Finn (Blue-Collar Billionaires 2)

"Oh my god."

Tara enters and puts a stack of folders on the edge of my desk. She leans over my shoulder and then averts her eyes. "Hmm. Are you guys ready to go over the bills again?"

I recognize her guilty face. "Tara, do you know anything about this?"

"Why would I know anything about it? Guys who are assholes get beat up sometimes. It's called karma."

Daphne looks as unconvinced as I feel but I decide to let it go. We have work to do. The weekends have always been our time to go over bills and strategize but with everything going on, we've been putting it off. Usually we try to make it fun by ordering pizza but I don't think any of us are in a fun mood today. I pull up our financial software and we all look at the dangerously low bank balance displayed on the screen.

"I can't believe he actually did it," Daphne whispers. "Even after everything, I didn't think he'd actually back out of paying us. What are we going to do?"

Tara recovers first. "We're going to have to pay the girls and I can take a cut this week."

I turn to her. "No, Tara that's not fair. You need your paycheck just as much as anyone else."

"I have some savings,” she insists.

I groan, completely disgusted with myself. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I let my personal feelings for Finn intrude and influence the way I did business. The initial deposit that he paid when we signed the contract will help some but it's not nearly enough to cover the overtime shifts we need to pay out to all the girls who worked so tirelessly to get the second floor of his building ready to occupy in less than two weeks. As angry as I was at him, I should have made sure that we were paid before I confronted him. My impulsive decision might have just cost us our business. We were already on shaky ground and we can't afford to eat this kind of loss.

"It's my fault, so I will be the one who doesn't take a paycheck."

Daphne looks so sad, that I put my arm around her shoulders. She's the most optimistic of us all so stuff like this really takes her by surprise.

"It's okay, Daph. We're going to figure this out. It just means we'll have to cut some of the girls’ hours. I don't want to do that but it looks we don't have a choice."

"I know. It's just that I saw the way he looked at you. I really thought he'd fix it in the end."

We're still sitting in depressed silence when the front door buzzer sounds. Tara hops up. "I'll get it. It's probably just a delivery of supplies."

She returns a few minutes later with a slim envelope. "It's for you, Rissa. It was hand delivered and there's no return address."

I take the envelope. It's not even sealed properly, just fastened with those small metal hooks. I pry them open and then pull out the piece of paper inside. It's a photocopy.

The girls gather around me as I stare in disbelief at the document in my hands. Tara takes the paper from my hands and scrutinizes it. Even once it's out of my hands, I still see the letters in front of my face. It's a certified copy from the county of the deed to a building. To our building.

In my name.

"He did it!" Daphne throws her arms around me. Her enthusiasm is so infectious that I allow her to dance me around in a circle as Tara breaks out into nervous giggles.

"You own the building now." She turns to me. "He actually came through."

“This is so ex

citing! I knew he would come through. You have to go see him. Right now!” Daphne shoves me down into the desk chair and pulls a brush from her purse.

"My hair is too curly for that. If you brush it, it'll poof up until I look like a poodle."

"Oh right." She throws the brush on the desk and gently finger combs the snarls from my hair. Tara rummages through my purse until she finds my lip-gloss. She hands it to me. I apply a thin layer with shaky hands.

"What am I going to say to him?"

Tara shakes her head. "The man just gave you a building. I'd say all the rules have officially been thrown out the window. I'm pretty sure he won't care what you say. He'll just be glad you're back."

Warmth suffuses me as they rush me out the door. I turn at the last minute. "What if this isn't his way of saying he wants me back? Maybe he's just trying to keep us from suing him."

The idea of going over there by myself only to find out that Finn is still angry terrifies me.

"Come on, we'll drive you. You're not in any shape to drive. Plus, I love to see a happy ending!" Daphne herds me outside and then turns to lock the front doors of the building behind us.