The Billionaire's Secret (2 page)

Jon knew Trent wasn’t only talking about
this event. He was referring to Brad and how fully invested he had
been in this type of work.

Ross said, “Takes One has never been about
us. There are a lot of people who benefit from it, Jon. Friday
night is about what our organization can do now and in the
future.”

Once again, these were all facts Jon already
knew, but at the moment Ross’s comments weren’t helping. Their
timing to pull this type of shit couldn’t have been worse.

Drew added, “There’s no way to retract your
participation Friday night. It’s only one night of your
life—actually, just a few hours. Let’s get through this event. We
can save the rest of the discussion about the future of Takes One
for our next monthly meeting.”

Jon knew it was true—there really was no way
to avoid his participation without tarnishing his own name and
making the people he was ultimately trying to help suffer. But he
was far from through discussing this issue. Jon said, “Trust me,
Drew, I will be on the next call and we can discuss your
involvement in this setup in more detail.” Whatever his friends and
colleagues were up to, he wasn’t going to be a pawn in their game.
It used to be fun betting who could outdo whom with some outrageous
prank, but he had left those days behind when he graduated college.
You don’t have such luxuries when you’re the owner of a business.
At the end of the day, everything rides on you, and you stand or
fall alone.

He hung up the phone with more force than
necessary. He picked up the itinerary once again.

Charity raffle to benefit: Fight Against
Hunger

Entrance donation: $10,000

Three door prizes. Top prize: A Date of Your
Dreams With Billionaire Jonathan Vinchi

His eyes never made it to the other prizes.
He could read the itinerary a thousand times, but the fact would
never change: He was being raffled off. A mix of anger,
frustration, and disgust flowed through him as it became apparent
that no donation was going to get him out of this.

God, he did not need this type of
distraction. Not now, not ever, but especially not at this critical
time. It was going to be a long week.

***

Thank God it’s Friday,
Lizette
thought as she rubbed her temples, trying to ease the dull headache
that had been haunting her for the past two hours. She wasn’t sure
if it was all the system issues she’d faced while trying to process
the month-end accounting report or something else, but today had
felt like it would never be completed.

Taking one last look at her desk, she
confirmed it was tidy as always, with everything in its place.
Almost over,
she thought as she shut down her laptop.

Getting out on time on a Friday was a great
way to start the weekend. Lizette had her entire weekend planned
out. She had so much to do, but Friday night was all hers. It was
dedicated to relaxing. During lunch she’d made sure to download the
latest steamy romance onto her Kindle. She could not contain her
smile thinking soon she’d be soaking in a hot bubble bath with her
novel and a glass of wine, enjoying a well-deserved escape.

Her sweet thoughts were interrupted by the
ringing of her phone. The clock showed 4:59.
Why does the phone
always ring at the last minute?
She sighed. Lizette
contemplated not answering it, but then the caller ID lit up with
the name Elaine Manning. Elaine was the CEO of her company, Another
Chance, and Lizette knew she couldn’t avoid taking the call. Since
they were all friends in the office there was also a chance she
wasn’t calling about business.

“Hello. Lizette Burke speaking. How may I
help you?”

“Lizette, I’m glad I caught you. Can you
come to my office right away?” It was a question that had only one
answer.

“Certainly, I’ll be right there.” There was
obviously something wrong with the month-end report. “So much for
that bubble bath,” she said quietly to herself.

Lizette quickly adjusted her blouse and
smoothed her fitted skirt. With one quick look in her compact she
confirmed her hair was still in place, in a tight bun secured with
a pencil.

She made her way through the all-too-quiet
hall and headed to the executive office. The door was open and
Elaine motioned her in. She was on the phone, rapidly firing
instructions for a limo and a dress. Elaine attended many social
functions in the hopes of gaining financial support and sponsorship
for Another Chance. From the sound of it, she must be attending an
extravagant one this evening, because she never used a limo.

At age thirty-four, Elaine Manning was known
for her beauty and poise. But today her jet-black hair was in
disarray, her nose red, her eyes bloodshot, and her cheeks flushed.
Her entire appearance screamed “fever.” It appeared she was the
latest victim to succumb to the flu that was making its way through
the office. If Lizette had known earlier she would have brought her
some soup. It was clear, she needed to go home and go to bed. There
was no way she should be attending anything for a few days.

Even though she felt bad Elaine wasn’t
feeling well, all she could think of was getting out of this office
as she had been lucky enough to avoid catching it and could only
hope her luck wasn’t about to run out.
Please make this quick so
I don’t get sick too.

When Elaine hung up the phone, she said, “I
hope you don’t you have plans this evening, Lizette.”

Oh, great. Something big had gone wrong with
the report. Everything appeared to have gone too smoothly. She had
been handling the books for Another Chance for the past five years,
and this was the first time it went off without a hitch. Lizette
should have known better. She knew it. This was going to be an
all-nighter. She knew whether she had plans or not, her answer
needed to be the same. “No, my evening is free. Is there a problem
with the month-end report? I will be happy to stay as long as it
takes to correct whatever issue there is.” Lizette took her job
seriously—too seriously, some had told her.
Accurate accounting
was the foundation of a company,
she thought.

Elaine grabbed more tissues just in time for
a sneezing fit that seemed to go on forever. Seeing her so ill,
Lizette relented and thought,
Whatever she needs, I’m happy to
help her.
Whatever the issue with the report was, Lizette was
confident she could handle it on her own.

“No, no, the report was fine. I need you to
do something else for me, for the company.”

Lizette could not even guess what that could
be. All she’d ever done was accounting but she was a team player,
so whatever office work needed to be done, she would try her best.
“Of course, I am an excellent typist. Did you need me to fill in
for your administrative assistant while she is out sick too? You
know I’m more than happy to do whatever I can.”

“Thank you, Lizette, I do know and
appreciate your dedication. However, it’s not her role I need you
to fill tonight. It’s mine.”

Hers?
she thought.
As CEO? I would
not feel comfortable having to make all those critical decisions. I
like numbers; they’re factual, they don’t lie, they’re black and
white, no gray areas.
And yet, it was Friday night; there
really couldn’t be anything that would come up that couldn’t wait
until Monday. She could do this. All she’d need to do was be on
call for anything critical. Then it hit her: Maybe there was
something critical going on she wasn’t aware of. Maybe there was a
fire in the community or something. Lizette didn’t have to wait
long to find out.

“There is an extremely important event I was
supposed to attend this evening. Obviously I am too ill to go.”

That was clear from the moment I entered
the office, but what does this have to do with me?
Lizette
wondered.

“I need you to go in my place,” Elaine
continued, pausing to sneeze again. “To represent me, represent us,
Another Chance.”

Lizette hoped Elaine couldn’t see the shock
and horror that was surely written all over her face. Even though
she and Elaine were similar in some ways, the major difference was
Elaine carried herself with such confidence she could walk into any
room and hold her ground on any topic even with the most
influential people. That was not something Lizette enjoyed or was
interested in doing. “What? Oh, no, I couldn’t . . . I can’t . . .
you know I don’t . . .” Lizette didn’t even realize she was
stumbling over her words. She did not want to attend such a
high-profile Who’s Who event. That was the last place she wanted to
be.

“Lizette, there is no one else who can do
this for me tonight. You know my admin Jill is home sick, and the
rest of the team is on vacation or also out sick. We need you to do
this.” After another sneezing fit, she continued, “I need you to do
this. You’re head of the accounting department. I don’t have to
tell you what attending an event like this can do for our
association. It’s a great opportunity to get our name out there.
The people attending could provide exactly the type of funding we
need to continue. Normally we could never afford to attend, but an
old colleague of mine, Mr. Scott, is the chairman of the event and
was kind enough to sponsor a ticket for me. Someone has to
represent us. We won’t get another opportunity like this.”

Lizette knew it was true. All the recent
cuts in government funding had hit nonprofit organizations like
Another Chance extremely hard. Right now they were basically
running on personal donations and barely making it. It was getting
crucial to find a corporate sponsor; the future of their
organization was at risk.

“It’s one night. All the arrangements have
already been made. The dress is being delivered to your home at six
o’clock. The limo driver will pick you up at seven thirty, and Mr.
Scott has been told you will be representing me—I mean,
us—tonight.”

As though Elaine noticed the writing all
over her face, she continued. “Lizette, this is not only an
important charity event, it’s our best shot at networking with
people who can provide the kind of financial support we need. I
would not ask you to do this if I didn’t know you would represent
us well.” In a softer voice, she went on. “We’ve known each other
for several years now. I know you can do this. Do what comes
naturally. Talk about what you believe in. Talk about the business
and all that we do. Tell them about some of our successes. I know
you are passionate about what we do here, so it’ll be easy. You’ll
see.” With a sincere smile she said, “You may even enjoy yourself
so much you’ll wish you could do it all the time.”

Doubt it,
Lizette thought. Yet there
was no way to get out of tonight after the speech she’d just
received. She knew Elaine was not asking this of her as a friend;
she was asking as the CEO. When the CEO asks for a favor,
especially one of this magnitude, you don’t really have the option
to decline. “Thank you. I will do my best,” she said with a forced
smile.

“I need to get to bed. Thank you for filling
in for me tonight.” Ms. Manning’s eyes traveled over Lizette’s very
conservative business attire as she said, “Better get going,
Lizette. You have a lot to do before seven thirty.”

Don’t remind me,
she thought as she
rose and left the office. She felt bad Elaine was ill, but for once
she wished there
were
problems with the month-end report. At
least she knew she could fix that. An event like tonight’s was
something she wasn’t comfortable with, something she had been able
to avoid since her college days—until now.

Everything had gone as arranged. The dress
Elaine had delivered arrived at six o’clock and the limo had shown
up promptly at seven thirty. Lizette didn’t know how she’d managed
it, but here she was, about to enter a ballroom filled with some of
the richest people on the East Coast. This event was certainly
going to be filled with what she thought of as the three B’s:
big business, big money, and big egos.

What am I doing here?
She stood at
the entrance, looking over the other guests. The word
wow
slipped past her lips. The gathering looked like something she
would read about or see in a movie, not something a person like her
would ever actually attend. She was positive there wasn’t a woman
there who was wearing an off-the-rack dress. Between makeup, hair,
and clothes, it looked like they were attending the Oscars.

Lizette recalled the last time she had been
to a black-tie event. It had been her cousin's wedding, and the
department store dress and costume jewelry she had worn that day
did not compare to what she was wearing now. Elaine definitely knew
how to dress. She also had the confidence to pull it off. The red
dress she had sent Lizette was elegant with a touch of sexy. It
screamed,
Look at me!
Maybe other women felt comfortable
dressing like this, but Lizette did not.

Earlier she had applied a touch of makeup
and decided to wear her long straight chestnut hair down. She could
feel its silkiness as it flowed freely against her shoulders and
bare back. “I can do this,” she said aloud. Self-consciously she
smoothed a hand down the dress, which clung to her every curve.
This is what they mean by the phrase “fits like a glove.”
She chuckled nervously to herself.

As she contemplated turning around and
getting right back in the limo, a woman dressed in a stunning black
dress approached her and said, “You must be Lizette Burke. Ms.
Manning informed me you would be attending in her place this
evening. I have taken the liberty of placing your name in the
raffle already, so now all you need to do is mingle and enjoy
yourself.”

“Thank you,” Lizette said, but thought,
Like that’s going to happen
.