Mr. Billionaire, I'm Back!

Chapter 30: Who Are These Men?

Once the business was out of the way, Joanna was finally free to go. She left the private room first, and Brian followed her out. Steve and Danny joined them in the lobby, and they all walked towards the elevator together.

As they walked down the corridor, Brian kept on glancing at Steve from the corner of his eye. He recognized the other man. They'd met in the parking lot of the Devine building, and they had greeted each other politely, but something about Steve made Brian uneasy.

The elevator arrived, and they all got in. Joanna pressed the button, and just as the doors closed, her cell phone rang. She quickly opened her bag and took it out. She was nervous, though, and her hands were sweaty, which caused her to drop it on the floor.

Joanna sighed irritably as she bent to retrieve her phone, but before she could get to it, she felt someone's hands on either side of her, on her hips, and she stood up, right quick. Joanna was shocked. She felt like she was being violated, and she turned around to scold whoever it was that was touching her.

It was Brian, and he had a massive s**t-eating grin plastered to his face. Joanna's heart began to beat fast, and she wanted to scold him, but with their pending business deal on the tip of her mind, she didn't dare say anything that might offend him.

Brian's hands dropped to his sides as he bent over to retrieve her phone. Then, once he was standing straight again, he offered it to her and said, "You dropped this?"

Joanna held out her hand, palm up, and when Brian gave it to her, his fingers brushed against her skin, and there was a spark of static electricity between them. Joanna's heart skipped a beat. She began to blush, and heat spread into her body from where he'd touched her. "Th-Thank you," she stammered. "F-For p-picking up m-my ph-phone."

There was a flash of surprise in Brian's eyes, and in a matter of seconds, his pink cheeks matched hers. "N-Not a p-problem," he replied.

At that moment, as Joanna looked at Brian, she found herself being inexplicably drawn to him, and she looked up at the ceiling so that he wouldn't see the expression on her face.

"You missed your call," Brian said matter of factly.

Joanna nodded shyly and said, "That's okay. If it was important, they'd call back."

Finally, they arrived at the first floor, and they went outside to wait for their taxis. There was a gentle breeze. It cooled Joanna's hot cheeks, and it gave her back her confidence. Brian was ahead of her, and she watched him. She had known that the Jones Corporation was mysterious, and now she knew why. She had a hard time imagining Brian managing a company in the same manner as most people in business do. And maybe that's the secret to his success – thought Joanna.

Brian turned and nervously looked past Joanna. Then he looked over at Danny and frowned. What was that about? - she wondered. But before she could hazard a guess, he stopped abruptly, and she nearly tripped over him.

If Joanna had fallen, she would have fallen into traffic and been hit by a passing car. Luckily Brian had been there to catch her. Joanna quickly stepped back and apologized. She felt her cheeks getting warm, and she was embarrassed by her embarrassment.

Brian looked down, and Joanna was taken aback by the blank, emotionless expression on his face. "Watch where you're walking!" he hissed.

Who is this man? – Joanna wondered - a moment ago, he seemed like the epitome of kindness, but now he doesn't seem to care if I live or if I die!

Brian pointed to an approaching car and said, "Ms. Devine. Your taxi."

Joanna nodded wordlessly.

The car came to a stop in front of her, and as she disappeared, Brian muttered something under his breath that no one could hear. He said, "I'm going to win that girl's heart if it's the last thing I do…"

***

As Joanna's taxi left the curb, she felt her phone vibrate. She had received a text message. She pulled her phone out from her purse and saw that it had come from Olivia. It said: "Hey Joanna, I have some information about Steve. He is weird. Our people went to his previous residence place, and the people there said that he was weird. There must be something wrong with him."

Joanna: "What else did they say?"

For a second, there was no reply, and then Joanna got four messages in a row.

Olivia: "His wife's death was weird. Their neighbor said that they were always fighting."

Olivia: "He was always yelling at her for not being a good wife and cheating on him, but the neighbor didn't think that she was cheating. He thought that Steve was acting paranoid and that he was delusional."

Olivia: "Steve forced his wife to work, but he wouldn't let her work anywhere that there were men, and these demands caused a lot of problems between them. Eventually, he forced her to quit her job, and he wouldn't even let her leave the house, not even to see her family or go shopping!"

Olivia: "It wasn't long after that that his wife committed suicide!"

Joanna: "OMG! That's terrible!"

Olivia: "I know, right! I think Steve has a serious mental illness. He probably drove his wife to take her own life."

Joanna frowned. It's no wonder Steve and Jared Gross looked similar – she thought. She sighed and typed: "Thanks for your help."

Olivia: "It's no problem. Be safe, okay."

Joanna: "Uh-huh."

As Joanna put away her phone, she thought about everything that Olivia had said, and when she compared what the neighbor had said to what she'd observed, it all began to make sense to her. I'll need to watch him more closely from now on – she thought.

***

As their taxi stooped in front of the Jones Corporation's HQ, Brian turned to Danny and said, "Joanna's assistant made me uncomfortable. Did you see where he went? He was with us in the elevator, but when we got to the curb, I turned around, and he wasn't there anymore. It threw me for a loop. Joanna nearly tripped over me, and I'm afraid I was much gruffer than I intended to be. It's just that I was caught off guard by that guy's disappearance, and then I was frightened by what happened with Joanna."

Danny put a hand on Brian's shoulder and said, "I wouldn't worry about it. I saw the whole thing. Joanna nearly fell into traffic. It's no wonder you weren't quite yourself. I'm sure she didn't even think twice about it. You saved her life. That's all that matters, right?"

Brian: "You're right, of course, but I'd still like to know what happened to her assistant."

Danny shrugged and said, "He told me he had something to do, and he walked off on his own."

Brian: "I'll like you to hire someone to follow him and report back to you anything they discover."