Stolen Read online

  He arched an eyebrow.

  “She intimated to me as well,” he said and then paused.

  “What?” she asked.

  He shrugged as he looked her over.

  “Is this your A game?’ he teased. “This sports attire?”

  She zipped her hoodie a little closer to her chin self-consciously.

  “I didn’t think the meeting warranted serious dress. You should probably keep your remarks to yourself,” she chastised.

  He responded with a smoldering gaze that weakened her.

  “I am, believe me,” he promised. “So, tell me, knowing that you were being used, why did you come?”

  “I am just doing what I am told,” she answered, her throat suddenly dry.

  “Is that also what you do?” he whispered. “What you’re told?”

  “I’m about to open that door and walk out of it,” Janie threatened.

  She was suddenly finding him less attractive.

  “Relax,” he counseled. “It was just a question. You had me worried there when you said this is what I do. I can tell you wouldn’t be able to smooth anything over; on the contrary you would only serve to make things hard.”

  Janie choked. Did he really mean to use those exact words?

  “I just had to see for myself if that was what you were all about,” he replied cryptically.

  “Well then, our time has been wasted completely,” she said.

  She was completely annoyed. She had been so ready to go for a jog on a beautiful morning.

  “Not mine,” he said softly. “Lola Wyler thinks she can make fools of us both. She doesn’t respect either one of us, you know that don’t you?”

  The answer to that question was too painful for Janie to respond. She didn’t have to; he was smart enough to know the answer.

  He continued, “Tell me, does your job depends on my letting Harry Wyler off the hook?”

  She replied, “Things would be really good for me if you did. But I have to remind you, Harry did have help. The place on the hook is only half his.”

  He pressed his eyelids tight. She had gone too far.

  “Thanks for putting it bluntly,” he countered.

  His brilliant blue eyes glittered with mischief.

  He clarified, “What I meant was, if I don’t let you have what the Wylers’ want, what would become of you? But if you’re going to talk like that maybe I should leave you on your own.”

  “Now you relax,” she said.

  He flashed a smile. She liked that he liked her boldness.

  “No doubt Harry led your daughter astray,” she said. “Maybe you should consider why he was able to do that? And don’t worry about what will become of me because on my way over here, I am not married to Wylers. Harry should face consequences.”

  Colin chewed is luscious lip as he thought.

  “So, you’re fine if they fire you?” he said quietly.

  She replied honestly, “It’s always worked out for me. I am not going to make it easy for the Wylers to not be responsible parents anymore. Especially not when people get hurt.”

  “Then what I am about to do you a really big favor,” he said softly. “I am pressing charges against Harry Wyler for statutory rape and kidnap and whatever else my lawyers can think of. If his parents want to do something about it, they can talk to me directly.”

  Janie was broadsided. She thought maybe he was talking about expulsion from school but charges of rape? Her life was going to be changing a lot faster than she planned. She wasn’t even sure how much money she had in the bank. Up to that point, she hadn’t been super careful since part of her compensation was in the form of room and board. She got to live in what would otherwise be a charming house on pastoral grounds, drive a sweet little German car, in addition to a relatively modest living allowance.

  “Is there a problem?” he challenged. “Are you going to have a problem backing my play?”

  “No,” she said. “Well yes. I mean there’s no room for negotiation?”

  “You said yourself the Wyler boy – man needs a consequence,” he replied.

  “I get that. But I think it would be fair if maybe all the parents sat down and had a conversation with the lovebirds first. I don’t think throwing the book at him before finding out the facts is the way to go,” she said.

  “I don’t need to talk to my daughter –“ blurted out Colin.

  “Oh,” said Jane triumphantly. “Well maybe it is a good thing I did meet with you. Sounds like you do need to talk with your daughter. That is the place for you to start.”

  “Are you judging my parenting?” he snapped.

  “When is the last time you sat down with your daughter? One kid at boarding school, one kid in college –“ she continued.

  “One man,” corrected Colin.

  “With all due respect, she crashed the frat party that allowed them to meet. That she did all by her lonesome.

  Colin started to reply but he stopped. He pressed his eyes closed and sighed heavily. He drew a business card from the holder on his desk and approached her. Even from the distance that had been between them, she was stirred by him. Now that he was in front of her, the chemistry was intense. She couldn’t figure it. She chalked it up to ridiculous spring fever. First the burglar and now this man. He looked directly into her eyes; she sucked in her breath. The effect went straight to her very core. Still she knew that he probably detested her as much as he did the Wylers right about now.

  “I have to say,” he began in a strained voice. “The Wylers are lucky to have you. You are absolutely right. I will hold off on any decisions until I take you advice and talk things over with my kid.”

  “I didn’t mean –“ Janie started.

  “No, you’re right,” he cut her off. “You set me straight. Doesn’t mean I won’t ultimately press charges.”

  “Got it,” she said.

  “Here is all of my contact – email, cell phone, social media,” he explained. “If you do get caught in the middle because of all of this, if they don’t treat you decently, I want you to call me, understood?”

  “I’ll be fine. They can’t hurt me,” she gently argued.

  His was not a question but an order. It was cloaked in a velvet tone but it was an order nonetheless. It did weird and wonderful, distracting things to her insides but she didn’t answer his question. He pressed her.

  “Understood?” he asked again.

  He wanted her to commit to asking him for help when the time came, and the time would come.

  “I understand. No offense, Mr. Morrissey --” she responded.

  “You may call me Colin,” he said casually.

  “Colin, the Wylers are dirty rich. Not to be crude, they’re worth billions. I don’t really foresee them doing anything to me if I don’t deliver –“

  “You kind of delivered,” he chuckled.

  Janie continued, “But tussle with them and they may ruin you. I don’t know what you do for living or what your background is. It looks like you’re comfortable. Still, I don’t think you have any idea. You may lose all this before your fight is through.”

  “I just learned a lesson in underestimation. I will teach one to the Wylers if I need to.”

  “I have a card too,” she said after the fact. “Here you go.”

  She opened her purse which now that she thought of it, she wished were tidier, and produced a business card that the Wylers had made up for her. She noted that Colin was eyeballing her opened purse, particularly a Cartier watch on loan from Mrs. Wyler. She closed it slowly, scolding him with a stare.

  “Sorry,” he laughed softly.

  Chapter Three

  The burglar’s kiss was still on Janie’s lips. Even more so as she drove away from the upscale Stanford neighbor to the one in which she lived in Woodside. Her kissing bandit reminded her that her life had been sorely lacking and for the next few days after, she couldn’t shake the empty feeling. Suddenly Colin Morrissey and her bandit fused together like the
y were the same experience. The fact that he had been entranced by her expensive watch sort of cinched it for her.

  Now whenever she thought of her masked man, she gave him Colin’s face. She wouldn’t mind it one bit if the man who wanted to take on the rich and powerful Wylers, and the guy who took her into his arms were one and the same. Janie felt like a classic fairytale in reverse: she was Cinderella looking for her prince.

  Janie delivered the report on where things stood with Colin to the Wylers by email since no one was picking up the phone across the pond, and waited. Nothing. She checked in with her counterpart-staff in Switzerland every other day but they reported there was nothing but radio silence from the Wylers. After all that, thought Janie, and it really wasn’t that important to them.

  Janie had just come back from a pretty good run when a mild earth quake rumbled through Woodside Hills. Janie joked to herself that it was probably centered in Switzerland and that it was no earthquake, it was a Mrs. Wyler-quake. She finally got the news about her meeting with Colin.

  Janie fully expected that when Mrs. Wyler finally read that Colin Morrissey had been considering pressing charges against her baby boy, her rich boss lady would throw a fit. No sooner did Janie let the Wylers rent space in her head, did Mrs. Wyler burst through the door of the guest house.

  Janie staggered, she has so surprised. The woman had been traveling and didn’t tell her.

  “Jane,” said Mrs. Wyler crisply. “Explain yourself to me.”

  Mrs. Wyler had obviously made her own travel plans, but Janie needed a little notice that her employer was going to be on premises. Her presence was so jarring to the soul.

  “Explain?” Janie echoed.

  “The bit about the little tart’s father pressing charges,” said Mrs. Wyler.

  “He’s not,” Janie replied, completely at a loss for Mrs. Wyler’s confusion.

  “You said he was thinking about it but that he had not made up his mind. Why didn’t you set him straight?” she demanded.

  He wanted to press charges and I got him to stop and think. Other than that, there was nothing I could do,” she replied lamely.

  “That aside, notice anything?” Mrs. Wyler asked with deadly friendliness.

  This tone meant that something else happened and Janie was going to be held responsible for it.

  “Other than your surprise appearance, no I do not,” answer Janie.

  Mrs. Wyler replied in a sarcastic whisper, “We have been robbed! Or at least I think we have. Security said they picked up someone stalking around the premises a few nights ago. Don’t you check these things?”

  Janie froze. Was her bandit caught on tape and if so, would she be able to identify him? She was clearly in need of drastic change of scenery, she thought, if her mind went there.

  “I don’t review the security tapes every day, no,” she said stopping short of saying ‘that’s why we hire security for.’

  “Perhaps if you had been up earlier you would have known this by now,” continued Mrs. Wyler.

  “I was out for a run,” Jane defended.

  Mrs. Wyler arched her brow and sucked in her cheeks.

  “I can see how it goes when I am not hovering over you watching your every move,” she replied.

  Janie blinked. She had basically fixed it so her boss’s son could transfer to the school of his choice without a bad record, and escape arrest; but this woman was being sarcastic. Janie thought about the smooth, silky voice of the burglar. She knew it was wrong but she relished the dark, dangerous memory.

  “Why are you smiling?” Mrs. Wyler demanded.

  “I am not smiling,” lied Janie. “I have to say Mrs. Wyler, that’s going too far.”

  “Well I have to say back, Jane, it’s not going far enough,” Mrs. Wyler answered. “It’s awful enough you failed us – failed Harry who adores you—and I had to catch the first available flight back here to meet with that garish man, but I arrive to find we could have been completely wiped out.”

  “Harry adores me so much he didn’t even show for his own meeting,” Janie mumbled.

  “What was that?” demanded Mrs. Wyler.

  “Were you wiped out? Did security see anyone actually in the house?” asked Janie, using her very professional voice.

  “No,” said Mrs. Wyler.

  Janie continued, “Have the police been called?”

  “No, that’s your job,” she said snidely. “I came down here to get you to do it. I mean, really Jane, what do I pay you for?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I’ll call,” she said. “I’ll walk you up to the main house.”

  It was more than a little fun to direct her boss around, to physically manipulate her out the door back to the main house. It was the best change of subject yet – from her failure to get Colin to back off completely to the fact that they had been robbed, again. Janie was eager to take a look at the security footage. She speed-walked up the drive to the main house.

  “Now you’re in a hurry,” snarked Mrs. Wyler. “I mean really. I have to fly from Switzerland just to let you know what it is going on around the house.”

  Janie grinned to herself as she recalled her brief and forbidden encounter. Just the thought of it had her trotting in through the front door.

  “For God sakes, wait up,” Mrs. Wyler complained.

  Janie dialed the police as soon as she was in the main house and then she texted security to have them forward a copy of the video to both Mrs. Wyler and her.

  “Did you actually see what security was talking about?” asked Janie. “They could have sent it to you overseas.”

  “Or my assistant could have,” said Mrs. Wyler.

  “I apologize for the oversight but honestly, if there was someone outside the house, they weren’t ambitious. Nothing is out of place,” said Janie.

  “Well we’ll know that for sure after you inventory everything,” said Mrs. Wyler with delight.

  “Did you happen to speak with Colin after I did?” asked Janie.

  “Colin? You got on a first name basis with the man but couldn’t talk him out of ruining my son’s life?” demanded Mrs. Wyler. “And speaking of my son, he’s cut off. Except to food and his room of course, and the car if he needs it. But other than that –“

  “I hope he knows that,” said Janie.

  “You’re not to give him a penny. If he’s going to continue to make bad choices, I want him to feel it. And yes, I spoke with Colin. Why do you think I am here? I have to fix these things myself I see.”

  Mrs. Wyler always sounded like she was pouting. Janie couldn’t wait to be rid of her.

  “I take it the conversation was heated,” she remarked knowing it would annoy her boss.

  “Apart from my threat to beggar him with every lawsuit I can think of? To see to it his chippy daughter’s future was hopeless? Yes of course it was. He means to press charges against Harry. Even if the ridiculous charges don’t stick, which they will over my dead body, at the very least he will ruin Harry’s pristine record. That will be catastrophic to our plans for him,” replied Mrs. Wyler bluntly.

  “You undid everything I accomplished,” Janie said with a shake of her head. “I got him to back off. Are you telling me he is back to pressing charges?”

  Mrs. Wyler looked embarrassed. Janie was taking a risk talking to her this way, as impulsive as her boss was.

  “Go see what is taking security so long with that video,” Mrs. Wyler snapped.

  The Los Altos police arrived within minutes. It paid sometimes to own real estate in a multimillion-dollar neighborhood. They arrived so quickly it was if they had their own substation just around the corner. Two cars pulled up, a squad car and a regular car, with two uniformed officers and two plain clothes detectives. They gave the Wylers the royal treatment.

  Janie was amused by the fact that all four men looked like they stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine. They were fit and gorgeous. Her spring fever even if it was the peak of summer, was plucked again. Sh
e was almost uncomfortable. Just for fun though, she was going to come up empty, she searched them for any hint of her sensual intruder. Her face colored as one of the cops caught her checking him out. Mrs. Wyler took his hands in hers and touched her cheek to his.

  “Mark - Officer Miller, I glad it’s you who came,” she said.

  It was not lost on Janie that Mrs. Wyler knew the officer by his first name. In all the time that Janie worked for the Wylers, she had never seen this man before so she was curious as to where they did know each other from.

  “What’s going on, Lola?” asked Officer Miller.

  Janie loved the smoothness of his voice and tried to imagine him whispering to her as the burglar had. She wasn’t sure if it could be him. She was out of her mind. The burglar was a crook and this guy was a cop.

  Mrs. Wyler explained in her damsel-in-distress tone, “We’ve had what appears to be break in. Jane, my assistant will answer any questions you may have. But first she will go and check with security to see what is taking so long. We have everything on tape. I’ve just arrived from Europe. I’m jet lagged I am afraid.”

  “We’ll handle it,” Officer Miller assured as if he were talking to a child.

  Janie suppressed the need to shake her head. Her boss always acted like she was worn out from work when Janie couldn’t remember Mrs. Wyler ever doing any. She stepped away from everyone to check her phone. Security had forwarded both Mrs. Wyler and Janie a copy of the footage.

  Janie quickly reviewed the material and got the surprise to end all surprises – though once she settled from the jolt, it was not surprising at all. The quality of the record was not great for some reason, but there was little room for wonder. The shadowy figure walking the perimeter of the house looked a lot like Harry Wyler himself.

  Janie returned to the entry way. Mrs. Wyler was chatting and checking her phone at the same time. Janie could tell by the distraught look that washed over Mrs. Wyler’s face, she thought the figure looked like it could be Harry too. Janie actually felt a flicker of empathy for her. Her pained expression was genuine. In her weird way, Mrs. Wyler loved her son.