Chapter 33 Donovan
Donovan
It’s been a hell of a day. I thought things would settle down but they haven’t. The media are still relentless. Like they know our whereabouts and are privy to all kinds of information that doesn’t sit well with me.
When I look at the timeline of events, it started heating up when I met Jessica.
The media interest in me has always been intense, and I somewhat expected it to increase when they saw me with the same woman multiple times.
But the way we were hounded in Milan, the way Jessica’s itinerary wasn’t hiccup free, the way Ashley acts lately is all pulling my mind in one direction.
So I pulled her into my office and fired her. It wasn’t without her pleas and blaming Jessica for all of it. But I had too much proof. Her company-owned laptop and cell both provided a wealth of evidence to tip-offs and office gossip that had been going on for weeks.
After firing Ashley, I spent the entire afternoon with Mabel, which was like cleansing my soul.
We came up with a plan that will look after her, that Jessica will love, and I feel in my bones will be an excellent addition to York Enterprises.
I could’ve talked with Mabel all day, but when Gordon called me, telling me that Jessica was here at home and something happened today, I left in an instant and came straight here.
“Jessica?” I call out the minute the elevator opens into my penthouse.
“In here!” She sounds okay, and I walk into the living room to see her.
I pause when I spot her. “Are you okay?” She looks beautiful, as always.
In my shirt, her hair is in a topknot, which is secured by a pencil.
Her glasses are on, and her eyes are laser-focused on her laptop in front of her.
Around her is where things get messy. Newspapers, articles, files.
The TV is on, rolling coverage of Asia news.
She has another monitor set up, this one displaying a map of Asia.
“What’s going on?” I step toward her slowly, not wanting to interrupt her.
She pauses and looks up at me. I see a look on her face that I haven’t seen before. A mix of fear, excitement, worry… it has me on edge.
“Sorry I’ve created a bit of a mess.”
“Yeah, well, I fired Ashley today so… I did as well.” I grin as she looks at me in surprise.
“What happened?” She knows as well as I do it needed to happen.
“I had the IT guys scrape her cell and laptop. Found evidence of her tipping off the media and spreading rumors around the office. She was escorted out of the building.”
She shakes her head. “Wow. How did she take it?”
“As you would expect. Tried to blame you for everything. Saying you did it for money, to increase your profile…” I roll my eyes at that one.
“Clearly jealous,” she quips, thinking about it all.
“Well, she’s no longer an issue. What’s going on here?”
“I’ve found it.” Her voice is small, and I take a seat on the sofa next to her.
“Found what, baby?”
“I found out where Marcus is getting the money. I found out what his plans are in Asia…”
I sit up a little straighter. “Why do I feel like we’re about to break open something big?” I feel the trepidation radiating off her.
“Because it is big. Very big.” Her beautiful eyes are wide, and I wrap my arm around her, pulling her close.
“Tell me. Tell me what you’ve found.” I brace myself, ready for it, knowing that she has found the needle in the haystack we’ve all been looking for.
“Okay…” She sighs and shifts to look me in the eye.
“So you know how I said the location of the factories Marcus was buying were all along the seaports?”
I nod. “Yes, you thought there might be a connection there?”
“There is. I noticed that all shipments from the newly acquired factories are routed through the same three ports. This wasn’t the case for those factories before Jasper owned them.
Prior to Jasper taking ownership, the factories had a variety of ports they moved their fabrics through.
But once Jasper owned them all, everything has moved through the same three ports like clockwork.
All these ports have known corruption issues. ”
My chest feels heavy, and my shoulders tighten.
“Go on…” I know better than to interrupt her. Her genius needs to shine through now.
“I also noticed that each of the three ports have seen a spike in textile exports from Jasper’s factories, but based on the public records, those factories haven’t increased production at all.
If anything, their production has decreased a little.
Which is to be expected when new ownership arrives.
Staff leaving or new staff onboarding and other establishment policies need to be embedded before they are truly upscaled. ”
“He’s shipping something else…” I wonder what he’s up to.
“That’s not all…”
My eyes flick to the sound of her frightened voice, and my jaw clenches. “What else?”
“I went to a business summit downtown today. I saw it advertised, and Marcus was a keynote, so I went.”
“On your own?”
“Yes.” I can tell she feels bad about not telling me.
I’m not pleased because I don’t trust Marcus at all, but I remain silent.
“I saw him talking with a man who looked… familiar.” She swallows, and I know I’m not going to like what she says next.
“So just to be sure, I found a photo of the man, and I sent it to the legal team, who confirmed who it was.”
“Who was it?”
“Matteo Viscari.”
“Fuck!” I stand and start to pace. “What the hell were you doing in the same room as Teflon Teo?” I yell, my panic at her being somewhere like that, where harm could come to her, pushes me over the edge.
“I had a hunch. I needed to go, to see if I could find anything.”
I pause mid-stride. “You put yourself in danger.”
“I want to ensure York Enterprises thrives.”
“Fuck the business. You are the only thing that matters. You do not get to put yourself in a position where you could come to harm and especially not for the business.”
“I did it for you!” she yells back, and we both pause. “I did it to help you. To help York Enterprises be the big success you want it to be and that I know it can be.”
I think my heart almost breaks in two. I step toward her.
“There’s nothing and no one more important to me than you. The entire business can burn to the ground and that would mean less to me than you being hurt, harmed, or even worse.” I swallow hard because that’s a thought I just don’t want to entertain.
“When I was at the business summit, I saw Marcus in private discussions with Teflon Teo.”
My body freezes.
“They were in a private space. I was well hidden, and I saw them smile, shake hands, and Teflon Teo put something in Marcus’ jacket pocket.”
“What?” I frown.
“This.” She holds up a USB stick. I look at it and look back at her.
My eyes narrow. “How did you get it?”
She bites her lip, looking guilty as all hell. “Marcus tried to intimidate me. Stepped right up to me, right into my face, started threatening me.”
“What did he say?” I feel murderous right now.
“That’s not important. What is important is, when he was… threatening me, I pickpocketed him.”
I blink. “You what?”
“I took the USB drive from his pocket and slipped it in my bag.”
I run my hand down my face. This story, this woman… Fuck, I love her and am angry at her in equal measures right now.
“What’s on it?” I’m not sure if I dare ask.
“Evidence of wire transfers. Bank statements. Confirmation of money being transferred matching shipping logs… enough to put them both away for a very long time.”
I suddenly realize she’s shaking. I look her over, my mind racing a million miles an hour. I can’t believe she found all this out on her own.
“Are you alright?” My body vibrates with anger, fear, and protectiveness all rolled into one.
“I am. For now.”
“What do you mean, for now?” My shoulders tighten.
She searches my eyes before admitting, “Marcus was rather… colorful in his threats.”
“What the fuck did he say?”
“That’s not important…”
“That’s why you're here, isn’t it? That’s why you didn’t come back to the office or go to your apartment.” I’m trying to pull all the threads together. I love having her here. If it was up to me, she would be here permanently anyway. But the threats to her safety are an issue.
“I felt that I would be safest here.” She nods, confirming my thoughts.
“I swear, if anyone touches a hair on your head…” My anger rises as I cup her face, keeping her focused on me.
“You’re not leaving this apartment until we work things out.”
“I can’t be locked up,” she immediately claps back.
“Jessica, you’re not leaving this apartment at all,” I reiterate.
“Donovan…” she warns, and my mixed feelings grow.
“Don’t push me on this,” I tell her, not messing around.
“I don’t want you hurt. I don’t want you threatened, I don’t want you upset, I don’t even want you fucking cold in the rain, Jessica…
I want you here. I want you with me. I want you protected, I want you thriving, I just want you…
I love you. I have completely fallen head over heels for you.
And now that I have you, there’s no way that anyone is going to touch you. ”
She looks up at me, blinking behind her glasses, and I move my hand, pushing them back up her nose for her so I can see her better.
My heart races. I already told her I loved her, but that was a slip of the tongue at Thanksgiving.
That caught both of us off guard. But right now, right here, she needs to know she matters.
“I love you too…” she says softly, and I still.
“You do?” I can’t believe it. I don’t remember the last time someone told me they loved me. Not with so much honesty.
“I do. I love everything about you. I love the way you protect me. I love the way you have your morning coffee while watching the stock market. I love the little hair flick you do. I love the way you eat a whole bag of chocolate-coated coffee beans like caffeine withdrawal personally offends you. I love the way you bought a little plastic mistletoe…”
I can’t stop the grin that forms as I look at her adoringly before I sneak a look at the plastic mistletoe that I hung in our kitchen walkway.
It’s staying because, while I don’t need an excuse to kiss this woman, I sure as hell want to spend all my energy making her smile. Making her happy. Making her mine.
“Hmmm, but most of all, I just love all of you.”
My heart bursts. I couldn’t have found a more perfect woman than this one right here.
I pull her close, my lips touching hers, and everything else fades. I feel her hands run up my arms before they loop around my neck and our kiss turns brandishing. As the city lights twinkle below, we stand among spreadsheets and papers and her perfectly organized mess and seal our feelings.
“Wow…” She pulls back slowly, looking at me a little love-drunk.
“Mmmmmmm.” I have no words. But then my eyes hook on her notepad, and I come back to reality.
“Show me what you’ve got. Then we need to make a plan.” I whip off my suit jacket and sit next to her on the floor in the living room as she takes me through everything.
She’s right. Everything is here in black and white.
Now I don’t know what in the world to do about it.
Because we can use this. It’s the right thing to do.
The responsible thing to do. But if we hand all this over to the police, it opens a large can of worms and an even bigger target.
Right on our heads. And while I don’t care about me, I don’t want harm to come to Jessica.
Because if it does, I know I won't survive that.
They might as well just put a bullet right through my chest.