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The Love Of Money - Episode 57
27-07-25 (06:18)
I sighed and let my head fall back against the chair's
headrest. I would have to start talking to my family
and fill them in on the situation. My missed call count
was a statement of that fact. What should I tell them?
Did I need to disclose how much actual money I had?
That I owned the vast majority of a holding company
that owned huge swaths of some of the most
successful companies in the world? Should tell them
that it was just the tip of the iceberg of how much my
grandfather actually controlled?
I closed my eyes and tried to center myself. Was this
situation as bad as it seemed? Were Erin and Helen
overreacting? What was the harm in simply embracing
the status of a wealthy mega- corporation owner?
I heard the door to my office open before I had a
chance to think about it too much. Assuming it was
Bobbi, I snapped at her, "Shut the door behind you."
"Rough day?"
My eyes flew open and I looked toward the door to
see Helen closing the door behind her as she looked at
me with a small smile. I smiled back at her and said,
"You could say that."
Helen nodded and approached me. "Understandable. I
don't think it's going to get any easier."
"What do you mean?" asked, sitting up in my seat. She
approached me, and I got the same sort of feeling from
her I usually did a sexy professional in full control of
any situation she was in, who was there to look out for
me in all the ways she possibly could.
I reached for her and she drew closer, sliding on my lap
as I wrapped my arms around her waist. She snaked
her arms around my neck, gave me a languid kiss, and
played with the hair on the back of my head. After a
few indulgent moments, she pulled back.
"Well, I don't know who leaked the information," she
said, her lips tight in disappointment at her efforts.
"Shit. Really?"
She nodded, "It's perplexing. The pool of people who
know about your situation is small, yet I can't find
evidence of anyone leaking anything. I had our firm's IT
department and Andrew's team scour email servers
and look through phone records and cameras. We only
identified five possible suspects, but all of them have
been ruled out."
"Which five?" I asked.
"One of them is a legal ald, but she works for a
different department and isn't even aware of your
name. The next is the bank manager at First Colonial
Bank, which is where' we have a lot of your liquid
assets parked. We couldn't account for two and a half
hours of her day, but it turned out she had to pick up
her sick child from school and take her to the doctor.
Gina could be a possibility. Erin might have a private
investigator in mind who is going to track down that
angle."
"The other two?" I asked.
Helen waved a dismissive hand. "I wasn't counting
Gina. The others are Natalie, Bobbi, and Ashlee."
Goddarnn. Three - four, if you counted Gina - who were
directly linked to my shenanigans. It sounded like I was
the weak link.
"We've been able to rule out Ashlee and Natalie. Ashlee
went missing for an hour when she met up with you.
I'm not sure why she didn't notify anyone where' she
was going during business hours, but it appears she
went directly to the coffee shop and then back to the
office. As for Natalie, Andrew confirmed she was in her
office all day."
"That leaves Bobbi," I muttered, strengthening my
suspicions. She had a motive. She also had opportunity,
seeing as I left her to her own devices all day
yesterday. The fact that the professionals had her on
their short list was a very significant nail in the coffin.
Helen placed her hands on the sides of my face and
directed my gaze to hers, "Marcus, don't worry too
much about it. If Bobbi did leak information, it's only
that you inherited the Gerrard company and name."
"There's also the other stuff," said, referring to the very
rough and questionable encounter she and I had the
night before last.
That's nothing. We can make that go away relatively
easily, and if she's a larger thorn in our side than we
anticipated, we can always silence her."
My eyes widened, "You mean... kill her?"
Helen's eyes widened a fraction, "What? No. Pay her
off! Jesus, Marcus! This is the real world! Not a bad
novel!"
"Sorry. I just..."
"No one can blame you for the thought crossing your
mind," Helen said. "I'm sure more than half the analysts
who worked with her have imagined shoving her out
of a window."
I grunted a response, still working through the
implications of Bobbi going to the news.
"You won't enjoy the anonymity you wanted so badly,"
Helen said.
"Yeah."
"How many calls have you received?"
"Twenty-two," I said, then checked my phone. "Scratch
that. Twenty-seven."
Helen pulled my gaze back up to hers once more. I
could feel her thumb brushing my cheek as we
exchanged looks.
"Don't worry about them. Listen to me. Just by
inheriting the holdings from your grandfather, you are
already culpable in several crimes."
"What?"
I had to run her words through my brain's processor
several times to verify that I heard her correctly. Did
she just tell me I'd inherited crimes as well as money,
and she only thought to mention it now!?
Helen shook her head and dipped it down to capture
my lips between her own. Neither of us said anything
as the kiss continued, and my desire to want to know
more wrestled with my lust for my beautiful, blonde,
angel. Finally, she broke the kiss.
"It's nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that should
ever concern you as long as you have a good team of
lawyers on standby. I'm telling you that you're involved
in things that would get a normal person imprisoned for
life. It comes with the territory of being the wealthiest
man alive. And it's mine and Erin's job to prevent that
from happening. Moving forward, you need to be
cautious about what you say and do. You need to be
careful of what you leave lying around, and you always
need to make sure Erin, myself, and anyone else on
your staff knows what they need to know in order to
make sure we can do our job."
It felt like Helen was reprimanding me, and I opened
my mouth in protest. Sure... I probably could have
made better decisions over the last few days, but had
Helen given me this speech sooner, I might have.
However, as soon as I opened my mouth, there was a
knock on the door. Erin peeked through the opening
and her dark brown eyes took in the sight of Helen
sitting in my lap. I glanced at her, feeling guilty, but
Helen simply looked over her shoulder at my assistant,
"Yes?"
"Sir," Erin said, "Bobbi Nanford is here to see you?"
My stomach twisted in knots.
Helen slid off my lap and straightened the blouse she
was wearing before walking around my desk to sit at
one of the two chairs on the other side. I glanced at her
and she arched an eyebrow at me.
I cleared my throat and combed my fingers through my
hair, "Go ahead and send her in, Erin"
"Yes sir"
Erin disappeared from the partially opened door and
was replaced a few minutes later by Bobbi as she
entered the office and closed the door behind her. I
immediately wanted to toss the paperweight on my
desk at her head and had to restrain myself from doing
it. I'm honestly not sure why I slept with her... or why
part of me warited to do it again. Sure, she was a
smoke-show, but everything else about her was as
palatable as paint thinner.
Bobbi looked as defiant and full of herself as ever, but I
couldn't help but notice the tension in her shoulders as
she took stock of the room. The last time she'd been in
the same room with Helen and me, I'd humiliated,
blackmailed, and slapped her. Judging by her reaction
when she spotted Helen, she remembered it too.
"Have a seat, Bobbi," I said, nodding at the chair.
"No thanks," she said, her tone clipped. She was trying
hard to put on a tough exterior, but the way her eyes
kept darting around as if looking for an escape, I could
tell she was just as nervous as I was. That made me
feel much better about the confrontation we were
about to have. 27-07-25 (06:18)
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