"I can't go anyplace, Russell. My doctor's here and I have this mess to deal with."
"I'll have you back here for your appointments, but I can't exactly leave you in Colorado to fend for yourself." Parker was growing impatient.
"Just go, then. I'll call the agency and have Tyler help me out. Plus, I don't have any clothes, Russell."
"No. Tyler won't be helping you."
"You're the one who hired the people and you won't let them help me?" Emily stared at him in disbelief.
"They're not very good. You called for assistance and they never even showed up. I take better care of you. Let's go." Without waiting for her to respond, he grabbed her hand and began escorting her back to the road.
"I'm not going to New York with you and coming in contact with your scumbag brother Parker." Emily's brow furrowed. Just the thought of seeing that creep again filled her with rage.
"I promise to keep Parker away from you. You'll be nice and comfortable in my apartment. There are lots of shops where you can buy new things, and I'll still be around when you need me. I'm not arguing with you, Emily. There isn't a choice here."
She carefully tried to consider her options. She could go to the gym with God knows how many people, stay alone out here with no help, or go be taken care of. They shouldn't have to stay in New York for too long. "Do you have two beds?" Emily didn't want to risk sleeping with him.
"Yes, there's more than one room." Parker didn't mind having to drop everything to fly back to New York, as damage control was his top priority, always. Having to hide more truth from Emily was hitting him in the stomach. He knew the situation was out of control or it would have been handled over the phone. When Russell warned him to keep Emily away from the paper, all flags went up. If she couldn't get near a paper, then she wouldn't be allowed near a television.
"I guess I can watch television or something while you're gone."
"I don't have one." He'd make sure to call his brother as soon as possible. His apartment would definitely need adjusted. This can't get much worse.
Little did he know...
Chapter 10
Russell paced the floor of his office like a caged tiger. Parker had really caused some problems. This Emily Carson was going to be damaging. He called his wife on the office phone, knowing he couldn't put the conversation with her off any longer.
"Rhonda, come in here so we can talk please."
She had been frazzled all morning. Reporters were blowing up the phone lines, staff was asking questions, investors were raising the roof with their loud voices, and she was more than pissed.
"Good, at least you're going to fill me in on whatever has happened," Rhonda said sarcastically. She walked inside of Russell's office and closed the door, shaking her head when she looked at him. "So spill it."
"Parker could be sleeping with the enemy. I think that's what happened."
"You better start from the beginning, Russell. If you miss one detail, you'll be sleeping on the couch for the next month. What does that have to do with you? Your brother sleeps with lots of women." Rhonda laughed.
"He's Russell to this woman. I'm Parker..."
"Oh my God...You two did that shit? Seriously??"
"Honey, this just snowballed into a giant mess. Trust me, I've learned. We set the rules a long time ago when it came to women. We'd be ourselves--"
"This is an ugly, long story, isn't it?" said Rhonda bitterly as she cut him off.
"Go get us some coffee and put your feet up."
Rhonda glared at him and then left to get the coffee. Anything that involved a woman and Parker Davis certainly wouldn't be a serious thing. She didn't know why this would be any different or what made her husband so involved.
Emily climbed the steps to board the jet. She wasn't impressed. Just knowing that Parker Davis had been on it made it tainted, along with anything he'd touched. Hopefully she wouldn't have to sit where he'd been planted while he schemed to take things from other people just to make himself rich. The thought sickened her.
"Why do you look so upset, Emily?"
"I just hate being near anything that Parker Davis is associated with."
"He's my brother, so I'm associated with him. Do you hate me too?" Parker laughed, but stopped instantly as soon as he saw the fire in her eyes.
"You know what I mean, Russell. I feel bad for you being related to such a criminal."
Parker was more than determined now to keep her away from the truth. Once settled, he encouraged Emily to close her eyes and get some rest on the flight. He excused himself to go to the restroom. After the door was shut he phoned his brother.
"Russell, Emily is on the flight with me. She'll be staying at my penthouse. Head over there and sweep it of my name."
"You're bringing her with you?!"
"Would you rather she stays in Colorado? She hates Parker Davis enough to feed into any bad press. We can't risk it, and while you're at it, inform Rhonda."
"Rhonda's already pissed off..."
"Just pop over there. I have magazines and newspapers delivered that'll be in clear view. Get rid of them; remove my mail and anything else you see with my name."
"Okay, on it. You owe me big time."
"Get rid of the television."
"I sure do want to carry your television, I've been dreaming of getting to do that, Parker." Russell sighed and rolled his eyes. "But yeah, we can't have her eyes on the news. I'm heading over there now. I'll call Rhonda and she'll have a car pick you up at the airport. I'm in the doghouse at the moment. Well we both are actually."
"Don't forget to let her know I'm Russell." Parker was trying to speak as quickly as possible.
"Oh I did. She told me to tell you to eat shit."
Parker sat back down beside Emily, not even believing how big this whole thing had gotten. He wished she would just take however many millions she wanted and go away. He quickly cleared these thoughts from his head because he knew she wasn't a woman chasing dollar signs and never would be. She just wants my blood.
Emily couldn't wait to get off the plane. She wondered how many lives Parker Davis ruined to pay for this thing. Her head throbbed at the thought of being back in New York. She watched a black limo pull up in front of them.
"Is this your brother's too?" Emily glared at the driver like it was his fault.
"Emily, this belongs to Davis Enterprises. After you see the traffic, you'll be glad that you can just relax instead of navigating these streets."
"So where's your house? Some fancy sky rise that your brother built?"
"Let's get going," said Parker as he smiled. He couldn't risk doing anything that would make Emily hightail it out of there.
After getting her situated, Parker leaned back and closed his eyes. He hoped that Russ had enough time to get his penthouse in check.
Emily couldn't relax. She was getting more anxious by the minute. What if the dumbass was Russell's neighbor? I'll send him running and screaming like a little school girl. This was the first time Emily smiled. She dug out her phone so she could do a search on Parker Davis. He couldn't possibly live too far from the office. The battery was almost dead, the charger buried in the rubble from the tornado. There were missed calls, but when she got to Russell's place, she could answer the messages.
"What are you doing?" Parker reached over and grabbed her phone.
"Give that back to me!"
"I was getting ready to tell you about all the cool things we're passing, and here you are on the phone..." How could I have forgotten about her phone?!
"I don't want to know about this city, Russell. I just want to leave New York as soon as possible." Emily reached for her phone. Parker had no choice but to give it back to her. He slid over on her side and held her hand.
"You know I always wanted to be a veterinarian. What was school like?" Parker smiled over his quick wit while he listened to Emily talk almost nonstop. If he never heard another word about surgical procedures on animals, that would be just fine with him.
Russell closed the storage room, thankful that he didn't have to haul that television farther than what he did. When he walked back inside the penthouse he did another sweep and found nothing else damning. He spread out the few pieces of mail he remembered to bring that were addressed to Russell Davis. Thankfully he found the three laptops and got them out of there as well. All the company needed was to have this crazy woman with access to the internet. Closing the door behind him, he whistled as he walked to the elevator. Once inside, a call from Rhonda snapped him back to attention.
"Russell, it seems like the reporter who started this mess lives in Colorado. William Lovette is a columnist from the Baldwin Tribunal. I'm thinking that Emily Carson may have gone to the press. William Lovette signed the online guestbook on Emmitt Carson's obituary page..."
Russell's shoulders slumped. If he really is sleeping with her, I'll kill him.
"Okay, here we are," said Parker as he assisted Emily out of the limo.
"Why were reporters all out front like that?"
"We have a few celebrities in the building. The limo windows are tinted, and they just want pictures of them. They don't know it's just us." He immediately spotted her phone on the seat when she got up. Well that was easy. He smiled as the limo drove away.