The Billionaire's Secretary (Billionaire's Series Book 1) (3 page)

“Oh, my God!” was all she could say before picking up the phone to call her boss. There was no way she could wait for Adrian’s arrival now; Mr. G. would need her at the estate immediately.

***

Aurora inched the nose of the Audi slowly through the crowd of photographers and news crews that had gathered outside the gates of the affluent Guyton Estate. Of course the house was so far set back that there was nothing the media could possibly see, but still she noticed a few photographers perched in the trees along the perimeter with cameras and what looked like telephoto lenses. When she got to the gate, she pressed the call button on the intercom and a voice replied almost immediately.

“Wait for the security personnel to arrive at the gate, Miss Aldridge. They will open up and secure it behind you.”

In a few seconds, two heavily armed Robocop-looking men, dressed all in black, appeared in front of her. One readied his firearm while the other punched in a code and the gate started to slide open. Aurora drove through it cautiously, glancing in her rear view mirror to see the two guards flanking the gate until it came to a complete close behind her. She sped up down the driveway and pulled up outside the house. Thomas, the Guytons’ butler, was waiting and he opened the car door for her.

“They’ve been eagerly expecting you, Miss Aldridge.”

“Thank you, Thomas,” Aurora replied. “It's always good to know where we stand in matters like these.”

He nodded and stepped aside so she could pass him and make her way up the stairs to the front door.

“Do you have any luggage with you?”

“No, Thomas. I didn’t presume that I would be staying at Guyton Estate, considering the present uproar. I had already checked in at The Morrison to wait for Master Adrian’s arrival this evening, so I left my things there for the moment. I feel it might be a stronger position if their support team remains on the outside for now. You know how the media can be.”

“Very well, ma’am.”

Liz was waiting at the front door for her and she could tell from the expression on the woman’s face that the atmosphere in the household was laden.

“Welcome, Miss Aldridge.”

“Thank you, Liz.”

“Follow me, then.”

Liz led the way into the mansion’s formidable foyer. It was just as Aurora had remembered. The high domed ceiling with its gilded chandelier and opulent, round, Queen Anne center table. Even the overbearing floral arrangement in the Ming dynasty vase on it seemed frozen in time from her only visit to the island six years prior. She smiled and turned to Liz.

“Some things never change, do they?”

As she stood there, being vaulted back in time, she heard a gasp and turned toward the drawing room door. There he stood, Alan Guyton, looking just as he did so many years ago and Aurora could do nothing but hold her breath. They stood studying each other for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. Instinctively she held out her hand to him and he walked toward her and took it in his, studying her face as if she were a vision that might melt away.

“I wasn’t sure that you want to get involved with this.”

“Why would you think that, Alan? I’m here to help; it’s what I do.”

“Yes, it is. It’s quite a pickle I’ve gotten myself into and if I was another man, I would be sitting in a Hong Kong jail wondering where it all went wrong.”

“Well, you’re not. You’re a Guyton, so you are where you should be and you’re innocent. We’ll prove it.”

He took her in his arms and hugged her tightly. When he loosened his hold on her, she raised her head to look at him and he pressed his lips to hers. Shocked, Aurora pushed him gently away.

“Ahem!”

They both turned to see Andrew Guyton standing in the drawing room doorway glowering at them. Aurora smoothed the skirt of her Anne Klein suit and lowered her gaze to the floor. Andrew stepped forward and took her by the elbow leading her into the room. He threw a look of warning over his shoulder at his son as he went.

“Reunited and it feels so good,” he said sarcastically.

“Yes,” Alan said softly, following them into the room.

“So Aurora, as you know, my son here has made himself into a fine target for the Chinese. I’m sure it’s his stellar behavior that has made him into such a favorite of theirs.” He turned to Alan and asked, “Didn’t they have any other candidates, son?”

“Father, stop it,” Alan admonished. “We already discussed this.”

“No, son,” he continued, unabashed. “Let’s hear what you have to say for yourself.”

Aurora smiled to herself. She had grown to expect this line of questioning from Mr. Guyton and she had many years of practiced response as well. She knew he would demand a straight answer from his son. Much like her, Andrew did not like it when anyone had a silver bullet against him.

“No, they had many in fact. But I simply took it upon myself to point out to Xaoping with no uncertainty that I’d take them down before I allowed them to buy out Tsang Wei and start building a monopoly in Hong Kong. It doesn’t seem to have been taken very well.”

Andrew Guyton’s eyebrows arched high with surprise. Defensively, he scoffed. He returned his attention to Aurora.

“Well, let’s get this charade over with. For some reason, my son thinks it fit to snub my team of experienced lawyers in a ditch effort to hire you. What do you have to say about that?”

“Well,” Aurora answered slowly, “I’ll just have to remind Master Alan that I’m not licensed to practice law so he will have to choose one from the firm. I will, however, lend all my support to that person so they don’t have to leave Alpharetta in order to be effective. Alan isn’t well known for taking instructions or advice. He’s going to do as he sees fit, Mr. Guyton; that, at least, I’m sure of.”

Andrew Guyton nodded in agreement.

“You see, son? This is why I hardly let this young lady out of my confidence.” He stood from his chair, indicating that the conversation was drawing to a close. “Aurora, let’s all meet in the dining room before we leave for dinner to hear what you have planned.”

“Yes, sir. So I shouldn’t cancel the reservations and have something brought in instead?”

“Heavens, no! I won’t let a few nosy reporters and ill-mannered paparazzi spoil my weekend away. Just get the limos; they’re tinted dark enough to keep us away from prying eyes. Keep going with your gut on this, Aurora. You’ve got free range to get this over and done with.”

“As you wish, Mr. G.”

Alan took advantage of his father’s exit to lead Aurora out of the drawing room.

“Aaron’s waiting in the study,” he said quickly. “Let’s go straight in.”

Aaron Guyton was, in Aurora’s opinion, only one notch less pompous than his brother. He sat in a wing chair by the huge desk sipping a glass of Johnny Walker black and tapping his fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair. When the door opened, he turned toward them and stood.

“Aurora, you’ve arrived. Thank goodness!”

“I appreciate the welcome, Aaron. Seems like the whole world has changed since we went our separate ways at the airport this afternoon.”

“Oh, that seems like decades ago, doesn’t it?”

His tone was a condescending one; an effort at making her feel small and incapable under the circumstances. Aurora only smiled at him; she wouldn’t allow him to make her feel as if the time she’d spent integrating into the firm was somehow redundant now. She took the seat beside his and Alan sat behind the desk, never taking his eyes off her.

“Would you like a drink?” Aaron asked.

“Sweet tea, thank you,” Aurora replied. “I think it’s too early in the day for much else.”

“Touché.”

Aurora turned to his brother and said, “Tell me everything, Alan. I missed the details of the initial reports, though I did hear about the charges when they were filed. I have Rebecca gathering everything that’s in the D.A.’s office on the case so far and you know that if they have any evidence, they have to turn it over voluntarily. Tell me how this all happened.”

“I don’t know how it happened, Aurora. I was just as shocked as everyone else when they called me a spy.”

“I know it’s difficult, but we’re going to have to start at the beginning. Did you sell Xaoping information or not? Step on any toes over there or with any of the clients? And what’s the deal with Tsang Wei anyway?”

“I didn’t spy on anyone and I certainly didn’t sell inside information. When I first heard about the deal, I went straight to Tsang Wei to broker our own deal. It wouldn’t do for Xaoping to gain so much power in the region. As you probably know, I can be a disturbingly honest and straightforward person. The Chinese tend to hate that, they think it’s impolite.”

“What about you, Aaron? Do you know anything about this?”

“There’s nothing black or red on the books about it yet, Aurora. As Dad keeps pointing out, I only crunch the numbers.”

***

Aurora returned to her rooms at Morrison House, exhausted from the emotional afternoon at Guyton Estate. A large envelope was waiting for her, along with the Samsung Galaxy 10 tablet she had ordered and the background information on both Xaoping Exports and Tsang Wei Electronics. For whatever reason, Aurora’s instinct told her there was more to that connection than the obvious and she was determined to follow that hunch. She pushed open the room door and placed the items on the bed before using the remote control to switch the television on and find the nationwide news channel.

The Alpharetta Chief of Police was standing on the steps of City Hall, answering questions from a slew of reporters about the case. They wanted to know why Alan hadn’t yet been taken into custody and if it would have been the same if he wasn’t rich and from an affluent family. Aurora rolled her eyes. Of course, they would ask that. They wanted to know why Alan Guyton had tampered with company information in Hong Kong. Were they planning a hostile takeover? Again, of course they thought so. She angrily switched the television off and turned to the large envelope that had arrived from the Alpharetta office. There were newspaper articles, photographs, telephone records, interview transcripts and of course, the D.A.’s preliminary report and their evidence log.

What Aurora didn’t find were the search warrants. The police had searched the firm’s offices, Alan’s car and penthouse apartment and supposedly gathered a wealth of evidence against him. She checked the evidence log again. Yes, there it was. Flash drives with allegedly stolen information from both Chinese companies had been found. The question was: where were the warrants for the police to conduct those searches? She picked up her cell phone and pressed the speed dial button for Rebecca.

“Hello?” Rebecca answered.

“Hi Rebecca, it’s me, Aurora.”

“Oh. Hi. I didn’t even look at the caller I.D. I’m buried in paper right now trying to find more information on the case.”

“That’s great Rebecca,” Aurora replied. “But I think I may have something big right now.”

“Really? What is it?”

“I got your envelope, but I don’t see any copies of the police search warrants. Didn’t you find any?”

“Oh, hold on one second.”

Aurora listened as Rebecca rummaged through paper on the other end of the line.

“Aurora, I don’t know how to tell you this, but there aren’t any warrants among the papers the D.A.’s office sent over.”

“That’s what I thought, Rebecca. Listen, it’s one of two things going on here. Either there was something wrong with the warrants they got or they didn’t have any to begin with. Either way, all their evidence is dismissible. Call the D.A.’s office again and ask them to send you a copy of the warrants. If you don’t get them in thirty minutes, let me know and whenever they do arrive, go over there and ask to see the originals. I’m going to need full color, high definition pictures of those warrants.”

“Okay, Aurora. Will do.”

“Thanks Rebecca, Talk to you soon.”

Aurora lay back against the pillows and smiled up at the ceiling. She couldn’t believe her luck. There was obviously something the D.A. was trying to hide and if that threw out their precious evidence, then the case could be easily overturned. Alan had nothing much to worry about now, and neither did she.

Chapter Four

Aurora delivered the good news over dinner with Mr. Guyton and his sons that night. The old man was extremely pleased that the plan she had devised and explained to them in their meeting that evening had borne fruit.

“So when will you know for sure?” Alan asked nervously.

“You’re so preoccupied with saving your damn ass right now, aren’t you little brother?” Adrian said sarcastically. “It might be helpful to all of us if you would act a bit more responsibly, both professionally and privately.”

“Stand down, Adrian,” his father commanded. “We all know what an annoying prick your brother can be. Don’t go turning into one yourself.”

Adrian scoffed. He hated being the brunt of his father’s poor humor. Instead of responding he turned his attention back to Aurora.

“I’m sorry the weekend started out for you like this. As you get to work with us boys more closely, you’ll get used to Alan being a bit of a pain in the ass.” She smiled at the quip and he continued. “So, when will we know for sure that the case will be thrown out?”