Page 87 of The Donor’s Dilemma

“That might spook whoever’s covering it up. The papers might not report it anyway.”

“Good, they should be spooked,” she said, tapping a contact and hopping from her seat.

Theo didn’t like this. He didn’t like this one bit. They needed to be careful. Once the papers caught wind of this, it would be out of their control, and if Theo hated one thing, it was not having control.

Reckless. She was being reckless again.

He strode over, about to grab the phone from her when a male voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Hello,” Verity sang. “Is Cecilia there?”

“Who’s asking?” the man asked, sounding put out at the simple request.

“It’s Verity…”

“Harper?” he asked. A muffled female voice spoke in the background, asking who he was talking to.

“Yes.” Verity looked up at Theo, as he made no effort to hide the fact he was listening. The look on her face told him she already knew how this was about to go.

“You’ve got some fucking nerve. No, she isn’t here and if you call again, I’ll be making some calls of my own.”

The line went dead.

“Fucking dick,” she muttered.

“Who was that?”

“Cecilia’s wanker of a fiancé. Don’t know what she sees in him,” she said, as if that explained it.

“And Cecilia is...?”

“Cecilia was the whistleblower for the article.”

“The article?” he asked.

“Yeah. Only her family’s minted, so when I got fucked over, she got a new fancy job working for human relations at Stonehaven.” She scoffed. “I was made out to be some sort of traitor, but she managed to spin it as a good thing.”

Another injustice to add to the list.

She stared at her phone, pouting as if waiting for it to ring.

“I doubt she’d have access to what we need,” he said, taking her hand. “It was worth a try though.”

“I’m gonna text her.” She started typing and Theo resisted the urge to remind her to text her mum while she was at it. Her dad had asked her too and he knew she’d forgotten. Would that be helpful or overbearing?

“I’m going to call the police chief about your friend,” he said, heading to his home office.

“At least it’s a start,” she grumbled.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The weather couldn’t make up its mind. Unseasonably warm one minute and biting winds the next.

Raindrops peppered the window by Verity’s bus seat, and she cursed her light jacket and bare legs. She knew the summery dress was risky but after her night with Theo, she felt optimistic. It was a shame her good mood hadn’t rubbed off on the clouds that blocked out the moon.

She’d stayed another day, working with Theo until the sun rose and her dad started checking up on her again. The university plan was solid, and Theo was sure Harris would go for it. If Harris was still willing to work with him, of course. Hopefully he’d be too focused on the fact that Theo was doing something about the situation and would not hold their… disagreement against him.