That One Time by Aja Foxx

Chapter Eleven

~ Henry ~

 

5 Years Later...

 

I smiled at the receptionist as she let me into the large conference room. I was a little bit early, but I wanted to make sure I was all set up before the client came in. I made my way to one of the chairs near the front of the table, but on the side. I'd learned early on in my career to never sit at the end of the table. That was always reserved for the client.

After sitting down, I opened my briefcase and pulled out my laptop. I turned it on. While waiting for it to boot up, I pulled out a legal pad and a pencil. Something else I had also learned was not to use a pen until the final version of the project was decided on.

"Oh, Mr. Warner, good, you're here."

I smiled as I stood and held out my hand. "Good morning, Mr. Simpson."

The man shook my hand. "The new owner just arrived. He'll be here in a few minutes."

"Okay."

"Did you get the file I sent you?"

"I did and I've updated my calculations. I've brought a printout if you can get someone to make some copies." I reached into my briefcase and pulled out the file I'd compiled. I handed it over. "Everything is in here. I can, of course, explain it as we go through it."

Mr. Simpson started leafing through the pages of the file I had given him. "This is amazing work, Mr. Warner."

I didn't say anything. I knew it was good work because I had put my blood, sweat, and tears into it. Being an independent forensic accountant meant I was only as good as my reputation and without a good reputation, I didn't put food on the table or keep a roof over my family's heads.

"Well." Mr. Simpson closed the file and shot me a smile. "I'll have Mary makes copies of this and as soon as the client gets here, we can begin."

"Very good."

I waited for Mr. Simpson to leave the room before sitting back down. I made sure my cell phone was on vibrate. I never totally turned it off in case there was an emergency, but I also didn't want it ringing and interrupting the meeting...unless there was an emergency.

Warmth spread through my chest as I stared down at the wallpaper on my cell phone screen. I loved that picture of Eva. She'd been hanging on a fence on the side of our little cottage by the bay, a smile on her sweet little face as she stared at me. It was one of my favorite pictures of her.

I slid my cell phone back into my pocket when I heard voices outside the conference room and stood. Time to put on my game face.

The door opened and in walked...my nightmare.

"Mr. Warner, this is Mr. Galeazzi, the new owner of—"

I turned off my laptop and slid it back into my briefcase without saying a word. I grabbed the file I'd been working on for my client and set it on the table. After closing my briefcase, I grabbed the handle and walked to the end of the table.

"I apologize, Mr. Simpson, but I am going to have to recluse myself from this meeting and I will no longer be able to work on your case. I will send all of your files back by courier as soon as I return to my office. And I will, of course, refund your deposit."

Mr. Simpson glanced between me and the man standing in the doorway, staring at me as if I had three heads. "I don't understand."

I turned to glare at Frank with all the anger and betrayal I felt, and had felt for the last five years. "I'm afraid that Mr. Galeazzi has a restraining order against me and I am not allowed within five hundred feet of him, his family, his residence, or his place of business. As such, I can no longer have anything to do with this case."

"I had the restraining order dropped as soon as I found out about it, Henry," Frank said.

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe you, Mr. Galeazzi. You do have a history of lying to me, after all." I nodded toward the doorway. "Now, if you'll excuse me?"

"I want to talk to you, Henry."

"No." No way, no how. I'd tried to talk to Frank numerous times and all it had gotten me was a broken heart and ten days behind bars. "Move, please."

I tried not to shout out my demand and remember that I needed to be as polite as possible, but my nerves were fraying. I had moved from one side of the country to the other to get away from Frank and here he was.

Europe sounded good.

When I went to walk past Frank, he reached for me. I instantly jumped back, holding up my arms. "Don't touch me," I snapped. "You never get to touch me."

I'd be lost if he did.

I had thought, after all these years, that I had finally gotten over Frank, but one look at his handsome face and I knew I'd just been fooling myself.

If he touched me, I might drop to my knees and beg him to finally listen to me, to explain what I had done all those years ago to make him not love me anymore. I still didn't know, and that might be what ate at me the most. I had no idea what I was supposed to have done.

I was obviously an idiot.

"Okay, Henry," Frank said slowly as if talking to a feral cat. "I won't touch you. I just want a chance to talk to you."

"I tried to talk to you. I tried so many times, I almost went insane. I even came to see you right before I moved, to beg you to talk to me. All it got me was ten days behind bars for breaking the restraining order you now say you had dropped." I narrowed my eyes. "Do you know what happens to someone like me behind bars? I can tell you, it's not pretty."

I was gratified to see the blood drain from Frank's face, but it was a small consolation to the hell I'd suffered in jail. I hadn't been raped or anything, but I hadn't walked out of jail without a few bruises. I had been terrified for my unborn child the entire time.

It was a nightmare I never wanted to live through again, and here stood the catalyst for that nightmare right in front of me.

I had to get out of here. I was almost desperate. "Please, let me leave."

Frank's lips twisted into a grimace, but he stepped back, allowing me access to the door. "We will be talking, Henry."

"Not if I can help it," I said as I hurried out of the room. I'd do just about anything to never have to deal with Francesco Galeazzi or any of his family ever again. Even if it meant giving up a lucrative contract and my good reputation.

I'd flip burgers for a living if I had to.

I tried to walk in an even stride as I made my way out of the corporate offices to the elevators, but it was all I could do not to run. I kept expecting security to jump out at me any moment and have me arrested for trespassing and violating the restraining order.

I didn't care if Frank said he'd had it dropped. I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him. The man had already proved that he was a liar and totally unreliable. I'd never believe anything that came out of his mouth.

I let out a gasp of relief when the elevator doors slid open and I was able to step inside. Alone. That was the important part. No one had followed me. Of course, as the doors slid closed, I saw Frank standing in the corridor watching me. The hard glint in his eyes told me he meant his words. We would be talking at some point.

Moving was looking better and better. I just had no idea where I could go that Frank wouldn't find me. I thought I was safe moving from one coastline to the other.

I was wrong.

I'd been so careful. I hadn't left a forwarding address. For the first year, months after Eva was born, I'd lived with Ryan and his grandmother and not put my name on anything. I'd finished my degree online. I never bought a car or renewed my driver's license. I had a P.O. Box for all my mail. No credit cards, no loans. No rental agreements. No bills in my name.

I'd done everything I could think of to not leave a trail. I never dreamed he'd find me this way. Maybe I should have looked harder at the paperwork I'd received from the company I'd been contracted to work with.

It was a standard contract. The company was being sold. They wanted a forensic accountant to go over the books and show that they were up to date and accurate. I'd done it a hundred times before. I don't remember the new owner's name being mentioned anywhere. If I'd seen it, I would have run in the other direction so fast, my shoes would have melted.

As soon as the elevator reached the first floor and the doors slid open, I stumbled out and then hurried across the lobby to the front doors. I glanced at the security station out of the corner of my eye, but the guard manning it never even looked in my direction.

Outside, I hailed a cab. It would cost a bit more than riding public transit, but I didn't think I could handle being squeezed into a bus with a bunch of other people right now.

I glanced back toward the towering office building as the cab pulled away from the curb, and then sucked in a painful breath. Frank stood outside the doors talking on his cell phone. He was staring right at me.

I quickly looked away.

My mind fluttered with anxiety, not just for me, but for Eva, too. I had tried so hard to talk to Frank, even if it was to tell him he was going to be a father. After my ten days behind bars, I decided my best course of action was to simply cut him out of our lives as if he never existed.

Of course he did or I wouldn't have Eva, and I never tried to hide the fact that she had another father from her. I especially never bad mouthed him to her even if there were times when my hatred of the man ran so deep, I felt as if my soul was black. I couldn't do that to her.

My issues with Frank were my issues, not hers. If, when she was an adult, she wanted to track her father down, that would be her choice and I wasn't about to cloud any relationship she might be able to have with Frank.

Now, he was here and I was terrified. She looked just like him so I had no doubt that the moment he saw her, he'd know she was his. I also knew, with his money, he could take her from me if he wanted to, and I couldn't think of any reason why anyone wouldn't want my sweet little girl.

I didn't realize we had stopped in front of my destination until the cab driver turned to look at me. I dug some money out of my wallet and handed it to him before grabbing my briefcase and climbing out of the back of the cab.

I glanced down both directions of the street before starting toward the little one story cottage in front of me. I wouldn't put it past Frank to have someone follow me so he'd know where I was.

I opened the front door and then let myself in. "Ryan?"

"Back here," came a reply from the back of the house.

I set my briefcase down next to the front door and then walked toward the back of the house. Ryan was in the kitchen kneading bread dough.

He smiled at me as soon as he saw me. "Hey, you're home early."

"Yeah."

I don't know what was on my face, but Ryan stopped what he was doing and rinsed his hands before walking toward me. "What's wrong?"

"Where's Eva?"

Ryan nodded his head toward the backyard. "She's out back playing with Arty. Why?"

Tears of defeat and despair flooded my eyes. "Frank found me."