Building Billions - Part 3 Read online

  “When can you get this meeting on the books?” I asked.

  “Since I’m as good as I say I am, after lunch today.”

  “Great. You tell them they’re coming here,” I said. “We’ll meet in the investor’s conference room.”

  “I’ll let them know,” she said.

  I hung up the phone, and Ross tossed some food in front of me. I grimaced and pushed it away before he sat a coffee down in front of me as well. We ate in silence as the people in FBI jackets kept hauling boxes of shit out, and every time they stuck their heads in, I wanted to punch one of them in the throat.

  I didn’t know how I was ever going to recuperate from this mess.

  “You want to talk about Ashley being back?” Ross asked.

  “Is she in today?” I asked.

  “No. She called and said to let you know she would officially be starting tomorrow. She said she expected a contract on her desk so she could sign it.”

  “It’s already there,” I said.

  “So it’s true. She’s coming back.”

  “She is.”

  “That’s great. We’re going to need her for all of this. You think she would testify against Markus?”

  “One step at a time, but I’m pretty sure she would enjoy that,” I said.

  “What contract is she talking about?”

  “The one you and I signed with one another. You know, the ‘I respect your opinion and expertise’ contract.”

  “She didn’t have one of those before?”

  I shot him a look as I finished my sandwich.

  I got a message from my lawyer saying she was headed this way for the meeting. I went to my office to clean myself up and then got all of the FBI guys off the floor. I didn’t want anything deterring Markus from telling us the truth. I gathered the evidence Ross and I found with my subcompanies and pushed it into a folder. Then the two of us sat and waited for everyone.

  Trish walked in a few minutes before one, and by one thirty, I was looking at him.

  The mangy asshole who was in the process of ruining me.

  “Any questions you have will be addressed to me,” Markus’s lawyer said. “I’m Peter.”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t do much talking,” I said.

  “My client won’t be speaking much either,” Trish said as she shot me a look.

  I passed her the folder, and she grinned at me.

  “I’ll make this short and sweet. I’m here to discuss a plea bargain,” Peter said.

  “Not going to happen,” Trish said.

  “My client is willing to admit to where he stashed the money he took in exchange for a reduced sentence,” Peter said.

  “So your client does admit to stealing the money,” Trish said.

  “Yes, and he is remorseful for that theft,” Peter said.

  “I’m sure he is. What is a ‘reduced sentence’?” Trish asked.

  “Five years in a prison in Canada so he can be near his family and then one year in house arrest,” Peter said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. Your client’s looking at ten plus years in prison,” Trish said.

  “And your client is out millions of dollars I’m sure he’d like to see again,” Peter said.

  “I’m not admitting to anything,” Markus said.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “I’m not admitting to anything until the plea bargain keeps me out of jail,” Markus said.

  “Markus, hush,” Peter said.

  “You’re going to jail,” I said. “And you’re going to rot.”

  “Jimmy, enough,” Trish said.

  “I just got out of jail, and I have no intention of going back. I’m willing to hand it all over. Every single penny of the twenty million I stole, but I’m not going back to prison. House arrest for the ten years I’m supposed to spend in prison. That’s the plea bargain,” Markus said.

  He looked over at his lawyer, and I watched Peter sigh.

  “That’s the plea bargain,” Peter said.

  “It’s still a no,” Trish said.

  “I’m not guilty,” Markus said. “You have some stories and a few initials on some paper.”

  “So you’re willing to hand over money you say you have, but you didn’t take it,” I said. “You're not very good at this, are you?”

  I watched Trish push the folder over to Markus’s lawyer. I grinned at her as she relaxed in her chair. Peter flipped the folder open, and his eyes widened. I watched Markus lean over and look at it as his face paled.

  We had them right where we wanted them.

  “We know you’re guilty,” Trish said. “You weren’t only dipping into Big Steps, you were dipping into Jimmy’s other companies. From the tallies we’ve made so far, you took twenty million from Big Steps and a total of nine million between both of these sub-companies.”

  I watched Markus’s jaw clench as his eyes darted over to his exasperated lawyer.

  “Right now, this hasn’t been submitted. The FBI doesn’t know about it, and we can keep it that way,” Trish said.

  “For what price?” Peter asked.

  “We want a clear admission to what Markus stole,” Trish said.

  “He’ll give the money back. We’ve already established that,” Peter said.

  “He’s not getting out of this. That man manipulated my client for years. He had his hands in this company from the very beginning. Your client is a con artist and a psychopath, and he doesn’t deserve to be walking around with the rest of us. Mr. Sheldon will get his money. Once your client’s convicted in front of a jury, they will liquidate everything to pay Mr. Sheldon back. That’s our offer. We don’t bring up the new charges if you admit guilt to the ones already filed. That’s the only deal you’re getting,” Trish said.

  Markus and Peter started talking. I looked over at Ross, and he made a motion to try and tell me to shove my anger down. What did Markus think he was getting out of all of this? He was going to jail. He wasn’t going to get off scot-free after stealing millions of dollars from my companies.

  “The original plea bargain still stands,” Peter said.

  “I take it that’s a ‘no’ to our offer,” Trish said.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Then we will be turning this evidence over to the FBI within forty-eight hours. Enjoy American prison, Markus. It’s not a cozy as Canada,” Trish said.

  I dismissed Markus from the table with a wave of my hand. Peter got up and tried to lead Markus to the door, but he stopped and turned his head. The smile that grew on his face was frightening. It didn’t quite meet his eyes. I held his gaze even though I felt the blood draining from my face.

  This wasn't the smile of the man I’d come to know and love. This was the smile of a completely different person.

  “I know you won’t hand it over,” Markus said.

  “Markus, stop it,” Peter said.

  “I won’t be sent back to jail,” Markus said.

  “Get out of the room now,” Peter said.

  “My lawyer will find a way to keep me out of jail. I’ve got plans in place you couldn’t dream of, Jimmy. You thought I was mentoring you, but you were the biggest pawn of them all.”

  “Let’s go!” Peter said.

  His lawyer practically shoved him out of the room as I stood to my feet.

  I watched them make their way for the elevator as Markus rolled his shoulders back. I looked over at Ross, and his jaw was hanging in shock. I felt so many conflicting emotions, but none of them more than emptiness.

  The relationship I had built with that man for twelve years was nothing but an enormous lie.

  “Jimmy, we need to talk about—”

  I pushed past Trish and rushed to my office. I needed to be alone. To think and decompress. I locked my office door and turned off all the lights. I sat down in my leather chair and turned toward the Miami coastal view and then put my hands over my mouth.

  Markus would’ve told me it was weak for a businessman to shed tears
, but Markus had been a lie.

  So wasn’t his advice a lie too?

  Chapter 10

  Ashley

  I was officially back at work, but people were talking. Rumors were flying about why I hadn’t been in the office and why I was suddenly back. Some people thought I was sick, and other people thought I was helping Markus. Some people were developing rumors that I was screwing my boss to keep my job. I ignored them and kept walking to my office, trying to shake off the insanity around the office.

  I wanted to look out over all of Miami and settle my soul down.

  I had to take this job back. I didn’t have a choice. I needed the money for my mother and my bills, and no one else was hiring me. I set my stuff down on my desk and picked up the contract, looking it over before I signed it.

  I walked it over to Jimmy’s office and slid it under his door, trying to ignore the snickers and huffs coming from every direction.

  I sat at my desk and got to work. I went through and balanced the investor’s accounts and answered their endless emails. I apologized for my absence and sent off the PDF documents forecasting the growth of their investments even with the looming investigation. It was going to hit the media eventually. There was always that one person who couldn’t keep their mouth shut. I made sure to include all the ugly details, no matter how upsetting they were to the investors.

  That was what they enjoyed the most. My honesty instead of my coaxing.

  There were some random things that had been dropped into my company mailbox, receipts and transactions to double-check and payroll things to go over. Everyone was apparently paranoid about all their calculations with Markus kicking things up. So they all wanted me to go over their final numbers to make sure everything was right.

  I hunched over my desk and ran the numbers in my head until a knock came at my door.

  “Miss Ternbeau?”

  I lifted my head and saw a man standing at my door, tall and lanky with disheveled hair and a gun on his hip. He flashed his FBI badge, and I ushered him in, sitting back in my chair.

  “Not here. We were wondering if you could meet us in Mr. Sheldon’s office?” he asked.

  “Uh, sure. Yeah. Give me a second to lock all of this down, and I’ll be in there,” I said.

  What was going on? Why did I have to be in Jimmy’s office for this? Were we in trouble for something? I locked my office door behind me and headed to Jimmy’s office. The door was shut promptly behind me when I entered.

  I looked up at Jimmy for the first time since our encounter, and he seemed heavy with burden.

  What in the world had happened?

  “Would you like to have a seat, Miss Ternbeau?”

  “No. I want you to tell me why I’m in my boss’s office when he looks like he’s just been run through a meat grinder,” I said.

  “All we want you to do is tell us everything you know about Markus Bryant,” the agent said.

  “We couldn’t have done this in my office?” I asked.

  “Ashley, please,” Jimmy said.

  I whipped my head over to him and watched him lean into his chair.

  “Fine. I know Markus is guilty of all this,” I said.

  “How so?” the agent asked.

  “It all fits. Lou Roth is LR.”

  “Who’s Lou Roth?”

  “Markus’s mother has Alzheimer’s. Had Alzheimer’s. Whatever. Lou is Markus’s middle name and also a name she used to call him whenever she mistook him for his father. Roth was his mother’s maiden name. She would constantly correct the nurses on her name if she couldn’t remember that she’d gotten married,” I said.

  “Okay. How do the rest of the dots connect?” the agent asked.

  “Isn’t this your job?” I asked.

  “Please, Miss Ternbeau.”

  “Fine. There are no initials on balance sheets for the first three years of the company, which coincides with when Markus moved his company headquarters to Canada. Jimmy has openly admitted to giving financial control over to Markus a few times during the beginning stages of his company, so Markus could’ve laid some sort of subset equation or recurring transaction into the software we use for the company,” I said.

  “What if the software’s been changed?”

  “It hasn’t. The hardware has, and the software’s been upgraded but not changed.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I went down to the damn IT department and asked questions,” I said.

  I saw Jimmy grinning from the corner of my eye. This was ridiculous and a waste of my time. I had people in this company accusing me of fucking my way to the top, I had investors who were having mild panic attacks in my inbox, and everyone on this forsaken planet wanted me to double-check their damn numbers.

  Now, I was having to tell this story again?

  “Miss Ternbeau, would you be willing to go on the stand as a witness?” the agent asked.

  “I’ll be cooperative in whatever efforts you pursue,” I said. “Is that all you needed?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Then lead with that next time,” I said.

  The agent snickered and shook his head before he left the office. I started to leave as well before Ross slipped in and closed the door. He whipped around and held out a folder for me, and I groaned and rolled my eyes.

  “Nice to have you back,” Ross said.

  “Why can’t I be in my own office?” I asked.

  “Just take a look,” he said.

  “What is that?” Jimmy asked.

  “I did some digging into those so-called random companies. Ace-Landic and Harold & Lace. You’ll never guess what I found,” Ross said.

  “You’ve invested into some of their projects,” I said.

  “We’ve what?” Jimmy asked.

  “It’s right here,” I said. “Ace-Landic’s clean energy project four years ago and H&L’s—what is that?” I asked.

  “What the hell is a ‘party dildo’?” Jimmy asked.

  “Beats me. I gave them a call to figure out what was going on, and you’ll never guess what they told me.”

  “Spit it out,” I said.

  “Oh, someone’s terse,” Ross said. “Anyway, they did confirm we invested in their projects. Not much, only like one hundred thousand dollars. But guess who negotiated on your behalf?”

  “No fucking way,” I said.

  “Fucking forged your signature and everything. I had them fax over the paperwork. It’s the last couple of pages,” Ross said.

  “Oh my gosh. Jimmy, that looks exactly like your signature,” I said.

  “He’s a con artist to the max,” Ross said. “He’s also a short-term player on both of their investment boards.”

  “Have you turned this over to the FBI yet?” Jimmy asked.

  “You need to if you haven’t,” I said.

  “Not yet. I want to make sure I have every single shred of evidence to put this man away for a long time,” Ross said. “But I also don’t want the media finding out.”

  “You and me both,” Jimmy said.

  “You need to call the FBI agent guy back into this office,” I said. “Or at least get your lawyer over here.”

  “Don’t worry, we are many steps ahead of you,” Jimmy said.

  “Oh? Then enlighten me,” I said.

  “We had a meeting yesterday with Markus and his lawyer that went better than most realize,” Jimmy said.

  “Really? It went better,” Ross said.

  “Markus practically unveiled his plan. He isn’t going to jail, which means he’s a flight risk. Half of his accounts are in Jamie’s name and half of them are probably in his. This is the missing link we were looking for. His personality switched on a dime, Ashley. He gave me this smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and started talking about how he thought I wouldn't hand over information to the authorities and how his lawyer was going to keep him out of jail. But they made one mistake,” Jimmy said.

  “What was that?” I ask
ed.

  “They didn’t ask Ross to leave the room,” Jimmy said.

  “I don’t follow.”

  “I can be used as a witness on the stand to that meeting because the charges are Sheldon vs. Bryant. Not Big Steps,” Ross said.

  “Oh. That’s good. That’s a really smart move,” I said.

  “I’m going to call my lawyer and see what else can be done, but we’re gonna nail this asshole to the wall. This will throw out any chance he’s got at a plea bargain, and he’ll be back at square one legally,” Jimmy said.

  “I’m proud of you, Jimmy.”

  His eyes fell to me, and I watched them soften.

  “I’m glad you’re doing the right thing,” I said. “I know you still feel guilty for turning him in, but you’re about to save more companies than just your own.”

  “I know,” he said. “That’s really the only thing pushing me forward right now.”

  “Should I leave the two of you alone?” Ross asked.

  “No,” I said. “I have a lot of work to get back to. Keep me in the loop. Jimmy, did you get that contract I signed?”

  “Stepped on it this morning,” he said.

  “Good. Let me know if you need anything.”

  As I walked back to my office, I was painfully aware of how people were still gossiping. They were giggling and pointing and grimacing as I walked by. If they were trying to be subtle, it wasn’t working very well. Being that close to Jimmy after our encounter over the weekend should’ve been hard. It should’ve been tense and terse and all sorts of things.

  What it shouldn't have been was wanted. What it shouldn’t have been was craved.

  I sat down at my desk and started wondering if we could be together through all this shit. With the office talking, if we ever did strike up something again, it wouldn’t be the same. With the media sure to get their hands on what was going on, it was only a matter of time before our prior relationship was revealed.

  Could we really try to strike it up again during all this bullshit?

  I didn’t know, and I couldn’t dwell on it. I sunk my teeth back into the work on my desk and tried to keep Jimmy out of my mind. But every time I looked up and saw his office, his door was open. I could see him sitting at his desk, working away like I was.