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Anna Mallon has just disappeared.
Running back, I hit the panic room in record time to access the front door and front gate camera and there she is, in my video replay after I rewound the tape some. She is in my T shirt and some black leggings when she leaves, and she’s on a call with someone. She waited at the front gate for thirty minutes before a cab came and she ran into it.
It isn’t the thought of her leaving that has me gripping the sides of the chair. It is the expression on her face in the camera. She looks scared and hurt as she waits for the cab like she is running from something dangerous.
Her knuckles are white from clutching the bag so hard and there are tears she keeps wiping away from time to time until she pulls her sweater around her and jumps into the cab.
I am usually good at reading faces.
That face is betrayed and hurt— not really the face of someone who has been caught. Of course, I know I’m biased, but I really don’t think she did anything wrong. Yet I’m not sure why she’s running away, in that case.
I hurriedly call her phone, but it seems to have been disconnected. I even open Skype and try to call her there before realizing she left her computer. The computer she uses for everything?
I can’t help but wonder if she had another, secret one.
I am about to close the computer and grab my car keys when I get another call, this time on my computer, over Skype… from none other than Tim Buck. When I pick it up on the video chat function, I am greeted by his sweaty face and beady eyes. He looks nervous, but what is more unnerving is how pleased he seems to be with himself.
“I have a deal for you, Mr. Thorne.”
Tim Buck has a deal I might be interested in?
That’s highly unlikely.
But of course I have to take the bait and find out what he’s talking about.
“I am all ears.”
That makes his smile even wider.
“I get to peacefully resign from work and I also get a glowing recommendation from you yourself, and I go without causing any trouble.”
Usually, I would play it cool and pretend I don’t know what I am talking about. But I don’t have any patience left in me when I have a certain runaway brunette to find.
“Why would I do that, Mr. Buck?”
He gives me a smarmy smile before talking.
“Because I have a video of your beloved Anna and you getting all sexy on screen. If you don’t believe me, check your email.”
Now that has me scrambling to open the email and sure enough, there is an attachment. The video has a split screen like there was a third person connected to the call watching the two of us, but there is no mistaking it. It is a video of the day Anna stripped for me.
“How did you get this?”
He shrugs, so casually looking so cocky at himself, that I hit record.
“She is my employee. It isn’t that hard to think about getting into her computer when you have been making googly eyes at each other for years.”
If this video does get out, he knows what will happen. There isn’t a no fraternizing policy in the office so that wouldn’t be the problem, but this might get me in trouble with the investors. We wouldn’t want it to hit the press and be in the news.
That is not really a problem to me when my investors happen to be family and I own fifty two percent of the company. And I’d be willing to take the bad hit in publicity. Who cares?
The problem will be with Anna because she will be discredited and looked down upon. She might even be discriminated against in the office or bullied to the point of quitting. I know how these things work, from having seen too many affairs blow up in the office.
“You hacked her to get to me. Do you realize you have just about destroyed Anna’s life?”
Tim doesn’t deny it. Instead, he shrugs again so nonchalantly that I fist my fingers, wanting to punch him badly.
“It’s nothing personal. She just happened to hold your interest and was also the most likely to replace me.” He is so confident he has me in a tight spot that he leans forward and asks, “Do we have a deal?”
I nod, knowing I mean no part of it.
“We have a deal, Tim Buck.”
I have each and every intention of going back on my word. My hands are shaking with anger as I call Michael and relay some of the details of my deal with Mr. Buck, leaving out the exact explicit content of the video or the specific employee involved. I love Anna— no way would I see her disgraced in that way.
