A Very Bad Billionaire (BWWM Contemporary Romance Novel) (4 page)

I realized that I was beginning to breathe heavily. I don’t know if it was from the excitement of being there or fear or the fact that I couldn’t get enough of his scent. Probably a combination of them all. I broke eye contact, looked down at the floor and made my way to the counter on the other side of the kitchen as my heart raced and my legs began to feel like jello.

The cooks were nowhere to be found. It was just me and Kaiden alone in the kitchen. I looked around to find something, anything that I could grab and leave the room. If I could make it seem like I came in to grab something, he wouldn’t think I was leaving to avoid him. Eyeing the kitchen exits, I grabbed the only thing that was on the counter. A large wooden cooking spoon. There was no way I could make him believe that I came in for a spoon so I stood there hoping he would leave. Suddenly, I felt foolish and could feel my face turning crimson as the heat in the room began to rise. He didn’t attempt to move a single muscle. His penetrating eyes stared at me.

“It’s Natalia, right?” he asked.

“Yes, my name is Natalia,” my voice betrayed me. The pitch was far too high, leaving me sound as though I was going through puberty.

“Well Natalia, since we are in here by ourselves, this is the perfect time for me to speak with you about what happened earlier today.”

I cleared my throat before speaking this time. “I really don’t want to talk about. I’m trying to forget I ever saw what I saw,” I said firmly.
Yeah, that sounded good. Keep up that tone, maybe he’ll back down and leave me alone.

“It’s vital that we discuss it, though. It’s crucial that nobody ever finds out that those photographs exist. It would be bad for my public image as well as my business if these were to get out to the public somehow.”

Damn. He’s not letting go of this one.
I didn’t know how to reply since I know how damaging sex scandals can be. You see them all the time on the news or in the tabloids. Sex scandals have ruined marriages, business relationships and people’s lives—including the individual who shed the light on the situation. But why did that have to be my problem? He’s the sicko that’s out banging girls in public places where his picture could be taken. What did he think was going to happen?

“Natalia, are you listening to me?” he continued. “What if I write you a check for $5,000 right now? All you have to do is promise me you’ll keep the information to yourself and sign a non-disclosure agreement. What do you say?”

I couldn’t believe what was happening. This guy was trying to buy my silence. I was stunned. The only thing I could think to do was shake my head no.

“Okay fine, how about $10,000? Would that be enough to get you to keep this a secret?”

“No Mr. Melrose. I’m not interested.”

“Please call me Kaiden. This is critical. What if I double my offer? $20,000 to ensure that the word about these pictures never gets out. You can walk out of here with a check today.”

I was getting angry. I’m sick people that have lots of money thinking that the rules don’t apply to them. They always believe that they can buy people off so they go around doing whatever in the hell they want. It’s disgusting and I wasn’t going to play into it. I could feel my face getting warm as I got more pissed off. Finally, I slammed the spoon down onto the counter and walked up to him, closing the distance between us.

“With all due respect Kaiden, I’m not some object that can be bought. I’m not for sale. There is no price you could offer me to make me compromise my morals or beliefs. I might not have a lot in this world and I surely don’t have the money or fancy things that you do, but I have my dignity. Does that mean I’m going to go run to the news and tell them what I saw? No, it doesn’t. However, me staying silent will be the result of me knowing right from wrong, not because some rich guy paid me off and forced me to keep quiet. So please, just give it up.”

The fact that I had said all those things to him stunned me. I’m not even entirely sure where the words came from. It was as if I opened my mouth and they just started to pour out on their own. Granted, I meant every single word I said, but I’m not usually the type to speak my mind, especially to my employer. I was proud of myself.

Kaiden looked like he didn’t know what to say. He stood on the other side of the kitchen looking at me in disbelief. He probably wasn’t used to being talked to like that and he was taken off guard by it. He turned and started to walk out of the kitchen before stopping in the doorway. Turning around, he briskly walked over to where I was standing. I didn’t know what he was going to do. I flinched, afraid that he was coming over to hit me. Instead, he gently cupped my face with his hands and lifted my head. We were once again eye to eye.

An involuntary gasp escaped my lips as they popped open. I couldn’t believe how soft his touch was. As I looked up at him, I wondered what was going through his mind. Was he impressed with my moxie? The way he was holding my face and looking into my eyes, I was certain he was about to kiss me. I closed my eyes in anticipation, but the kiss never came. Instead, he bent down and whispered into my ear.

“You shouldn’t pass judgment on people if you don’t know their story. Things are not always what they seem to be. Believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear because there’s a lot more to those photos than you can even imagine.”

Kaiden slid his hands off my face before leaving the room. I was left alone even more confused than I had been before. What did he mean when he said there was more to the photos? I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I was determined to find out. Whatever it was would have to wait, at least for a little while. The staff was beginning to leave and I wanted to get out the door as well. I was ready to go home and hopefully have a do-over the following day.

CHAPTER FOUR

Kaiden

I couldn’t believe that she had the audacity to speak to me like that after I had given her a once in a lifetime opportunity to cash in, and she wasn’t even interested! What kind of person passes up that kind of money? The only thing she’d have to do is keep her trap shut. It’s not like I was asking her to do anything dirty. There are only two kinds of people in the world who wouldn’t accept a payoff in that situation. The first is someone who had plans to sell their information to the tabloids for cash and name recognition or someone that has a lot more integrity than most others. But which kind of person was Natalia?

After everyone had gone home for the evening, I decided to do some research on her so I could have an answer to that question. I had to know whether or not I should be worried about her. I went into Bailey’s office and pulled her employee file. Inside was her name and address along with copies of her driver’s license and social security card. I had everything I needed to run a full background check on her, which is usually a requirement when hiring a new employee but we needed a housekeeper so quickly, Bailey hadn’t had a chance to put it through. I hoped that Natalia didn’t have any skeletons hiding in her closet that would worry me further. If she did, they were about to be exposed.

Armed with all of Natalia’s information, I sat down at my desk and logged into my Intelius account. I selected the deluxe option, ensuring that I would get every piece of information that was available on her. I watched as the circles next to the reports started spinning while the computer system searched nationwide records. One by one, the spinning circles turned to check marks to let me know that the reports were ready.

I started clicking through the reports to see what kind of information I could find. I learned that she had never filed bankruptcy or had any tax liens filed against her. There were no judgments listed in her public records and I saw that she had never been married. She looked squeaky clean until I got to the criminal records section.

The report stated that Natalia Queens had been arrested on May 17, 2004, for passing a violation of New York Penal law 190.05. The charge was issuing a bad check with intent to fraud. That particular charge is a class B misdemeanor in the state of New York, but the Intelius report had it listed as a felony. Did the website have the wrong information? If so, how much stock could I put into what I found? I decided I’d have to dig a little deeper for my answer. There was no more information on the website so I called a contact I have at the courthouse to pull the file for me. Within a half-hour, she called me back with all the info I needed. The charge was a felony charge instead of a misdemeanor because the bad check was written in excess of $1,000.

Seeing the information made me seethe. If my assistant had done her due diligence during the hiring process, Natalia would never have been inside my house in the first place. She never would have been in my office and never would have seen the photographs. If Natalia had to pass the same background check as all my other employees, I wouldn’t have been sitting in my office stressing over what she may or may not do with what she saw.

It wasn’t so much the fact that she had a criminal record that bothered me. It was the kind of charge that it was. It was basically theft by deception. It would be one thing to bounce a check for 30 bucks at the grocery store. That could be an honest mistake of not realizing how low on funds the checking account was. It’s a whole different ballgame when you start talking about an amount more than a grand. Someone who bounces a check like that knows exactly what they’re doing. If she was willing to do that in the past, I was sure she’d have no qualms about hanging me out to dry.

The situation had left me with a dilemma. What was the best way to handle this? Typically, if a person needed to be let go, I would have Bailey deal with it. That didn’t feel like the right thing to do in this case. I was afraid that sending my assistant to fire her would send the wrong message. Natalia may have thought that I was letting her go for no other reason that the photos she found. If that’s what she believed, it would likely only push her towards exposing me and my secret lifestyle. That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.

Unsure of how to approach the situation, I decided that my best course of action would be to sit back and observe Natalia. When she came into work the next day, it was clear that she was uncomfortable any time the two of us were in the same vicinity. I could understand at first, but I expected her to be able to relax about it by the end of the week. Once Friday came around, she still wouldn’t look in my direction. It’s usually best to fire someone at the end of the week so, rather than wait any longer, it was time to get things over with.

Armed with a copy of the criminal background check that I printed out, I left my office and went to seek out Natalia. I couldn’t find her anywhere in the house and thought she might have left or gone home for the day. After asking around to some of my employees, I learned that she was in the backyard helping the gardener finish up his tasks for the day. I waited for her to come inside. I really wanted to tell her about what I had learned about her background, but I wasn’t about to do it in front of everyone else. As she came in from outside and walked into the foyer, I stopped her.

“Natalia, I need to speak with you in my office, please.”

“If it’s about what was in your office, I already told you I don’t want to discuss it any further.”

“It has nothing to do with that. This is regarding some information that I need to confirm for your employee file,” I held the file folder out for her to see.

Turning up the stairs, I ensured Natalia came with me. She seemed hesitant but eventually began to follow me. I held my office door open for her, closing it after she’d made her way in. Signaling to a chair, I invited her to take a seat while I sat in my executive chair.

“Natalia, I was looking over your employment application and noticed there were a couple of spots that didn’t get filled out. Specifically, this box that asks if you’ve ever been convicted of a felony. Could you complete the application for me, please?”

I handed her the sheet of paper and a pen and watched to see what she would do when confronted. As I suspected, she checked the ‘no’ box and scoured over the rest of the questions and handed the completed application back to me.

“Is that all you needed?” she asked.

“Not exactly,” I replied. “We need to have a discussion about what you just did.”

“What did I do? I did what you asked. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I ran a background check on you and the results that were reported back gave me cause for concern. I watched you sit right here in front of me and mark that you’ve never been convicted of a felony, but we both know that’s not true. Would you care to explain?”

“You ran a background check on me? I didn’t give you permission to run anything on my name. Why would you do that?” Her voice sounded annoyed and agitated, her face wrinkled in anger.

“Oh, don’t try to steer the conversation. It’s actually common practice to run a background check on anyone that is hired to work in my house. Bailey handles it most of the time but, for whatever reason, she neglected to do yours. I was just catching up on the paperwork that should have been done before you were brought on.”