Maid for the Billionaire(36)

Chapter Fifteen

Something was not right. The Minister was reintroducing issues which had been resolved months ago. He was bringing in additional consultants to the meeting who where adding roadblocks at each step.

In the US, Dominic would have called him out for it, but the rules of exchange were different here. He wasn't about to lose everything because he couldn't hold his temper.

The general tension in the room told Dominic that more was going on in this meeting than was being discussed.

When the door opened and Abby walked in holding a small stack of papers, Dominic was sure that his body had succumbed to the stress of his job and he'd fallen into some daytime hallucination. She walked straight up to the Minister, bowed her head slightly in deference and put the stack of papers on the table before him.

"What is this?" the Minister boomed.

Abby answered in softly spoken Mandarin. The Minister began flipping through the papers even before she finished speaking. The Minister called over an advisor to read over the paper.

He spoke briefly to two men on his right and seemed to come to a mutual agreement with them.

"Mr. Corisi, you would have been wiser to lead today's talk with this. Your offer is generous and your request would benefit many across China. I don't see a problem with the government agreeing." And with that the Minister signed the paper and began to sign all of the areas of the contract that required his signature.

Dominic was fuming.

Abby went to stand beside Dominic, despite the glare he gave her. He leaned down with the pretense of thanking her, but the words he whispered in her ear were harsh. "What exactly does that paper say?"

Abby kept her face calm even though the fury in his voice sent tremors down her back, "You offered five percent of your company's profit annually to fund a national scholarship for rural women."

His hand bit into her arm. "Why the hell would I do that?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "To save your company. You were going to lose everything today."

"Don't lie to me. The final outcome was never in question. What did you get out of this?‖

His voice was thick with accusation.

The lawyer brought the packet before Dominic. "All that is needed is your signature and a press conference afterwards to announce the agreement. This last amendment will take the world by surprise and make you somewhat of a hero, I'd think."

Dominic released Abby to read over the packet which was both in English and Mandarin. It did indeed promise exactly what Abby had said. What he didn't yet understand was how she benefited from the deal.

She slipped out of the room while he finished signing the papers.

Zhang met her in the foyer just outside the meeting room. "You did it!"

"What exactly did you do?" Jake Walton's voice echoed from behind them.

Abby met his cold stare over Zhang‘s shoulder.

A nervous acid churned in her empty stomach. Yes, the Minister had signed the contract.

Yes, the provisions would benefit women around China, but what if Dominic had been correct and none of it had been necessary? Zhang might have orchestrated the entire thing to promote the Women's Foundation agenda.

Was Abby a hero or a pawn?

Zhang turned, blocking Jake‘s advance with her own formidable presence. Despite the sophistication of her pants suit, her stance held all the aggression of one who was not afraid of a good battle. "She did what we asked you to do months ago. Corisi Enterprises is now a generous Chinese supporter."

Jake‘s look held revulsion for both of them, but settled on Abby. "What is your connection with Zhang? Who are you?"

His condemnation was absolute and tore at Abby‘s confidence. "Don't look at me like that!

I did this for Dominic."

"I highly doubt that," Jake retorted with abundant skepticism.

"You question my loyalty?‖ Abby spat. ―I'm not the one paying Dominic's own bodyguards to spy on him."

Jake looked past her and stumbled like a man who‘d just received a kidney punch.

"Dominic..."

Time seemed to stall for the excruciating seconds it took Abby to realize that Dominic was in the doorway behind her and had heard her. She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes briefly, afraid to see how he had taken the news.

There was nowhere to hide. Abby pivoted slowly on her heel, looking first at the well polished leather of his shoes and then forcing herself to meet his eyes. The only visible sign of his fury was the telltale clench of his jaw.

His voice held a deceptively calm tone that sent uncomfortable shivers down Abby‘s spine.

"Luckily, I have very little faith in humanity or this would be a sad day for me all around."

With guilt laden steps, Abby approached Dominic. She mentally kicked herself for not telling him everything the night before. She couldn‘t imagine a worse way for him to find out any of it. Would he listen to her now? "Dominic, it's not like it looks."

Dominic focused his ferocity on his second in command. "Weren't you supposed to be protecting Abby's sister? Wait, does she even have a sister? How deep do the lies go?" He motioned for a member of his personal security detail to approach and issued instructions for him alone to hear. The man nodded, moved several feet away and began organizing his team via a communication device on his ear.