Page 34 of The Billionaire's Temptation

Going on instinct now, she turned right as well, but she looked down at her phone, trying to appear casual to any observers. Clarissa almost laughed at herself, wondering if anyone would even care if she met with a woman in a coffee shop. To anyone watching, Clarissa and the other woman seemed to be about the same age. The other woman was thinner than Clarissa, but they probably had a great deal in common. Clarissa recognized her now, as the woman who had rolled her eyes during the meeting.

Well, they were similar except that the woman probably had a college degree. And a career, instead of just a job that barely paid the bills. The stranger most likely owned her own house, while Clarissa was still renting a dump that should have been condemned thirty years ago. Which was probably about when the carpet had been installed.

Stepping into the coffee shop, Clarissa looked around and, off in the far right corner, the woman sat with her head bent as she scrolled through her phone.

Clarissa inhaled deeply, then walked up to the barista. “Can I get a cup of your…” she paused to read the menu. “I’ll just have a cup of the peach herbal tea.”

She paid for her drink, then waited for the barista to pour the hot water and dunk the tea bag into the water. Thirty seconds later, she carried the cup of tea over to the table and sat down across from the woman. “You needed to speak with me?”

The woman lifted her head and looked around, surveying the other patrons in the coffee shop. Since it was still early enough in the morning, the lunch crowd hadn’t arrived yet. She sighed and looked at Clarissa.

“I’m Mandy,” she explained. “I’m a junior accountant working on your account.” She looked around again, obviously nervous. When she turned back to Clarissa again, she blurted out, “If you want to start a foundation, don’t let those bastards stop you.”

Clarissa was startled by her vehemence. Finally, she said, “Why would they try to stop me?’

“Because they prefer having all of your money under their control. They work with your father’s investment company, looking for good deals. When they come up with a great business idea, they want as much cash on hand as possible, so they can invest your money.”

“Okay, but isn’t that what they are supposed to do?” she asked, getting a sick feeling in her stomach. This woman was about to tell her something she didn’t want to know. And more importantly, she was about to tell Clarissa something that she didn’t know how to fix.

“As accountants, it’s our job to ensure that any business venture that you start is done legally and the taxes on the business entity are paid quickly and accurately.” She looked pointedly at Clarissa. “We’re not supposed to invest personal money into whatever business ventures they recommend to a client, and we’redefinitelynot supposed to discourage you from doing something with your money that you want to do.”

Clarissa bowed her head for a long moment, then nodded. “Thank you for telling me.” She sipped her tea thoughtfully, then asked, “So how do I stop them from putting my money towards a business venture? Since it sounds as if my inheritance is subsidizing their business ventures.”

“It’s worse than that,” Mandy whispered. “Take the notebook home and read pagesseventy one through eighty-four.” She stood up and put the lid onto her coffee cup. As she gathered up her bag from the floor, a napkin fluttered to the bench beside Clarissa. “Call me when you have questions.”

And then Mandy was gone. Clarissa sat in the coffee shop, sipping her peach tea for the next thirty minutes, refusing to get up just in case someone was outside the coffee shop, watching her or watching for Mandy. The woman was obviously warning Clarissa, but what could she do?

It was a mystery that she needed to resolve.

Stuffing the napkin into her purse as surreptitiously as possible, she closed her purse, tucked it under her arm and hefted the notebook into her arms. As she tossed her empty cup into the trash, she slipped her three dollar sunglasses on. They were scratched and wobbly on her nose, but she wasn’t the kind of person who was willing to spend three hundred dollars on a pair of sunglasses. Even if she was now worth over five billion dollars.

Yep, that was the number she’d seen on the summary page of the data her accountants had given to her. Five billion. With a B. She’d often wondered what it would be like to have a million dollars. What would she do if she ever won a million dollars? Now she had several billion. Clarissa couldn’t even process how much a billion dollars was.

She still wasn’t clear about how much she had in cash versus assets versus stocks and bonds. But those were details she’d work out once she had more information.

For now, she headed back to her new house to read through pages seventy one through eighty-four. Her curiosity burned as she drove home, but she remembered to keep an eye on her rear view mirror. She’d watched enough many stalker murder mysteries to be aware of the possibility of being followed home.

Parking in the garage and closing the door, she released a sigh of relief. Being wealthy was far more stressful than people realized! She’d gotten home, but was nervous about everyone that pulled up behind or beside her at a stoplight. What if someone jumped out and tried to kidnap her?

“You’re being ridiculous!” she told herself as she got out of the Range Rover and headed into the house.

“How was your meeting?” Martha asked, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. Joseph was sitting on one of the island stools, finishing up his lunch.

“It was pointless,” Clarissa admitted. “It felt like the accountants were trying to bore me to death.” She slid onto the stool beside Joseph as Martha turned to pull something out of the oven. Martha set a warm, grilled sandwich on a plate, then pushed the plate across the table to Clarissa.

“That sounds typical,” Joseph grumbled. He wiped his mouth with one of the fabric napkins, then stood up and took his plate to the sink, rinsing it off as he continued, “Your father was considering changing accounting firms. I don’t know if he was really going to do it, or if he was just irritated about something the current people were doing and he was threatening them, trying to get them to stop.”

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Clarissa commented, taking a bite of the grilled cheese sandwich. “Oh, this is so good!” She took another bite as Martha set a glass of lemonade by her elbow. “You’re going to spoil me.” But Clarissa wasn’t complaining. She took a long sip of the lemonade, surprised to discover that there was a touch of lavender in the mix. “Absolutely delicious!”

Martha chuckled. “You’re easy to please.”

Clarissa laughed, nodding her agreement. But Martha’s words brought back Levi’s hasty departure this morning. She wanted to understand why he’d left so quickly, but at the same time, she didn’t want him to tell her that he wasn’t interested. He might not be, but Clarissa was in denial at the moment. It was better to hold out hope that Levi might want a repeat of the previous night.

Clarissa finished her sandwich and carried her plate over to the sink. “That was wonderful, Martha. Thank you for making it.” She sighed and turned. “Now, I need to do some heavy reading and figure out what those obnoxious men are trying to hide from me.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Martha assured her.

Chapter 11

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