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“It was a hit, Hunter. Because he did something to piss one of them off. Because he wasinvolved. And then, just after he died, what happens? His daughter, who has a fucking journalism degree, waltzes into the offices of one of the most rich and powerful men in the country and gets a job as his assistant andimmediatelystarts a relationship with him. You know what they call that?”
“Don’t,” I said. “Bobby…”
“A honey pot, Hunter. She traps you in and gets you to do things you otherwise wouldn’t, and then either the mob or the feds have control over you. Do you understand what kind of shitstorm you just got into? I regret like hell ever letting her come up here for an interview. I knew she was too smart. Too capable. It was suspicious, and I didn’t listen to my gut!”
“Bobby, shut up!”
There was a cold silence in the room as Bobby stopped pacing, stopped rambling to himself. He looked up at me with eyes that burned with fury but also visible hurt. I had never raised my voice to him like that. In any argument we ever had, always about business, I had remained calm. Not this time.
“Hunter, you have to believe it. If you don’t, she’s going to destroy you,” he said.
“I don’t believe it, Bobby.”
“Hunter, Jesus, listen to me,” he pleaded. “What if she went to the cops and said you harassed her? That you raped her, for God’s sake? You are her boss and you’re shacking up with her. That’s going to bite you in the ass immediately. The investors are going to get spooked for one. Then lawsuit after lawsuit is going to come in and your ass will be smoked. Do you have any idea what you have done?”
I sat back in my chair in stony silence.
He was making sense. I hated it, but he was making sense. If she was a plant, or even if she was just angling for a payday, I had made it very easy for her. I was the one who made the first move. I was the one who brought her back to my place. I was the one who was initiating everything. But had she manipulated me into that? Was this all a ruse? A game?
A con?
She didn’t seem to be interested in my money. But maybe that was because she knew she’d have enough of it on her own soon. All she needed was to establish a behavior, one she could either blackmail me for or sue me over. And my investors would vanish. The company would kick me to the curb as CEO. I’d be ruined.
Was it true? Was Bobby right?
“Listen to me,” Bobby said. “I can get the lawyers in here in fifteen minutes. We can go over strategies based on what route she goes. We can weather this, kid, but we have to get ahead of it. We have to get ahead of it before it blows up.”
I sat in silence for a moment longer. Bobby had never steered me wrong before. Hell, that was why he was here after all. To guide me. And he was guiding me now, protecting me from something I couldn’t see myself. If he was right, he might just be saving my entire career.
“No lawyers yet,” I said. “I want to talk to her first.”
Bobby sighed. “Kid…” he began.
“I want to talk to her first,” I repeated. “Once I do, then we can get the lawyers together. We can form a plan. But I need to hear it from her mouth first.”
“She won’t admit to it,” he said.
“I don’t need her to,” I said. “I just want to hear what she says when I tell her.”
“Alright,” Bobby said. “Okay. I’ll be in my office. You let me know how it goes.”
ChapterTwenty-Five
Julia
Ithought it was odd that Hunter gave me a half day, but because he was dealing with all the Asian market meetings, I figured I simply wasn’t needed. Bobby being the one to relay the message was again odd, but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t relayed messages before as well. What really struck me as strange was the way everyone seemed to scatter when I returned to the office about two o’clock that afternoon.
Several of the people in the main lobby looked away quickly, and the receptionist had her usual smug smile on, but this time, she was following me with her eyes. As if the smug smile was meant for me.
I entered the elevator with another one of the assistants, one I didn’t know terribly well, since she worked on a different floor, but one I had been friendly with before. She was clutching a tablet tight to her chest as I got on, and seemed to take a step away from the center to the wall as I got on beside her.
Trying to be subtle, I sniffed close to my shoulder, wondering if I had forgotten deodorant or something. When I found myself to be fresh as a daisy, thanks to an early morning shower that morning, I shrugged. I was probably making it all up.
The elevator stopped at the floor below my own and the assistant, I wanted to think her name was Maria, or Mary, or something similar, got off. As the door began to close, she glanced back once, and our eyes connected. There was a concerning look in them. Something akin to sadness. Empathetic sadness.
What the hell was going on today?
Alone in the elevator, I checked the mirrors along the walls to make sure I wasn’t missing part of my outfit or something embarrassing. Everything looked normal enough, though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the skirt I was wearing. Not that it didn’t fit, I just wasn’t particularly fond of the color, but it was the only one that matched the blouse I was wearing.
