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Caleb
“Are you serious about this?” Lana rifles through the papers on the desk. “There are better applicants out there.”
I meet her gaze, evenly. “I’m aware. She’ll learn what she has to.”
Lana, with her dark hair and green eyes, persists, “But why her?”
This is starting to get annoying. “Don’t you have to start packing for your honeymoon?” I ask rudely.
She brushes off my attempts to get rid of her with another question, “She’s from some small-scale school, Caleb. She doesn’t even have proper credentials and you want her for this job?”
There’s a note of derision in her voice that I don’t take to kindly. My frown grows and my voice is slightly cold as I reply, “Considering she’ll be working for me, she’s not your problem.”
Lana scowls now, a thunderous look on her pretty features that usually intimidates people, but not me. “It is my problem if the only reason you’re hiring this girl is to sleep with her!”
I purse my lips, studying the woman before me with a narrow-eyed glare. “Do I look like someone who would hire a woman to simply sleep with her? Have I ever done something to portray such an intent? Or am I so lacking in female companionship that this is what I would resort to?”
Lana falters with a, “N-No.”
“Then, you have no grounds for such accusations,” I cut her off, coldly. “Go make the call, Lana.”
Lana hesitates, and then asks me, her tone softer, probing, as her eyes search mine, “Who is she, really?”
“Someone I’m responsible for.” My gaze doesn’t waver.
She swallows her annoyance, before walking away, knowing she has pushed me enough for one day.
I watch her leave, feeling a certain numbness inside of me. Once the door closes behind her, I swivel in my chair, my thoughts running a mile an hour. Oliver, the Crisis CEO that I had hired a few months ago, has done a fantastic job of turning things around here. But there is still work to be done. But before all that work, there’s something else that takes precedence.
I open one of the cabinets of the desk and draw out a large dossier that for the past few years ? ever since my release from prison ? has been empty. Opening it, I stare at the picture of a young, unsmiling woman.
“Damon took my bear, Caleb.” She lets out a child’s whimper, filled with despair. “He said he’d tear off its head if I tell anyone.”
A pair of arms wrapped around my torso, “I love you forever and ever and ever.” Pretty eyes filled with happiness as they gaze up at me, adoringly. “You’ll never leave me, right?”
“Never,” I say aloud as I run my finger over the picture, a strange emotion rolling over me. “Now that I’ve finally found you, I’ll never let you go.”
The words may have sounded ominous to someone standing in the room, but to me they’re the answer to a promise made more than seventeen years ago.
I flip through the other documents in the file, studying the resume with a casual interest. It is simply a piece of paper that holds no meaning for to me. It could have been empty as far as I’m concerned. What interests me is the information that I’ve gathered over these past few months.
Housing, bills, debt.
Hearing the door to my office open, I glance up and close the dossier. “Oliver.”
Oliver is a tall man with sandy brown hair, blue eyes and Lana’s new husband. He’s also a senior consultant at Starr Enterprises. “What the fuck did you say to my wife? She looks ready to bite my head off.” Oliver folds himself into the chair across from me, scowling, his British accent somehow taking the bite out of his words.
“I told her to mind her own business,” I reply, calmly, not surprised to see him ready to defend the woman he adored. “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought your new business was keeping you busy.”
Oliver’s also started his own consultancy firm which has already amassed gathered clients before it had even started up. He’s a busy man but organized enough to not neglect his duties here. “Lucas showed up for lunch and I don’t even know how I got here,” he grumbles.
I’ve seen him at social events where he’s all blunt charm but here, he’s as surly as a bear. Probably why I enjoy his company. He’s calculating, sharp and yet, honest to a fault. “Did you bring me something?” I look up in interest, suddenly reminded that I’ve missed lunch.
“What am I, your secretary? Get your own damn food.” Oliver bares his teeth at me.
I reach out and call Lucas’ line.
When he answers, I demand, “Did you bring me something from lunch?”
Oliver rolls his eyes at me but stretches his legs out, intent on getting comfortable.
