Expose (Billionaire Series) (5 page)

Jennifer still
couldn't bring herself to put on the engagement ring the next morning. She
hadn't officially decided to say 'yes' but she hadn't decided to reject the
proposal either. She wanted one more work day with Philip to see where things
went, if the previous day's experiences – sexual and otherwise – had made any
difference in how he would be today. Perhaps it was foolish for her to be
holding on to what might be rather than accepting what she knew she could have,
but she couldn't bring herself to completely give up on Philip, not after
things finally seemed to be changing for the better.

When she first
arrived at the office, Philip was already busy with paperwork of some kind, so
Jennifer decided to get started on the Carlisle project. No matter how
important the personal aspect of her relationship with Philip was to her, she
still had a job to do and wanted to do it well. She wasn't going to half-ass
the Carlisle assignment just because she was fucking her boss. It took her
longer than she'd expected to get through to Tom Evans and even longer to
convince him that she did indeed have the authority to request the information
she wanted. By the time she got off the phone, she was ready for a break and
assumed that Philip would be too. She turned to ask him if he wanted a coffee
refill and was surprised to see that he was still poring over papers. It was
only then that she registered the expression on his face.

A suspicion dawned
on her and she left her files on her desk and crossed over to his. The fact
that he didn't even notice her approach just supported her theory. He focused
on his work, but was always aware of his surroundings. This had to be personal.

“Philip?”

“Jennifer, hello,”
Philip seemed almost startled to see her. “Sorry, I just got absorbed in what I
was reading.”

“Is that...” She
hesitated. Should she really be asking him this? Hadn't she told him the day
before that she'd be willing to take whatever information he'd give her,
nothing more? Then again, she didn't know for sure that what he was reading
wasn't regular business, something she should be involved in. “Is there
anything I should take a look at?”

Philip's eyes
darted down to the papers and then back up to her face. “It's not hotel business,
so I don't believe that would be necessary.” His tone was polite but Jennifer
could still sense the undercurrent of tension.

“Does it have to do
with your father?” She asked the question before she realized she'd decided to
ask it.

Philip tugged on
his collar, the same nervous gesture, Jennifer realized, that he'd made the day
before when his father had called. She waited for the deflection, the
dismissal, perhaps even the return of the distant and cold Philip who refused
to answer personal questions.

“Yes.” The word was
terse, that one syllable speaking volumes. “It has to do with my father.”

“Is – is he the one
who called yesterday...?”

“Yes,” Philip
answered again, this time not looking at her as he spoke. “Johann Haas is my
father.”

Jennifer had more
questions, but she could read the tension in every line of Philip's body and
knew she needed to let the matter drop. This time, when he pulled on his
collar, she saw the same small scars on his neck that she'd seen the day before
and pieces began to fall into place.

A father with whom
he had a poor enough relationship that a third party had to mediate their
conversations.

The nervous gesture
at his collar where he had scars.

The scars on his
back that he obviously didn't want to talk about, ones that caused a reaction
she only saw repeated just now when she'd asked about his father.

His vague comment
about being a dumb kid.

Jennifer fought to
keep her face blank as her mind went through the facts rapid-fire to bring her
to the conclusion she couldn't believe she hadn't come to before. Philip's
father had been the cause of the scars. So many things made much more sense
now.

“Was there
something else you needed, Jennifer?” Philip's question interrupted Jennifer's
thought process causing her to jump a little.

“O-oh, yes, I just
wanted to fill you in on the Tom Evans situation.” Jennifer suddenly remembered
the original reason she'd come over. She sat down, flipping through her
notebook as if she needed to reference the material. What she really needed was
a moment to compose herself. The realization that Philip's father had been
abusive made her see things in such a different light. She'd only lived with an
emotionally and verbally abusive boyfriend and, as a result, she had
self-esteem and trust issues. She could only imagine how much worse things
would have been if she'd been subject to physical abuse on top of that.
Especially by someone who was supposed to take care of her and love her
unconditionally. She might have a hard time trusting men in romantic
relationships, but at least she did have examples of good, pure love in her
family. How could Philip believe that anyone could care about him, without the
constant threat of pain, when he faced abuse growing up?

“Were you able to
reach Mr. Evans?” Philip was still keeping his eyes down, but his voice
revealed none of his inner turmoil or lack thereof.

“Yes,” Jennifer
answered. She was trying to focus, but kept finding new questions popping into
her mind. Were the scars the results of beatings or of some singular accident
during an argument, like getting shoved into a mirror or window? She answered
Philip's question since she couldn't answer any of her own. “It took a bit of
convincing, but Mr. Evans finally accepted that I was investigating him on your
behalf.”

“He was rude?”

Jennifer considered
telling the truth, that Tom Evans had been a complete ass-hat, but she decided
against it. The odds of it ever coming to light were small. “Not really after
he realized who I was and who I worked for.”

“So he didn't try
to fight you on giving over those files?”

“He agreed to send
everything over in twenty-four hours.” Jennifer only partially answered the
question.

Philip's eyes
narrowed and Jennifer knew he was seeing that she was being purposefully evasive.
“You don't like him.”

“It doesn't matter
if I like him,” she hurried to say.

“Yes, it does.”
Philip countered. “I value your opinion, Jennifer. I wouldn't have asked you to
take charge if all I wanted was you to make phone calls for me. What does your
gut tell you?”

He trusted her
opinion on the type of person Tom Evans was? This wasn't just a business
decision that could be made with logic. This took a level of discernment and
insight that required a different type of decision making. Brad had always
resisted taking her opinion about anything, and when it came to her judgment
specifically about people, resistant was far too mild a word. He'd always told
her that her ability to read people was awful and that he was much better at
it. While she'd suspected that it had been another way of him controlling who
she spent time with, she'd never really trusted herself when it came to people.
Now, her boss was expressing his faith in something she herself didn't think
she had.

“Jennifer,” Philip
reached towards her, and then drew his hand back as if realizing that it was
too personal for a professional conversation. “I want to know your thoughts on
this. What's your take on Tom Evans?”

“I don't trust
him,” Jennifer blurted out. She flushed and then hurried to explain. “Anyone
who's that rude to someone representing his boss isn't showing his true colors
to other people. After he finally realized that he needed to work with me, he
became very patronizing and condescending.”

Philip's mouth
tightened and Jennifer paused. He gestured for her to continue. She took a deep
breath and went on. “He never said that he didn't think he had to give us the
files or even ask what they were for, but when I mentioned which ones I was
asking for, he hesitated. I just really had the feeling that he was thinking of
ways to get out of handing them over.”

“Do you think he's
going to try to hide or destroy some sort of evidence?”

Jennifer considered
the question. “I don't think so, but...”

“But what?”

“I wouldn't be surprised
if he just doesn't show up for work one day. I doubt that he did anything
really illegal, just unethical.” Jennifer surprised herself by offering that
final insight.

“What makes you say
that?” Philip sounded honestly curious, not as if he didn't believe her.

“People, who treat
others just like he talked to me, generally aren't brave enough to do something
illegal. They're usually cowards who try to make themselves feel better by
putting others down.”

Philip nodded. “I
agree.” He leaned back and folded his hands on his lap. “So what do you think
we should do?”

Jennifer already
had this answer ready. “I think we should wait to go through the files before
making any decisions. It's always good to make sure everything's all organized
and we have all of the relevant information. Better to be patient than make a
big mistake.”

As she said the
words, Jennifer was struck by how true that was for any major decision. She
needed to know all of the information before she could make a choice, and there
remained one more thing about Philip she needed to know. Still, she couldn't
quite bring herself to ask him about Eloisa.

“I agree,” Philip
said again. He glanced at the clock. “I'll tell you what, if the files won't be
here until tomorrow, why don't you go home early. That way, if you need to work
over tomorrow when we get the files, you'll have had a slow day today.”

“Oh, okay,”
Jennifer was surprised by the offer. She'd half-expected to be staying late
again, for things to have progressed again. On the other hand, it didn't
exactly seem like he'd retreated behind his mask again. He honestly seemed like
he wanted her to go home because he was worried about her working too much, not
because he didn't want her to be there.

“Jennifer,” Philip
touched her hand. “You did excellent work. I'm glad you came back.”

“I am too,”
Jennifer voice was soft, her hand burning where Philip's skin met hers. It
never failed to amaze her how just one touch from him could make her body
respond.

They sat in silence
for a minute before Philip reluctantly pulled back. “Go ahead and go home, but
be prepared to work for a while on those files tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Jennifer
stood. She turned, then paused and turned back. “If you’re going to have more
work tomorrow, you should leave early too.”

“I might.” Philip
sighed as he looked down at the papers on his desk. “But I really do need to
get through all of these.”

“Is there anything
I can do to help?” Jennifer hoped he'd understand that her offer wasn't for
work alone. She couldn't imagine trying to deal with that type of history all
on her own.

“Thank you, but
no.” Philip glanced up at her, the expression on his face saying that he'd
understood her intentions perfectly. “I really do appreciate the offer, but
it's something I need to do on my own.”

“All right,”
Jennifer said. “But if you change your mind, you have my number.” She picked up
her purse from her desk and then added, “Which, of course, you can always use
for other purposes as well.”

Philip smiled as
Jennifer left the office, making her feel a little better about leaving him
there with that mountain of paperwork seeped in bad memories. She was still
thinking about Philip and his father and the mere bits she had figured out
about their situation when the elevator dinged at the lobby. She walked out of
the elevator but quickly froze when she heard a familiar voice.

“
Pardonnez-moi
,
do you know if Mr. Philip Haas is still in his office?”