Last Kiss Goodbye. Rita Herron

him punished, but there’s not much we can do. I don’t want the company to suffer.”

      “The company doesn’t have to. I think I know a way.”

      “I’m listening.”

      “It could be risky, and he might not fall for it.”

      “He trusts me, and that’s all you need to know.”

      “Good, then I know of a plan that will get him put out of the way for a long time.”

      As he listened to Stephanie’s scheme, Dennis’s smile widened.

      One year later

      A cold March wind blew past like a desolate breath as Jason stared at a man he’d once considered a friend. The two stood in the parking lot outside their office after a long day. “What do you mean I’m out?”

      “The board voted, and we’re replacing you.”

      “But I built this company.”

      “And we thank you for it. But you’re a liability now.”

      “I can fight this. It will be a cold day in hell before I—”

      “You’re lucky this is all that’s happening. Mrs. Armstrong accused you of assaulting her.”

      “What? You know I didn’t touch her.”

      “It’s her word against yours. Who do you think they’ll believe? That’s the problem with you, Jason. You think it’s all about honesty and integrity, but in business it’s about image and getting people to believe you. You know how to make money, but not everyone respects you.”

      Before he could reply, Jason saw them. Several men, looking very serious, wearing what looked like identical dark suits, came up to him. “Mr. Jason Ward, you’re under arrest for fraud.”

      “What?” He stared at them, unable to process what was happening.

      “I’ll get you a good lawyer,” Dennis said as the officers led him away.

      But no lawyer could help. Dennis had skillfully turned everything Jason had done over the past year to save the company into “questionable dealings,” including the high-risk venture he had discussed with Dennis and the company lawyers, to see if the idea, though risky, was viable. They had concurred that, although the approach appeared a little shady, he was on the right side of the law. Now he’d been charged with an obscure fraud violation he never knew even existed. In an instant, his image was shattered, and he knew that, although he couldn’t prove it, he was being prosecuted because of jealously and false accusation, and that Dennis and Mrs. Stephanie Armstrong were behind it.

      Initially, he fought the charges long and hard, but soon discovered how difficult it was dealing with the federal government. The evidence presented was stacked up against him, and without the company’s wealth to back him, his lawyer told him that he wouldn’t be able to win and that he should make a deal. He did and was convicted, in spite of his willingness to work with the government and the fact that he had no prior record, and was sentenced to fourteen months in a federal penitentiary.

      The fall of Caesar. The last person he’d trusted had betrayed him. But betrayal and disappointment were nothing new to him. He had gone through a lot growing up in the foster care system in Baltimore. His adoptive mom had given him a chance, once he’d aged out of the system. He had no memory of his real parents. As a child he just remembered going from one home to the next and having to take care of himself.

      His adoptive mom, Beatrice Ward, had made a difference in his life. She saw what others didn’t. At eighteen, he’d given up on having a real family of his own; then she’d come along. He remembered now that she never liked his best friend, Dennis, when he’d introduced him to her. Dennis’s parents had briefly fostered Jason, and they’d struck up a lifetime friendship. At least that’s what he thought. After graduating from high school, he’d earned a degree in industrial engineering while Dennis got an MBA, and the two friends decided to build a company together. Work had been his saving grace after Gwen died.

      He still couldn’t stand being alone or quiet with his thoughts, but prison had forced him to face himself. To face the harsh description of the man the prosecuting attorney had portrayed in court, saying he was a brute, ruthless, a reckless man. He would lay down his sword. There was nothing more to fight for. Everything that had mattered to him had been taken away. He couldn’t even face his mother and refused to see her when she came to visit. He wanted to disappear. That was until he heard she was ill, and he knew he had to be there for her. That’s when the old fire in him returned. He became a model prisoner, and with the help of a new attorney, he served only nine of the fourteen-month sentence.

      Eventually the ruling was overturned, but the damage had been done. The nine months he spent being locked up had been like living in a nightmare, and he just wanted to get on with his life. While the TV cameras and news reporters had been there when he’d entered the prison, no one was there when he came out. Only a small news article was placed on the last page of the major local newspaper. He was still a wealthy man, at least on paper, but he had enormous legal fees, and his reputation was now in ruins.

      Jason spent the next six months making sure his mother, who had been diagnosed with a slow-growing uterine cancer, got the care she needed. She was the most important person in his life, and although he hadn’t allowed her to see him while he was in prison, she had kept sending a steady stream of note cards, one a week, which he had saved and dutifully secured in his home safe, taking time to read them every now and then.

      During some of those long hours alone in his cell, he’d remembered all of her sacrifices. How much she gave up, so that he could have the life he now led.

      He spent hours taking her to and from her chemotherapy appointments and hired a private-duty nurse to stay with her when he couldn’t, to help her during her recovery period. After she finished the series of grueling treatments, they got the good news they both hoped for: her cancer was officially in remission. Jason then focused on rebuilding his life.

      He decided to go into a business that was totally opposite of what he had done before, that wouldn’t care much about his past history. He purchased a chain of time-share resorts that was in foreclosure. He would rise again and prove that he was a man of integrity. To get the business off the ground, Jason needed a partner or at least one or two investors, but no one would partner with him. He tried to convince himself that he didn’t need them, he’d be fine on his own, but he knew that wasn’t true. He needed partners and millions of dollars if this new venture was to succeed.

      * * *

      Red velvet. Abby’s mouth watered, but it wasn’t the cake on her plate that made her drool, or the hot August sun—it was the man she saw stepping out of a silver Lexus. He was tall, and cool like a glass of ice-cold water, the sun seeking him with its rays. He pushed up his sunglasses. She hadn’t had such a visceral reaction to a man since her divorce. Maybe the reason why he’d claimed her interest was because this man seemed the complete opposite of her ex, who always worried about what others thought of him. She could tell by the way this man held himself that he didn’t care who looked at him, and plenty of people did. He had a cool, disinterested air, and was dressed casually in a form-fitted sweater and jeans. He looked like a man of finesse. Tempting, massive and beautiful. The kind of man who could inspire poetry. Abby sighed. He was probably taken and just a fantasy for her. For a brief moment, she imagined herself sitting at a fancy dining table opposite him, holding up a fork with succulent oysters to his full, beautiful lips, the steam from a cup of hot chocolate sitting between them pushing back a cold winter day.

      Abby saw him enter the restaurant and sit down at a table. She cupped her chin in her hand, watching his every move. Then he pulled out and answered his cell phone, and she saw his face change. It wasn’t a pretty expression. It was scary. His voice was low—a rumbling murmur, but she heard every word. He used a string of swear words. Her fantasy of him quickly disappeared. She’d never heard a man be so foul. He’d be better to never open his mouth again, she thought. Abby quickly finished her dessert, paid the bill,