Page 39 of Billionaire Corruption

“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” I said, grinning.

“Probably not,” he smiled and kissed me again, this time with a hint of tongue teasing me, pulling me in deeper.

“But you can’t deny it, there is something between us.”

I couldn’t really argue with him.

If being with him was wrong, why did it feel so right?

I found all this very confusing.

I’d always made decisions with my brain, working out the pros and cons, making lists and basing my decisions on that. Never the heart, certainly not whatever else was going on here, lust? This desire we had, what was that even?

I wanted to make the right decision but did this mean choosing to be with someone who was wrong. Even more confusingly, was Paul wrong? If he had done some questionable things in his life, perhaps even acted criminally, did that make him a bad person or could he be a good person who had made bad choices?

All of this was giving me a headache.

Chapter 16

Paul

I was about to leave work when Alana popped into my office.

“You got a minute?”

She must have seen I was about to go, as she didn’t wait for my answer but said, “Maybe I’ll walk you down?”

The words were casual, but the expression on her face was everything but. Her shoulders were tensed, her arms clasped tightly across her chest.

“Sure,” I said, keeping it light.

As we approached the elevator, I said, “Why don’t we go for a quick drink?”

She immediately said yes, and we walked to a nearby restaurant where Alana led the way inside, to the back.

“What is going on?” she came out with it right away, not mincing her words.

She’d been away in Düsseldorf for the past week, overseeing a new project in Germany. It had been her first day in the office since getting back.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She looked at me like I had landed from another planet.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it?!” her eyes were open wide, it struck me that she was terrified.

“I’ve just been getting on with things,” I admitted. “I’ve had a lot on my plate.”

Our waiter arrived with our drinks, and we waited for him to leave.

“They’ve requested all our files and records for the European contracts and invoices. I mean, it will take them forever to go through all of it, it will take months at least…”

“I know, I know…” We had been told the main focus of the investigation was South America, but if accountants were now looking into our EU units, it was coming very close to home. I was responsible for most of our operations there, along with Alana. It had been our chief area of growth, and as the chief operations officer, she knew exactly what was going on.

“Brock said he had everything under control but I’m not that sure anymore.” I could admit this to Alana. The chairman was acting oddly, and I didn’t know what to make of it anymore.

“You’ve been careful with your email?”

She nodded vigorously.

---