The Gift: Book 1 (The Billionaire's Love Story) (7 page)

“
I would if I didn’t need this job so badly.”

He’d thrown something at her that had hurt deep, that would have worried her, and now he understood.

“You can drive on now, Morris.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Chapter 12

After much convincing from Rosalee, Savannah had decided to go to the Christmas party.
“You’re young, you’re beautiful and you must go. You cannot sit inside your entire life. I will look after Jacob at my house. He can play with my grandson.” The woman had been so insistent that Savannah felt she’d had no choice but to go.

The women in the office had been giggling like schoolgirls all afternoon and from the sounds of it Savannah didn’t think anyone got any work done after lunch. The buzz of the party filled the air, adrenaline surged, hopes and wishes floated around the office like fairy dust as the other women wondered who would be there.

Only she and Briony managed to keep their heads down and work. Everyone had hung up their dresses on the coat rack in the corner, and one look at the short and showy red and black dresses convinced Savanah that the plain black dress she’d worn to a funeral once was better off neatly folded in her bag. She would rather risk wearing it creased up than hang it up for everyone to see.

But when Rosalee called her later, rather apologetically, to tell her that her grandson had run a fever and her son was taking her back to Brooklyn tonight, instead of on Christmas Eve, Savannah was almost relieved to have an excuse not to attend.

“Just come for an hour. Have something to eat and a few drinks and then leave.” Briony had done her best to convince her to go, but Savannah had pushed that idea to the back of her mind. Briony wouldn’t understand. She had no children, and it sounded as if she and her partner Max had a carefree lifestyle, no kids, no worries, no debt. Apart from working for an a-hole like Tobias Stone, Savannah considered Briony to have the perfect life. But Savannah considered herself to be extremely lucky, despite the hardships she’d endured. She could never imagine a life without Jacob. She loved her son with all of her being and knew her life was all the richer for having this little guy be part of it.

“I can’t,” she told her disappointed friend and in the end she left the office and the excitement of the party behind her.

Since she had left the office a little earlier, she passed by the food bank before she caught the Subway home. Her worries about not getting paid this month had put her into panic mode. She was looking for ways to make her money last longer and at the last moment had visited the food bank where she’d picked up sugared donuts, packaged biscuits and canned goods in an effort to make the food last over the holidays.

She picked up Jacob from Rosalee’s place and was grateful that Rosalee had fed him. Having Rosalee close by, treating them almost like family, meant that she didn’t feel completely alone in this big and at times unforgiving city.

Back home she only needed to make a sandwich for herself and stop wondering what Briony and the others would be doing at the Christmas party. She tried not to get too disheartened about missing out on an evening at the fancy hotel she’d often seen in films. It would have been something to have seen what it looked like from inside. Of course Tobias Stone would be there and she told herself it was better that she was at home, away from the danger of running into him.

“Can I play for a while? Please, Mommy.”

“Half an hour and then bedtime. Tomorrow you’re going to have to come to work with me.”

Jacob’s face glowed with excitement. “To work? With you? Really, Mom?”

“Yes, really.”

He ran off, super excited. With Rosalee’s grandson falling ill and her going to stay at her son’s two days earlier than planned it now meant that she had two days without childcare. She had no option but to take Jacob to work.

But she was worried too, especially knowing that Briony and the other women were away now until the New Year. She hoped she wouldn’t run into Tobias Stone—not now, with him being so mad at her. She needed all the work she could get and while it hurt her, the delay in receiving payment, she knew next month would be sweeter for it. She’d dipped into her savings and bought the Christmas gift that Jacob had coveted, as well as a few other little things she knew he would like and she couldn’t wait to see his face when she gave them to him. She wanted to make this Christmas special and hoped that it would herald a new beginning for them both.

Tomorrow, she had the pressure of getting Jacob into the building. She had decided to leave early in the morning, before the masses turned up for work, and she would find some way of keeping him hidden in the office. Thankfully it would be empty. She only had two days left at work and then she’d need a Christmas miracle to save her from more debt worries.

Chapter 13

Tobias Stone walked around the foyer outside the grand ballroom of the hotel and had already lost the enthusiasm to attend his own Christmas party.

He
’d been on a mission to speak to Savannah Page—to make himself feel better—to have her see that he wasn’t always a total hard-nosed bastard. Her name had been on the list of attendees from the 21st floor. He’d purposely asked for that list from Candace for this very reason. But she obviously wasn’t coming. He looked around for Briony, hoping that she might give him a clue as to why.

He was about to walk up to her when Candace rushed to his side. Dressed in a bright red cocktail dress, she was impossible to miss. She’d been here all day overseeing the plans for this evening.

“Tobias,” she trilled, flashing him an ultra-bright smile that made him wince. “Nice of you to attend your own Christmas party.”

“I thought I’d show my face.”

“I hope you’re staying for dinner, after your usual annual address, since you’re not jetting off this time.”

“I’ll stay for dinner.” Or maybe not. Maybe he would disappear after the appetizers.

“How did Naomi take it? The news about you staying in New York?” Everyone, even Candace, believed that Naomi was his girlfriend and he liked to keep it that way. He paid Naomi enough for her to keep her mouth shut.

He shrugged. Naomi had no opinion. He didn’t pay her for her opinion. But it hadn’t stopped her from whining or making the occasional remark when she’d found out that he wasn’t going away this Christmas. She was onto a good deal, and the girl was smart, she knew it wasn’t in her best interests to piss him off.

“You’re not very talkative this evening, are you?” Candace was the only other person who spoke to him on an even level, like that Page woman. But sometimes Candace’s over familiarity grated on him. He clenched his jaw. “Let me get you a drink,” she suggested, hooking her attention onto a poor, unsuspecting waiter. “It might loosen you up.”

“No,” he shook his head.

“You need to lighten up, Tobias.” She grabbed a drink for him nonetheless.

“I didn’t know I paid you to disregard my orders.” Taking the glass of champagne from her, he saw the mischief in her eyes and guessed that she’d had more than a couple of drinks by now.

“Sometimes you need to be told, Tobias.”

“There are boundaries, Candace. Don’t forget them,” he said, before she made a comment that would make them both uncomfortable. She was excellent at her job but sometimes he wasn’t sure if she wasn’t slowly crossing the line. If she had any illusions about ever becoming something more, he wasn’t going to risk her getting any ideas.

“You’re sitting with the board of directors on Table 1.” She informed him, sobering up immediately.

“Another night of fun,” he muttered under his breath as he looked around the huge foyer. Just a walkway away there was the Centennial foyer filled to the brim with more employees. Food was served, buffet style, and people were spread out all over the hotel, mixing, flirting and enjoying themselves. Even if Savannah Page had been here, it would have been hard to find her.

Scanning his gaze around, he caught sight of the shock of auburn hair and recognized Briony talking with her friends, all with glasses of champagne in their hands.

“Excuse me,” he said, and without even looking at Candace, he left, and cut his way across the packed room to where Briony stood. People greeted him as he moved past them, so that it took longer than it should have to get to her. She turned to him in surprise. “Tobias?” They both knew he wasn’t one to seek out others, not in social situations. He usually preferred to watch from a distance, and keep his distance too.

“Is something wrong?” Briony asked.

“No,” he replied, wondering if he instilled the fear of god into everyone. The other two women smiled and looked into their glasses, but he remained silent, and they soon disappeared, as if on cue.

“I got it wrong with the Dalton file,” he said, finally.

For a moment Briony looked puzzled. “Oh, that.” She threw her head back slightly and he knew she considered it odd for him to bring that up now. “Yes, you did.”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since that day. I wanted to clear up a few things.” He found himself in the awkward position of having to explain himself for he knew that whatever he said stood a chance of getting back to that Page woman. For some reason which he didn’t even understand himself, he’d been thinking about her lately and seeing her earlier in the line at the food bank had made him more curious.

“It was remiss of me to assume that your temp had taken the file.”

Briony was quick to nod her head. “Savannah wouldn’t do anything like that. She’s a hard worker, and she’s honest and reliable. She finished the original job I hired her for within two weeks. We’d taken her on for three. She could have taken her time, but she didn’t.”

“You’re not easily impressed,” said Tobias.

“That should tell you something. She’s the best temp I’ve ever hired.”

Tobias lifted his face and stared across the room. “She’s not here.”

“I know she didn’t like the accusation you made but she was planning to attend. I think she decided against it at the last minute.”

Tobias nodded his head. Maybe she was still mad. He knew he would be if someone had accused him of something he didn’t do.

“Just out of curiosity,” he asked, trying to sound casual. “When do temps get paid?” This was uneasy territory for him, not just making small talk, but the kind of information he was after—and it had nothing to with hedge fund transactions.

“Not until January.” Briony replied. “Apparently it’s how the agency works.”

Tobias narrowed his eyes. So that was why. The bastards. He was certain the agency had most likely already invoiced his company for the bill.

“That’s a shame. Some people need the money before Christmas. I pay my employees before Christmas and I’m sure it would help her.”

“Now that you mention it, I think it would. She seemed a little shocked when I told her.”

“Are you in the office tomorrow?”

Briony shook her head. “No,” she replied. Then after a moment, “You’re not inhumane after all, Tobias. It seems as if the Christmas spirit has touched you, too.”

“Don’t push it,” he warned but couldn’t help let a smile slide onto his lips. The image of Savannah Page lining up to get food from that place troubled him. It had been hard enough when he was growing up, but his parents had never had to go to a food bank. He tried to imagine what that felt like, especially with a young son to look after. He noted she didn’t wear a wedding band. Where was the boy’s father?

“Tobias.” Matthias approached him with a firm handshake. “Sorry for the mix-up with the files.”

“So you should be,” replied Tobias coldly.

One thing he did know was that a woman in her position didn’t need any more aggravation from a man like him.

Chapter 14

It was an hour earlier than usual and Jacob was still bleary eyed by the time they made it into the sprawling office building.

Savannah felt a touch of sadness that after tomorrow she would no longer be coming here. Or have a job. Briony hadn
’t said anything about whether her contract would be extended further or not and she assumed that it would end tomorrow. Most of the talk yesterday had been about the Christmas party.

She had no proper work to do, having finished the last task Briony had given her and these next two days would be easy enough. She only needed to rearrange the files on Briony’s work area and keep an eye on the phone and email messages. She anticipated an easy time, with the only difficulty arising from having to sneak her son into the office and then to make sure he stayed there. She knew it was too much to ask of a six-year old, especially being cooped up into a confined space for a long time.

“You can’t bring him in,” said the security guard, barring her way to the elevator. The trying-to-walk-in-casually-with-a-child approach had failed at the first hurdle.

Jacob hid behind her legs, as she knew he would. She could sense her son was scared of the large, hulk of a man and that his unfriendly tone would scare Jacob. It always did.

Remnants of life with Colt.

But she wasn’t going to give up. She couldn’t
not
work and she couldn’t leave Jacob anywhere. The lobby was decidedly quieter and she hoped it was due to the fact that a lot of people had already started their holidays. Hopefully Tobias Stone had, too.

“You can check with Mr. Stone. He’s fine with this. But I’d think twice if I were you, about challenging his decision. I work on the same floor as him,” she pointed to her security tag, and tried to sound as if she didn’t care. But her nonchalance was only skin deep. Inside she was a quivering mess. After the recent run in with Tobias and the Dalton file fiasco, she didn’t want to give him a good reason to throw her out. That man seemed to take pleasure in making people suffer. Maybe she should have dialed her response down slightly. But she’d been that other type of woman when she’d been with Colt and it hadn’t served her well. She wasn’t going to become that person again.

She prayed that the guard wouldn’t check, and then she also prayed that Tobias Stone wouldn’t be in, just in case he did. The guard eyed her warily and picked up the phone. Savannah’s heart thundered as if she was getting ready to race 100 km.