The Tycoon's Misunderstood Bride (17 page)

Tim immediately took it and walked out the kitchen door.  “Nancy, right?”

Nancy nodded and Emma could tell that she wanted to curtsy.  “Yes.  How can I help?”

“Emma says that you were in Edward Mason’s office each morning to clean it.”

Nancy’s eyes darted nervously to Emma’s.  Emma knew that her new friend thought she’d done something wrong so she smiled encouragingly at her and was relieved when Nancy visibly relaxed with Emma’s reassurance. 
“That’s correct.”

“Do you think you could help us search the room?  We’re looking for secret files that might help Emma find her mother and me to find my father.”

Nancy’s face lit up and she quickly nodded.  “Of course I’ll help.”

Emma smiled gratefully as the three of them moved determinedly back to the office. 

“I was going to go through his desk.  Should we look somewhere else?”

Nancy pursed her lips and looked around
, tilting her head to one side as she studied the angles of the walls and ceilings
.  “There’s a filing cabinet in the corner behind those chairs.”

Jason watched her closely.  “What is it?” he asked, knowing she was thinking something through as she looked around the room. 

Nancy put her index finger to her chin and
bent to examine the floor, then back up at the walls and ceilings
.  “I can’t give you a real answer, except to try to explain something that has always bothered me about this room.”

Emma stepped forward.  “What’s wrong with the room?”

She shook her head.  “I can’t put my finger on it,” she said, still looking around, “but there’s just something off about the room.”

Jason immediately understood.  “The proportions?”  He looked around and quickly started to get into the idea.  “You’re right. 
Something
isn’t correct about the size of this room.”

“
B
ut I don’t know where to start,” she said as her eyes looked behind the desk. 

“There’s a secret room,
isn’t
there?” Emma asked, her heart beating rapidly in excitement. 

Both of them nodded and Emma started measuring the angles in her mind as well.  “Well, let’s get to work,” she said and moved over to the desk.  “I bet there’s a secret compartment in this desk as well,” she said and started opening drawers.

“Go through all the documents that are just in the desk as well,” Jason cautioned.  “He didn’t’ expect to pass away so quickly so he might have left something out that is pertinent.”

“Right,” she said, already pulling out all the papers that were in the main, middle drawer and glancing at them.  Most were just plain correspondence but as she read through the others, she was shocked at how callous her father had been.  There were pleas from individuals asking her father not to foreclose on their house or not to fire them for one reason or another, all the reasons seemed to be trumped up or false.  Emma was more than
embarrassed
to be related to a man who did such vile things to people. 

She started making stacks of the documents.  One pile for the people who were hurt, one pile for the instructions her father sent, and another pile of seemingly benign co
rrespondence.  She suspected they
’d find much more on his computer, once they were able to get into it. 

Once she’d gone through all the files, she started tapping along the panels of the desk just as Nancy and Jason were doing along the panels of the office walls. 

An hour into their search, Tim arrived back and stood awkwardly in the doorway.  “Is there anything I can help with?” he asked. 

Jason turned to Nancy who quickly nodded.  “He can help.  Trust him, he’s seen the worst of it all.”

Tim flushed under Jason’s dark stare.  “We’re looking for a secret room that might hold files that could be important. 

Tim nodded his head and shrugged. “I don’t know about a secret room, but I know of the storage units he had around town where he stored various items.  What you’re looking for might be in one of those units.”

Nancy, Emma and Jason all stared at the driver who looked from one to the other, looking worried and concerned now. 

“Storage units?” Jason’s smile grew larger. 

Tim nodded and almost bowed.  Emma smothered her chuckle at that reaction, having seen it in Nancy earlier that morning.  Jason just had that bearing about him, as if he were some sort of royalty. 

“His bedroom might have something hidden in it as well,” Emma suggested. 

She stood up from her place near the desk and crossed her arms over her stomach.  “I need to go to his office as well.”  She looked up at Jason. “Will you come with me?”

“Of course.”  They moved out of the house and Jason slipped into the driver’s side
of the car
after holding the door for Emma.  “What are you going to do there?” he asked.

“I need to talk to the people that work there.  They need to be made aware of what is about to happen.  They should have a head’s up on this.”

Jason sighed and shook his head
, but continued to focus on the road as they passed through the mid-afternoon traffic
. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“Why is that?” 

He concentrated as he drove through the busy streets.  “Because there isn’t any way your father could have done these things if the people, at least at the highest levels, weren’t helping him.  From what I’ve seen so far, the evidence indicates that the corruption in your father’s company
is
pervasive.”

Emma thought about that for a moment.  “You might be correct.  But I need to give them the benefit of doubt.  Not letting them know what we’ve found, and give them a chance to explain or defend themselves, that would make us as bad as he was.”

Jason shook his head.  “I’ll back you up on this, but I don’t agree.  I appreciate that you’re not doing this alone though.”

They arrived at
the headquarters
a moment later and Jason parked on the street, not wanting to be trapped in that building by entering the parking garage. 

Inside, Emma went straight to her father’s office but was stopped by a stunningly beautiful woman with thick makeup and a tight, purple dress.  “Can I help you?” she asked, looking down at Emma’s jeans and sweater with obvious disdain.  She glanced behind Emma and noticed Jason and instantly her body language changed.  It wasn’t even subtle.  The lips pouted, her shoulders fell back which pushed her breasts out and one hip tilted forward, accenting her slender waist and tight dress.  Her eyes actually caressed Jason as she completely ignored Emma.  “I’d really love to help you,” she said with a sultry, husky voice. 

Emma stepped in front of the blatant hussy and interrupted her view of Jason.  Emma was still several inches shorter than Ms. Make Up Bimbo, but there was no way Emma would allow the harlot to get her claws into Jason.  “I’m Emma Mason,” she declared and glared up at Ms. Make Up Bimbo.  “I believe this was my father’s office?
”

Bimbo looked down, and a moment later, surprise came into her eyes.  “Oh.  I’m sorry Ms. Mason.  I didn’t recognize you.”  She looked Emma up and down once again.  “You’ve changed your look.” 

Emma refused to give her the satisfaction of squirming so she stood perfectly still and continued to glare.  “I’m going into my father’s office.”

Ms. Bimbo’s eyes flashed and she stepped back.  “Since your father…passed away…the office has been claimed by the late Mr. Mason’s Executive Vice President, Gerard Miller.”

“Is Mr. Miller in my father’s office now?”

Ms. Bimbo was startled by Emma’s authoritative tone.  “Well, yes.  But he has meetings.”

“Please cancel them.  At least for the next few moments.  I need to talk with
him
about an urgent issue.  Several in fact.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said and her chin rose up as she moved back to her desk. 

Emma couldn’t believe how stupid the woman was.  Or more specifically, how stupid Ms. Bimbo thought Emma was.  To leave the door unguarded was tantamount to telling the brave new Emma to simply enter.

She pushed through the doors, ignoring Ms. Bimbo’s cry of outrage.  She found a somewhat handsome man with slicked back hair leaning back in her father’s old leather chair.  The man was wearing dark slacks with the matching suit jacket on the back of the chair, and a blue and white striped shirt
with
a red tie.  Emma knew that many men wore red ties to help them appear confident but on this man, it just looked weak and overbearing. 

“Who the hell…” he stopped an
d
swung his leather clad shoes off of the heavy wooden desk.  “Emma?  Is that really you?” the man asked
as he took in her new appearance, now standing in his luxurious office
.  Speaking into the phone, he said, “Dave, I’ll have to get back to you.  Something’s come up.  Almost literally,” he said with a sneer as his eyes traveled up and down Emma’s casual slacks and sweater.  “What brings you into the office today, little lady?”

Again, Emma worked very hard not to squirm or show in any way that this man’s perusal bothered her.  She suspected it was a way of putting him in charge, of making her feel smaller and weaker.  “I see you’ve taken over my father’s office pretty quickly.”

Gerard smiled and waved to the seat in front of his desk.  “Have a seat.” 

Emma glanced behind her but Jason wasn’t there any longer.  She saw Ms. Bimbo glance to the waiting area and Emma suspected that Jason was giving her this time alone to confront her father’s vice president
with her suspicions
. 

“Thank you,” she replied and sat down on one of the leather chairs, realizing that it was still uncomfortable.  “Why don’t you get rid of these horrible chairs?”

Gerard chuckled and Emma knew instantly that
the chairs were
yet another power play.  If a person wasn’t comfortable, they couldn’t focus as well on the conversation. 
“I guess I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

Emma just shook her head and stood up.  “I wanted to give you a head’s up that some of my father’s business dealings weren’t very legal.  We need to clean up the company and make restitution to anyone who was hurt by his business practices.”

Gerard looked at her for a moment, then laughed and shook his head.  “Emma!  You’re priceless!”

“I don’t really think that price is an issue here.”

Gerard stood up and walked around his desk, sliding his hands into the pockets of his slacks.  “Emma, let’s be real.  Your father built an enormously profitable company that will benefit your son, his grandson.  We are in business for one reason, and that’s to make money.”

“Why don’t you do it ethically?”

“We do.  When it suits us.” 

Emma’s eyes widened.  “I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I guess I was being naïve.  You’re just as corrupt as my father.”

Gerard laughed and shook his head.  “Probably more so.  But remember, we all profit from this little secret, don’t we?”

She stood up and glared at him, truly astounded that there was someone in this world just as disgusting as her father. 
“I won’t let you get away with this,” she said and took a step back, overwhelmed not just by his strong
cologne
, but also by the gleam of something not quite comforting in this man’s eyes. 

He sneered at her words, shaking his head in a patronizing manner. 
“Even if you could stop me, you won’t.”

“Why is that?”