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Holly
Imight have known. I may have been offered the opportunity of a lifetime, but it’s with the Devil himself. Just the smirk on his face as he promised he wasn’t going to make it easy on me told me everything I needed to know. But I want this. More than anything it seems, but part of me still regrets selling out my family for personal gain.
I wonder if Colton knows. He will be surprised the article never found its way to the public. He will be wondering what happened and is probably trying to contact me.
Just thinking about the circumstances that led me here makes me even more confused than ever.
I thought he was helping me. Had information that would make my career fly. I would be that journalist who sniffs out a story and exposes the truth. A hard-hitting woman who is better than any of the men further up the ladder than me.
I still don’t understand what was so damning about it. As articles go, it was quite tame, really. There is definitely more than meets the eye about this whole fiasco and now I’m in the prime position to find out exactly what that is.
Once the coffee is made, I head back and see Dexter hard at work and something stirs emotion inside me. Just watching the great man at work is a pleasure because his reputation is one of a demigod. I must push aside my hatred of the man to learn from the master and so I set the coffee down and say expectantly, “Can I help?”
He raises those sinful eyes to mine and the look in them makes me swoon. He is so sexy it blinds me to his faults, and when he directs that powerful gaze at me with a mixture of lust and an obscene amount of interest, it’s a hard situation to be in. He makes no secret that he wants me and it’s taking all my acting skills to pretend I’m not interested. But I am. Far too interested for my own good and the excitement I feel when I’m around him has nothing to do with the apprenticeship. It’s like unfinished business of the most depraved kind, and I think we both know where this will end.
“I need you to do some digging on a Jefferson Powers.”
“What, the oil baron?”
“Yes. Rumor has it he’s drowning in debt and trying to stay afloat. His shareholders are antsy and to make matters worse, his wife is having an affair with his closest rival.”
“Wow.” I can feel my eyes shining as I sense a story that will run for weeks and make Media Corp a lot of money in the process.
Dexter smirks arrogantly, “Remember to deal with the facts, Holly. This story will ruin lives and you need to have every fact backed up three-fold.”
“Of course.”
He raises his eyes and I blush when I remember the reason I’m here. Did I trust the wrong man? Was Colton feeding me a lie, and I foolishly published without knowing the facts.
Almost as if he can read minds, Dexter says in a strangely gentle voice, “You weren’t to know.”
For some reason, his kindness hits me harder than I thought and I nod, not really knowing what to say because apparently, I did get it wrong and he was right to pull the story.
“Holly, we’ve all made mistakes, it’s up to us to learn from them. It makes us better because those mistakes make us stronger.”
“It doesn’t make me feel better though, I’m just glad you stopped it in time.”
To my surprise, he shakes his head and says almost regretfully, “I wish somebody had stopped me.”
“What happened?” I hold my breath because Dexter is opening up to me in the most surprising of ways and I like what I see. The more vulnerable side to a powerful man makes him almost appear human.
“Maybe I’ll tell you the full story when I can trust you with the facts.”
He grins to take the edge from his words and then waves toward a desk set up in the corner of the room.
“There’s a computer waiting to use in your investigation. I’ve had everything I could find on Jefferson, his wife and the company loaded onto it, and I need you to sift through it all and highlight anything of interest. It’s a tedious job, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Put your findings in a report and get it back to me by close of business today.
“Of course, sir. You can rely on me.”
The look in his eyes surprises me. For some reason, he winced when I called him sir and it confuses me. Doesn’t he like it, I know he asked me to call him Dexter and maybe he is angry I didn’t use his name?
“Do you have anything to say, Holly?”
He looks amused and I shake my head, “No, I’m sorry, I’ll get right on it.”
Taking my seat, I feel a rush of excitement that tells me I did the right thing. This is pure gold. To be trusted with forming a story that will blow the wires into space. This is what I trained so hard for, this buzz of excitement in uncovering the truth and exposing people who should know better.
I am so absorbed in the life of Jefferson Powers, I don’t even notice how many hours have passed until Dexter stands behind me and snaps the laptop lid closed. “What?”
