Susan Mallery - Accidentally Yours

Nathan King motioned for the manager. Kerri kept talking.

“It’s a fortune I’ll never have,” she said, speaking even faster now. “But you give that amount to charity every year. If you could just give him the money, he could keep on working. He could make a difference. He could save my son. Please, Mr. King. I’m running out of options and Cody is running out of time. I know you understand. You lost your son. Please help me save mine.”

“What are you doing?” the manager asked as he approached. He reached for Kerri’s arm. “This isn’t your station. Lance takes care of Mr. King and his guests.”

Kerri pulled free and ignored her soon-to-be-ex boss. “You have to help. I’m desperate. There isn’t anyone else. I’ve been everywhere, talked to everyone. Your little boy would have wanted you to help me.”

Nathan King had remained impassive through her speech, but now he carefully put his napkin on the table and stood.

He was a whole lot taller, so he bent over until they were eye-to-eye and his face was only inches from hers. “Get the hell out of here,” he growled. “Get out now, or I’ll have you arrested.”

“No!” Her voice rose as she was grabbed from behind. “I won’t give up. You have to do this. That kind of money is nothing to you. Why won’t you save a child? He’s just a little boy. He doesn’t deserve to die.”

Kerri fought against the men dragging her out, but they were bigger and stronger. She found herself propelled through the front door and actually thrown onto the sidewalk. She went down on one knee and stayed there, trying to catch her breath.

“You’re fired,” her boss screeched. “Fired. You’re a lousy waitress. I’ll bet your recommendations are all fake. You’re lucky I don’t have you arrested.”

She slowly stood and stared at the short, fat man frothing at her.

“I’ve already been threatened with that today,” she said, suddenly exhausted. “You’ll have to try something else.”

“I’m not paying you for the last three days. I’m ripping up your time card and your application. You never existed.”

Kerri waited until he’d stomped back inside before leaning against the brick building. It was spring in Seattle, which meant cool air and a constant threat of rain. She needed to drag her butt back inside to get her purse, her coat and the DVD player. Although how she was going to accomplish that without being seen seemed hard to imagine.

But it was easier to deal with logistics than face the reality of failure.

Nathan King hadn’t just said no—he’d refused to listen. How was that possible? He knew exactly what she was going through. He’d suffered, he’d felt the aching sense of helplessness. How could he not be compassionate?

Tim, Nathan King’s chauffeur, approached. “He didn’t listen?” he asked.

Kerri shook her head. “You said he wouldn’t.”

Tim had actually said more than that. He’d warned her against her plan and told her his boss liked to support his charities from a distance. He sent a check—he never got involved.

“You had to try,” Tim reminded her.

“I’ll try again.”

“How?”

Good question. She’d been so sure Nathan would help her. She’d put all of her energy into getting to him. She’d tried infiltrating his secretarial staff, but her office skills were more pathetic than her server skills. Next she’d attempted to become one of his maids. But while the company that took care of his many buildings had been willing to offer her a job, she’d found out that she’d need seniority to work anywhere close to the boss. She didn’t have years to work her way up the food chain.

As a last resort, she’d attempted to seduce Tim and when that hadn’t worked, she’d tried to bribe him. The five hundred dollars she’d put on the table—all the money she had in the world—hadn’t impressed him. Still, he’d listened as she talked about Gilliar’s Disease and Cody and how Nathan King could be the one miracle they were waiting for.

Tim had offered to introduce her to his significant other—and Lance and the lunchtime ambush had been hatched.

“I’ll come up with something,” she said. “I’m a great ideas person. Maybe I could kidnap him and hold him for fifteen million in ransom.”

“You wouldn’t like prison,” Tim said. “Plus, I’d be forced to shoot you and that would be a drag for both of us.”

Despite everything, Kerri had to smile. Tim was about six four, two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle. He wouldn’t have to shoot her—he could simply crush her like a soda can.

“I’m open to any suggestions you have,” she said.

“Mr. King doesn’t like publicity he doesn’t control. It makes him very angry.”

“Okay.” Interesting, but not helpful. “And?”

Tim hesitated. She suspected he was weighing his loyalty to his boss and thinking about the afternoon he’d spent with her son, remembering Cody didn’t have as many afternoons left as other children.

“Sometimes it’s more helpful to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

Did he have to be so cryptic? “For those of us not flirting with a one-sixty IQ, that means?”

“Say you already got what you want. Then maybe you’ll get it.”

Before she could absorb that, Lance burst out the front door of the restaurant.

“I’m not supposed to be doing this,” he said as he thrust her belongings at her. “I have to get back to work. Nathan King is fuming. The staff is in an uproar and some of the customers want to know why they didn’t get to see their specials on a DVD player. Speaking of which…” He handed the player to her. “Don’t forget your receipt when you return it.”

Kerri hugged him briefly. “I owe you. Seriously. Anything. It’s yours. A kidney? I’m so there.”

“I know you are.” Lance smiled at Tim. “See you later, big guy.”

Tim grinned. “I’m counting on it.”

Lance ran back inside. Kerri shrugged into her coat. She had turned to Tim to clarify his slightly confusing suggestion when the door opened again, but this time Nathan King was the one stepping outside.

He looked from her to Tim.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“I tried to bribe your chauffeur into letting me slip into the back of your car,” Kerri said quickly, not wanting the man who had helped her to get into trouble. “He said no. You have very loyal employees, Mr. King.”

“I pay for loyalty.”

She briefly thought about debating the merits of paying versus earning, but let it go. There was only one greater good here.

“Please help me,” she said. “I will do anything to keep my son alive.” She hesitated. “I’ll find a way to convince you.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “How?” He nodded at the DVD player. “If that’s the best you’ve got, you’ve already lost.”

She stiffened. “I’ve only begun this battle.”

His face was unreadable, and his body language screamed that he was unapproachable.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “It can’t be about the money. You give away millions. Why not to this cause? Why don’t you care? Why don’t you want to fix this?”

His dark gaze bored into her, digging down to her soul. “My son is dead. Why the hell should I care about yours?”

KERRI DROVE east on I90, turning off twenty miles below the summit at the exit for Songwood, the small town she and Cody had moved to three months ago.

The once-thriving mountain community had taken an economic and emotional nosedive three years ago when the large biomedical research facility run by Abram Wallace had exploded on a dark, snowy night.

A case of bad electrical wiring had caused the disaster, killing the four-member janitorial staff, two security guards and three scientists. They had all been local—leaving the two hundred other employees and the town keenly feeling their loss.