IF YOU WANTED THE MOON (3 page)

deep sadness in her eyes said differently. He exhaled, as if his revelation only made it worst, because with knowledge came responsibility and he already had more than he could manage as it were.

He looked down, at those legs of hers again, and then back into her big eyes, and something, Tori believed, finaly registered with him. She couldn’t say what it was, but she could feel it, as his stare and that invisible, powerful grip he seemed to have on her began to soften. And before she knew it he was calmly teling Lassiter, without looking away from her, to have that report on his desk by close of business today or he was fired, and then he was gone.

Tori exhaled as if she was royaly relieved by his departure. What was that about, she almost wanted to blurt out. How could a man she’d never even seen before in her entire life have her so unnerved?

She turned to Lassiter, to see if he would have some answers, but she had only to look at him to know what he was thinking, and reassuring her that Ethan Chandler affected every female that way wasn’t it.

Lassiter, in fact, didn’t even bother to tel her who it was she had just insulted. Or that it would be a cold day in hel before she got any job with CDI. Al he told her was goodbye.

Yet two days later, to Tori’s total shock, she was hired. She didn’t realize that the man she so freely insulted during her interview was the chairman, CEO, and namesake of Chandler Development, Inc., until her first day at work when she was handed a hiring packet that sported on its’ cover that beautiful, fierce, inscrutable face she hadn’t been able to get out of her mind.

As for the second time she had the misfortune of meeting him, the time she nearly kiled him, she didn’t even want to think about. She, instead, walked up to the double doors of Patsy’s restaurant in Lincoln Park, and hurried inside to meet her friends. Late, as usual.

An hour before Arthur Coughlin informed Tori that she’d been selected to accompany their boss to Florida, Ethan Chandler looked out of the window on the top floor of CDI and tried his best to keep

his cool. He’d never claim to know everything, or even most things, but he knew a problem when he saw one. And this report, this thick, wel-written, wel-investigated report that his security chief had only moments before handed him, was a problem.

He exhaled. “Who are the suspects?” he asked Marc Grier, a stocky, medium-height dark-skinned man who stood uncomfortably flatfooted in front of Ethan’s massive executive desk, his arms to his

side, his broad shoulders straight and stiff. He was just the bearer of the bad news, the chief of security whose job was to investigate breaches, but he also knew Chandler. And by virtue of proximity alone he knew he’d be the one to feel the brunt of Chandler’s rage.

When Marc Grier spoke, he spoke deliberately, hoping to avoid escalating an already charged situation. “The suspects are Jason Lear, Bobby Keler, Fred Morton, and Manny Davenport,” he said.

“Al senior executives with CDI, al wel respected and above reproach.”

“If they’re so irreproachable,” Ethan spat out, “why are they suspects?”

“Access,” Grier said quickly, as if he’d been anticipating the question. “These are your right hand men, Mr. Chandler. They’re the only ones who would have enough gravitas, enough power and access, for the companies in question to trust them. Think about it. Those companies aren’t going to give up big bucks to find out what our secret bidding wil be on certain projects unless they have ful confidence in the person providing them with that information. Especialy since they have to turn around and put in a lower bid so that they can win the multi-milion dolar contract.”

Ethan sighed. “We’ve been outbid a lot this year.”

“That’s what made me look into this, sir. Something wasn’t right, I could feel it. What gave it al away was when my people investigated and found that more than five times this year the companies that outbid us were a mere thousand or so dolars below our bid offer. That’s too close too many times to be coincidental, especialy since we were never outbid last year or even the year before that. We were always the rock bottom company. You built your reputation on being able to make it work beautifuly with less money than any of your competitors ever could. No other company can bid as low as you and build that shopping mal or mega-church or parking garage completely within specifications and under budget the way CDI can. Because the genius of this company is that we’re al about acquiring building materials cheaply first and then we concentrate on development. There’s a breach here, sir, it has to be. And I don’t have to tel you that this could potentialy cost you milions in lost contracts, Mr.

Chandler. It has already cost you milions.”

“Damn!” Ethan said bitterly as he moved away from the window with a swift, abrupt movement. The one thing he hated was disloyalty, especialy in someone he never would have thought could

betray him. Al four men Grier named, every one of them, met that criteria. He didn’t see this coming. Didn’t have a clue, even as he alowed those same men to encase his inner circle. And it hurt him to his core.

But it only proved what he knew al along, he thought, as he stood behind his desk and thumbed through that report again. Even as a child, when his mother deserted him and his father, a wanted criminal, bounced him from town to town, leaving him with some anybody for weeks on end, only to return without even asking if those people treated him right, that people could not be depended on. He knew even then that as soon as he relaxed and let his guard down, as soon as he thought that he could possibly have some faith in this human being or that one, they always showed their true colors. Always. As if no one had the capacity to surprise him by proving him wrong.

To balance what was an extremely unhealthy prospective on life, he worked hard to do what he could, even if it didn’t keep with the spirit of what he felt. He gave financialy to al kinds of charities and organizations. He volunteered his time at soup kitchens and convalescent homes. He vocaly supported child abuse and neglect foundations. But it was al surface. It was al about doing what he could to help his felow man without becoming
involved
with his felow man. And looking at this report before him, a report on a scheme to destroy the only thing he loved - his company, only reminded him of why, to this day, he kept it that way.

He looked up at his al-business security chief, who also happened to be a Ving Rhames lookalike, and then he frowned. “For goodness sakes, Grier, stop behaving like some constipated army general

and sit down!”

Grier, suddenly realizing the soldier’s pose he had falen into, immediately placed himself at ease and sat down. “I apologize for that, sir,” he said, trying to smile it off although his nerves, not to mention his entire being, were on edge. At forty-three he was four years older than Chandler, and he’d known his boss for nearly twenty years. But in al of that time, and no matter what the circumstances surrounding their meetings, he always felt like some intimidated weakling under him.

“What’s realy going on here, Marc?” Ethan asked, unable to shield his disappointment. “Is it just about the money?”

“We can’t say at this point, sir. We’re looking at this thing from al angles: maybe somebody’s righting some perceived wrong by seeking revenge; maybe somebody’s envious of your success; and yes,

maybe some greedy executive is just out to get what he can get and bury you in the process.”

Ethan exhaled and looked at the report again. Grier was right. It could be anybody. “Who’s the prime suspect?” he asked as he looked over the report again.

“That would be Freddy Morton,” Grier said and Ethan, surprised by that answer, looked at him.

“Why Morton?” he asked. He always thought of Morton as one of his best men, somebody hard working, dependable, loyal. “He doesn’t even handle our bid projects.”

“That’s what makes him prime. Of al the four suspects, he’s the farthest removed. Who would suspect him? As vice president of procurement for your non-bid projects, he has nothing realy to do with your bid works. Beyond scouting for land. But he has that access. And an excelent reputation. And, of al the four we’ve investigated so far, he’s also the one with the x factor.”

“Which is?”

“Gambler.”

“I see.”

“Loses more money than he makes. Got it bad, boss. Real bad.”

“How much are these companies paying him for this information, if he’s the one?”

“We have no idea. Al transactions, we’re sure, are cash payments. Impossible to trace.”

“If he’s the one.”

“Right. But we’ve been working hard on the other three suspects, sir. Everything just keeps leading to Morton.”

Ethan exhaled again. “I’m sure you have a plan of entrapment?”

“Yes, sir,” Grier said excitedly. “An excelent plan we think.” And Grier began, slowly and precisely, to spel out that excelent plan. They would use informants, he said, people who were close to the four suspects but who were also loyal to Chandler’s company. Ethan sat behind his desk and listened quietly, appearing not to be as taken by this scheme as Grier seemed to be. But when Grier stated that they hoped to use Victoria Douglas to cozy up to Morton, Ethan’s head jerked up at Grier so quickly that Grier’s heart nearly stopped.

“Victoria Douglas?” he asked. Just the mention of her name seemed almost like a tease to Ethan. Ever since an incident four days ago when she literaly landed in his lap, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. It was bad before, he’d been thinking about her, dreaming about her, since the first time he saw her on her job interview. But his thoughts of her not only increased after their latest episode, but they intensified. Now here she was popping up again, in another negative situation, and for some strange reason Ethan didn’t like it. He dreaded that Grier was even intimating at getting her involved in this tawdriness by Morton that was nothing short of treason in Ethan’s eyes, and it left him slightly annoyed. “What does Victoria Douglas have to do with this?”

“She’l make the perfect informant for us,” Grier said. “The perfect decoy. Mainly because Morton seems to have a thing for her, although he keeps it undercover.”

“He has a thing for her?”

“Yes, sir. He even sneaks around and take pictures of her with his cel phone, and then he takes the pictures home and puts them on his computer’s hard drive.”

Ethan leaned back in his chair. He was trying to remain calm although his heart was ramming against his chest. The idea that Morton, or any other man, would be taking snapshots of Victoria Douglas was more than he could stomach. Why he couldn’t stomach it, since he’d only met the woman twice, he couldn’t say. “What kind of pictures does he take of her?” he asked, not trying to hide his obvious interest.

“Just pictures. Her walking and working around the office. Talking with her staff.”

“So Morton’s a pervert,” Ethan said with a tinge of bitterness in his voice.

“I wouldn’t go that far. We didn’t find nothing like that. He just seems to have the hots for Douglas.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened as if by reflex. Something was seriously wrong with him and he knew it. Why should he care if some man has the hots for Douglas? She wasn’t his woman and probably would

never be. So why should he care? But he did. Said so al over his suddenly concerned face. He had an undeniable case of out of no-where, irrational, old-fashioned jealousy. “Has Miss Douglas shown any interest in Morton? Is this a two-way street?”

“She’s definitely friendly with him, and they have lunch together in the cafeteria a lot, dinner at her home once, but that’s about it from what my people could gather. They think she might view Morton as a little too old for her.”

Ethan almost smiled. So much for this infatuation. Because if she thought Morton, who was barely thirty-two, was too old for her, then he didn’t stand a chance. Not that he wanted to anyway, he reminded himself.

“This is the deal, Mr. Chandler,” Grier went on. “Morton scouts land for CDI al the time, that’s part of what he does. Let’s say you send him out on a mission, to some smal, secluded resort town somewhere to scout land, and Vicky Douglas just happens to show up, on vacation or something, in that same location. It’s a smal world, after al. So we wire her, they spend a lot of time together, he admits his dastardly deed and wham, we’ve got the scumbag that’s been costing you milions in land bids and project designs. We’l keep close tabs on Douglas, of course, so that nothing goes wrong, and it al works out in the end.”

“I don’t know, Marc,” Ethan said as he ran his hand through his neatly cut brown hair.

“I think It’s a good plan, Mr. Chandler.”

“I don’t like it. Douglas can’t just show up out of the blue like that. Morton’s no fool, he’l automaticaly get suspicious. And if my gut is right, and it usualy is, I don’t see Victoria Douglas as the kind of female who’l wear a wire to entrap her friend, I don’t care what he’s done. No, for this to work she’s got to remain in the dark about what’s going on. And she can’t just happen to be in the same town as Morton. She has to be there on a plausible, work-related purpose. Thieves don’t believe in coincidences.”

“I agree with you. But what plausible explanation could there be for the head of your logistics department to be in some strange, remote town on company business?”

Ethan leaned back and hesitated before responding, as if he had to convince himself first. “She’l be there with me,” he said.

Grier stared straight into Chandler’s fiery blue eyes. He blinked his own. “With you?”

“You said yourself this town has to be remote, a place where Morton’s unlikely to have anything much to do or any connections. I have a summer house in the Florida Keys. That could be our next

scouting ground. In fact I had considered some time ago building a resort out there and Morton knows I’d considered it. He also knows that I always drop in on the area before any feasibility studies are even initiated, just to make sure it’s where I want to be. I’l have him show up a few days after I’ve set down roots and Douglas wil be along as my assistant, which isn’t unusual for me to have, either. None of these moves, as opposed to Douglas just showing up, should make Morton suspicious in the least.”