Dangerous (The Dark Billionaire, #4) (5 page)

At least, she hadn’t been obsessed with the idea of being judged. One thing at a time. First she had given her best into cooking, and now, it was time to get feedback from all these demanding people. In a way, it was an excellent opportunity to see whether or not she was up to the challenge. It was a good way to know if she just needed a bit of practice to improve or if there was no hope.

She heard the ring of the elevator, signaling her that they were arrived. She felt her heart beat accelerating and her palms getting wet. Her throat suddenly became tight and dry, and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. It was the moment of truth: Jennifer and her dream against the rest of the world. It wasn’t that dramatic in reality and she knew it, but in her mind, it was that big of a deal. She wanted to make an excellent first impression with her first attempt. Now she was cooking for business and she had to pay attention to what people had to say.

Calm down... Don’t listen to your ego if anyone complains or has something bad to say. Just listen and suck it up. That’s how Bruce taught you to behave in the professional world. Don’t be emotional even though you’re clearly involved personally. It’s not personal. It’s just business...

A
s soon as she stepped inside the huge conference room, Jennifer knew that her own problems and concerns were nothing compared with the amount of tension and stress she could feel in the air. She had been in that room before and she knew there were forty seats: two rows of twenty chairs on each side of a wooden table. It seemed to her that there were as many men as women, all aged between forty and sixty. She felt her guts twisting and her hands imperceptibly started to shake. She quickly realized it and tried to control herself but she couldn’t help it. The anxiety was slowly overwhelming her.

The men had rolled up their sleeves and their ties were loose around their necks. They were frowning, furiously reading thick stacks of papers and moving their lips as if they were talking to the documents in front of them.

Most of the women were wearing glasses, hunched over the table and also reading, scribbling down notes on their legal pads and tucking their hair behind their ears.

Nobody seemed to notice that Jennifer was in the room. Actually nobody did realize she was there at all. She belonged to the background, just like a plant in the corner of the room or a painting on the wall. Jennifer quickly gave up any hope to impress anybody tonight with her cooking. Good or bad, these people would probably not pay attention anyway. They were too busy trying to save a billion dollar company and Jennifer grasped the huge gap of responsibilities and expectations between her and them.

Her dream meant a lot to her but it was nothing compared with the reality of the situation: Bruce was about to be broke. As she walked along in the room, she glanced at all the documents sprayed all over the long table. She could see charts and graphs, most of them red and going down. There were also spreadsheets, press releases, newspapers with Bruce’s face on the front page with alarming headlines. This was serious business.

Bruce was sitting at the end of the table. He was still wearing his jacket and his tie was perfectly fitted in the collar of his white shirt. He didn’t looked like the others but there was no doubt in her mind that he was the most worried in the room. He was the one who was risking everything. He was the talk of the town, but not in the glamorous and complimentary way he was used to. Jennifer had read the papers: now, he was the
next big flop
, the
falling Golden Boy
, the
captain of a sinking empire
, and other sensational titles to attract readership.

Bruce’s face was dark and wrinkled. The lines of his faces seemed to have multiplied and looked deeper than ever. He was on the phone and raised his index finger in the air when he saw Jennifer and the doorman, pushing the food on the cart. They stopped and waited for him to finish his conversation. He nodded a couple times, asked questions, took notes, looked at his watch, exhaled loudly, ran his hand in his hair, closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair and hung up.

“Hello,” Jennifer said, wincing. “It’s not going better, is it?”

“It’s not,” he said, shaking his head. “Kenichi is still impossible to reach, that’s unbelievable. What the hell is he doing? I can only talk to his secretary or to his lawyers. It’s like he doesn’t care or doesn’t exist anymore.”

Jennifer thought about what Enzo had told her about him. “Maybe he’s not who you think he is.”

“He’s not honest, I’ve made a mistake. I know you’ve tried to warn me in Thailand but... things are different over there. We can’t always draw conclusions too fast.”

“You were obsessed with your own idea, Bruce. You wanted to make Cliff Hansen pay for the death of your father and you overlooked the obvious. You were ready to do things I couldn’t imagine you doing. Now you can see things clearly again. Maybe it’s not too late...”

“I don’t know about that. Look at these people,” he said, pointing his finger at the forty employees around the table. “They’re working their asses off to get me out of this hole and so far, I haven’t heard one single piece of good news. Nothing.”

Jennifer kept silent and pinched her lips. She wanted to speak her mind but was afraid to sound rude or patronizing. However, the seriousness of the situation didn’t allow Bruce to be weak or sensitive, and Jennifer finally decided to say what she had to say.

“Bruce, how did you let that happen? I don’t understand,” she said.

“I don’t know what to say, Jen,” Bruce said as he sighed. He looked truly helpless and sorry. “I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Kenichi when he was in New York. God damn it, I was absolutely sure that he was a man I could trust. The way he talked about his business, his vision, his attitude, everything was so attractive. He looked so much like me that I couldn’t ignore him. He was commanding my attention, he was that good.”

“I’m not blaming you, Bruce. I’m just trying to understand why you did business with him in the first place.”

“I think I did something I’ve always said I wouldn’t do: I’ve let my emotions take control of me. I’ve been sucked into his world, his projects, his lifestyle. I was impressed, Jen. I can tell you, that’s extremely rare. It’s not an easy thing to do. I have nearly everything I want but this man, Kenichi, he did impress me. Can you imagine?”

“He’s a very good con artist...”

“I don’t know what he is, but right now, he’s not acting like a partner and this isn’t normal,” Bruce said as he looked at his watch again. “Excuse me, but I have a video call to make with Tokyo in two minutes.”

“Sure. What should we do with the food?” She said flashing her thumb at the doorman, waiting next to her.

“Oh yeah, sorry. Mike, can you help Jennifer with this please? Ask for plates, forks and knives, glasses, everything. Make sure they have all they need. I’ll be back.”

Bruce stood up and turned around. He left the room and disappeared behind a glass door. Jennifer finally figured why he was still dressed up with so much care: he had people to talk to all over the world via video conference. Poor him, she thought.

She waited for Mike to come back with a microwave and four women. Jennifer helped them to heat and distribute her food. She wasn’t hungry yet and simply watched everybody mindlessly devour their dishes. She had mixed feelings about what she saw. Of course, she was happy to see that nobody complained about her food but it didn’t mean it really tasted good. Maybe they were simply too busy to really care about that. Therefore, she was disappointed and upset at the same time. Maybe she had expected way too much from this evening. Maybe she had set the bar too high by considering Bruce’s lawyers and accountants as her jury.

Jennifer sat down and sighed. She felt stupid to even be disappointed: what did she really think would happen? She realized she had been childish and that her future couldn’t rely on them. She was giving them too much importance and allowing them to make her feel bad. She had to stop. Deep inside, she felt insecure and she wasn’t sure whether her confidence had been boosted or destroyed. She was experiencing the emotional roller coaster that Bruce had talked about so many times: the ups and downs of the entrepreneur on a journey to success. And it was just the beginning.

Jennifer waited for Bruce but he didn’t show up. After two hours, he was still busy talking with different partners, investors and key employees via video conference. Jennifer felt more and more uncomfortable: she had been sitting there, doing nothing but hope that someone would finally make a comment about her dishes. No one did.

She waited five more minutes and stood up. She was wasting her time and Bruce was definitely too busy to talk. She walked out of the conference room and decided to call Bruce, just in case. At least, she had to leave him a message to inform him that she was going home.

Two women got out of the conference room as well and started to chat. They were apparently taking a break. Jennifer couldn’t help but hear what they were saying.

“So? What are you going to do after that?” The woman wearing glasses said.

“I’ve been in touch with a few companies but nothing serious yet,” the second woman, a redhead, said.

“I’d better hurry up too. It’s going to be over in a few weeks and I don’t want to collect food stamps.”

“Jesus, don’t even mention about it. I can’t believe this is happening. He’s screwed. I mean, totally ruined. He’s going to be the biggest failure of the year, seriously.”

“I feel bad about it, you know. In theory, this was a great deal. It was supposed to explode and if I were him, I would have signed as well.”

“Yeah but you’re not him and we’re going to be unemployed very soon. My husband keeps telling me to leave right now but I don’t know. I still want to help...”

“Yeah, I understand. This Japanese guy, Sakamura, he’s going to get away with it. He won’t lose much actually. I think he’s going to profit from Mr. Wilson’s decline.”

“But how?”

“I’m not sure, but probably stock trading. He could be betting against Wilson Corp. and make a killing via a hedge fund.”

“Like during the subprimes?”

“Exactly.”

“So he’s the big winner.”

“Yeah, unless he’s a criminal and that somebody can prove it. In that case, we can sue him and break the contract. Otherwise, everything he’s done is perfectly legal. Very smart man.”

Jennifer stopped listening to their conversation. The last comment in particular had caught her attention: Kenichi was in fact a criminal but nobody in the US knew about it. However, there were definitely clues and evidence about his criminal background in Asia.

Jennifer knew what to do: she had to contact Enzo again.

J
ennifer took a taxi to go home. Valentino, the new driver, had offered to drop her but she had refused, saying that she needed to see some friends before.

She turned on her computer right way and checked her inbox. Enzo had answered her questions about the adoption process in Thailand and the organizations to contact. He had also promised to do some research to find June’s family and his daughter. They had to make sure that the grandparents were okay with it. Maybe Jennifer’s idea was completely silly and they had no intention of letting the little girl leave the country. Maybe they simply wanted to educate her and didn’t want help from a complete stranger. Maybe they were perfectly happy to keep her and Jennifer was totally delusional.

She read his reply. Slowly at first, and then a second time. She brought her fingers to her keyboard to reply when a window suddenly popped up at the bottom of her screen. It was an instant message from Enzo. Jennifer thought that it was better this way: she needed his help and instead of typing a long and detailed email, she could just talk to him directly.

“Hey Jennifer,” he said.

“Hi Enzo. Can we talk? I’ll call you.”

“Okay.”

She took her headset with a microphone and pressed the call button. Enzo picked up almost immediately.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” She said.

“Yes. And you?” Enzo said. The communication was pretty clear and fast. There was no delay in his answer and his voice was crystal clear.

“Yeah, I can hear you. How are you doing?” She said.

“I’m good. Yourself?”

“Enzo, I’m sorry to be so blunt but I’m in trouble.”

“Oh yeah? What’s going on?”

“It’s about Bruce. It’s serious.”

“Hum...” Enzo said mysteriously. What did it mean? The tone of his voice was defensive and distant, as if he was blaming her for something.

“Enzo, are you okay? Are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Did I say something wrong?”

Enzo kept silent and an uncomfortable silence followed. Jennifer intuitively knew that she was clearly pushing the envelope by mentioning Bruce so many times in her messages and now, on the phone. But Bruce was her priority.

“Jennifer, why did you let me kiss you when you were in Thailand?” He asked.

She was speechless. She didn’t expect such a direct question and took a few seconds to find what to say.

“Wh... what are you talking about? I didn’t let you kiss me. You kissed me by surprise and I pushed you away.”

“That’s what you call pushing someone away? That weak attempt to stop me? I was just aware that you weren’t completely comfortable so I stopped. But I know that you liked it.”

“Hey, don’t go that way please. I told you already. I’m not available. We have to forget about what happened.”

“How can you be so heartless? Are you going to tell me that you didn’t have fun with me? That you didn’t feel any connection between us?”

Jennifer said nothing. She couldn’t lie to him: it did mean something to her and she had definitely felt something for the handsome Italian. But she had made a mistake. She couldn’t let him get close to her again. Enzo was persistent and probably stubborn. If he started to believe that he had any chance, he wouldn’t let go, even though he lived at the other end of the world.