Chapter 110

“That sounds serious,” Will mused after Emma explained everything about Jess. “I don’t know much about that particular subsidiary, but I’ll do some digging and see what I can find out.”
“Thank you,” Emma heaved a sigh of relief.
“I don’t like it one bit. I rejected that building months ago, and now this supposed subsidiary of mine picks it up?”
“We all thought it was suspicious. Sabrina thinks it might be a paper company.”
Will’s eyes darkened. These were not good words to hear. His arrest, his uncle’s quick ascension to the top, and now this… things were adding to numbers he did not like.
“I don’t like it,” he repeated. “Keep your head on a swivel.”
“I’ll be careful. Thank you for helping,” Emma said as she pulled out her phone. She started messaging Minnie to start this chain of command to get her home.
“What are you doing?” Will asked.
“Following instructions. I’m supposed to message Minnie so she can message Jack, so he can take me home.”
“I’m right here, Emma. I can take you home.”
“Oh,” Emma blushed. “I guess you can.”
The truth was, Emma didn’t want Will to take her home. Not because she didn’t trust him, but because she wasn’t sure she could handle an hour-long car ride with him looking the way he did. He’d shaved off that horrible beard, which was great. His hair was longer and tied back. For a flash of a second, Emma envisioned untying his hair and running her fingers through it. She imagined grabbing and tugging at it, the soft feel of it between her fingers. She thought of the sound he would make as she pulled on it and had to fight off the shiver that ran through the body.
Stop that, she berated herself. There was no way she could allow them to get back to that. It was what ruined them in the first place.
Will knew he didn’t imagine the way Emma’s eyes glazed over when she looked at him. He knew that look. He’d seen it many times as his body hovered over hers. She’s really going to make me fight for this, he realized. It was evident that she was struggling to keep her desires at bay.
“Let me put on something more suitable for the public eye,” Will smirked.
“Uh huh,” Emma managed. “I’ll wait in the foyer.”
“Sure.”
Emma rushed out. The tension in that room had been getting thicker and thicker.
“Ugh,” she said to herself. “Why does he have to be so hot?”
Before changing, Will decided he needed to make a quick phone call. If all the things going on were connected, he would need to ensure that he was around to keep Emma safe. At least until things had been figured out.
“Hello, Mr. Stewart,” his assistant answered. “It’s great to hear from you. I’m glad you’re out.”
“I’m glad to be out too, Margie. Listen, I need a favor.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go ahead and submit for my paternity leave.”
“That’s a great idea, sir. I overheard a meeting with the board, and they want you to lay low for a while.”
“Hmmm,” Will thought about that. He couldn’t decide if that was suspicious or not. His mug shot had been splashed on the front pages of just about every tabloid. Alex had done his best to run damage control. It made sense that the board wanted him out of sight for a while. But everything just seemed to have a touch of shade to it. “Good. I’ll also need you help lining up an apartment for me in Lyncrest. Preferably in the building Emma lives in. I want to stay as close to her and the baby as possible.”
“Yes sir. I’ll get you next door, or across the hall if possible.”
“Great. I’m going to be driving there now, so I’ll be unreachable for the next hour or so.”
“No problem. I’ll have an apartment sorted by the time you get there. I can also have a courier pick up some of your things and have them delivered to the new apartment.”
“You’re the greatest, Margie. You’ll get a huge raise after this.”
“It’s my pleasure, sir.”
He’d have to make sure Margie stayed on his side. She was deadly in her efficiency, and he would need someone like that on his team. One thing he learned from his grandfather about how to run a company is that you needed to keep the employees happy. Happy employees equaled company loyalty.
Happy people, Will. That’s what a company, any company, needs to thrive, Conrad’s voice said in his mind.
He kept on his t-shirt but changed into a casual pair of jeans. Satisfied, he walked out into the foyer where he found Emma pacing.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“What?” she stopped, startled by his question. “Oh yeah, sorry. Just a little jumpy.”
“Hey,” Will walked to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this, okay? Don’t worry.”
“Do you think it’s connected to what happened to you?”
Will heaved a sigh.
“I think it may be a possibility. Things are lining up a little too well and it bothers me. But I need you to trust me.”
“I want to trust you,” Emma looked at him. For a moment, she allowed herself to be comforted by his touch. In the brief seconds he touched her, every carnal memory surfaced in her mind. He’d known her in a way no one else had, and in that fraction of time she wanted him to know her again. “But, we’ll see,” she said moving away from him.
Get a hold of yourself, she thought. How easy it was to get lost in those golden eyes of his.
The car ride was filled with thick, silent tension. The gravity of Will’s situation, and Jess’s dilemma weighed heavily on them. But more prominent still, was the unspoken desire crackling intensely. It bubbled and fizzed, demanding attention. Will knew that if she so much as looked at him the right way, he was done for.
Emma wasn’t stupid. As good as Will was behaving, as much as his attention was focused on their baby, she knew what Will wanted. But she couldn’t allow herself to let him in that way. At least not yet. It felt like she was holding her breath the entire car ride, and when they arrived, she launched herself from the vehicle.
“Anxious?” Will teased.
“I… um…. I’ve never been away from Lizzie this long,” she explained. And I can’t be that close to you.
“Neither have I,” he smirked.
“Oh!” Emma felt horrible. He hadn’t been away by choice. “Would… would you like to come up and see her?”
“I’d love to, but she’s probably asleep and I would hate to wake her. I’ll be by first thing in the morning.”
“Okay,” she stared at him for another moment. Burning him into her memory. “Good night, Will.”
“Good night, Emma.”
He watched as she went inside. As soon as she was out of sight, he called his assistant Margie for an update. As promised, she had secured an apartment for him just across the hall from Emma’s. Some of his clothes and toiletries had been delivered, and the apartment had been furnished. An office space had been set up as well, and documents regarding Rupert Steward Holdings had been uploaded onto a computer. Gifts for Emma and Lizzie were waiting as well.
The apartment had been rented under a false name, using cash only transactions and through a third-party rental agency. Margie had gone great lengths to ensure that it would be impossible to trace Will to this apartment.
“Yeah,” he mused upon entering. “She’s getting a raise.”
Not wasting any time, Will got to work researching and going through the documents Margie sent him. The more he dug, the worse and worse it seemed to get. Secret dealings, illegal acquisitions, money laundering… all stemming back for years. Sabrina’s suspicions about the subsidiary being a paper company seemed to point him in the right direction. Rupert Steward Holdings had no physical location. Only a PO Box. Over the years, they had financed a number of projects that were rejected by Conrad, and now Will. He stumbled across bank statements that only further raised his suspicions.
“This isn’t right,” he muttered. He called Margie to try and gather more info.
“Yes, sir?” she answered.
“First, thanks for taking care of everything so quickly.”
“It’s my pleasure. I hope everything is to your liking.”
“It’s perfect. So, I’ve been going through what you sent me, and things are not adding up. Is there anything else you can find?”
“I can try. But please be careful, sir. I believe your uncle may suspect that something is going on. I’ve caught wind that he had been asking for your whereabouts.”
“I see,” Will considered the ramifications if Robert discovered that he was poking around. He was a ruthless man, who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. It had been long rumored that he was dipping his toes into shady waters. But anyone who tried to blow whistle on him would suddenly be met with an onslaught of issues. Some were fired. Some were in accidents. Some just… disappeared. “I want you to take a week off. But not right away. Wait a few days. Say you won a cruise or something and then put in for a week off. I don’t want you caught up in this. If you’re right, and you usually are, things are going to blow up and Robert is going to come after anyone who is trying to help me.”
“Sir…”
“That’s an order, Margie. He can’t know.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you,” she agreed.
Will stayed up the rest of the night researching and going through everything. The holes just seemed to get deeper and deeper. The subsidiary had been performing well, which was one of the reasons Stewart Industries pushed it away.
“Oh shit,” Will muttered as he stumbled upon something. The decision to break Rupert Steward Holdings about from Stewart Industries was signed by him. It was one the issues he tackled when he went to Italy emergently right after marrying Emma. As he poured into their accounts, one name popped up over and over again. Robert Stewart. He had authorized payments to some research fund, but that research didn’t seem to exist.
“That fucker,” Will seethed. Robert had been leeching money from the company. Just like his father.
***
“Sir! I got an alert that someone has been looking into the RS Holdings bank accounts!”
The worker jumped from his cubicle and ran into an office. A handsome mahogany desk dominated the room, lined with plaques, framed photos and small trophies. An imposing man sat behind the desk. His salt and pepper hair was slicked back. A dark gray suit framed his body. It was heavily starched and pressed. His dark eyes narrowed at the announcement.
“That little son of a bitch,” a low gravelly voice answered. “He couldn’t take the hint? He’ll pay for this.”