Carrying the Billionaire's Baby: A Clean BWWM Billionaire Romance (The Billionaire Baby Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

That night, Marlene met Dave at a bar downtown. She sipped club soda and feigned interest in him as she gathered the information she needed to find out if he would be willing to help her get rid of Sherry, or at least make her want to leave Richard.

“Why do you want her out of the picture?” Dave asked as he sipped his beer and stared into Marlene’s eyes.

“She’s no good for Richard.”

“And you are?”

“Oh, that’s not it at all,” Marlene insisted.

“I think it is,” Dave retorted.

“No. I actually like younger men,” she said, leaning over the table to take a drink of his beer.

“Really?” Dave asked, thinking maybe his gentlemanly gesture last night had paid off.

“Yes. Things would just run so much smoother without Sherry there interrupting everything. She basically took over a meeting today. Something I’ve never seen Richard do before. He’s had girlfriends in the past, but none of them ever crossed that line.”

“Were any of them pregnant with his child?”

Marlene shouted, “Of course not! I just don’t feel like it’s good for the corporation. I don’t care what Richard does in his private life. I don’t care who he falls in love with.” She was rambling now, trying to convince herself of the words she was saying. “I don’t care that she’s pregnant with his child. I don’t care about any of that. I just want smooth sailing for the Black corporation and positivity for the future.”

“So. Where do I come in? How can I help?” Dave asked.

“Well, you can help by lurking behind the scenes and capturing things that maybe Richard doesn’t see.”

“Like a spy?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, that’s going to be hard, since she spends most of her time in the bedroom,” Dave explained. “Maybe I could get some unflattering pictures of her, or of them fighting and sell them to the press.”

He paused. “Can I ask you a question, Marlene?”

“You can ask.”

“Are you in love with Richard?”

Marlene was shocked. She didn’t feel like she had been so transparent. “What gives you that idea?”

“You said a lot of things last night when you were drinking.”

Marlene could feel her face getting hot. “I’m certainly not in love with Richard. I do feel very strongly about him. He has been a huge part of my life as an employer and he’s helped me through a lot of things.”

“I just thought maybe you wanted Sherry out of the picture so you could step in.”

“Is that what it looks like to you?” Marlene asked.

“Sort of.”

“Well, that’s not the case.” Marlene smiled and placed her hand on Dave’s knee.. He was shaping up to be the perfect cohort in her scheme. He was young and dumb enough to think she was interested in him, while willing to help her and make her happy at any cost.

***

Sherry sat on her bed, working on a crossword puzzle, while Richard sat by the window tapping away on his laptop. She grew restless and tried to reposition herself, then dropped the newspaper and placed the pen on the nightstand, sighing. She was allowed to move around more now, but she was still supposed to spend most of her time in bed, and the monotony was making her restless.

Richard left the room, picking up the breakfast tray. “Can I get you anything while I’m down that way?”

“Wings for this bed so I can fly?” she laughed. “No, thanks. Well, maybe some tea.”

When Richard stopped in to the kitchen to fix a cup of tea for Sherry, he saw Dave typing on his smartphone at the kitchen counter.

“Good afternoon, sir,” Dave said, quickly putting his phone away. “Can I help you?”

“Relax, kid. I’m just getting a cup of tea. You’re allowed a little downtime.”

“Yes sir,” Dave said, trying to suppress the surge of resentment at being called kid.

After Richard left, Dave sent a text to Marlene.

Maybe we can poison her tea
.

Marlene responded.

Come to my office now.

When Dave arrived, Marlene briskly closed the door behind him.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“What do you mean?”

“That text! Don’t ever leave a trail. Is that clear?”

Dave stared at Marlene, his mouth slightly open. She leaned in closer to him and whispered, “Do you understand?”

Dave nodded.

“Okay, then, you can go,” she said, smiling at him. “But maybe we can meet again, after work.”

***

On the way to Mrs. Black’s office, Marlene rehearsed how she would address her concerns about Sherry’s growing place in Richard’s life. The office door was slightly closed, and Marlene could her Evelyn talking to someone, maybe a phone call. She stood outside to wait for her to finish, leaning in to listen.

“Yes. We’ll need at least twenty tents, probably more. I know we’ll be expecting a large crowd. Yes. We are thrilled. Thank you, and I appreciate you keeping this under wraps from the media. Thank you again. Bye.”

After Evelyn hung up, Marlene peeked her head around the door.

“Knock, knock,” she sang as she entered the office.

“Oh. I didn’t hear you come in, Marlene. How long were you standing there?”

“Long enough to hear you ordering party tents. What’s the occasion?”             

Evelyn walked toward the office door and made sure it was closed. She sat down next to Marlene and spoke quietly, “A surprise wedding.”

“Wedding? Who?”

“Well, Richard and Sherry, of course.”

Marlene was speechless. This was not what she had expected. She had held out hope that as long as they were not married, the whole thing might blow over.

“So, what did you want to meet with me about?” Evelyn asked, waiting for Marlene to speak.

“You know what, it’s uh, well, it’s really not that important. It can wait for another time.” Marlene stood up and made her way to the door.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I’ve got a ton of work to do. It can wait.” Marlene scurried out of the office and dried the tears from her eyes as she walked briskly down the hallway, finally finding herself by the back garage. She fished through her bag for a cigarette, and suddenly Dave was standing before her, lighting one and handing it to her.

“Are you crying?” he peered into her face, and she tried to hide under her hair.

“No. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” she insisted. “I’m leaving early today. I need to go home and do some things.”

“Okay.”

“How about we meet for dinner?” Marlene squinted as she looked in Dave’s direction. “I think I have an idea about how to get rid of Sherry.”

“What do you mean, get rid?” he asked. “Like make her uncomfortable?”

“Yes, very, very uncomfortable. So much that she may never get over it.” She stomped out the cigarette beneath her heel, blew the smoke above her head, and turned and kissed him hard on the lips before hurrying away.

To be continued …