Unwanted Heat

Kenzie

“Sir, ma’am,” Carter quietly enters the great room. “Carter?” Nicholas nods.

“If you have a few minutes, I would like to update you on a few things,” he says.

“Sure,” Nicholas turns to me, kissing me firmly on the lips, his tongue caressing my lips just before he pulls away, leaving me breathless. I moan when he prepares to leave the couch, he smirks at me, obviously knowing the affect his kiss had on me.

“I’ll be back soon,” Nicholas says.

I glance around the room, my eyes settling on the fireplace which takes the slight chill off the room. The weather has been strange lately: warm some days while cooler on others. Fall in New York is always like this-you never know what to wear from one day to the next. My eyes feel heavy as I watch the flames dance across the fake logs in the fireplace and as hard as I try to fight it, exhaustion eventually takes over. I wake up more than an hour later, surprised that I even fell asleep, and head to the kitchen to make a cup of tea.

“Can I get you something Kenzie?” Julie greets me as soon as I walk in.

“I was just going to make a cup of tea-”

“Go sit down, I’ll bring it to you,” she immediately interrupts me and stops what she is doing to make my cup of tea.

“It’s okay Julie, I can do it-”

“Don’t be silly, I’ll make it for you.”

“Okay,” I take a seat at the breakfast bar while she fusses about getting everything ready.

“I was going to take something into Nicholas; I’m sure he must be getting hungry by now.”

“I have some fruit or cheese with crackers? Or do you think he might want something heavier? I have-”

“I’m sure something light will be fine.”

Somehow Julie always has something prepared: she opens the fridge and pulls out a cheese platter before adding a few crackers to the plate. I wouldn’t even think to keep something like that ready in the fridge, but I guess she has worked for Nicholas long enough that she is used to things coming up at the last minute that she needs to prepare for. She puts the platter on a serving tray and adds a few bottles of water, some juice, napkins and plates.

“If you lead the way, I’ll carry the tray in,” she gestures toward Nicholas’s office.

It’s been an adjustment getting used to having her doing so much for me, something I’ve never had before. Growing up, I was always on my own-no one was ever there for me or cared enough to help me even when I was sick. And when I was with him, there was no recovery time when I had broken ribs or bruises that needed to heal. His expectations never changed: it didn’t matter how much pain I was in, I was still expected to have everything done before he walked through the door. So something as simple as Julie making my cup of tea… yeah that’s going to take some getting used to.

“Come in,” Nicholas’s voice comes from behind the door the moment I knock.

“Oh!” I’m surprised to see Carter still in Nicholas’s office, I had assumed they had finished their meeting. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were still meeting. I thought you might be hungry, but I can come back-”

“No, it’s fine. We were almost finished anyway,” he greets me with a light kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll just set this down,” Julie places the tray on the small table.

“Thank you, Julie,” Nicholas says.

“I can come back-” I feel bad for interrupting their meeting.

“No, it’s fine. Carter was just going to brief me on a situation with the press-”

“UGH, what now? I haven’t seen anything negative in a while…”

“Nothing bad,” he assures me. “I’ve been having my team run background checks on all the reporters who have been writing negative publicity about my personal life. Until now, we haven’t found anything that we can use to persuade them to give up their sources.”

“Wait… until now.”

“About a week ago, a background check came back with… some useful information about a reporter that only recently started working for one of those news sources. While the reporter wouldn’t give up her source directly, she provided us with the email address the person uses to communicate with her. That email address was tied back to a company that Carter was just explaining he’s been in touch with.”

“Right, I spoke with Eurotek Air…”

Eurotek Air… the name sounds familiar but I’m struggling to place why I know that name. I rack my brain until it finally hits me…

“Ladies and Gentleman, if I can have a moment of your time,” the distinguished man on stage says through the microphone. “I would like to take a moment to thank the hard working team at Creative Advertising Strategies for always being willing to think outside the box, for going above and beyond to meet our client needs and just as important, for creating a fun work environment,” cheers are heard around the room along with some applause. “Tonight, we are here to celebrate our newest member of the CAS family: Eurotek Air who has signed on with us for all of their advertising needs,” this time the room erupts in a loud applause. “This venture wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of several key members of the CAS family: Mike, Christine, Adam, Susan, Steve and Joshua……” I’m surprised Richard isn’t mentioned-he’s been working so many hours lately on a project for a new client. Maybe it was a different new client? I’m sure CAS has many new clients, but Eurotek is probably the largest one, which is why we are here celebrating. I chance a glance at him and immediately relax a little when he doesn’t appear angry that his name was left out.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

“You said Eurotek Air?” I clarify, hoping that either I misheard Carter or that this is some odd coincidence that they used CAS for their advertising needs and is now coming after Nicholas.

“Yes, Eurotek Air is a large manufacturer of aircraft instruments, located just outside of Denver,” Carter clarifies.

“Kenzie is something wrong? Are you feeling okay? You look pale,” Nicholas squeezes my hand as Carter jumps to get me a bottle of water.

“I… I don’t know,” I admit.

“I can come back-” Carter begins.

“No, stay,” I interrupt, knowing he needs to be here. “My ex… he works for the company who handles, or at least handled, all the advertising needs of Eurotek Air.”

“Are you sure, Kenzie?” Nicholas asks.

“Yes… the night I… I finally left him, we were at a dinner celebrating Eurotek signing with CAS.”

“Carter-”

“I’m on it, sir,” he quickly types into away at his phone. “None of the reports indicate that Richard Westbrook left the state of Colorado since we’ve had him under surveillance-”

“Wait,” I interrupt quickly. “What do you mean under surveillance? How do you know his name? I don’t remember-”

“You didn’t,” Nicholas says. “After you told me about… what he did to you, I had Carter find out who your ex was. We’ve had him under surveillance from a distance ever since.”

“How?” I whisper. “How did you find out who he was?”

“I came across a picture of the two of you attending a holiday dinner for his company. It fit the timeline…” Carter says unapologetically.

“I see,” I don’t really know what else to say. I shouldn’t be surprised, Carter ran a background check on me as soon as we met through Bridget.

“Baby,” Nicholas puts his hand on my cheek and gently urges me to look at him. “That night, when you told me what that fucker did to you, I promised you I would never let him hurt you again. The only way I could keep my promise, was to ensure he was under surveillance, to track all of his movements, and make sure he never stepped foot in the same state as you.”

Well… shit… when he puts it like that how I can be mad?

“I… that makes sense.”

“Kenzie, I need to ask you some questions,” Carter warns, though I’m not surprised.

What does surprise me is the realization that Carter used my first name, instead of referring to me as Mrs. Parker or Ms. Rose as he has always done. The moment I realized where I knew Eurotek Air from, I knew questions were going to be asked-questions that I needed to answer. I would love to be able to reassure Carter and Nicholas that he wouldn’t have done this but I can’t. After I moved in with him, I realized I knew nothing about Richard.

“When was the last time you saw Richard Westbrook?” Carter asks.

“The night of the Eurotek Air celebration dinner.”

“Did you hear from him after that?”

“He called me a few times and texted me a few times after I first left. However, I… I had something on him and threatened to use it if he ever contacted me again. I never heard from him after that.”

“What do you have on him?”

“I… I have pictures, police reports and sworn statements from physicians from the night he almost killed me-”

“You have those?”

“Yes… give me a minute, I’ll get them.”

“Kenzie, you don’t need to,” Nicholas says.

“I do because if Richard is behind this, then he may need to be reminded of why he was to forget that he ever knew me,” I say firmly.

It takes me only a couple of minutes to grab the large envelope from the bottom of a drawer in the closet I now share with Nicholas. I had hoped that he would never need to see these pictures, but I’m not going to let my fear control me. If these pictures help keep Richard out of our lives, then it’s worth having him see them. When I return to the office, I open the envelope and give them each a folder that contains duplicate documentation.

“I’m going to fucking kill the bastard,” Nicholas says.

“I’m adding a second guy on this case now. I have Asher and Brian digging up everything they can find on Richard Westbrook.”

“I want to know everything: where he came from, who is family is, where he went to kindergarten… every-fucking-thing Carter!”

“You’ll be able to find his family information very quickly,” I inform them.

“What do you mean?”

“His father is the reason Richard doesn’t want any of this information leaked to the press. It would destroy his father-”

“Who is his father?”

“Senator Jon Michael Westbrook Senior of Oregon.”

“A senator? His father is fucking senator?” Nicholas asks.

“Richard was the black sheep of the family. He refused to go into politics, despite what his father wanted for him. He should have… he was very persuasive and could convince you of anything he wanted. But he was more into art than anything else and decided to pursue a career in that field. When he learned I had pictures and documentation from that night and evidence from previous… arguments, he swore he would cease all contact with me if I agreed to keep it out of the press. He may have stood up to his father about his career, but he was afraid of him. His father gave him an allowance each month, because he needed his son to look like he was well off, even if he wasn’t.”

“None of this appears on your background check… and my background checks are very thorough, Kenzie. How did you keep all of this quiet? The police reports, the medical exams… all of it should have been there,” Carter asks.

“I worked with a wonderful organization who helped me get away that night. As you can see from the pictures, I… I needed medical attention. They had a doctor on call, who came to the shelter and treated my injuries. Since I didn’t go to a hospital or even to a doctor’s office, you’re looking at the only evidence from that appointment. The same with the police report; the organization worked with several local detectives who would take sworn statements from victims. Those statements would never be filed, but would be documented should the abuse ever be questioned in the future. The detectives, the doctors and the staff from the shelter, if questioned and with my permission, will confirm all the details from that night. They ensured my clean getaway from Richard and gave me the means to keep him out of my life.”

“Are these the only copies?”

“No, I have a folder containing another copy of what you have, along with a USB drive containing a digital copy, in a safe deposit box at my bank.”

“FUCK,” Nicholas hisses.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Jon Michael Westbrook Senior is dead.”