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I slouched and fell into my chair. I didn’t feel like fighting with this stuck-up princess—not today. It wasn’t worth it.
“Perhaps not,” I confirmed. Still slumped, I tapped my fingers on the arm of my chair.
“You know that’s a tell of yours?” she asked, stepping over the mess on the carpet and taking the chair in front of my desk.
“What?” I snapped angerly—her familiar tone making my blood boil.
“You tap the arm of your chair when your nervous,” she said snidely, pointing to my hand.
“I also do it when I’m angry,” I snapped. “What do you want, Sloane? Sip it out or you’re fired. I’ll call you father and tell him what a bitch you are.”
She huffed and crossed her slim legs. “No need to get in a fit, Kane. I’m actually here to help you.”
I tried to laugh, but it came out as a choking sound. “What can you do to help? All you ever do is think of yourself.”
She stood quickly and frowned. “Fine. Fire me then, Kane. It you think I’m such a pain, fire me and get it over with. Daddy and I will figure things out.” She stalked towards the door.
Part of me started to feel guilty about my harsh treatment, so, I waved my hand at Sloane to stop. She turned around and raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at me.
“What did you have to say, Sloane?” I asked, keeping my voice calm.
“Linda hated Reese. I suggest you talk to her.” She gave me a look but didn’t elaborate. Turning quickly, she walked back out the door.
Linda? Linda hated Reese? This merited looking into. It was probably nothing, but I should talk to her anyway.
I pressed the intercom. “Melissa, can you have Linda come up here I need to discuss a few things with her about Ms. Peterson and how we can stop this happening again. Call Ray, too.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Melissa sounded nervous and sad over the intercom.
“Get a time machine and take me back to the first time I saw her. It’s not the money—”
“I know,” she said softly. “We were all fooled. Every single one of us. And that’s what hurts the most.”
“No fool like an old fool,” I said with a bitter laugh.
She sighed sadly. “You’re not exactly old, Kane.”
“Next time I even mention fucking someone from the employee pool, slap my face until I come to my senses.”
“I’ll do more than that, I’ll make you wear the chastity belt you’re so fond of.”
I smiled, “Do that.”
Thirty minutes later Ray and Linda sat opposite me, and for over two hours, we discussed putting new security measures in place, and at the end of the meeting, I said, “Thank you both. We’ll make sure this never happens again.”
“She had it coming to her,” Linda said with a twist of her red lips.
My fingers gripped the edge of my desk. “What do you mean by that?” I sat forward in my chair and remembered what Sloane said.
“Nothing,” Linda said a little too brightly as she collected her files and notebook. “She just seemed to be getting too big for her boots, and then she got her claws into you… It was all anyone could talk about.”
“Ray, can you please leave us for a minute? Linda and I need to have a chat in private.”
Her body froze for a second, but she didn’t look up at me. “I really should be getting back to my desk,” Linda said, standing and gripping her bag tightly. “I have a lot to do.”
“A few more minutes won’t make a difference.” I gestured for Linda to sit.
Ray glanced from me to Linda and then back to me again. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll call you later.”
With that, Ray left my office.
I walked to the front of my desk and perched on the edge. Linda looked up at me her wrinkle-free face held impassive—probably aided from all the plastic surgery she had done to it. Her eyes narrowed into slits. She held a bit of anger just under the surface of her emotions; she was trying to hide it, but it was there in the rigidity of her body. Her hands were clamped tightly in her lap.
“I wasn’t aware you were having problems with Reese. From what I understood you were happy with her as an employee.” I kept my tone light, trying to sound like a concerned boss.
Linda cleared her throat and crossed her legs. “She was a conscientious and hard worker. Too conscientious it seems.”
“She said you reviewed her work a lot and gave her several evaluations during her time here. Was there any reason for that?”
She let out a small sigh. “I had to make sure she followed our guidelines, Mr. McKenzie. Mom and pop companies like the one she came from often don’t have the same stringent regulations we have.”
