lying, I can officially tell him to screw off and leave me alone!”

  “Well, that’s one way of looking at it, Jen. Or, you could go into this thinking there’s a chance it will work.” Aimee smiled and held up her hand, fingers crossed. “I’m thinking everything is going to work out.”

  “Thank you, girly! You always have a way of bringing me to my senses. Want to join me for a Cosmo? I need one more before I head home and dive into some work.” The effects of the first drink had long worn off and a second would put me in the right mindset for the evening ahead.

  “No, Jen, and neither should you. Go to the gym and work off some of that stress. Besides, some of us have hot dates tonight, with something other than a pile of work. In fact, I’m going to be late, I need to get going. Listen, call, text, stop by…whatever you need. I’m always here for you.” Aimee tossed a crisp twenty-dollar bill onto the table, kissed me on the cheek and headed off.

  I sat and enjoyed the quiet of the corner, contemplating another Cosmo. I decided against it and paid the bill instead, taking Aimee’s advice and heading to the gym. An hour and a half later my head was clearer. I had time, hitting the heavy bag, to think about Cain, about Ashley, about work. I was ready to move forward. Tomorrow.

  The gym was a short two block drive from my apartment and I made the trip in no time. It was getting dark and I hated the atmosphere in the apartment garage at night. I pulled into my assigned spot, gathered everything together, scanned the garage and quickly headed to the well-lit street access walkway.

  “Jennifer, can we talk?”

  I didn’t need to turn to see who it was. I recognized the voice.

  Chapter Seventeen

  For a second, I thought about speeding up and actually running to my apartment, but I was too tired. “Cain, what are you doing here? You can’t just show up at my apartment like this.” Part of me was happy to see him. I had rehearsed everything I wanted to say and ask. But part of me just wanted to be left alone to enjoy the quiet I had finally found inside of my head.

  “Well, you didn’t answer my texts, you didn’t return my call. You turned down my lunch invitation. I wasn’t sure what else to do in order to get you to listen to me. I need to explain.” Cain looked desperate. His eyes appeared sad, which didn’t fit such a strong, masculine face.

  I glanced around the garage, having almost made it to the street, and caught a glimpse of my reflection in the car I was standing next to. Oh Lord, I look a mess! This wasn’t the time to have any sort of conversation with him.

  “How did you find me? My number isn’t listed and I know no one at the office would have given out my address.”

  “I happened to be having a drink at Tarrant’s when Aimee and her boyfriend walked in. Don’t be angry with her, I dragged it out of her. Believe it or not, some women find me charming.” Cain gave me a rueful grin, but he was all seriousness.

  “You know, ‘some’ might find this ‘stalker’ behavior disturbing.” I didn’t crack a smile.

  “Is that supposed to be funny, Jennifer?” His keys were in his hand and I thought for a moment he might leave.

  I hesitated. I knew the words that were about to come from my lips were wrong, but I said them anyway. “Don’t listen to me; it’s been a rough day. Come on up, I’ll give you five minutes, ten max?” I forced the smile that I felt creeping onto my face away.

  “Thank you.” Other than the sadness on his face, he looked perfect, with his dark hair and white shirt unbuttoned at the top. As always, he smelled like a million bucks.

  I turned toward the street to exit the garage as Cain reached for my gym bag, which was stuffed with my work clothes. My other hand was full of work files. “Thanks, but I’ve got it.” I pulled the bag from his strong hand.

  We exited the garage and walked to the large apartment courtyard next door in silence, neither of us knowing what to say next. “It’s just up here, 202.”

  “It’s awfully dark, you need to talk to the building manager about replacing that light.”

  “It was fine last night, I guess it…” I froze midway up the steps and Cain, following closely behind, bumped into me.

  “What is it?”

  “The door, it’s open.” I dropped my gym bag on the stairs and grabbed for my phone at the bottom of my purse.

  “Do you have a roommate?” Cain slowly walked up the step on to the landing. Glass from the broken light crunched beneath his expensive leather shoes. He turned
back to look at me. “Wait here, call 9-1-1” he whispered.

  “No, don’t go in there…” It was too late. Cain entered the apartment. I could see lights turning on as he moved from room to room.

  The whiny voice of a woman answered the phone. “9-1-1, What’s your emergency?”

  “Someone’s broken into my apartment, 321 York Avenue, apartment 202.” My voice quivered as I talked in a hushed whisper. My feet were frozen on the stairs as I watched Cain pass by the apartment door.

  “Ok, ma’am, are you in the apartment now? Are they still there?”

  “No, I don’t know, maybe. My boyfriend is…” I froze on the words and corrected myself. “My friend is checking it out.”

  “Ok, a unit is on the way, you and your friend should stay out of the apartment.” I agreed and hung up.

  Cain walked to the door. “All clear. It looks like they were looking for something. The TV is still there, but they tossed your bedroom pretty good.”

  I walked in and immediately noticed the pictures of Dad and I on the fireplace had been knocked over. The files from the office I had left the previous day were scattered across the coffee table and the floor.

  “Is anything missing from here?” Cain was standing in the doorway of my bedroom. “They really trashed this room. But it doesn’t look like they took anything of value, your jewelry box is still there.”

  “Oh my… they did. Why would someone do this?” I looked around the room and didn’t have the heart, or nerve, to tell Cain that this was the way I had left it this morning, when I woke up, still angry at him, although it was a little less messy. I noticed the sapphire necklace I had worn on our first date still hung from the necklace tree on my dresser.

  “Hey, come in here.” Cain called me from my small office. Papers were everywhere and my laptop was missing.

  “What the hell?” Fear was now replaced by anger.