The Billion Dollar Plan: Incongruity Series Book 1 Read online

  From the corner of my eye I notice scattered papers laying everywhere. I look down and my heart sinks.

  “Now look what you made me do!”

  I drop down to my knees and try to gather all the files that must have slipped out of my work bag while I ‘almost’ fell to my death.

  This can’t possibly be happening to me right now, on today of all days. I try to ignore the way my hands are shaking slightly, or the way I can’t seem to be able to shake off this strange feeling about this strange encounter.

  I have never been clumsy in my life. I don’t trip, I don’t fall and I sure as hell don’t lose my cool in public.

  What is happening to me?

  From the corner of my eye I notice him drop down to his haunches and start to help me gather the scattered contents of both my bags, including my girly stuff, like my lip gloss as well as my emergency stash of chocolates and sweets.

  I try my best not to look at him and for once I am grateful for the early hour as there isn’t the usual heavy flow of people by the entrance of my office building.

  He doesn’t respond to my earlier outburst however, he just gathers my stuff in a pregnant silence. When we are done, he stands with me and hands me back my wallet, my gum, and all the other trivial items that look ridiculous coming from his large, manly hands.

  I reach out to accept the miscellaneous offerings when his next words shock me to the core.

  “You know Chloe, for someone so intelligent, you haven’t been really careful lately. You haven’t been paying attention to your surroundings. It’s not just this moment alone, but since you left your apartment you have been a bit preoccupied might I add.”

  As soon as my name leaves his lips, I am frozen in place.

  He says my name in a way I have never heard it before, as if caressing it, testing the vowels of it and taking his sweet time while doing so.

  And why not, he knows he has all my attention.

  I’ve never been so fascinated by a man’s mouth before. Or his voice.

  Then I catch up with the rest of his sentence and my knees weaken, and I almost drop all the items I worked so hard to gather.

  We are standing on the top landing of the steps, directly in front of the entrance. So, it’s safe for me to take a step back away from this man, which I do and this time I really look at him, his gorgeousness aside.

  “How do you know my name?” I ask incredulously. My voice comes out slightly breathless. I wince internally.

  But what’s even more appalling is the fact that he has been watching me, following me, by his own admission even.

  “Who the hell are you and why are you following me?” I ask in a hoarse voice. Alarmed at the way he looks calm, as if it’s alright to stalk people.

  Almost as if he can easily take things further if he wanted to.

  Suddenly, I feel it. I sense it. The danger oozing from him.

  It hits me like a sledgehammer to a brick wall. This man is dangerous and by the looks of the fine threads he is spotting, is richer than half the world at large. That is a lethal combination.

  No amount of wealth and riches in this world can hide danger and evil, believe me I know.

  The combination of wealth and danger has never been a great one for me, particularly because I know of someone with the same attributes. That person murdered my parents.

  A tendril of fear snakes down my spine, making me tremble slightly.

  I take another step back as if I have been burnt by him and he only looks at me, his gaze shrewd and assessing.

  Then he takes a step closer to me as if to eliminate the space I put between us. There is no hesitation to his actions and he moves as if he owns the space we stand on. As if he owns the world.

  See, he is tall and large, that one step from him eats a lot of ground and it appears as if he is in my personal space as I have to crane my neck up to look at him.

  And I’m wearing six-inch heels for Pete’s sake.

  “I have invested a lot of my time into you Miss. Smith. I decided it was now time for us to meet. Just not in the way it happened” he gestures to my bags looking untidy with papers peeking out in every which way.

  I force myself to speak, God knows I’m feeling more than just a little blindsided by this sexy as hell man, who literally came out of nowhere.

  “Well nobody asked you to spend your money on me, in whatever way you mean by that. I sure as hell don’t need your attention and have no business with you. Whoever the hell you are!” I strongly point out, with all the courage I can muster up, and maybe a tad bit of fear.

  In this moment he looks well...savage and predatory. I have never felt this intimidated by a man before.

  And I have never been more in sync with anyone in my life as I am with this stranger.

  The way we breathe, the way we move, all of it subtle but in perfect synchronization. I feel targeted, like I’m some kind of prey and he is going to devour me at any time of his choosing.

  “Oh, but I think you must be mistaken. We do have business we need to discuss Miss. Smith” he says as his eyes begin to pierce me, as if trying to reach through to my soul.

  I also hate the way he is looking at me, as if he knows all my secrets. Starting with the most basic one, my fraudulent eyes.

  “Care to share said business sir? Some of us have jobs we need to get to and we sure as hell don’t stand in people’s paths or follow them around like stalkers. Oh, and we also don’t ‘spend a lot of money’ on virtual strangers and try ambushing them out of nowhere” I rush all of that out in one breath.

  Huffing out my displeasure at being stalked and followed like a damn criminal.

  Mr. Rude might be a sight for sore eyes and he might have my stomach fluttering every time he speaks, or looks at me, or breathes; but I have had my fair share of entitled spoiled men who think they can bulldoze your life any which way they want.

  “Rich words coming from a girl that is setting her boss up for absolute failure and destruction” he announces, with an air of knowledge that makes me freeze, taking in a sharp intake of breath.

  What is happening today? I definitely wasn’t expecting him to say that at all. I wasn’t even prepared to respond to that. But I quickly recover.

  “Set my boss up? What are you trying to insinuate here? Do you even know who my boss is?” I ask him, feeling proud when my voice comes out strong and sure. Not a hiccup or stammer in sight.

  At my words, he lets out a low, sexy chuckle, but it isn’t born of humor. Then he grows serious instantly.

  “Sweetheart, don’t...don’t insult me.” his voice is somber, his facial expression stoic and impassive. Dark in a way.

  That danger I was sensing? Yeah it wasn’t my imagination, this man is giving me all kinds of horror filled thoughts and the way his eyes just frosted over... Yet I feel the tingle of excitement coursing down my spine.

  “Acting like you don’t know what I am talking about won’t help you much Miss. Smith. But let me help you remember since you must be suffering from a bad case of temporary amnesia.” He says arrogantly, as he holds out his arm for me to take, as if he is a gentleman.

  Yet I know, I’m not a fool, I know that this man is nothing but.

  When I hesitate to take his arm, he stares at me as if daring me to argue with him or reject him in anyway.

  Something about the way he looks at me, compels me to ignore the blaring alarms going off in my head and focus on the curiosity that now feeds the veins and arteries connected to my heart.

  So, I do what I know damn well I shouldn’t do. I make a move that, now as I look at it, I wasn’t supposed to.

  All I should have done was ignore him, avoid the danger from this stranger and go straight to my office.

  That was all I was supposed to do.

  But those forest green emerald gems just suck me in. Taunting me, penetrating deep within me. And well, like a fallen Cleopatra, I take a step towards him and loop my hand through the arm he offers me.

&
nbsp; I didn’t realize then what I know now. I was signing my life away to the unknown.

  Chapter 3

  Chloe

  I AM SITTING IN A LUXURY Lincoln SUV. The ones that are custom made for people within a higher tax bracket than the rest of us.

  It even has the new car smell mixed with the mouth-watering scent of the man I am currently facing.

  I don’t know what it is exactly. It’s not that heavy kind of cologne, nor is it a kind of fragrance for men.

  No, it’s clean and manly, spicy yet not overpowering and all I want is to bottle it up.

  He is looking at me now. Still assessing, his gaze scorching each part he looks at.

  And me, well I’m doing my best not to fidget. After all, I don’t even know who this man is.

  He might be a federal agent for all I know, hell he could be another dirty business man who thinks he can ambush me to get some info on his competition, my damn boss.

  I wouldn’t put anything past him.

  His assessment of me is not what’s bothering me. It’s the silence.

  The car is so silent, the partition between us and the driver is up.

  He is sitting on the opposite bench from me, and he fills the black-colored leather seats with his wide, sexy shoulders.

  He is sipping from a bottle of water, with not a care in the world.

  Maybe just one though. Me.

  I sip my own water subconsciously. Probably as a result of watching him do the same. I don’t really want the water, I’m too nervous to be in his presence for that, but I do it anyway.

  It keeps my mouth busy.

  This silence is killing me and he probably knows that, maybe waiting for me to crack and start singing like a choir-girl. Well sir, you are in for a rude awakening if that’s what you are looking for.

  I was never in the habit of telling on myself, even when I was a little girl. Finally, he speaks,

  “Miss. Smith, we got off on a wrong note. Let me introduce myself. My name is Gideon Black, I’m sure you know who I am.”

  Like a bomb that just dropped out of nowhere, I am shocked beyond measure.

  Gideon Black.

  I mean who doesn’t know of Gideon Black in all the world?

  Well, I know plenty about him from having dealt with correspondents from one of his many offices. But this is my first time actually meeting the mogul behind the biggest conglomerate in the country. Likely in the entire world.

  A little over two years ago he took over the big seat, the throne of the kingdom, in his family’s company, Black House Inc. A large conglomerate that deals with everything from every industry. You can find them in agriculture, in mining, in high-end retail shops, in marketing, finance etc.

  They first made their mark as a finance company and now it’s got everything. A monster of a company, it’s blueprint alone is unprecedented and in a stratosphere all on its own.

  Black House Inc rakes in more revenues per fiscal year than any publicly traded company in the world. They are always in the top ten of S&P 500 Index each year.

  They are the IT company.

  But they were hit with accusations of being involved in a Ponzi scheme a year and a half ago, shortly after the man in front of me took over.

  The scandal shook the world, the headlines were in the news for more than three months. There were even protesters on the streets, demanding to get their money back and that Black House Inc should be shut down.

  Yet, as I look at him, I know what he knows.

  The Blacks never committed any crime. Especially not the one they are being accused of.

  The man in front of me suffered greatly because he was lied to.

  I know a bit of it but not entirely enough to exonerate him from the world, but I heard the whispers.

  And judging by the way he is looking at me now, watching me react to his name, I think he suspects just as much.

  “See, I worked so hard for our paths to cross Miss. Smith.” he begins again, “I don’t know exactly why you are doing what you are doing to that bastard and honestly, I couldn’t care less. I would love to sit back and watch the fireworks go off. But I can’t wait any more. So much is riding on this” he explains in his low, deep, cultured voice.

  He has that kind of voice that just electrocutes a woman, hell even a man.

  He doesn’t ever need to shout or be loud to get his point across, his voice carries above any kind of noise. Its soft tones tickling my very ears.

  Judging by the way he sits now, he knows he has all the confidence in the world to captivate an audience, hell, I’m so captivated, I don’t even know what to do with myself.

  “I’m sorry Mr. Black but I don’t think I know what you mean by that. And I also don’t think there is anything I can do to alleviate your situation.” I say.

  Some dangers are best kept at bay and something tells me that my words aren’t going to give me absolution now that I am already in his car.

  “That’s where you are wrong Miss. Smith. I think you are the perfect candidate for what I need.”

  The way he says that almost makes my jaw drop open to the floor of the car, but I hold myself. I have embarrassed myself in front of this man enough times already. I’m not up for another round.

  I wonder what type of needs this man has. Is there even anyone out there who can satisfy them?

  “Care to enlighten me, Mr. Black.” I’m getting impatient. I still need to get to work after all. Truth is though, I’m overworked and burning inside just from the way he is looking at me.

  This ‘ride around the block’ as he put it, is putting me off. And I haven’t had my first cup of heavenly caffeine yet.

  And my nerves are short just from being the center of this man’s attention.

  “So direct and straight to the point are we. And here I was trying to rope you in and work you for a little bit” the corner of his mouth lifts into some kind of half smile that I’m sure some other demographic faints at the sight of it. Not me though.

  But his words...

  “See, I have a proposition for you. I want you to work for me in exchange for my silence on whatever it is that you are scheming behind ole Demetri’s back.” He says and then leans back into his seat, waiting for me to respond. As if everything is that simple.

  “Work for you in what capacity?” I enquire, curiosity getting the better of me.

  As soon as he introduced himself, I suspected that was what he wanted from me, but I need to make sure before I decline.

  I have enough on my plate already, a lot that needs to get done.

  “I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t act surprised or act a fool with each other?” He says, all playful banter gone, vanished into thin, tense air.

  “I need to be clear on what exactly you think I should do for you Mr. Black. I am nothing if not thorough.”

  And that is not a lie. I make sure that if I do something, no matter what it is, that I do it thoroughly. There is no room for error in my world. I don’t subscribe to that notion.

  “Very smart. We don’t have time to get into the particulars right now. I’m sure you need to be in the office before that bastard shows up.” he says as his phone vibrates and his attention is now divided but he goes on without missing a beat.

  “Tell you what, why don’t I send a car for you on Thursday after you finish work, say six o’clock. Then we can discuss at length what ‘exactly’ it is I need from you.” he fires back my word back at me and he may as well have used air quotes but the man is too smart and clean for that.

  I feel the car come to a stop and I glance out the tinted windows and notice we are back where it all started, right in front of my office building.

  “And if I’m not interested in whatever this is?” I ask yet I think I already know the answer to that.

  “Chloe, I’m sure you know the answer to that. But something tells me that blackmail wouldn’t work as effectively on you as it does on most people, hell everyone. But I think I should still send t
he car on Thursday.” He says as he leans forward, his elbows resting atop his knees.

  His gaze is sharp, not once wavering from my fraudulent dark eyes. He stares me down and I know he is serious.

  I look at him and I decide that I am going to just blow him off by the time Thursday comes.

  Whatever blackmail he thinks would work on me, wouldn’t. And he knows that. So, I nod my head slightly at him, gather my bags and I am about to open the car door and let myself out when he speaks.

  “And another thing, the accounts you want him to sign off on today? He isn’t going to do that. He is going to blow that plan to hell.” He reveals in a serious tone.

  How on earth does he know what my plan for today was? How does he know all that he knows about me and my private dealings? Again, all I can do is just stare at him, shocked.

  “How do you know that?” I choke out, my voice slightly incoherent but I know he heard me.

  “Let’s just say, I have a little hunch about it. See you Thursday evening Miss. Smith” and with that I open the car door and scramble to get the hell out of there.

  This man is all sorts of weird and dangerous. And so appealing, I think my brain is fried and I’m wet.

  But I want nothing to do with him. His ‘hunch’ is wrong anyway.

  Stefan Demetri is going to sign off on the deal. I refuse to think otherwise.

  But as I turn around to close the car door, our eyes collide again, and it feels as if his eyes were waiting to connect with mine.

  I feel it again. That inexplicable sense like I am looking at myself, like I am looking into my own soul as I look in his eyes.

  How is that even possible? What kind of grief is HE carrying around?

  I shake my head and close the door and step back. I quickly turn away and make my way up the steps, this time keeping an eye out for where I am going.

  I don’t need another surprise along the way or God forbid, another random stranger who knows my name and reveals that I am being followed.

  I pass the security turnstile and soon I am in an empty elevator by myself riding to the executive floor. I glance at my watch and notice it’s almost seven am.