Building Billions - Part 2 Read online

  I flew up from my chair and slammed my hands on my desk. Was this woman insane? Did she really think Markus, of all people, would be behind something like this?

  “Jimmy, I said you wouldn’t believe me, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true,” she said.

  “You’re crazy,” I said.

  “I’m not. You’re upset, and I get it. But this is happening. This is serious.”

  “It’s not true,” I said. “Markus would never do anything like that to me.”

  “Jimmy, take a deep breath and think about this logically.”

  “You want me to think logically? After your emotional tirades over the past few days? Accusing me of being ashamed of you and pushing you away? I introduced you to the only man I ever considered to be a father to me. I met your mother and went along with her degraded state so I could cultivate a relationship with you. I promoted you, secured you a career that could give you everything you could’ve ever wanted. I made you comfortable, and I pulled you into my life and bent over backward to make you happy, and this is how you repay me?”

  I watched Ashley stand from her seat and take a few steps away from me.

  “It’s pretty shitty of you to be so upset with me, you would try to put the blame of something like this on someone so close to me, someone you know I love and respect with everything I have.”

  “That doesn’t change what he’s doing, Jimmy. Just because you love him doesn’t mean he’s not doing this,” she said.

  “You can’t stand it, can you?”

  “What?” she asked.

  “You can’t stand not being the center of attention in my life. You’ve been jealous ever since Markus came into town.”

  “What? No. I liked Markus until I figured out what he was doing to you.”

  “Where’s your proof?”

  “I just gave it to you.”

  “That isn’t proof. It’s some stories you laced together, stories Markus trusted you with that you’re now twisting to use against him like Nina twisted shit to use against me.”

  Ashley continued to back up toward the door as I came around my desk.

  “In this moment, you’re no better than her. You’ve taken stories an innocent man trusted you with, and you’re throwing them back at him spitefully because you can’t stand that someone else has my attention.”

  “Jimmy, that’s not what—”

  “I should’ve seen it the moment you got upset with me for not calling you after going out drinking with him Friday night. One night with me and him. Just one. You attended all of the others, but you couldn't stand one night!”

  “Jimmy, you've got this all—”

  “Get out,” I said.

  I watched her open the door as she stumbled out of my office.

  “Get to work.”

  The last thing I saw were tears welling in her eyes as I shut the door in her face. I couldn't believe it. After falling in love with her, she turned around and showed her true colors. I would have to tell Ross what she was doing in case she went behind my back like Nina did to try and take my company down. I raked my hands through my hair and yelled out into my office, filling the corners of the room with my anger.

  Fuck.

  Chapter 26

  Ashley

  “You did the right thing,” Cass said.

  “I told you he wouldn’t believe me,” I said.

  “He had to know. Despite how he reacted, he had to know the truth.”

  “I’m not crazy, right?”

  “No. Now that you’ve explained it, it makes perfect sense. Now, because of his stubbornness, he’ll lose his company over it.”

  “He doesn’t deserve that.”

  “And you don’t deserve the way he talked to you,” she said.

  I laid in bed with Cass at my side. I didn’t go to work, nor did I call in. I didn’t care to be there any longer. I didn’t care what happened with Big Steps. I was still reeling from how Jimmy talked to me, the anger in his eyes and the aggressiveness of his actions.

  “He said I was the same as Nina,” I said breathlessly.

  “Listen, you’re nothing like that bitch. This falls on his shoulders now. You did your part and washed your hands of all this,” Cass said.

  “I can’t be with someone who talks to me like that,” I said.

  “I agree with you, but is that what you want? To break up with him?”

  “It is. But I want to do it face-to-face.”

  “No text message breakups here?” she asked.

  “No. I want to look him in his eyes before I walk away from him. I want him to know this was all because of him. We allowed the stress of Nina and his company and this entire situation get in the way of something beautiful.”

  “Do you love him?”

  I felt tears brewing at the back of my eyes, but I refused to cry. I wasn’t going to shed any more tears over this man. I had cried enough, and it was time for me to move on, even if it meant leaving the company altogether.

  “I think I could have,” I said. “Given enough time. I do care about him, but I don’t know if we can come back from this. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel safe around him again.”

  “Do you want me to go with you when you break up with him?” Cass asked. “I could sit in the car or something.”

  “No. I need to do this on my own. I need to start being able to make these moves without people pushing me to do it. We’ve run our course, and who knows? Maybe I’ve run my course with Big Steps in general.”

  “That’s a serious step, Ashley. You’d have to find a job and quickly. You can’t afford this apartment otherwise.”

  “I’ll figure it out along the way. I’ll make sure my mother’s taken care of, and I’ll make sure I have a roof over my head. I always do. It’s not fair the way he treated me, and I know it’ll affect our working relationship from here on out.”

  “If there’s a company after the end of this week,” she said. “When are you going to do it?”

  “I’m going to call him and see if he can get drinks with me tonight. I’ll do it then.”

  “Want me to stick around here? For when you get back?”

  “Will you?” I asked.

  “Of course, I will, Ashley.”

  I reached over and grabbed my phone. I sighed as I dialed Jimmy’s number and held the phone to my ear. I was honestly shocked he picked up, but I could tell he wasn’t happy it was me.

  “Ashley.”

  “Hey, Jimmy. Listen, are you free tonight?” I asked.

  “Why aren’t you at work?”

  “For the same reason you weren’t yesterday,” I said.

  “You should’ve called in if you wanted a personal day.”

  “Well, I’m calling now. We need to talk,” I said.

  There was a silence on the other end of the line before I heard Jimmy shuffling around.

  “What time and where?” he asked.

  “Seven? There’s a place near my apartment called—”

  “Seven at The Shack. Got it. See you then.”

  Then he hung up on me, and I tossed my phone across the room.

  Cass stayed with me for the rest of the day before I headed out to meet Jimmy. I knew this wasn’t going to end well, but it needed to end. Whether it cost me my job or not, I wasn’t sure we could ever come back from this. My hands were shaking as I walked into the bar, and I scanned the room to see if Jimmy was there yet.

  And when I didn’t see him, I headed for a booth in the back.

  I was sipping on a glass of wine when he sat down in front of me. His eyes were cold, and his face was stern. He was still in his business suit, and he was distant.

  I knew then and there I was making the right decision.

  Because he had already shut me out.

  “Thanks for meeting me,” I said.

  “Thanks for finally calling in,” Jimmy said.

  “Do you want anything to drink?”

  “I’ve already got something coming
. I’m ready whenever you are.”

  “How are things going with the detectives?” I asked.

  “You mean have they found anything to support your insane claims?” he asked.

  I drew in a deep breath as I cast my gaze out the window. I wasn’t going to let him get to me. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me like he could other people.

  “I’m ready for your apology whenever you’re ready to give it,” Jimmy said.

  “Apology?” I asked. “For what?”

  “Isn’t that why we’re here? So you can apologize for barging into my office and claiming my mentor’s behind all this?”

  I gawked at Jimmy as I turned my gaze back to him.

  “You thought I brought you out here to apologize?” I asked.

  “Only logical explanation,” he said.

  “No, it’s your logical explanation based on your out-of-control emotional demeanor, but I didn’t ask you to drinks to apologize.”

  “Well, it certainly isn’t a date,” he said.

  “No, it’s not. Because we aren’t together.”

  I watched the life drain from behind Jimmy’s eyes as his posture faltered.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I told you the truth yesterday about Markus and the proof I had. Whether you choose to believe it or not is on you. If you don’t believe, you’ll lose your company. It’s that simple, but I’m done here.”

  I watched him clench his jaw as he straightened back up.

  “With us,” Jimmy said.

  “Yes. With us. After watching you morph into ... whatever it was you were yesterday, I could never feel safe with you again. I don’t think you will ever trust me again, and I know I’ll never trust you enough to come to you with anything. Nothing important, anyway. I have a feeling this will undoubtedly affect our working relationship, but I’ll focus on that another day.”

  Jimmy’s eyes locked onto mine, but he didn’t pipe up with anything of his own. I drank down the rest of my wine, pulled out my wallet, and threw a fifty-dollar bill on the table.

  “To cover you and me,” I said.

  I scooted away from the booth and turned my back on Jimmy. He didn’t come after me, and he didn’t call out my name. He didn’t try to stop me nor did he run up behind me. I walked out of the bar and stood at the curb, allowing the cold air to dry the tears threatening to spill over my cheeks.

  A part of me still wanted him to come after me, but I knew he wouldn’t. I was nothing more than a thorn in his side, a “Nina” he needed to get rid of. I wondered if this was how the breakup between them went down, if he left her or if she got fed up and left him. I ran across the road, taking the only opening I had as I reached the sidewalk on the far side of the road.

  I turned back to see if I could see him, to see if he’d thought about things and decided to come looking for me.

  But he wasn't coming out of the bar, and he wasn’t standing on the edge of the road. He wasn’t calling out my name or asking me to come back. I stood there for a few minutes and finally watched him emerge, and my heart soared.

  Maybe he was coming to find me.

  Maybe he was going to cross the street and come to my apartment.

  But instead, he flagged down a cab and got in. He disappeared into the dark, dank atmosphere, and the cab drove off down the road, leaving me standing there as I pined over a man who didn’t deserve me.

  He didn’t care, and it was obvious what I had to do, even if it was going to make things difficult for a while.

  Chapter 27

  Jimmy

  I sat in the living room all night staring out the window. She left. Ashley had left me. My secret weapon for my company and the woman I had given my heart to had shattered it at her feet. I sipped bourbon all night as I turned her words around in my head. As much as I hated to admit it, Ashley at least appeared right. The pieces did fall into place, even though I didn’t want them to. My only other course of action was to talk to Markus myself. The detective agency wasn’t getting anywhere, and I was tired of them floundering around with no answers.

  So I decided to get them myself.

  “You wanted to see me?” Markus asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “I want to talk to you about something.”

  “Holy shit. You look like hell. You and Ashley stay up late last night?” he asked.

  “There are some things that have been brought to my attention about this ... financial debacle,” I said.

  “Did your detective agency finally find something?” he asked.

  “No. It was a talk I had with Ashley.”

  I leaned against my desk as I looked into Markus’s eyes.

  Was that uncertainty I saw?

  “What’s she got to do with any of this?” Markus asked.

  “Why so defensive?”

  “Not defensive. Just wondering what her place in all this is,” he said.

  “She said the two of you talked about your mothers.”

  “Did I offend her or something?”

  “No. Not really, but there were a couple of stories you told her that led her to believe L.R. stands for ‘Lou Roth.”

  “And you believe her?” he asked.

  “Not really sure. My gut reaction says no, but the look in your eyes makes me wonder if I took the wrong side,” I said.

  “The look in my eye. You now some expert on body language?”

  “I learned from the best,” I said with a grin. “Is it true your company is struggling financially?”

  “Where the hell did you hear that?” he asked.

  “A couple of articles I found last night.”

  “You look like you’ve been drinking. You sure you didn’t hallucinate all this?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. I saved them on my phone in case you wanted to see them. There are rumors circulating that your company’s been struggling financially for a while now. Is that why you’re in town?”

  “I told you I had to sort out some shit with my company, Jimmy.”

  “And why have you extended your time here?” I asked.

  “Because my company’s fucking struggling. What the hell’s this got to do with anything? Why the fuck did you call me in here?”

  “Why so agitated?” I asked.

  “Because you’re wasting my time.”

  “I looked through the balance sheets this morning and came across something I’d forgotten. Ashley mentioned to me that the first three years of balance sheets had all these transactions, but no initials attached to them.”

  “So what?” Markus asked.

  “You left Miami three years into my company being established so you could build your new headquarters in Alberta. I placed a call to a trustworthy contractor of mine and asked him for a rough estimate of how much that building might’ve cost you.”

  “What? I don’t—What the hell’s this gotta do with anything, Jimmy? Get to the point.”

  “I am,” I said. “That contractor said your headquarters would’ve cost you around four million to build.”

  “That building’s worth a hell of a lot more than that.”

  “It is, with all the bells and whistles you added later. But the shell of the building is around four million, so I tallied up some things.”

  I held Markus’s gaze as he began to shift his weight on his feet. Holy fuck, this confident man I had entrusted all of my business practices to was losing his footing.

  Was Ashley right about this? Had I just fucked everything up?

  “Are you curious to know what I found?” I asked.

  “No,” Markus said.

  “Over the first three years of this company, four million and change was siphoned from underneath my fucking nose.”

  I watched Markus bite down on the inside of his cheek.

  Ross came into the office and alerted me that it was time for the investor meeting. I stared Markus down as my heart thundered in my chest. Ashley had been right. She’d been right this entire time, and I was too blind to see it. I
escorted Markus into the meeting, not letting him out of my sight. I told Ross to go get the detectives before we started the meeting, and then I took my seat at the head of the table.

  “We waiting for something?” Mr. Matthews asked.

  “We are. Give me five minutes,” I said.

  The detectives slipped into the room, and Markus started to sweat. Visibly sweat. I locked my eyes on him as Ross took a seat, and I could tell he was quickly putting the pieces together.

  “I know who’s been stealing from this company,” I said.

  “Then it’s about time you inform us,” an investor said.

  “Markus Bryant,” I said.

  “Jimmy, maybe we should talk outside?” Ross asked.

  “Don’t worry. That mentality already cost me one person I care about. I’m not going to let it tank my company as well,” I said.

  “This man’s reckless,” Markus said. “He’s flailing and grasping at straws because his company’s about to go under with scandal. First, the social media issue and now this.”

  “I trusted you,” I said. “I looked up to you as if you were my own father, but I can’t deny what’s so plainly in front of my nose.”

  “Do you have any proof?” Mr. Matthews asked.

  “Yes, do you have proof?” Markus asked.

  “Only the entire conversation Markus and I just had in my office. Would you like me to plug my phone in and play it for everyone? Or do you want to give up now and see what kind of deal your lawyers can cut you?” I asked.

  Everyone slowly turned their gaze to Markus. Every single shark investor I had at that table was boring their eyes into his skull. I watched his eyes pan around the room as he stumbled over his words, trying to defend himself and talk his way out of the corner he had been backed into. This man, who was confident and crass and unashamed of his power, was stumbling over his words and sweating down the back of his neck.

  “I’ve been making payments back into the accounts,” Markus said.

  “Holy hell,” Mr. Matthews said.

  “I know you see those credits. I’ve seen the balance sheets. There aren’t simply withdrawals, Jimmy. There are credits too,” Markus said.

  “There are. Three million dollars against the twenty million you’ve siphoned off Big Steps for twelve years,” I said.