Fall into Forever (Fall into Him Book Three) (5 page)

“When I returned from France five years ago, I became Mr. Haas's
executive assistant.” Eloisa's tone indicated that they were getting close to
the reason for the conversation. She was choosing her words with more care. “Over
the course of the past year, Mr. Haas has become... obsessed with Philip's
business.”

Jennifer frowned. She automatically balked at the idea of someone who
considered herself to be Philip's friend working for the man who'd abused him,
but Eloisa's statement was just plain confusing. Why would Johann be obsessed
with his son's business and why did it matter? “I don't understand.”

Eloisa opened her mouth, paused, as if trying to find the most delicate
way to say what she meant. “Mr. Haas believes that Philip's success is a
challenge. A way for Philip to say that he is better than his father.”

Jennifer bit back the urge to tell Ms. Rousseau that Philip was ten
times the man his father was and all she needed to see were the scars on
Philip's back to prove it. It wasn't her place to share if Eloisa didn't
already know. Instead, she stuck with the simple. “That's slightly
unbelievable.”

“Perhaps,” Eloisa admitted. “But Mr. Haas has decided that the best way
to handle the situation is to eliminate the competition.”

Jennifer pieced together the situation. “He's trying to take down
Philip's company?”

“Yes,” Eloisa nodded. “He is trying to teach Philip a lesson.”

“Okay,” Jennifer folded her arms. “But why are you telling me this? You
work for Johann Haas. Tell him there’s no good reason to try to take down
Philip.”

Eloisa gave Jennifer a sad smile. “If it were that easy, do you not
think I would have already done it? Mr. Haas sent me to Philip to try to
negotiate a deal that would allow him access to his son's business.”

“And you went along with it?” Jennifer felt a flare of anger towards
the woman that had nothing to do with jealousy but restrained herself. She had
no right to judge. She didn't know if she would've had the guts to stand up to
someone like Johann Haas if he'd been her boss.

“No,” Eloisa shook her head. “I have been trying to convince Philip to
come to a compromise that will satisfy his father enough that Mr. Haas will
leave him alone.” She made as if she were going to touch Jennifer's arm, and
then thought better of it. “I wanted to speak to you because I believe that you
can succeed where I have failed. Philip will no longer take my calls. He does
not want to compromise, nor believe that he should have to.”

“How am I supposed to help?” Jennifer wasn't sure she thought Philip
should compromise. It sounded to her like Johann was in the wrong. “You're his
childhood friend. If you can't convince him, what makes you think I can?”

Eloisa looked surprised. “You do not realize how important you are to
him?”

Heat rushed to Jennifer's face as she shook her head. “No, that's not
true. I'm just his assistant.” She didn't add that she was also fucking him, in
part because it wasn't Eloisa's business, but also in part because she wasn't
sure if that made her mean more or less to Philip.

“Do you know how many assistants Philip has trained personally?”

“No.” She'd always assumed that someone as controlling as Philip
probably trained his own assistants.

“None,” Eloisa's voice softened. “He does not allow anyone to spend
that much time with him. He always leaves or makes others leave after a short
period of time. Not even I have ever spent more than a few hours with him at
one time. To allow you that close proximity for such an extended period of time
tells me that he considers you someone special.”

Jennifer's eyes widened in disbelief. Was it possible that Philip
really did value her that much?

“Please, Jennifer, speak with him. Ask him to reconcile with his father
before things become worse. I fear that if he does not, Mr. Haas will not stop
until he has destroyed everything Philip has worked so hard to build.”

Jennifer wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to either the
statement or the request. Was it really her place, especially after she'd tried
so hard to let Philip tell her things at his own pace? But, could she really
stand by when she knew that Philip's abusive father was trying to hurt him
again? What if she
did
keep her mouth shut and Johann succeeded in
taking Philip down? Could she live with herself? Then again, what if she did
ask him? Wouldn’t he want to know how she knew about his father's plans? Would
he think that she'd been going behind his back and being nosy? She wasn't sure
which risks she was willing to take.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Thank you.” Eloisa beamed as if Jennifer had said that she could fix
all of the problems. “I know that you will do what is right and that Philip
will listen to you.”

Then, to Jennifer's surprise, Eloisa leaned forward and pressed her
lips against Jennifer's right cheek and then against her left.

“I think we shall meet again, Ms. Brooks.” Eloisa squeezed Jennifer's
hand. “I believe I will try one last time to speak with my old friend, but I
believe that it will be you who will bring this to a conclusion.”

With that last comment, Eloisa walked back the way they came, leaving
Jennifer staring after her in disbelief of what had just happened. Even as she
was trying to process the conversation, Jennifer flashed back to the first time
when she'd seen Eloisa and how jealous she'd been when the other woman had
kissed Philip's cheek. Maybe it hadn't been what Jennifer had originally
thought. The French were known for kissing the cheeks of others in greeting or
farewell. Eloisa had just demonstrated that she followed that tradition. It
seemed to Jennifer that she'd been mistaken in her previous assumptions. There
wasn't anything between Philip and Eloisa but friendship. She suddenly felt bad
about all of the time and energy she'd spent being jealous.

“Can't do anything about that now,” she muttered to herself. She took a
deep breath. What she could do was go home like Philip had told her to and
spend her time off making her decision about Brad. Once she'd done that, she
could decide what to do about the information Eloisa had just given her. One
problem at a time.

The answering machine was blinking when she walked in the door and she
immediately pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. Most people who called her
only called the landline when they couldn't reach her on her mobile.

“Shit,” Jennifer swore. She hadn't checked her battery before work and
it had died. She plugged it in and then hit play on the answering machine as
she kicked off her shoes.

“Hey, Jenny, it's Brad. I called your cell a couple times and didn't
get answer. I'm getting worried. Call me.” He didn't sound too happy.

**BEEP**

“Jennifer, it's Rachel. I'm guessing you forgot to charge your phone
again. I won't be home tonight. Remember the hottie from the restaurant? Cole?
He asked me out after work and I fully intend to take advantage of having
tomorrow off.” Rachel's voice grew serious. “Thing is, I'd like to talk to you
before the next time I see you because who knows when that'll be. Give me a
call when you get home from work. Thanks, sweetie. Love ya.”

**BEEP**

“It's Brad again. I'm guessing you're at work, but I can't figure out
why you haven't responded to any of my voicemails. Maybe you need to give me
your work number so this doesn't happen. I'll try again later.” She could hear
the edge to his voice even though he was trying to sound pleasant.

Voicemails? Plural? As in, he'd called more than once.

Jennifer sighed in frustration as she went back to her phone. Sure
enough, there were eight missed calls from Brad and eight voicemails. She
wasn't going to listen to them. She'd already heard two of his messages. She
didn't need to hear the same thing eight more times. Besides, she knew it was
an answer he was after and she wasn't ready to face that just yet.

Jennifer deleted the messages and told herself that she'd call him
later. Right now, she needed to talk to Rachel. Their conversation had gotten
cut off last night and Jennifer really did want her friend's perspective on the
whole thing. It shouldn't take long. Rachel had a way of putting things
succinctly that most other people would take hours to explain.

After she'd changed out of her work clothes and into a comfortable pair
of jeans and a t-shirt, she grabbed a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels to
munch on. She had a feeling she wouldn't be doing much of the talking in this
particular conversation. When Rachel was giving her opinion, she tended to
dominate the conversation. Since the cell was still charging, Jennifer took the
house phone with her to the couch.

“Forgot to charge the phone again, didn't you?” Rachel's voice was
dryly amused as she answered.

“Yeah, Mom, I know, I need to pay better attention.” Jennifer grinned
at the familiar exchange. Even though she and her roommate were less than five
years apart in age, Rachel often took a mothering approach to their friendship.
She said it was the result of having been raised with all brothers. She
mothered them and they were extremely overprotective of her. Jennifer was of
the opinion that it was just Rachel's personality, but she didn't argue her
point of view.

“Look, Jennifer,” Rachel grew serious. “There were some things that I
didn't get to finish saying yesterday, but I need to know that you want to hear
them.”

“I do.” Now she was curious. Usually she only had to ask once for
Rachel's opinion.

“You know how you asked if I believed if people could change and I said
I did? I was going to offer a clarification at the end of that statement
because I don't think it's just some magical thing that happens just because
time passes. At least, not in the way you're talking about. When it's in
someone's personality to treat others poorly or to control other people, it's
ingrained in their personality, a part of them. They might want to change it,
especially if it's hurting their relationships, but it's hardly ever something
they can do on their own.”

Jennifer set down her bottle of water, her stomach tightening. Rachel
was saying what Jennifer had been afraid of, that she was being too hopeful
about Brad being different.

“Did Brad say that he'd gotten any help? Like from a therapist or a
counselor?”

“No,” Jennifer's voice was small. She didn't even have to ask Brad to
know the answer to that question, even if he hadn't said it. Brad had always
said that people who needed therapists were just too weak to deal with things
themselves. “He just said that he'd come to the realization that there’d just
been a miscommunication this whole time. That he never actually meant to say
anything hurtful.”

“Sweetie,” Rachel's voice softened. “Did he ever actually admit that
he'd done anything wrong or did he claim all of it was a mistake or a
misunderstanding?”

Jennifer swallowed hard. She hadn't thought about that before.

Rachel took Jennifer's silence as an answer and asked another question.
“Would you believe an alcoholic who said they were sober if they hadn't gone to
rehab?”

“If they weren't drinking anymore…” Jennifer could hear the hopeful
note in her voice and hated herself for it. “I could see that they'd changed.”

“And have you really seen a difference in how he's treating you or is
he just saying that he's changed?”

Rachel fell silent as Jennifer considered the question. Brad had
listened to her, had given her a metaphorical shoulder to cry on, but had there
been an ulterior motive there? Had he just been telling her what she wanted to
hear so she'd be willing to try their relationship again? Had she really fallen
for his tricks again?

Her eyes fell on her cell phone and she remembered the eight voicemails
she hadn't listened to and two from her answering machine that she had heard.
This time, however, she let herself hear and see what she hadn't before. She
could hear the familiar undertone that had been present in so many of his
conversations before, the one that meant he was annoyed at her but wasn't going
to come out and say it.

And then there was their conversation the day after he'd proposed, when
he'd been pushing her to make a decision. The things he'd said, at the time
she'd thought that they'd made sense, that he'd been presenting her with a
logical argument, but now she could hear the cruelty behind the statements.
Then, of course, before he'd claimed he'd changed, there had been the
confrontation at the hotel where he'd all but said that she'd gotten her promotion
through sex.

“What do you think I should do, Rachel?” Jennifer asked in a small
voice. She was even more torn than she had been before. She still wanted to
believe that Brad had changed, but everything that Rachel had said and
everything that her own eyes and ears were telling her said that he hadn't.

“Do you love him?”

Leave it to Rachel to be blunt about it. “Honestly, I don't know. I did
once and I thought I always would, but now I'm not so sure.”

“And could this be because of a Mr. Philip Haas?” Rachel's tone changed
to one of curiosity. “Any changes on that front?”