Billionaire by Design (A BWWM Romance) (16 page)

She was fairly certain that he was dead, and reminded herself that she’d acted strictly in self-defense. Thumbing through his wallet, she quickly pieced together that he’d been lying about his name and shook her head at her own gullibility. Finally, when darkness had fallen, she slid his sunglasses on, covered her face with her curly hair, and fled the motel undetected, leaving Phil Miller’s body in a pool of drying blood.

“Still no word from Phil?” Jenna asked as she poked her head into Zane’s office. Five days had passed since Phil Miller’s mysterious disappearance, and the firm was abuzz with rumors and speculation. Some believed he’d met with foul play, while others suggested suicide. A few thought he’d snapped and driven to Mexico to start a new life, and those who were aware of his drinking problem assumed he was on an epic bender.

“Nothing,” Zane sighed as he stood in front of his large flat-screen television, reviewing artwork for a client’s new campaign.

Phil’s cell phone had been going straight to voicemail for days, indicating that it had either been broken or purposely shut off. In the time Phil Miller had worked for
Enterprise Marketing
, his attendance record had been fairly impressive, even in the midst of the debacle with his secretary three years prior. In the rare instances when he did miss work, he’d always call in with his sincerest apologies. This absence was unlike Phil, but neither Zane nor Jenna were overly concerned. They both assumed he’d vanished in shame; an unspoken resignation after his inappropriate exchange with Jenna five days earlier. It seemed likely that he feared termination and left quietly of his own volition. Still, Zane had left him several voice and text messages along with a handful of e-mails, all of which had gone unanswered, and had even driven to his house on two separate occasions in hopes of resolving things with his protégé.

The staff was unaware of the embarrassing events leading up to Phil’s abrupt departure, and Zane intended to keep it that way. He planned to announce Phil’s retirement from the company at the end of the work day, omitting the man’s transgressions, and would begin searching for his replacement the following week.

“I guess that’s that then, huh?” Jenna asked as she stepped into the office and closed the door behind her.

“That’s that,” Zane agreed as he turned to accept her kiss with a smile. “I officially need a new right-hand man.”

“Can you make it a right-hand woman?” Jenna joked. “That way we don’t have a repeat of Phil?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Zane nodded as he used the remote he was holding to shut the television off. “You know I’d love to have you fill his shoes, but I don’t see that going over well with everyone.”

“I totally understand, baby,” she grinned as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him for another kiss. “You don’t need to explain it again.”

There were already enough rumors of favoritism floating around, and she was well aware of the volatile reaction he’d face if he promoted her to Phil’s position instead of selecting somebody with more experience. She belonged in the art department where her true talent could shine and she was at her happiest. Soliciting new clients and managing accounts was a job she had no interest in anyhow.

“Lunch?” he asked while he playfully squeezed her ass.

“Lunch,” she giggled as she straightened his tie for him.

Over the three months she’d worked with the firm, they’d tried to coordinate their lunch breaks as often as they could. The timing didn’t always work out, but when it did, they had fun exploring local restaurants together.

“Opa?” he questioned as he flashed his perfect smile.

“Opa,” she agreed. They’d discovered the small Greek diner a month earlier and had both enjoyed it enough to add it to their rotation.

Zane walked Jenna, her purse slung over her shoulder, out of his office, and the two politely nodded at his secretary as they left the small reception area. They’d just stepped into the long, wide hallway that led toward the elevators when a stir from the art department roused their curiosity

. Peeking in to identify the source of the fuss, they both froze, mouths agape in shocked disbelief, at the sight of Phil Miller. His head was wrapped in a thick bandage, his left eye was blackened, and he stood with several employees excitedly huddled around him as his boisterous voice recounted the horrible tragedy that had befallen him. His story stopped mid-sentence as he spotted Zane and Jenna in the doorway and motioned for them to come be a part of his captivated audience. Despite his battered appearance, he was beaming with a large, somehow unsettling smile as he waved them into the room. They joined the semicircle that had formed around him, their faces clearly stunned by his unexpected presence.

“Did you hear what happened?” he asked them with the same out of place smile as he pointed at his black eye.

“My God…” Zane muttered in bewilderment as he stared at the medical gauze circling Phil’s head. Jenna stood close to him with her face aghast, unable to pry her eyes off Phil’s beaten exterior.

“I got carjacked!” Phil cackled loudly. “They whacked me in the head with a bat or something. Stole my car and took my wallet and cell phone, too,” he expounded.

“Jesus…” Jenna gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth in horror.

“Right?” Phil nodded. “I don’t remember much. Somebody found me on the side of the road and called 911. All I know is I woke up in the hospital yesterday afternoon. Apparently I’d been in a damn coma for three days,” he continued to lie. He certainly couldn’t tell them, or anybody for that matter, what had really transpired. When he’d failed to check out of the motel on time, management had let themselves into his room after their calls had gone unanswered. They’d found his unresponsive body slumped over in a pool of blood and had immediately called both an ambulance and the police.

“I’m so sorry,” Zane replied empathetically. “Did you see who did it?”

“Did they catch them?” Jenna chimed in before Phil had a chance to respond.

“Is there a police report?” Zane quickly added to the growing list of questions.

“Whoa!” Phil chuckled as he threw up his hands and gestured for them to slow down. “I don’t really remember much. A couple of Mexican guys, I think, but the cops don’t have any leads yet. They just filed my report this morning before I was discharged from the hospital.”

He wasn’t lying about the latter part of his answer. He really had spent three days in a coma, and the police had taken his statement shortly before he was released three hours earlier. He’d told them he’d made the mistake of leaving his door ajar to get some fresh air, and that two Latino men had barged in and assaulted him.

“You seem to be taking this quite well,” Zane couldn’t help but notice. Jenna glanced at him, then looked at Phil with a hint of skepticism in her eyes, not quite sure if she was believing his story.

“Hey, what else can I do?” Phil sighed. “I have ten stitches in my cracked skull, and somebody’s out there driving my car around. Thankfully I have good insurance! Oh, and I wasn’t able to cancel my credit card until yesterday since I was goddamn unconscious, and in the three days I was out of it, they managed to rack up thousands of dollars in charges. My bank’s fraud department is looking into it, and we’re hoping they can turn up some leads. Nothing I can do at this point except for wait and hope they catch the bastards. I’m just trying to stay positive right now. They say laughter’s the best medicine, right?”

Most of his short rant wasn’t a lie. When he’d finally regained consciousness, he’d used the phone in his hospital room to cancel his credit card and found that Amber had already been spending his money quite liberally. His insurance company had sprung for a rental car, and the police were keeping an eye out for his Mercedes.

“You’re so lucky you’re alive, you poor thing!” Leeza, one of the firm’s most respected artists, commented with her hand placed over her heart in sympathy.

“I know,” Phil agreed. “The police didn’t contact you?” he nervously asked as he turned his attention back to his boss.

“No, not at all,” Zane shrugged.

“Tucson’s finest,” Phil snorted. “I figured they’d at least shoot you a call.”

“I haven’t heard a thing from anyone. I tried reaching you, but you just vanished,” Zane explained. Losing interest, the staff dispersed to their work stations and resumed their work.

“So you had no idea where I was?” Phil questioned, relieved that the authorities hadn’t reached out to his boss. He hoped it would stay that way since an investigation would certainly unravel his bogus story. The last thing he needed was anyone finding out he’d been brained with a telephone in a cheap motel room, his blood alcohol level through the roof, when he was supposed to be meeting with a client.

“We’d just assumed you’d…” Zane trailed off as he and Jenna shot each other a look.

“Assumed what? That I’d quit?” Phil finished for him.

“Well, yeah,” Zane replied.

“And not given any notice whatsoever?” Phil scoffed at the absurdity of this notion.

“Well, yeah,” Jenna echoed.

“Come on, you know I’d never do that,” Phil shot back with incredulity.

“I think we should finish this conversation in my office,” Zane leaned in slightly and whispered through his teeth, maintaining a smile so as not to evoke any suspicion or concern from his employees. A look of worry crossed Phil’s bruised face as he feared what was to come. Jenna followed behind them as they headed back into Zane’s private lair, his secretary gasping at the sight of Phil’s wounds as they passed her.

With the door closed behind them, Zane took a seat behind his desk and invited Phil to choose from one of the two chairs positioned in front of it. He slowly sank into one while Jenna stood by Zane’s side instead of taking the other. For a fleeting moment, she felt sorry for Phil who sat looking battered and broken, his life in shambles yet trying his best to appear unshaken.

“After the stunt you pulled with Jenna a few days ago,” Zane began after clearing his throat, “we assumed you’d terminated your relationship with the company.”

“I’m not sure I follow,” Phil replied with a look of confusion.

“Oh, please!” Jenna blurted angrily. “You know you—”

“Jenna,” Zane’s interrupted her with a raised hand. He straightened his tie, rolled his chair closer to his desk, and folded his hands across its oak surface. “It’s come to my attention that you may have made some inappropriate comments to Jenna here just before your disappearance.”

“I… I have no recollection of that,” Phil gulped. “Ever since the attack my memory’s been kind of screwy.”

“I see,” Zane replied. Beside him, he could feel Jenna seething with anger at Phil’s poorly-feigned memory lapse.

“Jenna, if I said or did anything to offend you, I sincerely apologize,” Phil addressed her pleadingly. He looked back at Zane and continued, “You know how I am. Sometimes I joke around and take things a bit too far. I’m really sorry. I’m sure I didn’t mean anything by it, and I promise you it won’t happen again.”

“You’re so full of shit!” Jenna hissed. Once again, Zane silenced her by raising his hand.

“Look, Phil, you’ve done a lot for this company over the years. Nobody’s denying that,” Zane spoke calmly. “I’d like us to resolve this amicably. I’m willing to keep you on board here, but there are going to be some changes.”

“Okay…” Phil responded cautiously. He’d stepped into the office under the assumption he’d be getting fired, and although he was surprised to hear he still had a job, he knew the stipulations for his continued employment weren’t going to be good.

“I’m pulling you off the BMW campaign. Jenna’s going to oversee it from here on out,” Zane told him firmly.

“What?!”
an outraged Phil spat. “You can’t do that! That’s my account!”

“Relax,” Zane insisted, “it’s still your account. I’m just pulling you from it until their new campaign is finished. Jenna’s going to present it to them on Wednesday. If they like it, her work will be done and you can take the reins again.”

“Jenna’s going to present it?” Phil looked at her with doubt, and she flashed him a look of smug satisfaction. He returned his sunken eyes to Zane and mumbled, “I always doing the presenting…”

“After you vanished, we had to come up with a Plan B,” Zane explained. “Jenna knows more about their new campaign than anybody, and I have faith in her ability to sell it to them.”

“But I’m back now!” Phil bleated, his eyes now wide and full of desperation. “I can present!”

“The presentation’s in two days, and you look like you got hit by a truck,” Zane pointed out, and after a brief pause added, “no offense.”

“Okay…” Phil sighed in defeat. He knew Zane was right, and that he’d only hurt the campaign they’d worked so hard on if he attempted to present the new marketing strategy in his current condition.

“Jenna, can you give us a few moments alone?” Zane asked as he turned his chair and looked up her with a polite smile.

“Are you sure?” she muttered in concern.

“Yes, I just need a few minutes,” he replied while Phil studied their short exchange. “Wait for me in the studio. I’ll be in shortly.”

Zane watched her exit the room, quietly closing the door behind her, as Phil sat with his right leg anxiously bouncing up and down. He was nervous, and he knew that he had every right to be.

“Phil, I’m going to be blunt here,” Zane began as he rose from his leather chair and gazed out the window. “As I said, you’ve done a lot for this company, and I appreciate it more than you know. The amount of business you’ve brought in is the only reason I haven’t tossed you out of here.