Free Love's Deception by Adrianne Byrd Page B

being obedient.” He gave the boy a genuine smile. “Now it seems I still have a bit of a problem. I’m lost and I really don’t want you to get in trouble with your mother.” Nathan stroked his chin as if in deep thought, and then he noticed the coloring book.
    “I know.” He snapped his fingers. “How about you draw me a map to Ms. Townsend’s desk. You think you can do that?”
    Darius smiled, then shook his head.
    Nathan playfully eyed him suspiciously. “I’m beginning to think that you don’t even know Ms. Townsend.”
    “Yes, I do,” Darius blurted out, then slapped his small hand across his mouth.
    Nathan mimicked him. “Uh-oh. You spoke.”
    Darius giggled behind his hand.
    “I guess that means that you have to go ahead and tell me where this Ms. Townsend is.”
    The boy’s eyes seemed to twinkle during the brief silence.
    “She’s my mommy.”
    “Well, how about that.” Nathan crossed his arms while maintaining his smile. “I would have never thought that Ms. Townsend had raised such an impressive-looking young man. You must be what—eight years old?”
    “Five.”
    “Is that right?”
    “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”
    Nathan looked up to see an attractive woman approaching them, smiling.
    “My son never speaks to strangers.”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get the little man in any trouble.”
    Darius grabbed his mother’s hand. “He said he was looking for you, Mommy.”
    “Is that right?”
    Nathan watched the exchange, puzzled by the woman’s sudden tears. “Ma’am, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
    “No, no. You haven’t upset me.” She sat behind the desk and reached for a tissue.
    “That remains to be seen,” he mumbled under his breath.
    “Oh, Mommy is so proud of you.” She pulled her son into a fierce hug and rocked with him.
    Nathan looked around, half expecting a camera crew to announce that he was the subject of some practical joke.
    “I’m sorry. Where are my manners?” she asked, releasing her son and offering him her hand. “I’m Elizabeth Townsend, C. J. Cartel’s administrative assistant. You must be Nathan Edwards.”
    He accepted her hand. “How did you guess?”
    “You bear a striking resemblance to your father.”
    Their hands lowered as Nathan nodded.
    “I want to thank you for agreeing to speak with me. I know it may seem a bit odd, but I just want to know what happened.” He noticed her smile falter, but it quickly returned.
    “Won’t you have a seat?” She gestured to a chair to the right of her desk.
    She was stalling, he knew, but he managed to return her smile and accept her offer. “Thank you.”
    “Well, there isn’t much to tell,” she began. “Cartel Enterprises has recently acquired your father’s company, Edwards Electronics. However, Mr. Edwards wasn’t too happy about the acquisition.”
    “So it was like a hostile takeover?”
    “I guess you can say that.”
    He could tell the conversation made her uneasy. “Then what happened?”
    “Mr. Edwards came here pretty irate the other day and stormed past me to see Cartel. For a couple of minutes I could hear him yelling from my desk.”
    “So they were in a heated argument?”
    Liz shook her head. “Cartel is not one to yell. And like I said, your father’s voice was the only one I heard out here.”
    Nathan pictured this Cartel to be one tough businessman. In the back of his mind, he wondered where he’d heard the name C. J. Cartel before.
    “Anyway,” Liz continued, “the next thing I know, the office was quiet. A minute later, my boss buzzed me over the intercom to call 911.”
    “I see,” he said, crossing his arms. He stared at her to evaluate whether there was something she wasn’t telling him.
    “I wish there were more I could tell you.” Her sympathetic gaze returned his stare.
    “Where is your boss now?”
    Liz blinked. “Cartel’s not in today.”
    “When will he be in?”
    She hesitated, and he wondered what she was hiding.