Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,3

was a genius and possibly the scariest man Jeff had ever come across. Whoever had stolen money from Davis Alfieri should be scared. Very scared. Because if there was one thing Jeff knew extremely well, having been Davis’ lawyer for the past several years, it was that he was merciless. He would crush the person or persons who had done this and, after they got out of prison, they would never work in industry again. They would be lucky to get a job as a cook at a fast food restaurant.

“I’d better get to the airport,” Jeff finally said, enjoying the last sip of the extraordinary scotch. It was the smoothest scotch he’d ever had, except for the last time he’d had a meeting with Davis Alfieri. That was one thing about the man, he always had the best. The best cars, the best houses, the best food…Davis was an extremely wealthy man and he demanded the best. Even in his businesses, he only hired the best and if one didn’t meet up to his exacting standards, that person was gone.

“I’ll have my driver take you. Jimmy can get you there in half the time,” he said, lifting his hand towards one of his body guards.

Jeff stood up, grateful for the help. It would be exciting to arrive in such style. “Sounds great,” he said and followed the man out of the bar.

Davis sat in the dark corner, ignoring the other patrons as the room slowly filled up. As someone started playing a piano in the corner, the waitress came to provide a fresh glass of bourbon and Davis worked through a plan.

Chapter 2

“You missed this!” Kate’s father yelled. “How could you miss something so obvious?” he demanded. He was the owner of the accounting firm and told her repeatedly how lucky she was that he allowed her to work there. Accounting jobs were difficult to get right now. Ironically, he’d used the opposite argument when she’d been in college trying to choose her major. Repeatedly he’d told her that accounting jobs were the most common by far. According to him, she’d be set for life if she’d just work hard, finish her accounting degree, and ignore all of her ridiculous dreams to become an artist.

Kate stood in front of his desk, her knees shaking and her head bowed with shame. She had missed that error, but what was worse, she’d missed the entire report. How could she have been so oblivious?

Mentally, she went through the reports that had been sent to her inbox. Her mind counted, picturing her computer screen and the messages. There had been nine messages. Nine reports.

This report hadn’t been with the batch; she was sure of it. “Dad, I don’t think I received this report,” she said.

His eyes snapped up, fury shooting through the now-black depths. “Are you saying I didn’t give you all the information?” he asked, his voice low and ominous.

Kate immediately knew that her father would never admit such an omission. She lowered her head again, trying to figure out how to back track. “I must have just missed it,” she said softly, knowing what he wanted to hear, but still sure that she hadn’t received the report. It seemed that no matter how hard she tried, nothing she did was good enough for her father.

Thankfully, he looked down at his computer screen, his furious gaze no longer stabbing her. “I’ll fix this. Just be grateful that I caught it before it went to the client.” His eyes slashed back to her once more. “This is why you don’t send anything directly to the client, Kate. If this had gone out, it would have been my reputation on the line. It would be me standing in front of the client trying to explain why my own daughter, the daughter who had graduated from all of her accounting classes with barely mediocre grades, was still on staff with me.”

Kate’s eyes flashed with fury. She hadn’t earned just “mediocre” grades! She’d been a stellar student and had graduated with honors. Why did that detail fall from his memory so conveniently? She opened her mouth to point that out, but quickly decided against making that assertion. It would just infuriate him more and what was the point? She just needed to get out of this job and find a position somewhere else. She didn’t care where, but she wasn’t going to take this kind of abuse from her father any longer.

This probably wasn’t the best