Chapter Nine
To many people, a request to meet at an abandoned rail road station would have been mysterious, and perhaps, disturbing. However, Aiden thought it was quite appropriate. Having arrived a few minutes early, he leaned against the guard railing, his hands casually tucked in his pockets. There was a slight chill in the morning air even though the sun was already shining.
He heard the clicking of her high-heeled shoes against the pavement within a few minutes and looked to his right to find Emily ascending sleekly towards him. She wore a cream and black silk dress with a matching light-weight coat that fell to the hem of her dress. Aiden smirked to himself as she stopped in front of him and lowered her large sunglasses. "This place is definitely out of the way enough. Although I must say, you're overdressed for the occasion," He began, his words enveloped in his distinct British accent.
"I'm headed to Grayson Global after this," Emily explained flatly, focusing on how far the the train tracks stretched in the distance.
"Wish I could say the same. Are you the reason Daniel denied me a seat on the board yesterday?"
Emily rotated her face to look at Aiden squarely. "No. I wasn't."
Aiden knew by her eyes she was telling the truth and nodded in acknowledgment. "Why then?"
"I guess there's something about you he doesn't trust." Emily shrugged, almost in satisfaction. "One could say he has a good instinct, considering your motives."
"His instincts obviously weren't as good when it came to you." Aiden smiled, pleased with his rebuttal.
Emily shook her head, unphased by the insult. "Despite how things started, I truly love Daniel now, Aiden...which is why I wanted to meet with you. I need your help."
"I'm listening."
"Victoria enlisted me to first, discourage Daniel from his quest... and now, to convince him to revoke his appointment as CEO because she believes he's in danger. I normally would not listen to her, but I think there is a possible threat."
"The Initiative?"
"Yes."
Aiden took a moment before speaking. "Her name is Helen Crowley. I've made initial contact with her."
Emily knitted her brow. "How?"
"Let's just say... the surveillance footage from the investor luncheon at Grayson Manor was rather useful."
Emily now raised her brow instead. The only way Aiden would have had access to that footage was via her best friend. "I didn't realize you and Nolan had become so close."
"Well, I've been persistent."
"I'm sure." Emily crossed her arms, peeved at the thought.
"I need an opportunity to speak with Helen again. She says my sister is still alive."
Seeing the determination in Aiden's eyes caused Emily to soften, but she did not let on. She knew how much it meant to him to find, his sister, Colleen, or at least find out what had happened to her. And she also knew what it felt like to need answers, to need closure. "I'm hosting a wine auction tomorrow night for one of the charities I support. I'm going to suggest to Daniel that we invite all the key investors, and I'll make sure Helen is there."
Emily began to walk away, but stopped after taking only a few steps, and turned back to look at Aiden again. "I'll save myself the phone call and personally extend the invitation to Takeda now. As his liaison to Grayson Global, I'm sure you will want to be in attendance."
Aiden's mouth curled in pleasure. "I wouldn't miss it."
"Daniel, your wife is here," Grace announced over the intercom on his desk phone. Daniel smiled, setting the report he was reviewing down on the desk.
"Thanks, Grace. Please send her in." By the time Emily entered the office, Daniel was already walking to close the gap between them. "Hey, babe. You look beautiful. Did I forget about a doctor's appointment?" He asked as he leaned in to kiss her. Emily smiled at his thoughtfulness, leaving her hand against his chest for a moment.
"Thank you. No, not at all. I'm actually here to discuss business."
"Okay..." Daniel replied, his curiosity peaked.
"Well, if you were serious about my being a philanthropic consultant to the company, I think I better start right away."
"I was, and what do you have in mind?"
"I thought it would be a good idea to invite your top tier investors to the wine auction tomorrow night."
"That's a great idea."
Grace gave a short knock on the door before walking through in a fast stride. "Mr. Grayson, I'm sorry to interrupt, but this envelope just arrived for you from Helen Crowley, and it's marked urgent."
"Thank you, Grace. And would you please provide Emily with the list of our top tier investors?"
"Certainly. I'll take care of it right now." She speedily left the office and Daniel opened the envelope to review its contents. It was a report on a company called Stonehaven United Solutions. Emily immediately scanned the report cover and made note of it.
Daniel sighed, giving her another brief kiss. "Em, I'm sorry, but I better get to reviewing this."
"Of course," She replied understandingly and began moving towards the door. "I have several phone calls to make anyway. Any requests for dinner tonight?"
Daniel, who had already begun to glance at the report, looked up at Emily with a regretful expression. "Oh baby, I don't know if I'll be home in time for dinner. I think I may be here pretty late."
"Chinese take out here at the office then?"
He grinned, knowing Emily meant she would bring him dinner, and they would eat together at the office. "You're the best, as always."
"I'm certain the Initiative has a camera in Daniel's office. Helen's phone call last night was a little too timely given the fact we had just been talking about her," Emily quietly relayed after nonchalantly approaching Aiden at the bar of the wine auction venue.
He took a swallow of his bourbon while his eyes scanned the crowd. "You sure she'll be here tonight?"
"Absolutely. I led her to believe you were the one who suggested I invite her. She'll come because she's curious."
"Good."
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Emily said as she slipped into the crowd and made her way over to Daniel. She found him standing near the door, shaking hands with guests as they entered the large room.
"Mr. Prosser, I didn't expect to see you here," Daniel greeted just as Emily joined in beside him.
"Daniel, good to see you. Congratulations on your take over. Your father would never have been able to pull off the NolCorp acquisition with such ease," Jason Prosser replied with a back-handed compliment.
"Whatever business acumen I have, I owe to my father. He was my mentor, after all." It was rather uncommon these days for Daniel to defend Conrad, and it did not go unnoticed by Emily. Her conversation with Victoria earlier in the day was beginning to make even more sense.
"And now he doesn't even have a desk at your company," Jason reminded and turned to Emily before Daniel could respond to the insult. "And who is this lovely lady?"
Emily offered a cordial smile, extending her hand to him. "Emily Grayson. Thank you for coming, Mr. Prosser."
Daniel glanced back and forth between them apologetically. "I'm sorry, I thought you two had already spoken."
"Actually, your mother invited me." And on cue as always, Victoria waltzed in wearing a crimson gown, ready to be showered with adoration. "Victoria, aren't you a vision," Jason exclaimed.
"Jason, so glad you could make it. Hello, Daniel... Emily, you're simply glowing tonight. Pregnancy certainly becomes you." Emily smiled politely at Victoria's overtly feigned compliment, feeling Daniel's hand on the small of her back in attempt to offer his support and sympathy for his mother's behavior. Victoria then turned to Jason with a small laugh. "Can you believe I'm going to be a grandmother, Jason?"
"You'll certainly be the most be beautiful grandmother out there," Jason smoothly replied and Victoria continued to soak in the admiration. Daniel took a healthy drink of the champagne he had been holding in his free hand to keep from muttering words of disgust.
Victoria continued unashamedly, "Jason, you'll be happy to know I personally had the bar stocked with the oldest whiskey known to mankind. Come."
"What was that all about?" Emily asked once Victoria had escorted Jason away.
"The rivalry between Prosser and my dad is legendary. I'm sure my mom invited him here tonight to embarrass me on the auction block."
Another one of Grayson Global's investors arrived then, and Daniel began to speak with him. Though Emily remained at his side, her mind was a million miles away.
"Thank you for the Stonehaven tip, Emily," Victoria said while Emily stood looking at the view of her beach house from Victoria's private balcony. Turning, Emily walked over to the vacant chair and took a seat.
"I hope it was useful. I don't like betraying Daniel's confidence."
Victoria lifted the glass lemonade to her lips."You and Daniel seem to have a need for complete transparency which is admirable; however, quite unrealistic."
Emily shook her head at Victoria's negativity. Transparency was not a strong suite of Emily's, though she was trying to improve greatly when it came to Daniel. The fact her mother-in law actually discouraged it though, was twisted.
When Emily did not respond, Victoria continued, "I'm not sure how a wine auction is helping our plan, but being that you're moving forward with it, I thought it would be a good idea to invite Jason Prosser."
"Of Prosser Wealth Funds?"
"That's right."
"Isn't he one of Grayson Global's biggest competitors?"
"Yes, but I've always found the most lucrative charity auctions are the ones that pit two corporate egos against each other. With your permission, I'm sure I could get Jason to attend."
Emily forced her mouth to turn upwards. "Of course."
"I still can't believe you paid one million dollars for a bottle of wine," Emily chuckled, comfortably nestled in the nook of Daniel's arm which was wrapped across her chest. After arriving home from the wine auction, they had immediately made love, and were now lying in bed and enjoying the simplicity of just being together.
Daniel grinned at her comment even though she could not see his face. "I guess I did get a little carried away at the auction." A thought occurred to him suddenly regarding his bold bid. "That was... one of those things as a married couple... we should have discussed ahead time, wasn't it?"
Emily laughed, titling her head so she could see his adorable and intentionally over-exaggerated expression of guilt. "Yes...but, I would have told you to do it. Besides...it was fun seeing you outbid Jason Prosser."
Daniel's grin returned at the thought of his recent triumph. "Yes, that was fun."
Emily rolled completely on her back again, her tone becoming serious. "I hope I did the right thing in telling your mother about Stonehaven."
Daniel absently picked up Emily's hand, which had been resting against his chest, and began to trace circles on her palm. When Emily had told him of her idea to leak the news of Stonehaven to Victoria, he had resisted at first, but soon agreed it was the smartest way to proceed. "As much as I don't like the idea of her meddling, she's going to do it with or without your help. At least if you're playing along, we have an idea what we're dealing with. Jason Prosser's presence there tonight was no coincidence."
"You think Victoria told him about Stonehaven?"
"Absolutely."
"Maybe you should just let him have it." Emily quietly suggested, sounding dismal. If the Stonehaven acquisition came at the suggestion of the Initiative, it would serve as an aid in whatever they were planning.
"This acquisition is potentially too important to forfeit it to Prosser, Em."
Emily turned on her side to face him, propping herself up on her arm as she did so. "I'm more concerned about your safety than acquiring some disaster relief company."
"Until we can identify an actual threat... I'm moving forward."
A large part of her wanted to just tell him everything, to make him see just how real an actual threat there was. But doing so could have dire consequences, and so Emily decided it was best to continue to work behind the scenes for the time being. She hoped Aiden's encounter with Helen Crowley had proven successful. She needed to gain leverage.
Emily sighed, choosing to shift the subject matter. "Well, I can see there isn't any convincing you otherwise, but perhaps, I can change your mind about something else."
Daniel lifted his fingertips to play with her hair. "What's that?"
"I'm going to get to have another sonogram at tomorrow morning's appointment. I know last time you opted not to find out the gender, but..."
He laughed in amusement at her coy smile. "You really want to find out, don't you?"
Emily shrugged, still smiling. "What can I say? I like to be able to plan."
Daniel had no idea just how true a statement that was.
"I'm glad you and Carl stopped by for a visit," Emily said, taking a seat on the porch swing next to Amanda who was holding a sleeping baby Carl in her arms. "I'm sorry I haven't been a very good godmother these last few weeks."
"It's okay, I know you've had a lot going on," Amanda excused, always eager to forgive her.
Emily had finally begun to appreciate the friend she had in Amanda and what she had sacrificed in giving away her identity. In truth, it was more than Emily ever had deserved. "I'm hoping you'll consider being my baby's godmother as well."
Amanda's face lit up at the mention of it. "Are you kidding? I'd be honored!"
Emily smiled in return and paused before softly saying, "I'm having a girl."
"You are? Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Wait – I thought you and Daniel wanted to be surprised?"
"Well, I convinced Daniel to let us find out at yesterday's doctor's appointment."
"I know she and Carl are going to be best friends."
"And grow up and get married one day, right?" Emily added with another smile, not even thinking of what she was actually saying.
Amanda's own smile faded. "Like you and Jack were supposed to?"
Emily closed her eyes for a moment, slightly pained. "Amanda, that's not want I meant."
Amanda nodded, looking down at Carl. "I guess I...I just feel guilty because I went after Jack knowing you had feelings for him." Her eyes returned to Emily. "I'm sorry I did that to you."
"I'm not," Emily whispered with certainty. "I want Jack to be happy, and you make him happy. You two have Carl...you're getting married. It's better this way. And I belong with Daniel. I know that now."
The change in Emily was apparent and welcomed by Amanda, who hoped they both had found lasting happiness. "You really love him, don't you?"
"Yeah... it's a little terrifying, actually."
"Why?... Is everything okay?"
Emily sighed. "Becoming CEO of Grayson Global has put him at risk."
"How so?"
"I don't want to involve you. It's safer for you, Jack and Carl, to not know."
"You're scaring me."
"I'm going to take care of it. I'm not about to let the same people who helped destroy my father, do the same thing to Daniel."
A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the comments on my previous chapter! I cannot tell you enough how encouraging they are to me. I love reading your thoughts and am so glad you are enjoying the fic. I am hopeful that you will enjoy this installment as well, and of course, would love to continue to hear from you. And please remember, if there is something you would really like to see happen in the story, please make mention of it. :)