Empire Part 3: A New Adult and College Billionaire Romance Series (Empire Billionaire Romance) (3 page)

Jonathan

I’m not sure why I bring it up, but it’s on my mind and I feel so close to her, I go for it.

“That Bateman guy is not over you,” I say.

“Are you going to give him a hard time?”

“To the contrary. I think
he’s
the one giving me grief. Maybe if I understood what it was the two of you had, he wouldn’t rattle my chain so much.”

“I see.”

“How long ago did it end?”

“Eighteen months ago.”

“You know, I am a good listener.”

“I’m sure you are,” she says, seeming hesitant. “There really isn’t much there, and even less I want to get into.”

“Maybe you don’t, but the way Bateman looks at you, anyone can tell there’s still a whole lot going on where he is concerned.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t stop living just because he won’t get past what he did to me.”

I lift up one of my elbows and look at her. “I’m just saying, if he is your source in the NYPD, you probably want to come to some resolution. Maybe talking about it with me will help.”

“And is it a two-way street?” She asks.

“How do you mean?”

“Can you be open with me too, Jonathan?”

My guard is up, but I’m feeling so connected to her, I feel I can tell her anything. Almost anything. “Open about what?”

“For starters, you could tell me whether that playboy reputation of yours has any merit.”

“Look me deep in the eye, Rebecca. Do you feel it still matters?”

“Does it?”

“How are you lawyers so good it turning questions around to make things about the other person? Because I thought we were talking about you and Bateman, and now you’re asking me about my reputation. Let’s talk about you.”

“And will we talk about you after were done talking about me?”

“If you’re still in the mood,” I tell her.

She’s not asking for much, and truth be told, my reputation as a playboy is mostly smoke and mirrors. I’ve been with less than five women in my life. Most people would not believe me, given I’ve been seen around New York with many, many more than that.

“Deal,” she agrees, and I’m relieved all the same. “What you want to know about me and Bateman?”

“What happened? And why he is so broken up about it? There’s one thing I know intimately. And it’s about harboring guilt. Bateman? The man seems to be riddled with it.”

She shifts underneath me and I slide off to give her room to breathe. “This is what you want to talk about?”

“I think it will help when you talk to him next. It’ll probably help Bateman too.”

Rebecca lets out a long breath and sits up. “Fine. The Coles notes answer to your question is Rob and I dated. I was still articling for Barnaby Black back then. Do you know that law firm?”

“Yes. Mr. Black died some time ago, didn’t he?”

“Yes. Anyway, the short version is Rob and I disagreed about his treatment of a client that Barnaby had. The client was innocent, but Rob seem to be on a mission to destroy the guy. I still don’t know why. One day we had a huge argument about it, and I told him we needed to cool off after that. It was a simple question of value differences.”

“Interesting.”

“How do you mean?”

“It’s interesting that you managed to tell me almost nothing in that little summary.”

“What do you want to know, Jonathan? You want the dirt on the client? Or the dirt on Rob?”

“Neither. I want to know how you feel. And I want to know if it’s going to impact Rob, and how he responds to me in future. To us.”

“I’m sorry he hit you, Jonathan.”

“I’m not. The man has a full dose of testosterone. Just as I do. But I don’t want him gunning for me so hard that he tries to take it out on you too. And above all, I want to know how you feel about him.”

Her composure changes when I say that last sentence. She’s pensive. Her face softens. Her defensive stance falls away.

“Okay. The truth is I fell in love with Rob. We were in love. We dated for a while. Everything was… Perfect. He understood I was going to be a lawyer. I understood his work hours. We had become best friends. I could tell them everything.”

“Barnaby takes on a client from a wealthy family. The man had just been in a gruesome car accident during an ice storm. His wife died on the scene, and so did the other driver. The man had clearly been in shock on scene and at the hospital, when he said it was his fault and that he had killed them. For some reason, Rob tries to convince his superiors that the man intentionally caused the accident, or was negligent in some way.

“He jumps the gun before he gets their okay, and tells the media the man is going to be charged with negligent homicide. It’s poor judgment. He’s based this solely on the man’s panic-filled on-scene admission, long before traffic officials even complete the investigation at the scene.

“I still don’t know why he was gunning for that man. I don’t why he did it. I don’t know if it had to do with Barnaby taking the case, or because I worked for Barnaby. Once I found out, I confronted him, and told him he had made a huge error in judgment.

“He tells me that just because I was more educated, it didn’t mean I was smarter than him, and it didn’t mean I was right, or that I had any place telling him what to do in his job. There was something hateful about the way he said it. It made me realize he felt threatened by me; by my career, and probably by my motivation and drive. There was no love in what he said or how he said it. He stormed off when I told me it was over, and I watched him leave.”

“It turns out, that man was innocent. It was the driver of other vehicle who was at fault. But the damage had been done. This is a powerful, very wealthy family, and Rob basically destroyed this man, as if he hadn’t already gone through enough losing his wife.

“He showed up on my door about two months after the case was closed, after things had died down. I couldn’t take him back. I didn’t. Maybe that’s one of my weaknesses. I can’t go back. As much as I cared for him, I knew there would always be some case like that, something that would come up again, and come right between us.’

“But you’re friends now. Am I right?” I ask.

“Not quite.”

“So why are you still using him as your source at the NYPD?”

“Because I trust him. Because I’m not close to any of the other officers. Probably for good reason, considering many of them at his precinct know we were together. Do you think it’s going to be a problem?”

“I’m not sure yet. He has some animosity toward me. Your history with him may have something to do with it. It’s possible he dislikes me because he sees me as a threat, where you’re concerned. Or it could be just really hates wealthy people. Either way, I hope it doesn’t come back to bite me.”

“Let’s not worry about it. He let it slide last night with your little testosterone matchup. He could have charged you with assault, you know?”

“Charge
me
?” I ask, my voice deepening with some residual anger from the man’s unprovoked punch to my jaw. I pounce off the bed and begin pacing the floor beside the bed. “
He
threw the first punch. I swear if he had laid charges, I would have sued his ass.”

“Maybe you should calm down, Jonathan.”

I stop in my tracks. Rebecca doesn’t deserve this. She did nothing wrong, so I take a deep breath. She comes over to me and puts her hands on my chest.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry,” she says, looking up at me with those adorable eyes of hers. If I was angry, I’m not anymore. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s okay.”

“Don’t worry about Rob, okay? Let me deal with him.”

I nod, but don’t know how to respond for a few seconds. “I will, as long as I don’t actually have to deal with him. If the time comes that I do, I’ll probably be a little more concerned.”

She steps up on her tiptoes and leans in to kiss me softly on the lips. I admit, I was still a little cold, but that kiss, like all her others, warms me right up to her again. I turn and pull her into my arms, and hold her close. I kiss her hair, and we’re back to where we were on the bed.

“Let’s get ready,” I tell her. “I want to leave on time for our trip this afternoon. Need a ride to the office?”

“Sure.” She smiles and moves off, picking up my clothes that are thrown around her bedroom floor and handing it to me before she hits the shower.

I love this woman. I don’t think I could ever be mad at her.

Rebecca

We get dressed and Jonathan drops me off at work. I almost can’t believe I told him so much about Robert and me. I’m impressed with him, and with myself too. I didn’t think I could be so open with anyone. And he listened so intently, and didn’t judge me, or react with any jealousy about Robert. I feel so close to him now. I’m probably too close. Definitely too close, but it’s too late now.

I get up to my office early. Thank goodness I set the alarm for a half hour early. I’m still aroused from our playtime this morning. But it’s the morning after Virocci is arrested and released, and I need to give Kara an update. If I know anything about her, she’s salivating in her office as she waits to find out who at the precinct dared to arrest one of our firm’s clients.

I pop by her office. Kara is in early. Just as I suspect, she wants to know exactly what happened. She tells me to sit down and give her a detailed report-back on last night. I’m not ready to rehash the part about Jonathan getting into a fistfight with Rob. Kara is growing impatient by the minute, so I sit and I spill as much as I can.

“Okay Kara. I get there with Jonathan, and we’re told that Tony Virocci is being held on a weapons charge. I demand to see him. They keep us waiting for forty-five minutes. According to them, the items in his car were being processed. During that time, I see Bateman. He’s not assigned to the case, but I ask him to see if he can find out what’s going on.

“The detective realizes Virocci has all his permits in order. There’s not a thing on the man’s record for the past six years, and the charge from six years ago was dropped. Before that, his record’s been clean for twenty-five years. They release him, but according to Virocci, he was questioned aggressively before I got there; even after he told them he wanted his lawyer present.”

“How aggressively are we talking?”

“He said he was harassed about Doreen Rushton. According to him, they asked whether she was visiting Solomon the night she was killed. They threatened to put him in front of a grand jury if he didn’t give them what they wanted on Solomon Sloan.”

“What?” Kara practically screams the question. The vein on her forehead pops up. Her eyes are glaring at me, and she leans forward in her chair.

“Yes.” I say. “A grand jury.”

“What evidence do they have?”

“Nothing that they’ve let us in on.”

“Did they search his person? Or just the car?”

“He said it was just his car. They may have patted him down for concealed weapons, but he was clean.”

“And was he hurt physically?”

“No.”

“Okay. Well it sounds like they’re fishing. It’s a good thing Virocci has a clean record. If they had anything on him, they probably would have pushed harder. They can still threaten to charge him with something if he won’t cooperate or voluntarily turn on Solomon.”

“Why would they go that far so soon? Why not wait until the evidence from Doreen comes in?”

“Because they have to do something while they wait. It’s too high profile to wait on the evidence. Right now, they’re shaking trees to see what falls out. I wouldn’t be surprised if they planned that random search of theirs.”

“Is there something we can do?”

“We need to send a message that my clients are off limits. I’ll get Webster on it. You focus on Jonathan.”

“Okay. So what will Webster action for next steps?”

“I’ll have him start a complaint on Virocci’s behalf about the grand jury threat. If we don’t fight back now, they’ll think they can do it again, or worse the next time.”

“Sounds good. The only other problem with what happened last night, Kara, is what Rob told me off the record.”

“And what’s that?”

“They may have swabbed all Virocci’s weapons and checked them for prints, blood and DNA while they were holding him.”

“Well if the idiots did that, it’s illegal. None of the evidence gathered from Virocci’s vehicle will be admissible. I’ll make sure it’s never heard or seen in court, if it comes to that. What else?”

“It’s not that, Kara. I know it’s inadmissible. I’m more worried about how they’ll adjust the targeting of their investigation, depending on what they find.”

“Good point. They’re more likely to look at Solomon if they find anything on Virocci. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Not to worry. Was there anything else?”

“No.” I relax in the chair, relieved she hasn’t asked me about Jonathan again.  “That’s it.”

“Okay. So when do you leave for the Bahamas?”

“Sometime this evening.”

“Excellent. Go on home, then. Get some rest. Be ready. Stay on top of Jonathan while you’re down there.”

“Will do.” I get up to leave her office when I hear her again.

“Rebecca?”

“Yes?” I answer, stopping to turn and look at her.

“You make sure he comes back when the weekend is over.”

Kara grabs her purse and tells me she has to take care of something. She does not invite me to come along. I can’t imagine what she’s about to do, but I get the sinking feeling it involves Solomon Sloan. Knowing Kara, I already understand that whatever she does, if it involves protecting Solomon, it’s likely to expose Jonathan even more.