Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
They began to argue, but it didn’t matter. An odd numbness descended. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d been betrayed. But it might be the time that truly taught her. She was a moron who kept getting kicked over and over and still thought someone out there might be able to love her.
She stood and quietly left. She walked out of the building, and the rain started to hit her.
Someone shouted for her to stop, but she knew exactly where she was going.
Chapter Fourteen
Michael sat in the conference room as his boss went over the report he’d turned in.
“What the fuck?” Ian looked up. “Did he honestly believe no one would figure out these pictures were from a photo shoot?”
“I think he didn’t care.” MaeBe sat across from Michael, Kyle at her side. She’d come back into the office yesterday, and Kyle had been hovering ever since. “I’ve gone through this a couple of times, and I think what he truly intends to do is leak this to the press.”
“She’s been studying Junior,” Kyle explained. “I actually think she’s got a pretty good handle on him.”
“He’s nasty.” MaeBe shuddered as though even thinking about the man was distasteful. “Everyone who works for him hates the guy. Also I’m pretty sure he’s heading for divorce number three. It’s all in my report.”
“You know she could have sent her report in.” Kyle frowned Ian’s way. “She shouldn’t be up here. She shouldn’t be working at all.”
MaeBe’s jaw clenched. “I feel fine. The doctors cleared me.”
“Well, Ian shouldn’t have,” Kyle said under his breath. “You should be on leave.”
“The doctor did clear her, and she’s visiting with a therapist to follow up.” Ian’s eyes had gone stony as though he was sick of this argument. “I’m treating her like I would treat any of my employees. I won’t treat her like a child because she has a vagina. Do you think her having a vagina makes her less tough, Kyle?”
MaeBe had blushed when Ian had said the word vagina, but then she’d turned as though brushing right past her boss’s mention of genitalia and clinging to the opening he’d given her. “Yeah, do you have a problem with my vagina, Kyle?”
“I don’t have a problem with your…” Kyle groaned. “I’m worried that you’re pushing yourself too hard. You got stabbed. That’s all.”
“I’m fine. I need to work.” MaeBe turned back to Ian. “Like I was saying, I don’t think this easily holds up, though the police would likely investigate. They might even arrest her.”
Ian nodded Michael’s way. “You okay with your girl getting interrogated by the police? Is that why you haven’t dealt with this yet?”
His boss could be so judgmental. “I needed to make sure it wasn’t real. I believed it, but I wanted proof. I haven’t warned Vanessa about the blackmail scheme because I don’t want to worry her. I want to have a plan in place when I tell her what’s going on. I believe that Junior intends to use it to put out negative press before the appeal. He doesn’t need her in jail. He only needs the story out there. He’ll sit on it until the time is right.”
Would Vanessa view that as him treating her like a child who needed to be protected from the big bad world? The trouble was her world really was big and bad and threatening to eat her alive.
“And if you’re wrong about the timing?” Kyle seemed far happier pointing out all of Michael’s flaws. “This is a bomb that could explode at any moment.”
“I don’t think so, but that’s why we’re talking today.” Michael sat back. “I want to be able to tell Vanessa what we’re going to do about it. Then she won’t have to worry.”
“We wouldn’t want the target to worry her pretty head over anything,” Taggart said with a snort.
Michael barely managed not to roll his eyes. “So Hutch is busy putting together a report that will lay out the whole scheme to the police. He thinks he can have it together tonight. I’ll present it to Vanessa tomorrow, and we’ll go from there.”
“Okay, can we talk about the fact that I got a call from military intelligence last night?” Kyle had straightened up. “Someone is looking into my military records.”
MaeBe turned his way. “I told you. She’s just a kid.”
Ian put a hand to his head. “Yeah, I’ve already had a call about it. I’m afraid Ms. Lockwood’s age isn’t going to stop the feds from visiting her. It should happen at some point in time today. The good news is she didn’t get far. She did, however, read a couple of performance reviews. Should we be worried about those?”
It was Kyle’s turn to shrug and act nonchalant. “Depends on which ones she reads. If they’re from my early days, she’ll likely find out I’m good at keeping my bunk clean and I follow orders well.”