“That’s not quite true,” Billows disagreed. “I’ve been looking after you, making sure you’re safe when you go running around that park in the evening. I’m going to put a stop to some of the things you do that are dangerous. You don’t seem to have any real concept of self-preservation.”
Her brows drew together. “You’re my boss, Alan. You’re not my partner. No one tells me what I can or can’t do.”
“That’s about to change.” He made it a statement.
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand his meaning. “Getting into a relationship with your boss is always a bad idea. When things go south, and they always do, you no longer have a job.” She used her primmest, snippiest voice.
Billows burst out laughing. His reaction was totally unexpected, and for the first time, she could see why so many women were attracted to him.
“Right there is why we’re going to have a relationship.”
She’d forgotten he liked attitude. Mostly, she was amenable and preferred pleasing those she cared about, but she had no trouble expressing her opinion when she didn’t like something or thought the other person was wrong. Being in a relationship with Alan Billows was so wrong.
“We are not. I’m not risking my job, and you have a bad reputation with women. I’m sorry to say this, Alan, but you’re never with a woman for more than five minutes. Gorgeous women. Models. Actresses. You date celebrities and heiresses. I’m none of those things. They couldn’t keep your wandering eye from straying, so there would be zero chance that I would keep your attention.”
“We’ll see.”
“We won’t see,” she corrected firmly. “You need to let me get to work. This isn’t going to be easy. If someone has begun to siphon money from your accounts…”
His dark scowl was back. “They took it. All of it. Drained the accounts. This isn’t a little siphoning off of the profits. This isn’t one of my business associates deciding to steal from me, skimming from the top. This is blatant, finding my hidden accounts and wiping them clean.”
Azelie sat very still, her mind racing. No one should have been able to find his concealed accounts. They were buried under so many layers and companies, it would be a miracle for someone, even the Feds, to find them and identify that they were Billows’.
“Alan, if they wiped out every one of your hidden accounts, they targeted you specifically. Do you have enemies? Someone who would want to destroy you and your businesses?”
He shrugged. “No one gets where I am without stepping on people. The answer would be yes, I have multiple enemies.”
“Ones capable of hiring someone elite with a computer?”
“Yes,” Billows said. “Strange thing is, they didn’t touch my legal business accounts, only the ones where I stash the money from illegal businesses.”
She dropped her forehead into her palm. “I’m not elite on a computer, Alan. I am with numbers, but not with tracing someone that good. We should find someone to help us.” Deliberately, she aligned herself with him in the hopes he wouldn’t go ballistic on her and insist she could find the culprit. She could not. Whoever had done such a thing was far, far better than she was on a computer.
She dared to raise her gaze to Billows’ face. He was beyond an ordinary storm and had gone straight to a level-five hurricane. His face was flushed, eyes dark and scary, and he was actually gritting his teeth.
“That’s bullshit.”
Azelie knew she had to make him understand, even if it meant his wrath would descend directly on her head. She feared it already had with the way he was looking at her.
“I wish it was, Alan. There are some very gifted individuals who stay in the shadows. They don’t work for the government or anyone else unless they are paid a great deal of money. They have skills far beyond what I have. Sometimes their skills exceed anyone the government employs. They hack their way in and out of very secure websites. At times they work together. Again, I don’t have those kinds of skills and I never will have them.”
“You fix the books and come up with solutions in the shortest amount of time possible. I’ve never seen anyone with your skills.” He was back to pacing, quick angry steps, his glare directly on her. “When there were shortages before, you found how much and where that leak was coming from.”
She shook her head. “I’m telling you, it isn’t the same thing. I have a gift for numbers. I can see patterns in the numbers that make sense in my brain, but I don’t have an affinity with computers. Some people are good on a computer. A few are great, even rarer are the ones who can do just about anything on them. Whoever did this to you is one of those people. I’m not one of them. If you have enemies, they could have hired the person or people. It wouldn’t be cheap. It’s possible I can start looking into some of those you say are out to harm you. I might see payments going out to someone.”
“You do that,” Billows snapped.
“Just know it’s possible someone hacked your accounts on their own. These people like challenges, and they like to see if they can do what might be considered impossible.”
“I don’t care how it was done. I want the money back, and I need to know who my enemies are. Find them.”
Azelie knew there was no making him see reason. He was incensed over the loss of his money. She couldn’t blame him. He thought his ill-gotten gains were safe in anonymous offshore accounts hidden beneath layers of companies and misdirection. The money should have been safe, and most wouldn’t be able to trace it back to Billows. She had a sinking feeling whoever had taken the money knew exactly who they stole it from. The fact that they hadn’t taken a cent from his legitimate businesses was worrisome to her. She was surprised Billows hadn’t questioned that further himself.
She knew Billows was shrewd and cunning. At times, he exhibited knowledge in areas she was rather shocked he knew anything about. Other times, he appeared to be totally obtuse. Whether he just affected ignorance or whether he really couldn’t understand didn’t matter. He insisted on everything being his way, and he didn’t seem to care how he made that happen.
“I’ll get to work, then,” she told him, hoping he would go away. Deliberately, she turned her attention to the computer.
Billows didn’t leave her office. He continued to pace, casting her speculative looks as he stalked from one side to the other of the relatively small room.
She pretended to be engaged in her research, but who could possibly work with a lethal tiger in the room? She was terrified that at any moment he would erupt into violence. Even though it had been months since she had heard the woman scream, she thought of it often. The sound echoed through her mind whenever she was alone in the office, but it was worse when Billows was there.
She thought of the woman and what could have been happening to her. It wasn’t sounds of pleasure the unknown woman had been making. The screams were animalistic, as if she suffered great pain. Billows’ anger toward Azelie when he discovered her trying to hunt down where the horrendous sound was coming from made her feel as if he had something directly to do with the woman’s pain and fear.
Azelie didn’t like being alone in the soundproof office with only Bobby as a witness to her entry. She was acutely aware she could disappear, and no one would know where to look for her. She knew from experience that a man who supposedly loved his family could turn on them in a moment. Billows was inherently cruel and selfish. She had no doubt that he would beat his wife and do so casually if he ever married. Being in the small room with him was distracting and a little terrifying.
She finally sighed and looked up. “I can’t concentrate with you in here, Alan. I need to be able to pay attention to the numbers and names. Time stamps when money arrived or disappeared. You’re going to have to leave.”
Azelie forced herself to be firm with him. She poured confidence into her tone and carefully adjusted her expression. All the practicing in front of her mirror would hopefully pay off.
There was silence as Billows stopped his relentless pacing and once again swung around to confront her. She couldn’t read his expression very well. He didn’t look quite so angry, but he was frowning. He also had that same look in his eyes that told her he was looking at her differently than he ever had before. She really wanted to go home and maybe hide under her bed.
“It has occurred to me you didn’t understand what I was telling you, Azelie. It’s important you are perfectly clear so there are no mistakes made.”
It was her turn to frown. She pushed back away from the desk and turned fully to him, folding her hands on her lap so she could twist her fingers tightly together.
“What did I misunderstand? I thought I was on the same page with you trying to find who stole your money.”
He shook his head and settled one hip on the edge of the desk, too close to her. She was grateful she’d already pushed her chair back. There was a small distance between them, but she doubted if she could outrun him. She went through the weapons on the desk she had available to defend herself with. A stapler. It was heavy. She could wrap her fingers around it like a fist and clock him in the head. She went over the maneuver several times in her mind, never once looking at the stapler. She didn’t want to give the impression of being nervous, or that she might lunge for that weapon.
