Billionaire Decoded by Nella Tyler Read Free Book Online Page B

frustrating and exasperating. Did he even run
his own errands or did somebody do it for him? She supposed that someone as
well-known and good looking as Brecken would certainly find it difficult to
move about unnoticed, especially in a city where his face was familiar.
    She gradually made her way back to
her building and up to her apartment. She would call her mom and read the newspapers.
She made a daily habit, or at least tried to, browse through paper versions of
the New York Times and The Economist that she had subscriptions
to. She had to pay extra for paper delivery, but to be honest; she was frankly
tired of reading everything on the web. After spending all day on the computer,
she wanted off! Once in awhile it felt good to hold paper between her hands, to
step away from the computer and actually read something, smell the ink on the
paper, and feel the texture of paper beneath her fingertips.
    She finished putting away her dry
groceries and cans that she had picked up earlier. She then grabbed the papers
from the kitchen counter and plopped down on the couch. As soon as she took the
rubber band off the New York Times paper and unfolded it, she was surprised to find, above the fold, an image of Brecken
above a secondary headline: "Man of Mystery."
    What the hell? She knew that Brecken
was often in the news, and she herself had Googled him before going to the
interview the other day. While he mainly seemed to be present in a number of
gossip columns, she did find a few articles about the early formation of his
company, his money, and a few interviews about his quick rise to success in the
computer industry. Nevertheless, as she read the article, she realized that Brecken
and his company was no stranger to controversy. In fact, she read with alarm
that the company had been accused of not only tax evasion, but holding shell
companies.
    Seriously? Shell companies? She
would have to do some research on her own, but as far as she knew from the
spreadsheets she had seen, there was not any unusual activity. Then again, she
was not the firm's tax accountant and didn't handle paperwork related to direct
negotiations or dealings of the company. But tax evasion and shell companies? She
read through to the end of the article, but saw no mention of any evidence or proof
of such accusations. Without any substantiation, she knew that such accusations
were well below the regular standards of the Times . She glanced at the byline of the writer of the article and
then looked him up on her computer.
    The guy was a hack, or a least,
after reading a few of his other articles and discovering that he had been sued
several times for slander, it seemed the guy appeared to be focused on controversial
headlines. But to make the front page? Of the New York Times ? That was unusual. She wondered what kind of
pull he had with the editors at the paper. The Times was better than that. Once in a while it did try to
sensationalize gossip and rumor, but they also put themselves in a very risky
position doing so. She shook her head. Printing unsubstantiated rumors? What
were they thinking?
    While Heather continued to read
through the paper and then through the Economist ,
she went back several times to reread the article about Brecken. While she had
wondered herself how the company made all their money, she didn't believe for a
minute that Brecken would be involved in anything illegal. Then again, what did
she know? She had only worked at his company for a couple of days, not nearly
long enough to become familiar with its operations. She hoped not. She wanted
her job – and the benefits that came along with it.
    Her thoughts troubled, she decided
that she would look to see if any additional articles about Brecken or Shaw &
Burk appeared in the Times tomorrow.
She would also take the time to do a little more digging on her own. Maybe she
could find more information about the company, its clients, and where the hell
it managed to pull in so much