The Gift: Book 1 (The Billionaire's Love Story) (8 page)

This was definitely dismissal. Her lying, and Tobias finding out. But the man appeared to reconsider and put the phone down. “If Mr. Stone okay’d it, then it’s not a problem. Go ahead.”

“Thanks,” she beamed, closing her eyes and silently thanking the universe.

“Have a good, day, Ma’am.”

“You too,” she said, and rushed towards the elevator.

“This is a big place,” said Jacob, looking around excitedly as she ushered him in. “You work
here
?”

“Yes, honey.”

“For Tobias?”

“Mr. Stone.”

“Can I go see him?”

The elevator doors closed.

“No, Jacob.” She crouched and looked at him level in the eyes. “He doesn’t know you’re here, Jacob. He won’t like it if he found out. And he will throw me out.”

“He’ll be nasty to you, like daddy was?”

Oh god. He still remembered every nasty thing.

“No, honey. He’s not nasty. It’s just that children aren’t allowed in here. So you have to be very quiet. Okay? Do you remember Harry Potter’s Invisibility cloak?”

“I don’t like Harry Potter. It’s too scary. I like Iron Man. You should know that, Mommy.”

She let out a groan and didn’t see how being Iron Man would help. But she nodded, conscious that the doors would open any minute. “I don’t think Iron Man can become invisible, can he? He only shoots off into space and I don’t see how that—”

“He
can
be invisible if he has the Stealth suit.”

“Okay, then pretend you have one of those.” She rushed out of the elevators and pushed him into the safety of the office, relieved to have seen nobody on their way up. At this quiet time of year she knew the chances were slim that someone would see them. As long as that someone wasn’t Candace or Tobias, then she was fine.

Once inside, Savannah looked around. She couldn’t very well ask Jacob to hide under the table for the whole day. Nor could she lock the office door. But she could block the entrance to it by putting a chair with some heavy files on it, in front of it.

“We’re going to play a game, Jacob.”

“A game?” Excitement spread all over his face.

“If someone comes into this room, and you hear the door handle move, you have to take your things—your books, your toys, your coloring pens, and hide under that table?” She pointed to the table that was on the right of the door. It would give him some time to hide even if someone had managed to wedge the door open a little. “And you can’t come out again until I come and tell you. Do you understand?”

“It doesn’t sound like much fun. What’s the prize?”

“Prize?”

“There has to be a reason to play the game, otherwise, why are we playing?”

She let out an uneasy laugh. “Santa knows you’re helping Mommy, and he knows you’ve been a really good boy this year. And I think he’s going to get you something really amazing this year.”

“You mean like the new Iron Man things in that shop?”

She nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “Now, it sounds like fun.”

She settled down and powered up the computer, checked through the emails and saw that Jacob seemed to be keeping himself entertained. The phone rang again, she answered it quickly, eager to have something to do. She preferred being busy to doing nothing; at least it made the day fly by.

“Ms. Page, please come and see me.” The sound of his voice made the hairs on her arms stand up.

What did he want to see her about?
He couldn’t have found out about Jacob already, could he? She looked around the room for CCTV cameras.

“I’ll be right there.”

She put the phone down and wondered what Tobias Stone wanted with her. She wished Briony was here. At least then she could have also found out about the Christmas party last night. She stared at Jacob and tried to muster a smile. “I have to go to a meeting, Jacob. You have to stay here and be quiet. Promise me?”

“Are you going to see Tobias? Can I come too?”

She didn’t like that her son was so informal about her boss. “It’s Mr. Stone, honey. And yes, I am going to see him, but no, you can’t come along.” Her son gave her one of his cutest and most endearing looks.

“It’s not going to work, Jacob. ‘No’ means ‘no’. Stay put and be good, otherwise I’ll have to take you home.” She smoothed a hand through her hair and wished she’d shampooed it last night. It was limp and hung like wet spaghetti.

Just get this over with.

She knocked on his door and was surprised when Tobias opened the door himself instead of ordering her in as he usually did.

“When were you going to tell me?” he asked, as she walked in, her mind running wild with fear.

Tell him what?

She tried
not to look as nervous as she felt but there they were again, the butterflies dancing in the pit of her stomach. Feeling ever more anxious, especially with the way he hovered around her, she took the bold step of sitting down.

“Did I tell you to sit down?” he asked.

She frowned.
Was he being serious?
She turned to stare at him.

“I didn’t realize we were in a military academy.” She wished this man, always so stiff and so cold, would pull that steel rod out of his ass. “If you think I’m going to stand back up again and wait for your permission, you can think again.”

She thought she saw the faintest wisp of a smile on his lips.

“You’ve got some spunk.”

“Excuse me?” She leaned forward, taken aback by his choice of word.

“Bravado. I like it. You’re not afraid to speak your mind.” It had cost her dearly when she hadn’t. She’d only learned recently that the best way to fight bullies was to stand up to them. Not cower from them.

“It seems to me that most people are afraid to tell you what they think.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“You really want to know?”

“I really want to know.” His gaze was cool, magnetic, and she could not look away if she tried.

“Because you have money, and power, and people want to please you.”

“People want to please me,” he said, slowly repeating her words. He walked over to his side of the desk and sat down. “Do you want to please me?” he asked, entwining his hands together and placing them on the desk.

“I want to work. I don’t look at it in terms of whether it pleases you or not. You don’t really factor into my equation.”

He nodded, and placed his elbows on the table, lifting his hands so that his chin rested on them. He said nothing for a few moments, and she was left with a mouth that had suddenly gone dry.

He stared at her, as if awaiting an explanation, and she, remembering the way he had interrogated her the other day, chose to remain silent. Finally he spoke. “I’m sorry.” It sounded as if it pained him to say the words.

“
You’re
sorry?”

“It’s not a trait that is alien to me.”

She drew her eyebrows together.

He continued. “I’m sorry for implying that you had taken the Dalton file.” Now she remembered. “For thinking I was a spy, you mean?”

“I have enemies everywhere, Savannah. I can’t let my guard down, or trust anyone.”

“What a sad way to live.” The words slipped out before she’d had a chance to put them through her internal filter.

“It’s not for everyone.” He adjusted the cuff of his sleeve and she wondered if he was buying himself more time or thinking of something else to say.

“Was there anything else?” She was anxious to return to Jacob. This whole exchange with Tobias had taken her by surprise and she knew she would analyze their conversation later. In a place of safety, away from him.

“No. Please close the door on your way out.”

She was more than relieved to leave his office and escape to the safety of hers. Walking back into her office and seeing Jacob’s smiling face made her forget the awkwardness of meeting with Tobias.

The rest of the morning went smoothly enough. Nobody had tried to come in. The phone had rung a few times, but it was things that could wait until Briony got back. She responded to all the emails that came in otherwise she continued to tidy up Briony’s network folders.

Then Jacob spoke. “I’m hungry, Mommy.” He’d been a good boy all morning, playing with his Spiderman figurine and doing some drawing. He’d been a good boy and hadn’t even needed to go to the toilet yet either.

But now he wanted food and she had forgotten to make lunch. She usually brought sandwiches to eat but with both of them leaving so early today, she’d clean forgotten. She had to go out for lunch. There was no way around it. It meant she had to leave the office and leave Jacob unattended—something she hated to do. Yet to take him out of the office during the busy lunchtime risked her getting caught.

The building had no restaurant, except for vending machines on a few floors and she wasn’t going to feed her boy snacks for lunch. She had no option but to sprint out of here, across the road, run into the sandwich shop and sprint back.

It would be better to go now, before the shops got too busy, than run the risk of taking more time later, when the lines built up.

“Jacob, listen to me honey.” She walked over to his desk and bent down. “I’m going out very quickly to get some lunch.”

“Can I come?”

“No, you have to stay here.”

“You’re leaving me?” Fear walked in his eyes.

“It’s just across the road, honey. It will take me ten minutes. I promise.”

“Don’t leave me, Mommy.” The begging in his voice clutched at her heart strings. Nowhere else would she leave him alone, but she was caught between a rock and a hard place. She knew he was safe here if he did as she’d told him. It wasn’t as if she was leaving him in a public place. He was in a building, and she knew he would be safe, and she would be back quickly.

She forced a brave face knowing that he would sense her fear and feel scared himself, and she never wanted him to be scared ever again. “Ten minutes, Jacob. I promise.” This wouldn’t happen tomorrow. She’d make sure to bring lunch with her.

“We can do this, Champ. Do you think you can turn on your super powers?”

“Like Iron Man?”

“Like Iron Man.”

The fear vanished as he became the superhero. “Go, Mommy. Ten minutes, you promised.”

She rushed out, her thoughts on Jacob the whole time as she dove into the elevator and tried to still her beating heart as the elevator descended painfully and slowly, stopping at different floors along the way. She was more frightened by the idea of leaving him alone, knowing she had left him willingly, than by him being found. When it reached the ground floor she sprinted out.

And almost crashed straight into Candace who was on her way in.

“In a rush?” Candace asked her.

“Yes,” she said, and gave her a quick smile before rushing out of the door.

Chapter 15

Tobias arrived back from his meeting with the chief finance officer simmering with anger as he stepped back into his office. It had taken two hours to discuss what should have taken no more than forty minutes.

No sooner had he sat down than Candace knocked.

“You’re back,” she said, cheerily.

“I’ve been in meetings all morning.”

“Yesterday was a great success, by all accounts,” she said, sounding her own trumpet.

“Good,” he replied, hoping she would move on quickly. He had emails that needed his attention as well as the pressing matter which refused to leave his thoughts. “Anything else?”

She seemed surprised by his directness. “Are you in a bad mood, Tobias?”

“Candace, I’m really busy. Did you want something?”

“No. I’m only in for half a day today and tomorrow. Is there anything you need me to do before I go? Do you need anything?”

“No, I can cope.” He gave her half a smile. “I’m not completely useless without you.”

She smiled at him. “I noticed that temp is still here.”

“And what of it?”

“I thought she’d finished.”

“Briony asked her to stay on. Why?”

“No reason. I saw her just now and she seemed to be in a mad rush. She almost knocked me over when she got out of the elevator.”

It made him wonder, but he remained silent.

“What are you up to this Christmas?” she asked, refusing to budge. But her gaze soon fell upon the Tiffany box on his desk.

“Oooooh,” she purred, her beady little eyes honing in on the blue and white box. He knew exactly what she was thinking. “Naomi will be happy.”

Tobias felt his jaw clench. He badly needed Candace to disappear, not only because his nerves were already frayed, but he had so many things he needed to sort out. In an effort to get rid of her he remembered something. Ignoring her comment about the gift, he instructed her. “Call Herman in accounts and get him to make sure that Ms. Page gets her wages paid into her account before she leaves work tomorrow.”

“Temps don’t get paid until the following month.”

“I’m well aware of that.” But it hadn’t been anything he’d concerned himself with before.

“But I can’t do anything. It’s up to the agency—”

“I don’t think you heard me, Candace. Make sure Ms. Page gets paid tomorrow. Tell Herman to charge it to the company if he has to. And in case you’re in any doubt, I own this company, and I can damn well do as I please.”

His PA narrowed her eyes as she stared at him. “I’ll do it right away. Anything else?”

He shook his head. “Candace,” he said slowly, his expression tight. “Sometimes your attitude borders on unprofessional. Let me remind you that you’re an assistant and this means that you follow my orders.”

“Understood.” She said, and he could tell by the look on her face that he’d crushed her.

Candace left Tobias’s office in a jumble of emotions. What was wrong with the man all of a sudden?

He thought she was
unprofessional
? Tensed up with anger, she flexed her fists, and marched into her office. Throwing down her bag, she picked up the phone to call Herman and made the necessary arrangements, after explaining to him what Tobias had told her. She sat simmering in her seat for a while, then, feeling restless and edgy, she got up. It was time to pay that little minx a visit. Find out what was really going on. She should have been back by now.