CHAPTER 13
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Emma snapped the pencil in her hand. She was fidgeting and nervous.
On the 59th floor was the Board of Directors meeting, where Liam would present his business plan involving the merger with FINANCIAL. He only took William with him for company.
She helped him prepare the folders in a thorough job.
When she finished closing the last one, he said some strange words to her.
“Do you know the worst thing about being heir to a company?”
To Emma, a girl scorned by her family and who never had access to an estate, let alone a high lifestyle like the one he always had, she couldn't imagine what could be the worst of it.
She kept quiet, but expectant for the particular moment of frankness.
But he was clear about it.
“That people think I haven't earned it... “and he said it as one who still suffers from that latent wound.
It was even tender for her to hear him speak that way, to exhibit that weakness because of everyone's lack of trust. That was the only reason she had enough courage to answer him.
“But you can prove them all wrong,” she pointed to the folders.
Liam smiled slightly, showing off his beautiful teeth.
She had to shake her head to get rid of the glare.
Then Emma started to get ready to walk him to the meeting, but he stopped her.
He was even sarcastic.
“You're not old enough to be in the same room as the shareholders at the meeting yet. You'll stay and watch the flanks for me, so they don't come to set traps at the last minute”
Having said that, he took the papers and walked out of the office, where William was already waiting for him. Both ready to conquer the world, armed with the confidence that came from being a Wall Street shark in his blood.
Emma sighed, closing the laptop. There was no point in typing anything on it if she couldn't concentrate.
She was not only nervous about the possible results of the meeting, but also about the discovery she had made days ago about the emotions she still felt about Liam.
She would have to learn to dissemble even more if she was to survive.
That little encounter between him and Tanner should never happen again. It was inappropriate and plunged her into further confusion about what she should and could do.
She also remembered the other particular obstacle: Miss Anna Foreman, whom she had had the pleasure of never seeing again, but whom she knew existed in his life.
Strangely, Liam never talked about her, in fact, he never ran errands for her that had anything to do with the woman, as she used to do when he worked at the firm in Cheyenne and her boss used to hire her to buy gifts for his wife or send her flowers.
It was as if Anna didn't exist, but Emma knew she did.
And the obvious proof was her powerful father, that imposing foe who'd been thrust upon her.
Although Liam didn't say it out loud, that man was the one behind all those little tricks to try to bring him down any way she could.
She opened one of her drawers and found the lunch box she had brought with her.
She reached for the bottle of iced tea.
Even in a cold sweat, she brought the drink to her mouth, but barely took a sip, when a voice interrupted her.
“ Dorothy , so early and you're already looking for something to eat?”
Emma spat out what she was drinking and bumped into Liam arriving in the company of a smiling William.
She got up from the couch and from the looks on their faces, she understood everything.
The board of directors had been quick and Liam got unanimous votes. He had just been appointed CEO.
“You finally understand that we're moving to the sixtieth floor,” he brought out his arrogant voice again, but Emma wasn't upset about that or his earlier taunts.
In truth, she was genuinely happy that he had accomplished his goal.
She smiled, but trying to conceal such joy.
“I'll prepare the move right now,” she began to grab things from the desk.
“No,” he ordered.
Emma blinked in confusion.
“Take the day off, you deserve it,” Liam added.
“But...”
“You can't even carry out an order without contradicting me, Dorothy!”
The words might sound harsh, but she could tell he was doing it to insist she rest.
Emma had no choice but to nod, mostly because it was impossible for her to keep her eyes on him, not when the fiery blue of Liam's gaze was on her.
“I'll take the afternoon, sir”
That leave couldn't have come at a better time.
She was beginning to waver too much in sentimentality and needed to get out of there.
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Michael threw the entire contents of his desk on the floor. Not content with that, he went for the sideboard where his favorite bottles were. They, too, were smashed to smithereens.
The board meeting earlier was swift and certain.
Liam won the votes of even the undecideds and his own, because publicly he was supposed to vote for him, because they were supposed to be family very soon, even if that jerk had shown no signs of asking for Anna's hand.
The business plan was impeccable and brought a multitude of benefits to the company. Thanks to him, they were a little richer today than they were yesterday.
Liam Van Dyke.
He always considered him a lucky unfortunate, who was now taking over the company he and Harlock Van Dyke had founded. And that old wretch never trusted his son. Why should he?
No, Michael wanted complete control.
But he ran into two unexpected obstacles.
That Liam was a lot smarter than he looked...and that secretary he'd dumped on him.
A little woman who had brought him trouble from the start and who was extremely loyal to Liam, to the point of helping him thwart all the tricks Michael deployed against him.
It was shameful that some random little woman was making him lose.
That he wasn't going to forgive.
Least of all tolerate it.
And he couldn't dismiss her with mere tricks, that made him angrier.
He sat back down in the middle of the mess in the office.
He picked up his cell phone and dialed a number.
It rang three times until someone picked up.
"I want you to look into a woman, I'll text you her information," Michael made a mental note to ask HR. Everything she's done from birth to the present. Nobody's squeaky clean and I'm sure she'll have something to blackmail them with.
“Consider it done, Mr. Foreman,” he replied once on the other end of the line.
Michael hung up.
It was not the first time he had hired the services of that private detective. In Harlock Van Dyke's lifetime he had used his services a lot, when he wanted to gather information to blackmail that old bastard and it worked because that whippersnapper was fond of paying for the sexual services of renowned actresses.
Michael always got a double cut. Both from Van Dyke and from the woman on duty.
A simple secretary who came from a small town would be no match for him.
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Taking advantage of the early start, Emma shopped for Tanner's favorite lasagna so he could have a delicious dinner. It would also be a way to repay Lisa with her best recipe.
She had been an unbeatable friend and owed her absolutely everything and liked to take care of Tanner when she wasn't there, so Emma felt she owed her a deep debt.
Many times she wanted to tell her the truth about Tanner's secret parentage, but she was ashamed.
But sometimes she suspected that Lisa was not so stupid, if she did the math she was able to know that her son was conceived that night and if she found out more, she could even find out the identity of the man.
Lisa reiterated that she always felt guilty, because of the drug thing and her attempt to seduce Lucas ended up affecting her and her loss of virginity with anyone.
She still thanked him for his discretion.
She put the tray in the oven and then went to the fridge, took out a bottle of beer and went to the small balcony where Tanner and Lisa were already waiting for her, eating some popcorn as a snack.
Juice for the boy and beers for the adults.
Both were talking about something when Emma came to sit down.
“Let's give him half an hour and we'll have a hot dinner”
“I was just talking to Lisa about what I saw on the web”
“And what did you see on the web, honey?”
“The requirements for Wharton, that business school. I've already decided, I'm going to be a Wall Street executive when I grow up and graduate from there”
“I agree with the tadpole, he can do my grocery bills without a calculator,” laughed Lisa.
Emma was so proud of her son.
She didn't know if he would ever be able to pay for that college education, but she vowed to do her best for her little boy.
He wants to be a Wall Street executive...like his father, she thought that must be a cruel joke of destiny that besides the physical resemblance, they were identical in other matters.
“I didn't want to tell you, Mom...but while I was in your building I ran into the best executive I've ever seen in my life, and I've watched a lot of TV”
At that, Emma broke out in a cold sweat.
She was a silent witness to Tanner's encounter with Liam and both mother and son were careful not to mention it, but it seemed that Tanner was eager to talk about it.
“He knows so much, it's like talking like a Wall Street documentary,” the boy's eyes sparkled at the memory of his” friend. “I didn't want to tell you, because that would mean confessing that I escaped Mr. Myoga's surveillance, but I have to ask if you know him and what part of the company he works in, you must know him!”
Emma cleared her throat nervously.
“The company is huge and has hundreds of employees...it's impossible”
“He's a very tall man, he looks like a basketball player or something and he wears those magazine suits. He has eyes identical to mine, that's what caught my attention the most,” the little boy pointed to his eyes innocently. “I don't think he's a runner, he's an important executive”
By now, Emma was completely messed up and had even lost some of the color in her face.
“Is something wrong, Emma?” Lisa immediately noticed her friend's nervousness.
But the woman shook it off immediately.
“Have you ever heard of the cyber dizziness that comes from staring at the screen so much?”
“You mean the laptop, because you almost don't even look at the cell phone,” commented Lisa, slipping a certain suspicion.
“But are you all right, Mommy? Will you be able to eat the lasagna?” Tanner's sweet concern came to the surface.
That mention gave her the perfect opportunity to run away from Tanner's question.
“Do you smell that? I'll go check the oven to make sure I didn't overcook it...” the woman took the opportunity to run away from Tanner's questions.
Hopefully her son would forget to follow up on the questionnaire when she returned with the delicious tray of pasta.
But as she was leaving, she could perceive Lisa's suspicious gaze on her back.
She knew that Liam Van Dyke was her boss.
An element of her past in Cheyenne that was present that fateful night.
She only had to do the math and Google his updated photograph to relate the facts and the resemblance to Tanner.
“This mess is getting more and more tangled....”