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I flinched. She wasn’t wrong that me and my family had a lot of sway. But that was because money talked.
“Ravens don’t give up, either, Grace. If we go down, we go down fighting.”
I left her in her office, hoping she wasn’t going to talk herself out of us. Jesus, I walked down there to fix us, I did, but then walked out feeling broken again. Why couldn’t love be easier?
As I rode the elevator back up to my floor, I changed my focus to Yvonne. She was at her desk as I made my way to my office.
“I need to see you now,” I said to her as I passed her desk.
“Yes, sir,” she jumped up and grabbed a notepad.
“You won’t need that.” I strode to my desk and sat behind it, watching her as she entered.
She looked a bit nervous, as she should have been.
“Have a seat.” I nodded toward the chair in front of my desk. I sat back and studied her, knowing it would make her uneasy. “Are you still interested in seeing me?”
Her breath hitched, and the worried look was replaced by hope. “Yes.”
“What would you do to make that happen?”
Her brows knitted in confusion. “What do you mean? I’d do anything you wanted me too.”
“I’ve been hard to get.”
She laughed. “You got that right. I didn’t think it would be so hard, considering your reputation.”
I tilted my head. “My reputation is one woman, one night. Is that all you want?”
She shook her head. “No. But I’m worth more than one night.” She shifted and leaned forward, showing off the swells of her tits.
My dick lay dormant in my pants. “Are you vindictive?”
She flinched. “What?”
“You heard me. Are you vindictive?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“So, when you told my friend that I was fucking you, you weren’t trying to get back at her?”
Yvonne’s eyes widened. “I never said that.”
I leaned forward. “You suggested it, though didn’t you?”
“She must have misunderstood.”
She was clever, I had to give her that. According to Grace, Yvonne told her she was with me during the day, which was true, but only as my secretary.
I leaned back again, not wanting her to be too keyed up or worried until I got to my real beef.
“It almost worked,” I admitted.
There was a flash of triumph in her eyes, but I would have missed it if I wasn’t so intently watching her.
“Of course, she might still end it with me. She’s under investigation for seeing me.”
Yvonne licked her lips, clearly unsure how to respond.
“Someone reported her.” I drummed my fingers on the desk. “I’m going to find out who it was. I have my tech team right now going through the phone records from the Rookery to see if the call to the licensing board came from anywhere in this building.” That wasn’t true but would be soon enough if she didn’t confess.
She swallowed, but she remained calm. She was a tough nut. “No one would call from here, sir.”
I nodded, wondering if she realized she was giving herself away. I liked to think I was an honest, law-abiding man, but if I had to break the law to get her home and cell phone records, I’d do it.
I decided to be cryptic and subtle just like she’d been with Grace at the party. “Thank goodness I’m a Raven. I have a lot of resources at my disposal.”
Finally, there was a flash of worry in her eyes.
“I’ll find out who did it,” I said with certainty.
“Is that all, sir?” she said. Inside, I laughed. Had she forgotten that she wanted to fuck me?
“Yes, Ms. Nichols.”
She stood and started walking toward the door.
“Oh, Ms. Nichols. There is one more thing.”
She turned and waited.
“You’re fired.”
30
Grace
Thursday
The instinct to protect oneself was high. It was why people lied. It was why a part of me wanted to fudge the truth as I had to Mr. Brown when he first showed up at my office.
But I’d worked with enough people who were living with lies and deceit on their consciences to know that I’d never be free of this fiasco if I didn’t tell the truth. It would perpetually hang over me, my career, assuming I still had one after today, and even my relationship with Hunter, which was already strained.
I loved that he wanted to fix this but, in many ways, his approach was like a bull in a china shop. He did more harm than good. So I asked him to stay away and not do anything. I could handle this on my own. He didn’t like it, and he never outright agreed to it.
I also told him we should avoid each other for now, thinking that would help him not think about me and my problems, and therefore want to fix them, as well as allow me to focus on my hearing. I crossed my fingers that he let me do this without him.
