Her Forbidden Millionaire

When Phoebe stepped into the office the following morning, she wore her sleepless night like an accessory. The hazel eyes that would shine bright every morning had a dullness behind them. Her suit didn’t seem as crisp and her smile was nowhere to be seen. Phoebe was exhausted, and Bobby told her so when he saw her.

“Holy crap, what the hell happened to you?” he exclaimed as she walked inside of her office.

“Somebody called me last night and just had a vile tone to their voice. They threatened me to stay away from this Lincoln Gold situation and then they started asking about if I liked to get hurt. I had to hang up before he could finish. I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t get the guy’s voice out of my head. I barely got any sleep. I’m surprised I’m even up this morning.” Phoebe nearly collapsed into her chair with her head resting in her hands.

“This is not what I had in mind when I told you to land Lincoln Gold,” Bobby said, shaking his head. He felt just as helpless as Phoebe did. “Did a number pop up or anything?”

Phoebe’s eyes shifted from her desk to Bobby in a knowing glare.

“Yeah, I guess not. I hate to wait and see if anything happens. Why don’t we pull you off of Gold and get somebody else?”

“No!” Phoebe refused. “I will not be bullied. Lincoln said he would fix it so I’m going to give him time to fix. But until then, I think I’m going to go have a word with Ms. Pinkett. She would know where this nonsense started and maybe she can give me some insight on how to finish it. Hopefully before anything happens to me or to Lincoln.”

“I don’t like the way that sounds,” Bobby said worriedly. “Keep me posted and if anything else happens around this case, we’re dropping him as a client. Some other firm can deal with the craziness. We only deal in money, Grissom.”

Hearing Bobby call her by her last name as she watched him storm out of her office,  Phoebe know that he was mad. It was always a hurricane of rage when things happened out of Bobby’s control. It was probably due to the fact he was the one who assigned her specifically even though she didn’t want to take on any new clients, but Phoebe was involved and she was in deep. She wasn’t going to give up now.

Phoebe made sure to emphasize the need for her and Ms. Pinkett to meet up for lunch. Ms. Pinkett didn’t seem like she wanted to be bothered but relented and told Phoebe where they were to meet. It didn’t take long for Phoebe to get to the steakhouse. It was one of her favorites actually, It was just too bad she wasn’t in the mood to eat.

The restaurant was dimly lit for the daytime with sensuous scents emanating from the kitchen that made one salivate. Phoebe assured herself that she would at least order something to go. She sat down in a booth across from the lawyer who was sipping on a glass of wine.

“Thank you for meeting with me,” Phoebe began. “I just wanted to both apologize for my behavior and say thank you for what you did.”

“I apologize for being so unforgiving and refusing to understand what was happening. We certainly have to stick together, especially since we have mutual interests now. So what’s the problem?” she asked, getting straight to the point.

“When I received the initial paperwork from Lincoln’s office, there was a business that was utilizing 150 grand a month. So of course I did some digging. At first I thought it was some family member that was mooching off him.”

“No, not at all,” Sheryll interrupted. “When I began working with Lincoln on his emancipation some years ago, I made sure that all family members collecting a paycheck from him were actually getting paid for legitimate work. Needless to say, they were all fired and I put restraining orders on all of the ones who didn’t seem to take no for an answer. His parents were the worst. I made sure all familial leeches were removed from his wallet.”

“Yeah, well, if it’s not a family member then it’s still an actual person tied to these exorbitant costs. Lincoln won’t tell me what’s going on and the only thing I found was something about Jimmy B.’s Vault, Grover Pines, and an abandoned warehouse. There’s something so rotten about this and I just know it.” Phoebe sighed as she placed an order with the waiter.

“Jimmy B. never had any businesses with Lincoln. He was an old set manager where Lincoln used to shoot that sitcom he was on. He spent a good four years on that show, but closer to the end of it, he said things were getting too weird. I told him that he should ask to be written off the show, but he didn’t have to as the show was cancelled a few weeks after we had that conversation. Once he left, he never mentioned the show or Jimmy again. I never saw anything in the financial reports he gave to myself, or the accountant, that illustrated any business with those costs or that name. Jimmy B. is a creep,” Sheryll spat. “Last I heard he was still in jail. He got locked up for an attempted s*xual assault, attempted murder in the first degree, extortion, and a few others. But our justice system has failed us more times than one so I have no idea where he is or what he’s been up to. I really hope that he doesn’t have any ties to Lincoln and this business you’re telling me about.”

Phoebe nodded in agreement as the two women ate the food that was brought out to them. “So do you think we’ll be able to convince him to let us help? I mean, he can’t do this all on his own, right? He’s been keeping this business from everyone for the last eight years. It’s time to settle this. If he really could fix whatever this is, he would have done it years ago, right?”

Sheryll shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Honestly, we can’t do anything to help him until he’s honest with us. I don’t think he’s ready for that just yet. How about you work on the rest of the portfolio until he’s ready to let you in and then once he does you can figure it out? Until then, you should leave anything dealing with Jimmy B. alone! He’s bad news and you don’t want to get yourself tied up with him in any way.”