Page 35 of Pretend for Me

“Fuck you! I’ll see you in twenty.” I hung up the phone, jumped up, and headed to my bedroom. I spun around the room like a tornado, trying to get ready as quickly as possible. I typed out a message to my driver, letting him know I was running late.

After I filled Rocky’s food bowl, I went for the elevator, knowing I was probably forgetting files I needed in my haste to get out of the apartment. But I really didn’t give a shit. It was not like my job was curing cancer or something meaningful like a school counselor like I’d wanted to become when I was younger. No, I had become part of the greed that I had hated growing up.

I got into the waiting town car with a brief greeting to my driver. As we took off down the street, I hung my head, trying to avoid looking out the window and adding to my nausea.

A hop, skip, and a jump later, I stood in front of the tall building that I had started to loathe entering each day. Nothing had been what I had signed up for, that was for sure.

I contemplated going to the coffee shop on the corner, but I remembered the urgency in Holden’s voice, and against my better judgment, walked toward the building's doors.

With a nod to the receptionist and a reminder to hire an assistant who could get me coffee, I rode the elevator to my department's floor.

When the doors opened, I found Holden waiting for me, briefcase in tow. Instead of his jovial disposition, Holden seemed on edge, nervous even. Fuck, maybe Holden needed a stripper.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Holden grumbled as I walked right past him toward my corner office without so much as a “hello.”

As soon as we were both inside and the door was closed behind us, I looked at Holden expectantly, waiting to hear what was so fucking important.

When Holden didn’t speak and started pacing the room, I sat at my desk and took a pen from the cup and threw it at him, grazing his shoulder.

Holden grimaced, palming the back of his neck.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, losing my patience.

I dug in my desk drawers for a bottle of ibuprofen. When I came up short, I leaned back and threw my arms up in frustration, succumbing to the headache.

“Well, remember how I said I needed to tell you something but then I forgot …” Holden goaded, “I really shouldn’t have. It was important, but I’ve been so wrapped up in Bee, and I think we’re going to take the next step soon …” He trailed off, looking down at his feet.

Growing frustrated with Holden beating around the bush, I clapped my hands together, trying to get him to stay on track. “What did you need to tell me?” I said through gritted teeth, my head still pounding from the copious amounts of bourbon Idrank last night. This conversation was so not helping with the ache forming between my temples.

“Right. Well, you see …” Holden stuttered, nervously. “Wyatt came by my office last month and asked me to work on a project for this sister company he said he acquired a few years back. He told me that it was urgent and asked me not to tell anyone what I was working on. I just figured he didn’t want Adams Point’s competitors finding out that he had this company. But as I crunched the numbers and did some digging, things didn’t add up. I couldn’t find any public records for this company, Nardini Industries,” Holden explained, and he blew out a breath.

“So he doesn’t really have a sister company?” I inquired, too hungover to process all of this.

Holden shook his head. “That’s the thing … he does have assets tied up into this. I can see the wire transfers.” Holden went into his briefcase and pulled out a file, handing it to me over the desk. “But the person’s name on most of the documents is Parker. Wyatt’s name appears as an investor, just like the forty other people in the portfolio. The location of the bank was a tip-off and struck me as odd.”

I took a minute to think about what Holden had just divulged, hung up on the fact that Nardini was Parker’s last name. Why would Wyatt have a secret company and give money to his brother-in-law who he couldn’t stand? I looked through the file, scanning the pages, willing them to say something different then what I was concluding.

Holden shuffled apprehensively, looking anywhere but at me.

I searched for the location of the bank where the deposits were transferred to. Cayman Islands. You didn’t have to be a genius to figure out any of this.

I slammed my fist against the desk in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Why would he do this?”

Holden winced. “Yeah, I didn’t understand all of it at first. But I knew something seemed off, so this past week since Bee’s been working a lot, I had some time to look it over. Once I saw the Caymans, I started to realize that it was probably a shell company. The hidden money, the fake names, Nardini. It just started to add up.”

Enraged, I jumped out of my chair and turned to look out the glass windows. “Not to mention Wyatt hates Parker, and to want to give him all that power is out of character in and of itself. What a fucking prick. To set your own family up like that?”

Holden nodded. “So what are you going to do? I know how much you look up to Wyatt, but you have to admit this shit is fucked up, Matt, even for him. I mean, if shit goes down, Parker will take the heat for it all, and Wyatt can play the victim. That’s just evil.”

He dug into his briefcase, pulling out another file. “Here’s the rest of the information. I haven’t looked through it yet.”

Wyatt probably chose Holden thinking he was too boneheaded to notice the discrepancies. It was a grave oversight on Wyatt’s part. While Holden was fun-loving, he wasn’t dumb.

I shook my head and muttered thanks to my long-time friend, disgusted with my adoptive father. This was a man who spoke of hard work and dedication, yet he had zero loyalty or integrity.

I had worked my ass off and completed all of what was asked of me by my parents. I felt obligated after being adopted by such a wealthy, affluent family. But now to learn what Wyatt really stood for—I was fuming, so fucking pissed at all the bullshit I was put through. And for what? A company with a CEO who was dipping into illegal shit and framing his brother-in-law in the process?

No wonder Wyatt had been so adamant about my taking on more responsibility and his ultimate goal to phase Parker out hisrole of CFO. If Wyatt replaced Parker, Parker would seem like a disgruntled employee who stole from Adams Point if Nardini Industries were to be discovered. It was all so messed up. What type of person did that to their family? If Wyatt was capable of this, I had to wonder what else he was capable of. What else had he done up until this point? Was Adams Point even legit? Could I be implicated in any of this? And was anything real anymore?

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