Curvy Conquest Read online

  I’m putting myself in grave danger by contacting you like this, but I can no longer live with the secret I’ve been harboring for five years.

  I’m including my cell number below. I know this is scary, but if you want to meet, there are a lot of things you need to know.

  I can’t force you to do anything you’re not comfortable with and I’ll respect your decision.

  Whatever you do, don’t let your boss know I’ve contacted you.

  —Laurie

  Laurie Paddington? I remember her well. There was so much going on when my parents died, I forgot she had disappeared off the face of the planet and I remember how my grandmother’s attorney tried to locate her for months without much success. Was his death more than an accident? What does she know that links Marvel’s, Leo’s and my parents’ deaths together? What does she know about Jennifer’s involvement with these poisonous pills and why is she warning me against my boss? God, my head hurts.

  Once the severity of the situation fully hits me, I run like a scared rabbit to Max’s penthouse.

  I’m so disturbed by Laurie’s words, I stuff my belongings in a weekend bag and I grab a cab. I only call Max to let him know I’m on my way after twenty minutes of riding in silence at the back of the taxi. I’m beyond shocked by my dad’s former assistant’s claims and scared by the idea that the people who harmed my parents could still out there. I’m unable to wrap my head around her last sentence. “Whatever you do, don’t let your boss know I’ve contacted you.”

  By the time I arrive at Max’s home, Gabe, Francis and Sheena are there anxiously waiting for me. Max has summoned all three to his home so we can get to the bottom of things. All five of us take turns to reread Laurie’s message, hoping to find a missing clue between the lines.

  After two hours of debate, Gabe declares I’m to avoid contact with Laurie at any cost because being seen with her could be life-threatening. When the members of my legal team leave, I roll into bed and cuddle inside Max’s arms, praying there’s a reset button I can press to erase the last five years of my life.

  BOOK 4—CURVY CONQUEST

  Chapter Nine

  I can’t sleep a wink and when Max gets up at five to go to the gym before an early-morning meeting, I decide to head to the office and spend the next three hours in solitude drowning my sorrows in work. I think of going back to my place and working there for the day, but the solitude would kill me, not to mention Jennifer will have a fit if I don’t show up again today. Although I’ve been staying at Max’s penthouse for over a week now, it still doesn’t feel like home and I need to be in a more familiar setting to process the last ten days.

  Max insists on dropping me off in front of Sassy magazine, but instead, I ask him to drop me off at the Perfect Grind. Since I barely slept more than a few hours, I need a booster and the short walk to the office will help clear my head. Thank God I live in New York. Where else can you buy a decent latte at this early hour?

  There are only a few times of day where the streets of New York City are practically deserted and this is one of them. There are a few eager joggers and early risers, but the vibe is quite mellow compared to what it will be in the next thirty minutes. As I pull open the door to my building, I look down at my watch and sigh when I see it’s only six o’clock in the morning. How am I going to make it through the day?

  I ride the elevator alone and I can’t help but think of how difficult it will be to bite my tongue around Jennifer today. Max, Lia and my legal counsel have all convinced me to play it cool and pretend I don’t know anything. I was willing to be defiant, but Laurie’s last sentence has been looping in my head. Gabe’s team wants to scratch the surface a bit more and verify Laurie’s allegations before I put myself in a compromising situation. If there’s a link between those monsters and my parents’ death, I don’t want Maleficent to tip off the owners of BoostaSlimz-X30 Green Tea & Ginger Cleansing Total Body Cleansing System—obviously she knows more than she’s willing to let on.

  When I push open the door to the office, a wall of silence hits me. The space looks so empty without the usual busyness. In some strange way, I look forward to occupying my thoughts with work.

  As I turn the corner on my way to my desk, a voice comes from one of the conference rooms. Shit, I thought I was going to be alone. I’m not in the mood to make watercooler chitchat this morning with one of my colleagues. I drop my coffee on a desk nearby and try to make out the voice in the background before deciding if I should go say hello or not. I’m too far away to hear clearly. I decide to tippy-toe closer to find out who else could possibly be at work at such an early hour. When I make out the person’s voice, I freeze.

  Jennifer.

  To say I’m annoyed to find her already at work would be an understatement. My first instinct is to go back down the elevator and find a coffee shop I can work from, but then I remember I need a few important files and a number of back issues to magazines in my cabinet to help me write my plus-size features. With a sigh, I walk back to grab the coffee I left on one of my colleagues’ desks and I plunk myself behind my iMac. I shrug my shoulders and resign myself to the fact Jennifer has ruined my plans to have the office all to myself for the next few hours. If her conversation becomes too distracting, I’ll put my headphones on to drown out her annoying voice. I grab my coffee and take one last big gulp before diving into my work.

  As much as I try to focus on writing this article, I can’t help but catch a few snippets of my boss’ conversation. Suddenly a question she asks breaks my concentration and I find myself listening in more intently.

  “Baby, do you know how much I miss you?”

  I guess she’s talking to her husband Seth. Funny, she never sounds this loving when she’s speaks to him usually. She must be buttering him up for something.

  I chuckle to myself and get back to my writing.

  “Please get me out of here. I’m suffocating.”

  Huh?

  I’m doing my best to focus on my work, but Jennifer’s voice is carrying through the empty office and her last statement has me intrigued. Trouble in paradise? Forget about work. This is way too juicy. I pretend to type just in case Maleficent walks out of the conference room, but I’m really listening in on her conversation.

  “I told you a year ago when you came up with this plan that I hated being far away from you. Every day we’re apart is like torture for me.”

  Okay, she’s not talking to her husband. Does she have a lover? Oh, this is only getting better.

  “Please, stop worrying. I’m still playing it cool despite the fact I’m dying to see you again soon. As far as everyone here knows, I was in Hong Kong dealing with a sick aunt. No one suspects anything so far—not even my assistant. I made great headway with the product while I was there, honey.”

  Product? Who is she talking to so early in the morning?

  “Of course I can’t avoid Candy forever. I’m painfully aware I work with her. I’ll have to keep my feelings about her in check until we can sort this mess.”

  When I hear my name, I hold my breath. Why is she talking about me like that? Something about Jennifer’s tone sounds too personal for it to be about work. For some inexplicable reason, I get up from my chair and I tippy-toe until I get as close as possible to the conference room.

  “Thank God for small favors. At least I’ve not had to deal with Candice since her cat died. Yvette, my assistant, was the one who told me about the pesky creature’s passing.”

  So she’s known about Leo from the beginning but never brought it up?

  “Pity the furball ingested some of the diet pills.”

  She knows about the pills Leo swallowed? So she does read my blog.

  I duck under a desk near the conference room. My gut is screaming at me to keep a low profile and I tuck my body in as best as I can to be as inconspicuous as possible as I listen in on her conversation. Holy shit. My heart is beating so fast I feel like I’m going to throw up, but in a moment of lucidity, I fish
in my back pocket to find my phone. There’s no way in hell anyone will ever believe this if I don’t record it. I push the Voice Memos icon on my phone and hold it as close as I can without being made out.

  “I was able to quickly put two and two together the minute Yvette told me about the news, since I’ve been pushing our fat plus-size editor to take the BoostaSlimz pills home to test them.”

  Fat plus-size editor? Bitch.

  “Listen, I can’t believe they were able to link Marvel West back to our pills so quickly.”

  Our pills?

  “We didn’t even have time to set up a contingency plan. And this is particularly annoying since last month was one of our bestselling months. We sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of our diet pills online to desperate women looking to get back into their skinny jeans. I was hoping Candice would have completed her editorial by now on our pills to boost sales even further given the prime target of Sassy magazine’s audience.”

  Oh my God, there’s no remorse in her voice whatsoever. She was willing to let me ingest those pills fully aware they were dangerous.

  “I’m pissed off at all these stupid incidents that keep getting in our way. Now the latest news has gone viral and the police will start looking for the bad guys.”

  What does she mean? Is Jennifer connected to the company behind BoostaSlimz-X30?

  “How the hell do you expect me to keep calm? You’ve been safe in Malaysia since Candice’s parents’ convenient death.”

  What?

  “You’ve said this before about Teddy Westerman. Killing him was going to allow us to lie low and surge back a few years later and make a fortune with the formula he deemed unacceptable for human consumption. You might have gotten rid of him, but what good does it do us now? I told you these pills required more testing. Not once have you mentioned these were potentially deadly, honey.”

  Jesus fucking Christ.

  “Had you not pushed me to give Candy those pills we’d still be undercover. I wanted the money as much as you did. If you really wanted to get rid of her before she turned twenty-five, there were more effective ways than to force me to work with her to keep an eye on her and then convince me to trick her into taking those pills.”

  What does any of this have to do with my next birthday?

  “Quintin, you knew all along that if she took enough of those pills you wouldn’t have to honor the clause in your corporate structure where Teddy names his only daughter as the beneficiary of his shares, which, may I remind you, represent forty percent of your pharmaceutical company. Let’s not forget he also appointed her to sit on the board of directors on his behalf. I told you from day one you were giving him too much, but you refused to listen because you never imagined he’d become a liability.”

  Quintin? As in Quintin Grayson?

  There’s only one person I know named Quintin—my dad’s former business partner at Bio-Cytrax Cosmeceuticals.

  Oh, my God.

  Now I get it. The day my grandparents and I went to the lawyer’s office for the reading of the will, there was an envelope that read, “For Candice on your twenty-fifth birthday.” My grandmother had me place it securely in a safety deposit box along with a few other valuable papers, but it slipped my mind. I haven’t opened that box in years. I didn’t know what was in that envelope, but I surely never imagined it was this. Suddenly Jennifer raises her voice and brings my attention back to the conversation again.

  “Your ass is not on the line like mine is if it gets out I partly own BoostaSlimz, Quintin. No. You’re going to listen to me for a change. I want you to get me out of New York. I want you to wire money to my Cayman Island account, get me two first-class plane tickets to Bali, I want a brand-new home and new ID and papers for me and your son.”

  Wh-what? What does she mean by ‘your son?’

  “Malcolm is the only good thing in my dreadful life here in New York since you’re so far away from me and we can’t see each other too often to avoid raising suspicions. I’m not leaving him behind with a man who’s not his real father. Once Seth realizes Malcolm isn’t his, he’ll turn his back on him and our boy will be left to fend for himself. At least in Bali he’ll be safe and you can start building a fatherly bond with him.”

  Jesus, Jennifer’s son’s father is Quintin and not her husband Seth?

  “Don’t worry about how I’ll break the news to Malcolm about having to leave his so-called dad behind. Let me deal with those details and you worry about the rest. I wish you had taken care of Candy at the same time you took care of her grandmother’s attorney who was snooping around well after the case went cold.”

  Quintin is responsible for the death of our lawyer?

  “Had you dealt with her a long time ago, I wouldn’t be working at this dreadful job and I wouldn’t be stuck here in Manhattan married to a man I can hardly stand. I’ve always wanted only one thing, Quintin… to be with you.”

  Holy hell. I’ve heard enough, I need to get out of here now.

  I shove my phone inside my bag in a hurry and I crawl from under the desk. I run to the door and grab the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. By the time I reach the fourteenth floor, I’m out of breath and sweating after rushing down six floors, but I’m too afraid to stop now. I can’t believe what I’ve heard. My grandmother never trusted Quintin and now I find out he killed my father to silence him. Is Jennifer also responsible for my parents’ death?

  There are millions of questions colliding in my head, but I keep running down the stairs as if my jacket is on fire. I get out of the office building so fast I bump into a few people, who let me know in no uncertain terms how annoyed they are with me. The sidewalk is already bustling with New Yorkers making their way to work and my abrupt arrival doesn’t deter any of them.

  My handbag got caught in the handle as I was flying out the door. I straighten up and head back towards the entrance of Sassy magazine to unhook my bag. Once I get over the humiliation, I hail a cab. I need to get as far away as possible from Jennifer.

  Getting a cab during morning rush hour in Manhattan is as easy as crossing the Nile River in Egypt by foot. As soon as I see a free one approaching, someone else jumps in front of me and snatches it from me. After fifteen frustrating minutes, I finally dash towards one before a suited executive standing next to me spots it. Once I’m safely seated at the back of the taxi, I give the cabbie my directions as I dial Gabe’s phone to let him know about Jennifer’s involvement in this sordid story and to inform him I’m on my way to his office with the recording of the conversation I just overheard. When Gabe lets me know he’ll call one of his contacts at NYPD and request for a detective to come to his office to meet me, I know this case is about to get scarier and more twisted than it already is. I immediately call Max, Lia, Lexi and Devin to let them know I may have inadvertently walked in on the confession of the century.

  BOOK 4—CURVY CONQUEST

  Chapter Ten

  Six months later

  Max and I are sitting at the back of his chauffeured Mercedes Benz and we’re on our way to meet friends. My boyfriend has gathered Lia, Devin, Lexi, his brother Gabe, Francis, Sheena and Deidra in the private room of the VIP members’ den on the forty-first floor of the Bymark hotel for a special gathering. He’s also invited his parents and his younger brother Lucas, who’s coming with his pregnant wife Keira to join us.

  Today is a big day of celebration for all of us, but especially for me. God, I still can’t believe this gorgeous man sitting next to me is mine. I lose myself in his loving gaze before turning away to admire nightfall in New York as the car whizzes down a main artery.

  The past few months have been surreal. After five long and traumatizing years, my parents have finally been vindicated. The last six months have been a journey into the past where I was finally able to discover why my parents had been so brutally murdered. After the verdict came in and it was clear this nightmare was behind me, Max whisked me away to his home in Brazil where we’ve be
en staying for the past six weeks until we came back to New York four days ago.

  The first few days in Rio were pure agony. I couldn’t stop crying from sadness and joy. I was crushed by the weight of the truth and I was also liberated once and for all.

  During the trial, Max asked me to move in with him. I was spending most nights at his place anyways because the thought of being at my place without Leo was becoming more and more unbearable, but Max wanted to make it official between us. He insisted on me being close by so he could take care of me during this trying time.

  It took me a few weeks to adjust to my new luxurious surroundings and to accept the fact we were at this stage of our relationship. Once I did, Max suggested I rent out my grandmother’s apartment to take advantage of the fact it’s located in a coveted area of the city. I was lucky enough to find the perfect tenant—a handsome young teacher who moved from Minnesota for a position at NYU. I’m relieved my place is in good hands and I’m grateful someone will occupy the space while I live with the man I love.

  Not a day has gone by without me reliving every moment since I walked in on Jennifer’s early morning conversation with my parents’ killer. It’s been looping in my head like a film roll from old Hollywood. I shake my head and close my eyes, fighting off another sudden pang of sadness.

  Max must have noticed because he wraps his hands protectively over mine. “Baby, it’s over. You have to let it go.”

  “I know. Sometimes I relive parts of this drama and before I know it, I’m sucked into a vortex of bad memories.”

  “I understand, but remember this, Jennifer and Quintin will rot behind bars for the rest of their lives for what they’ve done to you and for Marvel West’s death. In many ways we have Damon West to thank. He went after BoostaSlimz-X30 with a vengeance and for once his media tirade has paid off big time because it helped bring so many poor victims to the forefront who had suffered from health issues and the families of those who died after taking the pills. When you combine this with the recording you made at Sassy magazine on that fortuitous morning, the damaging evidence Laurie had kept for all these years, the fact she was willing to trust Gabe enough to share it all, your father’s revised will in that safety deposit box and Lexi’s brilliance in connecting all of the companies that are part of Quintin Grayson’s massive conglomerate, this case was cracked wide open and all the ugliness came spewing out.”