Longing For The Beach Billionaire Daddy
Chapter 93

*Shelby*

“Hey, Shelby,” Jerrick said, smiling at me as I stepped off the elevator and into the spacious office.

Hastings Engineering was in a huge building not far from Michael’s office. The legal team occupied the entire fifth floor. There was a small reception desk in the center of the room, and several offices with glass windows, making them part of the space, but still separate. Cubicles divided up the rest of the open space.

“Hey, Jerrick. I’m not late, am I?” I asked, already nervous enough.

“No, not at all. My dad gets here obnoxiously early and dragged me along with him. Everyone else is still trickling in. As far as I know, we’ll be shadowing the different lawyers in the office, as well as doing all of the grunt work. I hope you’re ready to organize some files,” Jerrick said with fake enthusiasm.

“I’m pretty good at organizing. I can’t believe how big this place is. I never expected an engineering firm to need such a large legal team,” I said.

“Well, every company usually has a legal team. With engineering, there’s a little extra work because engineering deals with people’s property, building codes, and public works projects,” Jerrick explained.

“That makes a lot of sense when you put it like that,” I responded.

Just then, the elevator dinged behind me, and Stewart Hastings stepped out. I nervously straightened my blazer and turned to him with a smile. He stuck out his hand for me to shake his.

“It’s so good to see you again, Miss Hatton. I see you’ve met my son already. I hope he’s been playing the part of a good host,” Stewart said, after letting go of my hand.

“It’s good to see you too, Mr. Hastings. Jerrick and I actually met at school during winter break. He’s been a great friend since then,” I said.

I looked over at Jerrick, who was looking quizzically between his father and me. Apparently, Stewart had kept quiet about knowing me. If things worked out with him and Lin, maybe I would tell him exactly how I met his father.

“I arranged two cubicles over here for you both,” Stewart said, leading us to a set of cubicles at the far end of the room.

The cubicles were right next to each other, separated by a small half-wall, but sharing a lot of the same space. They were also conveniently situated right next to a long row of filing cabinets.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Hastings. I’m so grateful for this opportunity,” I said, setting my bag down on my new desk.

Jerrick took a seat in his office chair, leaning back as though he’d grown up here. I realized he probably had.

“We’re happy to have you on board, Miss Hatton. I’m personally looking forward to seeing your progress in your time here. Hopefully, it’ll last long after your internship,” Steward said, then turned and left us alone.

“My dad doesn’t usually personally welcome the new interns. You must’ve really impressed him,” Jerrick said with his playboy smile. Rather than providing an explanation, I only smiled back.

We spent the day sorting through old case files and organizing them in the filing cabinets. I knew that Jerrick was bored out of his mind by the many dramatic sighs he seemed to let go when everyone but me was out of earshot. I knew a lot of my time would be spent doing the grunt work, but I was so happy to feel like I was working toward something bigger.

During my lunch break, I sent a few wordy text messages to Lin and Aubrey, informing them both of the situation with the media slander against Michael. Other news outlets had started running the same story, but Michael’s recorded explanation of the situation was gaining just as much traction. I explained that Michael was trying to find out who was responsible and would be pressing charges once he found them.

When I got back to my desk, the receptionist made her way over to me. I smiled as she approached and stuffed my lunch container back in my bag.

“Miss Hatton, I was sent to fetch you,” she said.

I nodded and followed the woman through the maze of cubicles before stopping at one of the glass offices.

“Miss Hatton, please come in,” the man sitting behind the desk called to me.

He had peppered hair, piercing blue eyes, and wore a serious expression on his face. I walked directly to the office and stood in front of the desk.

“I’m Mr. Grey. You’ll be shadowing me for your first month here. I expect you to do as I ask, without any complaint. You’re here to learn, so don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something. If you do that, we’ll get along just fine. I have some interesting cases going on at the moment that I’d like to show you. However, you have to show me that you are serious first,” Mr. Grey said.

“I think we’ll get along well, sir. I’m eager to learn,” I said, hoping it was the right answer.

Apparently, it was because he cracked a very small smile in response.

“Take a seat then.”

I spent the rest of the day running errands for Mr. Grey. Pulling files for him that would help him in his current cases. He was surprisingly kind, despite his stony demeanor, and by the last few hours of the day, he was already walking me through one of his cases.

He told me several times that he was impressed with my work ethic and my eagerness to learn. As I took the elevator back to the main floor of Hastings Engineering, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. I felt like this was going to be a very good fit.

Michael had sent a car for me, and Bruce was standing there waiting with my door held open. I was glad that Jerrick was stuck doing paperwork for the lawyer he was shadowing. I didn’t know how I would’ve explained this had he seen it.

When I got back to the townhouse, I was surprised that Michael hadn’t returned from work yet. The sun had just started setting, so I went upstairs to change into pajamas. I curled up on the living room sofa with one of my textbooks to study until he got back.

As soon as he walked in the door, I could tell it’d been a rough day for him. His eyebrows were pulled together, and he looked utterly exhausted.

“Hey, how was your day?” I asked as he sunk into the couch next to me.

“Long and disappointing,” he said.

I cuddled up next to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

“Tell me what happened,” I said.

“I hired a hacker after finding out that my bank accounts had been accessed after the break-in at my apartment. He’s very good at what he does, the best actually. He was able to use the IP address and track the funds to an offshore account.

“We’ve been trying to work out who actually owns the accounts, so we can have solid proof to give to the FBI that Blaine is behind all of this. However, we hit a wall with the IP address today. It’s not looking promising,” Michael said, closing his eyes and resting his head back on the sofa.

I didn’t know how to respond to Michael’s explanation. So I let the silence wash over us as we relaxed on the couch. I thought Michael had fallen asleep, so I was surprised when he asked me a question.

“What do you want our wedding to look like?”

Since I wasn’t expecting the question, it took me a moment to answer. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I think it makes the most sense for us to get married on a beach, given our history,” I said with a smile.

“I like that idea. Maybe we could get married in that little cove,” Michael offered.

“We wouldn’t be able to fit very many people out there,” I said.

“Would that be okay with you, or do you want something bigger?” Michael asked.

“I would rather it be small. I just thought that, with your social standing, you would need to have a large wedding,” I confessed.

“Small it is,” Michael said, leaning down and kissing me.

I smiled back at him, glad I’d picked him.

“I need to go get ready for bed,” I said softly. “I have another big day tomorrow.”

“You’ll do amazing,” Michael responded.

I headed upstairs to take a shower before bed, all the while thinking of a small wedding on a private beach. I’d ask Lin and Aubrey to be in the wedding party, and I would convince my grandfather to come too. Other than that, I couldn’t think of anyone else I wanted there.

I wrapped my hair in a towel before walking into the bedroom. Michael surprised me again when he wasn’t in there waiting for me. With how tired he looked, I wondered if he’d fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for me to come back down. I got to the top of the stairs when I heard his voice echoing through the house.

“I need you to take care of this, Bruce. This has the potential to ruin Shelby’s life,” I heard him say.

I took the stairs two at a time and found Michael leaning over the island counter in the kitchen. He had his eyes closed as though he was wishing he was having a dream instead of being in reality.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Michael jumped a little at my question, hanging up the phone.

“Shelby, I didn’t hear you come down. It’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ll take care of it,” Michael said.

“No, Michael. I’ve heard you say that way too many times. You said that something has the potential to ruin my life. What is it?” I asked, anxiety flaring in my chest.

Michael sighed and rubbed his forehead, “You’re right. You deserve to know. There was a letter that was sent to the office; Bruce intercepted it. It’s another threat, but this time it’s about you. Whoever sent the letter is threatening to release a story about you that will ruin your life.”

“The pictures won’t ruin my life, not anymore, not now that we’re getting married,” I said, confused. “This is nothing new.”

“It isn’t the pictures anymore, Shelby. They’re threatening to leak a story about you and….”

“Who, Michael?” I asked.

“Todd.”