Saving the CEO (49th Floor #1)(46)

She was not prepared for Carl.

“Cassie.” He stood up as she approached. “I’m sorry to ambush you like this at home.”

“How did you even—”

“But I had to talk to you without Jack around. I spoke to him earlier and when he mentioned you weren’t with him tonight, I had to come find you.”

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Carl was a crook, yes, but she didn’t think he was an ax murderer. Still, she was not about to invite him upstairs. “What is it?”

He’d been looking at her, but then his face started to crumple and he covered it with both palms.

“What is it?” she said again, her voice softer this time. “There’s a coffee shop on the corner.”

The idea of a destination seemed to cheer him. He nodded and they set out. “I have to tell Jack something. Something awful. But I thought if I started with you maybe you could…smooth the way.”

Was he going to confess? Cassie stayed silent, having learned in her years as a bartender that when people wanted to get something off their chests, it was usually best to get out of their way. Cassie watched Carl while the barista made their drinks. She assumed since he and Jack had gone to university together, they were roughly the same age. But Carl looked a decade older. Deep creases ran along the sides of his mouth, and his complexion was ashen. He drummed his fingers on the bar. Once seated at a small table in the back, he fidgeted and avoided looking her in the eye. Still, it wasn’t her job to make life easier for him. Things might be weird with her and Jack, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t firmly on Jack’s side.

After a full minute of increasingly uncomfortable silence, Carl finally managed to look at her. “I have a gambling problem. I’ve gambled away Britney’s college fund.”

“Excuse me?” This was the polite version of what Cassie was thinking.

“She wants to go to art school, study photography. You’ve seen her stuff—she’s good. Could you imagine what she could do with some formal training?

Cassie had to agree there. “Carl, I’m not sure why you’re telling me this.”

“It gets worse,” he went on, ignoring her objection. “I…I stole from the company, to try to win back what I lost. I told myself I was only borrowing the money, that I’d win it back and more. But…”

“You lost it all.” Cassie recognized some of the same rationalizations from her years of back and forth with her mother. She’d come to learn that people like Carl and her mother actually believed their own lies, at least initially.

He slumped in his seat, looking nothing less than stricken. “I know it doesn’t make sense.” He shook his head in disgust. “It sounds ridiculous when I describe it.”

Opposing emotions warred inside her. She wanted to berate him for stealing from the man who’d made him—gave him a job that allowed him to live in luxury, mentored his daughter. And he’d done it by taking advantage of Jack’s one weakness. But he looked so pathetic, so miserable, that a tiny part of her felt bad for him.

“How much did you steal?”

He winced at the word steal, but if he thought she was going to sugarcoat things, he was mistaken. Of course she knew the ballpark answer, having reverse engineered his crimes, but she wanted to see if he was still in denial.

“A lot. More than I can repay. I can only hope that Jack doesn’t decide to press charges, which would be more than I deserve.”

“You have to tell him.”

“I know. I will. I plan to. I’ve already asked Seth to book a formal meeting with him for the first day back. January second, I come clean.”

Cassie started to say he should tell Jack sooner—now. He deserved the truth. She began formulating an “If you don’t tell him, I will” threat.

“I don’t want to ruin his Christmas holiday,” said Carl.

That stopped her in her tracks. He had a point. Not about the holiday so much as about the Wexler trip, which of course Carl knew nothing about. Jack didn’t need any complications that would jeopardize the deal. And though it was good that Carl was planning to come clean, dealing with the outcome of the confession would be a huge upheaval. It was better for the deal for Jack to stay angry and honed. So she would hold her tongue. For now.

“All right, but if you don’t tell him when the office reopens, I promise you, I will.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“You still haven’t told me why you’re telling me this.” It was bugging her. She hadn’t done anything except be his involuntary confessor, and now she was saddled with this knowledge she didn’t want. “You just met me.”

Carl buried his face in his hands, and when he spoke his voice was muffled. “I don’t know. It’s just that Jack has never had a girlfriend who stuck before.” Cassie winced at the word girlfriend. “I thought it would be good if you knew ahead of time, so you could…help him when he finds out. It’s a big betrayal.” Then he looked up. “That’s not true. Well, it is, but it’s not the whole truth. I think the real reason I’m telling you is because you’re in college. God, the idea of you having to work so much to pay for school.” He raked his hands through his hair and looked at the ceiling, as if seeking divine guidance. “That’s what I’ve condemned Britney to.”