His Absolute Arrangement: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #1) (7 page)

We could do that, Elise and I.  Maybe.  I would discuss it with her.  Not today, though.  With Asher gone, with me being stuck in his office, quiet and alone, I was growing a little nervous and worried.  Irrational, maybe, but I wanted to go home.  I could still work from there, so it wasn't as if I was shirking my responsibilities.

I closed my laptop and collected all of my things, putting them into my laptop bag.  Grabbing my purse, I reached in and took out my phone, then dialed Jeremy's number.

"Hey," he answered, picking up on the second ring.  "What's up?"

"Can you come get me?" I asked.  "I'm at Landseer Tower."

"Early day, huh?"

"Something like that.  I'll tell you about it on the ride home.  It's been a little stressful."

"Sure thing, boss lady," he said with a smile in his voice.  "Don't you worry.  We'll have you relaxed and back in the lap of luxury in no time."

"Pft!" I said, rolling my eyes at the phone for all the good it did me.

"What, you want to go to the guest house, instead?  I don't know how to tell you this, but it's kind of fancy there, too."

"Shut up," I said, laughing.  "Let's get some lunch, too.  Carry out?"

"Yeah, sure.  Give me ten or so.  I'll text you when I'm out front."

We hung up with each other and I checked to make sure I had everything.  Ten minutes.  If I wanted to, I could go check my office quickly.  To... what?  Make sure everything really was alright?  It was locked now, gone through up and down, as safe as safe can be, cleaned up, organized, and not really exciting.  It seemed distant in a way, though.  I'd liked my office before, but it didn't seem like it was mine anymore.  It was just a room in a building and nothing else.

The thought made me sad, but I pushed past it.  Why get upset over a room, Jessika?  I tried to tell myself that, but it barely worked.

Slipping the sling to my laptop bag over my shoulder along with my purse, I marched towards the door to Asher's office, steady and strong.  At least I hoped I looked steady and strong, because I didn't quite feel it.  I opened his door quietly, acting as if I might alert everyone to my presence if I moved too loudly.  Clicking the lock button on the inside, I stepped out, then closed the door behind me.  I double checked it to make sure it really was locked, then started walking towards the elevator.

Everything was fine, I told myself.  Nothing was wrong.

A
sher didn't want to tell Jessika, but the meeting in the Miranda Conference Room was about her.  Or, not only about her, but the security and safe being of Landseer Tower and Landseer Enterprises.

"I need guarantees," Asher said.  "We need to make sure that there aren't any information leaks or potential for blocks in day to day operations.  I think we all know why by now.  I'm worried that something may be happening again."

Johnson Frank, Asher's Director of Financial Affairs, cleared his throat to speak.  "The Solomon Royce incident has been taken care of and nothing even remotely similar should be possible in the future.  I've made sure that all aspects of finances are sent through a five-point system to ensure accuracy and control."

"We had a system before that," Asher said.  "It was supposed to be relatively failsafe, but obviously that didn't work out.  This system is going fine now, but for how long?"

"We perform audits, Asher.  There's checks and balances in place.  This has nothing to do with what happened today in Mrs. Landseer's office."

Asher furrowed his brow.  "I just don't understand.  There's no way Solomon and Beatrice could have done what they did on their own.  Beatrice never knew the full extent of it, either.  So what happened, then?"

"Beatrice
says
she didn't know anything besides the basics," Rob Preston said.  "Don't you think it's a little careless to believe what she says?  It's already come back to bite you in the past."

Asher glared at his Director of Risk Assessment.  "She's changed, Rob.  She's a better person now."

Rob shrugged.  "If you say so.  I understand not wanting to throw the baby out with the bath water, but I'm really reluctant to believe that someone can just change like that.  She lied to you about everything.  I know it was your life, Asher, and that's different than the business world, but do you really think you can trust a woman who literally tried to destroy you?  She wanted to ruin Landseer Enterprises entire operation after liquidating her assets, then fucking you over with a reputation damaging divorce after your sham of a marriage.  It's hard to hear, and I get that, but that's what happened.  If there's something going on now, she could be in on it, too."

"It's possible," Asher said, sucking air in through his teeth.  "Fine.  I admit it's possible.  I don't believe it is, but there's a chance.  Solomon would know more, but he's refusing to speak, too."

Lucent Storme, Director of Public Relations, coughed.  Everyone stopped speaking and turned to look at him.  The scene almost made Asher laugh.  It was inspiring—and somewhat scary—that Lucent had that effect on people.  Yes, Asher was the CEO, but all of his directors were a lot more casual with him.  No one was casual with Lucent.

"If I may interject," Lucent said.  "There's little logic in seeking answers outside of our immediate circle of influence.  Most assuredly Solomon Royce knows more, as he appears to be the lynchpin of the plot to sabotage Landseer Enterprises, but as it is he has no direct access to the building, never will again, and shall be sitting within a prison cell for at least another decade, or likely much longer than that.  He is a non-issue at this time.  If there's a breach in security within Landseer Enterprises at this present moment, which we certainly have reason to believe is a factual representation of our situation, we should be seeking answers on a scope nearer to home."

"And your suggestion is...?" Asher asked.

"The most obvious course of action is to enhance surveillance and security systems.  Unfortunately, one of the major drawbacks to increasing security to the degree that I feel is necessary in order to permanently impede any further issues is that the more laid back and casual attitude towards our corporate and business affairs will be culled along with a sense of freedom.  The harsher we become in regards to safety, the less likely people are going to feel comfortable here, which will destroy a part of what makes Landseer Enterprises what it is."

Johnson shrugged.  "Do you want to make sure your billion dollar company doesn't become a zero dollar one, or do you want a few people to feel a little more comfortable at work?  If you ask me, I'd rather have an extra ten grand in the bank every week if it meant I had to give up dress-down Fridays."

Lucent smiled amiably, resting his elbows on the table in front of him and steepling his fingers.  He said nothing.

"Landseer Enterprises is the company it is because of the way we've approached the business world," Asher said.  "If we forsake that now, it doesn't matter how much money anything is worth, because we'll have changed.  I'm all for positive change, and I understand that there's a lot of risks involved, but I don't want to destroy the atmosphere because of paranoia and resentment towards something we don't even know exists."

Alice Hamilton, the Director of Information and Technology, sighed.  "We can put some covert countermeasures into place without affecting too much in day to day affairs, I think.  Security measures that people can't see, things that aren't obvious or obtrusive.  It's definitely possible to do, and we can do it in a way that isn't noticeable if that's the way you want to go about it, Asher.  Take the company laptops, for example.  We can install an update that keys into all of the built in webcams and gives us eyes into everyone's office.  It's basically the direct access into surveillance that anyone could want.  There are already a handful of cameras throughout the halls and in other places, so what's a few more?"

Most everyone nodded their agreement, except Lucent.  Granted, Lucent usually didn't openly agree with anyone, so it was hard to tell what his stance was now.  Asher put his hand on his forehead and squeezed his temples, closing his eyes.

"Besides the fact that I'm fairly certain that's a huge invasion of privacy, especially considering many of our employees bring their laptops home from work, I don't see how that's going to help.  When Solomon Royce enacted his plan, if we had eyes into his office, what would that have done?  And how far is too far?  The computers have microphones, as well, right?  Do we tap into the cameras and the microphones?  We already track email correspondence and internet usage, though for the most part we let people do what they'd like."

Rob shrugged.  "I don't see how it's going to affect anyone unless they're doing something wrong.  I mean, really now, if you're doing your work like you should be, but now your computer is sending out video and sound recording of what you're doing, who cares?  The only way I can see someone having a problem is if they're inviting a co-worker into their room for a midday fuck session."

Asher wanted to say something, but he decided to err on the side of caution.  Personally, he didn't care overly much about the potential scandal, because what he did with his wife was his own issue, and while others might attempt to attack him over it, it never affected his position with the company.  Obviously, it would affect Jessika differently, though.  She'd already shown disturbance towards the small bout of public outrage after the Solomon Royce incident.  He refused to cause her undue distress by rekindling the media's attention on their relationship.

"It's not a suitable solution to our perceived problem," Lucent said suddenly.  "There are multiple issues with increased security like Ms. Hamilton suggests.  Disregarding the potential for an invasion of privacy lawsuit and the fact that many of Landseer Enterprise's employees bring their laptops home for working purposes, the cameras and microphones wouldn't work when the computers are off.  They also wouldn't be able to send information if someone were to unplug from the internet, for example.  If the microphone or camera breaks, what then?  It's extremely suspicious if we require everyone within the company to have working peripheral devices that they should never have need of during the normal course of business.  How far does that go?  Do we then require each employee to partake in video conferences as some solution to the inherent problems with another solution?  So on and so forth?"

"In essence," Lucent said with a sense of finality, "while the idea of the solution is potentially interesting to contemplate, the additional problems it produces are too numerous and dissatisfactory for my preferences."

Down the table, someone muttered something about Lucent only holding issue with it because he was having midday fuck sessions in his office and didn't want them recorded.  Or, it sounded like that.  If that was indeed what they said, Lucent showed preference towards ignoring it.  More muttering and mumbling started after that, though.  Complaints.  Worries.  Whose office would the culprits break into next?  If the CEO's wife wasn't safe from corporate vandalism, who was?  If...

"Enough," Asher said, loud and firm.  "This isn't a schoolyard.  We're not sitting on the jungle gym during recess, sipping juice from a box and nibbling animal crackers.  I like the fact that we can all be a little more open with one another during our meetings, and I appreciate everyone's honesty, but we aren't here to gossip.  This isn't a knitting group at the nursing home."

"What are we going to do about it, then?" someone asked.

Asher sighed.  To be honest, he just didn't know.  What should he do about it?  Ignore it and pretend everything would work out in the end?  He'd done that before he met Jessika, hoping that his life and his business, his wife and loveless marriage, his
everything
, would all fix itself if he just kept at it.  Obviously that didn't work.  He'd almost lost everything that way.

And if he took the opposite stance?  If he went as far as putting a stranglehold on Landseer Enterprises and making everyone feel as if they couldn't move two steps without someone knowing about it?  It was safer, yes, but safer for who?  For Asher?  For the company?  It was safer for the money involved, and everyone who had a deep investment in Landseer Enterprises would prefer that he do everything within his power to maintain the safety of company profits.  Asher thought he should be going along with that thought process, too, but he just couldn't.

Both ways involved too much risk.  One risked the company and its assets, while the other risked his employee's happiness and their productivity.  He doubted he could truly separate the two, either.  The entire Landseer Enterprises business model revolved around happiness in a lot of ways.  People went on vacations, they took trips, they wanted a break from their lives so they could relax and refresh themselves, then begin again anew.  He wanted everyone to be on board with that and everyone to have a sense of it, too.  When his employees were happy, they could better focus on bringing happiness to others.

"We're not going to do anything," Asher said; concerned mutters interrupted him.  "Quiet.  We're not going to do anything yet.  We're going to do an evaluation of our current security measures and find out any potential weak points.  Obviously we have a few.  Jessika doesn't have surveillance cameras in her office, but there weren't any operating in that hallway, either.  I have to believe that the person who entered while she was gone knew this."

"There's too much activity to try and account for all of it," Asher continued.  "On every floor, at every hour of the day, even during the night, there's countless people walking the halls for legitimate reasons.  I'm not going to punish them because of one or two people who have decided to cause a disturbance."

"Asher," Rob said.  "Look.  Listen to yourself.  It's not a disturbance.  This was a serious and disastrous event.  Solomon nearly destroyed everything you have.  Maybe you don't care.  I don't know.  I know that I care, though.  I care because this is my job and I get paid.  I don't want to see everything around me crumbling into dust because you don't want to bother a couple of people."