After an hour Amy finally reached her place and then sighed in disgust. It was a very weathered, hundred year old home that hadn’t been maintained. She’d scrubbed her room from top to bottom for two days straight before ever sleeping there.

She’d just needed to stay there long enough to finish her college degree. She worked full time while going to school, but had barely made enough to cover tuition, let alone living expenses.

She’d always been willing to do whatever it took to make a better future for herself. She wasn’t afraid of hard work and had proven it to herself and others throughout the years.

Her single mother had been about the worst parent imaginable and had taken her from one crack house to the next. Amy had always been hungry, dirty and had to fight her moms many friends off on a daily basis.

She was so grateful that she’d discovered the local libraries as her sanctuaries and fell in love with reading. She’d spent hours upon hours going through every book imaginable from opening till closing.

The library had been warm and it was there that she knew she would go to college and never ever live that way again. When her mother died when she was only fourteen years old and she had been one of the lucky few to be placed in a good foster home she’d received her first real break in life. She’d mourned her mother, even though she hadn’t deserved to be mourned, but at the same time she’d know that she was one of the lucky ones to have gotten out of the bad situation that she was in.

She’d gone from a drug infested apartment to a family friendly neighborhood with a great school and she’d even earned some scholarships. She already knew how to survive on nothing and once she graduated and then landed the great job with the Andersons Corporation her dreams were finally almost a reality. In one more month she would finally have a real home of her own.

Amy snapped back to reality as she let herself into her shared rental and looked around her dilapidated bedroom. She lifted her head high though, because she was soon going to be out of the horrible place and she would never once look back.

Thanks to her job she would finally be able to get a nice place and start a family of her own. She would put up with her attraction to her boss because she knew that she wouldn’t be able to find another job that paid as well. She wouldn’t give up so easily.

Saturday morning Tom was getting ready to head out the door and drive to Amy’s house when his phone rang. “Speak to me,” he said into the phone in his usual chirpy voice.

“I’m looking for Tom please,” replied the very formal tone of Lucas.

“This is Tom. How can I help you Mr. Anderson?” Why would the boss be calling him on a Saturday?

“Tom, I’m searching for Amy’s address. The one in her personnel file appears to be wrong. She left her purse in my car last night and I need to return it to her. Since you’ve been carpooling together you must have it.” Tom almost gave the information to him without thought.

The way his boss spoke came out much more like a command from a drill sergeant. He felt like he should be saluting and shouting, yes Sir. He stopped himself in the nick of time, remembering that Amy had a wrong address for a reason.

“I’ll be seeing Amy this weekend Mr. Anderson. I could take the purse to her. She’s meeting me at the bar later tonight,” he said. Tom figured this would make all parties happy. He figured wrong.

“Tom, I don’t hand over one employee’s belongings to another employee. I will see to it that Amy gets her purse back, myself. If you would be so kind as to give me that address now then I can get her the purse.” His voice had been formal before, now it was cold as ice.

Wow, Tom was thinking, this guy has it bad. If I want to keep my job I’d better let him know that I’m not interested. “Um, Mr. Anderson, Amy and I are just friends. She’s really, really, not my type, if you know what I mean. So, you don’t have to worry about inter office dating or anything with us.” He figured Lucas was a smart guy and would put two and two together.

There was a short pause on the end of the line and then a more pleasant sounding Lucas spoke again. “Well, that’s good. I don’t like dating between my employees but I still need that address so that I can get her purse to her.” He still spoke with authority, although not quite as cold.

Lucas wasn’t happy having to repeat himself. He was still miffed that she’d run from his vehicle the night before. He didn’t like to be ignored and no one had ever been so repulsed by his presence that they’d felt the need to run away from him and now he had two employee’s that didn’t seem to want to give him what he wanted. It was taking all of his will power to not throttle them both.

“The thing is I don’t have the address. I pick her up and drop her off at the bus stop nearest her place. She refuses to let me take her to the actual house. I don’t like doing it that way but she always calls me when she’s inside and at least I get her as close as possible.” Tom wasn’t happy about the arrangement but Amy was strong willed and he took what little bit she was willing to give him.

On the other end of the line Lucas was barely keeping his temper in check. He’d figured out that she’d lied to him about where she was living. That had been easy enough. He’d simply called the management company of the apartments and asked them if she lived there.

They’d told him she wasn’t currently living there but at the beginning of the week she’d put in an application for one of their apartments. They had a unit coming available in three weeks and she’d reserved it. Her being new to the workforce had been a negative but they’d spoken to his father earlier in the week and since Joseph backed her up they were thrilled to have her for a tenant.

“Look Mr. Anderson, I really have to get going. I know that she’s in a really crappy place right now but I’m going to offer her a place to stay for a few weeks until she gets her new apartment.

She told me she just finished up with college and got hired to your company and was really excited to have her first nice place,” Tom spoke quickly before Lucas was able to cut him off.

“Thank you Tom. I appreciate the information. I will speak with Ms. Harper personally.” He hung up the phone without bothering to say goodbye.

Tom was forgotten about the second the phone touched its receiver. All he was thinking was that he would be finding her that day. After about an hour of speaking to various people Lucas had the information he wanted. He had grown up with money, but had been taught from a young age not to use it against people. But there were times when having money made life simpler and being able to gain information that was needed was one of those times.

He was uneasy as he neared her house. The neighborhood wasn’t somewhere he would hang out in comfortably in the daytime and never at night. By the time he saw the actual place she was living in he was appalled and beyond angry. What was she doing there? How could she so casually risk her own safety? He wouldn’t wish his worst enemy in the house or the neighborhood that she was residing in. When he saw places like the home she was staying in, it was a humbling experience for him and he knew that he needed to make more time for his volunteer work because there were so many people out there who needed time and money. It was easy to forget about those things when they were out of sight, but not when it was right in front of his face.

He’d been doing volunteer work since he was a young boy, as had his brothers. The busier he got in his day to day life the easier it was for him to forget about people in need, but as he looked upon the sad excuse for a house, he made a vow to himself that he would make the time no matter what else was going on in his life.

Lucas carefully walked up the steps, afraid he was going to fall through the rotten porch at any moment. The door looked no better and he would’ve been grateful to have some Lysol on him after placing his hands anywhere near it. He reluctantly raised his fist and knocked loudly so he could be heard above the screeching of animals, which seemed to be coming from every which direction.

Chapter Three

After about five minutes the door was answered by a man reeking of alcohol and wearing nothing but a pair of dirty boxer shorts. “Hey dude, you sure don’t look like the pizza boy. Did I win something?” the man blubbered.

“I’m looking for Amy Harper please,” Lucas said with disgust.

“It figures that the first person to visit that snob is a suit,” the intoxicated man mumbled. He looked Lucas up and down and then muttered, “I should’ve been charging her more rent. She’s obviously doing well.” He then turned around and shouted for Amy.

“Amy, you have some high and mighty guy here to see you,” he said before walking away from the door. Lucas hoped that was the last he would see of the man. He couldn’t understand how she could feel safe with him nearby.

Lucas heard a door creaking open somewhere in the house and then Amy was standing before him. There were no other words to describe the look she gave him other than horrified. She looked like a deer caught in the hairs of a crossbow and he knew that she would rather sink through the floor than stand there in the filthy house and speak to him.

Amy felt her heart pounding. She was sure that he could see it through the thin shirt she was wearing. How had he found the place? She was sure that he was horrified that she could live in such horrible conditions but she’d been willing to do anything and everything to get through school, even if that meant sleeping in a place she wouldn’t want to even give to an animal for shelter.

Lucas would’ve found humor at Amy’s look any other time but with her standing in the filthy house with that disgusting man nearby made all traces of humor wash away. He wanted nothing more than to throw her over his shoulder and remove her from the house. She was far too vulnerable and naïve to survive in such an environment.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Lucas asked between clenched teeth.

“Mr. Anderson, how did you find this place? I’m only here temporarily, I swear. I’ll be moving into those apartments in just a couple of weeks,” she sounded anxious.

“I made a few phone calls. You were in such a hurry to get away from me last night you left your purse in my car,” he replied. She looked down and noticed him holding her purse.

Amy reached out to take the purse from him but he held it back and then he finally stepped inside the doorway. She backed away from him, avoiding physical contact. “Mr. Anderson, there’s really no need for you to come inside. I appreciate you bringing me my purse but I was just getting ready to step out.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with him and he could barely stop himself from grabbing hold of her chin and forcing her head up to meet his gaze.

“Let’s get your coat. We need to have a talk,” was all he said in response to her. Those words finally made her look up and some color came back into her washed out face. Good, he thought, he would much rather see her angry than embarrassed or defeated.

“You may be my boss Monday through Friday, Mr. Anderson, but the weekends are mine to do as I please,” she heatedly stated. “You can see yourself out.” She turned towards her room expecting him to leave.