Chapter Twenty
A few days after returning from Florida, Samantha stepped off the elevator to her office, her mind on Dex and their relationship. He’d been staying overnight but still holing up in her apartment and not going out for dinner so they wouldn’t be seen together in public. Same as it had been in Florida, and she was getting antsy. The talk about them had died down, replaced by a pregnant, popular celebrity, but Dex had again suggested they not give Jeremy fodder for his bullshit claims that could anger him and cause him to be more difficult in the negotiations.
She’d agreed, but a big part of her hated having to hide who she was seeing when she’d done nothing wrong. But even Ian had agreed with Dex. He hadn’t wanted to give Jeremy any more things to twist in his mind and lie about to the press, so he’d invited them to his home for dinner. Until she settled her business dealings with Jeremy, keeping the man level-headed was the goal. The good news was, she hadn’t seen him since her return.
She headed to her office, saying hello to people as she made her way there. Her assistant sat at her usual place.
As soon as Samantha returned from Florida, Brandy had taken a few days off and this was their first time seeing each other in person.
“Hi, Brandy,” Samantha said, excited to see her friend.
“Hello, and welcome home to both of us!”
She grinned. “Thanks. And thank you for holding down the fort. Again. Great job.” She was aware Brandy had done double duty often since the wedding disaster.
Brandy waved off the compliment. “As long as you remember come bonus time,” she said with a wink. “So… you look tan and relaxed.”
“Seeing family was good for me,” she admitted.
“And Dex? Was he good for you too?”
Laughing, Samantha rolled her eyes. “I’ll never kiss and tell.”
Brandy grinned. “As long as you kissed,” she said, following Samantha into her office.
“How were your days off?” Samantha lowered herself into her chair with a sigh. It felt good to be back where she belonged.
“Lots of R and R,” Brandy said. “Although I’m looking forward to my next longer vacation in the fall.” Brandy had planned a trip to Jamaica and Samantha understood her excitement. “As for work,” Brandy went on, “I did as you asked and kept an eye on Jeremy. He’s been sneaking around, talking to the VPs and associates, schmoozing people he never bothered with before. The snake is up to something.”
The peace Samantha had been feeling about work since her return disappeared. “Okay, thanks for keeping an eye out. I’ll touch base with Tim,” she said of her attorney. She hadn’t spoken to him since the phone call in Florida.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Was keeping this place really worth dealing with Jeremy and his bullshit? Yes, it was, dammit. At the very least she was going to walk away with what was rightfully hers.
“Good luck,” Brandy murmured, her voice causing Samantha’s eyes to open, and she refocused on her surroundings.
“Thanks.”
Brandy walked out, shutting the door behind her.
The first thing Samantha did was leave a message for her lawyer. Then she texted Ian and asked if he’d spoken to Tim. The attorney had permission to discuss her case with her brother. Without hearing from either of the men, she dug into work.
An hour or so later, Tim called her back and asked her to come by his office. Hearing the urgency in his voice, she grabbed her purse, let Brandy know she was going to a meeting, and took a car to Midtown. She gave her name at the receptionist desk and was immediately escorted to Tim’s office.
He stood as she walked in and gestured for her to take a seat in front of his desk. Once she did, he lowered himself into his chair. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
She forced a smile, panic swirling in her stomach. “It sounded urgent.”
“It is. A financial record search of your partner has uncovered a bank account in the Cayman Islands.”
She blinked, certain she’d heard wrong. “I’m sorry, what?”
Tim threaded his fingers together, leaning forward as he spoke. “The forensic accountants and the investigators they hired uncovered the account. And they confirmed that the companies your firm paid, the ones that weren’t a match to anyone you are doing business with, are shell corporations that funneled the money to the account in the Caymans.”
Her mouth ran dry. “How much did he steal?”
The attorney shot her a sympathetic look. “Roughly five hundred thousand over a long period of time… as of now. Clearly, he planned on taking much more over time. And if he married you, he’d have been funneling whatever he could get his hands on.”
She sat back in her seat, stunned. “According to our criminal litigation department, he’s looking at a second degree, class C felony. That’s fifteen years in prison if convicted.”
Her head spun and she didn’t know what to say. “What happens next?”
“We continue to dig and compile evidence. We can decide if we want to approach him with what we found or take the information to the police. Either way, you’ll have decisions to make in the near future. But you should know, there’s a strong likelihood Jeremy has been made aware of the search and what was discovered. He may be volatile.”
She nodded. “I won’t be alone with him.” She’d be much more careful than prior to her Florida trip. She didn’t like that she was seeing a side to her ex she’d never imagined he’d been hiding from her and the world.
When she arrived back at the office, she texted Brandy to meet her downstairs, so if she ran into Jeremy, she wouldn’t be alone, and together they headed upstairs where she settled in to work.
Not long after her return, a knock sounded on the door. “Come in!” she called, shutting down the account information she’d been studying.
Leah Johnson, an associate, walked in, iPad in hand. “Sorry to bother you, but would you have time to go over the Perfect Pillow account pitch?”
Happy to think about something she enjoyed, Samantha nodded. “Come on in. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
The rest of the afternoon passed similarly, with meetings, lunch at her desk, and catch-up calls with clients. Before she knew it, it was after six p.m.
Samantha grabbed her bag and stepped out to find Brandy still at her desk. “Ready to go home?”
“Definitely. Want to grab dinner?” Brandy asked.
She nodded. “Sure.”
Dex had called midday, saying he had a business meeting and if he was too late, he’d sleep at his place tonight. Once again, he’d been vague and she wasn’t certain if he was pulling back or… she didn’t know what. She just sometimes sensed a distance between them that hadn’t been there before. It was a combination of Dex having something going on with his work that she wasn’t privy to, and her protecting herself by withdrawing. So, if he walked away, she wouldn’t be hurt.
Which was bullshit, she knew. If Dex broke things off, she’d be devastated. Her feelings for him had grown way beyond the friendship she purported to feel. And she had no idea what to do about it.
“Where do you want to eat?” Brandy asked.
“Why don’t we go to Enzo’s? I’m in the mood for pizza,” Samantha suggested. Her stomach grumbled at the thought.
Brandy nodded. “I love Enzo’s. Let’s go.”
They took the elevator downstairs and Samantha noticed they were the only two left in the office. They walked outside, turning left toward the restaurant when Samantha stopped short.
“Dammit. I think I left my phone upstairs.” She opened her purse and dug around inside to be sure. “Yeah, I did. Sorry.”
“I’ll come back up with you,” Brandy offered.
“Why don’t you wait in the lobby where it’s cooler? I’ll go upstairs real quick and we can go to dinner.” She turned and stepped toward the double doors and saw Jeremy walking outside. That was a confrontation she did not want to have and attempted to pivot in the opposite direction.
“Samantha.”
She cringed at the sound of his voice but spun to face him. “What?” she asked, watching, as if in slow motion, he slid his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a gun.
“If I’m going down then so are you.” He faced her and without hesitating, pulled the trigger, returned the gun to his jacket, and ran, disappearing into the rush hour crowd on the sidewalk.
She blinked, stunned. Felt the stinging burn in her upper left side, below her rib cage, and then the real pain registered, knocking the wind out of her, and she fell to her knees.
Glancing down, she saw red seeping through her dress and pressed her hand against it, coming back with sticky palms. Blood. Hers? Screaming sounded and she looked up to see it was Brandy.
A man knelt beside her and pressed his crumpled suit jacket against her and she cried out.
“Shh. I know it hurts but I have to slow the bleeding,” the stranger said. “Call 911.”
With shaking hands, Brandy tried to dial the numbers but kept dropping the phone.
“It’s okay. I called,” a woman’s voice said.
Brandy crawled close to Samantha, grabbing her hand and pulling it tight against her chest, getting blood all over her dress. “You hold on. If we’re lucky, it went right through and didn’t hit anything.”
“Watching Grey’s again?” she asked her frightened friend, trying to make light of the situation and calm them both down. Samantha coughed, winced, and cried out.
“It’s going to be okay,” Brandy said, her own voice shaking. “I didn’t see who did this.”
“Jeremy.”
Brandy gasped as Samantha coughed and cried out at the sharp pain. Sirens sounded in the distance but even Samantha knew what New York City traffic was like at this time of day and the ambulance would take a while.
“I’m cold.” She began to shiver.
“She’s going into shock,” someone said. This time it wasn’t Brandy playing doctor.
“My phone’s upstairs,” Samantha said to Brandy as dizziness washed over her.
The man by her side yelled for someone else to hand over their jacket. She felt him remove the bloody item covering her and replace it with another one.
“Call my bro—”
Brandy squeezed her hand. “Okay, honey. I’ll call Ian. I need your code to get into the phone.”
Everything swam in front of her eyes, black spots threatening to cause her to pass out. “7777.”
“Oh, we’re going to talk about security,” Brandy muttered.
Samantha’s body shook from pain. “Don’t call Dex. Busy,” she slurred. “Important,” she forced out, as she felt herself going under and everything went black.
***
Dex sat in the second bedroom of his apartment that he used for a home office. A large monitor was in front of him, his agent’s face on the screen.
“You have a business dinner with Peter Morgan in an hour. Think you can be pleasant and not discuss the issues with paparazzi?” Austin asked.
Dex shook his head. “I won’t bring it up unless he does.”
“Good. Once Samantha’s business issues are over, her partner will take his money and be happy, and you two are free to do whatever you want. Morgan won’t care if you’re dating her by that point and neither will Jeremy Rollins.”
Slamming his hand on the desk, Dex leaned forward. “Do you think I give a damn what that weasel wants? I’m trying to protect Samantha. To that end, I’ve done what you asked. I’ve kept us out of sight for over a week, if you include my time in Florida.”
“Good—”
“I’m not finished,” Dex muttered, pissed at the world for the frustration he felt for so many reasons.
“By all means. Go on.” Austin folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair.
“Samantha thinks this seclusion is all about Jeremy and her business. She has no idea my career would be in jeopardy if we went out in public and Jeremy created another scene. But she’s upset and tired of spending every night at home in her apartment, and I have to tell you, I’m no happier about hiding us.”
Austin ran a hand over his face. “I get it. But Peter Morgan didn’t hire you, his predecessor did. And Morgan is a stickler for morality clauses.”
“We did nothing wrong,” Dex reminded him.
“Do you remember the two morning co-anchors who had an affair?” Austin asked. “They claimed they were already separated when they got together. It became a huge social media scandal. Next thing you know, their lawyers worked out a severance package and they were gone. And the publicity surrounding them was not pleasant.”
“We can handle the publicity,” Dex said. And he believed it.
“And the job? Don’t you want to keep it?” Austin asked, his tone sounding like the question was rhetorical.
And maybe it should be because what normal human would turn down the money he’d been offered? But Dex had a trust fund he hadn’t touched. Football money he’d saved. But he’d been hesitant to accept the opportunity to start with it because he wasn’t sure he was up to the traveling.
He hadn’t had a long time to decide if he’d sign with FSN. At the time, he had nothing else going on in his life, so he’d taken the position. Now, he was juggling regrets because he’d rather be in one place instead of flying from city to city for Sunday games and missing every weekend with Samantha.
“Dex! Are we having a conversation or am I talking to myself?” Austin’s annoyed voice grated on him.
“I need to go.” Dex had to talk to Samantha. It was enough keeping her in the dark when everything revolved around her. “I’ll be in touch.”
“But—”
He hit the button that disconnected them, figuring he’d deal with his agent later. He had someone more important to see.
But Dex couldn’t reach Samantha by phone. Every time he dialed, the call went to voicemail. Knowing it was unlike her, he began to worry. He tried the office but Brandy had left for the day.
He was due to leave for dinner with Peter Morgan but his gut was telling him something was very wrong. He paced his apartment until the last second. After dialing her one last time, he locked up his apartment, set the alarm, and took the elevator downstairs.
A black Town Car idled outside on the street. Just as he walked to the vehicle, his cell rang. Ian Dare’s name showed on the screen.
Based on gut instinct alone, his stomach turned over as he answered. “Ian.”
“Samantha was shot outside her office. I can’t get there for a few hours. I need to pick up my mother on the way.”
The words barely registered but Dex went into strategic mode, much as he did on the field when he had an instant to figure out a play. “Which hospital?” His heart pounded hard in his chest.
Ian replied.
“I’m on my way,” he said, opening the car door and sliding in. “Change of destination,” he said to the driver, then gave him the hospital name before turning his attention back to the call.