Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

her something on the computer. Annie looked up in surprise and smiled brightly, like she didn’t have a care in the world. The smile died on her lips when she saw his expression.

“Hey, Sam. What brings you by?” she asked with a puzzled look.

“Beckie, I need to speak with Ms. O’Neill alone. Can you give us a minute?” Beckie didn’t answer but practically ran from the office, closing the door behind her.

“Geez, I think you scared her. What’s the matter?”

He held up the envelope. “What the fuck is this?” Not exactly how he planned to open the conversation, but he was beyond pissed.

“I have no idea,” she said, primly lacing her fingers together in front of her on the desk.

He tossed it onto her desk, and she picked it up.

“You said you were different. You said I could trust you.” He started to pace in the small space, one hand on his hip, one running through his hair. “The stupid thing is, I believed you. I fell for it. Like a dumbass sucker, I thought you meant what you said. When am I going to learn?”

He looked up to find her skimming through the papers. “You don’t have to act like you don’t know what they say,” he said. “I just don’t understand why. And especially, why now? You would have had a much better chance at this if you’d done it right away.”

She put the papers down and leaned forward. “Have you read this?” she asked.

“I don’t need to.” He waved a hand in dismissal. “Phil told me you were making an accusation against me, and I’ve been down that road before. All your pain and suffering will magically disappear for a mere five mil,” he said sarcastically.

“Phil said I accused you of that? He used my name?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“Well, no. He didn’t say who.” He lost a little steam. “But I haven’t slept with anyone else recently. Who else would say something like that?” He nodded at the papers.

“Why don’t you take a look?” She pushed the heap of papers in his direction. He picked up the first page and saw right away that it was Stephanie who was accusing him. Not Annie.

Shit!

“You know how much you hate being falsely accused?” she asked, clearly pissed off herself. “Well, as it turns out, so do I.”

“Annie…” His shoulders slumped.

She stood, shaking her head. “I think you should go,” she said calmly, picking up the papers and using them to point to the door.

From the look she shot him, he knew now was not the time to try to rationalize his behavior. He’d have to grovel later. He took the papers, tucked his tail between his legs, and trudged back to his office.

“Where’d you run off to?” Phil asked when he returned.

“Oh, God, I am an idiot,” Sam said, sliding into the chair opposite Phil. He was relieved it wasn’t Annie but also amazed at how quickly he’d jumped to that conclusion and how easily he’d believed it was her.

“You thought I meant Annabelle, didn’t you?”

“Huh? Uh, no,” Sam said, even though he knew Phil wouldn’t buy it.

Phil rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” he said, dragging out the word to show his disbelief, “I’ll keep you updated. I’m sure the lawyers will want to talk to you at some point. I just stopped by to tell you so you wouldn’t be blindsided by it, but I gotta go.” He got up and straightened his tie.

“Later,” Sam mumbled after him. Just what he needed, another frivolous lawsuit. He was getting tired of the bullshit. Why did people think they could just take the easy way out to make money? Scratch that, take money from someone else for no reason.

He walked to his desk and called the attorney. He explained what had happened that night—that Stephanie left the fundraiser early, drunk as a skunk, and that he left later, alone, went straight home, and went to bed after watching some TV. Then he told them, in no uncertain terms, that he wanted to pursue a defamation lawsuit and press criminal charges against her for extortion and making a false accusation.

Steve would vouch that he went straight home, and several people would corroborate that Stephanie was intoxicated most of the night. This wasn’t going to happen again if he could help it. Stephanie picked the wrong billionaire to fuck around with.

After he hung up, he sat, thinking. He’d been so quick to assume the worst of Annie. This was someone he liked and wanted to get to know. Someone he thought he could trust and yet how quickly he had let all that go. His cynicism apparently went deeper than he thought. Though his heart was saying go for it, his head kept butting in with doubts.

He thought again of the repercussions of dating someone at work and how badly that could go if things didn’t work out. It really was stupid on his part to pursue anything with her. And yet…

He’d made his fortune relying on instinct. Well, that and a hell of a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but when it came down to important decisions, he always informed himself as much as possible on the topic and then did a gut check for a final decision. It hadn’t led him astray yet.

The feeling he couldn’t shake was that Annie was not someone he wanted to let get away. He was drawn to her. It was something he’d never felt with any other woman. And it wasn’t just physical. It was her personality, her vulnerabilities, her very essence.

God, now he just sounded pathetic. He booted up his computer to do what he often did when he had a tough decision to make. A pros and cons list. He’d look at this logically, like he did everything else.

When he was finished, the results weren’t good. The list of things that could go wrong far outweighed “nice body” and “fun to be with.”

He deleted the list and decided to trust himself. He