Billionaire's Retreat (2 page)

C
hapter
3

Sarah
’s
business partner C
hris
put together photographs
to use in their
proposal to the Titanimums. Chris would eventually legally change his name to Krist
y
after undergoing a sex change operation.

Saturday morning, Sarah
phoned
Chris, “I’m leaving home. I will be over to pick you up in about ten minutes. Please be ready so we can
be on time
to our meeting.
”
  

At the marina, the butler invited them aboard the yacht. “Hi, I am Sarah Giltry and this is my business partner Chris Kane.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Giltry and Sir Chris. I am Gregory.” 

Sarah said, “We are here to meet with Mr. and Mrs. Titanimum about remolding their castle.” 

“Come in and have a seat. I’ll let them know you’re here.”

Gregory returned after a brief moment. “The
y will see you now
.
” As the yacht pulled away from the shore, he further stated, “
Best of luck in your meeting.”
 

Once in the
study
,
Bridget
and Woodrow
greeted Sarah and Chris with a friendly e
m
brace as they exchanged pleasantries. After everyone was seated, Sarah began her prese
n
tation. She gave a brief history of the company and showed photographs of their makeovers of several mansions. “I have access to some of the best skilled craftsmen in the area. They would compliment me in providing you the quality result that you would be proud
in
present
ing to
your guest. I will make sure every dollar you spend will be put to good use.”

When the meeting concluded Woodrow said, “Dinner should be ready soon. If you
’d
like to freshen up or to be alone for a moment there is a guest
cabin
down the hall.” 

In the guest
cabin
, Sarah and Chris felt co
n
fident that they would be selected to do the job.
Gregory
knocked on the door.  He provi
d
ed the
m
with glasses and a pale with a bottle of champagne chilling on ice. Sarah said, “I am going to be the next Mrs.
Titanimum. That is my bet.
Would you like to take me up on my bet?” 

“Sure. The bet will be for five grand of your fee that you will receive from this job.
Howe
v
er, I’m a little confused.
”

“Why would you be confused?”

“I thought you loved your husband.”

“I do love Jared. I was joking. Each day, I hold out hope
, somehow,
he will return.
”
 

“Let us do a toast.”
They raised their go
b
lets.

“This is for life and our continued profe
s
sional relationship.”

Gregory
returned about a half hour later.
He e
scorted them to the dining area. Sarah complimented them on the food
.
Woodrow
b
ragged about his personal chef
.
 

C
hapter
4

In February,
Sarah received a phone call from Harry. “It’s nice of you to call Mr. Brisband.”

“I have good news Sarah
;
we have been awarded the contract. The City Council came through for us with the ethnic minority me
m
ber voting in our favor to give us the nod. Our celebrat
ion
is planned for the second Saturday in th
is
month.” 

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I will finish making my flight plans. You can count on me.  Harry, I will be there.”

The Friday before the ball Sarah cut out of the office early and boarded her flight
.
In
Da
l
las
, s
he picked up a rental car at the airport. Harry had arranged for her to stay at a pre
s
tigious downtown hotel. She would
s
tay
until Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, she dropped in on Lucinda at home. 

“Sarah. What a surprise.
You didn’t tell me that you were going to be in town.” 

“No, I wanted it to be a surprise.”
             

“Come on in.” 

“
I really love those roses
.” 

“David gave them to me for Valentines Day.” 

“Maybe one day I’ll find love again. Are you going to be available tonight?  The reason I ask
is that Mr. Brisband is throwing a party. I want to take you along.” 

“I had planned on going to the movies with David tonight. I will let him know that we will have to reschedule the movie to another day.” 

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to stir up any friction in your marriage.” 

“Honey, don’t you worry.  I’ll deal with D
a
vid. 
W
hat are we celebrating?” 

“We are celebrating my part of a mega mu
l
ti million dollar city renovation project.” 

After Sarah left, David awoke. He had fallen asleep in the
d
en. He entered the kitchen while yawning. Lucinda was putting together a snack.

“David I hope you don’t mind. Sarah is in town and has invited me to a party.”

“That’s find I was contemplating the idea of hanging out with the boys at Jake’s house. He wants to show off his new 60”
t
elevision. We’ll be watching tonight’s NBA All
-
Star Weekend Basketball telecast. We can always go to the movies some other time.” 

Later that
evening,
Sarah arrived to pick up Lucinda
. S
he was dressed in a black evening gown trimmed in gold with a
split
which
went up to the midway point of her right thigh. D
a
vid invited her in since Lucinda was still ge
t
ting dressed. 

Sarah said, “I’ll be sure to get your girl back home before morning.” 

“Do you really want to get started with me?” 

“Cool it David. I was
joshing.” 

“I know. If you are not teasing then you are trying to cause trouble.” 

“I don’t want to cause trouble. Why would I ever want to cause trouble?”

Lucinda walked out as Sarah completed her statement. 

“Am I interrupting something?” 

“No baby, your friend
is
threatening to keep you out all night.” 

“You don’t have anything to worry about David. Are you ready to go Sarah?” 

“I’m ready.”

At Jake’s party, the guys ribbed David when they found out from him that Lucinda was a
t
tending a
n
upscale event
at a
downtown
bal
l
room.

Jake said, “She might find a man with four times your money and you’ll be damn out of luck.” 

“We have invested too much in our ma
r
riage. I don’t have any reason to believe that she would be unfaithful
.
” 

At the ball, Sarah and Lucinda
were
a
p
proached by two men.  

“Would you ladies mind if we join you?”

“Sure Terrell that would be fine.” 

Terrell sat beside Sarah while his friend sat next to Lucinda.

He introduced himself, “Hi. I am Vincent James. And you are?” 

“I am Lucinda Stalling
s
. And I am very much so married.” 

“I hear you lady
.
I noticed the emphasis that you put on
b
eing married.” 

They talked and drank. A nice romantic song started playing and Terrell asked Sarah to dance. While they danced, Vincent tried to make a play for Lucinda. He
tried to
put
an
arm around her shoulder
s but she pulled away.

“If you want to keep sitting there then you are going to have to behave yourself
!
”

Sarah and Terrell returned to the table
. W
hile they were
having dinner
, they noticed Lucinda removing her earrings. Sarah co
m
mented, “
I know you are not disrobing.
” 

Lucinda clasped them in a closed fist and then laid them on the table beside her plate. “
I know you are
not serious
. If you must know, I removed my earrings because they were hur
t
ing my ears.
” 

The next afternoon Lucinda got a call, “Hi, this is Vincent.”

“How did you get my cell phone number?” 

“I noticed after you left the party that you had dropped your earrings.
Sarah gave me your phone number
.”

“W
ait until I get my hands on that b
itch!”

“That’s no way for a lady to be speaking. I thought maybe I’d drop by
to return them.
” 

“I told you
, I am a married woman!
” 

“I only want to return your earrings.” 

“Why don’t you leave them with Sarah?  She will give them to me.” 

“I am going to be at the coffee shop on the corner down from your house in the next fi
f
teen minutes. Be there. I’ll have your prope
r
ty.”  He hung up. 

Lucinda walked into the coffee shop
.
Vi
n
cent was sipping on a latte. She slithers into the booth across from him, “I don’t intend to be here long
!
” 

“Why wouldn’t you?” 

“Where are my earrings?” 

“I didn’t think you would really come. I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed being with you last night. Maybe we can have a nice innocent sociable conversation.” 

“I told you
,
I am a married woman
!
”   

Tauntingly
he said, “I know. You are a ma
r
ried woman.
Here are you earrings dear.
M
aybe I
’ll
call you
again.”
She picked up the earrings from the table
,
turned her back
,
and then
sa
shayed out the door.

Sarah heard a knock on her door at the h
o
tel.  She opened the door to find Lucinda still fuming
.
“How could you have given out my personnel information to
a
guy that I barely know?” 

“Come in Lucinda. I
am
packing. I will have to be at the airport shortly. Why are you mad at Vincent?  He is a harmless cooperate atto
r
ney
that
recently made partner at a high pr
o
file law firm. I wish
that
he were interested in me.”

When Sarah
finished packing
,
Lucinda fo
l
lowed her to the airport to see her off.

C
hapter
5

After arriving back in Los Angeles, Sarah wasted no time getting back into her regular work routine. One afternoon, as she sat at her desk preparing to leave, the telephone rang.  “Yes Anna.”

“You have a call on line two. A Mr. Johnny Davis says he needs to speak with you urgen
t
ly.

“Hi Johnny
, w
hat
do you have to tell me t
hat c
ould
not wait? You’d better have a good re
a
son
for interrupting me
. I am a busy woman.
I don’t have time to waste.
”

“You are right. I have quite a nerve to be calling so soon after casting my
City C
ouncil vote
to help
Brisban
d
win his contract.”

“Insane is a better word to describe
this call
. Why are you calling me
,
Johnny?
”

“
My wife Vera and I were talking about old times
when
I happened to mention your name. She is concerned about you. We all attended college together. We are going to Malibu Beach this Saturday
. Would you like to join us?
You can probably bring along one of your business associates.”

“Tell Vera
,
I wouldn’t want to miss the o
p
portunity to get away
.
”

Sarah wrote down the information needed for the weekend stay over.

Johnny said, “We will meet you
i
n Malibu Beach.”

“Take care.”

Jare
d
’s mother R
a
chelle
hired D
allas
based
Private
Eye
Daniel Burks
. She provided him with information regarding Jared’s friends and family members. “I don’t trust his wife, Sarah. I believe she has something to do with his disappearance.”
Burks assured her that he would do a thorough investigation. His mother wanted to remain hopeful but knew he prob
a
bly would not be found alive. 

On Tuesday, Sarah came in late to the office. An
n
a informed her that Bridget Titanimum had set an appointment
for
Thursday to fina
l
ize the interior
de
signing
contract for the ca
s
tle.
“
She
said her husband rea
lly want
s
to sign the contract
as
soon as possible
.
”

“That’s good Anna.
Thank you.
”

That night when Sarah
got
home
,
she had a talk with her sister that was
visiting from out of town
.
“Sis
ter girl
,
I
have some friends flying
in from Dallas
. I agreed that we would spend the weekend with them
in
Malibu Beach.”

“I wouldn’t mind going. However, I thought we could spend some sister time together. A
f
ter all,
Jared is still missing
. Who knows what ever happened to him.”

“You are right Amanda. Maybe I should just call them and cancel.”

“No
!
No
!
Do
n’t
do that. If you are feeling up to it, then we should spend the weekend
i
n Malibu Beach.”

Sarah changed the conversation, “
I’m really surprised that you didn’t bring your
fiancé
Dam
ien
with you
from San Francisco
.”

“That man is always busy.  When we first met, I could never have imagined his work as a
c
ertified
p
ublic
a
ccountant
would
consum
e
so much of his day to day life.”
 

Amanda, he must feel the say way about you. I wonder how the two of you ever find time to spend together. As a corporate office manager, you’re always on the go.
 

W
e both feel fulfilled
i
n our careers. The time we do share, we try to make
the best of it.

  Thursday Bridget
and Woodrow
came in for
their
appointment
.
They
looked over the
contrac
t, asked
a few questions
then Woodrow affixed his signature.

“I should be able to start work on the castle next week.”

Woodrow said,
“Take all the time you need Sarah.
I know you are going to make us proud.
” 

“I might be tempted to come over
to
take a dip in your new huge pool
.
”

“
W
e’ll be certain to invite you over to break it in.”
Bridget promptly replied.