The Gigolo (10 page)

Jack
was pissed off because he hadn’t managed to get into the priggish bitch’s panties, yet. He liked a challenge but he always expected to get his way in the end and Kara Kavanagh was proving to be a bit more difficult to tame than any of the others had been.

He checked his watch. Kara would be holding her Monday
morning meeting soon. He liked to watch her fight to keep control of her team. She was struggling to stay afloat at the very edge of her ability but he admired her guts and determination to succeed. Many would have thrown in the towel before now.

He flicked over to the conference room camera.
Granger and Halfpenny looked as if they were having a bachelor party. The little shits had their filthy feet up on his ten grand table! What the hell were they up to? He moved the camera. They were watching fucking porno films – and on his time. Miss Kavanagh must be losing her touch.

He zoome
d in a little closer on the screen to see what brand of porn turned these two morons on and there was the ice lady herself – Kara Kavanagh – staring back at him from the screen, buck naked, handcuffed and being beaten by some pretty boy with the toned torso he’d always dreamt of achieving in his youth but had been too fond of his food to fight hard enough for.

Bingo!
Game on! Jack felt his blood begin to fizz and his cock twitched in his pants. No one said no to Jack Finnegan and got away with it.

Kara
walked into the conference room. Jack Finnegan lit a cigar and sat back in his chair to watch. He had no idea what the hell Granger was up to but he was looking forward to seeing how little Miss Straightlace got out of this one with her pants still on.

Granger and Halfpenny were giggling like kids. Kara looked dev
astated. Jack almost felt sorry for her.

Dumb and dumber stood up and closed in on his CEO. She held her ground. She didn’t back off. He could see her giving as good as she got.
Good girl. Don’t let those little shits get the better of you, kiddo.

Granger made a lunge for her, grabbing her skirt. Jack stood up.
His hands curled into fists. He would’ve punched the little bastard if he could.

Kara
kicked Granger in the balls. He collapsed to the floor. Jack laughed. Kara made it to the door. She was knocking on it.

‘Shit!’ he cursed. He didn’t want the whole office finding out about this. He willed the girl to sort herself out.

Kara straightened her hair and clothes. The door opened. She marched out.
That’s my girl,
he whispered.
That’s why I gave you the job.

***

Kara picked up the phone and started to key in William’s number then she placed it back in its cradle. What the hell was she going to say to him? She just didn’t know. She was scared that if she spoke to him he’d say something she didn’t want to hear – something that would make the pain that was slowly tightening its grip around her heart too much for her to bear.

She sat back in her leather chair and crossed her legs. The ring made its presence known. Kara uncrossed
them again. She wanted to rip the damned thing out, now. She wanted to distance herself from everything to do with that man. How could he do this to her? How could the bastard sleep at night? He’d seemed so genuine. She’d really thought he cared and he’d made a complete fool out of her. Kara brushed away a stray tear with the back of her hand. She couldn’t afford to wallow in self-pity right now. If she wasn’t careful she was going to lose control of the whole building and if Jack Finnegan found out about the video he’d sack her on the spot. Turning down his vulgar advances had been a risk she could afford to take when she knew damned well she was earning him millions but he wouldn’t think twice about cutting her loose if the good name of his business was at risk.

Julie buzzed through to her phone.

‘Luke Granger to see you, Miss Kavanagh.’

Damn!

‘Ok, send him in.’ She couldn’t run away from this thing. She had to face the bastard. Kara got up from behind her desk to unlock the door and then stood back behind it again.

She
was half expecting Tom Halfpenny to be with him and was relieved to find Luke was on his own.

He closed the door behind him. He didn’t look quite so cocky
without his partner in crime.

‘Have you got the money yet?’

‘For Christ’s sake! It’s only been half an hour. I can’t lay my hands on that sort of money without at least a week’s notice.’ Kara would do everything she could to stall them in the hope that the fog in her brain would clear and she could work out what exactly was going on.

‘I need £100.000
right now.’

Alarm bells rang in Kara’s head.

‘What for?’

‘Does it matter? You’re not really in a position to question me
, are you?’

‘Why the hell should I do you a favour – you’re an extortionist. I should call the police.’

‘But you won’t, will you, cos you don’t want the tabloids getting their hands on this, do you?’ He waved a little red, bullet shaped USB stick in her face.

Kara snatch
ed it out of his hand, threw it on the floor and stamped on it. It shattered under the heel of her shoe.

‘You stupid bitch,’ he hissed. ‘You do
n’t think that’s the only copy I’ve got, do you?’

Kara doubted it but she’d seen an opportunity and she reached out and grabbed it
and now he had one less copy.

‘It’s your
own fucking fault you’re in this position. If you hadn’t picked on me none of this would have happened.’

Kara despised the little weasel. He was a loser and l
osers always had to find someone else to blame for their own shortcomings.

‘
Did it ever occur to you that it was your tardiness and lack of ambition that had me biting at your ass all the time?’ Kara refused to take the blame for his inadequacies.

Luke Granger looked at her as if she’d just grown two heads and they were both spewing stinking vomit over his shoes.

‘Did it ever occur to you that I had a life outside of this office?’

‘It’s very unprofessional to bring your private life into work,’ Kara snapped back.

‘Am I not even allowed to mourn the loss of my two month old baby girl?’

Kara gasped. She had no idea. Why had no-one told her about this?

‘And is it also wrong of me to want to take time to care for my wife as she goes through a mental breakdown?’

There were tears in Granger’s eyes. Kara didn’t know what to say.

‘I’m sorry. I had no idea, Luke. You should have gone to HR, they would have helped you out. You didn’t have to do this.’

‘You think everyone’s as hardnosed and money orientated as you, don’t you?’

Kara wondered if this was some kind of trick. What idiot had the bare faced neck to tout for sympathy whilst he was raping her bank account? She decided to throw him a lifeline. If his story really was true he might just take it.

‘I’ll give you £100,000 and your job back if you drop this blackmail thing and give me all the copies you have of that video.’

For a moment he looked as if he might be considering it and then the shades came down over his eyes again.

‘Do you think I’m fucking stupid?’ he cursed.

‘Ok, what do you need the money for?’ Kara didn’t know why she was drawing him into conversation. Perhaps she hoped to find a conscience buried somewhere inside his blackened soul.

‘My house is about to be repossessed.’

‘Ok, I’ll get the money. I’ll have to ring my bank and tell them what I’m doing otherwise they’ll just put a stop on it.’

Kara watched Granger’s brain working.

‘No, I don’t want a record of it coming from you to me. I want cash.’

Good. That would stall him for a few
more hours.

‘Go home, Luke. You can’t stay here. Mr Finnegan knows I was going to sack you this morning. If he finds you still here he’ll start asking why
and I’m not sure I’m in the mood to protect your interests.’

‘That’s a lie,’ Granger said.

‘What makes you so sure? Do you want this money or not?’ He was obviously desperate for money and desperate people did desperate things. Kara hated having to negotiate with the little shit.

‘I’ll be watching you,’ he warned
as he finally left her office.

Kara
locked the door behind him and sat at her desk. There had to be a way out of this if only she could make her brain work…If Luke Granger was so strapped for cash he wouldn’t have been able to afford to pay an escort like William – if that’s what William really was. Or perhaps Granger had climbed up the side of the house and taken the video himself, but even Kara had to admit that was too farfetched to believe.

Kara opened a file on her computer and tried to work but her hands were
still shaking so much that she couldn’t type. She kept seeing herself naked on the wall of the conference room.

In the end she told Julie she was feeling ill and went home.

Kara didn’t wait for George to call her car and took off down the road on foot. She couldn’t stand still and she couldn’t bear the thought of having to make polite conversation when her world was falling apart.

She hailed a cab when her feet started to ache but at least it gave her something else to think about.

Kara had never been so glad to get back to her show house and close the door behind her. She dropped her briefcase on the hall table and picked up the phone. She had to know who William really was. No matter how humiliated and shamed she felt she had to have the facts if there was going to be any chance of her getting out of this mess with her job and reputation still intact.

Her fingers shook as she
keyed in his number and her heart was pounding in her throat as it rang. She waited anxiously for him to answer but his phone went straight to answer phone and what Kara had to say couldn’t really be left on a machine so she hung up, grabbed a bottle of vodka from the cupboard and took it up to bed with her.

Kara stripped off her work clothes and was about to pull on a comfy old cotton nightdress when she caught sight of the ring between her l
egs. She stormed back down to the cupboard under the stairs and rummaged through the tool box her father had given her for Christmas last year until she found a pair of bolt cutters. Kara opened her legs and snapped the ring in two. It felt as if she’d sliced into her heart with a knife and she was crying as she removed the ring and threw it down the toilet.

I’m never
going to look at another man as long as I live.

Kara climbed into bed and turned on day time TV.
Her bed was her haven; the place she sought out when things went wrong but not even a freshly laundered quilt and fluffed up pillows could comfort her today. She swigged from the bottle staring at the TV screen but seeing nothing.

***

The phone beside her bed woke her and Kara picked up the receiver instinctively, before she was fully conscious and with no idea if it was day or night.

‘Hello.’ Her voice was slurred. She blinked in an effort to regain her vision.

‘I hear you have a little problem at work.’
Fuck! It was Jack Finnegan.

Kara
was suddenly stone cold sober and stuttered and stammered in an attempt to justify the fact that she’d just taken the day off.

‘I’m not
bothered if you take a whole month off. What I am bothered about is you losing control of the reins of my business.’

‘It’s not a problem, Jack,’ she slurred into the phone. ‘
Everything’s under control.’ He couldn’t possibly know what was going on, she figured through the fuzz of her vodka pickled brain.

‘
Kara, I understand that you’re reluctant to admit to your…a…little weakness but I have to tell you that I saw the security video from the conference room today.’

Kara
was speechless. She stared into the receiver open mouthed, unable to form a single word. It was Jack who spoke first.

‘I’m coming over. You need help and I wouldn’t dream of leaving you
out there on your own.’

Kara
pulled on a robe and made a pot of coffee. She had accepted her fate now. She was finished in this town. Jack would sack her and she’d still have to pay those bastards to save her reputation. Her life was over but she’d come to terms with it and no one could hurt her any more. It almost felt good to be able to tell someone else. The weight of it was bearing too heavy on her shoulders. She felt as if she was about to break down.

Jack arrived
half an hour later and she showed him into the kitchen and poured him a large measure of whisky.

‘I’m sorry Jack. I’ll have
Julie clear my desk first thing in the morning.’

‘Tell me what happened
– from the beginning, and don’t try hiding anything from me or I won’t be able to help you.’

‘Help me?’
Kara couldn’t believe that he’d come here to do anything other than gloat at her monumental fuck up and was sure he was only searching for damage limitation before he cut her loose, but she poured out the whole sordid affair, only omitting the fact that she had enjoyed any part of it, and Jack listened without interrupting.

‘Let me tell you this right now, child,’ Jack took her into his arms and
pulled her close. ‘You needn’t worry your pretty little head about Luke Granger. I promise you the bastard will never bother you again.’

Kara
broke down and sobbed into Jack’s chest. He rubbed her back and rocked her gently until she’d finally cried herself out.

K
ara thought she might have misjudged Jack. Perhaps he did have a heart after all – and morals, and possibly even a little bit of integrity. She was grateful but then he went and spoilt it all.

‘
We could be good together, Kara.’ His voice had changed and his hands started to wander away from her back where he’d been comforting her and towards her breasts. Kara broke free from him and moved to the other side of the room.

‘What are you doing, Jack
?’

‘I want you, girl.
You know I’ve always wanted you.’ He started to close the gap she’d put between them.

‘You’re married, Jack. What about Laura?’ He was beginning to scare her. He might have had lust in his eyes but he
was approaching her with menace. She was afraid that he meant to take her whether she wanted it or not. She’d jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

‘Laura has nothing to do with this. I don’t want an affair. I have no intention of leaving my wife. I just want sex. Is that too much to ask?’

‘Yes, Jack. It is. You’re my boss. It would be highly unprofessional.’ She managed to duck under his arm and escape into the hallway but he followed her.

‘Stop fighting it, Kara. You’re a born submissive. It’s why you find your job so difficult. You’re constantly fighting against your natural instinct to obey the men you try to control. It goes against your nature to emasculate those who you know to be your superiors.’

‘Bullshit! That’s not true, Jack. I would never allow anything I did in my private life to affect my work and I certainly don’t consider Luke Granger to be superior to me – he’s a bottom feeder.’

‘Of course
they’re not, darling. Granger may have a cock hanging between his legs but his brain has never risen above his balls. He’s not a real man. You know a real man when you see one, don’t you Kara? You feel it in your bones when you meet a real man.’

She knew what he was up to. He was implying that he was one such man and that she was fighting her natural urge every time she turned him down.  So, that’s why he was here. He was no better than
Luke Granger. He repulsed her. She might admire his business acumen and his success but his behaviour as a man and as a husband to his lovely wife stank.

‘I think I’ve waited long enough for
you, Kara.’ He unzipped his flies and pulled out his hard cock.

‘What’re you doing?’
Kara shrieked. From his stance and the expression on his face he thought he’d won. The idea that she might still actually refuse him hadn’t even entered his head.

Kara
hated herself but for a split second she actually considered the consequences of just doing what he asked. It would have been the easy option and it wouldn’t have been the first time she’d ended up having sex with someone she didn’t particularly like. Would it be so terrible..? But it wouldn’t end there, would it? She’d just be switching from one blackmailer to another and she feared that Jack Finnegan would have a more devastating effect on her life than Luke Granger could ever dream of.

‘I’m sorry, Mr Finnegan, but
I can’t do that – I think we should keep our relationship on a purely professional level.’ Kara wanted to scream at him to get out of her house and leave her alone, but drunk as she was, she realised that he may also be her only ally. She couldn’t afford to annoy him too much.

‘You really don’t have any choice in the matter, honey,’
Jack Finnegan laughed.

Kara
stumbled along the hall and opened the front door.

‘I want you to leave now
, Jack.’ She stood aside to let him pass.

Jack Finne
gan’s face turned purple. Kara thought he was going to explode but he made no effort to move – and neither did she. It was a stand-off.

Finally he gave up and
hurled his glass into the sink. It shattered noisily in the bottom of the porcelain bowl.

‘I want you in your office by 08
.00 in the morning.’ Jack Finnegan spoke through gritted teeth as he brushed past her and strode back out to his Bentley.

Kara
didn’t know what to make of it but she wasn’t stupid enough to think that he’d let her off this easily. She imagined he’d summon her upstairs to the penthouse to collect her P45 – after he’d let her sweat for a couple of hours. Or maybe he’d just have Julie clear her desk and all her possessions would be waiting for her in a cardboard box at the front desk when she arrived in the morning. Either way, she knew he’d make her suffer for spurning him again. Integrity sometimes came at a high price.

She crawled back up to bed and hit the bottle until she passed out.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

William usually spent most of Monday morning in bed. He would read the Sunday papers and catch up on his correspondence and very rarely answered the doorbell but after it had been ringing constantly for over ten minutes he jumped out of bed and headed downstairs with the intention of ripping the head off the person who was leaning on it.

William pulled on his robe charged downstairs and ripped open the door.

‘What the fu…’ William recognised Jack Finnegan immediately from the portrait that hung on his office wall and looked down on him with such disdain as he beat his wife’s ass with her plimsoll. He tried to hide the panic that he knew must have, at least fleetingly, crossed his face.

Jack Finnegan pushed passed William and stepped uninvited into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

William was about to defend himself against the big man’s fist when he spoke.

‘I know the part you played in
the blackmail of Kara Kavanagh, so let’s not waste time fucking each other about.’