Counting the Kisses (Counting the Billions 3)

My hands clenched into fists. It was all lies, but then again, most of what the press had been publishing about me for years now was lies, or at least heavily embellished truths and speculations. The public always ate it up before; there was no reason to think that things would be any different this time around. My lawyer had already run through the possible outcomes of this trial with me, and I had to admit, it had me worried.

But what had me most worried was that somehow Abby would decide it was all too much for her and leave me. I didn’t know what I would do if that happened.

Chapter 4

Abby

I SMILED OVER AT LEANNE as our soup and sandwiches were delivered to the table. “Thank you again for meeting me,” I told her, hoping she couldn’t see just how weak my smile really was. There was just so much going on in my head right now that it was hard to really figure out what I was feeling.

I hated to admit it, but I was feeling worse and worse the closer it got to Thursday and the start of the trial. I knew that Daniel must be having similar feelings, that things weren’t going to be easy for him either. I also knew that part of my gloom had to do with the depressingly dreary weather outside.

So I was hoping that soup and sandwiches would suit the weather and cheer me up a bit, and that some conversation with my best friend would help me sort out what to do about Daniel’s proposition.

“All right, what’s going on?” Leanne asked me before I had figured out how to begin.

I grinned ruefully over at her. Of course she would realize that something was wrong. She’d been my best friend since freshman year of high school, and she knew me better than anyone. She could read my moods like a book.

“It’s work,” I admitted. “And Daniel.”

“Uh oh, trouble in paradise?” Leanne asked sympathetically.

I was still worried that telling her about all of this mess would change her view of Daniel yet again. She and my brother, Matt, definitely hadn’t been Daniel’s number one fan from the start. In fact, Leanne, who read far more of the tabloids than I did, had cautioned me to stay away from him and never date him at all, even though she’d been on board with me going to work for him from the time we saw the advertisement in the paper.

But when Matt got in an accident and Daniel had proved just how good of a guy he was, driving me to the hospital and bringing us all food, among other things, Leanne and Matt had slowly come around.

I didn’t want to undo all of that progress. I wanted Leanne and Matt to like Daniel; he was important to me, and if I had my way, I would keep him in my life for a long time to come. If they didn’t support my relationship with him, I just didn’t know what I would do.

But I needed her opinion on the question of my taking over temporarily as CEO of McGregor Enterprises. I wasn’t expecting her to make the decision for me—nothing like that. But she had always been my sounding board, the person to make me understand my own thoughts and feelings even better than I could on my own.

I couldn’t ask her opinion on any of that without telling her why Daniel wouldn’t be able to be CEO for the time being. I had to tell her about the trial.

“It’s not trouble in paradise, per se,” I finally said with a sigh. “But Daniel is going to have to go to court tomorrow.”

“Shit, that escalated rather quickly.” Leanne said, her eyebrows flying up toward her hair. “What did he do?”

“It’s Gerrard—the guy who was Daniel’s advisor before me. He’s taking Daniel to court for assault, for the night we ran into him at the bar and Daniel punched him.” Those were the facts, and I tried to relate them as emotionlessly as possible.

But I could see from the way Leanne’s lips tightened that she had strong feelings of her own about the news. “All right,” she said evenly. “He’ll plead guilty to it, of course. There were photos of the incident. Plus witnesses, plenty of them.” Suddenly, she looked even more worried. “He’s not asking you to lie as a witness, is he?”

“Of course not!” I said, shocked that she would even suggest that. I thought that she had come around to him, but now, I had to wonder.

Leanne held up both hands. “Sorry, I don’t mean to make it sound that way. I’m just trying to get a feel for why you’re so upset.” She paused. “I mean, I know that you aren’t thrilled that he beat this guy up, and I can’t blame you for that. But you knew about that already and you still wanted to be with him. So I’m trying to understa

nd what’s changed.”

“I guess it’s not totally about him punching Gerrard. Like you said, I’ve come to terms with that. But a big trial could really shake things up between the two of us, just when things were getting good. Like, there’s no way to keep this out of the press.”

“Gerrard won’t settle outside of court?” Leanne asked shrewdly.

I shook my head. “Honestly, I didn’t even ask Daniel. I assume he already thought of that. He doesn’t want to go to trial any more than I want him to.” My lips quirked upward briefly. “I actually think he’s more frustrated on the amount of time he’s going to have to spend in court and not in the office. You know he’s a workaholic; he sees this as an affront to the way he lives his whole life.”

Leanne grinned and shook her head. “You know, I can see that about him, from everything you’ve told me,” she said. She paused, frowning suddenly. “What is he going to do about that? You said he has to go to trial tomorrow? Have you met whoever his stand-in is going to be? Or is he thinking that it’ll be over with quickly enough that you’ll be able to cover for him in the interim?”

I grimaced. “Well, yes and no,” I said.

“What does that mean?” Leanne asked, looking confused.

“He wants me to take over as CEO while he’s tied up in the legal proceedings,” I explained.