Selena called Uncle Bill as soon as Christopher left the office. Uncle Bill had said that the clerk at the county office had called and told him some guy was asking about her family’s land. The description fit Christopher Hudson. The clerk didn’t know Selena owned the land, but she did know Bill was the overseer of it. Bill hadn’t thought anything of it at the time because a handful of folks had stumbled upon the serene land and inquired about it. Some folks were just curious. Others wanted to rent the property temporarily for something like shooting a movie. Selena had allowed movies to be shot on the property for a fee. The money always went back into the trust.
“Do you want to sell the land, sweetheart?” Uncle Bill asked.
“No. The only way I’ll sell that land is if someone offers me a billion dollars.”
“If he wants the land bad enough, he might be willing to pay a pretty penny for it – just not a billion.”
“No way. That land is a part of me . . . what’s left of my family. Besides, the trust and the land is part of my early retirement plan.”
“All right, sweetheart. I’ll just wait for that New York boss of yours to track me down. Tell him the property isn’t for sale for any price and that will be that.”
“You won’t tell him I own it, right, Uncle Bill?”
“Of course not, honey, not unless you give me permission. Lawyer client confidentiality, remember?” he said sweetly.
Selena chuckled. “I remember. Tell Aunt Elle I said hi.”
“I sure will, honey.”
****
Early Saturday evening, Selena was home getting an early start on the booze before her girlfriends arrived for their Fantasy Fiction Writing meeting.
She thought back to her conversation with Uncle Bill from a few days ago. A billion dollars for her family legacy. It’s not like Christopher couldn’t afford it. He was CEO of a five billion dollar company. According to Fortune magazine, the Hudson family was worth over eight billion dollars collectively. Selena shook her head. Having a billion dollars would be nice, but he’d never pay it. And she wanted more out of life than just a lot of money. Selena wanted companionship – male companionship. Sex was just the tip of the iceberg. She was tired of attending the company’s holiday parties alone. She was tired of telling hosts at restaurants ‘just one’ and trying not to act embarrassed about it.
Selena leaned back on the flowered sofa with the white background. She imagined being Christopher’s girlfriend. They would go to the best restaurants. He would wear one of those tailored suits that fit his V-shaped physique perfectly. His brown hair parted on the side with that thick patch of hair hanging over his forehead would shine under the restaurant chandelier. Then when they get home, he’d take her. Driving her –
Knocking interrupted her thoughts.
Selena put her wine glass on the white coffee table and walked to the door. She opened it to Joanna and Beverly.
“You picked Joanna up again?” Selena asked.
Joanna didn’t have a car. When she left the Hudson Estate she would usually have to call a cab, an Uber, or a friend.
“Not exactly,” Beverly said as she walked into the apartment.
“The Uber guy ran out of gas halfway to the city,” Joanna said as she came in.
“You’re kidding?” Selena asked with astonishment. She closed the door.
“I wish,” Joanna said flatly. “Then, he had the nerve to turn around and say that this was a good time for us to get to know each other with a cheesy grin that creeped me out.”
“What?” Selena blurted.
“I hopped out the car and ran to the nearest house, which seemed like a mile away,” Joanna said with a frown. “I stood under the house’s porch light and called Beverly on my cell. I gave her the name of the road and the house number.”
“I had just left my apartment. I got on the highway and raced like hell to get to her,” Beverly chimed in.
“The people in the house didn’t notice you on their porch?” Selena asked.
Joanna shook her head. “I tried knocking, but no one came to the door. I don’t think they were home.”
“Either way, I got to her. I didn’t see a car on the side of the road. I think the guy was just trying to pick her up or have a quickie with her. Not a psycho,” Beverly said.
“I hope you gave that guy a bad review,” Selena said with disgust.
“I did on our way here,” Joanna said.
“Well, it’s not like I didn’t try to tell you about Uber. They hire anybody who has a car, I don’t care what they claim,” Beverly said seriously. “At least a cab company looks over an application and call the references. That’s why they cost more money.”
“Lesson learned, okay,” Joanna said defensively.
“Good. Now, let’s get a drink and start the fun,” Beverly said.
Fifteen minutes later, they were in the kitchen. Joanna pulled out her notebook to read her little love scene. She didn’t know how to type. She grew up in an Amish community. Joanna didn’t see a computer until she was eighteen. Beverly had most of her stories on her phone. The ones that weren’t were on Selena’s flash drive along with all her stories. When inspiration hit Beverly during one of their meet-ups, she would dictate a story on the spot for Selena to type on her laptop. One time, Beverly had recorded a story using Selena’s computer mic. They listened to it every so often for fun.
The wine was poured and Selena had her laptop up and running the only problem was she couldn’t find the flash drive.
“You’re digging in that case like you’re digging for gold,” Beverly remarked. “What are you looking for?”
“The flash drive. I always put it in here,” Selena said.
“Maybe you put it somewhere else this time?” Joanna suggested.
“Okay, let me think for a second,” Selena said.
The room fell quiet.
Yesterday was the last time she remembered having it. She pulled it out at work to d******d the quarter statement from the trust Uncle Bill had sent her. She only had it in the work computer for a few minutes at the most. Selena pulled it out. She remembered that specifically. Then Christopher walked into the office and threw a flash drive on her desk along with a notepad. Christopher had told her he wanted her to d******d the list of files he had written down on the notepad onto the drive and to put it on his desk before she left at five. As he was dictating orders to her, he was taking off his suit jacket and loosening his tie which distracted her. She had bit her lower lip as he had unbuttoned the top buttons on his shirt.
Selena’s dark eyebrows furrowed. “Oh no,” she whispered and started digging in the laptop case again.
“What?” Joanna asked.
Selena had several flash drives. One was personal and the others were for work. She grabbed the flash drives out of one of the pockets and dropped them on the table. Two were green, one was black with a green switch, and one was blue with a black switch. Her personal drive with all her and some of her friends’ stories was on a black flash drive with a red switch. It wasn’t there. But the black drive with the green switch was – the one Christopher gave her to use yesterday.
“Oh shit,” she whimpered as she picked up the black drive with the green switch like it was a bomb.
“What?” Beverly stressed.
“Please, god. Please god, let me be dreaming,” Selena moaned as she put the drive in her laptop. The drive loaded and sure enough, the files Christopher wanted were on it. She had laid her flash drive on his desk by mistake on Friday. “Oh fuck!” she cried with horror.
Christopher had taken a break on Friday after work by visiting his favorite good time girls, identical twins, Angel and Heavenly. When he had first met them, he couldn’t believe that was their really names, but they were. The sisters were sweet, did what he liked, and didn’t expect anything afterwards – not even money. They just liked fucking him. He didn’t blame them. He was an excellent lover and he knew that because women had told him – even his history professor during his junior year in undergrad had said so. Now, it was Saturday and he had to get back to work. The Bethel Project was too big – too important. No stone could be left unturned concerning research. He still hadn’t found out who owned the property, but he had his people working on it around the clock. 
It was ten p.m. and Christopher was sitting up in bed with his laptop on his lap. Since he didn’t have the flash drive he needed to work, he enjoyed the works of Winter Rose. He had to admit he was flattered that Selena lusted after him like this – even though she thought he was an asshole ninety percent of the time. And he was. He proudly admitted that. Having a reputation for being an asshole made people think twice about screwing him over. It was a good rep to have in business. His secretary three years ago had gotten pregnant and was on maternity. Human Resources had called a temp agency and Selena was in his office the next day.When his old secretary had called and said she wasn’t coming back, Christopher had hung up the phone, walked to the Selena who was at the file cabinet and asked, “How wou
Selena thought she was going to faint and piss on herself at the same time as she glared at Christopher Hudson with his arm cocked up on the door dangling the flash drive between his fingers. He had on a black silk robe and black silk pants. Beverly turned quick as lightening, threw her bag out the window, and her body right behind it. Selena would have followed her lead, but her legs were frozen. Christopher chuckled. “I take it that was Mistress B.” He took his arm off the doorway and closed the door behind him. “She fits the description.” Selena’s heart stopped. It was too late. He had re
Christopher had to have misheard her – or she was joking. That’s what it was. It was a joke. She’s fighting not to smile. He exhaled as he bent over to pick up his glass. “This is no time for jokes, Selena. This is a serious business discussion.” He stood. “I know that – and I am serious,” she stated with a straight face. “You marry me and the land is yours.” Christopher’s eyebrows furrowed as he examined her. Jesus, she is serious. “Have you lost your mind?” he asked with astonishment.
Luckily for Selena, Beverly was waiting in her Camry a mile outside of the Hudson Estate. She had said she thought Selena was behind her until she realized she wasn’t. She had gone back, but by the time she did, the window was closed. Beverly had raced back to Joanna’s living quarters and told her what happened. They had decided that it was best for Beverly to leave the estate before it was lockdown at midnight and wait. Beverly had said that she was sure a cop car was going to come racing up the road, but instead she got a call on her cell from Joanna stating that she waited outside on the grounds to see Selena walk out the front door. It had been three minutes to midnight when Joanna got Selena to the gate. Theo was still on. He had opened the gate and stayed with Joanna and Selena until Beverly circled back. He had asked what hap
Today was the day and Selena came prepared. She carried a big brown box into the office and sat it on her desk. There was a part of her that was surprised that her keycard still worked in the employee door. So either he was going to agree to her terms or he was expecting her to make a counter offer that didn’t involve matrimony. Selena thought it best to carry out her duties until Christopher arrived. Selena started the coffeemaker. Then, she went through the mail she had picked up on her way to the office. All of it was junk for the exception of one invitation to a charity event. She took the invitation out and paper clipped the RSVP card to the invite and carried it to Christopher’s door. She opened it and nearly jumped when she saw he was perched on his des
A few days later, Christopher had tossed a checkbook on Selena’s desk and had said that was her one million dollar wedding budget and strode into his office. The account had her and Christopher’s name on it. That’s when Selena knew she would be planning the wedding with little input from the groom to be. No matter. She enlisted Beverly and Joanna as consultants. They were a little apprehensive once Selena had explained how she ended up engaged to her boss, but they rallied and supported her. They had helped her pick out a two carrot ring engagement ring and they also had helped her find a wedding coordinator who wasn’t extremely expensive, yet, good. Selena had made it clear to the coordinator that they had to stay on budget. The coordinator had understood and started coming up with tasteful and cost reducing ideas
Bruce and Selena walked side by side up the grand staircase. The wood on the banisters were thick and shined like a new penny. “What do you think of the house so far?” he asked. “It’s nice,” she answered. They got to the landing. The hall seemed to go on forever. “The first few doors are storage. The third door to the left is the butler’s pantry,” he said as they slowly glided down the hall. Selena nodded. “Selena,” he beg