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I moved back. "I don't care about your apology, especially not right now. I'm about to lose my fucking job."
Since Aaron came into my life, it'd been one moment of chaos to another. And ever since I let him touch me, my body had known no peace. Even now, it throbbed at his closeness, the familiar arousing smell of bergamot and amber teasing my senses.
I couldn't even think straight. What was wrong with me?
"I'll tell Jeff the truth." Aaron's eyes shone with determination. I had to fight to keep myself from reaching out and smoothing his furrowed brows. "You were in my office the entire day."
Resigned, I shook my head. "I don't need your help. I'll fix this on my own."
"Stop being stubborn. We both know the last thing you want is to lose this job, which is precisely what will happen if you don't let me help you."
"I don't need you!" I yelled. "What part of that do you not understand?"
A muscle ticked in his jaw. "Felicity."
The door to the conference room opened, and a few employees began to troop out. I should've turned around and walked away then, but I was too far gone to stop. And if I'd been trying to keep our little liaison a secret, well, I guess that was all useless now.
"All you, my father, and literally every other man that has ever been in my life have done is manipulate and twist things to your advantage just to get me to do your bidding,” I snapped. “Well, news flash, AaRogue. I'm onto you. Stay the fuck away from me."
And then I turned around and walked away, choosing to take the stairs because the fucking elevator would take too much time.
The tears fell as I ran down the stairs, my footsteps echoing in the silence. I'd been harsh on him and tried not to feel too terrible about it. Harsh but necessary. Aaron wasn't the one whose life was shattering around him. He didn't have a father who was hell-bent on destroying all his hard work and taking from him the one thing he'd managed to get by himself.
Somehow, my father had infiltrated OceansPlay. It shouldn't have surprised me. The man was rich and thought himself superior to plenty, but never in a million years would I have envisioned him stooping to this level.
Framing me? Jesus. What did he think this was? An episode of Nikita?
By the time I reached the fourth floor, I was breathing heavily like I'd just run a marathon. I marched to my desk, found my tote bag, and brought out my phone. I'd refrained from speaking to my brother for over three weeks because I still hadn't forgiven him for setting me up, but I didn't see a better solution at the moment.
Derick answered on the second ring. "Fliss? Everything okay? I was thinking you'd ignore me till you hit thirty. Listen, I'm sorry—"
"Cut the crap, Derick, and tell me how he did it."
"Did what?" He sounded uncertain.
I forced myself to breathe through the anger. "How did Dad get the details of OceansPlay's new game?"
There was a pause and then the sound of a chair screeching against the floor. "He did what?"
I did a doubletake. Derick didn't know? It was either that or he was a fucking good actor. "Dad got someone to leak the design layout from my work laptop."
"Jesus fucking Christ."
"You're saying you know nothing about this?"
"Fucking hell." My brother actually sounded hurt. "You really think I'd do something like that?"
I wasn't sure. In fact, I wasn't sure about anything anymore. My thoughts were all over the place. If Derick didn't know, then my father had acted alone. All the more reason to believe he really was the devil's spawn.
Suddenly, a blinding rage filled me. How was it that I constantly had to fight for my freedom from the one person who should be on my side? I'd been used, abused, wounded, heartbroken, and defeated. What did a girl have to do to catch a fucking break?
"I'm coming there," I told Derick. "And I'm ending this."
"Fliss, hold up. That would only make things worse."
Ah, Derick. Always the voice of reason. Too bad I was beyond reasoning.
"Then so be it." I cut the call, ordering an Uber before throwing my phone into my bag and hanging it over one shoulder.
