Page 8 of Mr. Billionaire's Second Chance

I noticed that all eyes were on me much more than usual today, and it was hard to ignore the whispers even though they stopped every time I got close to anyone. From the time I heard that someone from Eland and Ballard was going to show up I knew there’d be trouble, but I didn’t expect word to spread so quickly. If I don’t tell Riley exactly what she wants to hear, I’m just going to make the morning news tomorrow, and it won’t be pretty.

I opened up the door to my office to see Riley sitting there with her notepad in her lap. She smiled at me getting up to shake my hand.

“Riley, it’s a pleasure. Please, make yourself at home,” I said.

“When we booked this interview a few weeks ago you were looking into buying a few properties around the city and turning them into complexes. I had a list of questions regarding that prepared, but as you know there has been a lot of talk going on lately. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask about it.”

“What do you know as fact?” I asked. I didn’t want to be running around in circles or have Riley catch me on a lie that she could spin into tomorrow’s headline. I’ve been at this for far too long to have a slip-up like that.

“Aren’t you a smart one? Well, it’s been confirmed that you are being investigated for fraudulent activity. I have multiple sources stating the fact. All I know is that a private firm is handling this, but I’m not sure which one nor who hired them to do it. Would you like to share that information?”

“Nice try, Riley. All I’m going to say on the matter is that we have nothing to hide. They can search all they want, but they aren’t going to find anything. I grew up around some of the most brilliant businessmen New York has ever seen. I wouldn’t ever get myself involved in something like this because I know that the truth always does come to light eventually,” I said.

This seemed to satisfy her enough because she wrote it all down before moving onto all the other topics she wanted to ask me about. I needed the world to know that I had a handle on this and that no one was going to tarnish the reputation of the company I helped build. If only you were here, Father. You’d get the chance to tell me what a shit job I was doing at handling this even though you wouldn’t be doing any better yourself. You were always so damn critical.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Clarke.”

“Thank you for stopping by, Riley.”

I watched as my assistant led her to the elevators and when she returned, I had a job for her.

“Claire?”

“Yes, boss?”

“I need you to find who Riley’s sources were. I need every name of each employee that so much as uttered a word about what’s going on here. I expect a list on my desk by tomorrow morning. Do you think you can handle that?”

“Y-yes sir,” she said, with a gulp.

“Good. I’ll be working late so I’m going to need you to bring me dinner before you head out.”

“Of course, sir. The usual?”

“Yes, and get two orders. I might be in the mood to share.”

I glanced out of my glass office to see Katherine standing there chatting with a few of my employees. No time like the present to turn on the charm.

It was getting late and everyone started clearing out for the evening, but I stayed back. I tapped my pen on my desk impatiently just as Claire came in with a bag of Thai food, setting it down on the coffee table at the other end of my office.

“Is there anything else you need, boss?”

“No, Claire. You can head home for the night. Is Katherine still in?” I asked. She nodded, raising an eyebrow at me before turning to leave.

Claire dimmed the lights on her way out, and I grabbed the takeout, heading straight to Kat’s office. I saw her sitting there with her pen between those beautiful, full lips, hard at work looking for any single discrepancy in my company’s financial reports.

“Money never sleeps, huh? You do know you can head home, right?”

“If I recall, I don’t work for you,” she responded, beaming.

“My company pays for this audit, so technically, you are.”

She rolled her eyes and before things got too heated I held up the bag of Thai food, smirking at her.

“Have you eaten?”

I watched as she studied the takeout containers for a moment as I pulled them out, and I had a feeling she was on the verge of telling me to get lost, but she didn’t.

“So, Preston, do you buy all of your employees dinner or just the ones you want to do your bidding?”

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