Billionaire Romance Boxed Set 2(203)
There were a few more cornered off spots, also, and we passed those on our way to the back warehouse; a romance readers group section and a sci-fi/fantasy one, too. I fondly remembered one time when there was a group of romance readers trying to discuss something in their section while a bunch of fantasy lovers had decided to come by the bookstore before heading off to a movie premier. The fantasy guys(and one girl) had dressed up as characters from the movie and were making a bit of a ruckus, play-acting out scenes. The romance people huffed about it to Robert and he let them use the book club room until the fantasy movie-goers left to catch their flick, but the looks on their faces were priceless; a little upset, a little confused, and kind of laughing but not quite.
We arrived at the entrance to the backroom. Nailed to the door was a sign that read “Employees Only.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I think Robert’s just hired you. You’ll make a good librarian.”
Asher grinned. He stepped forward and twisted the doorknob, then opened the door and gestured for me to go ahead. I did and he followed behind me, closing the door after us.
Rows upon rows of bookcases greeted us inside. Some were fine, stacked next to each other in no particular order, but others were rickety and on their last legs. A few broken shelves lay in a pile to the right, tossed their carelessly to await their fate in a heap on the street when garbage day came. The backroom was an old, small warehouse of sorts, where the previous owner had stockpiled goods and received truckloads of supplies through a single loading dock far in the back. Robert didn’t use the loading dock often now, since he never ordered enough books to find it necessary, but the large door was still there.
Voices crawled through the air towards us, creepy, wispy sounds, and the lights overhead illuminated the storage area with a pale, faded glow. Beatrice and Solomon were talking to one another, sounding far off and away.
“After this weekend the insurance policy for every resort will lapse,” Solomon said. “If they don’t receive payment by early Monday morning, that part is settled. Then we send the exterminator to that bookstore owner’s daughter’s house. We’ll have him fix the girl’s bed bug infestation, but he’ll collect some of the bugs and keep them stored. We don’t need a lot for this plan, since it’s mostly smoke and mirrors, anyways. A couple infested rooms at Landseer resorts will do the trick. Asher will, no doubt, find out, but with the unfortunate loss of insurance, it’ll be a financial burden to eradicate every hotel and vacation resort. Not to mention the exterminators aren’t going to actually do anything and will just put down generic foggers without insecticides as opposed to treating the problem properly.”
“I’ve arranged for someone to follow them today,” Beatrice said, confirming Asher’s earlier suspicions. “I doubt it’ll lead to much, but we should have some juicy photos heading to the tabloid news sources after that. They can mess around with the pictures if necessary and make it look worse than it is.”
Solomon laughed. “Good, good. Careful with that, though. We don’t want Asher to file a lawsuit that he might win.”
“Oh, of course not. I’ll reluctantly confirm everything if asked, which someone’s bound to do, and start the divorce proceedings that way.”
I gritted my teeth, becoming so extremely frustrated at what I was hearing. Did they really expect this to work? Granted, it seemed like it should, especially if Asher and I never found out, but… Argh! It annoyed me so much. How could either of them do this? Why would they? They were just so relentlessly vindictive over nothing and I didn’t understand it.
And exploiting Robert’s daughter’s bed bug problem for their own gain? I knew Robert and his daughter probably couldn’t afford to hire an exterminator on their own, so they must have put an ad up somewhere asking about a discounted rate or something like that. Solomon and Beatrice swoop in, pretending to be nice people and…
“Great. Don’t forget to sell off the rest of your stock soon. The price will drop drastically once word hits the streets about the endless bed bug problem at the Landseer resorts. I have a few people lined up to file lawsuits, too. I’ll send out supposedly good-intentioned press releases in regards to the issue and confirm Asher’s knowledge of the problem months before it grew out of control. He doesn’t even take a second glance at the reports I show him now, anyways, so he won’t be able to deny it. I’ll make up some excuse, and…”
Asher left my side. He strode through the backroom, weaving between bookcases, heading for the source of Solomon’s and Beatrice’s voices. I hurried after him, trying to keep up, but he was apparently a man on a mission and refused to let anything stop his progress. By the time he found them, I was still sneaking between a close together, tight pair of bookcase obstructing the only access to the corner spot that Solomon and Beatrice had claimed.