The CEO (22 page)

“I have a surprise for you. I want you to wear this blindfold until we get there.”

I didn’t like being surprised like that, but I was pretty curious to see what he had up his sleeve.

A short drive later, he opened my door and led me out of the car. “Let me lead and no peeking!”

He led me down some sort of path and up a few stairs. I sat down on some sort of cushion and could feel warmth coming from behind me. “You can look now,” he said.

I removed the blindfold and what I discovered was beautiful. He had brought me to a fancy terrace. There was a fire pit in the middle, surrounded by a stream of water and rocks. A row of cushioned seats surrounded the entire thing with a support beam in all four corners. The top was an abundance of handmade beams evenly spaced apart, allowing the moonlight to peak through.

He handed me flowers he had stored underneath one of the seats and pulled out a basket. “Liam, I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything, Sheila. I did this for you, for
us
. I needed you to know that I’d give you anything, all of me.” He opened a bottle of champagne and poured two glasses. “To new beginnings.”

I quickly inhaled the drink, realizing Liam has lost his damn mind. There was no ‘us’ and this act of kindness was becoming a bit much for me.

“Take me home, Liam.”

“Why? We just got here?”

“Liam, take me the fuck home this instant!”

I slammed Liam’s car door shut and tried to run up the stairs to my condo as fast as I could. “Sheila, wait!”

“What?” I huffed, trying to ram my key in the door.

He followed me inside and stopped me dead in my tracks. “What is with you?”

“Liam, I can’t do this anymore. I appreciate you saving my life and everything, but this is just too much. You deserve a woman who can appreciate you and embrace how much you’ve changed. Unfortunately for you, it won’t be me. Please let yourself out. This ‘us’,” I said with air quotes, “is over and I don’t want to see you again!”

Confused and hurt, he nodded his head in understanding and let himself out.

That was a lot easier than I thought it’d be.

I walked into my bedroom, eying myself in my floor length mirror, and decided my night wasn’t over yet. I needed something exciting, or thrilling, to make this night truly epic…but what?

I caught a glimpse of my laptop behind me and it occurred to me.
Bingo!

“Justin, right?”

“Yes. You’re twice as gorgeous in person.”

“Thanks,” I said, re-crossing my legs on the bar stool.

Justin didn’t know it yet, but I knew all about him and his wealthy family. I knew I should feel like shit about cutting Liam out of my life, but it was for his own good. The shit he’d done to me had caused me to numb myself and hide my feelings.
Sure I’m human and I have a fucking pulse, but that chapter of my life is over.

“So, Sheila, why is a pretty thing like you still single? Any man in his right state of mind would have snatched you off the market by now.”

“I guess that’s my problem: I haven’t found a man in his right state of mind…yet,” I flirted, seductively taking a sip from my straw.

Several hours later, Justin and I closed the bar. I wasn’t in the mood to screw him but he had something I wanted and I needed to keep him in my back pocket, for safe keeping.

Rumor had it that his father was building a machine that would be able to extract oil from deposits underground with a seventy percent recovery rate and I wanted to be a part of that. If I could get my hands on that technology, Quinn National would be the number one oil provider in the northeast, maybe the country.

“I had a great time,” I said, slipping my number into the front pocket of his sports coat.

“I’ll definitely be in touch,” he smiled.

Justin was very attractive. Six feet tall at minimum, brown disheveled hair, strong chiseled jaw with a dimple in the middle, and the softest amber colored eyes I’d ever seen. He wore a black fedora with a black sports coat and pair of dark wash jeans. He seemed pretty low key for a guy bred into millions.

Something about him intrigued me and I was going to get everything I wanted from him. I could feel it deep down in my core.

“Have a good night, Sheila.” His voice was low and husky as he spoke.

“Goodnight.”

We both disappeared into our vehicles and went our separate ways.

I woke up refreshed and ready to start my day. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and happiness in the form of money was coming in place of it. Making money was the number one thing that made me happy, and I’d do anything I could to keep it flowing into my business.

I arrived to work an hour early to get a head start on my day, only to find a note on my office window, warning me to watch my back. I didn’t recognize the handwriting and I honestly didn’t care who’d left it because they hadn’t had the balls to say it to my face.

I ripped the note off my door and tossed it directly into the shredder. I placed my coat on the rack and tossed my brief case on my desk, quickly joining it and taking a seat at my desk. I booted my computer and heard Ryan come in as I waited for it to load.

“I’ll bring you a cup of coffee in a few minutes, Ms. Quinn.”

“Take your time, Ryan. Nothing can fuck up this day for me. Absolutely
nothing.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘nothing’ Sheila.”

Ryan left and quickly returned with a fresh cup of coffee and a manila folder with a red letter S stamped on the front of it. That S stood for one thing and it was the worst thing you could think of: someone was trying to sue the company. There was only one way I could get out of this and it was paying my old friend, Judge Henry Johanson, a visit.

After two painful hours of staring at the fine print, I came up with a plan. Those greedy assholes weren’t going to earn a cent from this company.

“Judge Johanson, I’m so glad you were able to meet with me on such short notice.”

“You said it was an urgent matter, Ms. Quinn. I made sure to free my schedule for the next two hours
just
for you.”

“I won’t need more than one hour, sir,” I flirted, handing him the manila folder. I walked around his large masculine desk and rubbed his shoulders while he pulled his reading glasses out of the front pocket of his striped shirt.

Judge Johanson was a very compassionate and understanding man. He also wasn’t bad looking for a fifty-something –year- old man. He looked a lot like Burt Reynolds, but carrying an extra twenty pounds.

“Sheila, do you know if they signed a waiver by any chance?”

“I believe so, and to my knowledge they were both already granted workers’ comp.”

“How long did it take them to be seen in the hospital?”

“One victim went right away, the other hesitated.”

“Bingo. I can get this case dropped before it is even leaked out of this office for you.”

“Thank you so much! What can I do to repay you?”

Judge Johanson was very easy to manipulate, and he was also a sleazebag. I blew him off before I left and that’s all it took to confirm the whole nightmare would disappear.

I returned to the office with a huge smile on my face. Sure, I’d had to blow the most powerful attorney in the judicial system, but I’d also gotten what I wanted—as usual.

“So…how’d it go?” Ryan questioned.

“Let’s just say, those greedy bastards just
blew
their chances.”

“That’s awesome! You really have the magic touch, Ms. Quinn.”

“More than you know,” I smiled, running my finger over my bottom lip.

“Have you been able to pin point the source of the missing money yet?” Ryan asked with a stern look on his face, changing the subject.

“Not yet, but I’m sure I’ll find out. I
always
find out.”

Lately, Ryan had been trying to keep tabs on me and I didn’t understand or appreciate his demeanor. If I told him I was leaving the building, he’d never questioned me before, he’d just let me go and tell me to be careful. Now I felt like I had my dad breathing down my neck all over again.

I barged into Ryan’s office and slammed the door shut behind me. “What’s wrong, Sheila?”

“Why have you been breathing down my neck lately? I share a few vulnerable moments with you and now you feel like you can keep tabs on me?” I glared in his direction with my hands on my hips, impatiently waiting on his response.

“No. It’s just… I worry about you. I know how much your brother meant to you and the fact that you haven’t taken the time to grieve him concerns me.”

I lowered my hands as I processed what he’d said. He was right, but I didn’t have time to grieve Kieran; I had a company to focus on. I could take time off later and grieve then. “Well, I don’t have time to deal with that right now,” I huffed.

“That’s your problem right there, Sheila. You shut everything down: your feelings, your compassion,
everything
! No sane person could keep levelheaded with all of this corruption and bullshit around them!” Ryan stood on his feet and walked in front of me, gazing into my eyes. “Sheila, it’s okay. You’re here with me, you can trust me. You know that right?” he said, calmly rubbing my shoulders.

“I don’t know who to trust,
anymore
,” I pulled away from his grasp and let myself out of his office.