Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (126 page)

While I was dressing, I slipped off the
ring on my finger and put it gently back into the velvet box it had come in. I
had too much to discuss with my parents, and the ring was a conversation I felt
could wait for later.

I waited nervously near terminal twelve at
John F. Kennedy airport. I had been notified that the plane my parents were on
was running approximately one hour late. This made me even more nervous. I knew
Mother well. She did not tolerate anything that interrupted or altered her
schedule in any way, unless it was her who had changed the plan. I was already
dreading having to explain all of the things that were going on in my life,
without anticipating her irritable mood in the mix.

As I sat waiting for the plane to come in,
I thought back to the day I had left my home to start a new life in New York.
Mother, Father, and I had all waited at the airport for my plane to board. It
was snowing, so the flights had all been delayed, and my mother’s mood grew
blacker by the hour.

She hadn’t wanted me to go; she had made
that abundantly clear in the weeks leading up to my departure. She had expected
to win the argument, as she usually did. For one of the first times in my life,
I had stood firm, though, with my father’s support making me stronger. I was
going to New York if I had to sit in that terminal all week before a plane was
able to land and pick me up. I loved my mother, but the Lady Winston’s dreams
of raising a daughter who would be a socialite on the arm of some rich,
handsome, successful man were just that, her dreams, not mine.

Thankfully for me, Lord Winston had raised
me to be strong and independent. He encouraged me to dream big and to go after
those dreams with everything I had in me. If not for his steady and constant
support, my mother may have won out. She was a hard woman to say no to,
especially when she was in a mood.

The voice over the loudspeaker announcing
that their flight had landed brought me back into the present. I pasted a smile
on my face as the first class passengers began disembarking through the tunnel.
I watched the crowd of people coming through, searching for my parents. I
spotted my father first. When I saw him, I felt warm inside and for that
second, I was his little girl again and all of my troubles were forgotten.

“Daddy!” I said, waving him in my
direction. I caught a glimpse of Mother just to his right as they came toward
me. My father waved back heartily, and I smiled and waved at Mother, as well.
The wave I got in response was as if she were swatting at a fly. I felt my
stomach tighten into a hard knot.

“Alicia!” Daddy took me into his strong
arms and hugged me so tightly I nearly lost my breath. I didn’t care, though. I
had seldom found anywhere in life that I felt as safe as in Daddy’s arms.

“Oh, my little girl,” he said as he held
me back at arm’s length. “Let me look at you. I am so happy to see you!”

“I’m happy to see you, too, Daddy.”
Looking Mother, I said, “I’m happy to see you, too, Mother. You look well.”

My mother leaned forward and gave me a
peck on the cheek. “You look tired, dear,” she said as she looked more closely
at my face.

It’s funny how a person’s parents could
cause them to go from successful, confident adult to an instant child that
wanted to please in mere minutes. “I’m fine, Mother,” was all I said, however.
“How was your flight?”

“God awful,” The Lady Winston said with a
huff. “I can’t believe they dare call that first class.”

I gave her a sympathetic look, but had to
stop myself from smiling when I looked at my father’s face. He rolled his eyes
and had a silly smirk painted on.

“Let’s go collect your things,” I told
them, taking the carry-on my mother was holding.

We all walked over to baggage claim, where
Mother continued to complain about the shoddy conditions of the airlines in the
States. Her complaining prompted a porter to come to our aid, and he loaded the
luggage onto a dolly for us and rolled it out to the car. After we were finally
loaded and in the car Mother said,

“I assume you have a lot to tell us?” It
was more a statement than a question.

I sighed. “Yes, Mother, I suppose I do.
Would you mind if we waited until we get to the apartment and get you both
settled, though? It’s a conversation I’d really rather not have on the
Turnpike.”

Before my mother could speak, my father
interjected. Glancing a silent warning at Mother he said, “Of course, dear. You
tell us when you’re ready. Isn’t that fine, Diane?”

I could see my mother’s face in the
rearview mirror and knew my poor dad would probably pay for that later. For
now, though, she said, “Of course,” with a tight-lipped smile.

The rest of the ride was spent with chit
chat and gossip about folks back home that I hadn’t seen in a while. When we
reached the apartment at last, Luis was there to help and he called two young
men on his staff to carry my parents’ things up to the apartment. I could tell
my mother at least approved of this.

Once inside, I showed them to their room
so that they could freshen up after their long flight and began brewing a pot
of tea. They had both told me they weren’t hungry yet, so I just fixed a
platter of croissants and pastries I had gotten at the bakery in case they
wanted a small snack. Taking a deep breath, and willing myself to be strong, I
headed back out to the sitting room.

As I poured the tea, we again made small
talk. My father told me how much he liked my apartment and how proud he was I
had done so well for myself. Unfortunately, that left an opening for Mother.

“Yes, we hadn’t been concerned about you
at all dear until we started reading and seeing some things that upset us this
past week.”

“I know, Mother, and I’m sorry I didn’t
warn you about what was going on. I just thought it would be better if we
talked face to face about it all, rather than on the phone.”

Daddy reached over and took my hand for
support; I smiled at him as Mother said,

“Well, we’re here now, and we’re
listening.”

I wasn’t sure where to begin, so I started
at the beginning. My mother raised an eyebrow or two throughout my spiel, but
didn’t interrupt. When I finished, my father squeezed my hand and said,

“I’m sure you can see how this, um,
situation would concern us as parents?”

“Yes, Daddy, of course I can. It concerns
me, as well, trust me. But I’m telling you that as bad as it all sounds, and as
stressful as it all has been, Adam is no killer. He is a kind, loving, smart,
amazing man, and I can’t wait for you two to meet him.”

“Alicia,” Mother began in that even tone
she usually reserved for reasoning with people she thought were in desperate
need of her advice. “Have you considered what might happen if Adam is
arrested?”

I opened my mouth and she stopped me by
saying, “I’m not finished. Innocent people are accused of things all the time,
dear, are they not? I’m just saying, what if he is arrested? Not only do you
end up in a relationship with a man who is incarcerated, wrongly or not, but
have you realized that if that were to be the case, your job could be lost, as
well?”

“Mother, Adam is not going to be arrested.
The police have no evidence to use to arrest him because there is no evidence
to find. Adam was with me, in a crowded restaurant. He didn’t kill his wife,
and the district attorney is not going to risk arresting a well-respected
attorney for something he could never prove.”

“So,” my father began still in a cautious
tone, “there still may be the problem of how all of this negative publicity is
affecting his law practice. Do you have a back-up plan at least, sweetheart?”

“No, Daddy. Adam is my plan.” I got up and
told them I’d be right back. Coming back into the room with the velvet box I
saw my parents exchange a look.

“Adam asked me to marry him, and I said
yes.” I took the ring out and placed it on my finger. “I will stick by his side
no matter what, and we will figure this all out together. I want to have a
strong, happy marriage like the two of you. I always admired how you were
partners in everything. That’s what I want, and I know I can have with Adam. I
need you two to have enough faith in me to know that I’m smart enough to know
what I am doing here.”

My parents looked at each other again. I
really did admire them. They had been together so long and shared so many
things in life that they almost didn’t have to speak. Their thoughts were often
conveyed in looks or a touch. My mother gave an almost imperceptible nod in my
father’s direction and he said, “Okay, sweetheart, we’ll trust you. Promise us
you will keep us informed, though, even when we go home. And, let us know if we
can help.”

I threw my arms around his neck. “I
promise, Daddy, thank you!”

As I turned towards Mother, I thought I
saw the slightest hint of a smile on cross her lips, but it was gone as quickly
as it had appeared. My mother acted like she was waiting for a peck on the
cheek, but when I put my arms around her neck, too, she softened for a second.
Softly brushing my hair away from my face with her right hand, she put her left
palm on my cheek and said, “I do hope you know what you’re doing.”

I could see the traces of tears that lined
her pretty eyes. I wanted more than anything to fast-forward time to where this
was all over and she could see just how happy Adam can make me.

“I do, Mother. I promise.”

CHAPTER
FOUR

ADAM

When I got to the office that morning, I
was let in by a uniformed officer posted at the door. I made his way to the
large conference room where law enforcement seemed to have gathered and
introduced myself to the detective in charge.

“Sorry we have to meet under these
circumstances, Mr. Hanson,” the detective told me.

“It seems that has been happening to me a
lot lately,” I said with a sigh. “What happened here?”

“Well, it looks as if the thieves made
their way into the building through the vents that lead from the building next
door to this one. That building doesn’t have an alarm, and so breaking into it
was easier. Once they got in here, they had to work pretty quickly, as the
motion detectors alerted the alarm company and we had police units here in less
than ten minutes.”

“Which offices did they break into?”

“We’ve checked the entire building. It
seems that your main office and that of a Ms. Winston,” he said, glancing at a
notepad, “were the only two where things seem to be disturbed. You can probably
tell us more as you look around, however. That’s why we needed you here.”

“Okay, well, let’s get this over with.” I
headed out of the conference room and across the hall to my office and the
detective and uniformed officers followed me. The lock on my office door was
scarred from the tools the thieves had used to force entry. I looked around as
I entered the room. Papers and files were strewn across the desk and floor. The
locked cabinet where I kept client case files was tipped over and had obviously
been forced open. It was mostly empty. I went around to the front of my desk.
The drawers had all been forced open, and the files I considered most private,
mainly those involving Brigham and the oil spill case, were gone, as well.

“Damn!” I said, dropping momentarily into
my desk chair. I felt like my head was going to explode. How much more was I
fucking supposed to take?

“Files are missing?” the detective asked.

“Yes,” I told him. “Almost all of them.
Confidential files, open cases, what a mess.” I stood up and without another
word, left my office and headed down the hall to Alicia’s. Her door had been
forced open and the same type of mess awaited us there.

“For specifics, you’ll have to speak with
Ms. Winston,” I told the detective. “But it seems that most of her files are
gone, as well.”

I glanced around the office again, this
time noticing that the pictures Alicia kept on the shelf above her desk were in
disarray. Upon close inspection, I realized that the pictures Alicia kept here
of us together at various business functions were all laying down on their face
while the others were still sitting upright and facing outward. That was odd,
but I didn’t mention it to the policemen. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but it
felt personal and I couldn’t bear to get Alicia any more involved in this mess
than she already was.

With my lead, we checked each of the other
offices. They all remained locked tight, and when I used my master key to open
them, it appeared as if nothing had been disturbed in any of them.

As the cops were finishing up taking my
statement, people began coming in to work for the day. The police had them all
wait in the lobby or the conference room until they were finished with their
evidence collection. I had to explain what had happened over and over, until
finally I had a massive headache and assigned the task to Marie.

When Mac arrived, he and I began the
daunting task of informing clients that our confidential files had been taken
and we had no way of knowing whose hands they were now in. We also had to
notify the courts. I had to wonder how many of my and Alicia’s cases would just
be thrown out now regardless of how well they had been going so far. When I
made the call to Miles, the man was incensed.